With the introduction of NSX-v 6.4.2, NSX will now log the firewall rule hit count for each firewall rule in the DFW. You can then check the UI or API for the hit count on each individual firewall rule. This capability is fantastic, however there is no way to extract the hit count for every rule in the environment …

A strange issue occasionally occurs on some servers where random network dropouts occur while accessing any file share (ie. \servername\c$). I recently came across this issue again and found this fantastic post on the technet forums. About half way down the page a solution is posted which fixed my issue! The short …

With vROps prior to 6.7, Memory metrics have caused confusion when comparing the memory metrics generated from vSphere to the metrics generated from the Ep Ops management agent installed on the guest OS. Currently, the metrics shown from the vSphere data collection are memory metrics as seen from the ESXi host layer / …

Memory metrics in vROps have caused many customers confusion and I hope this post will explain the different metrics available and why the values don't necessarily reflect what you might think. Let's start with a few definitions to help set the context. Virtual Machine / Guest: The virtual operating system object where …

I recently had the requirement to remove an existing vRealize Suite Enterprise key from vRealize Automation 7.3.1 and replace it with a vRealize Suite Advanced key. When you try to replace the license key from the VAMI, you will receive an error stating that you cannot downgrade license keys "Unable to downgrade …

Integrating vRA / vRO and Azure is available out-of-the-box with vRA 7.2+ and has been well documented by others for how to set the integration up (vaficionado.com). The integration is fairly straightforward however I faced two main issues, the first being proxy settings and the second being an issue with the vRO …

Below is a collection of blog posts which I have found handy over the years and I hope you find them helpful too. Reporting VM CPU Counters in vSphere (virtual-red-dot.info) Windows vs ESX CPU Values (logicmonitor.com) vSAN Removing Inaccessible vSAN Objects (thinkcharles.net) vCenter Convert Thick Provisioned …

One of the least discussed products from VMware, vRealize Lifecycle Manager (vRLCM), really is a fantastic product! I have been deploying vRealize Automation (vRA) since it was first purchased from DynamicOps and the first release of vCloud Automation Center was released. The vRealize suite of products have always been …

To setup the NUC and install ESXi, follow part one of this guide. To configure the basic vSAN configuration for deployments pre vCenter 6.7, follow part two of this guide. vCenter Appliance Installation With the Intel NUCs set up (and a vSAN datastore created if running pre 6.7 vCenter), it is time to install the …

This blog covers creating a new Active Directory forest and adding a secondary domain controller to the domain via PowerShell. Create Active Directory Forest To create a new Active Directory (AD) forest, the below PowerShell commands can be run to simplify the process. To start off, run the below command to install the …