For a past day I tried to set up a host profiles to standardize ESXi deployment and I came across to problems to solve: When host profiles was applied, ESXi host lost completely it’s networking configuration (IP, management interfaces). I couldn’t restore networking from DCUI (error message: Management network interface cannot be found), the only way to restore functionality of DCUI was reset to default settings from DCUI. When...

Managing certificates is not the easiest job, especially when new versions of vSphere comes with more and more features which needs certificates. VMware try to make this as much painless as possible and released a tool which helps upload and manage certificates. The vCenter Certificate Automation Tool aims to automate the process of uploading certificates and restarting the following components within the vCenter Platform: vCenter Server...

When it comes to upgrade HP c7000 enclosure components with VMware ESX or ESXi blade servers inside – It is a drama and pain :-/ – to find a documentation, firmware compatibility matrix, finally the right version of software and user guides – in addition HP site work like crap. The slowest vendor site I’ve ever seen. Anyway, after few hours finally I figure out how to do full online upgrade in HP c7000 enclosure...

In a first part I described how to create HomeLab in a Box based on Linux or Windows host OS and VMware Workstation. How to set up a Home LAB for vSpehre 4 and vSphere5 – part 1 In second part of my series, I will describe how to create a HomeLab in a box but running on ESXi 5.1 as host platform. The approach is to have stable, universal, low cost  platform on which one can build, test and develop various type of systems and...

One of the coolest features in vSphere 5.1 is enhanced vMotion. Enhanced vMotion is in fact combination of standard vMotion and storage vMotion in one process. Sounds good but someone can ask what’s the advantage ? Well, one can migrate live VM between ESXi hosts without shared storage. Is this cool or what ? Note: enhanced vMotion is available only in vSphere Web client, standard vSphere client does not support enhanced vMotion...

Quick guide how to add iSCSI software initiator and iSCSI storage using vSphere Web Client. Step 1# – Add iSCSI software initiator on ESXi 5.1 host Log in to vSphere Web Client From a Home screen go to vCenter –> Host –> choose host which you would like to add iSCSI storage on Click on Manage –> Storage –> green plus and add Software iSCSI adapter Step #2 – Port binding Click on iSCSI storage...