vSphere

Working with templates in vSphere 7

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One new great feature in vSphere 7 is template versioning. You heard that maybe already somewhere, or read it on various blog posts shortly after the announcement of vSphere 7.

I recently had to restore some of my Windows templates because something went wrong. Then I said, why not try out the new template versioning? Well, it’s easier said than done. I’ve found out that working with templates in vSphere 7 isn’t much of a difference than it is in vSphere 6.x. It’s also not a big difference when working with content libraries. But there are still some differences and maybe even limitations. I’ll update this post when I find out more about this. Maybe I’m just doing it wrong, or it is a bug like the one where VMs and Templates view doesn’t show folders after two levels in vSphere client (KB 78693).

What is vSphere template versioning?

First, it’s a great feature! With vSphere 7, you can now have multiple versions of a template. For example, you create your base template, then there’s the next version when you install patches and updates, and so on. If there’s something wrong, you can revert to the previous version of your template. Also, if you’ve got a huge template chain already, you can delete the oldest versions of your template. In my humble opinion, there is some space for improvement when working with templates and versioning. But I’ll show you later what that means.

How to work with the new versioning?

As far as I have tested it, you can’t convert existing templates to a template with versioning enabled. I mean there is no button like “convert that template”. It’s a manual task. That counts for templates that are stored somewhere on a datastore connected to your ESXi host as well as for templates that are stored in the content library. But as I already mentioned, maybe I’m just doing it wrong (hopefully not). And in case this should work, I’ll find it out and update this post.

How to work with template versioning then? It’s pretty easy. You set up your virtual machine and do everything you need to prepare it as your VM template. Michael White has some great posts about creating VM templates. Let’s assume that you’ve got your VM ready for the next steps.

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Bulletproof tip on how to find the right Windows VMDK

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I did this so many times already, and I never thought that I could document it, or put it somehow into a blog post. And maybe you already know how that works, how you can find the right Windows VMDK to resize it.

It’s not that complicated if you know what to search or look for. And it’s easy as pie when the VM has only one disk, or maybe two. But imagine a SQL server, which has like eight disks or more, depending on its setup or software recommendation? Then it might get tricky to catch the right VMDK at the first shot.

But this bulletproof guide should help you out! Maybe that gets a new category, bulletproof. We’ll see. But let’s get back to the main topic here.

How do I find the right Windows VMDK?

I deliberately write Windows because I only work on Windows machines for that blog post here and not Linux VMs. It might get another blog post for that sometime in the future. But that depends on the Linux distribution or flavor because Linux is not Linux (don’t hate me please). But there are Debians, RPMs, Unixes, and so many other derivates. Not always the same tools available, not the same commands or syntax. You’ll get the point. Let’s focus on Windows VMs for now.

So, you’ve got that huge VM with several disks, and you have to resize one of them. Lucky you if it’s the C: drive because usually, that’s the first VMDK. Usually. But this guide shows you how to find the right VMDK. And always, making the disk bigger is easier than shrinking it. So it’s better to find the right candidate in the first shot, isn’t it?

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VMware – Clone a VM with snapshots (and consolidate it)

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Recently we had a weird issue in our office. We had one virtual machine with a snapshot. That by itself isn’t an issue, a snapshot is nothing special. But someone created that snapshot before a software upgrade and forget to delete it. So this snapshot was growing and growing. We found out that there is a snapshot when the VM or service owner requested some additional disk space. We weren’t able to add disk space because of that snapshot. So we scheduled a maintenance window to delete the snapshot. Faster said than done.

The VM went offline because of disk consolidation. That could happen, depending on snapshot size and storage system. But the VM not only went offline for some time, but unexpectedly for hours. Together with VMware support we were able to stop the snapshot deletion. The VM came back online but with the known “Disk Consolidation Needed status”. We found out that this snapshot was about 400 GB in size. What a bummer! So we scheduled another maintenance window to consolidate that snapshot. Unfortunately that didn’t work well. Consolidation timed at around 96%, not sure why. “Error communicating with the host” isn’t very helpful in that moment.

Some research and again having a chat with VMware support led us towards cloning the disk files. During the cloning of a disk file the snapshot will be consolidated. And as you’re doing a disk clone locally on the ESXi host with “vmkfstools” and not withing vCenter, there shouldn’t be a timeout either. So we had out action plan. And we scheduled another maintenance window with the service owner.

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Recap of the latest VMware vSphere 6.7 releases

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vSphere 6.7

Oh boy, what a week! Some say that winter is now finally gone, nice and warm weather, not wearing winter jackets anymore. But hey, i’m not a weatherman. When you’re sitting in the office i think it doesn’t matter if it’s raining or snowing outside. Just kidding… Let’s get back to business.

There was some rumor about the next upcoming version. Will it be version 7? Or something just above 6.5? VMware did release several new products versions! And it’s all with version number 6.7. What a list! It’s one of those email notifications that I usually like to scroll down, a little more, and more and more, to get all the news soaked up like a sponge. I’d like to dive in right now and provide you a recap of this weeks VMware releases. And as i said, it’s quite a list. I’ll pick out just some new key features. You can find the full release news on the VMware Blogs (links provided here).

New product versions

vSphere 6.7

  • several new APIs that improve the efficiency and experience to deploy vCenter, to deploy multiple vCenters based on a template, to make management of vCenter Server Appliance significantly easier, as well as for backup and restore
  • significantly simplifies the vCenter Server topology through vCenter with embedded platform services controller in enhanced linked mode
  • 2X faster performance in vCenter operations per second
  • 3X reduction in memory usage
  • 3X faster DRS-related operations (e.g. power-on virtual machine)
  • vSphere 6.7 improves efficiency when updating ESXi hosts, significantly reducing maintenance time by eliminating one of two reboots normally required for major version upgrades (Single Reboot). In addition to that, vSphere Quick Boot is a new innovation that restarts the ESXi hypervisor without rebooting the physical host, skipping time-consuming hardware initialization
  • The HTML5-based vSphere Client provides a modern user interface experience that is both responsive and easy to use, and it’s now including other key functionality like managing NSX, vSAN, VUM as well as third-party components.
  • enabling encrypted vMotion across different vCenter instances
  • enhancements to Nvidia GRID vGPU
  • vSphere 6.7 introduces vCenter Server Hybrid Linked Mode, which makes it easy and simple for customers to have unified visibility and manageability across an on-premises vSphere environment running on one version and a vSphere-based public cloud environment, such as VMware Cloud on AWS, running on a different version of vSphere.
  • vSphere 6.7 also introduces Cross-Cloud Cold and Hot Migration
  • Delivers a new capability that is key for the hybrid cloud, called Per-VM EVC

More information here: Introducing VMware vSphere 6.7 / VMware Blogs

vSAN 6.7

  • vSAN 6.7 provides intuitive operations that align with other VMware products from a UI and workflow perspective to provide a “one team, one tool” experience
  • Iintroduces a new HTML5 UI based on the “Clarity” framework as seen in other VMware products (All products in the VMware portfolio are moving toward this UI framework)
  • A new feature known as “vRealize Operations within vCenter” provides an easy way for customers to see vRealize intelligence directly in the vSphere Client
  • vSAN 6.7 now expands the flexibility of the vSAN iSCSI service to support Windows Server Failover Clusters (WSFC)
  • vSAN 6.7 introduces an all-new Adaptive Resync feature to ensure a fair-share of resources are available for VM I/Os and Resync I/Os during dynamic changes in load on the system
  • Optimizes the de-staging mechanism, resulting in data that “drains” more quickly from the write buffer to the capacity tier.  The ability to de-stage this data quickly allows the cache tier to accept new I/O, which reduces or eliminates periods of congestion
  • New health checks include:
    • Maintenance mode verification ensures proper decommission state
    • Consistent configuration verification for advanced settings
    • vSAN and vMotion network connectivity checks improved
    • Improved vSAN Health service installation check
    • Improved physical disk health check combines multiple checks (software, physical, metadata) into a single notification
    • Firmware check is independent from driver check

More information here: What’s New with VMware vSAN 6.7 / VMware Blogs and also here: Extending Hybrid Cloud Leadership with vSAN 6.7

vCenter Server 6.7

  • The vSphere Client (HTML5) is full of new workflows and closer to feature parity
  • built-in file-based vCenter Server backup now includes a scheduler

Installation

  • No load balancer required for high availability and fully supports native vCenter Server High Availability.
  • SSO Site boundary removal provides flexibility of placement.
  • Supports vSphere scale maximums.
  • Allows for 15 deployments in a vSphere Single Sign-On Domain.
  • Reduces the number of nodes to manage and maintain.

Migration

  • vSphere 6.7 is also the last release to include vCenter Server for Windows, which has been deprecated.
  • migrate to the vCenter Server Appliance with the built-in Migration Tool
  • Deploy & import all data
  • Deploy & import data in the background
  • Customers will also get an estimated time of how long each option will take when migrating

Upgrading

  • vSphere 6.7. will support upgrades and migrations only from vSphere 6.0 or 6.5
  • vSphere 5.5 does not have a direct upgrade path to vSphere 6.7
  • Upgrade path: vSphere 5.5 to vSphere 6.0 or 6.5, and then to vSphere 6.7
  • vCenter Server 6.0 or 6.5 managing ESXi 5.5 hosts cannot be upgraded or migrated until the hosts have been upgraded to at least ESXi 6.0
  • Reminder: end of general support for vSphere 5.5 is September 19, 2018.

Monitoring and Management

  • vSphere Appliance Management Interface (VAMI) on port 5480 has received an update to the Clarity UI
  • There is now a tab dedicated to monitoring. Here you can see CPU, memory, network, database and disk utilization.
  • Another new tab called Services is also within the VAMI, giving the option to start, stop, and restart vCenter Server services if needed
  • vSphere 6.7 also marks the final release of the vSphere Web Client (Flash). Some of the newer workflows in the updated vSphere HTML5 Client release include:
    • vSphere Update Manager
    • Content Library
    • vSAN
    • Storage Policies
    • Host Profiles
    • vDS Topology Diagram
    • Licensing

More information here: Introducing vCenter Server 6.7 / VMware Blogs

vSphere with Operations Management 6.7

  • new plugin for the vSphere Client. This plugin is available out-of-the-box and provides some great new functionality
  • When interacting with this plugin, you will be greeted with 6 vRealize Operations Manager (vROps) dashboards directly in the vSphere client
  • overview, cluster view, and alerts for both vCenter and vSAN views
  • The new Quick Start page is making it easier to get directly to the data you need to
  • four use cases: Optimize Performance, Optimize Capacity, Troubleshoot, and Manage Configuration
  • The Workload Optimization dashboard was updated. Workload Optimization takes predictive analytics and uses them in conjunction with vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to move workloads between clusters. New with vROps 6.7, you can now fine tune the configuration for workload optimization
  • vROps 6.7 introduced a completely new capacity engine that is smarter and much faster

More information here: vSphere with Operations Management 6.7 / VMware Blogs

vSphere 6.7 Security

  • TPM 2.0 support for ESXi
  • Virtual TPM 2.0 for VMs
  • Support for Microsoft Virtualization Based Security
  • UI updates (combined all encryption functions (VM Encryption, vMotion Encryption) into one panel in VM Options)
  • Multiple SYSLOG targets
  • FIPS 140-2 validated cryptographic modules – by default!

More information here: vSphere 6.7 Security / VMware Blogs

Developer and Automation Interfaces for vSphere 6.7

  • Added functionality to existing APIs in vSphere 6.7
  • Coverage of new areas
  • Appliance API updates: from prechecks to staging to installation and validation, it’s all available by API now
  • vCenter API updates: new APIs have been added to interact with the VM’s guest operating system (OS), viewing Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM) policies, and managing vCenter server services
  • also a handful of new APIs to handle the deployment and lifecycle of the vCenter server
  • a handful of updates to the vSphere Web Services (SOAP) APIs as well

More information here: Developer and Automation Interfaces for vSphere 6.7 / VMware Blogs

Faster Lifecycle Management Operations in VMware vSphere 6.7

  • brand-new Update Manager interface which is now part of the HTML5 Client
  • Update Manager in vSphere 6.7 keeps VMware ESXi 6.0 to 6.7 hosts reliable and secure
  • the new UI provides a much more streamlined remediation process, requiring just a few clicks to begin the procedure. It’s not just a port from the old Flash client
  • Hosts that are currently on ESXi 6.5 will be upgraded to 6.7 significantly faster than ever before
  • Several optimizations have been made for that upgrade path, including eliminating one of two reboots traditionally required for a host upgrade
  • Quick Boot eliminates the time-consuming hardware initialization phase by shutting down ESXi in an orderly manner and then immediately re-starting it

More information here: Faster Lifecycle Management Operations in VMware vSphere 6.7 / VMware Blogs

vSphere 6.7 for Enterprise Applications

  • include support for Persistent Memory (PMEM) and enhanced support for Remote Directory Memory Access (RDMA)
  • PMEM is a new layer called Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) and sits between NAND flash and DRAM, providing faster performance relative to NAND flash but also providing the non-volatility not typically found in traditional memory offerings
  • new protocol support for Remote Direct memory Access (RDMA) over Converged Ethernet, or RoCE (pronounced “rocky”) v2, a new software Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) adapter, and iSCSI Extension for RDMA (iSER)

More information here: vSphere 6.7 for Enterprise Applications / VMware Blogs

How to download vSphere software with VMware Software Manager

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The VMware Software Manager is a very helpful tool if you want to download your VMware vSphere, vCloud or vRealize software packages. It is also very helpful to keep your VMware software repository up to date. All you need is your VMware login and the installer package. Let me introduce this software to you.

Download

Visit this website to download the VMware Software Manager (login / registration required). It’s an 18 megabyte MSI package. So big deal.

You have to accept the End User License Agreement to download the software:

Installation

  1. Double click the MSI package to start the setup process.

    Click Next.

    Software Manager

  2. Accept the EULA and click Next.

    EULA

  3. Choose the installation folder (just let the standard is also fine).

    Choose the depot location; either a local drive, an external disk or even a UNC path is possible.

    Click Next to continue.

    Basic Settings

  4. When all things are set, click Install to continue.

    Ready

  5. You can check the box to open Download Service web application.

    Click Finish to close the setup assistant.

    Completed

Now after installation we can move on with the further configuration. When you checked the box to open the web application, then you’re ready. Otherwise look on your desktop for the icon to start the web application manually.

Accessing VMware Software Manager

  1. When you start the web application you’ll see the login screen.

    Use your My VMware login (or one of the other two possibilities) to login.

    Click Connect to login.

    Login

  2. Now Software Manager reads the VMware software depot for the first time. This can take some time…

    Reading VMware depot

  3. After reading the VMware software Depot you’ll see the main software dashboard.

    When you click the arrow (>) on the right side of a product you can see more details.

    This is also the way how to find the download button.

    Dashobard

Conclusion

As mentioned above the VMWare Software Manager is a great tool to download various VMware software all around data center virtualization and automation. If you have a VMware software repository in your company it’s also a good way to keep that repository up to date. The software itself does not run as a service, you have to start it manually.