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VMware vCenter

How To Upgrade to vSphere 8 Update 2

by Tommy Grot September 21, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 2 minutes read

Tonight’s blog post is about – VMware vSphere 8 Update 2 and its upgrade process! If you’re an avid virtualization enthusiast or a tech wizard looking to stay ahead of the game, you’ve come to the right place. VMware vSphere 8 Update 2 brings a plethora of new features, enhancements, and performance improvement!

What you will need, if you do not utilize vSphere Image Lifecycle then you will need to download these:

VMware-VCSA-all-8.0.2-22385739.iso
VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U2-22380479.x86_64.iso

Below is some information from VMware’s website on vSphere 8 Update 2!

Reduced Downtime Upgrade

First, let’s talk about patching and updating. We’ve all patched vCenter instances and we know that task can often take a long time to complete, and during that time, vCenter services are offline. We introduced Reduced Downtime Upgrade as a new method to update vCenter instances with vSphere+. We’re bringing that same functionality to on-premises vCenter instances that are not connected to vSphere+.

vCenter reduced downtime upgrade is supported for single self-managed vCenter instances initially. It does not support vCenter instances enabled with vCenter HA or vCenter instances participating in Enhanced Linked Mode (ELM). vCenter reduced downtime upgrade is supported to update vCenter instances running version 8.0 or 8.0 U1 to 8.0 U2 and will support updating 8.0 U2 to future versions.

Non-disruptive Certificate Management

vSphere 8 Update 2 introduces non-disruptive certificate management. This means vSphere administrators can renew and replace the vCenter SSL/TLS certificate without requiring service restarts. External solutions, like VMware NSX, may require re-authentication to vCenter after a certificate is changed. With industry best practice encouraging the reduction in the maximum validity of TLS certificates, vSphere administrators can adhere to these best practices and perform annual certificate renewals without impacting vCenter productivity.

Let’s take a deeper look at each of the 5 steps during a reduced downtime upgrade.

Before you upgrade! Ensure you have backups configured have successful backups.

Login to VAMI – Update – Stage and Install

Lets Accept the EULA!

Good ole Prechecks prior to update!

Right here, make sure you have solid backups – For my deployment this is a lab so i can rebuild without any issues but for production. STOP and Go back to Backup page and ensure you have good backups if not, take one!

Backup Section

The upgrade process was very quick!

Now, that we have upgraded VCSA, lets login and lets stage our ESXi upgrade process. Utilizing the Image Managment

Select 8.0 U2 22380479 Image

Then hit Remediate all, if you have all pre-checks successfully staged and ready to upgrade lets upgrade our ESXi hosts!

There we go! One of the 3 hosts has upgraded!

September 21, 2023 0 comments 5K views
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VMware NSX

NSX 4.x Certificate Replacement

by Tommy Grot August 31, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 2 minutes read

Tonight’s topic is on replacing NSX Certificate for each NSX Manager appliance and also the VIP. If you’re tired of battling with certificate issues and are looking for a straightforward solution, you’ve come to the right place! In this blog post, we will guide you through the process of replacing NSX certificates for each manager and the VIP in a hassle-free manner. We will break down the steps and provide you with expert tips to ensure a smooth transition. Let’s get started!

What you will need:

  • Postman client
  • Certificate CSR
  • Certificate Generated by your Enterprise CA (I use Microsoft CA)
  • Your Enterprise Root CA Cert
  • Your newly generated Private Key
  1. With your admin account, log in to NSX Manager.
  2. Select System > Certificates.

Import your Certificate and Private Key Into your NSX Manager via Web UI

Service Certificate – No

Certificate Contents

  • (Cert)
  • (Intermediate – if exists)
  • (Root Cert)

Once you have all pre-requisites ready lets open up postman client and what you will need to do is prepare the authentication portion of your postman to authenticate successfully to the NSX Managers. Once you will then you can start getting the API calls ready.

First lets validate the certificate we imported –

  • GET https://<nsx-mgr>/api/v1/trust-management/certificates/<cert-id>?action=validate
https://nsx01a.prd.virtualbytes.io/api/v1/trust-management/certificates/6d78f17d-f58c-4c27-99fd-31b572dfb1e8?action=validate

Once, you see Status OK then proceed to the next step below.

POST https://<FQDN>/api/v1/trust-management/certificates/<cert-id>?action=apply_certificate&service_type=API&node_id=<node-id>

https://nsx01a.prd.virtualbytes.io/api/v1/trust-management/certificates/6d78f17d-f58c-4c27-99fd-31b572dfb1e8?action=apply_certificate&service_type=API&node_id=7cbf2942-086e-9316-b277-95beed9d91b1

Repeat the follow for the additional NSX Managers – Below you can grab the UUID from System – Appliances – UUID (Copy to Clipboard)

https://nsx01.prd.virtualbytes.io/api/v1/trust-management/certificates/6d78f17d-f58c-4c27-99fd-31b572dfb1e8?action=apply_certificate&service_type=MGMT_CLUSTER

There we go, the VIP of my NSX cluster has a enterprise CA signed certificate!

August 31, 2023 2 comments 2K views
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VMware vCenter

vCLS VMs failing to power on vSphere 8.x

by Tommy Grot June 14, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 2 minutes read

Tonight’s troubleshooting tidbit is an important topic that you’ll want to stick around for. We all know that upgrading your system can be a daunting task, especially when something goes wrong. In this blog post, we’ll be discussing an issue that many of you may be facing after upgrading your vSphere 8.0 to 8.0.1.

Are you experiencing problems with DRS not working or vCLS not powering back on? If so, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! We’ll be diving into the root cause of this issue and providing you with some solutions to get your system back up and running smoothly. So, grab a cup of coffee and let’s get started!

Error Message: vSphere DRS functionality was impacted due to unhealthy state vSphere Cluster services caused by the unavailability of vSphere Cluster Service VMs. vSphere Cluster Service VMs are required to maintain the health of vSphere DRS.

Events Tab will have errors for the following Privilege check failed for user VSPHERE.LOCAL\vpxd-extension-xxxx for missing permission.

Before You Start!

  • Take a Snapshot of your vCSA
  • SSH into vCSA

Change to shell

mkdir /certificate
/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vecs-cli entry getcert --store vpxd-extension --alias vpxd-extension --output /certificate/vpxd-extension.crt
/usr/lib/vmware-vmafd/bin/vecs-cli entry getkey --store vpxd-extension --alias vpxd-extension --output /certificate/vpxd-extension.key
python /usr/lib/vmware-vpx/scripts/updateExtensionCertInVC.py -e com.vmware.vim.eam -c /certificate/vpxd-extension.crt -k /certificate/vpxd-extension.key -s <FQDN> -u [email protected]

2023-06-15T02:32:01.586Z Updating certificate for “com.vmware.vim.eam” extension
2023-06-15T02:32:01.645Z Successfully updated certificate for “com.vmware.vim.eam” extension
2023-06-15T02:32:01.669Z Verified login to vCenter Server using certificate=”/certificate/vpxd-extension.crt” is successful

service-control --stop vmware-eam

Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish…
Performing stop operation on service eam…
Successfully stopped service eam

service-control --start vmware-eam

Operation not cancellable. Please wait for it to finish…
Performing start operation on service eam…
Successfully started service eam

Few seconds later in your vSphere UI, you will see vCLS starting to turn back on!

June 14, 2023 0 comments 4.4K views
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Events

Who’s Excited for VMware Explore 2023!?

by Tommy Grot June 13, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 3 minutes read

Are you ready to explore the future of multi cloud technology? If so, you won’t want to miss VMware Explore 2023 in Las Vegas!

This year’s conference promises to be the most exciting yet, showcasing the latest and greatest innovations in the world of virtualization, cloud computing, and digital transformation. From cutting-edge demos to inspiring keynotes and general session, you’ll have the opportunity to learn from the brightest minds in the industry and network with fellow tech enthusiasts. Whether you’re a seasoned IT pro or just getting started in your career, this conference is the perfect opportunity to deepen your knowledge, expand your horizons, and have some fun along the way. So mark your calendars, book your tickets here, and get ready to explore the future of tech!

How VMware Explore has helped my career?

VMware Explore 2022 was a blast, with experiencing and hearing and seeing all the new features and solutions VMware offers it has helped my career path and skillset in many ways:

1. Broadened knowledge of VMware products: VMware explore provides cloud engineers with an opportunity to learn about different VMware product offerings and how they can be implemented for various cloud environments.

2. Certifications: VMware explore offers certifications that help cloud engineers to validate their expertise in different areas. These certifications are highly valued in the IT industry and can open up opportunities for career advancement. At VMware Explore VMware Education is on site, which I have utilized the half off discounts at VMware Explore to take an exam!

3. Network with IT professionals: VMware explore provides a platform for cloud engineers to network with other IT professionals, share experiences, and exchange ideas. This networking can lead to new job opportunities and other professional engagements.

4. Hands-on experience: VMware explore provides cloud engineers with hands-on experience in different VMware products and how they can be used in different cloud environments with the state of the art VMware Hands on Labs! This experience is valuable as it can be applied in real-world scenarios and is highly valued by employers.

5. Professional growth: The knowledge and skills gained from VMware explore can help cloud engineers to grow professionally and take on new challenges in their careers. This growth can lead to higher salaries, promotions, and new job opportunities.

What Sessions am I most exited to attend?

  • Elevate Your Application Modernization Journey with a Developer-Ready Cloud [CEIB2614LV] by Stephen Evanchik
  • VMware Cloud Foundation Architecture Lessons Learned [CSXM1510LV] by
    Jonathan McDonald
  • What Minecraft Has Taught Me About Building VM Templates With Automation [VMTN2813LV] by Sean Massey

What was your best Explore story?

At VMware Explore 2022, the first day started with a keynote session where industry experts shared their insights on emerging technologies, and the future of enterprise IT and multi-cloud. After that, everyone went and explored and attended their own sessions, but I had an awesome opportunity to participate in meetings with different business units, such as Cloud Director/VCPP, vRealize (Aria), AVI Vantage (NSX ALB), Cloud Foundation (VCF) and it was an enriching experience to collaborate with Vice Presidents, R&D Managers/Engineers, Architects and show case what I have deployed and architected.

In conclusion, the VMware Explore event was an enriching experience, and I was excited that I got to participate in different business units meetings. I gained a broader understanding of how the company operates, and the role of each team in delivering value to customers. I left VMware Explore feeling more enlightened and empowered, ready to tackle any challenge in the business world.

VMware Explore – Las Vegas Links

  • Registration : https://www.vmware.com/explore/us.html?src=em_nnqwkc8glpsjf&int_cid=7012H000000wtgaQAA
  • Show Agenda : https://www.vmware.com/explore/us/attend/agenda.html?src=em_nnqwkc8glpsjf&int_cid=7012H000000wtgaQAA
  • Content Catalog: https://event.vmware.com/flow/vmware/explore2023lv/content/page/catalog?src=em_nnqwkc8glpsjf&int_cid=7012H000000wtgaQAA
  • Show Activities : https://www.vmware.com/explore/us/engage/activities.html?src=em_nnqwkc8glpsjf&int_cid=7012H000000wtgaQAA
  • FAQs : https://www.vmware.com/explore/us/attend/faqs.html?src=em_nnqwkc8glpsjf&int_cid=7012H000000wtgaQAA
  • VMware Explore Blog: https://blogs.vmware.com/explore/?src=em_nnqwkc8glpsjf&int_cid=7012H000000wtgaQAA
  • VMware Explore Twitter: https://twitter.com/VMwareExplore (#VMwareExplore)
June 13, 2023 0 comments 541 views
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CloudNetworkingVMware NSX

Deploying VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer

by Tommy Grot May 3, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 2 minutes read

Today’s topic is on VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer (AVI). We will walk through the steps of deploying a NSX ALB overlayed on top of your NSX Environment.

Features

  • Multi-Cloud Consistency – Simplify administration with centralized policies and operational consistency
  • Pervasive Analytics – Gain unprecedented insights with application performance monitoring and security
  • Full Lifecycle Automation – Free teams from manual tasks with application delivery automation
  • Future Proof – Extend application services seamlessly to cloud-native and containerized applications

More information at VMware’s site here

What You Will Need:

  • A Configured and running NSX Environment
  • NSX ALB Controller OVA (controller-22.1.3-9096.ova)
  • Supported Avi controller versions: 20.1.7, 21.1.2 or later versions
  • Obtain IP addresses needed to install an appliance:
    • Virtual IP of NSX Advanced Load Balancer appliance cluster
    • Management IP address
    • Management gateway IP address
    • DNS server IP address
  • Cluster VIP and all controllers management network must be in same subnet.

Lets start with deploying controller OVF

I like to keep neat and consistent names the following names I utilized:

Virtual Machine Names:
  • nsx-alb-01
  • nsx-alb-02
  • nsx-alb-03

You need total of 3 Controllers deployed to create a High Available NSX ALB.

Click the Ignore All, or you will get this error as show below

Select your datastore ->

Click Next ->

My DNS Records:

  • nsx-alb-01.virtualbytes.io
  • nsx-alb-02.virtualbytes.io
  • nsx-alb-03.virtualbytes.io

We are deploying!

Access your first appliance via its FQDN that you have set in the steps above.

Create your password for local admin account

Create your passphrase, and your DNS resolvers, and DNS Search Domains.

Skip SMTP if not needed, but if you need a mail server please fill out your required SMTP IP and Port

  • Service Engines are managed within the tenant context, not shared across tenants to enable the Tenant Context Mode.
  • Service Engines are managed within the provider context, shared across tenants to enable the Provider Context Mode.

That is it for the initial deployment, next we will add our other 2 additional NSX ALB nodes for HA setup.

Go to Administration -> Controller -> Nodes

Click Edit ->

For your 2 additional NSX ALB nodes you will need to provide an IP Address and hostname and password.

Sample of what it should look like for all 3 ALB appliances

A simple topology of what we have deployed.

That is it! from now on you can configure for what use case you will NSX-ALB for. A next blog post will go through how to step up a NSX-T Cloud.

Licensing Flavors – If you click on the little cog icon next to the Licensing. You will see different tiers.

Different License Tiers that are apart of NSX-ALB Licensing model.

May 3, 2023 0 comments 2.6K views
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VMware NSX

VMware NSX – Segment fails to delete from NSX Manager. Status is “Delete in Progress”

by Tommy Grot April 28, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 2 minutes read

Today’s troubleshooting tidbit – If you have issues removing a NSX Segment that got removed from NSX Policy UI but NSX Manager UI still shows that the segment is being used and active and cannot delete, well no problem at all. We will clean it up.

For More Reference VMware has a published KB for this here.

Below you will see that my vmw-vsan-segment that was stuck and said it was dependent on another configuration, but it was not. This segment was created from within VMware Cloud Director.

Confirm that there are no ports in use with the Logical Switch which was not deleted

Lets SSH into one of your NSX Managers, then we will execute the command below Run get logical-switches on the Local Manager CLI and confirm the stale Logical Switch is listed, and note its UUID

get logical-switches

 Elevate to root shell with command below

Engineering Mode

Use st en to enter engineering mode which is root privileged mode

st en

Confirm the Logical Switch info can be polled with API:
curl -k -v -H “Content-Type:application/json” -u admin -X GET “https://{mgr_IP}/api/v1/logical-switches/(LS_UUID)“

Example of my command below:

 curl -k -v -H "Content-Type:application/json" -u admin -X GET "https://172.16.2.201/api/v1/logical-switches/e2f51ece-99fe-417a-b7db-828a6a39234b"

Remove stale Logical Switch objects via API:
curl -k -v -H “Content-Type:application/json”  -H “X-Allow-Overwrite:true” -u admin -X DELETE “https://{mgr_IP}/api/v1/logical-switches/{LS_UUID}?cascade=true&detach=true“

Example of my command below:

curl -k -v -H "Content-Type:application/json"  -H "X-Allow-Overwrite:true" -u admin -X DELETE "https://172.16.2.201/api/v1/logical-switches/e2f51ece-99fe-417a-b7db-828a6a39234b?cascade=true&detach=true"

Now you should see a return ‘200’ response code if deletion is successful

That is all, we successfully cleaned up our NSX Segment that was stuck!

April 28, 2023 0 comments 1.4K views
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VMware ESXiVMware vCenter

Upgrading to VMware vSphere 8 Update 1

by Tommy Grot April 18, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 4 minutes read

Tonight’s topic is upgrading to the new and most anticipated update of: vSphere 8 Update 1 from vSphere 8.0. In this walk through we will do a step by step process of what you will need to do before you upgrade your vSphere environment.

What’s New

Some tidbits of information below from the Release Notes – More Information check out the release notes here

  • vSphere 8.0 IA/GA Release Model: For more information on the Release Model of vSphere Update releases, see The vSphere 8 Release Model Evolves.
  • vSphere Configuration Profiles: vSphere 8.0 Update 1 officially launches vSphere Configuration Profiles, which allow you to manage ESXi cluster configurations by specifying a desired host configuration at the cluster level, automate the scanning of ESXi hosts for compliance to the specified Desired Configuration and remediate any host that is not compliant. vSphere Configuration Profiles require that you use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images to manage your cluster lifecycle, a vSphere 8.0 Update 1 environment, and Enterprise Plus or vSphere+ license. For more information, see Using vSphere Configuration Profiles to Manage Host Configuration at a Cluster Level.
  • With vSphere 8.0 Update 1, vSphere Distributed Services Engine adds support for:
    • NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPUs to server designs from Lenovo (Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 V2).
    • 100G NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPUs to server designs from Dell.
    • UPTv2 for NVIDIA BlueField-2 DPUs.
    • AMD Genoa CPU based server designs from Dell.
  • Support for heterogenous virtual graphics processing unit (vGPU) profiles on the same GPU hardware: vSphere 8.0 Update 1 removes the requirement that all vGPUs on a physical GPU must be of the same type and you can set different vGPU profiles, such as compute, graphics, or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure workload, on one GPU to save cost by higher GPU utilization and reduced workload fragmentation.
  • Integration of VMware Skylineâ„¢ Health Diagnosticsâ„¢ with vCenter: Starting with vSphere 8.0 Update 1, you can detect and remediate issues in your vSphere environment by using the VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics self-service diagnostics platform, which is integrated with the vSphere Client. For more information, see VMware Skyline Health Diagnostics for vSphere Documentation.
  • VM-level power consumption metrics: Starting with vSphere 8.0 Update 1, you as a vSphere admin can track power consumption at a VM level to support the environmental, social, and governance goals of your organization.

What you need:

  • SFTP Server to back up your VCSA
  • ESXi 8.0.1 Image via Customer Connect – (VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U1-21495797.x86_64.iso)
  • Few minutes of preparation

First thing you want to get your vCenter Server Appliance on the newest version, before you upgrade your VMware ESXi hosts to 8.0.1.

Below we will walk through the process to get your VCSA backed up before upgrading!

(Side Note – Make sure you have SFTP or any other means of backing up your VCSA, for this walk through we will not go through setting up a SFTP server)

Once the VCSA is backed up successfully – > Then click Stage and Install

Accept that lovely EULA 🙂 If you don’t then no upgrade for you.

Click Next – it will be running pre-checks, and the upgrade process will start, the whole process took roughly less than 15 minutes, this depends on your environment and how large the db and how many objects maintained within VCSA.

Install in progress….

During this process it will convert your data from the previous installation over to your new one, so if there is lots of metrics and logs and historical information it may take a bit.

I went and took a look at how the vSphere Client status is, and there is a new UI addon where it is different from previous deployments of vSphere 8.0

Lets log back into your vCenter!

We will prep the cluster image and since I have Dell PowerEdge R740s (14th Gen) hardware I make sure I have the correct Vendor addon selected and validated.

After few minutes of validating, your Image for your cluster will be ready to be applied

Lets start remediating some servers, one by one. As I have Dell PowerEdge R740s, I have quick boot enabled so the whole upgrade process for each ESXi host was less than 10 minutes for each host.

Upgrade In Process…

While we are waiting, I like to login to the servers iDRAC and watch the upgrade process.

Few minutes later we are on VMware ESXi 8.0.1

After all ESXi hosts are upgrade to 8.0.1, next we will go to Configure -> vSAN – > Disk Management -> Upgrade Disks format version to version 18.0 from 17.0

Some neat additions to vSphere 8 Update 1 – I do like how there are tiles now with more detailed information, but also you can toggle the hamburger menu to collapse all these tiles into a easier to see all Health Findings.

Also, I am glad that the usage is back into its tile on the vSphere User Interface, it is a much needed and appreciated addon back into vSphere 8.0.1

That is all! After following through the walkthrough you should of been able to upgrade your vSphere 8 to vSphere 8.0.1.

April 18, 2023 0 comments 4.5K views
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Cloud

VMware Cloud Director 10.4.X & Terraform Automation Part 2

by Tommy Grot April 13, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 6 minutes read

Tonight’s multi-post is about VMware Cloud Director 10.4.x and Terraform!

With Terraform there are endless possibilities, creating a virtual data center and being able to tailor to your liking and keeping it in an automated deployment. In this multi-part blog post we will get into VCD and Terraform Infrastructure as Code automation. If you would like to see what we did in Part 1, here is the previous post – VMware Cloud Director 10.4.X & Terraform Automation Part 1

What You will Need:

  • A Linux VM to execute Terraform from
  • Latest Terraform Provider (I am using beta 3.9.0-beta.2 )
  • Gitlab / Code Repo (Optional to store your code)
  • VMware Cloud Director with NSX-T Integrated already
  • Local Account with Provider Permissions on VCD (mine is terraform)

Lets Begin!

First part we will add on to our existing Terraform automation which we have continued in Part 1 of this multi-part blog. Below is the provider information for reference.

terraform {
  required_providers {
    vcd = {
      source  = "vmware/vcd"
      version = "3.9.0-beta.2"
    }
  }
}

provider "vcd" {
  url                  = "https://cloud.virtualbytes.io/api"
  org                  = "system"
  user                 = "terraform"
  password             = "VMware1!"
  auth_type            = "integrated"
  max_retry_timeout    = 60
  allow_unverified_ssl = true
}

Next, we will add Data Center Groups to our terraform template, what we are doing here is Creating the virtual data center group to span multiple organizations, if need be, but for this demonstration – I am using a DCG for Distributed Firewall purposes.

#### Create VDC Org Group 

resource "vcd_vdc_group" "demo-vdc-group" {
  depends_on = [vcd_org_vdc.demo-org-10]
  org                   = "demo-org-10"
  name                  = "demo-vdc-group"
  description           = "Demo Data Center Group"
  starting_vdc_id       = vcd_org_vdc.demo-org-10.id
  participating_vdc_ids = [vcd_org_vdc.demo-org-10.id]
  dfw_enabled           = true
  default_policy_status = true
}

The next code snippet – here we will set and configure the Data Center Group firewall from an Internal to Internal and Drop to Any to Any and Allow. Configuration where by default it keeps Internal DFW rule.

##### DFW VDC Group to Any-Any-Allow
resource "vcd_nsxt_distributed_firewall" "lab-03-pro-dfw" {
  depends_on = [vcd_org_vdc.demo-org-10]
  org = "demo-org-10"
  vdc_group_id = vcd_vdc_group.demo-vdc-group.id
  rule {
    name        = "Default_VdcGroup_demo-vdc-group"
    direction   = "IN_OUT"
    ip_protocol = "IPV4"
    source_ids = [vcd_nsxt_security_group.static_group_1.id]
    destination_ids = []
    action      = "ALLOW"
  }
}

If you are wanting to create multiple rules within a Distributed Firewall, here below I will show some examples – This will not be a part of the code implementation.

##### Sample DFW Rule Creation
resource "vcd_nsxt_distributed_firewall" "lab-03-pro-dfw-1" {
  depends_on = [vcd_org_vdc.demo-org-10]
  org = "demo-org-10"
  vdc_group_id = vcd_vdc_group.demo-vdc-group.id
  rule {
    name        = "rule-1" # Here you will create your name for the specific firewall rule
    direction   = "IN_OUT" # One of IN, OUT, or IN_OUT. (default IN_OUT)
    ip_protocol = "IPV4"
    source_ids = []
    destination_ids = []
    action      = "ALLOW"
  }
}

Some more detailed information from Terraform site –

Each Firewall Rule contains following attributes:

  • name – (Required) Explanatory name for firewall rule (uniqueness not enforced)
  • comment – (Optional; VCD 10.3.2+) Comment field shown in UI
  • description – (Optional) Description of firewall rule (not shown in UI)
  • direction – (Optional) One of IN, OUT, or IN_OUT. (default IN_OUT)
  • ip_protocol – (Optional) One of IPV4, IPV6, or IPV4_IPV6 (default IPV4_IPV6)
  • action – (Required) Defines if it should ALLOW, DROP, REJECT traffic. REJECT is only supported in VCD 10.2.2+
  • enabled – (Optional) Defines if the rule is enabled (default true)
  • logging – (Optional) Defines if logging for this rule is enabled (default false)
  • source_ids – (Optional) A set of source object Firewall Groups (IP Sets or Security groups). Leaving it empty matches Any (all)
  • destination_ids – (Optional) A set of source object Firewall Groups (IP Sets or Security groups). Leaving it empty matches Any (all)
  • app_port_profile_ids – (Optional) An optional set of Application Port Profiles.
  • network_context_profile_ids – (Optional) An optional set of Network Context Profiles. Can be looked up using vcd_nsxt_network_context_profile data source.
  • source_groups_excluded – (Optional; VCD 10.3.2+) – reverses value of source_ids for the rule to match everything except specified IDs.
  • destination_groups_excluded – (Optional; VCD 10.3.2+) – reverses value of destination_ids for the rule to match everything except specified IDs.

Now that we have established firewall rules within our template, next you can IP Sets which are kind of a Group that you can use for ACL’s and integrate them into a firewall and static groups etc!

#### Demo Org 10 IP sets
resource "vcd_nsxt_ip_set" "ipset-server-1" {
  org = "demo-org-10" # Optional

  edge_gateway_id = vcd_nsxt_edgegateway.lab-03-pro-gw-01.id

  name        = "first-ip-set"
  description = "IP Set containing IPv4 address for a server"

  ip_addresses = [
    "10.10.10.50",
  ]
}

Static Groups are another great way to assign networks and members. For this example, my Static Group consists of my domain network segment and with this I can utilize the group into firewall rules.

#### Create Static Group
resource "vcd_nsxt_security_group" "static_group_1" {
  org = "demo-org-10"
  edge_gateway_id = vcd_nsxt_edgegateway.lab-03-pro-gw-01.id

  name        = "domain-network"
  description = "Security Group containing domain network"

  member_org_network_ids = [vcd_network_routed_v2.nsxt-backed-2.id]
}

###########################################################
An example of how to use a Static Group within a firewall rule.
  rule {
    name        = "domain-network" ## firewall rule name
    action      = "ALLOW" 
    direction   = "IN_OUT"
    ip_protocol = "IPV4"
    source_ids = [vcd_nsxt_security_group.sg-domain-network.id]
    destination_ids = [vcd_nsxt_security_group.sg-domain-network.id]
    logging   = true
  }

That is it for the automation for Part 2 of VMware Cloud Director! Stay Tuned for more automation!

April 13, 2023 0 comments 1.3K views
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Cloud

Load Balancing VMware Cloud Director 10.4.x Cells with NSX ALB (AVI)

by Tommy Grot April 11, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 2 minutes read

Topic of the Day – Load Balancing VMware Cloud Director 10.4.x multi cell deployment. For this deployment I am using 3 VCD Cells, they consist of Small Size ( 2vCPU and 12GB, these are not recommended specifications for a production appliance – Per VMware.)

This walkthrough will show you how to load balancer the appliances only, we are not integrating NSX ALB into VMware Cloud Director for Tenants to consume, stay tuned for a future walkthrough for VCD and NSX ALB Integration!

What you will need:

  • Multiple VCD Appliances
  • Certificate with multiple SANs ( I used my wildcard cert)
  • Certificates and Public Addresses configured already on all VCD Appliances
  • 4 DNS A Records, 1 A Record Pointing to VIP IP address of ALB VS Pool, 3 A Records for individual appliances

More information on VMware Cloud Director 10.4.1 Certificate Implementation here

Lets login to NSX ALB, Go to Virtual Services and top right click on “Create Virtual Service”

-> Advanced Setup

Select your NSX Cloud which we will deploy the VIP pool

Select VRF Context, which for my deployment I am used my t1-edge-01-m01-gw, which is my Tier 1 Router attached to my primary Tier-0.

Next we will configured Virtual Service VIP for our Service Engine for ALB.

Attach the VsVIP to your Tier 1 Logical Router

Add a Virtual IP that is free from within your VIP Pool that is pre-allocated manually or can be via IPAM Dynamically. For my implementation I am setting the IP address statically.

Click Save -> Then it will take us back to the main page where we are deploying the Virtual Service

Next step we will set the Profile of our Virtual Service to the following

  • System-TCP-Proxy
  • System-L4-Application


(Side topic, VMware Cloud Director works better with a Layer 4 Load Balancer, there are issues that occur if a Layer 7 HTTP load balancer is utilized)

Now that our Profile is set, next we will create our Pool. I named my “VMware-Cloud-Director-Appliances-Pool”

The Following Settings that should be set are:

  • Default Server Port: 443
  • Least Connections (can use other Algorithms based on your needs)
  • Tier1 Logical Router – t1-edge01-m01-gw (this is my Tier1)
  • Servers – Created IP Address Group
  • Health Monitor
  • SSL – System-Standard, (Service Edge Client Certificate)

  1. Any other settings will depend on your implementation

Once all settings have been configured, now we will hit save and proceed to the last page “Advanced”

Ensure to select your Service Engine Group, or ALB will deploy it on the default group and might cause issues.

After you have the AVI Service Engine deploying, now you can go to VCD, and setup Public Addresses – Pre reqs are that you need to have VCD SSL CA Signed or Self Signed already configured and just need to enabled Public Addresses for the Web Portal and API.

That’s it! Very simple implementation to utilize VMware NSX Advanced Load Balancer and Load Balance VMware Cloud Director Appliances!

April 11, 2023 0 comments 2.5K views
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Omnissa Horizon

VMware Horizon 2303 – Deleting / Cleaning up Orphaned VMs / Templates

by Tommy Grot April 10, 2023
written by Tommy Grot 1 minutes read

Tonight’s topic is about an issue I encountered with VMware Horizon 2303 and Instant Clone pool. I deleted an instant clone pool from Horizon View administration and it deleted it from Horizon, but my cluster was throwing an vSAN error that it could not delete. So, what I had to do is go into the Horizon Connection Server and use the iccleanup.cmd utility.

Connect to your Horizon Connection server via RDP

Then go to ->

C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Server\tools\bin

While you have this Explorer window open, a little shortcut to change directory and open Command Prompt, just type in CMD

iccleanup.cmd -vc <your-fqdn-vcsa> -uid [email protected] -skipCertVeri

Ensure to skip certificate verification if using self signed certs, sometimes may cause connection issues.

Next you will enter command “list”

Next, you will have the option to do the following: (unprotect/delete/output/back) – For my situation, I unprotected the cp-template that was orphaned and causing issues by defining the index number.

Then I ran the delete command and it found few more templates from a previous VDI Instant Clone pool and it removed all orphaned templates and VMs!

April 10, 2023 0 comments 5.4K views
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