Commands to troubleshoot connectivity through a vShield Edge

Packet Capture

debug packet display interface INTERFACE host_EXTERNALIP-OF-DESTINATION-EDGE_and_tcp_port_PORT eg:
debug packet display interface any host_11.22.33.44_and_tcp_port_80
debug packet display interface vNic_0 udp
debug packet display interface vNic_0 icmp
debug packet display interface vNic_0 host_10.10.10.10
debug packet display interface vNic_0 tcp_src_port_53
debug packet display interface vNic_0 host_10.10.10.10
debug packet display interface any host_10.10.10.10_or_host_11.22.33.44

Useful Commands

list (lists all available commands)
show log follow
show tech-support
show nat
show flowtable topN 5NAT
show ip route

show system cpu
show system memory
show system network-stats
show system storage
show system uptime
show tech-support
show version

Ping external address from vShield Edge console (Note*** must use IP that’s assigned to edge)

ping interface addr  8.8.8.8
ping interface addr 11.22.33.44 8.8.8.8

Scroll within a vShield Edge console session

SHIFT + [PgUp / PgDn]

Virtualisation Podcasts – Keeping your finger on the Pulse

For many years I’ve found listening to Podcasts a great way to keep up-to-date with Virtualisation and Technology.

It all started with the VMware Communities Roundtable podcast, where I quickly realised the commute to work didn’t have to be “dead time”.

Here’s my current list of Virtualisation and Tech podcasts:

  1. Packet Pushers Datanauts
  2. Speaking in Tech
  3. In Tech We Trust Podcast
  4. The Cloudcast (.net) – Weekly Cloud Computing Podcast
  5. The Full Stack Journey
  6. Virtually Speaking Podcast
  7. The Geek Whisperers
  8. VMware Communities Roundtable
  9. Cloud Insiders
  10. vChat (MP3 VERSION) – The Latest in Virtualization and Cloud Computing
  11. The Data Center Insiders Podcast: Virtualization | Cloud Computing | Enterprise IT | VMware | EMC

The best Podcast app I’ve found to date is Overcast, as it has very useful features including Voice Boost and Smart Speed, Playlists, and a great UI.
Oh yeah, and it’s free!

I’ve you want to quickly import the above podcasts, download and import my OPML file here: overcast-adam-rush

Find Upgradeable vShield Edges

I was recently asked if there was a quick way to find out how many vShield Edges were out-of-date and could be upgraded in a vCloud Director environment. I didn’t know of any, so I turned to my good friend PowerCLI and came up with this:

This script does assume that at least one of the vShield Edges in your environment is up-to-date, as it looks for the highest available version deployed and not the known latest version.

VMware Training Resources

I regularly get asked where good VMware training resources are found for various VMware products, so I thought I’d better create a page I can add links to as find them.

vCloud Director

Since I’ve had a focus on vCloud Director for the past few years, these links are fresh in my mind:

  1. VMware has recently updated their Fundamentals course, so this is probably the best place to start: VMware vCloud Director Fundamentals 2016

vCloud Networking

  1. Networking is often a tricky area for new users of vCloud Director, so here is a the best presentation I’ve found so far that explains how the different networking components fit together: https://youtu.be/EZw1UemLBoE
  2. http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2010/09/07/vcd-networking-part-1-intro/
  3. http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2010/09/09/vcd-networking-part-2-network-pools/
  4. http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2010/09/15/vcd-networking-part-3-use-case/

vCloud Design

  1. vCloud Director Design and Scale: https://youtu.be/dzX6DgUL2hQ

I’ve just found this page which includes most of the above links and more: http://blogs.vmware.com/vcloud/2010/09/top-resources-to-learn-about-vcloud-director.html

I’m a big fan of Pluralsight and can highly recommend these courses:

  1. https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/vmware-vcloud-director-essentials/table-of-contents
  2. https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/vmware-vcloud-director-organizations/table-of-contents
  3. https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/vmware-vcloud-5-1-essentials-pt1/table-of-contents
  4. https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/vmware-vcloud-5-1-essentials-pt2/table-of-contents

vSphere

vSphere 6

Check out the latest Training and Certification resources here: http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=62349&ui=www_edu&rcode=twtr

VMware Various

Here’s the Top Free course from VMware Learning: http://mylearn.vmware.com/portals/www/mL.cfm?menu=topfreecourses&p=1

Partition Alignment

Some informative posts on Partition Alignment:

Upgrading ESXi to HP Specific 5.1 Image Using VMware Update Manager

Scenario

You manage a VMware ESXi 5.0 cluster, using only HP servers. You want to upgrade to the latest version (5.1) but would also like to install HP-specific “extras” to expose more information and provide more features such as VAAI. HP provide a customised image for VMware ESXi 5.1, and it’s possible to use VMware Update Manager to make the upgrade process as smooth as possible.

Solution

[Read more…]

Updating VMware vCenter from 5.0 to 5.1

Scenario

You currently manage your vSphere estate using vCenter 5.0, and would like to upgrade to the latest and greatest version to date; 5.1. There’s a few gotchas along the way, so read on below for a few useful notes. [Read more…]

The Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition installer returned error code 2064843076

Scenario

You’ve just tried to install VMware vCenter with the option to use SQL Server Express, but the installation fails with the following error:

The Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition installer returned error code ‘2064843076’

Solution

  1. Click Explore Media to open an Explorer window:
  2.  Right-click autorun.exe and select Run as administrator:
  3. Every process that is started from the autorun screen will now have full admin rights, so SQL Server will install fine.

Free iSCSI SAN for your home lab using FreeNAS 8.2

Scenario

You have a home lab set up so you can experiment with the latest and greatest software and technology. You could be using VMware ESXi, Hyper-V or another hypervisor for your lab, but they don’t come with shared storage built-in. You need shared storage to set up features like Failover Clustering.

Luckily, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get an iSCSI SAN for your home lab. As the name suggests, FreeNAS is FREE!

Read on to learn how to install FreeNAS 8.2. I’ll be using VMware Workstation, but the process is similar for most hypervisors.

[Read more…]

vCenter Server Appliance Service fails after upgrading ESXi hosts to 5.0 U1 Veeam backups now fail

Scenario

You’ve just upgraded your ESXi hosts from 5.0 to 5.0 U1. They updated fine and there are no issues with the VMs. However, you have noticed that your Veeam backups have started to fail.

Further investigation shows the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) service is not running.

[Read more…]