Run Kubernetes for Free – the open source way
Why post this here, when I’m all for the commercial offerings to provide a Kubernetes platform for the enterprise?
Because this 40-minute video from VMware Code goes into all the different tools and packages required to do this the open source way.
Yes, it starts with the why of Kubernetes, but it gets good quick.
….and at around the 30 minute mark, they start to focus on the Tanzu products.
After watching this, I’ll easily take the commercial offerings, and save the time in managing all the different pieces through their lifecycles and dependencies.
vSphere 7 Performance Best Practices
The PDF is now available!
(since May 29th…..missed it)
VMware Blog Post is here.
vSphere 7 DRS – Load Balancing Performance
Now available!
Noticed this post from Frank Denneman
Here is a direct link to the paper.
VMware VCP Datacenter 7 exam available!
OK, it is actually awarded as VCP-DCV 2020.
Here is the main landing page for the cert.
Worth knowing, is that if you take the exam for VCP 7, then you no longer need to take the 2nd exam (VMware Foundations). Blog post here.
VCDX – what it means to me
Not by me, but by Paul McSharry of VMware.
Great to see the benefits a high-level certification like VCDX brings to people.
Maybe a motivational item to get you started on that track?
VMware Horizon 8 is coming!
Lots of announcements, and looks like we will see it sometime soon!
VMware Blog post on the announcement.
Pricing & Packaging update (VMware KB 80146), which confirms the removal of vSAN and vROPs for View from the Horizon Packaging….on the positive side, all Horizon licenses now have DEM and Instant Clones.
Horizon Perpetual to Horizon Universal upgrade promotion.
Horizon Cloud on Azure with WVD (Windows Virtual Desktop) support!
ControlUp with VMware Horizon Instant Clones
Given that VMware is somewhat killing vROPs, the team at WEI has been looking at other options.
Discovered last year at VMworld by the team, ControlUp seems to be the tool to replace vROPs for View….plus, VMware has a SKU for it, so …..read into that.
Here is a post covering the way ControlUp works with Instant Clone VMs….
A bit of a long read, as it covers some Horizon and ControlUp functions, but I think this will be a great post to share with folks!
VMware TKG 1.1.3 released.
We’ll be seeing lots of releases on this….looks like about once a month.
Release Notes are here.
NSX-V 6.4.7 bug
Just be aware, that there are issues with multiple service groups.
VMware KB 80238 covers it.
Maybe hold off on the upgrade to this version?
NSX-T 3.0 – The upgrade
John Kozej put together a great blog post about his research and execution of an upgrade from NSX-T 2.5 to NSX-T 3.0.
Interoperability, support matrixes, planning for the worst & expecting the best…screenshots and all!
This is a great article that highlights how important NSX-T architecture is, and how it requires a lot of planning, with the expectation that the vSphere Infrastructure is ready to accept this type of solution.
NSX-t on vDS – the novel
OK, technically, it is VMware KB 79872.
Right from the page, “This article provides information on reasons behind transitioning from the N-VDS (NSX Virtual Distributed Switch) to the VDS.“
Reads more like a reference architecture than a KB…..
CNS in vSphere with Kubernetes/Tanzu
Want to dive deep into CNS (Cloud Native Storage)?
No better person that Cormac Hogan.
He recently posted a video that covers some of its uses and functions.
Short 5 minute video.
VMware – Flings of note
App Volumes Migration Utility– Migrate AppStacks from 2.18 to 4.x
VMware OS Optimization Tool – Updated 7/31
Reading the changeling, notice reference to NCSI….which resolved an issue with a customer of mine, who had issues with Office 365 “not having internet connectivity”, even though they did. Found this post that helped them out to test that theory, and fixed the issue!
vROPs – sending alerts into Microsoft Teams
Lots of people use Teams. Lots of people use vROPs too.
I came across this post on how to prepare Teams to receive alerts, deploy a small PhotonOS OVA that will handle the webhooks, and configure the outbound alert settings in vROPs.
Thank you Virtually Shane!
VMware & iSCSI
iSCSI has been used for at least 15 years in the VMware space.
Had some great reviews with some new clients about this topic, and THEN found this latest VMware Blog post about Back to Basics on iSCSI.
Good to be reminded of many things, including Port Binding for iSCSI.
PowerCLI – Adding VMFS Datastore
I don’t think this will be for everyone….but…
This post on Virtual Geek had me intrigued.
I do rebuild a lab environment with students quite often.
Sometimes, I have to rebuild between classes.
Even though I only have 4 Datastores I use for this environment, I think it will be cool to add another piece to my overall script that builds my lab for me.
CAB – is it still required?
Change Advisory Board, or CAB, is something many of us participate in.
But, is it really still necessary?
I won’t give an answer, but I’ll point to an article I read that made me think.
Its ~10 minute read or so, but I like the points that are made.
Failures – all hands on deck
Came across this post about how Slack deals with outages.
It uses a recent (May 2020) outage as the example.
The part I like is how they define the response teams’ duties and processes.
Nutanix how AOS performs
Josh Odgers has done another review of the AOS performance with something we take for granted in IT….vMotion.
Now, while the article is written to be a comparison between other products, I focus on the way AOS works, and find this a good 5-10 minute read.
Upcoming Conferences
Nutanix .NEXT – virtual! 9/8 – 9/10
VMworld 2020 – Virtual! 9/28-9/31