Isilon OneFS 7.0 has been out for a couple months. OneFS 7.0 has brought some additional features to Isilon, particularly toward VMware vSphere support.
I blogged about VASA support in another article: Configuring the EMC Isilon VASA Provider.
This article is going to focus on how to configure the NFS VAAI Plugin for Isilon when used with VMware vSphere 5.
Requirements
Here are the basic technical requirements to get the plugin working:
- An Isilon cluster running OneFS 7.0.0.0 or higher
- VMware vSphere 5.0
- I have used vSphere 5.1 without issue
- I have heard of situations where 5.0.0 does not work successfully until upgraded to 5.0 Update 1
- A SmartConnect zone configured for the presented datastores
- NFS mounted datastores being presented from the Isilon cluster using the SmartConnect zone name (can be short or FQDN)
- All IP addresses in the Isilon pool must be “Allowed IP addresses” in the NFS Client settings in ESXi
Installation
The installation process is not 100% straight forward according to the Release Notes, which require a support.emc.com login to get to. I’ll try to provide a little clarification here.
Read more…
I saw Ivo Beerens’ blog post about using BGInfo and VMware View: Display the protocol used on the VMware View desktop background and it made me think of some of the scripts I’ve used. I figured I would share them.
I’ve used BGInfo for years, and have collected several scripts that I have used for various pieces of info that isn’t always the easiest to get from either the Windows registry or other places. When I worked for a Service Provider, it wasn’t uncommon to have systems spread across different Windows versions, multiple time zones, 64 or 32 bit, etc.
Here are some of the scripts I regularly used when I was an Administrator.
System Type – Displays the Hardware Manufacturer & Model Type
Const wbemFlagReturnImmediately = &h10
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = &h20
'*** Connect to this PC's WMI Service
Set objWMI = GetObject("winmgmts:\\.\root\CIMV2")
'*** Query WMI for Hardware
Set items = objWMI.ExecQuery("SELECT * FROM Win32_ComputerSystemProduct", _
"WQL", wbemFlagReturnImmediately + wbemFlagForwardOnly)
For Each item In items
strSystemType = item.Vendor & " " & item.Name 'What we're after
Next
If Len(strSystemType) = 0 Then strSystemType = "Not Found in WMI"
echo strSystemType
Read more…
VMworld time is here again. And for the 3rd year, EMC is hosting a v0dgeball tournament to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.
The folks at WWP have a primary mission of:
- Raising awareness and enlist ingthe public’s aid for the needs of injured service members.
- Helping injured service members aid and assist each other.
- Providing unique, direct programs and services to meet the needs of injured service members.
Without your support, they cannot provide this vital assistance to our injured veterans.
Read more…
So I have had my lab hosts for about a year. I have to say that they have done pretty well. Because of the cost I configured these hosts with 16GB of RAM each. At the time I built them, 8GB sticks of RAM were about $250 a piece, which was a little bit out of my price range. I recently found some 8GB Kingston memory that wasn’t going to break the bank, and give me the ability to do more than I have been able to.
The initial configuration included the following components, and cost around $1,650 ($825/host) not counting shipping/etc.
A year later some prices have changed, some additional processors are support on my boards, larger memory is a little cheaper, and SSD prices have declined.
Read more…
I got an email from John Coley at StratoGen about a new beta program they are offering:
StratoGen are pleased to announce the start of our beta program which will provide valuable feedback on our implementation of the next version of VMware vCloud Director.
Beta testing underpins all of our product launches and is crucial in our ability to provide services that lead the hosted VMware market whilst remaining highly resilient. In this program we are particularly interested in working with experienced “power users” who are familiar with VPNs, complex internetworking and able to utilize tiered SAN storage.
By participating in this program you agree to be contacted to provide feedback on usability and platform performance. In return you will be one of the first to use this exciting new technology, and allocated temporary resources on our USA based enterprise platform.
StratoGen is a leading VMware hosting provider with award winning cloud platforms in both the USA and UK.
If you would like to take part in the program please visit http://www.stratogen.com/products/vmware-hosting.html and follow the link for the Beta program to register your interest.
StratoGen provided me a hosting account that I use from time to time, and I have to say that I have been pretty pleased with it.
I just wish I had the time/opportunity to look at their new beta.
Recent Comments