vSphere Integrated Containers

VMware VIC (vSphere Integrated Containers) is an elegant way to run container workloads alongside with regular VMs in your datacenter. You’ll get best of both worlds. Developers can use container tools as usual but with added high availability and flexibility of a vSphere cluster.

I’m going to give a little primer on VMware Integrated Containers (VIC) and how to use them.

Getting started

Create distributed portgroups on a vDS that we will use for containers. We need a public dPG and a bridge dPG.
Create a VIC user to interact with vCenter. For example a standard domain user who gets permissions on vCenter to deploy and delete VMs. This user will be granted permissions to vCenter later during setup.

5. November 201811. November 2018

VMworld 2018 – Day 1 – Monday

Time for Networking, Games and Hands on Labs

First official day of VMworld Europe 2018. This is a kind of warm-up. Solution Exchange is not open yet and everybody is busy there to finish work for the opening tomorrow.

There are just a few sessions today so the social area (Virtual Village) is crowded and the WiFi is overloaded with traffic. Finally I got a nice spot in the blogging lounge at VMTN.

In the middle of Virtual Village there is a gaming area with oldschool flippers, arcade games, an XXXL table kicker and a split-screen racing game. I totally failed to keep the car on track and ploughed the green instead of racing. Should have used a 4×4 car instead. 😉 You can can play a 3D desktop version of classic PONG too.

On my way through Virtual Village I’ve met a couple of friends, bloggers, vExperts that I haven’t seen since VMworld 2017. It feels like a family reunion.

Whenever there is some spare time, you can launch a Hands On Lab (HOL) session. For those who cannot atted VMworld this time, keep in mind that you can access HOL easily from your desk.

VMworld EU 2018

VMworld 2018 EU knocking at the door

From November 6th to November 8th 2018 VMworld Europe will take place at the Fira Gran Via in Barcelona. With more than 500 sessions it will be an impressive happening.

VMworld on site

For all of you who will attend VMworld for the first time, here are some useful links.

VMworld Blog – Next Stop: VMworld 2018 Europe
ElasticSky.de – VMworld Survival Guide

Continue reading “VMworld EU 2018”

24. October 2018

vCenter and AD Domain Functional Level

If you’re running a vCenter appliance with Active Directory integration you should take care about your Domain Functional Level. It is crucial to closely work together with the domain administrators team, for some vCenter versions may not support the latest level supported by Windows Server 2016.

What is the Domain Functional Level?

Functional levels determine the available Active Directory Domain Services domain capabilities. They also determine which Windows Server operating systems you can run on domain controllers in the domain or forest. Choosing a Functional Level of Windows Server 2012 implies that there can’t be any Domain Controllers prior that level (like Server 2008 R2).

Functional levels do not affect which operating systems you can run on workstations or servers that are joined to the domain.

Set the domain and forest functional levels to the highest value that your environment can support. This way, you can use as many ADS features as possible. Continue reading “vCenter and AD Domain Functional Level”