Firewall requirements for EMC VSI 6.1 for vSphere Web Client

As you might have read on my blog a few days ago, EMC released an updated version of the Virtual Storage Integrator tool for vSphere Web Client that supports direct provisioning and some management of VNX and VMAX storage. The previous version supported ViPR-only provisioning. If you didn’t see that post you can check it out here. Inevitably when a product involves cross-application and importantly cross-server integration many customers ask the question about what are the firewall requirements to get this thing to work? Let’s take a look.

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Virtual Storage Integrator for vSphere Web Client

Today the long-awaited update to Virtual Storage Integrator for the vSphere Web Client as been released! Six months or so ago EMC released the first iteration of the VSI Web Client (version 6.0) that supported provisioning of storage but only for environments enabled with ViPR. The latest release (version 6.1) now adds support for direct provisioning of storage from a VMAX or VNX array.

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The EMC Enterprise Private Cloud 2.0

Increasingly, organizations, small and large, are attempting to or at least considering to implement some type of cloud-based architecture into their IT infrastructure. The benefits of tight integration, intelligent abstraction of resources, seamless automation and orchestration are becoming quite apparent. These benefits and the desire to obtain them are causing customers and partners to look at vendors such as EMC for such a solution. Importantly, a solution that doesn’t require re-invention of the wheel or painstaking initial setup.

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Symmetrix VMAX and Splunk introduction

My colleague Jonas Rosland (@virtualswede) has been doing some great work with Splunk recently (check out a post from his blog here) and it got me to want to get my own hands a little dirty. So far I’ve only scratched the surface on what can be done with Splunk but I decided to put a post together on some basics. For this post I am going to talk about Symmetrix VMAX logs and how to get those into Splunk.

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The VMAX Content Pack v1.5 for VMware vCenter Log Insight v1.5

It’s been a bit but I’m (Drew Tonnesen, [email protected]) back for another guest spot on Cody’s blog.   In August 2013 I wrote about the VMAX Content Pack for VMware’s newly released Log Insight product (v1.0).  At the time of release VMware was pushing hard for content packs and rode me pretty ragged for 2 weeks to produce one.  As a result much of the detail around items like widgets was minimal.  This was perfectly acceptable as VMware was also in the nascent stages of the product and content packs.  Now with VMware’s release of Log Insight 1.5, they have made some important changes, particularly to the content pack component, which has allowed me to expand our VMAX Content Pack.   As I’m only going to cover the new features of the content pack and how it relates to Log Insight v1.5, if you want the full Monty on Log Insight v1.5, VMware’s lead developer goes into detail here.  Another great resource for everything Log Insight is Steve Flander’s blog:  http://sflanders.net/ .  Steve does a great job explaining the new features and how to use them as well as answering any questions.

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EMC Storage Integrator 3.0.1: PowerShell cmdlets for FAST VP and Metas

I posted a few months back about the EMC Storage Integrator (ESI) when EMC put out the 3.0 version here:

https://www.codyhosterman.com/2013/07/29/scripting-esi-powershell-cmdlets-and-vmware/

On November 18th, the 3.0.1 version of ESI was released and I wanted to write a quick post about what’s new. Even though numbering-wise this is referred to as a minor release, it is a very important one for those using (or want to use) the VMAX-related PowerShell cmdlets that are provided with ESI.

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Migrating TimeFinder/VP Snap PiT copies to another VMAX

Recently I had a partner/customer who was migrating a lot of SAP data from one VMAX to another VMAX and they ran into an issue they weren’t sure how to solve, well at least what the best way to solve it was. This person had a ton of data on the VMAX and more than a few TimeFinder/VP Snap point-in-time copies of each SAP volume that they used for testing/recovery or backup.

For those of you unfamiliar with VP Snap it is a rather new (introduced with 5876) method of local replication on the VMAX that leverages the space-efficiency benefits of TimeFinder/Snap but also offers the flexibility of configuration provided by TimeFinder/Clone.

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Updated SRDF Storage Replication Adapter for VMware SRM 5.5 TechBook

Quick overview, the SRDF Storage Replication Adapter for VMware SRM TechBook is an in-depth implementation guide focused on how to install, configure and manager SRDF with VMware’s vCenter Site Recovery Manager product. Overview of SRDF, the involved tools and how to perform test recovery, migrations and disaster recovery failovers.

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My last hurrah with this TechBook! Since I have moved on to a new (and exciting!) role within the Open Innovation Lab in the EMC Office of the CTO it is time for me to pass on the torch of the SRM TechBook.

Anyways you can find the updated TechBook here:

https://support.emc.com/docu38641_Using-the-SRDF-Adapter-for-VMware-Site-Recovery-Manager-5.5.pdf?language=en_US

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Virtual Storage Integrator: Symmetrix SRA Utilities 5.6

Late last week I posted a summary blog on the latest SRDF Storage Replication Adapter for VMware Site Recovery Manager here:

https://www.codyhosterman.com/2013/10/25/updated-srdf-storage-replication-adapter-released-for-srm-5-5/

I detailed out the new features etc for the 5.5 release and briefly mentioned the latest release of the Virtual Storage Integrator Symmetrix SRA Utilities that helps users configure the SRDF SRA. On 10/25, we posted the latest release of the SRA Utilities, version 5.6.

Version 5.6 of the SRA Utilities have been enhanced in tandem with the SRDF SRA to support the new features that the SRA has to offer. Most of these enhancements relate to the masking control functionality that is newly supported by the SRA.

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