Tag Archives: VCSA

Apr 06

VMware HOL (HandsOnLabs) What’s New with vSphere 6.5

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What’s New with vSphere 6.5

HOL-1710-SDC-6-MYVMW-HOL . 1 hrvmware

  1. vCenter High Availability
    1. Essentially a 3 node HA vCenter cluster to eliminate protect from failures in hosts, hardware or appliances
    2. VAMI / vCenter Server Appliance Management Interface is now called; “vCenter Server Appliance Management UI” so I guess it’s VAMUI
    3. Totally incorrect instructions have you logging in vCenter Client, not the appliance mgt; look for the appliance MGMT link (local:5480)
    4. Look at various network and system utilization stats.
    5. Create support bundle, backup, shutdown, etc.
  2. Update Manager
    1. Next release of Update Manager is integrated with VCSA (VCenterServerAppliance) No longer will you be able to connect to Update Manager installed on a Windows Server
    2. To start the Update Manager on VCSA just start the service.
    3. Run on internal PostgreSQL DB.
    4. VCSA and UM run on the same DB instance but separate databases.
    5. For those not used to UM, it is used to patch and update ESXi hosts, install third party software on hosts, I.E., HP Firmware for example. Updates VMware tools.
  3. Content Library
    1. Lists all content like .ISOs, templates, vApps, scriptsvmwarecontentlibrary
    2. Enhancements include things like being able to mount .ISO to VM direct from Content Library
    3. Create new virtual machine with custom specification from Content Library
    4. Content Libraries can be synchronized across two vCenter servers.
    5. Create a new Content Library and sync to it.
  4. SOIC / Storage IO Control
    1. Show up by Host Profiles in “Policies and Profiles”
    2. Create multiple SIOC Policies
    3. Storage policies are defined by disk, so each disk could have different policy, for example on a DB server.
  5. HTML 5 Host Client (webclient)
    1. Walk through common features
    2. Generating GSS Support Bundle (Global Support Services)
  6. Encrypt VMs
    1. Add a Key Management Server
    2. Set up encryption storage policy
    3. Create encrypted VM, encrypt an existing VM
    4. Decrypt multiple VMs simultaneously.
    5. Encryption is essentially just another type of Storage Policy.
  7. Visit HOL here; http://hol.vmware.com/
Nov 27

VMware vCenter 6.0 VCSA – Where is the .OVA?

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Um, Yeah, there is no OVA with vCenter Server Appliance 6.0

We take a quick look at setting up vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 6.0 since it’s a bit different with no .OVA option. In fact, there is a VMware KB article they created because so many people were asking where to find the .ova download. With 6.0, there is ONLY an .ISO.  That’s the only option to download. You should be able to download VCSA 6.0 or VCSA 6.0U1 here.

If you remember the old process, you could set up one host, connect to the host with vSphere Client, and then import the .OVA and you’d be up and running in mere minutes.

Fortunately, the new process is almost as simple, as long as you get a couple of pieces right up front. Please watch the video from our YouTube Channel and we walk through the process. Essentially, you 1) download the .iso, 2) install the Client Integration Plugin and 3) install / push / import the VCSA to a host.