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vCenter Service Appliance 6.7 Tips and Tricks

VMware is moving their vCenter Server from Windows to the Linux based Photon OS. The following tips and tricks might come handy when working with the vCenter Service Appliance 6.7:

  • Enable SSH
  • File Transfer with SCP/SFTP
  • Public Key Authentication
  • Disable or Increase Shell Session Timeout
  • Password expiration
  • Reset vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 root password
  • Create a Backup Job
  • Certificate Warning

Read More »vCenter Service Appliance 6.7 Tips and Tricks

What's inside VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 3

VMware has released vSphere 6.0 Update 3. That update only contains minor changes, no noteworthy new features have been added. Together with 6.0 U3, the following product updates were released today:

If you want to get notified about updates and new products, subscribe to my vTracker RSS Feed.Read More »What's inside VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 3

How to add AD Authentication in vCenter 6.5/6.7

The vCenter Server has an internal user database that allows you to add and manage users with the vSphere Web Client. Users management and Single Sign-On is provided by the Platform Service Controller which is available since vSphere 6.0. In a large environment, you might want to connect your virtualization infrastructure to a centrally manage Active Directory.

This article explains how to add AD authentication in vSphere 6.5 and how to get the "Use Windows session authentication" checkbox to work with the enhanced authentication plugin. This works for both, the vCenter Server 6.5 installed on a Windows Server and the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA).

Read More »How to add AD Authentication in vCenter 6.5/6.7

How to Join the vCSA 6.5/6.7 to an Active Directory Domain

In vSphere 6.5 the underlying operating system from the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) has been changed to VMwares PhotonOS. With the new OS, you can still join an Active Directory domain to comply with company policies, or if you want to use windows session authentication. Joining an Active Directory domain is included in the infrastructure node configuration which is part of the Platform Services Controller. Please verify standard AD requirements like time synchronization and naming prior to joining a domain.

If you want to log in with the "Windows session authentication" checkbox, you have to add the appliance running the Platform Services Controller (PSC) to the domain. For embedded deployments, join the appliance running both, the vCenter and the PSC to the domain.

Read More »How to Join the vCSA 6.5/6.7 to an Active Directory Domain

vSphere 6.5 Component Password Recovery (vCenter, SSO and ESXi)

Everyone knows the situation where you can't log into a system because you have forgotten the password. The following article explains how to reset the password and regain access to VMware vSphere 6.5 core components including vCenter, SSO and ESXi Hosts.

  • Reset vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 root password
  • Reset SSO Administrator Password (vCenter Server Appliance 6.5)
  • Reset ESXi root password with Host Profiles
  • Gain Administrative ESXi access with an Active Directory
  • Reset ESXi root password (Linux Live CD)

Read More »vSphere 6.5 Component Password Recovery (vCenter, SSO and ESXi)

Resilient vSphere 6.0 PSC deployment without Load Balancer

With vSphere 6.0 VMware has separated their vCenter Server into two components - vCenter Server and Platform Services Controller. They also created a list of topologies they recommend  for deployments. The deployment they recommend for high availability includes an External Load Balancer where vCenter Servers are pointed to. An alternate solution is to have multiple Platform Services Controllers and vCenters pointed directly to them. There is no need to have one PSC for each vCenter. Each PSC can manage up to 4 vCenters, so with 2 PSC you can manage 8 vCenters, with 3 you can manage 10 vCenters, which is the configuration maximum at the moment.

psc-deployment-with-or-without-loadbalancer

Platform Services Controller with or without Loadbalancer?

The solution with a Load Balancer sounds nice, and I'm sure it's operable, but it has some drawbacks:

  • It requires a third-party Load Balancer (Compatible Load Balancers are NSX-v, Citrix NetScaler and F5 Network Big-IP)
  • Configuration is complex
  • Troubleshooting is even complexer
  • Does not scale (1 PSC can handle 4 vCenters, with a Load Balancer (which is used for redundancy) 2 PSC are required to handle 4 vCenters)

Read More »Resilient vSphere 6.0 PSC deployment without Load Balancer

What's inside VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 2

VMware has just released vSphere 6.0 Update 2. Together with the Updates, the following product updates were released today:

If you want to get notified about new products, subscribe to my vTracker RSS Feed.

Read More »What's inside VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 2

How to create custom vCenter Alarms from Events

In my last article I've created a custom vCenter alert with a special event trigger. I've received a question about how to figure out the trigger event string to be used for creating alarms.

The vSphere Client shows the following error event:vcenter-event

To create an alarm based on this event, you have to create a new alarm and use the following event trigger: com.vmware.vc.vsan.RogueHostFoundEvent
alarm-trigger-RogueHostFoundEvent

Read More »How to create custom vCenter Alarms from Events

VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 3 Released

VMware has just released vSphere 5.5 Update 3. Together with the Updates, the following products were released today:

If you want to get notified about new products, subscribe to my vTracker RSS Feed.

Read More »VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 3 Released