My little cloud in the virtual world of virtualisation – mainly VMWare and EMC SAN (CX, NS and VNX)
Show MenuHide Menu

Upgrading Windows Server 2008 R2 without media

6 March, 2013

A good guide over on the Technet Blog site on how to convert/upgrade editions of Windows 2008 R2.

Upgrading Windows Server 2008 R2 without media – Server Core – Site Home – TechNet Blogs.

Using the vi Text Editor in Solaris 9 – For Dummies

26 February, 2013

A nice guide over on the ‘Dummies’ series website.  Covers the basics – open/close/save files, edit a file etc.

Very handy, if like me, not a daily user of *nix type systems.  All I needed to do was edit resolv.conf on a box to update DNS servers!

Using the vi Text Editor in Solaris 9 – For Dummies.

VMware KB: Forcing a link state up or down for a vmnic interface on ESXi 5.x

12 February, 2013

Forcing a link state up or down for a vmnic interface on ESXi 5.x

VMware KB: Forcing a link state up or down for a vmnic interface on ESXi 5.x.

Used this to help work out the physical server’s NIC interfaces had been cabled up to the network switch correctly.

Luckily, the servers DRAC Remote access was working! So via the remote console connection,  enabling local support access, downing the NIC and watching the Switch admin interface to trace which port changed. Easy! once I found the commands to down/up nics 🙂

BTW: Problem was VLAN was not  assigned to the remote end of the switches uplink trunk.

virtuallyGhetto: How to Enable Support for Nested 64bit & Hyper-V VMs in vSphere 5

31 January, 2013

How to Enable Support for Nested 64bit & Hyper-V VMs in vSphere 5

Excellent guide over on the blog site: virtuallyGhetto

 How to Enable Support for Nested 64bit & Hyper-V VMs in vSphere 5.

Adaptive Queueing vs. Storage I/O Control |

23 January, 2013

An excellent and well explained guide for VMWare IO storage control  – how queue depth and queue full conditions are handled.

Adaptive Queueing vs. Storage I/O Control |.

vSphere 5 DRS Groups and Rules

2 January, 2013

vSphere 5 DRS Groups and Rules.

Good blog guide.

EMC VNX Exam

1 January, 2013

Well, better late, that never!

Bit of news from Dec 2012 – I took and passed my EMC Proven Professional – VNX Specialist  Exam. Or to give it full reference:

(E20-547) VNX Solutions Specialist Exam for Storage Administrators

Tips of anyone also thinking of taking the exam – make sure you read the prerequisites to the course.  Not needed for the course if you have been working on a EMC SAN.  But I did get questions from these as well as the course.

Prerequisites for Course for the above Certification/Exam

* PowerPath Foundations – Self Study
* VNX Foundations
* VNX Block Storage Provisioning Using Unisphere Wizard
* VNX Application Protection Suite Foundations
* VNX Local Protection Suite Foundations
* VNX File Provisioning using Installation Wizard
* VNX Remote Protection Suite Foundations

Another tip that helped me revise for the exam – use the provided EMC practice exam – on the EMC Education site.  At the end of the test – aim to get a score 85%+.  Take not of the review summary – will list all questions that you got wrong with a reference to the module in the course.  I found there was 2-3 areas that I was weak in and spent more time here revising.

I hope this maybe of use to others.

Happy New Year for 2013

30 December, 2012

Wishing everyone a happy new year for 2013.

In the new year I will be starting my new project here on this site. Will be a bit of fun, not a serious piece of work. But could develop into something more usefull later on.

VMware KB: Methods of installing ESXi 5.1

30 November, 2012

VMware KB: Methods of installing ESXi 5.1

This article provides high-level information that may be useful when installing ESXi 5.1.

VMware KB: Methods of installing ESXi 5.1.

VMware KB: Installing ESXi 5.x in VMware Workstation

30 November, 2012

VMware KB: Installing ESXi 5.x in VMware Workstation

This article explains how to install VMware ESXi in a virtual machine. Installing ESXi in a virtual machine provides a way to try the product without dedicating hardware to it. A virtual ESXi machine may be useful if you are studying to become a VCP VMware Certified Professional.

VMware KB: Installing ESXi 5.x in VMware Workstation.