Category: VMware

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ZeroedThick or EagerZeroedThick? That is the question.

Having a best practices conversation the other day with a customer and the usual topic came up about any recommendations when it comes to virtual disk type. We had the usual conversation thin or thick, the ins and outs of those two. In the end it doesn’t matter too much, especially with some recent improvements in ESXi 6.0. The further question came up, well what about between zeroedthick and eagerzeroedthick? My initial reaction was that it doesn’t matter for the most part. But we had just had a conversation about Space Reclamation (UNMAP) and I realized, actually, I did have a big preference and it was EZT. Let me explain why.

Continue reading “ZeroedThick or EagerZeroedThick? That is the question.”

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FlashArray Workflow Package for vRealize Orchestrator

I just put the finishing touches on my workflow packages for the Pure Storage FlashArray for VMware vRealize Orchestrator! Download it here:

https://github.com/codyhosterman/orchestrator

Three important notes on this package:

  1. This is not officially supported by Pure Storage yet, I made this, not our engineering. Treat this like a VMware Fling. We support the underlying REST calls of course, but cannot guarantee support directly on the package (I will supply best effort). We will analyze demand for this though hopefully release a fully supported one in the future. If you like it, or want more, or more frequent updates, please let us know!
  2. This is open source, when you import it, you can edit it all you want, this is not locked down. Though I advise copying a given workflow to a new one so you can edit it and keeping the originals unchanged. This makes troubleshooting easier.
  3. Contribute! Please post your own additions and changes on Github or our community. Let’s see what everyone can do.

The workflow has been tested with vRealize Orchestrator 6.0.3 and 7.0. It should work with older versions as long as they have the REST plugin. From the FlashArray perspective, it requires any Purity version that runs the REST API 1.4 or later. Nothing else really matters, it supports both the 400 series and FlashArray//m.

intro Continue reading “FlashArray Workflow Package for vRealize Orchestrator”

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VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part IV: How to correlate a VMFS to a FlashArray volume

This is part 4 of this 7 part series.

The series being:

  1. Mounting an unresolved VMFS
  2. Why not force mount?
  3. Why might a VMFS resignature operation fail?
  4. How to correlate a VMFS and a FlashArray volume
  5. How to snapshot a VMFS on the FlashArray
  6. How to mount a VMFS FlashArray snapshot
  7. Restoring a single VM from a FlashArray snapshot

Continue reading “VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part IV: How to correlate a VMFS to a FlashArray volume”

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VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part III: Why might a resignature fail?

This is part 3 of this 7 part series. The series being:

  1. Mounting an unresolved VMFS
  2. Why not force mount?
  3. Why might a VMFS resignature operation fail?
  4. How to correlate a VMFS and a FlashArray volume
  5. How to snapshot a VMFS on the FlashArray
  6. How to mount a VMFS FlashArray snapshot
  7. Restoring a single VM from a FlashArray snapshot

Continue reading “VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part III: Why might a resignature fail?”

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VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part II: Why not Force Mount?

This is part 2 of this 7 part series. The series being:

  1. Mounting an unresolved VMFS
  2. Why not force mount?
  3. Why might a VMFS resignature operation fail?
  4. How to correlate a VMFS and a FlashArray volume
  5. How to snapshot a VMFS on the FlashArray
  6. How to mount a VMFS FlashArray snapshot
  7. Restoring a single VM from a FlashArray snapshot

This is a topic that I have looked into years ago, mainly in ESX 4.0 when they changed how it handled unresolved VMFS volumes by allowing it to be done selectively. I have had some customers working with array-based snapshots recently and have run into issues that prevent them from mounting them, or mounting them in the way they want. The problem is that I forgot most of the caveats from that testing because it was way before I started this blog. And as that quote popularized by Mythbusters’ Adam Savage says:

83986-83931-05-mythbusters-expressions

So let’s write it down to so I can’t forget it all again. That show is on its last season right now. I will certainly miss it! But anyways, I digress. Force mounting. Don’t do it and here is why.

Continue reading “VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part II: Why not Force Mount?”

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VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part I: Mounting an unresolved VMFS

This is part 1 of this 7 part series. Questions around managing VMFS snapshots have been cropping up a lot lately and I realized I didn’t have a lot of specific Pure Storage and VMware resignaturing information out there. Especially around scripting all of this and the various options to do this. So I put a long series out here about how to do all of this. Let’s start with what an unresolved VMFS is and how to mount it.

The series being:

  1. Mounting an unresolved VMFS
  2. Why not force mount?
  3. Why might a VMFS resignature operation fail?
  4. How to correlate a VMFS and a FlashArray volume
  5. How to snapshot a VMFS on the FlashArray
  6. How to mount a VMFS FlashArray snapshot
  7. Restoring a single VM from a FlashArray snapshot

Continue reading “VMFS Snapshots and the FlashArray Part I: Mounting an unresolved VMFS”

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FlashArray UNMAP Script with the Pure Storage PowerShell SDK and PowerActions

I have officially decided to “retire” my UNMAP script that uses direct REST calls to find before and after capacity changes for given volumes. I am only updating the one that uses the Pure Storage PowerShell SDK from this point on–using this is much more robust, not tied to direct API versions and greatly simplifies managing the data in the script.clip_image006

I have also created a second version for use in the VMware Fling called PowerActions. This allows the script to be executed from the vSphere Web Client.

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Updated FlashArray Management Pack for VMware vRealize Operations

Quick post here. An updated version of the Pure Storage FlashArray Management Pack for VMware vRealize Operations (vROPs) has been posted to the VMware Solutions Exchange. No new features, but a variety of internal improvements and bug fixes. Please download the latest version here:

https://solutionexchange.vmware.com/store/products/pure-storage-management-pack-for-vmware-vrealize-operations

I recommend updating your pak to this version.

Notable issues fixed in build 1.0.126 (v1.0.1):

  • Use correct metric for top 25 volumes by read bandwidth widget.
  • Fix caching to allow relationships to be refreshed when “filter by vsphere” option is disabled.
  • Get datastores that are part of a datastore cluster in vCenter.
  • Minor UI string changes.

For a functional review, please check out this post here:

https://www.codyhosterman.com/2015/06/the-pure-storage-flasharray-vrops-adapter-v1/

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Commvault IntelliSnap technology with VMware and the FlashArray

This is a post that is somewhat a long time coming as I did the work for this jeez basically in August 2015, but never got around to actually writing a blog post. Shame on me. Anyways, here it is!

Let us start with the requirements:

  • FlashArray 400 series or FlashArray//m
  • Purity v4.1.1 (or higher)
  • REST API: v1.4 (found in Purity v4.x and higher)
  • Fibre Channel or iSCSI Protocol
  • Commvault software version 10 service pack 12 or later with Commvault IntelliSnap software license

Some documentation links:

Pure Storage Community Commvault Page

FlashArray VMware & Commvault White Paper

Commvault VMware Setup

YouTube Demo Playlist

Continue reading “Commvault IntelliSnap technology with VMware and the FlashArray”