ElasticSky

30. June 201930. June 2019

Login to VCSA VAMI not possible

To manage a vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) there’s a special user interface called Virtual Appliance Management Infrastructure (VAMI). You can access it by entering the FQDN of your vCenter into a browser, followed by port 5480.

https://<mycenterFQDN>:5480

This UI helps you to monitor your vCenter Virtual Appliance. You can change basic settings, apply updates and watch system status.

After updating a VCSA to the latest version of vCenter, I had to reboot the appliance. After the reboot process had finished, I wasn’t able to login to VAMI. Sometimes services need quite some time to become available, but even waiting for a longer period of time (a cup of coffee) nothing happened. VAMI presented a login screen, so obviously the webserver was up and running. But each time I entered the (correct) credentials I got the message “unable to login”. Screenshot is in German but you’ll most likely get the point ;-).

Translation from German: Unable to login.

21. June 201921. June 2019

Runecast 2.7.0 with ESXi Upgrade Simulator

If you’ve ever had the task to upgrade a number of ESXi servers, you’ll know that it’s a hell lot of work to be done even before you can upgrade the first host. Is the host still on the VMware Hardware Compatibility List (HCL)? Are my PCIe cards (NIC, HBA, SCSI-controller) still supported? Does the current firmware match the future driver?

Finding answers all of these questions might take hours of research. Especially if you have non-uniform clusters.

Runecast got you covered

We have good news for those of you who already use Runecast-Analyzer to scan their cluster against KB issues. The latest beta (2.7.0) of the HW compatibility tool can now simulate host upgrades. Wow cool is that!

4. June 20194. June 2019

VeeamON 2019 recordings online

There’s good news for those of you who didn’t make it to VeeamON 2019 in Miami, FL. Veeam published recap videos, keynotes and technical session for you to watch online.

https://www.veeam.com/veeamon

VeeamON 2020

Next VeeamON will be in Las Vegas May 4-6 2020.

Add to calendar

24. May 201924. May 2019

My VCAP exam experience

After being VCP for a very long time it was time to move on towards the next step: VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP) Datacenter Deployment.

I’m not goning to drill down too much into details on what to learn and how to prepare. There are plenty of good blog articles around to read. I’d rather give you some soft-skills to tackle the exam and to (hopefully) succeed.

The VCAP Datacenter Deployment exam is unlike many ther VMware exams not a series of multiple chioce questions, but an entire Hands-on-Labs (HOL) environment where you have to solve problems and track down issues. Just like in real life.

During exam you have to solve 27 tasks in 205 minutes. That’s a bit more than 7 minutes per task. Please keep that in mind:

You only have 7 minutes per task

I can’t emphasize this enough. This is not a customer project where you completely finish one task before you’ll advance to the next! If you cannot solve a problem in 7 minutes, skip it and continue with the next one. Time is crucial! Don’t make the same dumb mistake I made on my first attempt. I wasted plenty of time on the first five tasks, because I stubbornly tried to troubleshoot the problem, instead of moving on. So I ran out of time after 20 questions without even reading the last 7 questions. Finally it wasn’t the tasks that lead to failure – it was just the lack of strict time management. Biting the keyboard and banging your head to the wall doesn’t help. Instead I got a valuable (and expensive) lesson on keeping an eye on the clock. Anyway. Fall down, stand up, adjust your crown and move on. My second try was much better and as far as I can remember I only left out a single task.