VROPS 6 Installation and Configuration

VROPS 6.0.1 Installation and Configuration

1. Download the VROPS ova from vmware.com/downloads and burn it into a dvd. The ova is about 1.6gbs in size. 

2. Use the Web Client to Install the VROPS vm. It's no longer a vapp comprised of two vms, just one vm with 4vcpus and 16gbs of RAM (instead of two vms with 7 and 9 gbs of RAM). Power on the VROPS vm after the installation.

3. Notice the specs for the VROPS vm and the instructions on how to proceed. 

3. Launch your browser and connect to the VROPS vm using https

4. Select Express Configuration and proceed with the configuration. Change the "admin" password during this step. The default password is "admin".

5. Log into the VROPS appliance using the user admin with the new password.

6. Specify which vCenter Server to monitor. Add the credentials for administrator@vsphere.local.

7. Take a look at the different available views of the esxi host, the vcenter server and datastores.

vSphere Standalone Converter

How to Install and Use the Standalone Converter

1. Download the tool from vmware.com/downloads and burn it into a cd/dvd.

2. Double click on the executable and install it on a Windows pc/server. In this case, the converter was installed on a Windows 7 pc. Select the client-server installation choice.

3. Launch the tool and log in.

4. Convert a Windows Server into a virtual machine. Disable the firewall of the target server prior to the start of the conversion so that the agent can be added. The converter allow for the changing of the virtual hardware by for example adding additional cpus, more RAM and so forth.

NOTE: If converting a linux server, first install the openssh-server package on the linux machine; add a password for root and edit  /etc/ssh/sshd_config and restart the ssh service.

ESXTOP and VSANs

vSphere 6 introduces a new option (the "x" option) to better monitor Virtual Sans. Below is the default view after using the "x" option.

 As usual, not all the columns appear by default. Pressing "f" displays that one more option can be added.

Once the last option is selected, new columns appear

MEANING OF COLUMNS:

ROLE                           NAME OF THE VSAN DOM ROLE
READS/S                     READ OPERATIONS PER SECOND
MBREAD/S                 MEGABYTES READ PER SECOND
AVGLAT                     AVERAGE LATENCY PER READ/WRITE/RECOVERY OPERATIONS
SDLAT                        STANDARD DEVIATION OF LATENCY IN MS FOR OPERATIONS
WRITES/S                   WRITE OPERATIONS PER SECOND
MBWRITE/S               MEGABYTES WRITTEN PER SECOND
RECOWR/S                 NUMBER OF RECOVERED READ OPERATIONS PER SECOND
RECOWWR/S             NUMBER OF RECOVERED WRITE OPERATIONS PER SECOND

esxtop CLEAR state in vSphere 6

ESXTOP: CLEAR STATE

You may have noticed while running vSphere 6 that esxtop may display new information when compared to previous versions.

For example, while running esxtop with the "m" (memory) option in vSphere 6, you may see the
host in CLEAR STATE.

CLEAR State is a new option in vSphere 6. It sits between HIGH and SOFT state.

So to recap, we now have high, clear, soft, hard and low state.

High State has been bumped up to 300% of minfree.

Clear State sits at 100% of minfree.Breaking of large pages and actively calling TPS to collapse them

Soft State is at 64% of minfree. TPS + Ballooning

Hard State is at 32% of minfree. TPS + Compression + Swapping

Low State is at 16% of minfree. Compression + Swapping + Blocking of vms from allocating ram

VVOL Demonstration

VVOLs are a new feature of vSphere 6. It is simply a new way to approach storage and supports different protocols such as fiber, iscsi and nfs. It also allows you to bypass the 256 lun maximum per host. Here is a demo using one of the many choices available.

Step 1:  Once the storage is configured by the storage administrator, register the VASA provider. The VASA provider notifies the vSphere environment of the capabilities of that storage.  Start by selecting the vcenter server and selecting Manage and Storage Providers. Click on the "+" sign to add/register the vendor's VASA provider.

Step 2: vSphere 6 introduces a new set of commands. Type esxcli storage vvol without any arguments to view them. After configuring the vvol datastores, examples will be shown.

Step 3: Create a NFS based vvol by right-clicking on your esxi host and selecting Storage and New Datastore. Select vvols; the new choice in vSphere 6.

Step 4: Name the datastore and click on next.

Step 5. Click on Finish.

Step 6: Take a look at additional information such as the P.E. (Protocol Endpoint). In the case of NFS, it is nothing more than a mount point.

Step 7: Utilize some of the new commands to gather information.

Note: As mentioned before, vvols also works with other protocols such as iSCSI. What follows is an example on how to use this. Start by enabling the iSCSI initiator and pointing to your vvol iscsi server.

Step 8: Create a VM Storage Policy and then create a vm using that policy. Here are some captures.