DEV meet-up UiPath Document Understanding May 7 2024 Amsterdam
VMworld 2016: Enforcing a vSphere Cluster Design with PowerCLI Automation
1. Enforcing a vSphere Cluster Design
with PowerCLI Automation
Duncan Epping, VMware, Inc
Chris Wahl, Rubrik
INF8036
#INF8036
2. • This presentation may contain product features that are currently under development.
• This overview of new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these
features in any generally available product.
• Features are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or
sales agreements of any kind.
• Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery.
• Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features discussed or presented have not
been determined.
Disclaimer
CONFIDENTIAL 2
4. Who is Duncan Epping?
Writer
Author
Author
Job
VMware
Social
@ Yellow-Bricks.com
of Essential Virtual SAN
of Clustering Deepdive
Chief Technologist @ VMware
VCDX
@DuncanYB (twitter)
9. It is all about the app
App
VM’s
Compute
StorageNetwork
Clusters
10. What are the things we need to think about?
Consistency is the key to success
• Compute
– DNS / NTP / TPS
• Storage
– Protocol / Limits / Resiliency
• Networking
– vMotion / Management / Storage / VMs
• vSphere HA and DRS
11. 11
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere HA Basics
• Configured through vCenter Server
• Each host has an agent (FDM) for monitoring state
• HA restarts VMs when a failure impacts those VMs
12. 12
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere HA Specifics
• One of the hosts is elected as master
• Heartbeats via network and storage
– Management network (or)
– VSAN network (if VSAN is enabled)
• It can reserve resources for restarts (Admission Control)
13. 13
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere DRS Basics
• DRS provides load balancing and initial
placement
– To keep VMs happy and maximize cluster
utilization
• DRS is the broker of resources between
producers and consumers
• DRS goal is to provide the resources the
virtual machine demands
15. 15
And then there is compute
Many things to think about during install / config
• Gateway / DNS
• NTP
• NUMA
• Syslog + Scratch Partition
• TPS enabled or disabled?
– If enabled, how?
• Security?
– Lock down enabled?
16. 16
Storage, you got an hour or two?
iSCSI, FC, NFS, FCoE or maybe VSAN
• Many different storage systems
• Many different design considerations
– And also implications on for instance
vSphere HA
– PDL / APD
– Stretched? Replication? Sync / Async?
• Resignature? Mount? Orchestration of DR?
• Number of Paths, Number of LUNs
• Performance aspects – RAID Types –
Flash vs Hybrid
• SIOC? SDRS?
17. 17
It is always the network
Yes, we usually do blame others… Reality is, many issues arise from
inconsistency...
• Distributed Switch vs normal vSwitch?
• Consistency in configuration of
network segments
– VLANs / Portgroups
– MTU (end to end)
• Load Balancing
– Load based teaming
– Virtual Port ID
– IP Hash / LACP
32. But I already have a vSphere environment!
• How do I pull the config out of it?
• Leverage PowerCLI as a starting point …
– DRS Rules (affinity, anti-affinity, vm-to-host)
– VDS and Port Group configs
– Resource pools
– Generic cluster configs
– VSAN & SPBM policies
40. 40
Gathering Objects with PowerCLI
• Get information on the cluster
– HA, NTP, SSH, DRS, DNS, so forth
• Compare with declarative configuration
• Inspect results
– Validate always
– Remediate optional
• Report metrics