Archive for the ‘Virtualization’ Category

A list of all my @ExpertsExchange articles and videos can be found at The CodHeadClub

Monday, August 21st, 2023

A list of all my Experts Exchange articles and videos can be found here – at the  – CodHeadClub – To copy and paste! 

https://github.com/CodheadClub/AwesomeResources/blob/master/Virtualisation.md#andrewhancock

This is an Awesome List of Computer Science, Technology, Programming and Educational resources for the benefit of all who care to use it.

The list was originally created by Closebracket.

I’ve now written over 140 articles and created 40 hours of tutorial VMware vSphere videos on vSphere 7.0 and 8.0. and today published Part 50 – VMware vSphere videos on vSphere 7.0.

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HOW TO: Perform storage performance tests on VMware vSphere vSAN, using the VMware Hyper-converged Infrastructure Benchmark fling (HCIBench)

Monday, August 14th, 2023

In this video presentation which is part of the Hancock’s VMware Half Hour HOW TO Video Series I will show you HOW TO:  Perform storage performance tests on VMware vSphere vSAN, using the VMware Hyper-converged Infrastructure Benchmark fling (HCIBench).

HCIBench is a storage performance testing automation tool that simplifies and accelerates customer Proof of Concept (POC) performance testing in a consistent and controlled way. VMware vSAN Community Forum provides support for HCIBench.

HCIBench

The storage devices we are using in this video are the Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series 375GB, 2.5in PCIe x4, 3D XPoint™, but this procedure can be use to add any compatible storage devices in ESXi to a vSAN datastore.

This video follows on from the follow video in this series

Part 36: HOW TO: Select an inexpensive HCL Certified 10GBe network interfaces for vSphere ESXi 7.0 and vSphere ESXi 8.0 for VMware vSphere vSAN

Part 37: HOW TO: Change the LBA sector size of storage media to make it compatible with VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 7.0 and ESXi 8.0.

Part 39: HOW TO: Create a VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) for use with VMware vSphere vSAN for the VMware vSphere vSAN Cluster.

If you are creating a design for VMware vSphere vSAN for a Production environment, please ensure you read the  VMware Cloud Foundation Design Guide 01 JUN 2023 – this should be regarded as The Bible!

References

HOW TO: FIX the Warning System logs on host are stored on non-persistent storage, Move system logs to NFS shared storage.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH INTEL OPTANE? – Mr vSAN – Simon Todd

Matt Mancini blog

VMware vSAN 8.0 U1 Express Storage Architecture Deep Dive

VMware vSAN 7.0 U3 Deep Dive Paperback – 5 May 2022

The results generated from this video are available here in these PDFs for download

FIO Benchmarks

4K/70%Read/100%Random

4K/100%Read100%Random

8K/50%Read/100%Random

256K/100%Write/100%Sequential

VDBENCH Benchmarks

4K/70%Read/100%Random
4K/100%Read100%Random
8K/50%Read/100%Random
256K/100%Write/100%Sequential

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#intel #optane SSD demo units received as part of the vExpert Program not being detected as a datastore in ESXi 7.0 or ESXi 8.0 ?

Monday, July 3rd, 2023

This blog is specific to the #intel #optane demo units received as part of the vExpert Program. but later you will observe that this applies to all storage devices connected to ESXi 7.0 or ESXi 8.0.

and again my special thanks to fellow #vExperts –  Mr vSAN, Matt Mancini, and vCommunity Guy for arranging this fantastic opportunity to work with #intel #optane demo units for free in our #homelabs .

These demo units received may have been previously used as part of the #intel loan program.

I received 10 (ten) #intel #optane – Intel® Optane™ SSD DC P4800X Series 375GB, 2.5in PCIe x4, 3D XPoint™

the form factor I selected for my #homelab was U.2 15mm, rather than a PCIe slot in card, because I want to use them, in the storage/disk slot of a server, I could connect them to a U.2 to PCIe card, but I would rather use them as “intended”.  More on the complications of that later with my #homelab.

For ease, I did quickly connect them all to a recommended (thanks Mr vSAN) – StarTech.com U.2 to PCIe Adapter – x4 PCIe – For 2.5″ U.2 NVMe SSD – SFF-8639 PCIe Adapter – U.2 SSD – PCIe SSD – U.2 drive (PEX4SFF8639) for testing and formatting in my test bench. In fact I’ve now got a bucket full of these cards, I’ve tried and tested, how difficult can it be to connect a U.2. NVMe interface to a PCIe slot, when some cards are £50 GBP, and other cards are available from that well known China website for £1.99 GBP ! and some are described as Low Profile – NOT! – but more on that later!

You may notice if you look through the above photos, there is one U.2 #intel #optane unit with a RED DOT! Read on.

This because it was faulty, ah, or so I thought! I must admit, it was very odd, because it worked in Windows 10, and on checking in ESXi and Ubuntu, the devices were present.

esxi007-no-storage1

PCIe passthrough devices

esxi007-storage-adapters

Storage Adapters

Device visible in Ubuntu

But when trying to create a datastore, no device was available to create a datastore.

No storage for datastore visible

BUT BUT BUT After discussions with Mr vSAN,  Mr Todd (MrVSAN) suggested checking that the #intel #optane SSD how not been formatted to/with LBA 4K sectors! Because ESXi 7.0 and 8.0 does not support LBA 4K. I was surprised that it would not list the SSD device!

Interestingly on Twitter at the same time, another vExpert was also having similar issues!

Checking with an Ubuntu Live “CDROM” USB flash drive

Dell PowerEdge R730 UEFI BOOT

 

Dell PowerEdge R730 UEFI BOOT

 

Dell PowerEdge R730 Ubuntu

Using the nvme-cli, which you can pull using sudo apt-get install nvem-cli, and use the command sudo nvme list to list NVMe devices

to check the LBA format – sudo nvme id-ns -H /dev/nvmeXnY | grep “LBA format” you can see in the screenshot below I have two NVMe devices /dev/nvme0n1
/dev/nvme1n1 and both show

[3:0] : 03x Current LBA Format Selected

if you look at LBA Format 3: it states Data Size – 4096 bytes !

check LBA  – sudo nvme id-ns -H /dev/nvmeXnY | grep “LBA format”

 

Argh! 4K ! lets just reformat with – sudo nvme format -l 0 /dev/nvme0n1, it does not display any progress, as there is no -v verbose option, but eventually it will respond with Success Formatting Namespace:1

sudo nvme format -l 0 /dev/nvme0n1,

sudo nvme format -l 0 /dev/nvme0n1,

success 512k

for #shitsandgiggles I’ve left /dev/nvme1n1 formatted as 4k, but now above you can see /dev/nvme0n1 is 512 sectors, so now back and restart ESXi. I’ll do a quick video on /dev/nvme1n1 for Hancock’s VMware Half Hour

If I now check the storage devices in ESXi, there is a Local NVMe SSD available

storage devices

and if you now try to create a datastore – Viola!

device for datastore available

You will notice from the above storage device list the 4K formatted NVMe device is still missing. Q.E.D

Anyway kudos and my sincere Thanks to Simon Todd aka Mr vSAN !

So onward with my #intel #optane #homelab journey more later!

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It’s A Proper Job! – Low Profile PCIe Bracket for Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023
 

So I recently blogged here – about the network interfaces I’ve chosen for my #intel #optane #vSAN #homelab, but I cam across a small snag, in the Dell PowerEdge R730 I’m using as one of the #homelab servers uses low profile PCIe cards so I need to purchase a low profile bracket from eBay for it, so it will fit nicely.  I could have swapped the bracket from another network interface card but that then leaves that card I cannot use in the future!

Low profile bracket

flapping in the breeze

So one purchased from the UK, I could purchase one from China, but I’m in a hurry, I could leave the PCIe card floppy around in the breeze, but I do like to do things proper!

R730 riser with Intel-DA2 fitted with low profile bracket

It’s a Proper Job!

oh for those that don’t know, it’s a lovely tipple from Cornwall! A Cornish IPA from St Austell Brewery !

 

 

 

 

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Inexpensive HCL Certified 10GBe network interfaces for vSphere ESXi 7.0 and vSphere ESXi 8.0 #homelab

Sunday, July 2nd, 2023

I’ve been desperately searching for inexpensive 10GBe SFP+ network interface cards for use with my new #intel #optane #homelab #vSAN which support both VMware vSphere 7.0 (ESXi 7.0) and 8.0 (ESXi 8.0), the major reason is so I can use the same lab for vSphere 7.0 and then upgrade to vSphere 8.0.

You can use the VMware Hardware compatibility list to find them, but it does take some searching and testing, so I’ve settled on the following network interface cards

Dell 0Y40PH Broadcom 57810S Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Network Card Low Profile Dell P/N: 0Y40PH – this uses the qfle3i driver in ESXi 7.x and 8.x.

Dell 0Y40PH Broadcom 57810S Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Network Card Low Profile Dell P/N: 0Y40PH

Dell 0Y40PH Broadcom 57810S Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Network Card Low Profile Dell P/N: 0Y40PH

Dell 0Y40PH Broadcom 57810S Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Network Card Low Profile Dell P/N: 0Y40PH

Dell 0Y40PH Broadcom 57810S Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Network Card Low Profile Dell P/N: 0Y40PH

Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC with SFP this uses the ixgben driver for ESXi 7.x and 8.x

Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC with SFP

Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC with SFP

Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC with SFP

Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC with SFP

which I’ve tested both with ESXi 7.0 and ESXi 8.0.

What does surprise me, in it’s taken many months to find the first card above, which is present on the HCL, and also functions with ESXi 7. and 8.0, without adding any additional drivers, e.g. it works out of the box!

We were scrapping many Dell R910 from the datacentre, and I was surprised after testing that the Dell 0XYT17 Intel X520-DA2 Dual Port 10GB SFP+ NIC with SFP still functions with ESXi 7.0 and ESXi 8.0, and was manufactured 10 years ago, and is still present on the HCL today! Well done #intel for stopping these cards going to landfill!

10 years old and on the HCL!

10 years old and on the HCL!

This is a bargain card and firmware is still available and can be updated from Dell ! From memory 21.x !

So ideal for an inexpensive #homelab

Argh, I’ve got one issue, more later on that!

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#intel #optane demo units as part of the @vExpert program

Saturday, July 1st, 2023

I was able to take part in the fantastic offer of free #intel #optane demo units as part of the vExpert Program to create a #vSAN #homelab project which I will document here on this blog. It has taken me a while to obtain all the parts for the #homelab BOM, so here goes….. the #homelab will be based on VMware vSphere 7.0 and 8.0 vSAN.

So one of the many benefits of the vExpert Program , so if you have an interest in VMware Products, reach out to me as a vExpert Pro, for help with applying to the program!

So many Thanks to fellow #vExperts –  Mr vSAN, and Matt Mancini, vCommunity Guy for organising this. 

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ESXi on ARM – Andy’s BOM !

Saturday, October 24th, 2020

If you’ve been living under a rock you may not know that a recent VMware Fling was released of ESXi on ARM. You can check out my articles on Experts Exchange http://vexpert.me/ESXionARM and http://vexpert.me/ESXi-ARM-BOOT-from-SAN

This is my 4 (four) Raspberry Pi 4B Cluster of VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0 for ARM.

vSphere Cluster

vSphere Cluster

It’s based on 4 x Raspberry Pi 4B, Cluster/Rack, PoE and 4 x SanDisk 16GB MicroSD cards.

 

I did originally purchase a “Cluster” power supply at 2.4A per port, you’ll not need anymore unless you have external devices connected to your Pi, and then you may need 3A per port! switched to PoE!

 

So the BOM (bill of materials is as follows)

  1.  4 x Raspberry Pi 4B 8GB version from CPC (cheapest supplier in the UK, if they have stock)
  2. 1 x Pi Rack Case for Raspberry Pi 4 from Amazon
  3. 4 x PoE HAT from Amazon
  4. Sandisk MicroSD 3 Pack from Amazon 
  5. 5 Port LCD Charger from Amazon
  6. 5 Short braided USB cables from Amazon
  7. Handy USB HDMI device (connect to PI, and have PC display!)
  8. Hex drivers (if you have fat fingers like me, 5mm nuts can be fiddley!)

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10th Year a VMware vExpert

Tuesday, February 25th, 2020
VMware vExpert 10 Years

VMware vExpert 10 Years

VMware vExpert 2020

VMware vExpert 2020

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VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 6.5a on a HP/HPE DL380 G5 – IT WORKS!

Thursday, February 16th, 2017
Sad looking DL380G5

Sad looking DL380G5

Yes, we all know that the HP/HPE DL380 G5 is not on the VMware Hardware Compatibility list, the last ESXi supported operating system was either 4.1 – 5.0, depending upon your Xeon version. But these make ideal lab servers, and one very important function is if you remove the spinning rust disk drives from the disk carriers, you can swap them directly for consumer SSDs. So this makes an ideal test vSAN. 8 SSDs, and if you happen to have enough DL380G5, and we do…. you can build a larger cluster!

VMware HCL

VMware HCL

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0 does install and run on the DL380 G5, see here – INSTALL ESXI 6.0 ON A DL380 G5 – YES IT WORKS, but for shits and giggles, I want the latest and greatest 6.5!

DL380 G5 running ESXi 6.0

DL380 G5 running ESXi 6.0

and if you try to install ESXi 6.5 on a HP/HPE DL380 G5 with a Xeon 51xx series you will get the following error message

CPU_SUPPORT ERROR

CPU_SUPPORT ERROR

from the VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5 release notes

CPUs removed...

CPUs removed...

You will see the Xeon 51xx series has been removed from the code, and I also believe that more Xeon series will be removed with the next version 7.0 of ESXi, including all 52xx, 53xx and 54xx.

So I just happen to have some Xeon 5430, on my desk as coasters!

Not a matched pair of Xeon 5430

Not a matched pair of Xeon 5430

This pair are not matched…. I don’t think the world is going to come to and end…so, swap them and all will be fine…and the DL380G5 makes this simple, unlock the heat sink bar, unclip the processor clips, remove and replace…

dl380g5-processor-swap1

dl380g5-processor-swap2

dl380g5-processor-swap3

So here you go, ESXi 6.5a on HP/HPE DL380 G5 -” IT WORKS!”

ESXi 6.5 on DL380G5

ESXi 6.5 on DL380G5

A quick tip, download the last firmware disk from HPE Firmware 10.10, and update your DL 380G5 before you swap the processors! In fact I found this server, had never had any firmware upgrades still on stock firmware!

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I won an Amazon Echo – Thanks @ExpertsExchange

Tuesday, January 10th, 2017

In December I was notified by Experts Exchange, that I had won an Amazon Echo in the Contribute on Experts Exchange and Win competition for this Experts Exchange Article

HOW TO: Perform a Physical to Virtual (P2V) Conversion the easy way from a computer backup (image).

I actually think this is the Best Golden Nugget for FREE in years! (The Echo and Veeam Endpoint)

Thanks Experts Exchange and to readers of the article.

Box from Experts Exchange with Customs Duty stickers!

Box from Experts Exchange with Customs Duty stickers!

Amazon Echo sealed box

Amazon Echo sealed box

Amazon Echo sealed box

Amazon Echo sealed box

Amazon Echo open box

Amazon Echo open box

As for it’s setup, the Amazon Echo Saga continues…

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