New Certification - VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Desktop Administration (VCAP-DTA)

VMware has released a new exam, the VCAP-DTA certification validates your advanced proficiency with deploying, administering, and troubleshooting large-scale, production ready, virtual desktop infrastructures that enable workforce mobility. It also demonstrates your ability to: 

Install and manage highly-available and recoverable Horizon View environmentsEstablish policies and settings for a secure virtualized infrastructure Troubleshoot configuration and performance issue in complex Horizon View environments 

VCAP-DTA Links:

Program OverviewExam BlueprintVCAP CommunityHorizon View Instructional VideosExam Registration

Free e-learning course - Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange 2013 on VMware vSphere 5 Fundamentals

This self paced free eLearning course illustrates why organizations need to consider virtualizing Exchange 2013 on VMware vSphere. This course focuses on Exchange design prerequisites and considerations, when virtualizing Exchange 2013.

It also describes design, sizing, and implementation guidelines and best practices, that should be followed as part of a structured design and implementation methodology.

The course consists of three modules:

Introduction to Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange 2013 provides an overview of the challenges that organizations typically face when deploying Microsoft Exchange 2013 on physical hardware, and how these challenges can be addressed by virtualizing Exchange on VMware vSphere. This module also describes the benefits that organizations can realize by virtualizing Exchange 2013 on the vSphere platform.Designing the Virtualized Exchange Environment evaluates the prerequisites for designing an Exchange 2013 solution when deployed in a virtualized environment. This module also covers the design considerations and guidelines for designing and sizing Exchange 2013 on vSphere.Implementing the Virtualized Exchange Solution covers various implementation options that should be considered when virtualizing Exchange 2013 on the vSphere platform. This module also discusses several implementation considerations that should be factored into an Exchange 2013 design. Finally, this module discusses how to monitor and test the performance of Exchange 2013 on VMware vSphere.

Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange 2013 on VMware vSphere [V5.X] Fundamentals

Don’t be held hostage by the IT expert

What happens when IT changes direction or reorganizes and an expert suddenly feels threatened? If an organization has relied heavily on a particular individual, can he hold it hostage?
Every IT department has its technical experts--whether their specialty is data base, communications, or a particular application or system that is unique.

Over time, these individuals hone their skills to make them "one of a kind" problem solvers and also consummate advisers on new IT projects.

These individuals often develop their technical skills because early in their IT careers, they recognize that they don't have a taste for management--so they must find some other way to advance themselves and their earning potential.

The best of these experts is a six-figure/year employee--who can even out-earn his manager.

What happens, though, when IT changes direction or reorganizes and an expert suddenly feels threatened? If an organization has relied heavily on a particular individual, can he hold it hostage? And if he does, what do you do?

First, the best antidote to any situation like this is to have an open, supportive and communicative culture in your organization. When an organization is in the midst of layoffs and constant closed-door meetings, no one, even the most experienced technical people, feels secure. If they are far away from management, they are also likely to feel that their knowledge is all that they have to protect themselves from being pushed out the door. Consequently, even if you are an IT manager who is faced with having to reduce staff, do it as openly as you can and also provide career placement (or even in-company transfer) support to those affected.

Second, management and staff succession planning should be part of your disaster recovery plan's risk management for critical employees who become unavailable. A system of cross training and "understudy" education to ensure that you have backups for all IT positions—including the CIO—facilitates this. If cross-training and understudy activities are integrally part of your everyday practices and they are uniformly applied to the CIO on down, there is likely to be less staff anxiety.

Third, learn how to "bite the bullet" when a key IT contributor becomes uncooperative and protective of his knowledge base. This lack of cooperation can affect department work. NO ONE, including the CIO, should obstruct getting the work out that IT is responsible for.

Some years ago, I was managing a mission-critical project that entailed the development of an online stock trading system. I needed the services of a transaction processing expert for the system software we were running applications on. The individual I wanted for the project was absolutely brilliant in her field—but she proved to be uncooperative and unwilling to work on the project. I didn't wait around. Instead, I brought in a much more junior person for the project. We got the work done that was needed, although it took longer. Nevertheless, the project was successful, the junior person learned valuable skills that would be used again--and we had avoided being "held hostage" by an uncooperative employee.

When I talk with CIOs, it always surprises me how few include contingency planning for critical technical personnel in their DR plans. Instead, personnel contingency plans focus on replacements for management people in the event they become unavailable in a disaster. The reality is that key technical contributors are just as important as managers--and sometimes more so--when it comes down to the IT work that must be done.

"We changed our IT culture significantly to one of service, and we realigned departments within our organization several years ago," said one financial services CIO. "The process was necessary, but in reorganizing, I also knew that I was risking losing key technical contributors who didn't want to be part of a cross-disciplinary service culture, but who instead preferred to operate in their traditional technical expertise silos."

The CIO's worst fears came true when several of his top six-figure experts opted to leave for other companies that had organizations that they were more comfortable with.

What was the CIO's saving grace?

"I had anticipated and included the loss of key technical contributors in my risk management strategy, had discussed it with my management and had obtained their buyoff. I was ready to move in with a temporary staff of outside IT consultants until we could rehire for the positions," he said.

Today, the organization is back on its feet with a strong in-house IT staff, and a new service orientation that is taking it to new heights

Original Post:
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VMware NSX Network Virtualization Design Guide

IT organizations have gained significant benefits as a direct result of server virtualization. Server consolidation reduced physical complexity, increased operational efficiency, and the ability to dynamically re-purpose underlying resources to quickly and optimally meet the needs of increasingly dynamic business applications are just a handful of the gains that have already been realized.

Now, VMware's Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) architecture is extending virtualization technologies across the entire physical data center infrastructure. VMware NSX, the network virtualization platform is a key product in the SDDC architecture. With NSX, virtualization now delivers for networking what it has already delivered for compute and storage.

In much the same way that server virtualization programmatically creates, snapshots, deletes and restores software-based virtual machines (VMs), NSX network virtualization programmatically creates, snapshots, deletes, and restores software-based virtual networks. The result is a completely transformative approach to networking that not only enables data center managers to achieve orders of magnitude better agility and economics, but also allows for a vastly simplified operational model for the underlying physical network.

With the ability to be deployed on any IP network, including both existing traditional networking models and next generation fabric architectures from any vendor, NSX is a completely non-disruptive solution. In fact, with NSX, the physical network infrastructure you already have is all you need to deploy a software defined data center. 

Download the VMware NSX Network Virtualization Design Guide.

This document is targeted toward virtualization and network architects interested in deploying VMware network virtualization solutions.

Free e-learning course - VMware ThinApp Fundamentals

ThinApp Fundamentals is a free e-learning self-paced course that provides you with an overview of VMware ThinApp features and concepts, technical requirements and installation steps, and how to use the ThinApp Setup Capture wizard to virtualize applications. You will also learn how to deploy VMware ThinApp applications to end users as well as learn basic troubleshooting techniques.

The course consists of four modules:

1) VMware ThinApp Features and Concepts focuses on The App's features and benefits, the ThinApp architecture, and common use cases.
2) Capturing Applications discusses the technical requirements and steps for installing ThinApp and how to use the ThinApp Setup Capture wizard to virtualize applications.
3) Deploying and Updating Applications provides an overview of how to test, deploy, and update ThinApp virtual applications.
4) Basic Troubleshooting covers common issues that may occur when using ThinApp virtual applications and troubleshooting tools and recommendations.

Register here 

#BBMme - Pin: 7495AED4

It's been many (many) years since I had a blackberry, but here we go again with the BBM :)

Hit me up with the following info:

PIN: 7495AED4
www.pin.bbm.com/7495AED4

Hello from HP…

I'd like to announce that today was my first day as a Solutions Architect for Hewlett-Packard.  I will be covering both Manitoba / Saskatchewan and I couldn't be more excited to start on this journey with HP.  I look forward to working with both the sales and pre-sales teams of HP, all of the HP partners in both provinces, as well as current (and future) HP customers.

I am not sure what this role will mean for this blog (I may start something more HP centric), but stay tuned I will let you know what's coming very soon.

I'd also like to take this chance to say goodbye to Simon Gadd, Tom Pearce and the staff at ESTI.  I enjoyed working with them tremendously and wish them all the best in the future.

Mike Yallits

Solutions Architect Enterprise Group

Mike.Yallits@hp.com

Free e-learning course - VMware Horizon Workspace Fundamentals

Horizon Workspace Fundamentals free eLearning course will provide you with a fundamental understanding of how to install, configure, and use VMware Horizon Workspace.

In Module 1, you will learn how VMware Horizon Workspace works, the key industry challenges it solves, and you are provided with an overview of the Horizon Workspace end user interface and the Administrator Web interface. 

In Module 2, you will learn about the Horizon Workspace architecture and components. In Module 3, you will learn the main Horizon Workspace installation and configuration tasks.

In Module 4, you will learn how to access the Horizon Workspace interfaces and how to work with the Administrator Web interface to manage Horizon Workspace modules, users, groups, catalog of resources, policies, reports, and settings.

In Module 5, you will learn how users can sign in from the Horizon Workspace Web client and install Horizon Workspace on the appropriate devices. In addition, you will learn how users access their Horizon Workspace applications and how they use Horizon Files to manage and share their files and folders.

Register for this two hours self paced training course here.

VMware Tools for Nested ESXi – VMware Labs

This VIB package provides a VMware Tools service (vmtoolsd) for running inside a nested ESXi virtual machine. The following capabilities are exposed through VMware Tools:

Provides guest OS information of the nested ESXi Hypervisor (eg. IP address, configured hostname, etc.).
Allows the nested ESXi VM to be cleanly shut down or restarted when performing power operations with the vSphere Web/C# Client or vSphere APIs.

Executes scripts that help automate ESXi guest OS operations when the guest's power state changes.

Supports the Guest Operations API (formally known as the VIX API).

http://labs.vmware.com/flings/vmware-tools-for-nested-esxi#comment-85620



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Free e-learning course - Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 with VMware Fundamentals

This free self paced eLearning course facilitates the avoidance of the pitfalls commonly encountered when experienced VMware vSphere professionals cross the chasm of Tier-1 SQL Server virtualization.

After completing the course, you should be able to: 

Describe how to design and implement SQL Server database on VMware.  Describe how to design for uptime and performance. Discuss how to leverage VMware products and technologies. Discuss various SQL Server licensing scenarios.

The course consists of five modules: 

Introduction to SQL Server Database Virtualization discusses virtualization trends.
This module also covers vSphere performance transparency, customer perceptions, and common objections to virtualization of Microsoft SQL Server.

Physical Stack Fundamentals discusses Microsoft SQL Server licensing concepts.
This module also covers reference architecture of SQL Server database on vSphere. In addition, the module discusses several storage, vSphere host sizing, and networking considerations. 

Virtual Machine Layer Fundamentals discusses how to configure guest Windows OS.
This module also discusses various storage presentation options and compares their pros and cons. Finally, this module discusses how to optimally install SQL Server instance. 

SQL Server Database on vSphere Prototype Project discusses project management and team dynamics of the prototype project.
This module also details techniques for baselining performance and discusses considerations for selection of a viable workload candidate for virtualization prototye. Finally, this module covers the process by which an organization validates the prototype's performance. 

Beyond the Prototype Implementation discusses two disaster recovery architectures.
One with SQL database mirroring and one without SQL database mirroring. This module compares single-instance SQL Server on VMware with MFC-on-vSphere. This module also discusses the logical reference architecture for MFC. This module covers vSphere's security advantages compared to native hardware. Finally, this module reviews some prominent opportunities to apply tooling to optimize every qualitative, operational, and financial aspect of the preproduction lifecycle.

Register Now

Original Post:
http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2519-Free-e-learning-course-Virtualizing-Microsoft-SQL-Server-2012-with-VMware-Fundamentals.html

VMware vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon View 1.5 Deployment Guide

This guide describes the vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon View monitoring solution and how to use it, including useful lab exercises. It includes deployment scenarios for administrators planning to expand their use of vCenter Operations Manager Enterprise to manage Horizon View desktops. This document complements related documents, such as the vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon View Administration and Installation guides. This deployment guide is not, however, a reference architecture guide or a recommendation for third- party products.

This document is designed for information technology professionals, system administrators, and help desk personnel who are responsible for deploying Horizon View virtual desktops in their companies, and who want to expand the use and capacity of their VMware vCenter Operations Manager platform.

Download: VMware vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon View 1.5 Deployment Guide

Mark Your Calendars – VMware’s Online Forum is Back by Popular Demand

Join VMware and industry experts on October 22 from 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. PT, for a free online event to gain insights on how to simplify your IT infrastructure and expand your existing virtualized environment. No matter where you are in your IT journey, bring your questions about virtualization, cloud computing options, and the software-defined data center to chat live with other small and mid-market business IT pros.

Whether you're looking to troubleshoot specific issues, or just looking for more information on how to move your IT infrastructure forward, the Online Forum offers many ways to find solutions to complex IT problems without leaving your office:

Attend live breakout sessions, technical deep dives and discussions to expand your IT knowledge base.Network with VMware experts and other IT pros to hear how your peers are approaching their organizations' IT challenges.Learn about the software-defined data center, and new VMware products and offerings from VMware subject experts.Test out VMware products with no downloading required in our Hands-on Labs. Get a lab up and running in minutes with full technical capabilities, without installing anything new on your existing hardware.Chat live with VMware experts who can answer your questions while you navigate in your online lab.

You have the chance to explore many tracks within the Online Forum, including:

vSphere and vCloud SuiteVirtualization ManagementVirtualization 101Cloud ManagementEnd User ComputingBusiness Continuity/Disaster RecoveryPublic and Hybrid CloudNetworking and StorageVirtualizing ApplicationsTier 1 Applications

Register for the event here and you'll have a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes –

First Prize: Nikon D3100 Digital SLR CameraSecond Prize: iPad MiniThird Prize: Bose-Mini Bluetooth speakers

Also, make sure to earn CloudCred points for the Online VMware Forum competition for additional prize opportunities (contest task 867).

This is one of those Online Forum opportunities that is a true investment of time toward an easier, more agile, datacenter

We encourage you to attend, and invite your fellow IT pros and we'll see you in the Online Forum!

VMware's Small and Mid-Market Business Dedicated Team

Follow VMware SMB on Facebook, Twitter, Spiceworks and Google+ for more blog posts, conversation with your peers, and additional insights on IT issues facing small to midmarket businesses.

vCAP5-DCD: FAIL– Here is what I learnt today

All I have to say is “Wow, that's not even close to what I was expecting!”

First off, time is a real factor:

As I was reading other peoples blogs, they kept mentioning that they finished with only 2 minutes left I just kept thinking to myself I write fast (I do most exams in sub 30 minutes) so this won’t be a problem for me.

I clicked finish with 6 minutes left, and I watched the clock like a hawk once I only had 2 hours remaining and was less than 1/3 done (not a great feeling).

There are 3 Types of Questions:

I knew about the regular pick one / two type of questions and the design style questions but I was quite surprised when I got my first of 17 scenario type questions.  These are drag and drop style where there is a list on the left you have to match up with things on the right based on a scenario / diagram given to you, sounds simple right… wrong!

I found some of these to be harder than the design questions.

What makes these so tough was some times it a 1 to 1 match, some time its a 1 to many match and sometimes you don't have to match everything.  The harder of these seemed to be asking 6 – 8 separate questions all related to the same scenario.

Design questions take a long time:

I spent well over 20 minutes on most of the design questions, and get ready to re-do some of them more than once. 

After spending about 15 minutes on my second design question, I got an adobe error message on my screen and the design engine froze.  I clicked “no” to stopping the script then finally had to call the admin in to reboot my PC.  This ate up about 4 minutes of my time, but when the PC came back up, I had to start the question over again.

On another question, after spending a good 20 minutes on it, I noticed one line that changed the design.  I started trying to drag things to the garbage can, but some of the items “stuck” together so I had to hit start again and spent another 10 minutes re-creating the design.

Some VERY technical questions:

I didn't expect to see anything uber technical on this exam, but there were a few questions that dealt with advanced options / configuration settings.

So what now:

I have to wait 14 days to re-take this exam, so for the next 14 days I will be focusing on the Forbes & Scott’s Design Guide and the Clustering Deepdive by Duncan and Frank along with reading some of the more technical readings outlined on the exam Blueprint.

I won’t be spending anymore time with the “Official” Certification Guide, which should be called Guideline instead.  I put too much faith into this guide and I paid the price for it.  It does cover all of the topics on the exam, but doesn't have enough of the technical details to help you answer most of the exam questions.

vCAP5-DCD Study Review

As I site here on the eve of my vCAP5-DCD exam, I am looking back over all the notes and ideas I had scribbled down at the beginning of my studies and realize that it has been quite a journey to get me to where I (hopefully) am prepared to write a design exam.

One thing I would like to note is the incredible job people in the community have done mapping topics and information to the objectives on the blue print. As I review some of these study guides and blogs I am astounded that people were able to pull such abstract concepts from the readings and place them, some what neatly, under each of the objectives.  Without the community, I’m not sure I would of been able to align all the qualities, factors, design thoughts and considerations into the knowledge that will be tested tomorrow on the exam.

My main source of study has been the following:

• VCAP5-DCD Official Cert Guide by Paul McSharry
• TrainSignal - Designing VMware Infrastructure by Scott Lowe
• VMware Design Guide by Forbes Guthrie and Scott Lowe
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive by Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman
• Nick Marshall’s outline of the vBrownBags (big thanks to Professional VMware for these)
• Shane Williford’s study notes 

Big thanks to everyone mentioned above, and everyone who has ever blogged or shared their experience with the vCAP-DCD exam, if I pass I owe it all to you.

Wish me luck,

F5 and VMware Integration Streamlines the App Provisioning Process

Many organizations have taken advantage of the operational efficiencies that come from server virtualization. These efficiencies have reduced the time to deploy new applications from weeks to days. Until now, however, the process for provisioning the necessary infrastructure services to run those enterprise applications has remained a mostly manual and time-consuming process.

This can diminish the gains initially achieved by server virtualization and can hinder the adoption of cloud computing. The integration of F5 and VMware products helps solve these challenges. VMware NSX transforms network operations and economics in the data center by enabling neverbefore-possible service delivery speed, increasing agility, and dramatically reducing both the capital and operational costs associated with networking and security improvements.

With F5® BIG-IQ™ Cloud, IT administrators can provide the full suite of services offered by BIG-IP® products—such as BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM), BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager™, BIG-IP Access Policy Manager®, and others—directly from within NSX Manager as part of the normal virtual machine deployment sequence. This shortens the all-inclusive application provisioning process from days to just minutes.

Learn more: F5 and VMware Integration Streamlines the App Provisioning Process

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Setting Frame Rates and Resolution for Real-Time Audio-Video on Horizon View Clients (2053644)

The following information was taken from VMware KB2053644

 

Details

Real-Time Audio-Video (RTAV), introduced in VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack 2, allows 
webcam and audio-in devices to be redirected from a local client system to a remote desktop. 
With RTAV, Horizon View users can run Skype, Webex, Google Hangouts, and other conferencing 
applications on their virtual desktops.

After you install RTAV, the feature works on your desktops without any further configuration. On client 
systems, the default webcam frame rate is 15 frames per second. The default webcam image resolution 
is 320x240 pixels. The default settings are recommended for most webcam and audio applications. 

You can modify these settings to change the user experience in the conferencing application.

You can configure group policy settings that control the maximum frame rate and image resolution on 
your Horizon View desktops. For details, see the VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack Installation and

Administration document at 
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/horizon-view/horizon-view-52-feature-pack-document.pdf.

 

In addition, you can configure the frame rate and resolution on your client systems. This article describes how to 
configure these settings on client systems and offers guidelines to help you determine how best to set these values 
in your environment.

NOTE: Audio configuration settings are not available for RTAV.

Solution

On View Client systems, you can configure the webcam frame rate and image resolution up to the maximum values 
specified in the group policy settings on the desktops. If you specify a value on a client that exceeds the maximum 
value set on the desktop, the value is capped at the maximum desktop value. 

You can adjust frame rates from 1 fps up to a maximum of 25 fps and resolution up to a maximum of 1920x1080. 
However, RTAV cannot guarantee that a high resolution at a fast frame rate can be supported on all devices 
or in all environments. 

Configure RTAV Settings on View Client Systems   

1. Start the Windows Registry Editor (regedit.exe).

2. Navigate to the following registry key: 

Windows Operating System	Registry key
64-bit	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\RTAV
32-bit	HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware VDM\RTAV

3. Set registry values. 

Registry Value	Default Value	Description
IsDisabled	0	Determines whether RTAV is enabled or disabled. RTAV is enabled by default. (This value is not in effect.)  To disable RTAV on this client, set this value to 1.
srcWCamFrameWidth	Not set	Determines the image width. The value defaults to a hardcoded value of 320 pixels. You can change the image width to any pixel value.
srcWCamFrameHeight	Not set	Determines the image height. The value defaults a hardcoded value of 240 pixels. You can change the image height to any pixel value.
srcWCamFrameRate	Not set	Determines the frame rate. The value defaults to 15 fps. You can change the frame rate to any value.
srcAudioInId**	Not set	Determines the preferred microphone (audio-in device). When this value is not set, RTAV uses the default recording device set in the Windows operating system Sound control.  You can specify any microphone connected to (or built into) the client system.
srcWCamId**	Not set	Determines the preferred webcam. When this value is not set, the webcam is selected automatically by system enumeration.  You can specify any webcam connected to (or built into) the client system.

4. Save your changes and exit the registry.

5. Start a new call in your 3rd-party application.

**The srcAudioInId and srcWCamId values let you set a preferred audio device and a preferred webcam,

if more than one device is connected to the client system.  RTAV uses the preferred device in conferencing

or other 3rd-party application sessions. If a preferred device is not available, RTAV uses the next

available webcam, as determined by system enumeration, or the default audio recording device set in the

Windows Sound control.  

In most environments, there is no need to set a preferred audio device. You can simply select a default

audio recording device in the Windows Sound control. For information about selecting a preferred webcam

and a default microphone, see the VMware Horizon View 5.2 Feature Pack Installation and

Administration document at 
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/horizon-view/horizon-view-52-feature-pack-document.pdf.

Guidelines for Setting Frame Rate and Resolution  

If your users are on a high-latency network with limited bandwidth, you might want to reduce the default values

to maintain a working video image or to manage the available bandwidth for each user.  

Raising the resolution and frame rate increases the demand on network bandwidth. Depending on your

environment, you might want to run scaling tests to determine the performance impact of raising these limits.  

If you find that after changing these values, video does not display well with your 3rd-party application,

you might revert to the default values.

For example, Skype displays video well at 320x240 resolution at 15 fps. With sufficient bandwidth, Skype

also works at 640x480 resolution, but certain Skype versions do not perform as well with this resolution. 

If you change the resolution on a client, you must stop and restart the Skype application before making

another call.  If you change the resolution while Skype is running and make another call, the video

image might be distorted or incorrect. 

In general, devices support a specific set of resolutions. Not all devices support all resolutions. If you

configure a resolution that a webcam does not support, RTAV samples the resolutions that are closest to

the one that was requested until a supported resolution is found.  RTAV implements client-side scaling up

to the resolution supported by the device. 

Depending on client-side scaling, the CPU cycles needed to encode and decode the video data, and

network bandwidth limitations, you might not be able to achieve a required frame rate for the requested

resolution. RTAV cannot guarantee a desired frame rate for any specified resolution on any device.

At the end of a call, you can determine frame rates by examining the debug logs on View Agent, which

show the resultant frame rate achieved. The View Client logs show the transmitted frame rate. 

For some 3rd-party applications, not all resolutions will be supported.

Although RTAV has been tested with--and supports--several 3rd-party applications, and will work with

many other standard applications, it is possible that some 3rd-party applications are not supported by

RTAV. 

 

Information about VMware vCenter Log Insight (KB2054080)

If you haven’t looked at Log Insight yet, DO!

 

The following was taken from VMware KB2054080 Article

 

What is VMware vCenter Log Insight?

 

VMware vCenter Log Insight delivers automated log management through log analytics, aggregation and search, extending VMware’s leadership in analytics to log data. With an integrated cloud operations management approach, it provides the operational intelligence and enterprise-wide visibility needed to proactively enable service levels and operational efficiency in dynamic hybrid cloud environments. 

 

Connect to Everything

 

Log Insight collects and analyzes all types of machine-generated log data (such as application logs, network traces, configuration files, messages, performance data and system state dumps). It enables administrators to connect it to everything in their environment—operating systems, applications, storage, firewalls or network devices—for enterprise-wide visibility.

 

Powerful Log Analytics

 

Log Insight provides faster analytical queries and aggregation than traditional tools, especially on larger data sets. It identifies key-value pairs and adds structure to all types of unstructured log data, enabling administrators to troubleshoot quickly, without needing to know the data beforehand. 

 

It delivers real-time monitoring, search and analytics, coupled with a dashboard for stored queries, reports and alerts. These features enable IT to derive meaningful insights from terabytes of log data and correlate events across multiple tiers of a hybrid cloud environment in a single location, cutting down troubleshooting times, improving operational efficiency and reducing IT costs. Log Insight also provides a single location to collect, store and analyze logs at scale.

 

Ease of Use

 

Since it is made available as a virtual appliance, Log Insight is easy to deploy. Its intuitive, GUI-based interface makes it easy to run simple interactive searches, as well as deep analytical queries for quick insights, providing immediate value and improved IT operational efficiency. There is no need to learn a new query language to get started. To make things even simpler, Log Insight automatically chooses the best visualization for your data, saving you valuable time.

 

Built-in vSphere Knowledge

 

Developed by VMware experts, Log Insight comes with built-in knowledge and native support for vSphere. It is the solution best suited for your VMware environment. With Log Insight you can analyze logs beyond your virtual infrastructure and use a central log management solution to analyze data from your entire IT environment, including your physical infrastructure, operating systems, applications, network and storage devices.

 

How Do I Get Started?

 

For more information about VMware vCenter Log Insight, see:

• Download the Beta
• How to Buy
• VMware vCenter Log Insight Datasheet

 

New Book - Virtualizing Microsoft Business Critical Applications on VMware vSphere

This unique guidebook bridges the gap between the Microsoft and VMware worlds, bringing together the deep knowledge, cutting-edge best practices, and practical techniques you need to succeed.

Leading experts Matt Liebowitz and Alex Fontana present end-to-end coverage of virtualizing Windows Server 2012 AD domain controllers and failover clusters, Exchange Server 2013, SQL Server 2012, and SharePoint Server 2013. They offer indispensable advice on sizing, architecture, performance, availability, monitoring, and metrics.

Throughout, the authors share valuable tips, tricks, and insights from their own experiences. For each Microsoft application, they provide "proof of concept" sample configurations and clearly explain how new features impact virtualization. You'll also find authoritative, up-to-date guidance on licensing  and other issues related to ensuring full support from both Microsoft and VMware.

Coverage includes:

Evaluating the benefits, risks, and challenges of virtualizing Microsoft business critical applications Identifying strategies for success associated with people, processes, and technology Reviewing VMware vSphere features most important to virtualizing business-critical applications Taking advantage of new virtualization-aware features built in to Windows Server 2012 domain controllers Designing and configuring vSphere High Availability (vSphere HA) clusters to run Windows enterprise applications Reflecting Exchange Server 2013's new architecture to maximize its performance in virtualized environments Leveraging new SQL Server 2012 features to simplify the delivery of high availability on virtual servers Reducing SQL Server 2012 licensing costs through virtualization Planning, designing, and deploying virtualized SharePoint Server 2013 environments

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VCAP5-DCD–Exam Prep Materials and Upcoming Videos

So I have spent the past 2 weeks going through the VMware Exam Blue Print for the VCAP5-DCD exam and have come up with the following materials / strategy to start in my preparations for writing this exam.

The Blue Print itself has links to many (many) other resources, I have been reading most of them, but am having a hard time digging out the nuggets of information that can be found on other study guides (see below), or al least that information that I feel may be on the exam.  So for my own exam preparation, I have decided to create video presentations that will be guided by the Blue Print itself.  This will not be a replacements for the vBrownBag series (again see below) but a different way of looking at the info presented on the Blue Print which will in turn help me digest and understand the pieces that have been pulled from the additional readings.

I am still planning on using the “VCAP5-DCD Official Cert Guide” for the majority of my study, but it has been delayed for shipping yet again (should of just bought the Kindle edition) so I will be waiting a few more weeks until I get my hands on it.

To supplement the above, I also plan to utilize the following resources:

• ProfessionalVMware.com VCAP5-DCD Study Notes
• vBrownBag episodes aligned to the VCAP5-DCD exam blueprint by Nick Marshall
• VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive by Duncan Epping and Frank Denneman
• DRBC Design - Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Fundamentals
• TrainSignal – Designing VMware Infrastructure by Scott Lowe
• General Google VCAP5-DCD searches (I find something new every time)

As for the upcoming videos, once I figure out how to properly record them, I will start to create the presentations and delivering them as I have time, so stay tuned.

What I hope to see at VMware 2013

This year it looks like I will be lucky enough to attend my first VMworld

As I have been searching the blogs for session information and the who’s who of the presentations, I started to put together a list of what I hope to see at this years event.

The following are areas that I hope VMware makes major announcements / changes to:

The Horizon Mash Up

With Horizon View (include ThinApp in there), Mirage and Horizon Workspace, VMware has 3 great but only sort of tied together products.

I am really hoping to see Horizon 6.0 announced which will allow for Mirage to deploy and manage ThinApp’s to View Desktops and through the Horizon Workspace along with AppBlast finally being GA and tied into the suite to run apps through a browser.

vCloud Director for EUC

Wouldn't it be cool if end users (with approval of course) could provision their own desktops and / or application suites?  If VMware does announce some sort of Horizon 6.0, I hope it also includes the ability to self provision desktops similar to what is possible with vCloud Director.

Self Tuning Resource Pools (aka DRS on Steroids)

With vCOPS, we now know what is “normal” for our VM Guests and we can also run reports to figure out which ones are Over Provisioned against that normal baseline.  If VMware can take this normal range and automatically decrease or increase the resources that are assigned to a given VM, think of the consolidation ratios we would be able to achieve.

Servers & Desktops in the Same Pool

This one still bugs me.  For VMware to state that it is “best practice” to separate your Server and Desktop workloads onto separate physical hardware controlled by separate vCenter Servers, to me it doesn't make sense since it breaks the whole model of true consolidation.  Today, even with resource reservations and limits, it is a requirement for any large scale VDI deployment to be separated, but if VMware can produce something like the DRS on Steroids, I truly believe that Desktops and Servers should be able to play nicely on the same resources, controlled by the same vCenter server,

I’m not sure if any of this will be addressed at this years VMworld, but i cant wait to be there to find out.

VCAP5-DCD Exam Preparation

One of my goals for this year was to get one of the VCAP5 certifications. My company has just given me the green light to go ahead and start preparing for the Data Center Design (DCD) exam and I must admit, I am a bit scared and over whelmed at the idea if writing this exam.

The reason that this exam frightens me is that it is based on “design solutions” which, unlike the VCP exam, doesn't necessarily have defined information you must know to pass, its really based on ones ability to digest customer requirements and deliver “the best” solution for that scenario.

The over whelming part is the massive amount of readings that are listed on the exams blueprint and the incredible length of the exam itself. I know there were 10,000+ pages of suggested readings for the VCP exam, but with a good amount of hands on knowledge (which I was lucky to have already) most of the questions could be answered without having read all the materials. I do take comfort that 92 to 94 of the questions will be multiple choice / drag and drop and the other 8 to 6 will be the Design scenarios.

Over the next couple of weeks I will post up my notes that I am studying from as well as links to other blogs / study sheets that I come across and find useful.

I have pre-ordered a copy of Paul McSharry’s book “VCAP5-DCD Official Cert Guide” and am really looking forward to getting my hands on it and checking it against my study notes to ensure I am on the right path with my studies.

Wish me luck and check back often for my study note updates, hopefully they will help in your studies for the VCAP5-DCD exam.

Ohh no feedly!

[cid:__sdcard_EmailTempImage_457442282958372Screenshot_2013-07-03-23-23-08_png@sec.galaxytab]

I guess they did a bit too much advertising about feedly replacing Google Reader :)

Available now: VMware Technical Journal, Summer 2013

For those like me who love reading research papers by developers you might want to head over to labs.vmware.com as today a new version of the VMware Technical Journal was released, the summer 2013 edition. You can download it as a PDF on the website, or you can read the individual articles straight in your web browser. Below you can find the Table of Content, and the titles convinced me that these are worth reading. Personally I found the "Redefining ESXi IO Multipathing in the Flash ERA" very interesting… but I suggest you read all of them as it typically gives a good hint of what VMware engineering is working on now / or in the future!

Introduction Memory Overcommitment in the ESX Server Redefining ESXi IO Multipathing in the Flash Era Methodology for Performance Analysis of VMware vSphere under Tier-1 Applications vATM: VMware vSphere Adaptive Task Management An Anomaly Event Correlation Engine: Identifying Root Causes, Bottlenecks, and Black Swans in IT Environments Simplifying Virtualization Management with Graph Databases Autonomous Resource Sharing for Multi-Threaded Workloads in Virtualized Servers

"Available now: VMware Technical Journal, Summer 2013" originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com.

Webcast: VMware vSphere Data Protection

VMware vSphere Data Protection has been out for quite a few months now, but there are still many who haven't heard of it or perhaps they have heard of it and would like to find out more. If you are in either of those two groups or simply need a refresher, here is an opportunity to learn more about vSphere Data Protection and vSphere Data Protection Advanced: A webinar Thursday June 6, 2013 at 10:00 AM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT). Here is the link to attend and the session abstract:

Webinar Registration

VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced is a new edition of VMware's backup and recovery lineup that extends the capabilities of the vSphere Data Protection software included with most vSphere editions. With vSphere Data Protection Advanced, midsize customers can protect their environment with a virtual appliance that scales to 8TB of deduplicated data, using agent-less image-level backups or application-aware agents for MS SQL Server and Exchange. Attend this Webcast and learn how vSphere Data Protection Advanced enables you to:

Dramatically reduce backup storage consumption and recovery times with a unique deduplication engine Save on storage and backup costs while improving availability and operational efficiency Simplify management for vSphere backup and recovery with a "single pane of glass" solution designed specifically for seamless integration with vSphere

Webcast: VMware vSphere Data Protection
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2013/06/vdp-webcast.html

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Upgrading vSphere 5.1 → 5.1U1a

Upgrading vSphere 5.1 → 5.1U1a
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BACKGROUND

Upon arriving at my new organization the end of February of this year, a co-worker had already migrated most of our virtual infrastructure to vSphere 5.1, utilizing  SQL 2012 as the vCenter Server database. In doing so, they noticed some "bugginess" with the infrastructure – unable to log in using the 'thick' Client, the Performance tab → Overview button performance statistics wouldn't display, as well as the Web Client not working in Internet Explorer (would work with Firefox).

After a couple calls to VMware support, multiple Google queries, and a few twitter comments, I never did get a definite answer as to the cause of our issues. I assumed it was due to the fact we were using SQL 2012 for our DB as it was not listed in VMware's Compatibility Matrix, but I couldn't find/get a definite answer, not even from VMware's support (I'd give my thoughts on my discussions with them, but don't won't to digress too much).

Anyway, I really wanted to get all these issues rectified. When VMware released U1 in April, I heard bits & pieces in the "community" on twitter that this Release would rectify the issues I was having. But, I began hearing grumblings about the stability of the U1 patch (vSphere login issues), which was confirmed by VMware as noted by this KB. Then last week. VMware released U1a, and after reading over the Release Notes, it looked like this patch was indeed the answer to my problems….err….well….my vSphere problems. After upgrading my environment, to this point it seems all the issues we were experiencing are now rectified. As such, I'd like to provide the steps I took for a successful upgrade which, overall, was pretty seamless and painless……and surprisingly quick!

PREREQUISITES

Before proceeding with upgrading your infrastructure, I highly recommend reviewing VMware's Upgrade Guide which provides greater detail of all upgrade procedures as your environment may not be the same as mine. In my envirnment, I have 13 Hosts separated into 4 Clusters & Datacenters but all within the same vCenter Server. We do not use a multi-site, Linked Clone environment, nor do we segregate vCenter Components on separate servers (i.e SSO, Inventory Service, etc. is all on the same server). Before upgrading, I recommend performing the following tasks:

1. Open your DB managment tool (i.e. SQL Management Studio) and take a backup of the vCenter database
2. Log onto your vCenter Server and take a backup of all your Component services SSL certs (look in the Upgrade Guide that's linked above for the path location to each Component SSL folder)
3. Attain the credentials used for the vCenter Server database
3. Attain your SSO admin credentials (the username is admin@System-Domain; upon initial install of SSO you had to provide this account a password. Hopefully you securely documented it for retrieval)
4. Take a snapshot of your vCenter Server, assuming it's a VM

UPGRADE – VCENTER SERVER & COMPONENTS

1. If not already done so, download both vCenter Server and vSphere ESXi 5.1 U1a (I recommend the offline bundle for ESXi, but download the package that you're familiar with in doing vSphere upgrades)
2.  Double-click the autorun.exe file from the vCenter Server download (if you downloaded the .iso, it will first need to be extracted)

3. As noted in the Upgrade Guide, the following components need to be upgraded IN ORDER:
a. Select vCenter Single Sign On (NOT the Simple Install), then click the Install button; follow the wizard then click Install (reference on pg. 64, Upgrade Guide). Provide the SSO account credentials when prompted. A reboot of vCenter may be needed upon completion of the SSO upgrade
b. After completing the SSO upgrade, select VMware vSphere Web Client then click the Install button; again, follow the wizard then click Install (reference on pg. 78, Upgrade Guide)
c. At this point, it is recommended to open a web browser & attempt to log into the Web Client. First, log in using the SSO account (admin@System-Domain) and verify domain connectivity; then attempt to login using a domain account. If all is successful, continue to 'd.'; else, review troubleshooting steps in the Upgrade Guide
d. Select VMware vCenter Inventory Service, then click the Install button (reference on pg. 80, Upgrade Guide)
e. Select VMware vCenter Server, then click the Install button (reference on pg. 83, Upgrade Guide); provide the vCenter Server database credentials when prompted
4. After upgrading all Components, log into vCenter and verify functionality; if all looks ok, I suggest backing up your SSO configuration as noted on pg. 100 of the Upgrade Guide

UPGRADE – ESXi HOSTS

There are several ways to upgrade your Hosts. Since I personally like doing so using the Offline Bundle with CLI, I will cover that procedure below. You can also upgrade via Update Manage or extracting the vSphere .iso file to a CD and using the Host CD Drive, or by using an installable USB.

1. Upload the Offline Bundle zip file to a Datastore shared by all Hosts. If you have multiple Clusters and those Clusters utilize separate storage arrays (as I do), make sure to upload the .zip to each Cluster's array.
2. Open a Putty (SSH) session to a Host (enable SSH in Configuration tab > Security Profile link if the SSH service is stopped)
3. Within vSphere (thick or Web Client), place the Host in Maintenance Mode (migrate VMs to other Hosts if they don't automatically do so)
4. Once in Maintenance Mode, run the following esxcli command:
esxcli software profile update -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/vsphere-5.1_update1a.zip -p ESXi-5.1.0-20130402001-standard

(NOTE: to verify which bundle you want to install, you can run the following command:
esxcli software sources profile list -d /vmfs/volumes/datastore/vsphere-5.1_update1a.zip ; I chose to run the "standard" bundle )
5. When the install has successfully completed, you will need to reboot your Host

NOTE: I stole the above screenshot from Christian Mohn's (@h0bbel) post on installing an Offline Bundle here. I referenced his post from Hersey Cartwright's post here (@herseyc)

6. Once the Host is rebooted, you then need to repeat the procedure for each Host. After all Hosts are upgraded, VMware Tools will need to be upgraded on all VMs. Oh, and don't forget to remove the snapshot on your vCenter Server VM.

You have now fully upgraded your vSphere environment! Happy virtualizing!

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Free Kindle copy of vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive?

Do you want a free Kindle copy of the vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive or the vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS Deepdive? Well make sure to check Amazon next week! I just put both of the books up for a promotional offer… For 48 hours, Wednesday June the 5th and Thursday June the 6th, you can download the Kindle (US Kindle Store) copy of both these books for free, yes that is correct ZERO dollars.

So make sure you pick it up either Wednesday June the 5th or Thursday June the 6th, it might be the only time this year it is on promo.

"Free Kindle copy of vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive?" originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com.

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Reference Architecture - VMware Horizon Workspace

Reference Architecture - VMware Horizon Workspace
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VMware Horizon Workspace combines applications and data into a single, aggregated workspace, with flexible access to the data and applications employees need for productivity, regardless of where they are based.

With fewer management points and easier access, Horizon Workspace reduces the complexity of IT administration. Horizon Workspace is delivered as a virtual appliance that is easy to deploy on site and integrate with existing enterprise services.

It helps organizations to centralize assets, devices, and applications and to manage users and data securely behind the firewall. Meanwhile, it enables users to share and collaborate with external partners and customers securely when policy allows.

This reference architecture specifies the sizing and connectivity requirements for a 2,000-user Horizon Workspace application management and file sharing solution. Horizon Workspace 1.0 enables IT to maintain control over the implementation, aggregate resources, and allow end users to access their entitled applications, data, and Horizon View desktops from inside or outside the corporate firewall, on the device or devices of their choice.

Reference Architecture - VMware Horizon Workspace

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Does IT eat its young?

This is a great article on how we as IT throw our newbies to the wolves,  or at least put them in charge or backups (because no one else wants to do it)

Does IT eat its young?
By Patrick Gray

In nature, several species routinely eat their young for various reasons, ranging from scarcity of food resources to eliminating future competition for mates. While this behavior has been recorded in humans in various cultures, it's currently manifested metaphorically in several fields where senior personnel obstruct, sabotage, or make life generally difficult for new entrants to the field. In response to one of my recent articles about IT's "woman problem," several readers emailed that whether they agreed or not with IT having a problem with the fairer sex, there was obstructionist behavior toward new entrants.

The not-so-beautiful arts and IT
The field in which I've witnessed this behavior at its worst is in the arts. While my artistic abilities are generally limited to a stick figure or two, I come from a family of artists who have worked in fine art, film, and crafts. When my sister was in film, she'd recount tales of maniacal directors and bosses with inane demands, short tempers, and little more than strings of expletives directed at junior staff.

My own experience with publishing was similar, where literary agents made petty demands and snide remarks until my book was commercially published, when suddenly my calls would be returned and I was no longer treated as a life form slightly lower than pond scum.

When confronted on this behavior, I'm usually given some variation of a "survival of the fittest" explanation-that senior staff in the field exhibit unreasonable behavior to "weed out" those who can't make it in the field, and that engendering "eating of the young" makes the field as a whole stronger.

While less prevalent than in the arts, I've seen similar behavior in IT. A rock star developer or technician is given a pass on poor behavior, and managers and junior staff shrink back in awe when this person enters a room. In other cases, there might be a grizzled veteran who possesses specific knowledge of a complex legacy system and avoids sharing any knowledge or specifications in order to protect his turf and build job security.

In cases where these types of behavior are tolerated, "eating of the young" routinely occurs as those with superior longevity, and hence superior knowledge, use this knowledge as a means to bully new staff. Management is generally complicit in this activity and is willing to destroy its future in order to maintain its current all-stars.

An alternative approach
I've spent most of my working years as a consultant within IT organizations and have always been intrigued by how consultant organizations treat their new staff. Like fields that eat their young, the big consulting companies will identify high-potential talent, even if their experience lies outside the content area in which they'll be consulting. When I started at a large consulting firm, more of my peers had history or marketing degrees rather than degrees in information systems or computer science.

Almost to a fault, these organizations invest heavily in training and early staff development, and then throw the new folks onto a consulting project in a menial role. During the first six months of my career I did everything from mind-numbing massaging of spreadsheets to running errands for office supplies.

While similar to the role of a new staffer on a film, I was never insulted or belittled, and was explicitly told that the goal of this role was to get used to the consulting environment and essentially be "tested" before being given more responsibility. When I was assigned to my next project, "trial period" over, I was expected to perform alongside more senior developers, and soon after was leading my own teams of developers and business analysts.

While the "trial by fire" aspect was similar to the arts, I learned in a supportive environment, and insults, poor behavior, and bullying by more senior staff were simply not tolerated. Those who couldn't do the work were naturally weeded out, and senior staff actively encouraged development and advancement for those who were capable.

There's no harm in breaking in new staff through more menial tasks, and coddling staff doesn't do anyone any favors, especially as terms like "bullying" have become overused to the point that they lack any meaning.

However, there's a difference between "testing" staff through challenging work and subjecting new staff to rudeness, poor behavior, and active harassment in some misguided attempt to toughen them up. Either of the above approaches results in competent senior staff; however, the fine arts-style approach generates cynical, mean-spirited staff that actively eats the young of their industry. Which would you rather have in your organization?

Original Article:
http://feedly.com/k/14XMAGF

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Now available as Rough Cut - Virtualizing Microsoft Business Critical Applications on VMware vSphere 5

The Rough Cuts service from VMware Press gives you exclusive access to an evolving manuscript that you can read online or download as a PDF and print. A Rough Cuts book is not fully edited or completely formatted, but you'll get access to new versions as they are created.

Many organizations are discovering the immense ROI available by virtualizing business critical applications. Microsoft has recently released new versions of many of its most popular and widely used enterprise applications, including Exchange, SQL Server, and Windows Server itself. Meanwhile, VMware has released a powerful new version of its enterprise virtualization platform, vSphere 5.1. Together, these technologies offer powerful new opportunities for cost-effective virtualization, and for migration towards cost-effective private cloud architectures. But successfully integrating them requires deep knowledge. Bridging the gap between Microsoft and VMware worlds, this guide brings together all the knowledge, best practices, and techniques you'll need.

Two leading experts in virtualizing Microsoft business-critical applications on VMware demonstrate how to optimize performance and availability, and what you must do to ensure full support by both Microsoft and VMware. From sizing to architecture to monitoring metrics, they present start-to-finish coverage of virtualizing:

Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Domain Controllers Windows Server 2012 Failover Clusters Exchange Server 2013 SQL Server 2012 SharePoint 2013

For each, example configurations are provided, along with explanations and descriptions of new application features and their relationship to virtualization, as well as tips, tricks, and insights from the authors' own experience. Throughout, diagrams and figures illustrate key points and compare feature sets, and many references to relevant white papers and Knowledge Base articles are also provided.

Virtualizing Microsoft Business Critical Applications on VMware vSphere 5 - Rough Cuts by Matt Liebowitz

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VXLAN Series – How VTEP Learns and Creates Forwarding Table – Part 5

VXLAN Series – How VTEP Learns and Creates Forwarding Table – Part 5
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In this post I am going to describe how VTEPs learn about the virtual machines connected to the logical Layer 2 networks. The learning process is quite similar to a transparent bridge function. As transparent bridges learn based on the packets received on the bridge ports, the VTEP also learn based on the inner and outer header of the packets received.

Let's take an example to illustrate the VTEP learning process.

Example Deployment with Two Hosts

As shown in the diagram above there are two Hosts (Host1, Host 2) on which VTEPs are configured, and each host has one virtual machine connected to logical layer 2 network, identified as VXLAN 5001. Both the virtual machines are powered on and both VTEPs have joined the multicast group 239.1.1.100. Each VTEP has its own forwarding table, which is initially empty as shown in the diagram below.

Initial State of the Forwarding Table

How do the forwarding tables get populated?

We will take an example of virtual machine on Host 1 trying to communicate with the virtual machine on the Host 2. First, an ARP request is sent from the virtual machine MAC1 to find the MAC address of the virtual machine on Host 2. The ARP request is a broadcast packet.

Host 2 VTEP – Forwarding table entry

The diagram above shows the packet flow:

Virtual machine on Host1 sends ARP packet with Destination MAC as "FFFFFFFFFFF" VTEP on Host 1 encapsulates the Ethernet broadcast packet into a UDP header with Multicast address "239.1.1.100" as the destination IP address and VTEP address "10.20.10.10" as the Source IP address. The physical network delivers the multicast packet to the hosts that joined the multicast group address "239.1.1.10". The VTEP on Host 2 receives the encapsulated packet. Based on the outer and inner header, it makes an entry in the forwarding table that shows the mapping of the virtual machine MAC address and the VTEP. In this example, the virtual machine MAC1 running on Host 1 is associated with VTEP IP "10.20.10.10". VTEP also checks the segment ID or VXLAN logical network ID (5001) in the external header to decide if the packet has to be delivered on the host or not. The packet is de-encapsulated and delivered to the virtual machine connected on that logical network VXLAN 5001.

The entry in the forwarding table of Host 2 VTEP is used during lookup process. The packet flow shown in the diagram below explains the forwarding table lookup for a unicast packet sent from a virtual machine on Host2.

Host 2 VTEP – Forwarding table Lookup

Virtual Machine MAC2 on Host 2 responds to the ARP request by sending a unicast packet with Destination Ethernet MAC address as MAC1. After receiving the unicast packet, the VTEP on Host 2 performs a lookup in the forwarding table and gets a match for the destination MAC address "MAC1". The VTEP now knows that to deliver the packet to virtual machine MAC1 it has to send it to VTEP with IP address "10.20.10.10". The VTEP creates unicast packet with destination IP address as "10.20.10.10" and sends it out.

The Host1 VTEP receives the unicast packet and it also learns about the location of the virtual machine MAC2 as shown in the diagram below.

Host 1 VTEP – Forwarding table entry

The packet is delivered to Host1 The VTEP on Host 2 receives the encapsulated packet. Based on the outer and inner header, it makes an entry in the forwarding table that shows the mapping of the virtual machine MAC address and the VTEP. In this example, the virtual machine MAC2 running on Host 2 is associated with VTEP IP "10.20.10.11". VTEP also checks the segment ID or VXLAN logical network ID (5001) in the external header to decide if the packet has to be delivered on the host or not. The packet is de-encapsulated and delivered to the virtual machine connected on that logical network VXLAN 5001.

As you can see the forwarding table entries are populated based on the inner and outer header fields of the encapsulated packet. Similar to the transparent bridge the forwarding table entries are removed after aging timer expires. One of the common questions I get is what happens after a virtual machine is vMotioned.

In the next few posts I will cover how the forwarding table entries get modified after vMotion of a virtual machine from one host to another.

Here are the links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Get notification of these blogs postings and more VMware Networking information by following me on Twitter:  @VMWNetworking

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