VMware Tools Vulnerability
So vulnerabilities are everywhere, but this one should be easy to resolve.
The recommendation is to get up to VMware Tools 10.3.10
With VMware Tools updates available separately from ESXi versions, this should be pretty easy to resolve.
If you use the option in the VM to auto-update tools, a reboot of the VM should bet that done for you.
Cool that this script gives you some PowerCLI scripts to help you parse your list of VMs and update VMware Tools with a no reboot option.
Linux VMs are NOT affected (and should be using Open-VM-Tools anyway).
VTUG (Virtualization Technology User Group) – The Last Event
I have been a member of this group for many years now, and it is sad to see this group having its last event.
I am biased, of course, as I have been involved for years….
Those of us in New England are lucky…between VTUG, VMUG, and other Virtualization User Groups in the area, we have had the opportunity to have at least 12-24 events a year where we can network with peers, and continue our learning while contributing to the community.
If you have the time, the final VTUG Summer Slam is July 18, 2019.
It would be great to see this event have the sendoff it deserves…..
AWS:reInforce in Boston, MA this week
Really interested in heading out to this.
Hopefully, I don’t get distracted away from the event….
VMware Cluster EVC (Enhanced vMotion Compatibility) – thoughts….
So when EVC first came out in 2005/2006 timeframe, it was something I tried to avoid using when designing solutions. Why?….
It USED to be that to modify the EVC settings (upgrade EVC mode), you would have to power down all the VMs in the cluster…
So when you replaced all the old nodes in a cluster with newer CPUs, you could then upgrade the EVC mode…..and shut down all VMs to do that.
Well…..
Over the years, VMware has fixed that issue.
You can now change EVC mode on a VMware cluster at any time without impacting running VMs (upgrade EVC mode, not reduce the CPU family setting).
THIS change made it possible to use EVC mode, in my opinion and allowed me to relax my resistance to EVC mode.
You can arbitrarily turn EVC mode on nowadays….
You can change (upgrade) EVC mode now too…
Just remember….
VMs will not take advantage of new EVC mode processor compatibility UNTIL you POWER OFF then POWER ON a VM (just how it works).
A nice write up comes from Niels Hagoort on this topic last week, and this post does a good job of explaining it.
For those who want even more details, perhaps the
VMware vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive or the
VMware vSphere 6.5 Host Resource Deep Dive books he authored might be the ticket…..
PowerCLI 11.3.0 Released
PowerCLI has been getting updates often.
This one adds some vSphere 6.7u2 updates, HSX, SPBM and other features.
Check out the blog post here.
Release notes are here.
VMware acquires Avi Networks
So who is Avi Networks?
Well, the highlighted magic they have is around ADC (Application Delivery Controllers)…centrally managed controllers that manage configuration and state of the ADCs.
As this becomes part of the Networking & Security Business Unit, we can see the integration points that might come to be with all the public cloud providers.
vRNI (vRealize Network Insight) Cheat sheet for queries
vRNI is a great too for understanding the network traffic flows.
Pretty powerful, as it is fully searchable.
This post discusses the recent Cheat Sheet for queries, which has lots of common criteria searches spelled out, and shows how to build your own queries.
VMware PowerCLI DSC (Desired State Configuration) 2.0 released
This handy PowerShell module has not been around too long, but it has gotten a 2.0 release from all the contributions made to it.
Think of it as Host Profiles for an ESXi host, but that can validate/enfore things like VMfolders, Cluster HA/DRS, and other things beyond hosts.
Nice post about its release here.
A link to the GitHub page for this tool.
VMC on AWS (VMware Cloud on AWS) release 1.7 Adds NSX options
VMC has always been the first place new features are released, and this time, it looks like quite a few NSX oriented features have been updated.
You can see the general release notes here, and the NSX feature descriptions here.
What is an AWS Outpost rack look like?
Found this video during the week.
Nice insight into how AWS builds their racks/servers/hardware.
Cisco CCIE & Other Certification/Exam Changes
This seemed to stand out among those I chat with…changes to the way CCIE written exam gets handled….this post details it.
If you are a CCIE, you are probably already aware of this, but it just shows, that sometimes, things have to change (and no one has to like it).
A Cisco website post is here.
Upcoming Conferences
AWS re:Inforce – Boston, MA – 6/25-28
VMworld 2019 US – San Francisco, CA 8/26-8/29
Microsoft Ignite – Orlando, FL 10/4-10/8
VMworld 2019 EMEA – Barcelona, Spain 11/4-11/7
AWS re:Invent – Las Vegas, NV 11/25-11/28
VeeamOn – Las Vegas, NV 5/4 – 5/6 (2020)