Setting up Windows 2008 Network LoadBalancing with vSphere

So I came across a few posts recently during my travels where a couple of
people were having issues with setting up Windows Network Load Balancing within
vSphere and in particular with Distributed vSwitches.

So here we go - how to setup NLB with IIS:




And here is the video:
1)Setting up NLB
2)Going through setup of vSphere Enviroment
3)Installing IIS
4)Testing for Failure
5)Going Through the vDS settings

Setting up Windows Network Load Balancing within vSphere from Roggy on Vimeo.

Enjoy!

VMware View 4 - Tour!

Hey Everyone,


This is a long overdue video however it should be worth it :)

Hopefully this video will help those of you trying to get to griping with VDI/VMware View and answers questions like:

1) What is the composer? What does it do?
2) What is the agent? How do I fix "waiting for agent"?
3) What is PCoIP?
etc..

Reference Diagram:



Part 1:
Tour of VMware View 4
Components Required
Where to install components
What each bit does

VMware View 4 - Part 1 from Roggy on Vimeo.

Part 2:
Using the VMware View Manager
Desktop pools
Entitlement
Playing 720p video within VMware View Client with PCoIP

VMware View 4 - Part 2 from Roggy on Vimeo.

Enjoy!


Sources:
Picture taken from here (ty!):
http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/

Router on a Stick within vSphere using Vyatta and Optimizing for 1Gbps Routing

Vyatta have released VC6.0 final so I thought I would modify it a little by removing Openvm-tools and replace it with VMware tools, configure it with vmxnet 3 then bring it all together within vSphere for some iPerf benching.

So here we have the "Router on a stick" where we use a Vyatta VM to route between two VM networks with VLAN Trunk then optimize with Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000) on the vnics,vswitch and changing adapter types.





Part 1

Lab Setup
Configuration of Vyatta
Configuration of vSphere (VLAN Trunk)
Configure Routing
Benchmark using iPerf

Router on a Stick within vSphere using Vyatta and Optimizing for 1Gbps Routing - Part 1 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.

Part 2
Configuring Jumbo frame on guests
Configuring Jumbo frame on vSwitch
Changing vNic type
Benchmark with iPerf

Router on a Stick within vSphere using Vyatta and Optimizing for 1Gbps Routing - Part 2 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.

Here is the KB relating to why Windows XP (32bit) and Windows Server (32bit) come up with a 1.4Gbps link speed for 10Gbps drivers/adapters.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931857

And for those that cannot wait for the VMware Appliance here is the link to:
Vyatta VC 6.0 - Final with VMware Tools

Vyatta Config

firewall {
all-ping enable
broadcast-ping disable
conntrack-table-size 32768
conntrack-tcp-loose enable
ip-src-route disable
ipv6-receive-redirects disable
ipv6-src-route disable
log-martians enable
name ALLOW_ESTABLISHED {
default-action drop
rule 10 {
action accept
state {
established enable
}
}
}
receive-redirects disable
send-redirects enable
source-validation disable
syn-cookies enable
}
interfaces {
ethernet eth0 {
address dhcp
description Outside
duplex auto
firewall {
in {
name ALLOW_ESTABLISHED
}
local {
name ALLOW_ESTABLISHED
}
}
hw-id 00:50:56:83:39:3e
smp_affinity auto
speed auto
}
ethernet eth1 {
MTU 9000
description Inside
duplex auto
hw-id 00:50:56:83:70:c3
smp_affinity auto
speed auto
vif 10 {
address 192.168.10.1/24
description VLAN-10
}
vif 20 {
address 192.168.20.1/24
description VLAN-20
}
}
ethernet eth2 {
description DMZ
duplex auto
hw-id 00:50:56:83:51:b7
smp_affinity auto
speed auto
}
loopback lo {
}
}
service {
dhcp-server {
disabled false
shared-network-name POOL1 {
authoritative disable
description VLAN10
subnet 192.168.10.0/24 {
default-router 192.168.10.1
dns-server 192.168.10.1
domain-name Vyatta.local
lease 86400
start 192.168.10.10 {
stop 192.168.10.200
}
}
}
shared-network-name POOL2 {
authoritative disable
description VLAN20
subnet 192.168.20.0/24 {
default-router 192.168.20.1
dns-server 192.168.20.1
domain-name vyatta.local
lease 86400
start 192.168.20.10 {
stop 192.168.20.240
}
}
}
}
dns {
forwarding {
cache-size 150
listen-on eth1.10
listen-on eth1.20
name-server 208.67.222.222
name-server 208.67.220.220
}
}
nat {
rule 10 {
outbound-interface eth0
source {
address 192.168.10.0/24
}
type masquerade
}
rule 20 {
outbound-interface eth0
source {
address 192.168.20.0/24
}
type masquerade
}
}
ssh {
allow-root
port 22
protocol-version v2
}
}
system {
host-name vyatta
login {
user root {
authentication {
encrypted-password $1$ORKO400D$9GoL/vifapZLo3p.sLkUs/
plaintext-password ""
}
level admin
}
user vyatta {
authentication {
encrypted-password $1$Z9oMjC/m$r.T2vNILnVuZnIwkKhg58.
}
level admin
}
}
ntp-server 0.vyatta.pool.ntp.org
package {
auto-sync 1
repository community {
components main
distribution stable
password ""
url http://packages.vyatta.com/vyatta
username ""
}
repository lenny {
components main
distribution lenny
password ""
url http://packages.vyatta.com/debian/
username ""
}
repository VC6 {
components main
distribution VC6.0
password ""
url http://packages.vyatta.com/vyatta/
username ""
}
}
syslog {
global {
facility all {
level notice
}
facility protocols {
level debug
}
}
}
time-zone GMT
}


/* Warning: Do not remove the following line. */
/* === vyatta-config-version: "cluster@1:dhcp-relay@1:dhcp-server@4:firewall@3:ipsec@2:nat@3:quagga@1:system@3:vrrp@1:wanloadbalance@2:webgui@1:webproxy@1" === */
/* Release version: VC6.0-2010.03.22 */



Enjoy!

Network Monitoring/Sniffing using vSphere and PRTG Redux

Hi,

As ever I try and bring you guys (and girls?) something a little different :)
After completing this video here and being in contact directly with PRTG it came to my attention that the version I was using "PRTG Traffic Grapher V6" was EOL and the new version "PRTG Network Monitor" is the successor.
Network Monitor does have alot of cool new features including an iPhone app (cant wait for a droid version) and the best bit...they were kind enough to provide me with a copy of PRTG Network Monitor V7 for this video.

Part1
A cool tour of some of the features of PRTG Network Monitor V7 and how we use our virtual machine to monitor our voice network

Network Monitoring/Sniffing using vSphere and PRTG Ver 2 - Part 1 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.

Part2
This video actually shows you how we set the whole thing up!

Network Monitoring/Sniffing using vSphere and PRTG Ver 2 - Part 2 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.

Network Monitoring/Sniffing using vSphere and PRTG

Hopefully this is an interesting video, as it combines using a vSphere infrastructure to get visibility of both your virtual and non-virtual networks.

Part 1
Quick tour of the Network Monitoring setup

Network Monitoring/Sniffing using vSphere and PRTG - Part 1 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.

Part 2
Setup VM
Setup Switch
Setup Vlan trunk (switch,port group,vSwitch)
Installing PRTG

Network Monitoring/Sniffing using vSphere and PRTG - Part 2 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.

VMware Vsphere Lab-How to Part 3

Part 3 covers:
1)OpenFiler Setup for ESX server
2)iSCSI HBA setup (ESX)
3)Vconverter
4)Vmotion setup
5)Live Vmotion!

Vsphere within VMware Workstation 7 Part 3 from Richard Vimeo on Vimeo.