Author: Keiran Shelden

Welcome to the second part of the storage segment. This time I want to cover setting up a nested iSCSI target in VMware Workstation. The idea is to create a shared datastore for the training lab so that you may be able to play around and use different features of vSphere that use shared storage. I am using OpenFiler but you can use FreeNAS, NAS4Free, StarWinds iSCSI Target for Windows, etc.

1. Create a New VM with 1 CPU/1GB Ram/ 13Gb HDD
2. Add a second HDD to the VM large enough to hold a couple of VMs from ESXi (40 – 80Gb recommended)
3. Connect the OpenFiler ISO to the CD Rom in VMware Workstation
4. Start the VM and select Boot from CD
5. Click Next > Select Language 
6. Select the small 13Gb drive and make sure it is set as Boot drive > click Next and accept Erase all data. 
7. Click Edit > Put in IP address settings for your network > Click OK > type hostname > type Gateway and DNS
8. Click Next > type in root password > click next and wait for install process
9. Click reboot
10. Once restarted open up your web browser and go to https://:446
11. Log on with Username:  openfiler   Password: password
12. Click on Services and click enable and start on iSCSI Initiator and iSCSI Target
13. Select Volumes > Click Create New Physical Volume
14. Select /dev/sdb depending on which drive is not your OS drive.
15. Change your partition size to suit and click create
16. Select Add Volume on the right > Give the Volume a name and select the disk
17. Select iSCSI Target > Click Add for the Target IQN
18. Select Add Volume > type a name for the LUN > Select the size for LUN > select block filesystem
19. Select iSCSI Targets > LUN Mapping > Click Map

Thank you for viewing. If you have any comments, suggestions or would like me to cover a topic, please leave a comment.

To start off the New Year, we all have resolutions that we set (eat less, exercise more, work harder, etc.). My wife and I have decided that we should go walking every morning before work, and any afternoon that isn’t interrupted by finishing work late. This I believe is achievable as we are working together and motivating each other at the same time.

RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks)  can be configured at the hardware or the software level each have their advantages and disadvantages. RAID done at the hardware level  gains the advantage of having a controller to work through the data that needs to be written to the drives. RAID done at a software level relies on the CPU to read and write data.

There are many types of RAID that you can choose from, each providing their own form on redundancy or performance.

• RAID 0 “Stripe” = Two or more disks sharing data between to increase performance and capacity. The multiple disks will be seen as one large drive, this also increases performance as data is split between the drives and is read at the same time cutting down read times.
  RAID 0 is not designed for production uses and does not offer redundancy if a hard drive fails. In most cases you will not be able to retrieve data as part of it may be sitting on the dead hard drive.
• RAID 1 “Mirror” = RAID 1 is the first level of redundant RAID. It requires at least double the amount of drives you are going to use for data.  If one drive is only required then an identical drive is required to copy data to. RAID 1 works by writing data at the same time to both drives creating a failover drive. Data can be read from both drives allowing for higher read performance.  RAID 1 can be scaled out to multiple drives, this can be achieved by presenting two lots of RAID 0 drives – This is called RAID 0 + 1 where there is two sets of RAID 0 are mirrored – The other is RAID 1 + 0 where multiple mirrored drives are placed into a RAID 0 set, this is also referred to as a NESTED RAID.

  

  

  

• RAID 5 & RAID 6 “Parity” – In these two RAID levels a parity mathematical calculation is used across three or more drives providing the advantage of RAID 1 with the capacity ability of RAID 0.
  RAID 5 allows for one disk to fail without disruption to data, however it does also come with a disadvantage of losing a drive to the total capacity as it is required as the spare to keep the production environment available. Once a replacement drive has been sourced to replace the dead disk, data is replicated back to the new disk to rebuild the RAID array. A Hot Spare is recommended to keep in the chassis in case the drive fails when the data center is unattended to start the rebuild process immediately.
  RAID 6 works on the same principal as RAID 5 however it allows for two disks to fail as it loses two drives as spares.
  Be aware that the rebuild process is very rough on the disks as they are still working the production environment while also rebuilding the new disk. The best time to rebuild is during after hours when disks are less likely to be used. 

Depending on where these drives will be installed and what they are used for can determine which RAID level you require. 

For example, if you are wanting to just install your OS on a redundant set of drives and create a separate RAID for data, then a Mirror level would save you money and provide a one-disk backup. 

Most, if not all storage vendors have a recommendation list for what they believe to be best practice. In a SAN storage design, RAID 5 or 6 is highly recommended as it provides a high level of redundancy. Some vendors recommend having a hot spare per shelf, or per 30 drives, however, this does change between each vendors, so it is best to check with them.

Choosing your RAID design is simple if you consider Capacity/Performance/Redundancy. Although, if you choose the wrong RAID level then you may be in trouble as you will be required to go through the lengthy process of copying the data off and recreating the RAID. 

Part 2 will be on Storage network and design. Stay Tuned! 

Thank you for reading, if you have any comments, questions or recommendations for future posts, please don’t hesitate to contact me. 

Whether you are looking at refreshing your virtual infrastructure, experiencing performance issues or just like to keep an eye on your VMware infrastructure, VMware offers tiny little free tool to use with amazing output.

VMware is one of the last companies that require you to sit a course as well as the exam to gain your certification. Many companies use to use this method, but have since moved away from making this a mandatory requirement.

The good news is that you can take the exam first if you are self-studying. Unfortunately, these courses can and are generally expensive. One course I was looking at the other day was approx. $AU3000 for a 5 day course. Personally, I expected that sort of price for the vCAP certification.

There is some more good news though, you don’t have to pay that much if you are willing to wait a few months to sit the course. Stanley Community College offers an inexpensive option. for approx $US185 you have access to an online 8 week course. The material is recorded so that you can attend the class and fill out the assessment each week when it best suits you.

Due to the excellent service provided, these courses to fill up very fast and there is a wait list that is set up. You can sign up here. https://vmware.stanly.edu/waitlist.php

To read more about the course, you can check it out here.

http://www.stanly.edu/continuing-education/computer-courses/vmware-vsphere.html

What a great start to a Monday morning. I barely started working and the phone rings to let me know there was a package just being delivered. I knew exactly what it was, I had been waiting to order the latest from one of the greatest for over a month.

• Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 – Scott Lowe and Nick Marshall.  

I also ordered:

• VMware vSphere Design – Forbes Guthrie and Scott Lowe; and
• VMware vCloud Architecture Toolkit (vCAT) – Pat Gelsinger (Foreword) 

This was another impulse buy, however, there was reasoning behind this purchase, I want to be able to spread out to more than just vSphere and see the bigger picture.

Unfortunately, I have not had the time to flick through and have bit of a looka t the content as time ran out today, but I do hope to be able to have a look at few sections tomorrow.

VMware vCloud Architecture Toolkit (vCAT) – Amazon

If you would like to purchase any of these books, please follow the links provided above.

Thank you for viewing, if you have any comments, questions or requests please don’t hesitate to contact me.

So I have to do a bit of a shout-out to William Lam from VMware.  I’ve been following his blog (virtuallyghetto.com), twitter, etc for some time now and I really enjoy finding out new and exciting VMware technologies.  The thing I really like is what William can produce with his scripting and he is more than happy to share it.

So, what this post is really about is to share with you William’s “Tech Talk” at VMworld 2013. There are some awesome goodies that he covers, mainly for those running nested environments for testing purposes’ but also some cool things for production.

Briefly:
http

• Testing vSphere 5.5
• Emulating SSDs for vSAN and vFRC   (as per previous post). 
• Accessing VM console from anywhere (inc. Mac OS X)
• vCenter Simulator (create realistic lab environment) 

The other day, I was going through some other forums I don’t usually read and I came across an interesting thread title, “Is virtualization going the way of the Dinosaur?”  After reading through some of the responses and the numerous amount of posts by the thread starter, I started to wonder.

Just a quick heads up that vForum is upon us again this year in Sydney,  some really good sessions are one and well worth going in to see.  Below are a few links to check out.

For many people who are studying to become VMware certified or are learning how to use vSphere, there is a need for a lab setup to learn your way around and to understand how to set up and maintain the environment. Training labs are also really helpful for reviewing new technology for your workplace.

Two new pieces of technology that have been released that utilize Solid State Drivers in vCenter 5.5 are vSAN and vFlash Read Cache. These are really fascinating features and I couldn’t wait to get my hands into vCenter and start playing. Unfortunately, there was a little hitch, VMware Workstation did not allow me to create any SSDs for the hosts to read. In Workstation 10 you are able to create SATA drives along with the usual SCSI and IDE – but unfortunately, no SSDs.

But Alas! not all hope is lost. There is a quick and easy way to make a SCSI drive be seen as an SSD.

Lets follow through a couple of steps which should hopefully help.

1. Create a new scsi HDD just like any other.

 Next navigate to where your Virtual Machines config files are stored. right click on  the .vmx file and click edit.

Scroll down to the bottom and type in  SCSI0:1.virtualSSD = 1      (Where “SCSI0:1” is of the HDD advanced settings) – save and close.

Start your VM.

Here is a video showing from no SSD’s being seen in vSAN through to adding them and then seeing them in vCenter.

Thank you for reading.   Please leave feedback and let me know anything you would like me to cover.

Thanks
Keiran.

At VMworld 2013, VMware announced their new training platform “Hands On Labs.” These are designed for the administrator who wants to brush up on their skills administering VMware technologies, or the administrator whose manager has asked them to take a look at a VMware product that the company is wanting to deploy. These labs are very convenient for those also wanting to study and gain a VMware certification, giving the user an opportunity to work through lab scenarios and get a feel for the environment to grow their understanding of virtualization.