Eric Sloof

Configuring vmknic-based multipathing for the software iSCSI adapter will help vSphere users enable failover at the path level as well as balance I/O traffic between the paths.

The objective of this white paper is to provide information on storage protocols and how they interoperate with  VMware vSphere and related features. Not all supported storage protocols are discussed. Some notable  exceptions are ATA over Ethernet (AoE) and shared/switched SAS. However, the protocols that are included in  this paper are the ones that VMware is most frequently asked to compare.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/Storage_Protocol_Comparison.pdf

VMware frequently is asked for guidance regarding the best storage protocol to use with VMware vSphere®. vSphere supports many storage protocols, with no preference given to any one over another. However, many customers still want to know how these protocols stack up against each other and to understand their respective pros and cons.This white paper looks at common storage protocols from a vSphere perspective. It is not intended to delve into performance comparisons, for the following two reasons:

• The Performance Engineering team at VMware already produces excellent storage performance white papers.
• Storage protocol performance can vary greatly, depending on the storage array vendor. It therefore does not make sense to compare iSCSI and NFS from one vendor, because another vendor might implement one of those protocols far better.

• GetWebResponse timeout value changed from 5 minutes to 10 minutes (for very big environments)
• New tabpage with HBA information
• On vDatastore tab the definition of the Provisioned MB and In Use MB columns was confusing! This is changed now.
• RVToolsSendMail accepts now multiple recipients (semicolon is used as separator)
• Folder information of VMs and Templates are now visible on vInfo tabpage
• Bugfix: data in comboboxes on filter form are now sorted
• Bugfix: Problem with api version 2.5.0 solved
• Bugfix: Improved exception handling on vCPU tab.
• Bugfix: Improved exception handling on vDatastore tab.

In general, VMware recommends that the number of vCloud Director cell instances = n + 1, where n is the number of vCenter Server instances providing compute resources for cloud consumption. Based on the Service Definition, two vCloud Director cell instances should be sufficient and allow for upgradability (upgrading one vCloud Director cell, then the other) and high availability.

It is important for vCloud Director to be able to spread and run services in case of hardware failures and load balance them on available cells as best as it can. This article describes how the Kemp Loadmaster is able to balance client connections to the vCloud Director portal and ensures a highly available multi cell deployment by monitoring services an response times.

The Console Proxy and web portal are running on every cell and are stateless. All instances are capable of doing work so failure of any one component does not affect user requests as they are redirected by the load balancer. In a one-armed configuration, the Virtual Servers and the VDC cells are configured on the same subnet. The LoadMaster connects to the Layer 2 network through a single interface, eth0. This architecture covers load balancing of multiple vCloud Director sells within the same site. 

The Loadmaster service should be configured to check the health and response time of the individual vCloud Director cells. Since each cell responds via HTTPS, this can be configured quickly via the IP and API end point URL. Generally services are checked every few-30 seconds based on load. A good starting point is 5 seconds. Example GUI URL - https://my.cloud.com/cloud/

Viktor van den Berg over at viktorious.nl has written an extensive article about load balancing vCloud Director cells with pfSense -  vCloud Director Howto: Load balancing with free pfSense

When implementing virtualization technology, organizations must ensure that they can continue to maintain a secure environment and meet their compliance obligations. To do so, you will have to evaluate risks that might affect protected information and mitigate those risks through risk-appropriate standards, processes, and best practices.

The draft version of the vSphere 5.0 Hardening Guide provides guidance on how to securely deploy VMware vSphere 5 in a production environment. The focus is on initial configuration of the virtualization infrastructure layer, which covers the following:

• The virtualization hosts 
• Configuration of the virtual machine container (NOT hardening of the guest operating system (OS) or any applications running within)
• Configuration of the virtual networking infrastructure, including the management and storage networks as well as the virtual switch (but NOT security of the virtual machine’s network)
• VMware vCenter Server, its database and client components
  
  

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The Rough Cuts service from Safari Books Online gives you exclusive access to an evolving manuscript that you can read online or download as a PDF and print. A Rough Cuts book is not fully edited or completely formatted, but you'll get access to new versions as they are created.

To make the most of VMware's vSphere 5, IT professionals need knowledge, tips, and insights they'll never find in the manuals - or in any book, until now! In Managing and Optimizing vSphere Deployments, two world-class VMware experts offer start-to-finish lessons for vSphere planning, implementation, operation, management, and troubleshooting: expert insights drawn from their own unsurpassed "in-the-trenches" consulting experience.

Harley Stagner (VCDX,vExpert) and Sean Crookston (VCAP-DCA, VCAP-DCD, vExpert) focus on the most crucial techniques VMware professionals need, providing guidance optimized for the new vSphere 5, and frameworks that will support the evolution of virtual infrastructure for years to come. They present scenarios and case studies drawn from real-world data, addressing areas ranging from sizing and performance to redundancy, coverage includes: 

• Smoothly integrating vSphere 5 into current environments and considerations 
• Overcoming roadblocks to 100% virtualization 
• Establishing a more stable infrastructure 
• Choosing hardware and making optimal configuration decisions 
• Automating tasks with PowerCLI, Host Profiles, and Auto Deploy 
• Maximizing availability with Distributed Resource Scheduler, Networking Redundancy, and Fault Tolerance 
• Efficiently managing updates, patches, and upgrades * Monitoring vSphere 5 with tools provided by VMware and its community 
• Planning for growth, and much more.
  
  

http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780132947183?portal=pearsonitcertification

VMware is working on a new vCloud Design Best Practices training course, it's still in beta but will be released somewhere around next month. This new course is designed to guide students through the decision points and policy choices available for designing and implementing a VMware vCloud environment. Students will learn to appreciate the effects of design choices in vSphere, vCloud Director, Chargeback, and the vShield Edge capability that is included with vCloud Director. The course culminates in a comprehensive workshop on VMware cloud design. By the end of the course, you should have an understanding of the VMware cloud and be able to do the following:

• Evaluate and design a multitenant environment to address both private cloud and public cloud customer needs.
• Configure vCloud providers that can accommodate heterogeneous server, storage, and network resources.
• Design a network infrastructure optimized for vCloud.
• Integrate vCloud Director security with existing LDAP systems and design appropriate security hierarchies with security roles.
• Design a vCenter Chargeback implementation.

If you have a Citrix XenApp implementation and are making a decision about taking further steps with virtualization, this discussion is for you. You probably already use VMware vSphere to virtualize your servers, including your XenApp Servers. The next steps would be to virtualize applications and desktops. If you like the concept and performance of XenApp application presentation, you can expand that functionality by adding View and ThinApp to the mix. 

This solution preserves the investment you have made in time and money in the XenApp implementation. Your staff expertise in successfully running XenApp will continue to be useful in this combined implementation. Furthermore, the expertise you have accumulated in running a vSphere environment will be leveraged with a View and ThinApp implementation.

The cloud consumer resources are dedicated vCenter clusters that host cloud workloads. These resources are carved up by vCloud Director in the form of one or more provider virtual datacenters, which is a vCenter cluster, and one or more attached datastores. Networking for the resource group will encompass vSphere networks visible to the hosts in that cluster. Provider virtual datacenters are further carved up into organization virtual datacenters, which are backed by vCenter resource pools. If you disable Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS) on vCenter Clusters level you will lose all resource pools and you’re not able to deploy or power on vApps anymore.  This video will show you such a situation, don’t try this at home.