Tag esxi

You’re not new to Virtualization, this isn’t your first VMware rodeo, but you find yourself starting to question… OMG DO I HAVE VMFS3 DATASTORES STEATHILY HIDING IN MY SYSTEM?! I mean you do your due diligence, you check and confirm that it says VMFS5 and that it has a 1MB (Universal) block size, but yet… you’re still not sure… Hell, you might even be saying WTF? 1MB BLOCK SIZES? WTFS?!  Well, hopefully this helps break through some of the barriers to not only identify whether you have VMFS3 datastores period, whether they’re actually stealthily hiding!

What’s the big deal with upgrading VMFS3 to VMFS5?

Yea, you read the VMware documentation like this; How VMFS5 Differs from VMFS3 – Basically by reading that you come to the conclusion of ITS EASY, JUST DO IT, YAY!  But to quote Jason Corbett @NGTJason “migrate > upgrade”

Why exactly though? I mean if you read what Cormac Hogan @VMwareStorage wrote so long ago vSphere 5.0 Storage Features Part 1 – VMFS-5 you might be pressured to believe that it’s all good, caveats aside that your VMFS5 upgraded datastores will rock out just like VMFS3, but take a gander at Jason Boche @JasonBoche VMFS-5 VMFS-3, What’s the Deal?

Differences between upgraded and newly created VMFS-5 datastores:

VMFS-5 upgraded from VMFS-3 continues to use the previous file block size which may be larger than the unified 1MB file block size. Copy operations between datastores with different block sizes won’t be able to leverage VAAI.  This is the primary reason I would recommend the creation of new VMFS-5 datastores and migrating virtual machines to new VMFS-5 datastores rather than performing in place upgrades of VMFS-3 datastores.
VMFS-5 upgraded from VMFS-3 continues to use 64KB sub-blocks and not new 8K sub-blocks.
VMFS-5 upgraded from VMFS-3 continues to have a file limit of 30,720 rather than the new file limit of > 100,000 for newly created VMFS-5.
VMFS-5 upgraded from VMFS-3 continues to use MBR (Master Boot Record) partition type; when the VMFS-5 volume is grown above 2TB, it automatically switches from MBR to GPT (GUID Partition Table) without impact to the running VMs.
VMFS-5 upgraded from VMFS-3 will continue to have a partition starting on sector 128; newly created VMFS-5 partitions start at sector 2,048.

I THINK I HAVE VMFS3 VOLUMES HOW DO I TELL, OMG WHAT IS THAT BURNING SENSATION

Hey, calm down, calm down… I think we can solve this problem pretty easily! And if the burning sensation continues, get that checked out!

I don’t know about you, you might have 1 vCenter, 3 Servers and a handful of Datastores. I have thousands… of EACH, so I needed something to do my scans and checks at scale with PowerCLI because I’m a baller, and apparently I pull that off rather well. :)

Methods of detecting whether you have VMFS3, VMFS3 upgraded to VMFS5 or otherwise mismatched sets..

• Block Size is greater than 1MB
• Partition type is msdos instead of gpt (*Detected by checking whether the StartSector is 128 instead of 2048)
• And of course, your VMFS version is VMFS3 or 3.46

But wait, didn’t you say above that partition types will change from MSDOS to GPT if they’re expanded? Doesn’t that make tracking harder? Yes.

Let’s get our PowerCLI on so we can crack this nut!

Get-Datastore | Get-View | Select-Object Name,@{N="VMFS version";E={$_.Info.Vmfs.Version}},@{N="BlocksizeMB";E={$_.Info.Vmfs.BlockSizeMB}}
// To check VMFS version & block sizes – Really useful to just check in general that your version is 5.54 and your blocksize is 1MB though if you VMFS3->5 In-place upgrade when VMFS3 was 1MB, this won’t reveal itself to you

Get-Datastore | Get-View | Where {$_.Info.Vmfs.Version –eq “3.46”} | Where {$_.Info.Vmfs.BlockSizeMB -eq "1"} | Select-Object Name,@{N="VMFS version";E={$_.Info.Vmfs.Version}},@{N="BlocksizeMB";E={$_.Info.Vmfs.BlockSizeMB}}
// To Check VMFS Version and Block Sizes but only listing mismatches you specify  – so if you want to see if you specifically have any 3.46 VMFS and various block sizes

Busting out the mad $esxcli syntax!

This is where we start to get real. The following examples are simple ‘one-liners’ which are cute and all if you’re checking one host, but I also give you one which will scan EVERYTHING so you can just sit back and bask in the glow of figuring out WTF IS GOING ON WITH THIS BURNING, HELP HELP HELP!

$esxcli.storage.core.device.partition.list() | Select Device, StartSector
// Dumps all Offsets – This can be useful if you want to see a lot of data… but less so if you’re looking for something specific…

$esxcli.storage.core.device.partition.list() | group-Object -Property Device | Where {$_.StartSector –eq “128”} | Select Device, StartSector
// Dumps only offsets which "equal" a startsector, in this case 128 – Now we’re cooking with oil, a StartSector of 128 leans on a datastore being VMFS3 or VMFS5 which had been upgraded from VMFS3

$esxcli.storage.core.device.partition.list() | Where {$_.StartSector -eq "128"} | Select Device, StartSector
// This will dump all of your partitions which have a starting offset of 128, same as above but shorter

Script me baby one more time!

OMG YOU JUST MADE A HORRIBLY DATED REFERENCE TO BRITNEY SPEARS. For what its worth, I believe she did some scripting in her days…   The scenarios below will just ‘do it’ based upon whatever hosts you connected to with Connect-VIServer, obviously the difference being ‘comments’ or not.

foreach ($myHost in get-VMHost)
#This tells the system to do a run the command against all "VMHosts" that you have defined as part of your Connect-VIServer
{
    Write-Host ‘$myHost = ‘ $myHost
    #Display the ESXi Host that it is operating against, helps if you’re scanning multiple vCenters
    $esxcli = Get-EsxCli -VMHost $myHost
    #This sets the syntax and the context for the Get-EsxCli command to operate, a requirement for running $esxcli.Commands
    $esxcli.storage.core.device.partition.list() |
    #Use Get-EsxCli to list the core storage devices
    Where {$_.StartSector -eq "128"} |
    #This specifies we’re only looking for partitions which have a StartSector of 128, which could mean either VMFS3 or VMFS3 upgraded to VMFS5 Datastores
    Select Device, StartSector
    #When all is said and done, it’s nice to see it in a ‘pretty’ format to see what work you need to do!
}

Without Comments

foreach ($myHost in get-VMHost)
{
    Write-Host ‘$myHost = ‘ $myHost
    $esxcli = Get-EsxCli -VMHost $myHost
    $esxcli.storage.core.device.partition.list() |
    Where {$_.StartSector -eq "128"} |
    Select Device, StartSector
}

Now technically you could use partedUtil but that’s a pain in the ass.  – But for the sake of continuity here is the syntax/results!

~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60a98000646e4f4b475a6a4975422d66"
msdos
261083 255 63 4194304000
1 128 4194298394 251 0
~ # partedUtil getptbl "/vmfs/devices/disks/naa.60a98000646e4f4b475a70516f34416f"
gpt
534698 255 63 8589934592
1 2048 8589934558 AA31E02A400F11DB9590000C2911D1B8 vmfs 0
~ #

So in case you’re wondering if the script is working properly you should end up with results similar to this below;

Results:
$myHost =  103.domain.local

Device                                                      StartSector
——                                                      ———–
naa.60a98000323764703424434e6246775a                        128
$myHost =  102.domain.local
naa.60a98000323764703424434e6246775a                        128
$myHost =  101.domain.local
naa.60a98000323764703424434e6246775a                        128
$myHost =  037.domain.local

And that is basically all it takes! This hopefully should give you the fuel you need to scan your environment with minimal effort and identify any VMFS3 datastores so you can clean that stuff up and MIGRATE!  I discovered a bunch of them which aren’t so kind, and what ensues is massive migrations!

Good luck out there! and if you can find some good way to hack esxcli to ALSO have it then correlate that data to what the datastore name is… I FAILED :)

So I hadn’t touched PowerCLI in a long while (Hey, I hadn’t touched the CONSOLE OF ANYTHING near production after having been in management for so long!   So, the first thing I decided to do was, “Well, what data is important to me… and what will make my life easier!”   Below you’ll see examples of some of those very scenarios, One-Liners and collections of data points! If you haven’t worked with PowerCLI this is a good way to get started.  I’ll also explain WTF I did and why, so you have some good logic and reasoning behind why to use some of these measures!  Also if you happen to have any really cool one-liners and scripts you’ve used, feel free to toss them into the comments!

Let’s start with … Well, getting started!

Launch PowerCLI CMDLine as an elevated user (This is especially important if you have a different administrative acct than your login)

Connect-VIServer

// You can paste in all of the vCenter Names in order to execute a ‘command’ against all of them.

Example, You can simply launch Connect-VIServer, hit enter and then paste a list of vCenters to connect to.  This is especially important if you happen to be managing more than one vCenter.

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select Hostname, VMKernelGateway -ExpandProperty VirtualNic | Where {$_.ManagementTrafficEnabled} | Select Hostname, PortGroupName, IP, SubnetMask

// This will then dump the ESXi Hostnames, IPs and Subnets – For the Management Network

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select Hostname, VMKernelGateway -ExpandProperty VirtualNic | Where {$_.vMotionEnabled} | Select Hostname, PortGroupName, IP, SubnetMask

// This will then dump the ESXi Hostnames, IPs and Subnets – For the vMotion Network

Get-VMHost | Get-Cluster | Select Name, DrsEnabled, DrsMode, DrsAutomationLevel

// Dump DRS Status

Get-VMHost | Get-Cluster | Select Name, VMSwapfilePolicy

// Dump VMSwapfilePolilcy

Get-VMHost | Get-Cluster | Select Name, HAAdmissionControlEnabled

// Check status of HA Admission Control

Get-VMHost | Get-Cluster | Select Name, HAFailoverLevel, HARestartPriority, HAIsolationResponse

// Check HA Status Levels

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostNetwork | Select Hostname, VMKernelGateway -ExpandProperty VirtualNic | Select Hostname, PortGroupName, IP, MTU

// Check for MTU Mismatches

Get-VirtualSwitch | Select VMHost, Name, MTU

// Shows what the MTU settings on the Virtual Switches are

Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface –VM VMNAME | Select VM, IP, SubnetMask, DefaultGateway, Dns

// Dumps a hosts Name, IP, Subnet, Gateway and DNS configuration

Append ‘| Export-Csv “c:\location\filename”’

// This will allow you to export the results to a CSV file  – This is called out so you’re aware of the syntax to do CSV type exports!

Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun | Select VMHost, ConsoleDeviceName, Vendor, MultipathPolicy

// This will dump the Multipath Policy of the storage on the systems to determine what the MP configuration is.

Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun | Select VMHost, ConsoleDeviceName, Vendor, MultipathPolicy | Where {$_.Vendor –eq “NETAPP”} | Select VMHost, ConsoleDeviceName, Vendor, MultipathPolicy

// This will dump the Multipath Policy of ONLY NetApp systems

Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun | Select VMHost, ConsoleDeviceName, Vendor, Model, LunType, MultipathPolicy | Export-CSV “C:\temp\MultipathPolicyFull.csv”

// This will dump the Multipath Policy into a CSV as it’ll be a tad bit longer with multiple attributes specified!

Get-ScsiLun –Hba [software iSCSI HBA] | Set-ScsiLun –MultipathPolicy “RoundRobin”

// You can use these parameters to change the LUNs from Fixed to RoundRobin

e.g.) Get-ScsiLun –Hba vmhba39 | Set-ScsiLun –MultipathPolicy “RoundRobin”

Get-VMhost | Get-SCSILun | Where {$_.Vendor –EQ “NETAPP”} | Select VMHost, Vendor, MultipathPolicy

// Identify the Netapp LUNs

Get-VMhost | Get-SCSILun | Where {$_.Vendor –EQ “NETAPP”} | Where {$_.MultipathPolicy -EQ "Fixed"} | Select VMHost, Vendor, MultipathPolicy

// Identify the Netapp LUNs which are “Fixed”

Get-VMhost | Get-SCSILun | Where {$_.Vendor –EQ “NETAPP”} | Set-SCSILun –MultipathPolicy “RoundRobin”

// Set the NetApp LUNs to RoundRobin

Get-VMhost | Get-SCSILun | Where {$_.Vendor –EQ “NETAPP”} | Where {$_.MultipathPolicy -EQ "Fixed"} | Set-SCSILun –MultipathPolicy “RoundRobin”

Get-VMHost | Sort Name | Select Name, @{N=”NTP”;E={Get-VMHostNtpServer $_}}

// This will dump NTP Configuration settings

Get-VMHost | Get-View | foreach {$_.Summary.Hardware.OtherIdentifyingInfo[3].IdentifierValue}

// This will dump the Dell Service Tags

Get-VMHost | Get-View | Select Name, @{N=”Service Tag”;E={$_.Summary.Hardware.OtherIdentifyingInfo[3].IdentifierValue}}

// This will dump the Host name and the Dell Service Tag

Get-VMHost | Sort Name | Get-View | Select Name, @{N=”Tag 3”;E={$_.Summary.Hardware.OtherIdentifyingInfo[3].IdentifierValue}}, @{N=”Tag 2”;E={$_.Summary.Hardware.OtherIdentifyingInfo[3].IdentifierValue}}, @{N=”Tag 1”;E={$_.Summary.Hardware.OtherIdentifyingInfo[3].IdentifierValue}}

// This will dump the Host name and the Dell Service Tag values across all 3 identifiers

Get-View -ViewType HostSystem | Sort Name | Select Name,@{N="BIOS version";E={$_.Hardware.BiosInfo.BiosVersion}}, @{N="BIOS date";E={$_.Hardware.BiosInfo.releaseDate}}

// This will dump the hosts BIOS version and date(s)

get-vmhost | Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -Name Syslog.global.logHost

// Dump the current SYSLOG Configuration

You may notice that a lot of the Scripts identified in here are very selfishly scripts I’ve personally used… and I’ll tell you… that’s not all that bad ;)   I figure as time goes on, I’ll find other various switches and flags which are important and others ought to check out!  I’m constantly building and adding to this list as there are various scripts I’ll be running on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.   As I start to identify which items fall into the lists I’ll share my experiences with ya’ll here! Enjoy!

If you knew how many various different titles I thought through before deciding on that one, you might say ‘You have too much time on your hands!’ though seriously, I went through thousands of options in the minute I thought about this.   The point of this is – Did you know that a company which owns a considerable amount of VMware actually eats its own dog food when it comes to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure?  Yea if you’re like me, your thoughts around VDI are “Show me who’s doing what, what they’re doing right, wrong, and what are some practices we can discuss around this”  Some people say “Check out my reference architecture!” Yea, That’s all fine and dandy – But show me the names, show me the real people.  I want to see the scars that people went through so I can make sure YOU don’t have to encounter those same scars when it comes to VDI.

What’s cool about this (video) and this particular site is that these are real people, talking about their real journey and challenges encountered along the way – So you have something real and concrete to take away from it.

What is really cool about this, is this site – discussing EMC’s IT’s Journey through Virtualization is it covers the whole stack – Server, Virtual Desktop, Consolidation, Management and Automation, and especially Private Cloud.   This isn’t a pipe dream – This is a transparent view into what is really physically going on within a large company, so you can relate it to your own business.  We’re all going through the same challenges economically, managementwise, and management and power consumption aren’t going to go down on their own!

So, check out the site/blog, and you may gain a better understanding that you are not alone in the challenges you face, and you may just learn something! :)

So, the finalists are in for the contest I mentioned recently OMG! @Veeam backup supports restoring you to @VMWorld2009 to determine who will be voted on their way to attend VMWorld in San Francisco!

I know I said I’d record a video, and yes I did actually record a video but because I wanted Gabe to win, I opted to not compete (Let’s just say.. I’m a pain in the ass competitor and had a strong chance of taking it from him and everyone else ;)) I may post my video later not for credit to win… but that’s not what we’re here to discuss!

The contestants are in! And you have the opportunity to vote for the best! (Gabe) and comment to win a Flip Camera! (Hey, are you telling me, register, vote, comment = win?!)

Then yes, that is exactly what I’m telling you!  Oh, and check out some really cool software which will help resolve a number of challenges in your infrastructure and virtual environment, that too.  Being that a Flip Camera is not the only free possibility, since they have the Free Veeam Monitor Free Veeam FastSCP and more!

So be sure to go out there, vote for the best of the best! (That’d be Gabrie Van Zanten ;)), comment, and win a Flip Camera! (Check out the goods, make your life and job easier, win!)

It’s all so very straight forward! And be sure to check out Gabe’s blog, it’ll be an investment you’re glad you made!

So, just click the “I love Veeam” above, Vote, Comment and you could win a Flip!

Disclaimer: I am not a shill, I have no affiliation with Gabe other than the best of respect for his contributions back into the community   Were I to compete with Gabe or anyone else on the team, I likely would have obliterated them as I tend to take things considerably too far, and have at my beck and call a series of video editors and production people. ;)  Just so you don’t think this is biased, he deserves to win :)

Wait, what? I’m not even sure what that means?!   Are you seriously telling me that Veeam will send me to VMWorld 2009 in San Franciso? Where do I sign up?!

Veeam Video Contest. Win a FREE trip to VMworld 2009 !

In this economy, who wouldn’t like to win a free trip to VMworld 2009 in San Francisco?

Tell us why you love Veeam and get a chance to win a free full pass to VMworld 2009 or Flip video camera!

How to participate

Between now and June 15,

• Create a video about any Veeam product you love. See Contest Rules for details
• Send us a link to your video at video@veeam.com
• Deadline to submit videos is June 15, 2009

And make sure to post your Video to the Veeam Forum!

And… Then you’re done!  If I don’t see any traction from you folks out there, I’ll have to post a video myself (oh my! will @CXI win a trip to San Francisco!?) Don’t challenge me, I might!  So, post post post! Check it out and get yourself a free trip in this economy, oh and VMWorld2009 should be cool too! ;)   If you need some ideas of what/how to post, hit me up on Twitter and I can help you out also… My idea of a video (for me) likely will be drastically different than you can imagine anyway.. :)