Tech Talk

Since we began upgrading our clusters to ESX4, we have been having strange “failed physical path” messages in our vmkernel logs.  I don’t normally post unless I know the solution to a problem, but in this case, I’ll make an exception.  Our deployment has been delayed and plauged by the storage issues that I mentioned [...]

Among the new technologies introduced with ESX4, I’m particuarly inpressed with the vNetwork Distributed Switch.  We have chosen to slowly introduce the dvSwitches into our environment and transition VM’s over to these switches.  The distributed switch allows us some new capabilities such as centralized management, individual port assignments, retained state after vMotions, port statistics and [...]

(For PowerCLI commands to accomplish the same best practices, see this post). HP provided us with the best practices document for ESX4 connected to an HP EVA array.  There is a major change in ESX4.  For the first time, ESX is ALUA (Asymmetric Logical Unit Access) aware.  (See this post on Yellow Bricks for more [...]

Well, its a new quarter and I feel a big obligation to post something to the blog.  I cannot believe it has been three months since my last post.  I have several irons in the fire, but on the work front, I am glad to report that the vSphere upgrade has been completed and we [...]

Somehow I missed posting this, but the deadline for upgrading a VCP to version 4 without needing the required course has been extended through the end of January, 2010.  For any existing VCP3′s, this is a great opportunity to save the $1800 for the official course as long as you are able to pass the [...]

Short version:  To grow a VM with and RDM in virtual compatiblity mode, you must VMotion the VM after performing your storage rescans to recognize the additional space.  After the VMotion, the guest OS will see the additional space and be able to access it.  

As in my post about Lessons Learned on ESX4 rollout, we had a pretty serious hiccup with our storage and the ESX systems in December while trying to bring up our ESX4 environment.  The primary trouble uncovered was what I’ll call “controller ping-pong”. An EVA normally has two (maybe more, I’m not primarily a storage [...]

Following my November upgrade of Flex-10 VirtualConnect on my blade enclosure, I have begun my rollout and upgrades to ESX4 on a new blade cluster as well as one existing cluster.  There are quite a few lessons that I’ve learned on my roll-out. 

As of 10am today, I am officially a VCP4.  I now have to wait for my official packet to arrive from VMware, but I have done the hard part and passed the exam.  For any VCP3′s out there who still haven’t taken the test, there is still time to take the test without needing the [...]

After completing our upgrade to vSphere’s version of vCenter Server, there were a few incompatible plugins left from our VI3 install.  Most of these were easy to remedy – especially the VMware provided add-on products like Converter and Update Manager which were on the same DVD media as vCenter Server.  But, if you have any [...]