Swiss German VMUG – Kickoff Meeting

22. March 2017 by Karl Widmer

Today we had our Swiss German VMUG kickoff meeting. The committee members were hosted at VMware Switzerland HQ in Zurich. Many thanks to you guys! It’s always a pleasure to be there!

But we weren’t just there to drink coffee and have a nice afternoon. We did some serious work. We discussed many different topics, ranging from our community goals over events to the next steps to keep the ball rolling. The main target we had today was to have a roadmap and an agenda for our very first event. And we’ve got it! So we can now move on with the next steps of planning our very first event. We will target a date somewhere in June this year at a location with hopefully enough space to host a good amount of people. Don’t forget about catering, and of course interesting topics and great speakers!

Let’s talk about history

The Swiss German VMUG was not very active the last few months and years. When i registered at vmug.com to search for a local user group i found out that there is a VMUG in my region, but it’s not very active, no events nor discussions were there. Last year at VMworld Barcelona i had some good chats with people, VMUG leaders and co-leaders about many VMUG (and for sure VMware) related things. They all encouraged me to become a VMUG leader.

I had many nights with less sleep, thinking about this. How would it be to be a leader? What areas of responsibility are there coming ùp to me? How will people react to this? So i contacted the VMUG HQ and asked how to become a leader. This was not a short-term thing. It took some weeks, having some phone calls, writing mails, doing trainings. And now we brought back new life to our local VMware user group!

Swiss German VMUG on social media

To make sure you don’t miss any bits and bytes we invite you to register on our Swiss German VMUG community site if you’re interested to become a member of our user group (and if you’re located in the German speaking part of Switzerland, which would make sense). We’re also present on Twitter and Facebook! We thank you for a follow, and don’t hesitate to spread the word 😉

VMware Workstation – Unable to connect to the MKS: Login incorrect

20. March 2017 by Karl Widmer

Today i ran into the problem that i wasn’t able to connect to my vCenter via VMware Workstation. If you’re working in your homelab it’s probably helpful sometimes to have access to a VM console without to connect to an ESXi host, a vCenter Web Client or even via RDP to some management client. You can easily connect to your vCenter with VMware Workstation. I wrote a short article about how to save the login credentials in VMware Workstation.

The error message i’ve had was:

“Unable to connect to the MKS: Login (username / password) incorrect”

I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t the case. I’ve tried it with the @vsphere.local admin and also with my domain administrator. But no success.

When i searched for a solution i’ve found many hints and tips. Let me show you what i’ve found and what was my solution at the end.

Check the ESXi firewall

Next step is to make sure that the ESXi firewall isn’t blocking communication. Make sure the following incoming ports are open: 443, 902, 903

I checked that, all ok. But i still got this error message. The only port i didn’t see on the firewall port list was 903. And i wasn’t able to open this port. But i knew that this wasn’t the issue when i connected my vCenter to my VMware Workstation the last time.

Edit a config file on your ESXi host

Well, i’m not sure if that’s the way to go. Thinking about possible updates etc. some configuration files might get overwritten. But i checked it anyway. It’s in my lab and when something goes wrong or does not work, i can fix it and learn something.

You can use Putty / SSH and vi to edit this file, or go comfortable with WinSCP. Connect to your ESXi host and locate the config file at /etc/vmware/config.

Add the line vmauthd.server.alwaysProxy = “TRUE”

I’m also not sure if a restart is necessary, i did a restart, but it didn’t work either.

Use another port for authentication

You can try to edit the config.ini file in VMware Workstation, located at “C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware Workstation\config.ini“.

Change the line authd.client.port = “903” to authd.client.port = “902”. After that restart the “VMware Authorization Service” and you should be fine.

That did the trick on my system, i was able to connect to my VMs through VMware Workstation.

Hint: if you’re working with Notepad++ (highly recommended!) then you’re able to save the file after granting administrative access (you see what i mean when you try to save the file). If you’re working with another text editor, you should start this text editor as administrator (just right click => run as administrator). Otherwise you probably won’t be able to save the changes.

How to download vSphere software with VMware Software Manager

9. March 2017 by Karl Widmer

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

Double click the MSI package to start the setup process.

Click Next.
Accept the EULA and click Next.
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.
When all things are set, click Install to continue.
You can check the box to open Download Service web application.

Click Finish to close the setup assistant.

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

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

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.

VMware – Becoming a vExpert for the first time

8. February 2017 by Karl Widmer

Today evening VMware announced the list of new and renewed vExperts on their VMTN Blog. All the fellow virtualization people out there were eager for this specific announcement on this 8th of February 2017. And guess what, my name is also on this list! I can’t believe it! The first time i become a vExpert! I’m close to freaking out! No worries, i calmed down a little. But anyway, awesome!

Honored to become this accreditation the first time! Thank you!

Here is the list:

https://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2017/02/vexpert-2017-award-announcement.html

What is the vExpert program?

Let’s have a quote from the vExpert community website. I think that will explain it a little:

The VMware vExpert program is VMware’s global evangelism and advocacy program. The program is designed to put VMware’s marketing resources towards your advocacy efforts. Awards are for individuals, not companies, and last for one year.

Employees of VMware customers or partners can receive this award. Yes, an award. It’s nothing you can learn for and get certified with an exam. A board of specialists will review your application and the reasons you applied for this. It’s your personal effort which will be measured. It’s all about community. If you’re a blogger, active in social media like Twitter and Facebook, posting in VMware communities and helping people with their technical problems, VMUG leader, and so on, then there are chances for you. Spread the word! It’s a “giving back” as its written on the vExpert community website. IT professionals who share their VMware knowledge and contributing it back to the community.

How can i become a vExpert?

Twice per calendar year VMware opens the applications for a 30 day period. After these 30 days the applications are closed and voting mode become active. This takes usually about 45 to 60 days. First half of the applications are opened in November and thus the announcement is in the following February. The second applications opens in June with the announcements in August. Every vExpert, VCDX as well as any new applicants must apply at least once per year.

vExpert benefits

Yes you’re reading correct. It’s a lot of work to become a vExpert. But there is also a thank you after you’re nominated. You’ll get a signed certificate by VMware’s CEO Pat Gelsinger, 365-day eval licenses for most of the VMware products (ideal for us homelabbers), and so many other stuff! I think that’s a huge “thank you” from VMware to you guys!

Invite to our private #Slack channel
vExpert certificate signed by our CEO Pat Gelsinger.
Private forums on communities.vmware.com.
Permission to use the vExpert logo on cards, website, etc for one year
Access to a private directory for networking, etc.
Exclusive gifts from various VMware partners.
Private webinars with VMware partners as well as NFR’s.
Access to private betas (subject to admission by beta teams).
365-day eval licenses for most products for home lab / cloud providers.
Private pre-launch briefings via our blogger briefing pre-VMworld (subject to admission by product teams)
Blogger early access program for vSphere and some other products.
Opportunity to receive a free blogger pass to VMworld US or VMworld Europe (limited to 50 for US and 35 for EU).
Featured in a public vExpert online directory.
Access to vetted VMware & Virtualization content for your social channels.
Yearly vExpert parties at both VMworld US and VMworld Europe events.
Identification as a vExpert at both VMworld US and VMworld EU.

Conclusion

I’m still a little shaky and received already many congratulations, not only from my twitter buddies, but also from my family. My parents are not that “technical”, as probably many parents are not. I explained them a few days ago what i applied for. And they just made big eyes. Today i announced to them that i made it. And they were proud. So i’m proud to.

Again, thank you very much! Enjoy the evening with some celebration!

Update

Now the vExpert profile is finally created 😉

https://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-33986

VMware – vSphere Update Manager in a DRS cluster (white paper)

8. January 2017 by Karl Widmer

Yesterday i published my first white paper. It’s nothing special. Just a small guide on how to use the vSphere Update Manager (VUM) in your DRS enabled cluster.

In today’s world of IT, datacenter and cloud automation, maintenance windows and downtime are a special topic. A few years ago the IT department did updates mostly on weekends because nobody was working then. On Monday everyone came back to the office, the mail server was patched and driver updates were installed. Anybody uses IT like running water. And nobody except the IT knows what effort it is to keep the IT thus the business running.

Today at least maintenance windows with service interruption are somewhat of the past, but not to be forgotten, because everyone want’s access to their data whenever it’s needed, wherever it’s located. You can’t shut down a mail server to install updates, you can’t restart virtualization hosts just to install a driver or a patch. IT has to continue to run like water from the tap.

I’m working as a system engineer for an IT company in Switzerland. We provide different services to our customers, ranging from small to medium sized businesses. I saw so many transformations in business needs, but most of the customers had the same whish. The employees of the customers should have access to their emails, wanted to work from home or when they are on the go. So the IT systems had to run twenty four hours and seven days a week.

VMware vSphere Update Manager is a powerful tool to update your ESXi hosts. You can automatically set your hosts into maintenance mode, and if DRS is enabled, your virtual machines are moved to other hosts automatically. At least from infrastructure perspective you can avoid any maintenance window or even downtime. Because the DRS cluster manages the VMs and you can patch your ESXi hosts in the middle of the day.

Read and download this white paper here.