Some cool esxcli iscsi commands

1. Is iSCSI enabled?

# esxcli iscsi software get
true

2. Which vmhba is used for iSCSI?

# esxcli iscsi adapter list

Adapter  Driver     State   UID                                         Description

-------  ---------  ------  ------------------------------------------  ----------------------

vmhba65  iscsi_vmk  online  iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:sa-esxi-02-400f0480  iSCSI Software Adapter

3. Which vmkernel port is used for iSCSI?

# esxcli iscsi networkportal list

vmhba65

   Adapter: vmhba65

   Vmknic: vmk3

   MAC Address: 00:50:56:01:c1:ba

   MAC Address Valid: true

   IPv4: 172.20.13.52

   IPv4 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0

   IPv6:

   MTU: 1500

   Vlan Supported: true

   Vlan ID: 0

   Reserved Ports: 63488~65536

   TOE: false

   TSO: true

   TCP Checksum: false

   Link Up: true

   Current Speed: 10000

   Rx Packets: 2888785

   Tx Packets: 838121

   NIC Driver: nvmxnet3

   NIC Driver Version: 2.0.0.27

   NIC Firmware Version: NA

   Compliant Status: compliant

   NonCompliant Message:

   NonCompliant Remedy:

   Vswitch: dvs-SA-Datacenter

   PortGroup: DvsPortset-0

   VswitchUuid: 50 2b 40 6e 00 70 b4 d4-66 93 6e 79 fa 6b bb c4

   PortGroupKey: dvportgroup-55

   PortKey: 8

   Opaque Network Id:

   Opaque Network Type:

   External Id:

   Duplex:

   Path Status: active

Some cool esxcli system commands

1. How to view your vSphere version

# esxcli system version get
   Product: VMware ESXi
   Version: 6.7.0
   Build: Releasebuild-8169922
   Update: 0
   Patch: 0

2. To view hostname and domain name

# esxcli system hostname get

   Domain Name: vclass.local

   Fully Qualified Domain Name: sa-esxi-02.vclass.local

   Host Name: sa-esxi-02

3. To view local users

# esxcli system account list

User ID  Description

-------  -------------------------------------------

root     Administrator

dcui     DCUI User

vpxuser  VMware VirtualCenter administration account

4. To view permissions for local users

# esxcli system permission list

Principal  Is Group  Role   Role Description

---------  --------  -----  ------------------

dcui          false  Admin  Full access rights

root          false  Admin  Full access rights

vpxuser       false  Admin  Full access rights

5. To view specific advanced settings

# esxcli system settings advanced list -t UserVars | more

   Path: /UserVars/ActiveDirectoryPreferredDomainControllers

   Type: string

   Int Value: 0

   Default Int Value: 0

   Min Value: 0

   Max Value: 0

   String Value:

   Default String Value:

   Valid Characters: *

   Description: Preferred Domain Controllers for Active Directory

   Path: /UserVars/ActiveDirectoryVerifyCAMCertificate

   Type: integer

   Int Value: 1

   Default Int Value: 1

   Min Value: 0

   Max Value: 1

   String Value:

   Default String Value:

   Valid Characters:

   Description: Enable or disable verification of SSL certificate for vSphere Authentication Proxy server

   Path: /UserVars/ESXiShellTimeOut

   Type: integer

   Int Value: 0

   Default Int Value: 0

   Min Value: 0

   Max Value: 86400

   String Value:

   Default String Value:

   Valid Characters:

   Description: Time before automatically disabling local and remote shell access (in seconds, 0 disables).  Takes effect after the services are restarted.

...

NSX-T 2.4 Test Drive

Log in as admin using the NSX Manager Simplified UI after deploying the first NSX Manager Node via ovf/ova. These can also be installed using KVM.

Register the Computer Managers (vCenters) with NSX:

Create a Management Cluster with 3 nsx appliances and configure the Virtual IP:

Verify the state of your cluster:

Get Comfortable with the Simplified AND Advanced user Interfaces. Be aware that the terminology varies depending on the Interface you are using.

Add Transport Nodes, Transport Zones, IP Pools and N-VDSs:

If you enable SSH, learn about commands:

Take a look at the Dashboards:

Understanding Esxi Partitions

Have you ever looked at the boot disk of your enviroment and wondered what exactly do those entries represent?  I am talking about :1, :2 and so forth... Have you ever wondered if your boot disk has the same number of partitions, or is the number potentially different when comparing two esxi hosts?

Let's take a look at the boot disk in this case. All your drives are listed in /dev/disks, which is a link to /vmfs/devices/disks. The way you recognize the boot disk is by looking at all the partitions of such drive.  The boot disk is the only one that has so many partitions.

To understand the type of partitions that exist in the boot disk, simply use the partedUtil command. This command creates, removes and list partitions. Use the --help command to see all the options. In this case, we query the boot disk and see several partitions.

Partition Breakdowns 

Let us start with partition 1. This 4mb partition contains the bootloader.

Partition 2 (4gbs in size) is used as the scratch partition. The output of vm-support is located there.

Partition 5 (250mb) is your bootbank. The hypervisor's image is located here.

Partition 6 (250) is your alt bootbank. This is used when upgrading esxi hosts.

Partition 7 is used for the Purple Screens of Death. It's 110mb in size.

Partition 8 is used to store the vmware tools images.

Final Note: Be aware that your boot disk could also have a vmfs partition. This happens for example when installing esxi on a sata disk (like in a lab). Not created on flash memory.

The D.C.L.I. (Datacenter CLI)

What is the DCLI?  The DCLI is one of the newest command line interfaces available in vSphere. It can be used interactively or via scriptable mode. Here are a few examples of commands available. These commands were run from a linux (ubuntu) vm.

Note: These commands will only work if you take care of the certificates ahead of time. 

Run the following command to get started with the DCLI

Run this command to view the existing datastores

Run the following command to get a list of the existing vms

This command will show any resource pools

Run partial command to view the capabilities of the DCLI

Have fun...