PowerCLI script to Set Perennial reservation on RDM LUNs in a Cluster

Added October 11, 2018, By Sreejesh Damodaran with 3 Comments

Please find the Powercli script for configuring Perennial reservation on all RDM luns in a ESXi Cluster. Please change the value for following variables before you execute the script.

$vcenter = “vCenter.vmtest.com”
$dCenter = “123456”
$cluster = “Production Hypervisor”

This is the flow of script execution.

1. Get the list of RDM LUNs from the cluster.
2. Check the current perennial reservation status of the RDM. If it’s TRUE, no changes will be applied.
3. If the status is FALSE, the perennial reservation will be set on the LUN.
4. Script will query the latest status and the status will be displayed.

The result, after executing the script, looks something like this.

# This script will set the parameter Perennially Reservations to True on RDM Luns in a cluster
#$vcenter = #"vCenter Name "
#$dCenter = #"Datacenter Name"
#$cluster = #"Cluster Name"

$vcenter = "vCenter.vmtest.com"
$dCenter = "123456"
$cluster = "Production Hypervisor"

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Do not modify bellow script
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

#Add-PSSnapIn VMware* -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

$connected = Connect-VIServer -Server $vcenter | Out-Null

$clusterInfo = Get-Datacenter -Name $dCenter | get-cluster $cluster
$vmHosts = $clusterInfo | get-vmhost | select -ExpandProperty Name
$RDMNAAs = $clusterInfo | Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select -ExpandProperty ScsiCanonicalName -Unique

foreach ($vmhost in $vmHosts) {
$myesxcli = Get-EsxCli -VMHost $vmhost

foreach ($naa in $RDMNAAs) {

$diskinfo = $myesxcli.storage.core.device.list("$naa") | Select -ExpandProperty IsPerenniallyReserved
$vmhost + " " + $naa + " " + "IsPerenniallyReserved= " + $diskinfo
if($diskinfo -eq "false")
{
write-host "Configuring Perennial Reservation for LUN $naa......."
$myesxcli.storage.core.device.setconfig($false,$naa,$true)
$diskinfo = $myesxcli.storage.core.device.list("$naa") | Select -ExpandProperty IsPerenniallyReserved
$vmhost + " " + $naa + " " + "IsPerenniallyReserved= " + $diskinfo
}
write-host "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"
}
}

Disconnect-VIServer $vcenter -confirm:$false | Out-Null

&nbsp;

# This script will set the parameter Perennially Reservations to True on RDM Luns in a cluster

#$vcenter = #"vCenter Name "

#$dCenter = #"Datacenter Name"

#$cluster = #"Cluster Name"

$vcenter = "vCenter.vmtest.com"

$dCenter = "123456"

$cluster = "Production Hypervisor"

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

# Do not modify bellow script

#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

#Add-PSSnapIn VMware* -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

$connected = Connect-VIServer -Server $vcenter | Out-Null

$clusterInfo = Get-Datacenter -Name $dCenter | get-cluster $cluster

$vmHosts = $clusterInfo | get-vmhost | select -ExpandProperty Name

$RDMNAAs = $clusterInfo | Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select -ExpandProperty ScsiCanonicalName -Unique

foreach ($vmhost in $vmHosts) {

$myesxcli = Get-EsxCli -VMHost $vmhost

foreach ($naa in $RDMNAAs) {

$diskinfo = $myesxcli.storage.core.device.list("$naa") | Select -ExpandProperty IsPerenniallyReserved

$vmhost + " " + $naa + " " + "IsPerenniallyReserved= " + $diskinfo

if($diskinfo -eq "false")

{

write-host "Configuring Perennial Reservation for LUN $naa......."

$myesxcli.storage.core.device.setconfig($false,$naa,$true)

$diskinfo = $myesxcli.storage.core.device.list("$naa") | Select -ExpandProperty IsPerenniallyReserved

$vmhost + " " + $naa + " " + "IsPerenniallyReserved= " + $diskinfo

}

write-host "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------"

}

Disconnect-VIServer $vcenter -confirm:$false | Out-Null

-SD

Powercli to create report with VM Tag, Category, Tools version and VM HW Version

Added September 10, 2018, By Sreejesh Damodaran with No Comments

Recently one of the community members had a requirement to generate report with the following details in .csv format.

– VM Name
– VMware Tools Version
– VM Hardware Version
– Category Names as columns and Tag names as values.

The following PowerCLI script will help to achieve this.

<#
.SYNOPSIS 
     Create .csv report with Virtual Machine Tag, Category, VMware tools version and VM Hardware details.
.NOTES
    Author: Sreejesh Damodaran
    Site:    www.pingforinfo.com
.EXAMPLE
    PS> get-vmtagandcatefory.ps1
 
#>

# Connect to the vCenter
Connect-VIServer vCenter1 -user user1 -Password "password"

#Create vmInfo object
$vmInfo = @()
    $vmInfoTemp = New-Object "PSCustomObject"
    $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name VMName -Value ""
    $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ToolsVersion  -Value ""
    $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name HWVersion  -Value ""
    $vmCategories  = Get-TagCategory
    $vmCategories | %{$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $_.Name  -Value "" }
    $vmInfo += $vmInfoTemp

get-vm | %{
   $vmInfoTemp = New-Object "PSCustomObject"
   $toolsVersion = Get-VMGuest $_ | select -ExpandProperty ToolsVersion
   $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name VMName -Value $_.Name
   $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ToolsVersion  -Value $toolsVersion
   $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name HWVersion  -Value $_.Version
   $vmtags = ""
   $vmtags = Get-TagAssignment -Entity $_ 
   if($vmtags){
       $vmCategories | %{ 
           $tempVMtag = ""
            $tempCategroy = $_.Name
            $tempVMtag = $vmtags | Where-Object {$_.tag.category.name -match $tempCategroy}
            if($tempVMtag)
            {
                           $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $tempCategroy -Value $tempVMtag.tag.name
            }else {
                $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $tempCategroy -Value ""
            }
       }
   }else{
       $vmCategories | %{
           $vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $_.name -Value ""
        }
   }
    $vmInfo += $vmInfoTemp
}

$vmInfo | select * -Skip 1 | Export-Csv c:\temp\tags.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

.SYNOPSIS

Create .csv report with Virtual Machine Tag, Category, VMware tools version and VM Hardware details.

.NOTES

Author: Sreejesh Damodaran

Site: www.pingforinfo.com

.EXAMPLE

PS> get-vmtagandcatefory.ps1

# Connect to the vCenter

Connect-VIServer vCenter1 -user user1 -Password "password"

#Create vmInfo object

$vmInfo = @()

$vmInfoTemp = New-Object "PSCustomObject"

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name VMName -Value ""

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ToolsVersion -Value ""

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name HWVersion -Value ""

$vmCategories = Get-TagCategory

$vmCategories | %{$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $_.Name -Value "" }

$vmInfo += $vmInfoTemp

get-vm | %{

$vmInfoTemp = New-Object "PSCustomObject"

$toolsVersion = Get-VMGuest $_ | select -ExpandProperty ToolsVersion

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name VMName -Value $_.Name

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name ToolsVersion -Value $toolsVersion

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name HWVersion -Value $_.Version

$vmtags = ""

$vmtags = Get-TagAssignment -Entity $_

if($vmtags){

$vmCategories | %{

$tempVMtag = ""

$tempCategroy = $_.Name

$tempVMtag = $vmtags | Where-Object {$_.tag.category.name -match $tempCategroy}

if($tempVMtag)

{

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $tempCategroy -Value $tempVMtag.tag.name

}else {

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $tempCategroy -Value ""

}

}else{

$vmCategories | %{

$vmInfoTemp | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $_.name -Value ""

}

$vmInfo += $vmInfoTemp

}

$vmInfo | select * -Skip 1 | Export-Csv c:\temp\tags.csv -NoTypeInformation -UseCulture

CSV Output:

-SD

Powershell oneliner to find the VMware softwares installed, version and installDate.

Added February 15, 2018, By Sreejesh Damodaran with No Comments

#vmwTip 1 : Powershell oneliner to find the VMware softwares installed, version and installDate.

gp HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* | 
where {$_.Publisher -like "*vmware*"} | 
Select DisplayName, DisplayVersion, InstallDate

gp HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* |

where {$_.Publisher -like "*vmware*"} |

Select DisplayName, DisplayVersion, InstallDate

PowerCLI to find vCPU to pCPU ratio and vRAM to pRAM ratio

Added August 19, 2016, By Sreejesh Damodaran with No Comments

vsphere-PowerCLI

I was in search for a script to generate report on vCPU to pCPU ratio and vRAM to pRAM at cluster level in a vCenter. Found couple of interesting community threads which address part of the requirements. Thought to consolidate (or extract:) ) the code and created the following. The report will be generated as CSV file.

&nbsp;

$outputFile = "C:\CPU-Memory-Ratio.csv"
$VC = "vCenter Name"

##Connect to the vCenter
Connect-VIServer $VC -User "test" -Password "test"

$Output =@()

Get-Cluster | %{
$hypCluster = $_

## get the GenericMeasureInfo for the desired properties for this cluster's hosts
$infoCPUMEM = Get-View -ViewType HostSystem -Property Hardware.CpuInfo,Hardware.memorysize -SearchRoot $hypCluster.Id |
Select @{n="NumCpuSockets"; e={$_.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuPackages}}, @{n="NumCpuCores"; e={$_.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuCores}}, @{n="NumCpuThreads"; e={$_.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuThreads}},@{n="PhysicalMem"; E={""+[math]::round($_.Hardware.MemorySize / 1GB, 0)}} |
Measure-Object -Sum NumCpuSockets,NumCpuCores,NumCpuThreads,PhysicalMem

## return an object with info about VMHosts' CPU characteristics

$temp= New-Object psobject
$datacenter = Get-Datacenter -Cluster $hypCluster.Name
$NumVMHosts = if ($infoCPUMEM) {$infoCPUMEM[0].Count} else {0}
$NumCpuSockets = ($infoCPUMEM | ?{$_.Property -eq "NumCpuSockets"}).Sum
$NumCpuCores = ($infoCPUMEM | ?{$_.Property -eq "NumCpuCores"}).Sum
$vmdetails = Get-VM -Location $hypCluster
$NumvCPU = ( $vmdetails | Measure-Object NumCpu -Sum).Sum
$VirtualMem= [Math]::Round(($vmdetails | Measure-Object MemoryGB -Sum).Sum, 2)
$PhysicalMem = ($infoCPUMEM | ?{$_.Property -eq "PhysicalMem"}).Sum

##Calculating the vCPU to pCPU ratio AND vRAM to pRAM ratio.

if ($NumvCPU -ne "0") {$cpuRatio= "$("{0:N2}" -f ($NumvCPU/$NumCpuCores))" + ":1"}
if ($VirtualMem -ne "0") {$memRatio= "$("{0:N2}" -f ($VirtualMem/$PhysicalMem))" + ":1"}

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "Datacenter" -Value $datacenter
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "ClusterName" -Value $hypCluster.Name
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumVMHosts" -Value $NumVMHosts
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumPCPUSockets" -Value $NumCpuSockets
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumPCPUCores" -Value $NumCpuCores
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumvCPU" -Value $NumvCPU
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "vCPU-pCPUCoreRatio" -Value $cpuRatio
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "PhysicalMem(GB)" -Value $PhysicalMem
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "VirtualMem(GB)" -Value $VirtualMem
$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "vRAM-pRAMRatio" -Value $memRatio

$Output+=$temp

}
$Output | Sort-Object Account | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation $outputFile

$outputFile = "C:\CPU-Memory-Ratio.csv"

$VC = "vCenter Name"

##Connect to the vCenter

Connect-VIServer $VC -User "test" -Password "test"

$Output =@()

Get-Cluster | %{

$hypCluster = $_

## get the GenericMeasureInfo for the desired properties for this cluster's hosts

$infoCPUMEM = Get-View -ViewType HostSystem -Property Hardware.CpuInfo,Hardware.memorysize -SearchRoot $hypCluster.Id |

Select @{n="NumCpuSockets"; e={$_.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuPackages}}, @{n="NumCpuCores"; e={$_.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuCores}}, @{n="NumCpuThreads"; e={$_.Hardware.CpuInfo.NumCpuThreads}},@{n="PhysicalMem"; E={""+[math]::round($_.Hardware.MemorySize / 1GB, 0)}} |

Measure-Object -Sum NumCpuSockets,NumCpuCores,NumCpuThreads,PhysicalMem

## return an object with info about VMHosts' CPU characteristics

$temp= New-Object psobject

$datacenter = Get-Datacenter -Cluster $hypCluster.Name

$NumVMHosts = if ($infoCPUMEM) {$infoCPUMEM[0].Count} else {0}

$NumCpuSockets = ($infoCPUMEM | ?{$_.Property -eq "NumCpuSockets"}).Sum

$NumCpuCores = ($infoCPUMEM | ?{$_.Property -eq "NumCpuCores"}).Sum

$vmdetails = Get-VM -Location $hypCluster

$NumvCPU = ( $vmdetails | Measure-Object NumCpu -Sum).Sum

$VirtualMem= [Math]::Round(($vmdetails | Measure-Object MemoryGB -Sum).Sum, 2)

$PhysicalMem = ($infoCPUMEM | ?{$_.Property -eq "PhysicalMem"}).Sum

##Calculating the vCPU to pCPU ratio AND vRAM to pRAM ratio.

if ($NumvCPU -ne "0") {$cpuRatio= "$("{0:N2}" -f ($NumvCPU/$NumCpuCores))" + ":1"}

if ($VirtualMem -ne "0") {$memRatio= "$("{0:N2}" -f ($VirtualMem/$PhysicalMem))" + ":1"}

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "Datacenter" -Value $datacenter

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "ClusterName" -Value $hypCluster.Name

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumVMHosts" -Value $NumVMHosts

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumPCPUSockets" -Value $NumCpuSockets

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumPCPUCores" -Value $NumCpuCores

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "NumvCPU" -Value $NumvCPU

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "vCPU-pCPUCoreRatio" -Value $cpuRatio

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "PhysicalMem(GB)" -Value $PhysicalMem

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "VirtualMem(GB)" -Value $VirtualMem

$temp | Add-Member -MemberType Noteproperty "vRAM-pRAMRatio" -Value $memRatio

$Output+=$temp

}

$Output | Sort-Object Account | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation $outputFile

Output in table format :

Datacenter	ClusterName	vCPU-pCPUCoreRatio	vRAM-pRAMRatio	NumVMHosts	NumPCPUSockets	NumPCPUCores	NumvCPU	PhysicalMem(GB)	VirtualMem(GB)
12345	12345-HypClus1	1.85:1	0.28:1	3	6	48	89	768	214
678910	678910-HypClus2	0.60:1	0.21:1	5	20	160	96	640	132
12345	12345-HypClus2	2.08:1	0.91:1	2	2	12	25	64	58

Ref : https://communities.vmware.com/thread/456555?start=0&tstart=0

PowerCLI to deploy VMs in VMware vCloud and connect to network

Added March 2, 2016, By Sreejesh Damodaran with No Comments

This PowerCLI script will help you to deploy VMs in VMware Private vCloud and connect to network.

#############################
# Deploy VMs in  vCloud     #
#############################
# Change Log
# 1.0 This script will Create vApp and deploy VMs from the selected TemplateVM.
 
################
# INITIALIZING #
################
 
### DECLARING VARIABLES ###
 
$vCloud_Server = "vCloud Server" # vCloud Server FQDN
$vCloud_Org    =    "Org Name"   # Org Name
$orgNetwork = "orgNwName"        # Target OrgNetworkName for the VM.
$templateVM = "TemplateVMName    # Template VM Name.
$vmCount = 2                     # No of VMs required.
$vmIndex = 4                     # VM starting index.
$vAppNamePrefix =  "RHEL-vApp"   # Prefix string in the vApp Name.
$VMNamePrefix = "RHEL-VM"        # Prefix string in the VM Name.
 
### Connect to the vCloud Server ###
Connect-CIServer $vCloud_Server
 
### Deploying VMs ###
$vmCount = $vmIndex + $vmCount
 
for($i=$vmIndex; $i -le $vmCount; $i++)
{
$vAppName = $vAppNamePrefix+"$i"
$VMName = $VMNamePrefix+"$i"
 
### Creating new vApp ###
New-CIVApp -Name $vAppName -OrgVdc $vCloud_Org
 
### Deploy the VM from template inside the newly created vApp###
New-CIVM -Name "$VMName" -VMTemplate $templateVM -VApp $vAppName -ComputerName "$VMName"
 
### Creating new vApp Network ###
New-CIVAppNetwork -VApp $vAppName -Direct -ParentOrgNetwork $orgNetwork
 
$vAppNetwork = get-civapp $vAppName | Get-CIVAppNetwork $orgNetwork
$cldVMs = get-civapp $vAppName | get-civm
 
### Connecting the vNIC to the network ###
### Please change the allocation model if required###
foreach ($cldvm in $cldVMs) {
    $cldvm | Get-CINetworkAdapter | Set-CINetworkAdapter -vappnetwork $vAppNetwork -IPaddressAllocationMode Pool -Connected $True
}
### Powering on the vApp ###
get-CIVApp -Name $vAppName | Start-CIVApp
}
 
Disconnect-CIServer $vCloud_Server -Force -Confirm:$false

#############################

# Deploy VMs in vCloud #

#############################

# Change Log

# 1.0 This script will Create vApp and deploy VMs from the selected TemplateVM.

################

# INITIALIZING #

################

### DECLARING VARIABLES ###

$vCloud_Server = "vCloud Server" # vCloud Server FQDN

$vCloud_Org = "Org Name" # Org Name

$orgNetwork = "orgNwName" # Target OrgNetworkName for the VM.

$templateVM = "TemplateVMName # Template VM Name.

$vmCount = 2 # No of VMs required.

$vmIndex = 4 # VM starting index.

$vAppNamePrefix = "RHEL-vApp" # Prefix string in the vApp Name.

$VMNamePrefix = "RHEL-VM" # Prefix string in the VM Name.

### Connect to the vCloud Server ###

Connect-CIServer $vCloud_Server

### Deploying VMs ###

$vmCount = $vmIndex + $vmCount

for($i=$vmIndex; $i -le $vmCount; $i++)

{

$vAppName = $vAppNamePrefix+"$i"

$VMName = $VMNamePrefix+"$i"

### Creating new vApp ###

New-CIVApp -Name $vAppName -OrgVdc $vCloud_Org

### Deploy the VM from template inside the newly created vApp###

New-CIVM -Name "$VMName" -VMTemplate $templateVM -VApp $vAppName -ComputerName "$VMName"

### Creating new vApp Network ###

New-CIVAppNetwork -VApp $vAppName -Direct -ParentOrgNetwork $orgNetwork

$vAppNetwork = get-civapp $vAppName | Get-CIVAppNetwork $orgNetwork

$cldVMs = get-civapp $vAppName | get-civm

### Connecting the vNIC to the network ###

### Please change the allocation model if required###

foreach ($cldvm in $cldVMs) {

$cldvm | Get-CINetworkAdapter | Set-CINetworkAdapter -vappnetwork $vAppNetwork -IPaddressAllocationMode Pool -Connected $True

}

### Powering on the vApp ###

get-CIVApp -Name $vAppName | Start-CIVApp

}

Disconnect-CIServer $vCloud_Server -Force -Confirm:$false

Steps to find NAA ID of a RDM LUN mapped to a Windows Volume

Added November 26, 2015, By Sreejesh Damodaran with 2 Comments

Scenario:

Customer requested to increase the windows volume T:. The mentioned volume is a RAW LUN located in EMC VMAX storage. To expand the LUN storage team needs NAA ID (or WWN) of the LUN.

Its easy to find the naa id of a LUN from windows Guest OS with the help of EMC’s Inquiry (inq) tool. Please find the steps below to fetch the naa id with inq tool.

Steps:

Download the inq tool to the VM from following hyperlink.
1. inq
Open a CMD window.
1. Go to RUN -> cmd
CD to the directory where inq is downloaded.
Find the device associated to the windows volume T:.
1. Run the command inq -winvol
2. Here the Device name is PHYSICALDRIVE4.
Find the NAA id of the LUN associated to the Device PHYSICALDRIVE4.
1. Run the command inq -wwn
2. You can see that naa id is displayed in WWN column!!!.

To Confirm you can use the following method.

Find virtual device node of the Device.
1. Run the command inq -btl
2. note down the Bus (0) and Tid number (4).
Open VM settings check the NAAID of the disk with Virtual Device Node “0:4”.

Disclaimer :

I have’nt tested it on all windows platforms and tested only with EMC storages. So use at your own risk.

Configure Virtual Machine-FEX with Cisco VIC and Nexus 5K – Part 3

Added April 9, 2014, By Sandeep KA with No Comments

In this final part we discuss on the configuration that needs to be done on vCenter to enable VMFEX.

First step is to install vCenter and login to vCenter as administrator user. Now create a Datacenter where you want to add the hosts which will participate in VM-FEX. In this document, I use the datacenter name DC1.

Configure SVS connection to vCenter

Once the DC is created in vCenter, login to Nexus 5000 Switch using its management IP.

Before starting this configuration, make sure that the Nexus switch management ip is reachable by vCenter server. Following is an example on SVS connection creation.

1. configure
2. svs connection <svs connection name>
3. protocol vmware-vim
4. vmware dvs datacenter-name <vCenter datacenter name>
5. dvs-name <vCenter DVS name>
6. remote ip address <vCenterServer IP> port <vCenter Port> vrf management
7. install certificate default
8. extention-key cisco_nexus_fex

Example screenshot:
Continue reading →

Configure Virtual Machine-FEX with Cisco VIC and Nexus 5K – Part 2

Added April 9, 2014, By Sandeep KA with No Comments

Once the configuration on Cisco VIC adapter is done, we need to do certain configuration settings on Nexus switch to enable VM-FEX. In this section we discuss more on the configuration settings that needs to be done specifically on on Nexus 5000 Series switch to enable VM-FEX. We also discuss on settings that needs to be done on ESXi to enable VMFEX.

A VM-FEX license is required for Cisco Nexus device. The license package name is VMFEX_ FEATURE_PKG. Incase if you are just interested in experimenting with this cool feature, a grace period of 120 days starts when you first configure this feature.

We have to do the following configuration on Nexus 5000 switch:

Enable VM-FEX and other related services
Define port profiles for dynamic Virtual Machine ports
Enable vntag on applicable ports
Install Cisco_nexus_vmfex plugin in vCenter
Configure SVS connection to vCenter
Activate and verify the SVS connection

Continue reading →

Configure Virtual Machine-FEX with Cisco VIC and Nexus 5K – Part 1

Added April 9, 2014, By Sandeep KA with No Comments

Sick and tired of managing physical and virtual network for your data center from different management interfaces? VMFEX is Cisco’s answer to your problem. Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology extends cisco’s fabric extender technology to virtual machines. In simpler words, with VMFEX you will be able to manage both physical and virtual network ports from your Nexus 5000.

The objective of this article is to help users setup a VMFEX solution very easily in their virtualized environment with Cisco Rack Servers. This document has been divided into 3 parts.

Part 1: Introduction and VIC configurations

Part2: Nexus 5000 configuration

Part 3: ESXi and vCenter configuration
Continue reading →

VMware vEXPERT 2014!!

Added April 3, 2014, By Sreejesh Damodaran with No Comments

On Monday VMware announced the complete list of vExpert 2014. This year 754 people were named as vExpert. I am one among them!! humbled!!.

For those unknown with the term: “vExpert” is not a technical certification or a general measure of VMware expertise. The annual VMware vExpert title is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past year. The title is awarded to individuals (not employers) for their commitment to sharing their knowledge and passion for VMware technology above and beyond their job requirements. Here is the complete list of vExperts 2014.

If you feel you have contributed to the VMware community and did not apply for vExpert, good news.. the Q2 applications are already open at http://www.jotformpro.com/form/40285638168967. Good luck!