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February 2015

How to add AD Authentication in vCenter 6.0 (Platform Service Controller)

Platform Service Controller is a new component in vSphere 6.0. The PSC contains all the services that vCenter needs for its functions including Single Sign-On (SSO). This post describes how to configure AD authentication in vCenter Server 6.0.

The method shown in this post allows you to manage users and groups in your central directory. This works for both, the vCenter Server 6.0 installed on Windows Server and the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA).vsphere60-login-screen

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VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 (vCSA) Enhancements

vCenter Server Virtual Appliance (vCSA) is still very rare in a production environment. This hasn't changed much with the enhancements in vSphere 5.5 where the embedded database scalability has been lifted. VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 does now support up to 1000 ESXi Hosts and 10.000 Virtual Machines with the embedded Postgres database. I hope i can deploy more vCenter Linux Appliances in the future.Read More »VMware vCenter Server Appliance 6.0 (vCSA) Enhancements

VMware vSphere 6.0 vMotion Enhancements

vMotion Across Virtual Switchesvsphere6-cross-vswitch-vmotion
With vSphere 6.0 you can migrate Virtual Machines across virtual switches. The new vMotion workflow allows you to choose the destination network which can be on a vSwitch or vDS. This feature eliminates the need to span virtual switches across two locations. Nevertheless you still have to span the subnet between both locations because vMotion does not change the IP address.

The new workflow is integrated to the migration process in the vSphere Web Client. After selecting the compute resource and optionally storage, you can select a new destination network for each VM network adapter.Read More »VMware vSphere 6.0 vMotion Enhancements

VMware vSphere 6.0 Web Client Enhancements

The vSphere Web Client within the 6.0 release has been improved in performance and usability. Previous versions of the vSphere Web Client which has been introduced with vSphere 5.1 have been panned by many admins. VMware has listened to the folks and addressed the most heard complaints. This post introduces and compares the enhancements. I've also done a speed analysis to point out where the performance has been improved.Read More »VMware vSphere 6.0 Web Client Enhancements

vSphere Data Protection (VDP) Troubleshooting Commands

vdp-vsphere-data-protectionIf the VMware vSphere Data Protection (VDP) appliance has a problem, the GUI might not give enough information to resolve the issue. The command-line also gives you useful information that are not visible in the vSphere Web Client.

This post describes commands I use frequently to troubleshoot VDP appliances or gather additional information like capacity reports.

You have to connect to the VDP appliance with SSH as root (password was set during initial configuration)

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