Category: vSphere

vCenter 6.7 – Three ways to migrate external vCenter PSC to Embedded Mode

Announced in November 2018, the External Platform Services Controller (PSC) is being deprecated. If you are running vSphere 6.7 or vSphere 6.5 Update 2, you can now enjoy the benefits of using embedded PSC deployments without the hassle and complexity of…


vSphere – 10 ways to Migrate a Virtual Machine

This guide is written for those who need all methods of migrating, cloning, cross vMotion, and just moving a VM period. Please use your best judgement as this is a list of other options when options A, B, and C doesn’t work. Hopefully this blog…


vCenter 6.7 – How to backup and restore vCenter

First introduced in vSphere 6.5, the built-in file-based backup and restore is a native backup solution that is available within the VMware Appliance Management Interface on port 5480. It supports backing up both the vCenter Server Appliance and Platform Services Controller (PSC). There is no…


vCenter 6.7 – Install guide with useful tips and links

vCenter 6.7 has a few new features, numerous enhanced features, and some performance improvements. Some of my favorite features are improved HTML5 client, improved vCenter backup management, and improved performance monitoring out of the box. This guide will show you how to install…


How to Install, configure, and use vCenter Infrastructure Navigator

vCenter Infrastructure Navigator is a must have tool for any vSphere environment. Lot of my customers don’t even know much about the tool until I show them a demo and they immediately want it. Since vSphere already manages all your virtual servers, it…


vCenter Stretch Metro Cluster Configuration Part 2 – Configuring Host, Groups, and Storage DRS for VMSC

Configure the Host for a Stretch Cluster

With the release of vSphere 5.5, an advanced setting called Disk.AutoremoveOnPDL was introduced. It is implemented by default. This functionality enables vSphere to remove devices that are marked as PDL and helps prevent reaching, for example, the…


vCenter Stretch Metro Cluster Configuration Part 1 – Configuring the Cluster for vMSC

VMware vSphere® Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC) is a specific configuration within the VMware Hardware Compatibility List (HCL). These configurations are commonly referred to as stretched storage clusters or metro storage clusters and are implemented in environments where disaster and downtime avoidance is a key requirement….


How to Install vCenter 6 Appliance

VMware vCenter 6 Appliance now scales out just as good as the full blown Windows version therefore it may be a good idea to switch to the vCenter Appliance. The following guide will show you how to install the vCenter 6 Appliance using the…


How to Migrate Host and VMs from vCenter 5 to vCenter 6

With the Introduction of Platform Service Controller in vSphere 6, building a whole new vCenter 6 environment might make more sense than to upgrade in many cases. For example in environments where we want to move from a vCenter Windows deployment to a vCenter Appliance…


ESXi 6 Host Hardening Guide

The following guide will quickly show you how to harden your vSphere 6 Host based on VMware’s Security Hardening guides which can be found here. The official hardening guides are in an excel format with detailed descriptions. This guide walks you through all the…


vCenter Support Assistant Configuration Guide

A must have free plug-in for any environment that runs vCenter. VMware vCenter Support Assistant accelerates Support Request resolution by allowing you to easily create and track support request through vCenter. It also can provide proactive alerts and recommended fixes for technical issues even before…


vSphere 6 – How to Join vCenter and PSCs to Active Directory

If you are unable to add Active Directory group permissions to your vCenter 6 environment, then most likely your settings are not configured correctly. The following guide goes through the entire process, however your environment might just be missing one of the processes mentioned in…


vSphere 6 – Fault Tolerance Configuration Guide (Part 1)

In the event of server failures, VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance (vSphere FT) provides continuous availability for applications with as many as four virtual CPUs. It does so by creating a live shadow instance of a VM that is always up to date with…


vSphere 6 – Fault Tolerance Configuration Guide (Part 3)

How to Enable Fault Tolerance for a Virtual Machine

 

Right click on a Virtual Machine and select Fault Tolerance > Turn On Fault Tolerance

 

Click on the dropdown and select Browse…

 

Select a different Datastore than the one currently used and click…


vSphere 6 – Fault Tolerance Configuration Guide (Part 2)

Preparing the Host for Fault Tolerance

 

Click on Home > Host and Clusters

 

Select a host and click on Manager > Networking > VMkernal adapters >

 

Select VMkernel Network Adapter and click on Next

 

 

Choose Select…