Recently I started to work on a project implementing SRM 4. One of the project requirements is to use SSL certificates issued by a trusted CA. When upgrading to SRM 4, we ran into a small problem. Because of a change in the vCenter authentication protocol, a new certificate that complies with the new certificate content rules must be obtained.
The requirements changed of the “Subject Alternative Name”, the SSL certificate issued for SRM 1 environments use the FQDN of the vCenter server host. In SRM 4 environments, the Subject Alternative Name field must contain the FQDN of the SRM server.
This value will be different for each member of the SRM server pair. We installed the SRM server on a separate server, but If you have installed SRM on the vCenter server, then you do not need to acquire a new certificate.
Lefthand SAN – Lessons learned
Disclaimer: This article contains references to the words master and slave. I recognize these as exclusionary words. The words are used in this article for consistency because it’s currently the words that appear in the software, in the UI, and in the log files. When the software is updated to remove the words, this article will be updated to be in alignment.
Please note that this article has been written in 2009. I do not know if Lefthand changed their solution. Please check with your HP representative for updates!
I recently had the opportunity to deliver a virtual infrastructure that uses HP Lefthand SAN solution. Setting up a Lefthand SAN is not that difficult, but there are some factors to take into consideration when planning and designing a Lefthand SAN properly. These are my lessons learned.
[Read more…] about Lefthand SAN – Lessons learned
Timekeeping best practices for Linux
VMware KB article 1006427 presents best practices for Linux timekeeping. These recommendations include specifics on the particular kernel command line options to use for the Linux operating system of interest. There is also a description of the recommended settings and usage for NTP time sync, configuration of VMware Tools time synchronization, and Virtual Hardware Clock configuration, to achieve best timekeeping results.
What surprised me is the recommendation done by VMware; “Note: In all cases use NTP instead of VMware Tools periodic time synchronization”
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1006427
Deploying Volumes with Lefthand CLIQ
Due to my extreme busy schedule I haven’t blogged for a while. Besides studying for VCDX and preparing for VMworld I’m also involved in a couple of projects. One project is designing and implementing a vSphere 4 virtual infrastructure. The VI will host an Exchange 2010 environment. Due to the size of my client’s environment, 192 TB is used for hosting mailboxes. These datastores will be available thru RDM, which means creating 192 1-TB volumes and assigning them to every ESX host in the cluster.
I’ve tried to use the Centralized Management Console, but it’s tedious and error prone work. Mind numbing repetitive exercises makes me ask really dumb questions on twitter such as where did SCSI id 7 go? <homer>D’oh!</homer>. So to protect myself from further bashing and being ridiculed I started to search for the Lefthand CLI to be able to automate the creation and assignment of volumes on a Lefthand SAN.
[Read more…] about Deploying Volumes with Lefthand CLIQ
Deploying Volumes with Lefthand (CLIQ)
Due to my extreme busy schedule I haven’t blogged for a while. Besides studying for VCDX and preparing for VMworld I’m also involved in a couple of projects. One project is designing and implementing a vSphere 4 virtual infrastructure. The VI will host an Exchange 2010 environment. Due to the size of my client’s environment, 192 TB is used for hosting mailboxes. These datastores will be available thru RDM, which means creating 192 1-TB volumes and assigning them to every ESX host in the cluster.
I’ve tried to use the Centralized Management Console, but it’s tedious and error prone work. Mind numbing repetitive exercises makes me ask really dumb questions on twitter such as where did SCSI id 7 go? <homer>D’oh!</homer>. So to protect myself from further bashing and being ridiculed I started to search for the Lefthand CLI to be able to automate the creation and assignment of volumes on a Lefthand SAN.
[Read more…] about Deploying Volumes with Lefthand (CLIQ)