Eric Sloof

Although Expandable Reservations are enabled by default on a resource pool, it doesn’t mean that they should stay enabled in every situation. In this white boarding session I’ll show what the hidden danger of using expandable reservations can lead to. The system considers the resources available in the selected resource pool and its direct parent resource pool. If the parent resource pool also has the Expandable Reservation option selected, it can borrow resources from its parent resource pool. Borrowing resources occurs recursively from the ancestors of the current resource pool as long as the Expandable Reservation option is selected. Leaving this option selected offers more flexibility, but, at the same time provides less protection. A child resource pool owner might reserve more resources than you anticipate.

In the release of VMware vSphere 5.0, VMware also released a new software storage appliance called the VMware vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA). VMware VSA provides an alternative shared storage solution to our Small to Medium Business (SMB) customers who might not be in a position to purchase a Storage Area Network (SAN) or Network-Attached Storage (NAS) array for their virtual infrastructure. Without shared storage configured in a vSphere environment, customers have not been able to exploit the unique features available in vSphere 5.0, such as vSphere High Availability (HA), vSphere, vMotion and vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). The VSA is designed to provide “Shared Storage for Everyone”.

VMware vSphere Storage Appliance Technical Deep Dive.pdf

You can use folders to group objects of the same type for easier management. For example, you can use folders to set permissions on a group of objects, to set alarms on a group of objects, or to organize objects in a meaningful way. A folder can contain other folders, or a group of objects of the same type. For example, a single folder can contain virtual machines and another folder containing virtual machines, but it cannot contain hosts and a folder containing virtual machines.

Resource pools allow you to delegate control over resources of a host (or a cluster), but the benefits are evident when you use resource pools to compartmentalize all resources in a cluster. Create multiple resource pools as direct children of the host or cluster and configure them. You can then delegate control over the resource pools
to other individuals or organizations.

In vSphere, the inventory is a collection of virtual and physical objects on which you can place permissions, monitor tasks and events, and set alarms. You can group most inventory objects by using folders to more easily manage them.

What’s an e1000?

The e1000 is the Intel 82545EM Gigabit Ethernet Controller. VMware offers an emulated version of this controller. Most operating systems are shipped with a 82545EM driver. The 82545EM driver sucks! That’s why Intel replaced it with e1000e aka 82574L

What’s an e1000e?

The e1000e is the Intel 82574L Gigabit Ethernet Controller. In vSphere 5 (HW8), VMware offers an emulated version of the e1000e. Windows 7 and Windows 2008 are shipped with drivers for the 82574L. The 82574L is cool, but is it faster than an VMXNET3?

What’s VMXNET3?

The VMXNET3 adapter is the next generation of Para virtualized NIC designed for performance. The VMXNET3 network adapter is a 10Gb virtual NIC. Drivers are shipped with the VMware tools and most OS are supported. VMXNET3 is much faster than e1000 or e1000e. VMXNET3 has less CPU overhead compared to e1000 or e1000e. VMXNET3 is more stable than e1000 or e1000e

VLANs can be configured at the port group level. The ESXi host provides VLAN support through virtual switch tagging, which is provided by giving a port group a VLAN ID (by default, a VLAN ID is optional). The VMkernel then takes care of all tagging and untagging as the packets pass through the virtual switch.

I’ve created this white boarding session on my new Sketch Design Tablet which came with an awesome sketching tool called Artweaver.

VMware is about to launch a new course. It’s the long awaited SRM 5 training which will be most likely available in the first quarter of 2012. This new 3 day training course replaces the current 1.0 version which is a very welcome update. SRM 5 is still in beta, but there’s a datasheet available at this link.

SRM 5 Beta.pdf

This three-day, hands-on training course equips experienced VMware vSphere administrators with the knowledge to install, configure, and manage VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5.0. This course also equips vSphere administrators with the knowledge to assist in disaster planning and to test disaster recovery plans with SRM. At the end of the course, you should gain an understanding of the functionality in SRM 5.0 and be able to do the following:

•  Install SRM 5.0
•  Configure placeholder datastores
•  Configure inventory mappings in SRM
•  Configure datastore mappings
•  Replicate virtual machines using physical couriering
•  Configure vSphere replication-based protection groups in SRM
•  Create, edit, execute, test, and remove a recovery plan in SRM
•  Reprotect virtual machines
•  Configure SRM alarms
•  Troubleshoot SRM problems

http://www.vmware.com/products/site-recovery-manager/