Netscaler customer networks when integrated with Cloudstack

Here is a visio I once drew up which details how the networking works with Netscalers when integrated with Cloudstack. Not much info but you can see how it all hangs together:

vmware tools in centos

 


A really boring post, but I want to have this for future records.

Here is a manual way of installing vmware tools running on CentOS 5/6

First, import the keys to RPM:

rpm --import http://packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-DSA-KEY.pub rpm --import http://packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub

Add the repository to yum by creating file /etc/yum.repos.d/vmware-tools.repo:

cat <<EOT > /etc/yum.repos.d/vmware-tools.repo 

[vmware-tools] name=VMware Tools 

#baseurl=http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/5.0u1/rhel5/\$basearch baseurl=http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/5.0u1/rhel6/\$basearch 

enabled=1 

gpgcheck=1 

EOT

Then, install using:

# for non-PAE kernel:

yum -y install vmware-tools-esx-kmods vmware-tools-esx 

# for PAE kernel:

yum -y install vmware-tools-esx-kmods-pae vmware-tools-esx

For no X windows:

yum -y install vmware-tools-esx-nox

BUT, here is a puppet manifest that does the job for you :)

class vmtools {

if $::osfamily == 'RedHat' and $::operatingsystem != 'Fedora' {

yumrepo { 'vmware-tools-repo':
baseurl => "http://packages.vmware.com/tools/esx/5.0u1/rhel$ {::os_maj_version}/${::architecture}",
enabled => '1',
gpgcheck => '1',
descr => "VMware tools package for ESX 5.0 update 1"

}

exec { "install GPG-DSA keys":

command => "/bin/rpm --import http://packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/
VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-DSA-KEY.pub",

unless => "/bin/rpm -q gpg-pubkey --qf
'%{name}-%{version}-%{release} -->
%{summary}\n' |/bin/grep VMware >
/dev/null 2>&1"

}

exec { "install GPG-RSA keys":
command => "/bin/rpm --import http://packages.vmware.com/tools/keys/
VMWARE-PACKAGING-GPG-RSA-KEY.pub",

unless => "/bin/rpm -q gpg-pubkey --qf
'%{name}-%{version}-%{release} -->
%{summary}\n' |/bin/grep VMware >
/dev/null 2>&1"

}
package { "vmware-tools-esx-nox" : ensure => "installed" }
} else {

notice ("Your operating system ${::operatingsystem} is not
supported vmtools to run with this puppet manifest")

}
}

Installing a dhcp server in Centos6.x

1 Install CentOS 6.3 or find an adequate server to run the dhcpd daemon
 
2 Run the following steps:
 
sudo yum install dhcp
3 Configuration steps

Edit the following file as shown below:
 
vim /etc/dhcp/dhcp.conf

Edit to fit your environment

# DHCP Server Configuration file.
#   see /usr/share/doc/dhcp*/dhcpd.conf.sample
#   see 'man 5 dhcpd.conf'
#

subnet 10.10.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
       option routers                  10.10.10.1; #Default Gateway
       option subnet-mask              255.255.255.0;
       option domain-name              "myorg.net";
       option domain-name-servers      10.10.10.100;
    range dynamic-bootp 10.10.10.101 10.10.10.199;  #DHCP Range to assign
       default-lease-time 43200;
       max-lease-time 86400;
}

3.1    CONFIGURE DHCP TO LISTEN ON A SPECIFIC INTERFACE

If more than one network interface is attached to the system, but the DHCP server should only be started on one of the interface, configure the DHCP server to start only on that device. In /etc/sysconfig/dhcpd, add the name of the interface to the list of DHCPDARGS:

# Command line options here
 
DHCPDARGS=eth0
3.2    STARTING THE DHCP SERVICE

To start the DHCP service, use the command 

/sbin/service dhcpd start

To stop the DHCP server, use the command 

/sbin/service dhcpd stop

3.3    DHCP SERVER LOGS

On the DHCP server, the file /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd.leases stores the DHCP client lease database. This file should not be modified by hand. DHCP lease information for each recently assigned IP address is automatically stored in the lease database. The information includes the length of the lease, to whom the IP address has been assigned, the start and end dates for the lease, and the MAC address of the network interface card that was used to retrieve the lease.

All times in the lease database are in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), not local time.
The lease database is recreated from time to time so that it is not too large. First, all known leases are saved in a temporary lease database. The dhcpd.leases file is renamed dhcpd.leases~, and the temporary lease database is written to dhcpd.leases.

The DHCP daemon could be killed or the system could crash after the lease database has been renamed to the backup file but before the new file has been written. If this happens, the dhcpd.leases file does not exist, but it is required to start the service. Do not create a new lease file. If you do, all the old leases will be lost and cause many problems. The correct solution is to rename the dhcpd.leases~ backup file to dhcpd.leases and then start the daemon.

3.4   DHCP RELAY AGENT 

The DHCP Relay Agent (dhcrelay) allows for the relay of DHCP and BOOTP requests from a subnet with no DHCP server on it to one or more DHCP servers on other subnets.

When a DHCP client requests information, the DHCP Relay Agent forwards the request to the list of DHCP servers specified when the DHCP Relay Agent is started.

When a DHCP server returns a reply, the reply is broadcast or unicast on the network that sent the original request.

The DHCP Relay Agent listens for DHCP requests on all interfaces unless the interfaces are specified in /etc/sysconfig/dhcrelay with the INTERFACES directive. 

To start the DHCP Relay Agent, use the command 

service dhcrelay start

vSphere 5.1 review

I recently took time out to review the new features of vsphere 5.1 and this is what I found:

• So we can have larger virtual machines

Virtual machines can grow two times larger than in any previous release to support even the most advanced applications. Virtual machines can now have
up to 64 virtual CPUs (vCPUs) and 1TB of virtual RAM (vRAM).

Why would we want that size of VMs. Well I am not sure or have ever seen a virtual machine that will utilise 64 vcpus, but large applications that run in oracle farms may just have this requirement and it's another reason why you would use VMware over the other competitors, XenServer, Hyper-V for example, to run your mission critical intensive application on a the vmware hypervisor.

usefulness : 5/10

• A new virtual machine format

New features in the virtual machine format (version 9) in vSphere 5.1 include support for larger virtual machines, CPU performance counters and virtual shared graphics acceleration designed for enhanced performance.

Well surely this goes hand in hand with the first feature but notice we have a nice shared graphics acceleration feature. NVIDIA added vSGA (Virtual Shared Graphics Acceleration) that allows the presentation of a physical graphics processing unit (GPU) from the underlying host to virtual desktops guests. By virtualizing the physical GPU, its resources can be allocated and shared across several virtual desktop instances.
This provides several different benefits. Using the physical GPU and vRAM frees the underlying CPU and memory from the host to be used for other tasks. Using a GPU for hardware-accelerated graphics also allows customers to provide a more rich and interactive graphical experience across an even broader set of use cases, especially implementation of vmware view.
 
Usefulness 6/10
 

• Storage enhancements

Flexible, space-efficient storage for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). A new disk format enables the correct balance between space efficiency and I/O throughput for the virtual desktop.

• vSphere Distributed Switch enhancements

Enhancements such as Network Health Check, Configuration Backup and Restore, Roll Back and Recovery, and Link Aggregation Control Protocol support and deliver more enterprise-class networking functionality and a more robust foundation for cloud computing.

Anything distributed switch is good and useful - it is a great part of the product and really helps define network policies more efficiently, especially when you have large numbers of hosts.

usefulness 7/10

• Single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) support

Support for SR-IOV optimizes performance for sophisticated applications. SR-IOV is a specification that allows a PCIe device to appear to be multiple separate physical PCIe devices. Here is a great video explain SR-IOV and how resources are assigned to each particular function. This all helps with over performance and with point 1 and larger machines, all feeds back in to the fact that VMware ESX can handle bigger workloads

usefulness 7/10

• Availability vSphere vMotion enhancements

Leverage the advantages of vMotion (zero-downtime migration) without the need for shared
storage configurations. This new vMotion capability applies to the entire network.

This is great - This means you can migrate virtual machines live without needing “shared storage”. In other words you can vMotion virtual machines between ESXi hosts with only local storage

usefulness 10/10

• vSphere Data Protection changes

Simple and cost effective backup and recovery for virtual machines. vSphere Data Protection is a newly architected solution based on EMC Avamar technology
that allows admins to back up virtual machine data to disk without the need of agents and with built-in deduplication.

This feature replaces the vSphere Data Recovery product available with previous releases of vSphere.

A great white paper from VMware regarding this: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/Introduction-to-Data-Protection.pdf

usefulness: 9/10

• vSphere Replication

vSphere Replication enables efficient array-agnostic replication of virtual machine data over the LAN or WAN. vSphere Replication simplifies management enabling replication at the virtual machine level and enables RPOs as low as 15 minutes.

I like this one. Again another feature rich offering from Vmware.

usefulness: 9/10

• Reduced downtime upgrade for VMware Tools

After you upgrade to the VMware Tools available with version 5.1, reboots
have been reduced or eliminated for subsequent VMware Tools upgrades on Windows.

 Been a while coming due to the challenges of upgrading locked files within an operating system most probably not the best and easiest to work within when you are VMware. We here and expect some more enhancements coming in the later versions.

uesfulness 8/10 

• Additional security enhancements

VMware vShield Endpoint delivers a proven endpoint security solution to any workload with an approach that is simplified, efficient, and cloud-aware. vShield Endpoint enables
3rd party endpoint security solutions to eliminate the agent footprint from the virtual machines, offload intelligence to a security virtual appliance, and run scans with minimal impact.

This was once bluelane and its now bundled in the product. It makes a lot of sense when you are running multiple instances of security as you can now limit the overhead.

usefulness: 8/10

• vSphere Storage DRS and Profile-Driven Storage

New integration with VMware vCloud® Director™ enables further storage efficiencies and automation in a private cloud environment.

This is cool - a feature that allows us to DRS storage IO. Not tested in anger but a great performance tool in an already feature rich product.

usefulness: 9/10

• vSphere Auto Deploy

Two new methods for deploying new vSphere hosts to an environment make the Auto Deploy process more highly available then ever before.

This is my favourite. Stateless and stateful ESXi deployments. Got to be worth a bucket of comfort knowing that whatever happens, the ESXi host will also boot up.

usefulness 10/10

• VMware vCenter™ Operations Manager Foundation

This enables you to leverage comprehensive views into health, risk and efficiency scores of your vSphere environment infrastructure. Quickly drill down to see what’s causing current workload conditions, pinpoint potential problems in the future and identify areas with inefficient use of resources.
vCenter Orchestrator
Orchestrator simplifies installation and configuration of the powerful workflow engine in vCenter Server. Newly designed workflows enhance ease of use, and can also be launched directly from the new vSphere Web Client. 

Always a good thing

usefulness 7/10
 

• Management using vSphere Web Client

The vSphere Web Client is now the core administrative interface for vSphere. This new flexible, robust interface simplifies vSphere control through shortcut navigation, custom tagging, enhanced scalability, and the ability to manage from anywhere with Internet Explorer or Firefox-enabled devices.

This is a big winner for me. Still we need a windows installer and an operating system to run on but its a big move in the right direction.

usefulness 10/10

• vCenter Single Sign-On

Dramatically simplify vSphere administration by allowing users to log in once to access all
instances or layers of vCenter without the need for further authentication. This is key for the new VMware vCenter web client and other things like inventory services. Need to understand how the permissions work across resources and how granular you can be with SSO, or whether it is just used as a password across vmware layers.

usefulness 5/10
 

VMware are so ahead of the game. XenServer is catching up and have a release later on in the year called the Augusta release which has features like dom0 disaggregation, 

overall

well its a 9/10 for me. Keep up the good work VMware, you really are miles ahead of the rest.