Author: Michael Schroeder

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Read HBA Driver and Firmware Version

Before upgrading an ESXi host, it is best practice to to look at VMware HCL and check compatibility of host and IO devices. The combination of driver version, firmware version and ESXi release is crucial for compatibility. Even minor updates might lead to loss of HCL compatibility. A system that used to be HCL compliant at time of deployment, might no longer be compatible after e.g. the third ESXi update release. Updates can bring new driver versions which in turn might require higher firmware versions.

If you’re lucky you may have a software solution that keeps track of all your firmware and driver versions. Runecast Analyzer for example does a pretty good job and shows you current compatibility issues with a single click. Furthermore you can simulate updates/upgrades to any higher vSphere version and the resulting HCL status.

Unfortunately many customers do not have a software solution like that. In these cases you need to go back to the roots (literally) and gather all information on the ESXi shell. To do so you need to enable SSH service on all hosts you want to verify. That can be done in the vSphere-Client or more elegant and faster by a PowerCLI command.

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vSAN Homelab Cluster Ep.1

Planning Phase

Testing software and playing with new technologies is a crucial part of my business. Some solutions can be deployed to a simple VMware Workstation VM, but others may require complex server and networking architectures. In the past I did most of my tests with nested vSphere or vSAN clusters. Well, it works…. somehow… but you might imagine that a nested vSAN cluster with virtual flash devices, based on spinning (SATA) disks sucks err.. does not perform very well.

I needed some bare metal to perform realistic testing, so I kept looking for phased out customer servers. The problem is, that many customers use their ESXi hosts until they literally fall apart or drop out of HCL. Hardware that isn’t capable of running latest VMware products is just scrap iron. Furthermore rackmount servers are usually noisy, energy hungry and require a lot of space. Not the best choice to put it in your office.

I’ve been searching for a while for a more compact solution. Intel NUC series looked like a possible candidate. I know they’re quite popular in the vCommunity, but what kept me from buying, was its lack of network adapters an the limited ability to install caching and storage devices.

Earlier this year I got a hint to look at Supermicro E300-9D series. This micro server looked promising. Still small, but equipped with 8 NICs (four of which are 10G) and M.2 connectors for NVMe flash devices. William Lam has posted an excellent article about the E300-9D. This little gem can be equipped with a SATA DOM boot device, up to 3 NVMe devices AND it is listed on VMware HCL. How cool is that?!

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VMworld2019 Barcelona

ElasticSky.de chosen as official blogging partner

It’ll be the eleventh time when VMworld Europe opens its gates in Barcelona from 4th November to 7th November 2019. Traditionally VMworld Europe takes place after VMworld North-America, which will be held in San Francisco in August 2019. VMworld Europe will mainly attract visitors from the EMEA region. Although breakout sessions will be mostly the same in SF and BCN, both events will have different content and highlights. There are three months time in between, so you can be sure to expect announcements in Barcelona that weren’t ready in August.

Every year bloggers can apply for one of the few blogging passes handed out by VMware. In 2018 I successfully applied for a pass and so I tried it again in 2019. Last Monday I got an email which confirmed that I will get one of the blogging passes. I’m very happy honored about getting a pass for the second time. Many thanks to the blogging team at VMware.

Friends asked me if I would go there even if I hadn’t been selected. The answer is yes for numerous reasons. Besides condensed first-hand information it is networking with friends from all over the world. Where else can you meet VMware product managers and developers in one place. Last year I have written a VMworld Survival Guide about going to Barcelona and why.

Early Bird registration will be open until July 23rd 2019. You can save 200 € on ticket price when booking before end of early bird registration phase.

I’m going to post articles here on ElasticSky.de before and during VMworld Europe. Stay tuned.

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vSwitch rescue from the CLI

Virtual Distributed Switches have many advantages over standard switches. Because you have a centralized configuration over all hosts they’re less error prone to configuration errors than standard switches. Call me old fashioned but I prefer to have at least the hosts management interface on a standard switch. In case something bad happens, you can still access the host and make changes on the interface.

Recently a customers host had failed. After restoring configuration, for some reason vmnics were swapped between vdSwitches and it wasn’t possible to configure that host neither with hostclient nor with vCenter. The customer was short on vmnics in the past and has configured Management Network on a distributed Portgroup on a distributed vSwitch. This is legal and usually not a problem. In that special case it was a problem. I was literally locked out of the host. Reassigning NICs in the DCUI didn’t work, because they were all claimed by Distributed-vSwitches thus not available for standard switches.

What now ?

There’s help, but you need to access the CLI of DCUI.
Login to DCUI console, select “Troubleshooting Options” in the main menu.

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