Identify and tag SSD Devices

Identify and tag SSD Devices

You can use PSA SATP claim rules to tag SSD devices that are not detected automatically.

Only devices that are consumed by the PSA Native Multipathing (NMP) plugin can be tagged.

Procedure

First find all your relevant information

• Identify the drive to be tagged and its SATP.
• For example our drive is called (naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1):1
• Type esxcli storage nmp device list -d naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1
• The command results in the following information.

• Note down the SATP associated with the device.
• You can also run the following to get extra information and you can see that Is SSD is marked false when it should be true
• esxcli storage core device list -d naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1

Create a new SATP Rule

• Add a PSA claim rule to mark the device as SSD.
• There are several ways to do this
• You can add a claim rule by specifying the device name.
• esxcli storage nmp satp rule add -s VMW_SATP_CX -d naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1 -o enable_ssd

• You can add a claim rule by specifying the vendor name and the model name.
  esxcli storage nmp satp rule add -s VMW_SATP_CX -V vendor_name -M model_name –option=enable_ssd
• You can add a claim rule based on the transport protocol.
• esxcli storage nmp satp rule add -s VMW_SATP_CX  –transport transport_protocol –option=enable_ssd
• You can add a claim rule based on the driver name.
• esxcli storage nmp satp rule add -s VMW_SATP_CX  –driver driver_name –option=enable_ssd

Restart the host

• You now need to restart the host

Unclaiming the device

• You can now unclaim the device by specifying the device name.
• esxcli storage core claiming unclaim –type device –device naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1

• You can unclaim the device by specifying the vendor name and the model name.
• esxcli storage core claiming unclaim –type device -V vendor_name -M model_name
• You can unclaim the device based on the transport protocol.
• esxcli storage core claiming unclaim –type device –transport transport_protocol
• You can unclaim the device based on the driver name.
• esxcli storage core claiming unclaim –type device –driver driver_name

Reclaim the device by running the following commands.

• esxcli storage core claimrule load
• esxcli storage core claimrule run
• esxcli storage core claiming reclaim -d naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1

Verify if devices are tagged as SSD.

• esxcli storage core device list -d device_name
• or
• esxcli storage core device list -d naa.600605b008f362e01c91d3154a908da1 |grep SSD

The command output indicates if a listed device is tagged as SSD.

• Is SSD: true

What to do next

If the SSD device that you want to tag is shared among multiple hosts, make sure that you tag the device from all the hosts that share the device.

vifs for Command Line

vifs for Command Line

What is vifs?

vifs allows you to perform file system operations on remote hosts. The command is supported against ESXi hosts but not against vCenter Server systems.

The vifs command performs common operations such as copy, remove, get, and put on files and directories. The command is supported against ESX/ESXi hosts but not against vCenter Server systems.

Note: While there are some similarities between vifs and DOS or Unix file system management utilities, there are also many differences. For example, vifs does not support wildcard characters or current directories and, as a result, relative path names. Use vifs only as documented.

Note: To use vifs, you will need vCLI installed on  either a Windows/Linux system or you may use VMware vMA

Options using vCLI

Examples

Note: On Windows, the extension .pl is required for vicfg- commands, but not for ESXCLI.

The following examples assume you are specifying connection options, either explicitly or, for example, by specifying the server, user name, and password. Run vifs –help or vifs.pl –help for a list of common options including connection options.

• Copy a file to another location:

vifs – -server server01 -c “[StorageName] VM/VM.vmx” “[StorageName] VM_backup/VM.vmx”

• List all the datastores:

vifs – -server server01 -S

• List all the directories:

vifs – -server server01 -D “[StorageName] vm”

• Upload a file to the remote datastore:

vifs – -server server01 -p “tmp/backup/VM.pl”
“[StorageName] VM/VM.txt” -Z “ha-datacenter”

• Delete a file:

vifs – -server server01 -r “[StorageName] VM/VM.txt” -Z “ha-datacenter”

• List the paths to all datacenters available in the server:

vifs – -server server01 -C

• Download a file on the host to a local path:

vifs – -server server01 -g  “[StorageName] VM/VM.txt”
-Z “ha-datacenter” “tmp/backup/VM.txt”

• Move a file to another location:

vifs – -server server01 -m  “[StorageName] VM/VM.vmx”
“[StorageName] vm/vm_backup.vmx” -Z “ha-datacenter”

• Remove an existing directory:

vifs – -server server01 -R “[StorageName] VM/VM” -Z “ha-datacenter””

Note:

The vifs utility, in addition to providing datastore file management also provides an interface for manipulating files residing on a vSphere host. These interfaces are exposed as URLs:

• https://esxi-host/host
• https://esxi-host/folder
• https://esxi-host/tmp

How to upgrade ESXi 5.x to the latest ESXi 6.0?

1. Download the file called VMware-ESXi-6.0.0-2494585-depot.zip from My VMware portal. It should be available when you sign-up for a trial of VMware vSphere 6.0 together with the ESXi 6.0 iso file.

2. Upload this file to the datastore visible by your ESXi host.

3. Put your host in maintenance mode (right click > enter maintenance mode) and connect via putty. Note that SSh must be enabled. (configuration > security profile > properties > ssh). Now run this command to update the host:

esxcli software vib update -d /vmfs/volumes/<your_volume>/VMware-ESXi-6.0.0-2494585-depot.zip

4. Reboot your host and exit maintenance mode.


Note:- Please take all host configuration files backup and use Host Profiles to backup all settings.

Looking at esxtop values and results (Realtime)








First visible CPU Statistics


Optional Fields for CPU Performance Monitoring



General Memory Statistics


First Visible Memory Statistics



Optional Fields for Memory Performance Monitoring



General Disk Statistics



General Network Statistics

VMware today announced the complete list of VMware vExperts for this year 2016.

I’m happy to say that I have been recognized as a vExpert 2016. The list of global VMware vExperts 2016 announcement can be found in the VMware  Blog

http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2016/02/vexpert-2016-award-announcement.html

VMWare ESXi Commands & Logs Tips

Esxcfg-Commands
esxcfg-advcfg	Set/Get Advance Configuration Parameters (Stored in /etc/vmware/esx.conf)
esxcfg-auth	Configure authentication (ADS, NIS, Kerberos)
esxcfg-boot	Configure Boot-Options
esxcfg-configcheck	Checks format of /etc/vmware/esx.conf (e.g. Used after esx-updates)
esxcfg-dumppart	Configure partition for core-dumps after PSOD
esxcfg-firewall	Configure ESX-server firewall
esxcfg-hwiscsi	Configure hardware iSCSI initiators
esxcfg-info	Get information about hardware, resources, storage, … of the ESX-Server
esxcfg-init	Used Internally on boot
esxcfg-linuxnet	Setup/Remove linux network devices (ethX)
esxcfg-module	Enable/Disable/ Add new/ Query VMKernal modules and set/ get parameters for them.
esxcfg-mpath	Configure multipathing for Fibre-Channel and iSCSI
esxcfg-nas	Configure NFS-datastores (“NFS-client”)
esxcfg-nics	Configure physical nics (VmnicX).
esxcfg-pciid	Recreate PCI-device list /etc/vmware/{pci.ids, pcitable, pcitable.linux, vmware-device.map } from the configuration files /etc/vmware/pciid/*.xml
esxcfg-rescan	Rescan a SCSI/FC/iSCSI adapter.
esxcfg-resgrp	Configure resource groups
esxcfg-route	Configure the VMKernel default route
esxcfg-swiscsi	Configure /Rescan software iSCSI initiator
esxcfg-upgrade	Used for upgrades from ESX2.x to ESX3
esxcfg-vmhbadevs	Get information about attached LUNs with /dev/sdX/mappings
esxcfg-vmknic	Add /Remove /Configure VMKernel NICs.
esxcfg-vswif	Add/Remove/Configure ServiceConsole NICs
esxcfg-vswitch	Add/Remove/Configure Virtual Switches
esx-Commands
esxnet-support	Diagnostic information about Console NICs (Gives Errors in ESX-3.5.0)
esxtop	Live Statistics of Virtual Machines (with VM-Names)
esxupdate	Tool for updating ESX-3.x
Vmware-Commands
Vmware-authd	For internal use only (authentication)
Vmware-cmd	See vmware-cmd section
vmware-configcheck	Check Virtual Machine configuration files (*.vmx)
vmware-config.pl	Configure ESX-hostd port, recompile/install VMware VmPerl Scripting API
vmware-hostd	Demon for VI Client connections (should only be started by mgmt-vmware start-script)
vmware-hostd-support	Creates /var/log/vmware/hostd-support.tgz
vmware-mkinitrd	Creates initrd (initial ramdisk)
vmware-vim-cmd	Please see vmware-vim-cmd section
vmware-vimdump	Get information about ESX-Server configuration and Virtual Machines.
vmware-vimsh	Interactive shell – comparable to vmware-vim-cmd with additional commands
vmware-watchdog	Watchdog-Demon to keep vmware-hostd running (should only be started by mgmt-vmware start-script)
vmware-webAccess	WebAccess-Demon for browser based management (should only be started by vmware-webAccess start-script)
Vm-Commands
vmfsqhtool	Prints UUID of a device header
vmfsqueuetool	Formats all partitions in vmfs queue
vmkchdev	Manage PCI devices (give control over the device to VMKernel or Service Console)
vmkdump	Manage VMKernel dump partition
vmkerrcode	Give description of VMKernel error codes base on decimal or hex value
vmkfstools	Create/Remove/Configure VMFS-Filesystems and Virtual Machine .vdsk files (Virtual Disk File)
vmkiscsid	iSCSI demon
vmkiscsi-device	iSCSI device information
vmkiscsi-ls	List iSCSI devices
vmkiscsi-tool	Configure software iSCSI initiator
vmkiscsi-util	Get information about iSCSI devices
vmkloader	Load and unloads the VMKernel
vmkload mod	Load/Unload VMKernel modules (e.g. device drivers)
vmklogger	Create logmessages (like logger for VMKernel messages)
vmkpcidivy	deprecated
vmkping	Ping on VMKernel network
vmkuptime.pl	Creates HTML output with Uptime/Downtime/Availability
vmres.pl	deprecated
vmsnap all	Snapshot all Virtual Machines on a ESX-Server
vmsnap.pl	deprecated
vmstat	(this is a standard linux command – lists memory/disk access statistics)
vm-support	Creates /etc/init.d/esx-<date>.tgz
vmware	internal use – can not be started manually
Other Commands
vdf	Show free disk space of mounted partitions (like df with vmfs-support)
Start-Scripts
Scripts inside /etc/init.d/
mgmt-vmware	Start/Stop/Restart the demon for the VI-Client connections
vmkhalt	internal use – can not be started manually
vmware	internal use – can not be started manually
vmware-functions	internal use – can not be started manually
vmware-late	internal use – can not be started manually
vmware-vmkauthd	internal use – can not be started manually
vmware-vpxa	Start/Stop/Restart the demon for the Virtual Center connections
vmware-webAccess	Start/Stop/Restart the demon for the Web-Interface connections
Running Processes
crond	Schedule jobs at specific intervals
gpm	Mouse support in the text console
init	First process which runs every other process
klogd	Kernel log demon
logger	Logs messages to /var/log
sshd	Provides secure shell access
syslogd	Log/Filter demon with a remote logging ability
vmware-hostd	Demon for VI Client connections
vmkload app	Loads vmware applications (internal use only)
vmklogger	Logs VMKernel messages to /var/log/vmware
wsmand	Web Services Management
vmware-vmkauthd	Demon for user authentication
vmware-vmx	Provides context for a Virtual Machine (internal use only)
vmware-watchdog	Checks if vmware processes are running (no connection test à does not restart hung processes)
vpxa	Virtual Center agent
webAccess	Web-Interface (TomCat-Server)
xinetd	Listen on network ports for other demons and start them on-demand
vmware-cmd Commands
Commands for a Virtual Machines (vmware-cmd -h).
getconnectedusers	List name and IP of connected users (non-working with esx3.5.0?)
getstate	Show current state of VM (Ofi/On/…)
start	Start a VM
stop	Stop a VM
reset	Reset a VM
suspend	Suspend a VM
setconfig	Set a variable in the vmx-configuration-file
getconfig	Get a variable from the vmx-file
setguestinfo	Set guest info variable
getguestinfo	Get guest info variable
getproductinfo	Get various product info
connectdevice	Connect a device
disconnectdevice	Disconnect a device
getconfigfile	Get path/filename of config file
getheartbeat	Get current heartbeat
gettoolslastactive	Time since last notification from vmware-tools (in seconds)
getresource	Get a VM resource
setresource	Set a VM resource
hassnapshot	Determine if VM has a snap-shot
createsnapshot	Create a snapshot
revertsnapshot	Revert to last snapshot
removesnapshots	Remove all snapshots
answer	Answer a question (if VM requires input)
vmware-vim-cmd Commands
hostsvc/	ESX-Server commands
internalsvc/	ESX-Server internal com- mands
proxysvc/	Web-SDK proxy commands
vimsvc/	VirtualCenter commands
vmsvc/	VM commands
Log Files
Logs are in /var/log/vmware/ if no other path is specified)
/etc/syslog.conf	Configure logging behaviour
esxcfg-boot.log	Boot messages
esxcfg-firewall.log	List of executed firewall commands and log messages
esxcfg-linuxnet.log	LinuxNet messages
esxupdate.log	Debug messages for updates
hostd.log	hostd messages
vpx-iupgrade.log	Logs for package installations/removals by Virtual Center (e.g. output of rpm –hiv VMware-vpxa-2.5.0-64192.i386.rpm)
vpx/vpxa.log	Virtual Center Agent messages
vmfsqueuetool.log	VMFSQueueTool messages
webAccess	Web-Access messages
/proc/vmware/log	VMKernel messages
/var/log/ storage-Monitor	VMKernel storage monitor messages
/var/log/ vmkernel	VMKernel messages (info messages only)
/var/log/ vmkproxy	VMKernel userworld proxy messages
/var/log/ vmk-summary	VMKernel messages (notice and higher)
/var/log/ vmk-warning	VMKernel warning messages