Eric Sloof

VMware Hyper-Converged Software transforms industry-standard x86 servers and directly attached storage into radically simple Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) to help eliminate high IT costs, management complexity, and performance limitations. VMware Hyper-Converged Software enables the lowest cost and highest performance HCI solutions available. The tightly integrated software stack includes VMware vSphere, the market-leading hypervisor; VMware Virtual SAN, radically simple, enterprise-class native storage; and VMware vCenter Server, a unified and extensible management solution.

Virtual SAN is natively integrated with vSphere and it is configured with just a few mouse clicks. Since disks internal to the vSphere hosts are used to create a Virtual SAN datastore, there is no dependency on external shared storage. Virtual machines can be assigned specific storage policies based on the needs of the applications. These workloads benefit from dependable shared storage with predictable performance and availability characteristics.

The new release of Virtual SAN, version 6.2, further reduces TCO by delivering up to 10x greater storage efficiency. Virtual SAN 6.2 is optimized for modern all-flash storage, delivering efficient near-line deduplication, compression, and erasure coding capabilities that enable high performance all-flash systems for as low as $1 per GB of usable capacity—up to 50% less than the cost of lower-performing hybrid solutions from the leading competition.

In this publication we will describe all the relevant procedures for Day 2 operations for Virtual SAN 6.2. We aim to update this material on an on-going basis, and we will incorporate any feedback and or requests we get as soon as possible. If you have any comments, feedback or simply have spotted a mistake or a type, make sure to click the grey "+" sign on the right side of the respective paragraph. We aim to make fixes within 48 hours.

For those who prefer reading this publication using an e-reader we have the following formats available:

PDF - Virtual SAN 6.2 Ops Guide
ePUB - Virtual SAN 6.2 Ops Guide
Mobi - Virtual SAN 6.2 Ops Guide

VMware Horizon Toolbox is a Web portal that acts as an extension to View Administrator in View virtual desktops in VMware Horizon 6. With the Horizon Toolbox, you can determine the correct system size and load for View Connection Server, locate each user’s login and logout times, and find out how many endpoints are using which clients, for example, iOS, Android, Windows, or OS X. Use the VMware Horizon Toolbox Web portal to address auditing and management assistance issues.



If you have VMware Horizon Enterprise Edition with VMware vRealize Operations for Horizon, you can already audit sessions and usage. If you have Horizon View Standard Edition or Horizon Advanced Edition (which do not contain vRealize Operations for Horizon), you can use the Horizon Toolbox to audit sessions and usage. Horizon Toolbox has some additional functionality that vRealize Operations for Horizon does not provide like:

• Client (device) auditing
• Snapshot auditing
• Remote assistance

The VMware esxtop tool provides a real-time view (updated every five seconds, by default) of ESXi Server worlds. The term world refers to processes running on the VMkernel. 

Andreas Lesslhumer over at running-system.com has released a great vSphere 6 toubleshooting resource, it's a poster shwoing all the esxtop information and their best practice values. You can get your copy here.

VMware Workspace ONE is the simple and secure enterprise platform that delivers and manages any app on any smartphone, tablet, or laptop. It begins with consumer grade self-service, singlesign on access to cloud, mobile, and Windows apps and includes powerfully integrated email, calendar, file and social collaboration tools that engage employees.

Meanwhile, employees are put in the driver’s seat to choose their own devices and the weight of management necessary to drive the adoption of BYOD programs including a combination of VMware Identity Manager and AirWatch Enterprise Mobility Management to enforce fine-grained, risk-based conditional access policies.

Finally, Workspace ONE ruthlessly automates traditional onboarding, laptop and mobile device configuration, and delivers real-time application lifecycle management that bridges between legacy enterprise client-server apps to the mobile-cloud era.

The "VMware Certified Professional 6 - Data Center Virtualization" (VCP6-DCV) exam is one of the most popular and recognized certifications in the industry. Becoming certified not only increases your knowledge of VMware Vsphere, but also improves your credibility to your organization.

SimpliVity has teamed up with Vladan SEGET to bring you an all-inclusive study guide for your VCP6-DCV certification exam based on the latest VMware VCP6-DCV blueprint.

Download your study guide today and learn how to manage and operate virtual technologies such as:

• vSphere HA and DRS Clusters
• Storage virtualization using VMFS
• Storage DRS and Storage I/O Control
• Network virtualization using vSphere standard and distributed switches and Network I/O Control
• vSphere management using vCenter Server and vRealize Operations Manager Standard Virtual Machines

VMware vRealize Operations Manager for Operators is for data center operators who are responsible for the day-to-day operation of a VMware vSphere® environment.

This two-day course teaches the operator how to use VMware vRealize Operations Manager as a forensic and predictive tool. The course is based on VMware ESXi 5.x, VMware vCenter Server 5.x, and vRealize Operations Manager 6.0.

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

• Navigate the vRealize Operations Manager user interface
• Use views and reports to gather information about the environment
• Use alerts and analysis badges to troubleshoot common vSphere operational issues
• Monitor capacity risk and infrastructure utilization
• Create logical groups of objects in the environment
• Configure policies to meet the operational needs of the environment

The vSphere SDK for JavaScript enables programmatic access to various vSphere-related Web Service APIs and supports both browser and Node.js environments. It provides basic usage samples for the following product APIs:

• ESXi 5.5+
• Site Recovery Manager 6.0
• vCenter Server 5.5+
• vCenter Single Sign-On Server 6.0

The SDK relies on the target service metadata for API generation and type validation. It provides optimal performance by using smart caching and on-demand interface generation.

The implementation is version-agnostic but the provided API reference and TypeScript definitions are fully compatible only with the latest product releases.

The SDK has been used by the new ESXi Host Client.

This free e-book is written by @roie9876 @stretchcloud @michaelahaines  @vConsultant  and Ajit Sharma

Server virtualization has been accepted well in our IT industry over the past decade. As a result, we have seen a completely new way of provisioning and managing workloads in the data center. This concept of server virtualization saved businesses from spending billions of dollars.


However, the way these workloads are connected to the network has not been so agile. The solution that every one is now looking at is to virtualize the network. Because when you virtualize the network layer, it abstracts the physical network and simplifies the provisioning and consumption of networking moving forward. In addition to this, security services are built-in, and do not require purpose-built hardware, and can scale as the network expands.

NSX for vSphere removes the operational barrier the network has become for IT. Programmatic provisioning transforms service delivery times from weeks to a matter of minutes. NSX for vSphere does not change the laws of physics, packets do not move faster through the network. NSX for vSphere transforms the operational model of networking, which combined with compute and storage virtualization delivers never before possible IT speed and agility for the business.

Download the book

VMware vSphere is all the components and operating system that comes together to make VMware’s enterprise virtualization platform unique. When running enterprise-driven application workloads, the VMware vSphere family has become a preference of many developers. The vSphere platform is designed to work with numerous servers and infrastructure core components to create virtualized platforms and/or a complete cloud computing fabrics.

This book will guide you through tuning, tweaking, and optimizing vSphere in order to improve the performance of your systems. It will also help you identify and fix common performance bottlenecks.

Starting with planning high-performance infrastructure setups, the book covers the core concepts of cluster setups such as resource pools, DRS, and availability options, along with CPU virtualization concepts. Next, it covers the management of physical and virtual memory mechanisms, swapping, and ballooning.

Moving on, you’ll get an understanding of how vCenter Server can assist you with recognizing performance issues, and how to utilize advanced technologies such as Storage I/O Control and vSphere Flash Read Cache to tune storage resources. Next, you’ll learn to implement a reliable and high-performance network for virtual infrastructures.

Finally, the book shows you how esxtop and resxtop can provide advanced metrics to detect 

VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference, Automating vSphere Administration, 2nd Edition is a one-stop solution for vSphere automation. Fully updated to align with the latest vSphere and PowerCLI release, this detailed guide shows you how to get the most out of PowerCLI's handy cmdlets using real-world examples and a practical, task-based approach.


You'll learn how to store, access, update, back up, and secure massive amounts of data quickly through the power of virtualization automation, and you'll get acquainted with PowerCLI as you learn how to automate management, monitoring, and life-cycle operations for vSphere.


Coverage includes areas like the PowerCLI SDK, SRM, vCOPS, and vCloud Air. Plus guidance toward scheduling and viewing automation, using DevOps methodology and structured testing and source control of your PowerCLI scripts. Clear language and detailed explanations make this reference the manual you've been looking for.

This book is your complete reference for managing vSphere in a Windows environment, with expert instruction and real-world application.

• Automate vCenter Server deployment and configuration
• Create and configure virtual machines, and utilize vApps
• Monitor, audit, and report the status of your vSphere environment
• Secure, back up, and restore your virtual machines
• Work with other vSphere components from your PowerCLI scripts
• Take control of your PowerCLI scripts through versioning and structured testing

Don't spend another day slogging through routine systems management — automate it, with this invaluable guide.