As I was working through my VCAP5-DCA studies, I was at the point where I had to mask a LUN. I typically don’t perform this function on my hosts in my enterprise environment, but rather, let my storage admins look after those details.
But I am working on my home lab and this is a requirement for the DCA exam, so I was all in. I was at the point where I had to reclaim the device and the following error appeared.
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I was puzzled at first thinking that nothing is actually using this device in my home lab – but it turns out I was wrong. I gave it some thought and since I had HA running, is it possible that this device is being used as a heartbeat datastore.
The answer was YES
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I removed the datastore-LUNMASK as one of the heartbeat datastores, ran through my procedure and it work! I hope this helps other folks that may run into this situation.
Let me know on Twitter if you had run into this situation and if you solved it a different way.
When I first heard that Chris Wahl was writing a book about Networking for VMware Administrators along with Steve Pantol – I was super excited and quickly pre-ordered it. This book fills a gap that has been outstanding for quite some time. It’s important to move beyond technical silos and learn the language your colleagues speak, so you both can be effective in delivering solutions for your business.
This book helps the VMware admin learn, speak and understand what your friends on the network team deal with and vice versa.
As we move to a more converged and software-defined data center, the VMware Admin’s role is changing and more and more, this individual needs to be a hybrid admin that understands the entire virtualization stack from compute, storage, and network, this book will aid you in understanding the network.
What can you expect
This book is divided into four parts:
Physical Networking 101
Virtual Switching
You Got Your Storage in My Networking: IP Storage
Other Design Scenarios
Physical Networking 101
This section provides you with an nice foundation, to build on. Its a great refresher, the OSI model and TCP/IP model are discussed. You might think you should skip this, but its good to know how decisions in the past have influenced our designs today.
Then you move to Ethernet networks and as they mention in the book – the nuts and bolt. Layer 2 and Layer 3 are discussed next, I really like how they clarify terms and concepts throughout the book. For example Ether-channel vs Port Channel, its good to have this terms correct when talking with your networking folks.
Finally they talk about Converged Infrastructure, which I believe gives you a peek into this new hybrid VMware admin that should be aware of the entire stack from compute, storage, and network.
Virtual Switching
In this section, they explain how virtual switching differs from physical switching, its good to get your head around VLANs. Then they discuss vSphere standard switch and vSphere Distributed Switch concepts and designs, like traffic shaping, NIC Teaming and Failover, and Network I/O Control. They also talk about third party switches like the Cisco Nexus 1000v.
The diagrams and screenshots throughout the chapters are very helpful in explaining the concepts and ideas.
You Got Your Storage in My Networking
For those of you that have not done any work with IP storage, this section gives you a great introduction to the topic and helps explain different design scenarios. NFS and iSCSI are discussed and again the diagrams and screenshots help explain the topics.
Other Design Scenarios
Finally, Multi-NIC vMotion and additional vSwtich design scenarios are discussed, covering many design scenarios. The talk about Multi-vMotion architecture highlights many design considerations to be aware of.
Great way to get started
This book flows really well, they walk you through the early days of networking to present day. Its easy to read and they have many “Real World” call outs in the book, that make the discussion relevant. Reading this book, you feel like your having a discussion with Chris and Steve about networking for virtualization and not being lectured too. The diagrams and screenshots also help reinforce the concepts.
I recommend getting a copy for yourself and if you can’t get one for someone on your networking team, then pass along your finished copy to them. This book really levels set the discussion between the teams.
Kudos to Chris and Steve for making mention of the VMware User Group (VMUG) in the Appendix, I know they are huge supporters of the VMUG and its a great way to extend the conversation with your networking team and the broader community – consider joining today – its FREE.
Let me know on Twitter if you have read the book and how it has helped you!
On April 2, 2014 RightScale which provides a suite of solutions that enables enterprises to manage applications across public, private, and virtualized environments, published a report called RightScale 2014 State of the Cloud Report, which provides some interesting insights into the Cloud market place. They interviewed 1068 professionals from a broad section of organizations.
You can download and read the report for yourself, but I wanted to highlight a few items from their findings that I thought were interesting.
94 percent of organizations surveyed are running applications or experimenting with infrastructure-as-a-service.
87 percent of organizations are using public cloud.
74 percent of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy and more than half of those are already using both public and private cloud.
Next-generation IT shapes up as Cloud + DevOps + Self-Service IT. Cloud-focused companies embrace DevOps (71 percent) and Self-Service IT (68 percent).
Rightscale 2014 Cloud Report
VMware Hybrid Cloud Strategy
I think the results of the survey, re-affirm VMware’s Hybrid Cloud Strategy as 74 percent of respondents have a hybrid cloud strategy. It was exciting to see VMware’s Hybrid Cloud rank second on the Top Public Cloud Used. At VMworld 2013, VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger in a Executive Roundtable, panel discussion re-enforced the concept of a Hybrid Cloud for the future of IT.
VMworld 2013 Executive Roundtable
Next Gen IT: Cloud + DevOps + Self-Service
Configuration management, automation and orchestration are creating a new breed of IT admin for the cloud model. This new breed of IT Admin will break down silos within traditional IT organizations and deliver on business outcome much more quickly. Provisioning in a software defined data centre (isn’t that what the cloud really is?), will become the new normal. A new skill set is need to move beyond the traditional IT mindset.
The survey also pointed out that automation tools are on the rise, Puppet and Chef are the leaders in this category, but I am sure there are other products that you folks use. Recall last year, VMware made a substantial invest in puppet, (VMware Invests $30 Million In Puppet Labs).
Rightscale 2014 Cloud Report
The cloud will change the way IT operates, the slow moving traditional model is broken, and delivering on business outcomes with a more agile model is key to the future of staying responsive and using IT to improve business effectiveness and efficiency, not just manage costs.
Its a great document, I’m sure you can make your own conclusions, I recommend downloading it and sharing your thoughts on Twitter and as always, thanks for reading!
Can you run AWS WorkSpaces from any device? I will show you how to install it on an iPad Air.
I took my iPad to Starbucks and enjoyed running a full desktop. My setup was compact and lightweight.
Having installed AWS WorkSpaces on my Mac, I decided to try it out on my iPad. I have a iPad Air, and the first step is to download and install the AWS WorkSpaces iPad client, which is found in the app store. Of course, if your an android user, you can also download the client from the Google play store. If your an android user, I would love to hear about your experience with the client, let me know on Twitter.
AWS WorkSpaces in Apple App Store
Once downloaded and installed, when you launch the app, you are prompted to add your registration code – you received this in an email from Amazon WorkSpaces and it’s the same one you used to configure your desktop client.
AWS WorkSpaces Registration Code
Once that is accepted, you are prompted to login to your desktop.
AWS WorkSpaces iPad Login
Once logged in, you are given a quick tutorial on using the touch features and best to utilize them.
AWS WorkSpaces Touch Screen iPad
When you swipe from the left, a radial button appears which provides you with quick access to features and help.
AWS WorkSpaces iPad Navigation
With all that out of the way, you can start using your Windows 7 desktop on your tablet device. In my case I am using OpenOffice and it seems to work just fine.
AWS WorkSpaces OpenOffice
Things to keep in Mind
A few things to keep in mind when using your virtual desktop for the system administrator. These are taken from the AWS WorkSpaces FAQ.
Q: Does WorkSpaces pricing include bandwidth costs? The monthly subscription includes the streaming bandwidth between the user’s client and a WorkSpace. Web traffic from the user’s WorkSpaces (accessing public Internet, downloading files etc.) will be charged separately as AWS outbound bandwidth on your bill.
Q: What is the maximum network latency recommended while accessing a Workspace? While the remoting protocol has a maximum round trip latency recommendation of 250 ms, the best user experience will be achieved at less than 100 ms.
Q: Does the WorkSpaces service have maintenance windows? Yes. The current maintenance window is a four hour period from 0000 – 0400 (this time window will be based on the time zone of the AWS region where your WorkSpaces are located) each Sunday morning. During this time your WorkSpaces may not be available. The maintenance window is currently not configurable.
Overall, the experience on the iPad is good and the client is very responsive. I was using my iPad at a Starbucks and the experience was pretty good over the WiFi. I played a few YouTube videos and the sound was fine.
Let me know on Twitter if there is anything you would like me to test out for you, so far this system rocks!
Looking for another way to run your Windows 7 desktops? AWS offers you a way to access your desktop on any device with AWS WorkSpaces.
You can now run a Windows 7 desktop from the AWS cloud using laptops, iPad, Kindle Fire, or Android tablets.
In late March Amazon Web Services released their desktop-as-a-Service – AWS WorkSpaces. For those that are unaware, AWS WorkSpaces offers you a cloud-based desktop experience. This desktop can be accessed by any device you wish, including laptops, iPad, Kindle Fire, or Android tablets.
You have the option of selecting different hardware and software WorkSpaces bundles, that range from standard, which is starts at 35 dollars per month to performance plus which is priced at 75 dollars per month. It’s also good to see that you can install your own software any time you want.
AWS WorkSpaces Pricing
One thing to keep in mind is that all WorkSpaces Bundles provide the Windows 7 experience to users (provided by Windows Server 2008 R2 with RDS). One of the more interesting features, is that you can integrate your virtual desktop with your on-premises Active Directory.
Glancing at the FAQs, it stats that an admin can lockdown a workstation using group policies, which is pretty cool. Here is an excerpt.
Q: Once users connect to their WorkSpace can they personalize it with their favorite settings? An administrator can control what a user can personalize in their WorkSpace. By default, users can personalize their WorkSpaces with their favorite settings for items such as wallpaper, icons, shortcuts, etc. These settings will be saved and persist until a user changes them. If an administrator wishes to lock down a WorkSpace using tools like Group Policy, this will restrict a user’s ability to personalize their WorkSpaces.
Getting Started
The initial desktop setup is very easy and I expect, would be completed by the admin in your organization. I will go through a quick setup, just to get a handle on how easy it is to provision a desktop. I will have another blog post outlining how to connect your virtual desktop to your on-premises Active Directory – stay tuned.
The one good thing is the users of the desktops don’t need a AWS account, the admin does the initial provisioning. In my case its just one user – me.
Login with your AWS account, and select WorkSpaces.
AWS Account
You are then presented with the AWS WorkSpaces console, click the getting started button.
AWS WorkSpaces Get Started
Select your option – the quick setup will get you up and running in no time, the advanced setup provides you with the ability to connect to your on-premises Active Directory.
Get Started with AWS WorkSpaces
You now select the WorkSpace bundle you are interested in, I went with the standard bundle. As well, this is where you enter user details. You can add as many users as you like. When your done, select the blue Provision WorkSpaces button in the lower right hand side.
Provision AWS WorkSpaces
At this point your workstation is being prepared for you. This will take about 20 minutes to complete. You can view the status of the build by clicking the blue button – View the Workspace Console in the lower right hand side.
AWS WorkSpaces Console
Here is a look at the WorkSpace console, as your virtual desktop is being prepared.
AWS WorkSpaces Launchpad
Once your desktop is ready, you will get an email outlining a few additional steps that need to be completed. You will be asked to complete your user profile and download a WorkSpace client, as well as launch the Client and enter your registration code, and finally launch your desktop.
The following screen shots outline the process. Once you get your email, click the user profile link and you are asked to create a password.
AWS WorkSpaces Authenticate
Then you are sent over to download your client software, I am using a mac, so I downloaded the mac version.
AWS WorkSpaces Launchpad
Then you are asked to enter your registration code, which is in your email.
AWS WorkSpaces Registration
An finally here it is, you are asked to log into your virtual desktop.
AWS WorkSpaces Login
And bingo-bango here is your Desktop-as-a-Service – AWS WorkSpaces.
AWS WorkSpaces
I have to say, its pretty snappy.
Well I hope the screen shots were helpful, the overall process did not take very long. The longest part was waiting for the desktop to be built (10-20 minutes at the most). That’s a lot quicker than some internal IT departments.
One thing I noticed was how snappy and responsive the desktop is. Its almost like having a real desktop in the office. Now I just might be in a good zone, but its really nice.
Overall, it was easy to setup and at the moment seems pretty slick. Stay tuned for my future posts as I work with service, if there is something you would like me to test, just let me know on Twitter and thanks for reading!