What’s new in Dell EMC PowerPath for PP/VE 6.3

Dell EMC PowerPath is host based software that provides automated data path management and load balancing capabilities for heterogeneous server, network, and storage deployed in physical and virtual environments. It enables you to meet your aggressive service levels with the highest application availability and performance, and
with all the advantages of the industry’s leading information storage systems. The Dell EMC PowerPath family includes PowerPath Multipathing for physical environments, as well as Linux, AIX, and Solaris virtual environments, and PowerPath/VE Multipathing for
VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V virtual environments.

What’s new in PPVE 6.3:

• Load balancing of XCOPY SCSI commands
  Load balancing XCOPY command optimizes VM operations like cloning
  One storage port is not loaded with all XCOPY commands
  XCOPY load balancing improves performance
• Support for new storage array/version
  EMC Unity Storage System
  Support for EMC Unity storage systems running Operating Environment 4.2.x, 4.3.x,
  and 4.4.x.
  XtremIO Firmware Support
  Support for XtremIO X1 running firmware version 4.0.25-27 with LUNs having sector
  size of 512 bytes and XtremIO X2 running firmware version 6.0.1 with LUNs having
  sector size of 512 bytes.
  VPLEX GeoSynchrony Support
  Support for VPLEX GeoSynchrony 6.0.1 P07.
  Dell SC Series Array Support
  Support for Dell SC arrays running SCOS 6.7.x and SCOS 7.2.x.
  VNX/VNXe OE Firmware Support
  Support for VNX /VNXe Block running OE 05.33.x and below.
• VMware vSphere ESXi Support
  Support for VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5 U1 and ESXi 6.7.

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Conceptual Micro-Segmentation and Security Design with VDS

• Foundational micro-segmentation can be deployed with the VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) without full stack NSX components, such as distribute logical router (DLR), NSX Edge services gateways, and others. A NSX Manager VM is the only VM that needs to be deployed to implement Distributed Firewall (DFW), which is non-disruptive.
• This model can be deployed in an existing vSphere environment without changing the underlying network topology or physical network configuration, like MTU or routing, and allows applications to be segmented based on their security requirements and not on physical constraints like IP addresses or VLAN.
• A physical router is required and provides a default gateway to the workload VMs
• Optionally, this model can include an NSX Edge firewall. In this case, the default gateway for the workload VMs will be the internal interface of the edge services gateway.
• The following figure shows the conceptual design of the distributed firewall in a vSphere Distributed Switch environment with NSX Edge firewall.

vCenter Embedded Linked Mode for a vCSA with Embedded PSC

vCenter Embedded Linked Mode is enhanced linked mode support for vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller.

With vCenter Embedded Linked Mode, you can connect a vCenter Server Appliance with an embedded Platform Services Controller together to form a domain. vCenter Embedded Linked Mode is not supported for Windows vCenter Server installations. vCenter Embedded Linked Mode is supported starting with vSphere 6.5 Update 2 and suitable for most deployments.

Other features of vCenter Embedded Linked Mode include:

• No external Platform Services Controller, providing a more simplified domain architecture than an external deployment with enhanced linked mode.
• A simplified backup and restore process. See “File-Based Backup and Restore of vCenter Server Appliance” for more information.
• A simplified HA process, removing the need for load balancers.
• Up to 15 vCenter Server Appliances can be linked together using vCenter Embedded Linked Mode and displayed in a single inventory view.
• For a vCenter High Availability (vCenter HA) cluster, three nodes are considered one logical vCenter Server node. See “vCenter Architecture Overview” in vSphere Availability for the vCenter HA architecture overview. A single vCenter Server standard license is needed for one vCenter HA cluster.

Note: Upgrading from vCenter 6.5 Update 2 to vCenter 6.7 GA is not supported.

Figure – vCenter Embedded Linked Mode

vCenter Embedded Linked Mode

Upgrade VMware vCenter 5.5 to 6.5 in Enhanced Linked Mode

In this post we will discuss how to upgrade vCenter 5.5 with Embedded PSC to 6.5 in Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM). You can reference the details at below:

Lab Environment:
vCenter Server A – VMware vCenter 5.5 Windows with Embedded PSC1
vCenter Server B – VMware vCenter 5.5 Windows with Embedded PSC2

Final Configuration:
vCenter Server A – VMware vCenter 6.5
vCenter PSC1 – vCenter 6.5 Platform Service Controller
vCenter Server B – VMware vCenter 6.5
vCenter PSC2 – vCenter 6.5 Platform Service Controller

Supported and deprecated topologies for VMware vSphere 6.5 (2147672)
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2147672

vCenter Single Sign-On and Platform Services Controller Compatibility Matrix with vCenter Server (2120504)

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2120504

Prerequisites:

• Deploy a new 1st VMware vCenter 5.5 SSO machine for VMware vCenter ServerA.
• Deploy a 2nd VMware vCenter 5.5 SSO machine for VMware vCenter ServerB.

Migration & Upgrade Flow:

• Re-point the VMware vSphere Web Client on vCenterA and B.
• Re-point the VMware vCenter Inventory Service on vCenterA and B.
• Re-point the VMware vCenter Server on vCenterA and B.
• Uninstall VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on vCenterA and B.
• Upgrade VMware vCenter SSO to an External Platform Services Controller PSC1 and PSC2.
• Upgrade VMware vCenter Server 5.5 on vCenterA and B to version 6.0.
• Upgrade VMware vCenter PSC 6.0 to 6.5 on PSC1 and PSC2.
• Upgrade VMware vCenter Server 6.0 on vCenterA and B to version 6.5.

Deploy a new 1st VMware vCenter 5.5 SSO machine for VMware vCenter ServerA

• Deploy a new Microsoft Windows virtual machine that meets the requirements for your version of VMware vCenter Single Sign-On.
• Install Single Sign-On by vCenter Server Windows installation (same the build-in number of running vCenter).
• Once you confirm the configuration, then install Single Sign-On on PSC1.

Note: When prompted, create a new VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain. Do not join another VMware vCenter Single Sign-On domain or instance.

Deploy a 2nd VMware vCenter 5.5 SSO machine for VMware vCenter ServerB

• Deploy a new Microsoft Windows virtual machine that meets the requirements for your version of VMware vCenter Single Sign-On.
• Install Single Sign-On by vCenter Server Windows installation (same the buildin number of running vCenter).
• Select the deployment mode Multisite.

• Enter the information to point to the partner VMware vCenter SSO node installed in the previous SSO installation for vCenterA.

• Review the installation options and click Install Single Sign-On on PSC2.

Repoint the VMware vSphere Web Client on vCenterA and B

• Change Directory to %Vmware vCenter installation path%\Infrastructure\vSphereWebClient\scripts.
• Use the following command to repoint vSphere Web Client to corresponding VMware vCenter Single Sign-On.

client-repoint.bat https://machinename.corp.com:7444/lookupservice/sdk “administrator@vSphere.local” “SSO Password”

Repoint the VMware vCenter Inventory Service on vCenterA and B

• Change Directory to %Vmware vCenter installation path%\Infrastructure\Inventory Service\scripts

is-change-sso.bat https://machinename.corp.com:7444/lookupservice/sdk “administrator@vSphere.local” “SSO Password”

NOTE: Once re-pointing of Inventory Service is successful, please restart the VMware Inventory Server Service to take effect.

Repoint the VMware vCenter Server on vCenterA and B

• Change directory to %Vmware vCenter installation path%\Infrastructure\VirtualCenter Server\ssoregtool
• Run this command to register vCenter Server to a different Single Sign-On instance.

repoint.cmd configure-vc –lookup-server https://machinename.corp.com:7444/lookupservice/sdk –user “administrator@vSphere.local” –password “SSO password” –openssl-path “C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Inventory Service\bin/”

NOTE: Once re-pointing of vCenter Service is successful, please restart vCenter Server Service manually

Uninstall VMware vCenter Single Sign-On installed on vCenter 1 and 2

• Click Start > Control Panel.
• Under Programs, select Uninstall a program.
• Highlight VMware Single Sign-On and click Uninstall.
• Repeat this process for PSC2.

Upgrade VMware vCenter SSO to an External Platform Services Controller PSC1 and PSC2

• Mount vCenter 6.0 installation ISO and start Installation.

• Select vCenter Server for Windows > Install
• Then vCenter Single Sign-On 5.5 is detected and will be ugprade to Service Platform Controller 6.0.
• Provide Single Sign-On Credentials.
• Configure Network Ports.
• Verify the configuration and Start Upgrade Process.
• Once PSC upgrade process is completed.
• Follow the above same procedures to upgrade from SSO 5.5 to PSC 6.0 on vCenterB.

Upgrade VMware vCenter Server 5.5 on vCenterA and B to version 6.0

• Start vCenter Installation and continue process, vCenter 6.0 Installation detects vCenter 5.5 only at this time and will be upgrade to vCenter 6.0.
• Provide vCenter 5.5 credentials.
• If your vCenter DB is embedded SQL expres it will be automatically migrated to vPostgres.
• Provide PSC administrator password.
• Configure Network Ports.
• Proceed vCenter upgrade.
• Follow the same above steps to upgrade from vCenter 5.5 to 6.0 on vCenterB.

Upgrade VMware vCenter PSC 6.0 to 6.5 on PSC1 and PSC2

• Mount vCenter 6.5 installation ISO and start Installation.
• Select vCenter Server for Windows > Install

• Then vCenter PSC 6.0 is detected and will be ugprade to PSC 6.5.
• Provide Single Sign-On Credentials.
• Configure Network Ports.
• Verify the configuration and Start Upgrade Process.
• Once PSC upgrade process is completed.
• Follow the same above steps to upgrade from PSC 6.0 to 6.5 on vCenterB.

Upgrade VMware vCenter Server 6.0 on vCenterA and B to version 6.5

• Start vCenter Installation and continue process, vCenter 6.5 Installation detects vCenter 6.0 only at this time and will be upgrade to vCenter 6.5.
• Provide vCenter 6.0 credentials.
• Provide PSC administrator password.
• Configure Network Ports.
• Proceed vCenter upgrade.
• Follow the same above steps to upgrade from vCenter 6.0 to 6.5 on vCenterB.

Finally the vCenter Server 6.5 is completed successfully and both vCenter servers are running in ELM.

Optional Information:

Now there are no any tool that can be supported to migrate External PSC into Embedded PSC. For vCenter 6.7 Enhanced Linked Mode, it is only supported on Embedded PSC (up to 15). Currently the only option you spin up a new environment with the embedded PSC and migrate your configuration, hosts and virtual machines across to the new deployment.

Migrating from vCenter Server Embedded PSC to External PSC

In this post we will discuss how to migrate the vCenter Server Appliance with Embedded Platform Service Controller (PSC) to External PSC. Currently there are a vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 with Embedded PSC is running. After the migration, the vCenter Server Appliance 6.5 is running with External PSC.

NOTE: This migration is limited to Platform Services Controllers existing within the same vSphere Domain and in the same site. 

vCenter Server with an Embedded Platform Services Controller

vCenter Server with an External Platform Services Controller

Lab Environment:

vCenter Server Appliance : 6.5.0 Build 5973321

First, we need to prepare a new PSC by vCenter Server Appliance Installer, click Install.

Next.

Next.

Select Platform Services Controller, then Next.

Connect to the target vCenter Server or ESXi host, then Next.

Setup the name of PSC and root password, then Next.

Select the target datastore, then Next.

Setup the Network of PSC, then Next.

Click Finish to deploy PSC.

Click Continue to go to stage 2.

Next.

Setup the NTP, then Next.

Select Join an existing SSO domain, then Next.

Input the information of existing SSO domain, then Next.

Select to join an existing site, then Next.

Next.

Click Finish to deploy and configure PSC.

OK.

When the new PSC is ready, we can start the PSC migration. First we login into vCenter Server Appliance by SSH, execute the following cli to validate PSC replication partners. We can see two PSC, vc.vclass.local (Embedded PSC) and psc.vclass.local (External PSC).

cd /usr/lib/vmware-vmdir/bin

./vdcrepadmin -f showservers -h localhost -u Administrator -w <<Password>>

To check the all services of vCenter server, make sure all services are running.

Now we can continue with the external psc migration, execute the following cli.

cmsso-util reconfigure –repoint-psc <<FQDN of external PSC>> –username <<administrator>> –domain-name <<SSO domain>> –passwd <<Password>>

Once the migration is completed successfully it will show the status message as “The vCenter Server has been successfully reconfigured and repointed to the external Platform Services Controller psc.vclass.local”.

Finally, login the external PSC we can verify replication partners again to see that the embedded PSC has been decommissioned, and the external PSC is the only one listed. This PSC migration is completed successfully.

VMware vExpert VSAN 2018 Announcement

Congratulations to all the vExpert vSAN 2018 ! I’m glad to select the member again. Thanks to vExpert Community.

https://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2018/06/vexpert-vsan-2018-announcement.html

Dell EMC Proven Professional Knowledge Sharing 2018 Publication Schedule

I am so excited to announce that the publication schedule of Dell EMCPP Knowledge Sharing 2018 is released. My article “Storage Migration – Hybrid Array to All-Flash Array” will be published on September 2018. Now I can earn this badge “Knowledge Sharing Author” from Dell EMC. I think that I am the only one person who can earn this badge at Macau.

https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-65019