VMware Appoints Kit Colbert as Chief Technology…
Colbert will shape the technology vision for the company and drive foundational technologies for the company’s next stage of growth
VMworld 2021 – My Top 10 Sessions
Well here we are again – another VMworld has come around. As most of you will know, VMworld 2021 is going to be fully virtual event. Here are My Top 10 Sessions:
Niels Hagoort
10 things You Need to Know About Project Monterey [MCL1833]
Curious how Project Monterey and SmartNICs will redefine the data center for VMware ESXi hosts and bare-metal systems?
- Learn the 10 things you need to know about Project Monterey to accelerate your business
- Find out how Project Monterey helps to increase performance, security, and manageability by offloading to a DPU
- Session includes demo of the overall architecture and use cases
Automate and Improve Day 2 Operations with vSphere Lifecycle Manager [MCL1274]
Reducing the amount of time required to update and upgrade your systems is imperative as the number of systems and environments grow
- Learn the features and capabilities of vSphere Lifecycle Manager, including newly added support for NSX-T and Tanzu
- Information and examples to help you get started further automating vSphere Lifecycle Manager with PowerCLI
- Creating consistent vSphere infrastructures has never been easier with vLCM!
William Lam
App Modernization Deep Dive with VMware Cloud on AWS and VMware Tanzu [MCL2290]
Is app modernization top of mind for your business? You’re not alone, but many are struggling to begin
- Learn to leverage Tanzu + VMware Cloud on AWS to discover, analyze and map dependencies
- How to convert to containers and ultimately deploy a modernized app on an API driven infrastructure
- Realize the TCO benefits that come with VMware Cloud on AWS
Unleashing the Power of Event-Driven Automation [VI2622]
Got VEBA? The VMware Event Broker Appliance has come a long way since its release 3 years ago
- Reflect on key milestones achieved by our great community over the past years
- Explore real-world use cases and share how users have leveraged VEBA
- Join and be a part of the event-driven revolution!
Martijn Smit
A Guide to Application Migration Nirvana [MCL1264]
Ever experience application migration paralysis? Fear not!
- We spill the beans on how our customers solved their migration headaches
- See technical demos of vRealize Network Insight, vRealize Operations and VMware HCX
- Find out how to migrate apps to VMWonAWS, Azure VMware Solution, and Google Cloud VMware Engine
Automated Problem Resolution in Modern Networks [NET2160]
Legacy network operations & management solutions have been primarily reactive. Enter the self-healing network
- Learn how VMware’s self-healing network capabilities solve problems straight away using telemetry-driven and event-driven automation
- Get an overview of VMware’s networking portfolio and approach to self-healing networks in the data center, branch, and cloud
- Demo-centric session featuring a special guest from Intel!
Raymond de Jong
Simplify Network Consumption and Automation for Day 1 and Day 2 Operations [NET2185]
Apps are the lifeblood of the business in today’s digital economy. Can you envision seamless connectivity between your apps & networking technologies?
- Learn why apps are the lifeblood of the business in today’s digital economy
- See how seamless connectivity between your apps and networking technologies for end-to-end network configuration, compliance and automation with a single API call can be possible
- Find out how to simplify network consumption with network automation for Day 1 and Day 2 operations
Keith Lee
Manage Kubernetes Across Multiple Clouds [APP1187]
Managing Kubernetes clusters across teams and clouds can be difficult. Not with Tanzu Mission Control.
- Learn how to centrally operate and manage Kubernetes clusters across multiple clouds with Tanzu Mission Control
- Also hear about policy management, data protection, security and configuration inspections
- Jump-start and scale your modern apps practice across the enterprise
Eric Shanks
Meet the Expert: Tanzu Kubernetes Grid with Tom Schwaller [APP2436]
Questions on how VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid works? Our experts are here for you!
- Get the answers to all of your VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid questions
- Open, informal roundtable session with VMware experts
- Get master insights to ensure you get the best Kubernetes experience possible
Chris McCain
Enterprise Multi-Cloud Security [SEC2445]
With the expansion of VMware’s security portfolio, you may be wondering how all of the pieces fit together into a cohesive multi-cloud enterprise design
- Learn about VMware’s expanding security portfolio and how all the tools fit together
- See how cyberattacks occur, including a look into the most famous attack of all time!
- Gain a better understanding of how to design a policy-driven, defense-in-depth strategy for the modern enterprise
ESXi-Arm Fling 1.4 Refresh – Arm at VMware
ESXi-Arm Fling 1.4 Refresh – Arm at VMware
what better way to celebrate innovation than by updating our ESXi-Arm Fling? NVIDIA Xavier, Altra, bug fixes and perf improvements.
Fault Resilient Memory (FRM) for Cisco UCS
We can see annual incidence of uncorrectable errors is rissing. Here is one possibility – How to solved it with FRM.
ESXi supports reliable memory.
Some systems have reliable memory, which is a part of memory that is less likely to have hardware memory errors than other parts of the memory in the system. If the hardware exposes information about the different levels of reliability, ESXi might be able to achieve higher system reliability.
How to enable in Cisco UCS
Configuration is in BIOS policy / Advanced / RAS Memory
8GB Could be enough for ESXi hypervisor …
This forces the Hypervisor and some core kernel processes to be mirrored between DIMMs so ESXi itself can survive the complete and total failure of a memory DIMM.
# esxcli hardware memory get Physical Memory: 540800864256 Bytes Reliable Memory: 8589934592 Bytes NUMA Node Count: 2
# esxcli system settings kernel list | grep useReliableMem useReliableMem Bool TRUE TRUE TRUE System is aware of reliable memory.
Configuring Reliable Memory in Per-virtual machine basis (2146595)
I can decided to configure more Reliable Memory for VM – not only 8GB for hypervisor.
To turn on the feature per VM:
- Edit the .vmx file using a text editor
- Add the parameter:
sched.mem.reliable = "True" - Save and close the file
Conclusion:
- For enable Fault Resilient Memory (FRM) I had to disable ADDDC Sparing in BIOS policy / Advanced / RAS Memory / Memory RAS configuration
- With ADDDC and Proactive HA I can save about 95% failures – Personaly I prefer to use ADDDC
- The Best possibility is to have both in future firmware …
Interesting links:
Memory Errors and Dell EMC PowerEdge YX4X Server Memory RAS Features
Upgrading NSX-T 3.1.2 Data Center
After you finish the prerequisites for upgrading, your next step is to update the upgrade coordinator to initiate the upgrade process.
Trending support issues in VMware NSX (2131154) – This article provides information regarding trending issues and important Knowledge Base articles regarding VMware NSX Data Center for vSphere 6.x and VMware NSX-T Data Center 3.x.
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator – 1/4
The upgrade coordinator runs in the NSX Manager. It is a self-contained web application that orchestrates the upgrade process of hosts, NSX Edge cluster, NSX Controller cluster, and Management plane.
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster – 2/4
After the upgrade coordinator has been upgraded, based on your input, the upgrade coordinator updates the NSX Edge cluster, hosts, and the Management plane. Edge upgrade unit groups consist of NSX Edge nodes that are part of the same NSX Edge cluster. You can reorder Edge upgrade unit groups and enable or disable an Edge upgrade unit group from the upgrade sequence.
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Configuring and Upgrading Hosts 3/4
You can upgrade your hosts using the upgrade coordinator.
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade Management Plane – 4/4
The upgrade sequence upgrades the Management Plane at the end. When the Management Plane upgrade is in progress, avoid any configuration changes from any of the nodes.
NSX-T Data Center Upgrade Checklist
| Task | Instructions |
|---|---|
| Review the known upgrade problems and workaround documented in the NSX-T Data Center release notes. | See the NSX-T Data Center Release Notes. |
| Follow the system configuration requirements and prepare your infrastructure. | See the system requirements section of the NSX-T Data Center Installation Guide. |
| Evaluate the operational impact of the upgrade. | See Operational Impact of the NSX-T Data Center Upgrade. |
| Upgrade your supported hypervisor. | See Upgrading Your Host OS. |
| If you have an earlier version of NSX Intelligence installed, upgrade the NSX Intelligence appliance first. | See the Installing and Upgrading VMware NSX Intelligence documentation at https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-Intelligence/index.html for more information. |
| Complete the Pre-Upgrade Tasks. | See Pre-Upgrade Tasks. |
| Verify that the NSX-T Data Center environment is in a healthy state. | See Verify the Current State of NSX-T Data Center. |
| Download the latest NSX-T Data Center upgrade bundle. | See Download the NSX-T Data Center Upgrade Bundle. |
| If you are using NSX Cloud for your public cloud workload VMs, upgrade NSX Cloud components. | See Upgrading NSX Cloud Components. |
| Upgrade your upgrade coordinator. | See Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator. |
| Upgrade the NSX Edge cluster. | See Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster. |
| Upgrade the hosts. | See Configuring and Upgrading Hosts . |
| Upgrade the Management plane. | See Upgrade Management Plane. |
| Post-upgrade tasks. | See Verify the Upgrade. |
| Troubleshoot upgrade errors. | See Troubleshooting Upgrade Failures. |
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator – 1/4
TOC – Upgrade steps
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator – 1/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster – 2/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Configuring and Upgrading Hosts 3/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade Management Plane – 4/4
Prerequisites
Verify that the upgrade bundle is available. See Download the NSX-T Data Center Upgrade Bundle.
Procedure
In the NSX Manager CLI, verify that the NSX-T Data Center services are running.
tanzu-nsx> get service install-upgrad
Wed May 19 2021 UTC 18:58:00.174
Service name: install-upgrade
Service state: running
Enabled on: 10.254.201.169System > Upgrade / Proceed to Upgrade / Upload / Upgrade
- From your browser, log in an NSX Manager
- Select System > Upgrade from the navigation panel.
- Click Proceed to Upgrade.
- Navigate to the upgrade bundle .mub file.
- Click Upload.
- Click Upgrade to upgrade the upgrade coordinator.
- Read and accept the EULA terms.
- Click to Yes – upgrade coordinator.
- Click Run Pre-Checks to verify that all the NSX-T Data Center components are ready for upgrade.
- (Optional) Check Click Pre Check Status
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster – 2/4
TOC – Upgrade steps
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator – 1/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster – 2/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Configuring and Upgrading Hosts 3/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade Management Plane – 4/4
The NSX Edge nodes are upgraded in serial mode so that when the upgrading node is down, the other nodes in the NSX Edge cluster remain active to continuously forward traffic.
Enter the NSX Edge cluster upgrade plan details:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Serial | Upgrade all the Edge upgrade unit groups consecutively. |
| Parallel | Upgrade all the Edge upgrade unit groups simultaneously. |
| When an upgrade unit fails to upgrade | You can fix an error on the Edge node and continue the upgrade. You cannot deselect this setting. |
| After each group completes | Select to pause the upgrade process after each Edge upgrade unit group finishes upgrading. |
Click Start to upgrade the NSX Edge cluster
- Monitor the upgrade process.
- You can view the overall upgrade status and progress details of each Edge upgrade unit group. The upgrade duration depends on the number of Edge upgrade unit groups you have in your environment.
- Or using CLI
get upgrade progress-status
IN_PROGRESS:
tanzu-nsx-edge> get upgrade progress-status ********************************************************************* Node Upgrade has been started. Please do not make any changes, until the upgrade operation is complete. Run "get upgrade progress-status" to show the progress of last upgrade step. ********************************************************************* Tue May 18 2021 UTC 21:51:51.235 Upgrade info: From-version: 3.1.1.0.0.17483065 To-version: 3.1.2.0.0.17883603 Upgrade steps: 11-preinstall-enter_maintenance_mode [2021-05-18 21:45:34 - 2021-05-18 21:46:45] SUCCESS download_os [2021-05-18 21:47:34 - 2021-05-18 21:49:01] SUCCESS install_os [2021-05-18 21:49:02 - ] IN_PROGRESS
SUCCESS / Upgrade is not in progress:
tanzu-nsx-edge> get upgrade progress-status Node Upgrade has been started. Please do not make any changes, until the upgrade operation is complete. Run "get upgrade progress-status" to show the progress of last upgrade step. Tue May 18 2021 UTC 21:55:55.278 Upgrade info: From-version: 3.1.1.0.0.17483065 To-version: 3.1.2.0.0.17883603 Upgrade steps: 11-preinstall-enter_maintenance_mode [2021-05-18 21:45:34 - 2021-05-18 21:46:45] SUCCESS download_os [2021-05-18 21:47:34 - 2021-05-18 21:49:01] SUCCESS install_os [2021-05-18 21:49:02 - 2021-05-18 21:51:58] SUCCESS switch_os [2021-05-18 21:52:01 - 2021-05-18 21:52:24] SUCCESS reboot [2021-05-18 21:52:28 - 2021-05-18 21:53:53] SUCCESS migrate_users [2021-05-18 21:55:26 - 2021-05-18 21:55:31] SUCCESS tanzu-nsx-edge> get upgrade progress-status Tue May 18 2021 UTC 21:59:41.501 Upgrade is not in progress
- Click Run Post Checks to verify whether the Edge upgrade unit groups were successfully upgraded.
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Configuring and Upgrading Hosts 3/4
TOC – Upgrade steps
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator – 1/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster – 2/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Configuring and Upgrading Hosts 3/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade Management Plane – 4/4
Configure Hosts
You can customize the upgrade sequence of the hosts, disable certain hosts from the upgrade, or pause the upgrade at various stages of the upgrade process.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Serial | Upgrade all the host upgrade unit groups consecutively. This selection is useful to maintain the step-by-step upgrade of the host components. . |
| Parallel | Upgrade all the host upgrade unit groups simultaneously. You can upgrade up to five hosts simultaneously. |
| When an upgrade unit fails to upgrade | Select to pause the upgrade process if any host upgrade fails. |
| After each group completes | Select to pause the upgrade process after each host upgrade unit group finishes upgrading. |
Manage Host Upgrade Unit Groups
Hosts in a ESXi cluster appear in one host upgrade unit group in the upgrade coordinator. You can move these hosts from one host upgrade unit group to another host upgrade unit group.
Upgrade Hosts
- Click Start to upgrade the hosts.
- Click Refresh and monitor the upgrade process.
- Click Run Post Checks to make sure that the upgraded hosts and NSX-T Data Center do not have any problems.
- BEFORE the upgrade, verify the version of NSX-T Data Center packages
esxcli software vib list | grep nsx nsx-adf 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-cfgagent 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-context-mux 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-cpp-libs 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-esx-datapath 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-exporter 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-host 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-ids 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-monitoring 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-mpa 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-nestdb 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-netopa 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-opsagent 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-platform-client 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-proto2-libs 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-proxy 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-gevent 1.1.0-15366959 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-greenlet 0.4.14-16723199 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-logging 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-protobuf 2.6.1-16723197 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-utils 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-sfhc 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-shared-libs 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-vdpi 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified nsxcli 3.1.1.0.0-7.0.17483060 VMware VMwareCertified
- AFTER the upgrade is successful, verify that the latest version of NSX-T Data Center packages
esxcli software vib list | grep nsx nsx-adf 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-cfgagent 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-context-mux 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-cpp-libs 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-esx-datapath 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-exporter 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-host 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-ids 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-monitoring 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-mpa 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-nestdb 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-netopa 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-opsagent 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-platform-client 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-proto2-libs 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-proxy 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-gevent 1.1.0-15366959 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-greenlet 0.4.14-16723199 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-logging 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-protobuf 2.6.1-16723197 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-python-utils 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-sfhc 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-shared-libs 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsx-vdpi 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified nsxcli 3.1.2.0.0-7.0.17883598 VMware VMwareCertified
NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade Management Plane – 4/4
TOC – Upgrade steps
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade the Upgrade Coordinator – 1/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade NSX Edge Cluster – 2/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Configuring and Upgrading Hosts 3/4
- NSX-T 3.1.2 – Upgrade Management Plane – 4/4
Backup the NSX Manager
More info in the NSX-T Data Center Administration Guide.
Click Start to upgrade the Management plane
Accept the upgrade notification
Monitor the upgrade progress from the NSX Manager CLI for the orchestrator node.
tanzu-nsx> get upgrade progress-status
Node Upgrade has been started. Please do not make any changes, until
the upgrade operation is complete. Run "get upgrade progress-status"
to show the progress of last upgrade step.
Tue May 18 2021 UTC 22:38:49.533
Upgrade info:
From-version: 3.1.1.0.0.17483186
To-version: 3.1.2.0.0.17883600
Upgrade steps:
download_os [2021-05-18 22:35:57 - 2021-05-18 22:38:04] SUCCESS
shutdown_manager [2021-05-18 22:38:15 - ] IN_PROGRESS
Status: cloud-init status command returned output active.
Some appliance components are not functioning properly.
Component health: MANAGER:UNKNOWN, POLICY:UNKNOWN, SEARCH:UNKNOWN, NODE_MGMT:UP, UI:UP.
Error code: 101
tanzu-nsx> get upgrade progress-status Node Upgrade has been started. Please do not make any changes, until the upgrade operation is complete. Run "get upgrade progress-status" to show the progress of last upgrade step. Tue May 18 2021 UTC 23:09:58.930 Upgrade info: From-version: 3.1.1.0.0.17483186 To-version: 3.1.2.0.0.17883600 Upgrade steps: download_os [2021-05-18 22:35:57 - 2021-05-18 22:38:04] SUCCESS shutdown_manager [2021-05-18 22:38:15 - 2021-05-18 22:56:22] SUCCESS install_os [2021-05-18 22:56:22 - 2021-05-18 22:58:34] SUCCESS migrate_manager_config [2021-05-18 22:58:34 - 2021-05-18 22:58:44] SUCCESS switch_os [2021-05-18 22:58:44 - 2021-05-18 22:59:06] SUCCESS reboot [2021-05-18 22:59:06 - 2021-05-18 23:00:04] SUCCESS run_migration_tool [2021-05-18 23:03:11 - 2021-05-18 23:03:16] SUCCESS start_manager [2021-05-18 23:03:16 - ] IN_PROGRESS
tanzu-nsx> get upgrade progress-status Tue May 18 2021 UTC 23:21:33.659 Upgrade is not in progress
Breaking: VMware Board Names Raghu Raghuram as CEO
Breaking: VMware Board Names Raghu Raghuram as CEO
VMware today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Rangarajan (Raghu) Raghuram as Chief Executive Officer effective June 1, 2021. Raghuram is a strategic business leader who currently holds the position of Executive Vice President and COO, Products and Cloud Services at VMware.