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5.1

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 (vCSA) Limitations

One of my favorite developments by VMware is the vCenter Server Virtual Appliance (vCSA) as I want to get rid of as much Windows Machines as possible in my environments. It also simplifies the administration because you do not to have to configure and patch another operating system. Unfortunately the vCSA is really rare in a production environment. In my opinion this is caused by the fact that the vCenter Server Appliance always has some limitations, which are often not completely understood.

Here are the limitations from the current version of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1:Read More »VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.1 (vCSA) Limitations

Free Active Directory for your VMware Lab using Samba 4 (UCS 3.1)

Are you looking for a free alternative for a Windows based Active Directory controller? The recently published version 4 allows Samba to be an Active Directory domain controller, participating fully in a Windows Active Directory Domain. This is a great replacement for a Windows based AD Controller if you want to use Active Directory features in your Lab.

With the new release of the Univention Corporate Server 3.1 (UCS) you can deploy your Samba 4 Controller in a few minutes. The quickest way is to use the preinstalled VMware Images.Read More »Free Active Directory for your VMware Lab using Samba 4 (UCS 3.1)

VMware Hands-on Labs Revolutionized Online Learning - Project NEE

With their new project called VMware Labs Project NEE VMware is on its way to revolutionize online learning. Project NEE (Next-Generation Education Environment) is a platform where you can perform live labs on real virtual machines running in the cloud. A few days ago VMware announced that the Public Beta is now open and i am really happy to be part of it.

What is Project NEE and how does it work?Read More »VMware Hands-on Labs Revolutionized Online Learning - Project NEE

StackOverflowException with Update Manager PowerCLI and WMF v3

While doing some patchmanagement I faced an issue with the current Windows Management Framework 3.0 (WMF) and the VMware vSphere Update Manager PowerCLI 5.1. Everytime when i invoked one of the VMware.VumAutomation cmdlets the PowerShell crashed with an StackOverflowException:

Process is terminated due to StackOverflowException.

I couldn't locate the root cause, so i started to narrow down the problem with different operating system. After testing various systems i noticed that the problem only appears on Windows 7 Systems with WMF3 installed manually and Windows 8 Systems where WMF3 is installed by default.Read More »StackOverflowException with Update Manager PowerCLI and WMF v3

vSphere Health Check Report with ESXi 5.x (Minimum Permissions)

If you are using VMware vSphere Health Check Report v5.0.2 by William Lam in your environment you might get incomplete reports after upgrading to vSphere 5.x. This applies only when you use the script with minimal privileges set. The report is broken (missing VM and Host information) and running the script with --debug 1 throws an error message.Read More »vSphere Health Check Report with ESXi 5.x (Minimum Permissions)

Getting Started with PowerCLI 5.1 and PowerShell 3.0

In this post i am going to give a quick startup guide to the new version of PowerCLI 5.1 with the Windows Management Framework 3.0, which is available with Windows 8. Both are recently published releases of the great PowerShell scripting engine that every VMware admin should know. First i am going to give a quick guide how to set up and configure your environment. Later i am going to show the new features of PowerCLI 5.1 and PowerShell 3.0.Read More »Getting Started with PowerCLI 5.1 and PowerShell 3.0

vSphere 5.1 - Issues and Limitations you need to know

[Last Update: 8. Jan 2013]

VMware vSphere 5.1 is now global available since about one week. It's time to wrap up the issues and limitations you should know if you are planning to upgrade your environment. I am tracking all of this issues and will report if there are any changes. Please subscribe if you want to get notified.Read More »vSphere 5.1 - Issues and Limitations you need to know

Homelab Upgrade – 16GB Memory with HP N40L Microserver

There have been many rumors about the N40L supporting 8GB modules which enables the server to use up to 16GB of memory. This would be a great enhancement, especially with the new vSphere 5.1 where many appliances require more physical memory.  First of all, the 8GB modules are not supported by HP so upgrade at your own risk.

I picked together all the modules that have been successfully tested with the HP N40L MicroServer:Read More »Homelab Upgrade – 16GB Memory with HP N40L Microserver