Entries from Eric Sloof

VMware is about to release a new training course. The vSphere Skills for Operators is a two-day technical classroom training course designed to help the operators and administrators to create and manage virtual machines. This two-day lecture and lab course will help students gain the skills required to work effectively with VMware virtual machines. This course is based on VMware vSphere ESXi 5.1 and VMware vCenter Server 5.1. After completing this course, students may enroll for other advanced vSphere courses. 

This free eLearning course provides the background information needed to work with the products included in the VMware Security Solution. The course begins with a review of basic security methodologies and how virtualization affects security. References for follow-on reading are provided for students less familiar with these concepts. Next, the course discusses the VMware security strategy. Each product in the VMware Security Solution is introduced by discussing the limitations of traditional security controls and describing how the products in the solution address these limitations. The course concludes with a list of relevant security and compliance online resources. After this course, you should be able to:

• Recognize the process and strategies that security managers use to  manage risks to information and information systems
• Name ways that virtualization affects security and compliance
• List the top vulnerabilities applicable to virtual environments
• Explain the basic strategy to protect a virtual environment
• Name the main purpose of each product included in the VMware security solution
• For each product in the VMware security solution, discuss how key features address the challenges of securing virtual environments with traditional security controls.
• Find additional security and compliance resources posted on vmwrae.com

Introducing the VMware Security Solution Fundamentals

The content of the (349 pages) VCAP5-DCA Study Guide was first published as a series of posts on Paul's blog “Adventures in a Virtual World”, these posts were written in preparation for his VCAP5-DCA exam and are based on the official VMware Blueprint. The posts had to meet the following goals:

• Based on the official Blueprint, follow the objectives as close as possible.
• Refer to the official VMware documentation as much as possible. For that reason, every Objective starts with one or more references to the VMware documentation.
• In case the official documentation is not available or not complete, provide an alternative.
• Write down the essence of every objective (the Summary part). 
• If necessary, provide additional explanation, instructions, examples and references to other posts. All this without providing too much information.

 

It has been an awesome year. I’ve posted over 300 articles at my weblog NTPRO.NL. According to Google Analytics my website has received 340,606
 visits by 204,998 unique Visitors.

The year 2012 started with a new hobby. I’ve created a hot Chilly sauce called “Hete Sambal” and sold the jars (also over 300) through a new web shop. This project was so successful that I had to take the shop offline because I couldn’t keep up with the demand anymore.

I’ve also enjoyed presenting a session at the Belgium VMUG and both VMworld events. The real cool thing was hosting VMworld TV together with Jeremy van Doorn at both the VMworld event US in San Francisco and the VMworld Europe in Barcelona.

For my "regular" job as a VMware Certified Instructor, I’ve received a Certificate of Achievement Award. I’ve delivered 39 training courses for a total of 293 students.

The year ended with the successful Dutch VMUG event where I’ve presented two “Myth Busters goes virtual” sessions together with Mattias Sundling for an audience of 600 people. I’ve also recorded 20 videos, which were viewed through YouTube and iTunes by thousands of people. Here’s a list with all the articles I’ve posted in the past year. 

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• December
• 22 entries
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• November
• 18 entries
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• October
• 38 entries
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• September
• 37 entries
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• August
• 37 entries
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• July
• 22 entries
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• June
• 19 entries
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• May
• 21 entries
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• April
• 17 entries
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• March
• 26 entries
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• February
• 22 entries
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There are a couple of improvements in 1.2 based on feedback received in the comments Sean Duffy has received about the utility. The main improvement introduces a function in the script which backs the GUI to check that ESX hosts are valid before attempting to backup or restore these.

Anyway, hopefully this proves useful to some! As always, take care using the backup / restore functionality of this utility. The restore functionality works by first putting the ESXi host into Maintenance mode (if it isn’t already in this mode) and then applying a backup bundle to the host (Restore). The Host will reboot immediately following this. The Backup and Restore is implemented using Get-VMHostFirmware and Set-VMHostFirmware cmdlets so you can read the help descriptions for an idea on how exactly these work. The Host Backup Bundles are stored in a path of your choice and when restoring from a path the cmdlet works by looking for a bundle filename that matches the name of your ESXi host selected to restore to. Note that the file browser module I have implemented here (used to select paths) is a modification of the work done by Ravikanth Chaganti on his PowerShell Help Browser GUI. I simply adapted his code to list the contents of local drives in a tree view instead of PowerShell Help cmdlets. The only limitation here is that I have not implemented code to browse further than one level into the root of each drive. If you can provide this modification yourself, please feel free to contribute in the comments! I have just not spent the extra time to do this myself yet.

ESXi Host Backup & Restore GUI Utility

Ace your VCAP5-DCD, demonstrate your exceptional knowledge of VMware virtualized datacenter design, and differentiate yourself from thousands of VMware professionals! The Official VCAP5-DCD Cert Guide is the only VMware authorized and approved guide to the new VCAP5-DCD certification exam for datacenter virtualization designers. Authored by top VMware expert Paul McSharry, it thoroughly covers every new exam objective, helping you sharpen your skills in designing and integrating multi-site, large enterprise virtualized environments.

Organized to follow VMware's newest exam blueprint, it's packed with illustrations, tables, figures, screenshots, and realistic sample test questions -- all designed to help you learn more, learn faster, and remember more. Paul McSharry covers all this, and more:

• Starting out with datacenter virtualization design and VCAP5-DCD exam preparation 
• Creating the design: gathering data, identifying gaps, implementing best practices 
• Planning for high availability, manageability, performance, and security 
• Taking the vSphere platform from logical designs to actual implementations 
• Designing VMs to optimally support your user applications 
• Executing the datacenter virtualization project 
  
  

Paul McSharry also offers practical tips, best practices, templates, and crib sheets that will be valuable to all experienced vSphere professionals involved in datacenter virtualization design and implementation, whether they're currently preparing for the exam or not.

The Official VCAP5-DCD Cert Guide will be published Jun 10, 2013 by VMware Press

vSphere encrypts session information using standard digital certificates. Using the default certificates that vSphere creates might not comply with the security policy of your organization. If you require a certificate from a trusted certificate authority, you can replace the default certificate.

Certificate checking is enabled by default and SSL certificates are used to encrypt network traffic. However, ESXi and vCenter Server use automatically generated certificates that are created as part of the installation process and stored on the server system. These certificates are unique and make it possible to begin using the server, but they are not verifiable and are not signed by a trusted, well-known certificate authority (CA).

These default certificates are vulnerable to possible man-in-the-middle attacks. To receive the full benefit of certificate checking, especially if you intend to use encrypted remote connections externally, install new certificates that are signed by a valid internal certificate authority or public key infrastructure (PKI) service. Alternatively, purchase a certificate from a trusted commercial security authority. For information about encryption and securing your vSphere environment, see the vSphere Security documentation.