Eric Sloof

This demo shows vSphere Profile-Driven Storage, a feature in vSphere that allows rapid and intelligent provisioning of applications, while ensuring application service levels match the available storage. For more information click here.

In vSphere 5.0, VMware releases a new software storage appliance called the vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA). This appliance provides an alternative storage solution for customers who lack the in-house technical resources or budget for shared VI storage using a SAN or NAS array so that customers can exploit the unique features available in vSphere, such as vSphere HA, vMotion and vSphere DRS. This demo shows the installation and configuration of VSA and 2 scenarios that demonstrate resilience capability. For more information click here.

During the past weeks I’ve been working very hard to create cool articles regarding the release of VMware’s new flagship vSphere 5. Since I was asked to participate in the beta program, I had a great opportunity to record a lot of video material prior to the official release. According to the number of unique visitors (3000+ a day) at ntpro.nl during the month of July (a vacation month) there were some good vSphere 5 articles posted. I’ve created a list with my complete vSphere 5 coverage. 

vSphere 5 Video - ESXi Firewall Configuration
vSphere 5 Video - iSCSI User Interface support
vSphere 5 Video – The vSphere Web Client
What's New in VMware vSphere 5 - Technical Whitepapers
vSphere 5 Video - Storage DRS
What's New in VMware vCloud Director 1.5
vSphere 5 – New Training Courses: What's New [V5.0] and VCP5
vSphere 5 video - Migrating from ESX 4.1 to ESXi 5.0
What's New in VMware vShield 5
vSphere 5 Video - EFI the Extensible Firmware Interface
vSphere 5 What's New - Profile Driven Storage
vSphere 5 What's New - High Availability (HA)
vSphere 5 What's New - Image Builder and Auto Deploy
vSphere 5 What's New - Storage Appliance (VSA)
vSphere 5 What's New - Storage DRS
New Book - VMware vSphere 5.0 Clustering Technical Deepdive (video)
What's New in VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5

ESXi includes a firewall between the management interface and the network. To ensure the integrity of the host, VMware has reduced the number of firewall ports that are open by default. The ESXi firewall is enabled by default. At installation time, the firewall is configured to block incoming and outgoing traffic, except traffic for the default services. The firewall also allows Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) pings and communication with DHCP and DNS (UDP only) clients.

From the host Security Profile panel, you can configure firewall properties for this host. The Secuirty Profile panel lists the incoming and outgoing connections for the firewall and the port each service uses. The panel also displays the IP addresses that are allowed to connect for each service. You can modify the list of services and the allowed IP addresses for each service.

You can add supported services and management agents that are required to operate the host by adding ruleset files to the ESXi firewall configuration file directory /etc/vmware/firewall/. You open or close ports for these services by enabling or disabling the service on the host's security profile in the vSphere Client.