MarkGabbs – Page 15 – Gabbs' Random Thoughts

Virtual Updates 2020-11-16

vCenter STS Certificate Expires!!!
Please….take a minute to check on this, as it could cause issues….like the vCenter Server SSO components not working due to certificate expiration.
This VM Community post covers the topic.
Check your certificates, and renew then before they expire.
VMware KB article on how to fix on vSphere 6.5 & 6.7, if running on Windows.
VMware KB article on how to fix on vSphere 6.5, 6.7, & 7.0, if using VCSA.

VMware Modern Networks
Short notice, as this event is today!
My apologies….got this note this weekend before the post…..
Get signed up for this, and take 45 minutes to (hopefully) hear all about
Declarative, Event-Driven, self-service networks.

VMware Tools is now a Separate Product
What?
Yes, you must download VMware Tools separately now.
Still validating that it shows up in vSphere 7.x LCM (or what used to be called Update Manager) without additional steps, and it still appears to.
Just add this to your list of things to complain about when speaking with VMware going forward……
VMware Blog post is here.

Virtual Updates 2020-11-02

Continuing Education
Most of us who work in IT spend quite a bit of time learning new things.
I can’t remember a year where I haven’t been learning something new.
Wanted to put together a list of good training offerings that are out there, many are free & there are some pay for sites int he list, and keep this list going every week (it’ll be at the bottom going forward).
A Cloud Guru
CodeClouds
HashiCorp Learn
KubeAcademy
Nutanix University
PluralSight
vBrownBag
VMware Hands On Labs

Virtual Updates 2020-10-19

This post is a bit light….
Spent a lot of time reviewing vSphere 7 Update 1, and updating my documentation around it. Validating upgrades, installs, and prepping for getting vSphere with Tanzu going on a vDS.
Then ESXi on ARM was released….another source of my time drain these past 2 weeks….and I haven’t even installed it yet!

vSphere 7 Update 1 Released!!!
Now that SP1 has been released….
vSphere with Tanzu (the new naming) is now available….and you DON’T need to run VMware VCF to get it. Short VMware Blog Post here highlighting how to get the eval license key….Here is a link to the getting started docs for Tanzu.
Don’t forget that you now need to be aware of vCLS (Blog Post).
…More on the vCLS from Duncan Epping on his blog.
VMware Blog post is here.
vCenter Release Notes are here.
ESXi Release Notes are here.

ESXi on ARM – VMware Fling
Flings usually get thrown in the bottom of the page each post.
This one….this is cool.
I can now take my Raspberry Pi 4 systems, and install ESXi on them.
The use cases? Quite a few. Folks have already been making vSAN Witness hosts for their 2 node vSAN clusters.
Read up on the ESXi on ARM fling, via VirtuallyGhetto, or VMware Blog.
Get to the fling easily here.
Here is the first walkthrough install post I found.

Virtual Updates 2020-10-05

vSphere Clustering Service (vCLS)
With vSphere 7 update 1, you’ll need to be aware of this.
vCLS, in short, is 3 x VMs that manage and orchestrate DRS for you.
VMware is removing the dependency on vCenter for DRS operations.
Looks like Agent VM settings need to be revisited…..
VMware Blog post is here.

Tanzu Mission Control expanding Policy based Management
It is all about security, and policy definition nowadays.
Define your polices and apply to your workloads.
VMware Blog post is here.

VMworld Announcement Summaries
My summary is short.
Lots of announcements, but very few focused on vSphere itself.
Networking, Edge, Kubernetes, ….those were the big items this year.
SASE (Secure Access, Service Edge), if you haven’t heard it yet is called out a lot.
Here is the VMworld Announcement Summary
Here is the Media Kit link covering all announcements.
Here is a summary of EUC Announcements, by Shawn Bass.

Virtual Updates 2020-09-21

Nutanix .NEXT – content still available!
Nutanix .NEXT is done, and nicely summarize here.
Want access to all the content?
No problem….all the content is still available to continue learning!

VMworld is coming up!
Don’t forget….free to attend, just get registered.
(Yes, there is a premier pass for $299 for access to things like INSTRUCTOR led Hands on Labs.
September 29 & 30 (for USA).

Virtual Updates 2020-09-07

Such a quiet two weeks.
Given I focus a lot on VMware & Nutanix, and the conferences coming up…no surprise there. I expect that to change as these conferences get held this month.

Nutanix .NEXT is this week!
Nutanix .NEXT registration is also free!
Jump in, and spend Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday of this week.
(Thursday is Partner Exchange, meaning for Partners of Nutanix)

VMworld is 3 weeks away!!!
….and it is free as well!
(there is a Premier Pass, which gets you access to a few additional talks).
Get registered here.

Make SURE you have reserved a host for HA
Duncan Epping covers a topic that is important.
Ever had a vSphere HA event (losing a host) effect VM performance?
Probably your own fault.
You never changed this value to 0%
Sounds backwards, but watch this 1 minute video on how to guarantee the performance your cluster was designed for.

Virtual Updates 2020-08-24

vRealize / vCloud Suite – 50% off upgrades
Not yet running vROPs and vRealize Log Insight?
This might be a cost effective way to get them.
VMware Blog post is here.

VMware Workstation 16 & Fusion 12 announced
While not available just yet, these new versions now have…
… a free version!
Free for Personal use only, license required for Commercial use.
Paid for license? now you are licensed for 3 devices!
(you can mix & match Workstation and Fusion)
Lots of new features…like Kind support out of the box.
I’d expect we see these in September….
VMware Blog post is here.