Recently I was working on a project to streamline virtual machine images for clustered databases. I was using Packer to create the base images and Terraform to deploy them for new requests. This all runs via Linux containers that do not have PowerCLI installed (though I could ask to get it installed). The issue I... Continue Reading →
Monitoring vCenter 6.7 Scheduled Backups with Log Insight
One of the great features within VCSA 6.7 is the ability to schedule daily backups. The only challenge is that there is no built-in notifications as to whether they succeeded or not. At times I've gone a few days (weeks) until I noticed they weren't successful so I decided to monitor the jobs with Log... Continue Reading →
Applying vSphere Encryption when cloning a VM
We are implementing vSphere Encryption on top of vSAN encryption in a specific solution area. The basic setup is a vSAN cluster in each of 10 data centers. The templates are in one data center and cloned to the clusters in each of the other data centers. We created the new storage policy called "VSAN-RAID5-FTT1-Encryption"... Continue Reading →
My trudge through IT Burnout and the fight to keep it at bay
IT Burnout… In my first 15 years of working in IT I heard the term a handful of times. IT Burnout was kicked around for a short time after someone in OUR IT community committed suicide, but was never talked about otherwise. It was so far gone from my thoughts that I had no idea... Continue Reading →
Building a Fan-Tunnel
One of my favorite places to sleep when growing up was in a fan-tunnel. I've slept in one soo many times it probably led to some of my sinus issues as I've gotten older. It was worth it!! I've built a fan-tunnel to read in with my daughters a couple times a year and thought... Continue Reading →
Emotional Week Doing Disaster Relief
It is tough to put into words what the last week has meant to me but here goes my best shot. For those of you who don't know I spent the last week in Texas with Team Rubicon helping with disaster relief efforts. The emotions that ran through my body over the last eight days... Continue Reading →
VRA 7.X Directory Config – Failed to connect to
We were having LDAP issues within our VRA 7.3 lab deployment which started directly after an array outage that took down our domain controllers. During recovery of the domain controllers they were upgraded to 2016 before I was able to look into the LDAP issue within VRA. Below is how I solved the connector issue... Continue Reading →
My VMworld 2017 Schedule
This year my schedule at VMworld is pretty jam packed. I have been asked to present a couple times, attend CTAB and be in a video. The following is a synopsis of my schedule and what I'm looking forward to. I'll will be chatting with vendors and peers between sessions as well. Saturday, August 26... Continue Reading →
Hyper-V 2016 Shows up as Windows 10 in WSUS
I've been working within a POC of SCVMM/Hyper-V 2016 in our lab for about 8 months in preparation for a production deployment. After WannaCry I was validating patching and noticed the Hyper-V hosts were not getting patches. We have a WSUS server setup that is pushing all security and critical patches. Upon looking in WSUS... Continue Reading →
