Posted on

I think I can, I think I can…

I’ve attempted to blog 3 times in my life, first on tumblr with no topic, second as a blog on general tech as I was working in retail and a third time when I wanted to blog about tech I was learning and getting involved with. Each time amounted to about 2 posts in a year or so. I just couldn’t continue writing because I felt it wasn’t good enough or I was too busy trying to learn the tech to sit down and write about it.

The vDM30in30 challenge came up and I thought I would give it a try. Even as I wrote the 7 or so posts, it was hard to find the time in the beginning, let alone the 15 or so drafts that are still awaiting to be published. The challenge is hard, but just as @kylog pointed out in his post “Writing is Hard, Redux”, this is still more than I’ve written in a single year, and I did this in a month! This isn’t the end, especially as I try to focus on writing about virtualization for first-timers.

I spoke about this topic with @cxi during VMworld and feel like its how I really want to approach this blog. Unfortunately I did not take that approach during this month, its how I want to move forward with this. Ideally, presenting each new tech or feature as if using it for the first time. In the spirit of the category, I am truly #New2 blogging. Watch for those 15 drafts as I clean them up, and maybe as I rewrite a couple. I think I can keep this up, I really do, because I enjoyed it so I am looking forward to 2016!

 

Posted on

This one goes out to all the students

This is just my opinion based on my experiences and having watched others go through the same program(s) that I did. Take it as you  like, but I hope it helps some of the students out there getting ready to hit that “requires X experience wall” in the job market.

A week or so ago I attended a Program Advisory Committee meeting at the local ITT Tech school. They handed out some folders with the programs that relating to my field of work. In this case thats Information Technology. There were others there representing IT ranging from Government Security to IT Consulting. Overall the experience was pleasant, but showed that there are areas still for improvement. Which of course, was why each of us were there.

They asked a few questions that stood out among the rest. I’ll list the questions below as well as some questions and discussions that I wish we had time for. Continue reading “This one goes out to all the students”

Posted on

Active Directory, Aliases and Hostnames, OH MY!

Before I get into this, I need to set it up.

NOTE: Be prepared to reboot the VCSA a couple times… it takes forever for the web-client to initialize and seriously, that needs to stop VMware. Sub 20 second Web-Client Initialization… NEEDS to be in the next release. I think I speak for everyone when I say that the Web-Client is initializing page is old and needs to die. Anywho. back to the fixing.

We have our active directory domains and our DNS domains. They aren’t the same. We are using alias’s, as support loved to keep saying (I didn’t set it up but sure!) Continue reading “Active Directory, Aliases and Hostnames, OH MY!”

Posted on

Adding vCenters with the similar hostnames to the same Root AD Domain

If you add a Windows Server to a Domain, you have the option of preventing the Domain Controller from changing the servers hostname. The example is if I have server1.acme.com, and I want to add it to my ad.acme.com domain, during the process of registering the server, it will change the servers hostname to server1.ad.acme.com. Not always ideal.

Whats worse is that since the VCSA is based on SUSE Linux, there is no checkbox the uncheck to prevent this during the PSC’s Join Domain functionality. Continue reading “Adding vCenters with the similar hostnames to the same Root AD Domain”

Posted on

Client is not authenticated to VMware Inventory Service after VCSA Upgrade to 6

Had this issue today after upgrading from VCSA 5.5 U3 to 6.6 U1A.

How was the VCSA setup before?

  • DNS servers configured to Prod DNS
  • Time configured to AD servers (automatic when you join the domain from the VAMI)
  • AD configured

Symptoms:

  • Logging into vCenter Server completes successfully with Administrator@vsphere.local
  • AD Users that used to authenticate with vCenter (even Admins) see the following error pop up: “Client is not authenticated to VMware Inventory Service – http://localhost:10080/invsvc”

After looking around, I didn’t see anything that pointed to a specific answer. Also to note, nothing related to vSphere or VCSA 6. A lot of items we found discussed that it was something that was fixed in 5.5 U2. Hmmm.. ok.

Resolution:

  • Since we were using AD for time server because 5.5 U3 VCSA made the AD server the time server, we had no NTP setup in the VAMI. Added the time server and moved on. Oddly for one of our servers, the DNS was missing as well, its odd, but even though it SHOWED the correct DNS servers, when I went to edit the network settings, it was set to automatic. Well that won’t do at all. Set them manually and moved on.

NOTE: Add the vCenter to the root domain if possible, or at least that is what I had to do. If you are adding more than one VCSA to the same domain, with very similar names, read this post as well.

  • Next, I removed any AD Identity sources and then left the domain.
    • If you are unfamiliar with how, first remove the Identity source from Administration > SSO> Configuration > Identity Sources.
    • Then leave the domain from Administration > Deployment > System Configuration > Nodes > {vCenter FQDN} > Manage > Active Directory.
    • Reboot the server after leaving the domain.
  • Once the VCSA comes back up, rejoin the domain:
    • Go back to Administration > Deployment > System Configuration > Nodes > {vCenter FQDN} > Manage > Active Directory, join the domain again.
    • REBOOT! (I know this takes forever, I’m sorry.)
    • Go back to Administration > SSO> Configuration > Identity Sources and add your AD identity source once again.
  • After this is complete, check your permissions and attempt logging in as an AD user.

This fixed it for us, but if you are having worse luck, let me know and I’ll try and work it out with you.

Posted on

IBM Spectrum Virtualize (V7000) Updates Coming

Come Novermber 27, 2015, IBM will release Spectrum controller code version 7.6. Spectrum is the name for their mid-range enterprise SAN’s. The main block controller, Spectrum Virtualize, will receive a new update adding a few new features. Also to note, the Spectrum Scale (originally called V7000 Unified) which is the Filers that can be paired

[UPDATE 1] VVols does not seem to be released just yet, there was an issue with the original release, as well as Unified Code version 1.6.0, the original was recalled, and 1.6.0.1 is currently released with a promise that VVols will be released in a future version. Continue reading “IBM Spectrum Virtualize (V7000) Updates Coming”