On my windows notebook I run VMware Workstation, and on the VM in VMware Workstation I run VMware ESXi 5 with a few VM images on there. (VM Nesting) (It is still amazing to see this working smoothly!)

Here is an easy step by step guide, how you can update this ESXi 5 host to the latest version…

1: Start your VMware Hypervisor EXSi 5 like you normal do, and connect to this host with your vSphere Client.

2: Switch the host to maintenance mode.

3: Install the needed patches (they can be found here: http://www.vmware.com/patchmgr/download.portal ) on one of you datastore’s in a folder called patch (in my case the Datastore is called Backup

4: goto the Configuration tab of your host, select Security Profile (under Software in the left) and select the Services Properties in the upper right of your screen.

5: Select ESXi Shell and SSH and start these Services with the Start Service command button under Options…
make sure (just as on the screen both services are running(!)

6: Start PuTTY (you can find it here: http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html)

and login as the root to this host…

now run the command:

esxcli software vib update –depot /vmfs/volumes/[Datastorename]/[patchfilename].zip

7: be patient(!) this can take some minutes(!) and repeat this for all the patch zip files (make sure you do this in the released order…

8 close puTTY, delete the patch directory from the datastore,  reboot the host. When the host is back, exit the maintenance mode and you are done!

your host is running the latest patches

Veeam is introducing a state of the art management software supporting a heterogeneous datacenter consisting of VMware and Hyper-V from a single application.

Veeam ONE gives an answer to the different pillars of Virtualization Management such as:

• Incident Management (real-time monitoring, alarm management and an extensive knowledgebase)
• Resource Management (trending, optimization, documentation, etc.)
• Change Management (who did what when)

The installation of Veeam ONE is so easy that it is unnecessary to include screenshots of the installation. One thing that impressed me is the ability to install all the requirements with ONE single click. That’s how installers should work!

The configuration of Veeam ONE is a no-brainer. Specify the correct virtual server type and Veeam handles everything for you.

Veeam ONE is one of the most intuitive virtualization management solutions currently on the market. After the installation it will take you less than 5 minutes to get used to the interface.

The different components of Veeam ONE are:

• Veeam ONE Business View
  The outcome of a management solution is not always for every person the same. For example an application owner wants to know how his application performs and track changes on the different application components. A C-level person on the other hand is interested in SLAs, budgets and resource optimization.
  Business View enables these different expectations and can dynamically categorize and group VMware and Hyper-V components.
  

• Veeam ONE Monitoring
  This is THE component that virtualization administrators will love! In short Veeam ONE monitor shows YOU what YOU want to see!
  
  In case you want to perform deeper analysis of a particular object you can easily click on the “view report” button which will redirect you to the Reporting engine of Veeam ONE.
  
  
• Veeam ONE Reporting
  Talking about reporting. The below are just a handful examples of out-of-the box dashboards and reports. These dashboards can be easily published to for example Microsoft SharePoint.
  
  
  
  For some environment specific needs it is very easy to create your own custom reports. Veeam ONE adapts to your IT needs and IT processes! For example a licensing report which I’m sure your licensing department will love.
  

Full details and a trial version of Veeam ONE can be found on veeam.com

There is also a free edition of Veeam ONE to get yourself familiar with the capabilities Veeam ONE provides. The software can be downloaded here.

Enjoy managing your VMware and Hyper-V environment with Veeam ONE!

here are the (very easy) 20 steps:

1: Insert USB Stick in the computer (the stick needs to be 2 GB or bigger)

2: start VMware workstation 8 and create a new virtual machine (CTRL + N) (Note: the Host needs to be a x64 OS!)

keep the default and press Next >

3: again keep the default and press Next >

4: Select the VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.0.0.update01-623860.x86_64.iso (or later file you have downloaded from the www.vmware.com website (evaluation is fine)) iso file under installer disc image file (iso)

and press Next >

5: Name the VM and select a location where to store it

and press Next >

Select the processors and cores (preferably more than one

and press Next >

6: default mem is OK for creating a USB stick

and press Next >

7: Use bridged networking is OK

and press Next>

8: SCSI default is fine

and press Next >

9: Default disk is OK

and press Next >

10: Disk Type default is fine
 

and press Next >

11: 3 GB and Store virtual disk as a single file is OK

and press Next >

12: default name is OK

and press Next >

13: This last wizzard page is OK

14: select Customize Hardware…
remove the floppy disk Device as shown here in the Hardware Tab

15: and select Virtualize Intel VY-x/EPT or AMD/RVI

16: start this VM and make sure you switch on the USB drive to VMware Workstation 8!

17: Let the install run (this can take a while)

press ENTER here to Continue and

F11 here…

18: now on this next screen select your USB stick as target to install VMware ESXi

19: Select your keyboard settings and press ENTER

20: type in your root password for this ESXi Host and press ENTER

grab a vBeer and your press F11 to install and lay back for the install

Some very cool engineering insides are in this document!

Source: VMware Labs

Just to let you know Veeam has updated the nworksDEMO simulator, It now works with the latest5.7 MP.
(You can find the What’s New info here)

This allows you to demo the nWorks VMWare management pack in Microsoft System Center Operations Manager without having to create a VMWare vSphere environment

It is publically available here http://go.veeam.com/nworksdemo . User Guide is included in the download package.

nworksDEMO is a great tool for partners, labs and training and demo’s on your (Mobile) lab.

It’s already in use in Microsoft MTCs, in the Microsoft internal SCDEMO environment, and is part of Microsoft Cloud Readiness Training for System Center 2012. 

The key feature of nworksDEMO is that it runs nworks MP without any VMware required – all monitoring data is simulated. Therefore it will run entirely offline.

Please note. nworksDEMO does not show all the features of nworks (for example, no nworks UI) – so it is NOT a substitute for a real demo, evaluation deployment, or Prove of Concept. If there are real VMware systems to monitor – then always push the full nworks MP.

But if you want an offline-capable, easy-install, repeatable demo– then nworksDEMO is the answer.

source: Veeam

Scott Lillis (Veeam) and Anton Gostev (Veeam) created both two very easy documents for the ports and connections for Veeam Backup & Replication v6!

here they are:

One super interesting location to find (free) Microsoft Computer Based Trainings is on the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) website, where you can sign up and follow many courses.

Microsoft Virtual Academy

Improve your IT skill set and help advance your career with a free, easy to access training portal. Learn at your own pace, focusing on Microsoft technologies, gain points and get recognition.

As today (Jan 6th 2012) there are tracks on the following subjects (16 in total):

• Introduction To SQL Azure
  Microsoft® SQL Azure™ Database is a relational cloud database service (RDBMS) built on SQL Server® technologies. It is a highly available, scalable, multi-tenant database service hosted by Microsoft in the cloud. SQL Azure Database helps to ease provisioning and deployment of multiple databases. Developers do not have to install, setup, patch or manage any software, as all that is taken care of by Microsoft with this platform as a service (PAAS). High availability and fault tolerance is built-in and no physical administration is required.
  Customers can use existing knowledge in T-SQL development and a familiar relational data model for symmetry with existing on-premises databases. Additionally, customers can get productive on SQL Azure quickly by using the same development and management tools they use for on-premises databases services.
• Windows Azure Security Overview
  Learn the essentials of Windows Azure Security by covering the security protection included at every layer. We cover the security mechanisms included with Windows Azure at the physical, network, host, application, and data layers. Furthermore, get a basic understanding of some of the identity options you have to authenticate to Windows Azure.

  Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – VDI
  Centralizing desktops and client computers is an increasing important consideration for all IT departments as they begin to evaluate Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). Using VDI to consolidate maintenance activities reduces the time which end-users must spend on OS and application deployment, configuration, patching and compliance, while decreasing hardware costs through virtualized resource pooling and sharing. The VDI course provides a deep-dive into VDI planning and solutions as the final section in the three track program covering Microsoft Virtualization. Learn about when to use VDI, planning considerations, desktop models, Windows 7 integration, application delivery, user state virtualization and comparisons to other technologies. Explore how Microsoft’s v-Alliance partnership with Citrix strengthens and broadens the VDI offerings. Upon completing this course you will be able to understand, plan and deploy the appropriate VDI solution for your business.

• Enhancing Your Business and Career with the Private Cloud
  This track focuses on how the private cloud can help your business and your IT Pro career. You will learn about cloud business drivers and business processes. And you will be exposed to cloud computing at the business level and how to extend that knowledge to the technical level. Lastly you will learn how to extend your private cloud to the outside world and how the resulting hybrid cloud will benefit both your organization and the IT Pro.
• Overview and Infrastructure Changes in SCCM 2012
  This course provides an overview of the new System Center Configuration Manager 2012 (SCCM) product.
  After completing this course you will understand the features that enable SCCM to:-
• Easily distribute applications to users, regardless of device or form factor.
• Perform software updates.
• Device management improvements.

  The course will also cover how SCCM makes it easier to service the rapidly growing number of connected devices in your organization, such as smartphones, tablets, and virtual machines, through centralized global configuration management.

  Course modules will also show you the changes that help simplify the configuration and management of the infrastructure, how to use SCCM to gain insight to and control IT systems through easier maintenance, improved security and simplified configuration, as well as a number of other new features and updates to self-service application delivery, integrated settings management, antivirus management, UNIX and Linux support, compliance improvements, security updates, the new GUI, and much more!

• Understanding Microsoft’s High-Availability Solutions
  This course covers the best ways to provide continual availability to all applications, services, servers and VMs in your datacenter. The modules will cover all the planning, deployment and management considerations for bringing high-availability to every components of your datacenter or Private Cloud.
  By the end of this course you will have an understanding of the basics of each of Microsoft’s HA solutions and when each of them should be used. You will understand all the different methods you can use to keep your services up and running.
  Technologies that will be covered in this course include:-
• Hyper-V,
• Failover Clustering,
• Network Load Balancing,
• SQL Server,
• Exchange Server,
• IIS, DFS-R, DNS
• And every System Center product (including SC 2012) with a focus on Virtual Machine Manager (VMM)
• Office 365 for the IT Pro – Platform
  Just exploring the features of Office 365? Wondering if it’s right for your business? Trying to determine what’s involved in migrating to Office 365? This track provides you an overview of the components that comprise Office 365, including the different licenses available and what’s included with each. From that overview, the next modules go in to greater detail on Office Pro Plus – the version of the Office suite unique to Office 365 – and how to deploy/activate it. Additional modules go in to detail on what kinds of administration you can perform with PowerShell, and an overview of the sign-on options available with Office 365, including directory synchronization with your existing Active Directory, and implementing Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) for single sign on between on premises and Office 365 cloud services.
• Microsoft Private Cloud Infrastructure
  This course focuses on how using technologies and tools from Microsoft can help your business build, deploy, and maintain a private cloud. You will learn about the core Windows Server products, and how to use them to build and support the virtualized and physical resources that are part of your private cloud infrastructure. You will be exposed to common cloud computing configuration and management practices, as well as technical details to help you be successful in building a private cloud for your business. Lastly, you will learn how using tools and technologies from Microsoft as part of your private cloud will benefit both your organization and you as the IT professional.
• Building Business Apps with Visual Studio Lightswitch
  Do you think building business applications requires hours of effort and big development teams? This course introduces Microsoft Visual Studio LightSwitch, the simplified, self-service development tool that enables you to build those business applications you need, quickly and easily for the desktop and cloud. These 5 modules will step you through Visual Studio LightSwitch and have you creating a business application by the end of module 2. After completing all 5 modules, you will have seen how to create an application, connect to and use data, make your application interface more friendly and also see how to extend Visual Studio LightSwitch.
• Office 365 for the IT Pro – Exchange Online
  Wondering how Exchange Online differs from Exchange on premises, and what it takes to migrate or coexist between the two?
  This track covers Exchange Online for IT pros.
  In addition to an overview of Exchange Online, additional modules in this track cover Administration, Migration, Hybrid environments, and Compliance and Archiving options in Exchange Online.
• Office 365 for the IT Pro – Lync Online, SharePoint Online & Deployment
  This track covers some of the collaborative aspects of Office 365, including Lync and SharePoint online, as well as best practices for an Office 365 migration/deployment.
  The modules include Lync Online Overview and configuration, SharePoint Online Overview, Administration, and Extensibility/Customization, as well as the deployment overview/best practices.
• Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – The Platform
  Virtualization has become a key component of any modern datacenter, offering such advantages as easier deployment, resource pooling, server consolidation, application compatibility, high-availability, reduced costs and centralized management. The Platform course offers a deep-dive into the important technologies that contribute to the core virtualization infrastructure, and is the first track in the three track program covering Microsoft Virtualization. Learn about Microsoft’s virtualization offerings and strategy, datacenter planning, Hyper-V architecture, VM management, virtualized networking and storage, numerous other Hyper-V features, as well as advanced management with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2. Understand high-availability and disaster recovery considerations to keep your VMs up and running using Windows Server Failover Clustering. Explore how Hyper-V is both different and similar to VMware virtualization through technical and terminology comparisons. By the end of this track you will have the tools you need to plan, design and deploy your virtualized datacenter or Private Cloud infrastructure.
• Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals – Management
  Management has become a critical piece of maintaining a virtualized datacenter or Private Cloud by providing increased scale, faster deployments and integrated automation to reduce the total cost of IT ownership. The Management course provides an overview of Microsoft comprehensive management suite, System Center, and is the second course in the three course series covering Microsoft Virtualization. Learn about the System Center products at a high-level, or dive into any of the technologies which include: Operations Manager for monitoring servers and services; Configuration Manager for deploying software and maintaining compliance on all types of devices; Service Manager for automating IT processes; Data Protection Manager for backing up and restoring servers and VMs; Opalis for integrated and customized workflow processes; and Virtual Machine Manager 2012 for advanced VM deployment and management. Additional modules will cover the PowerShell scripting utility, the VMM Self-Service Portal 2.0 and Private Cloud concepts. After completing this track you will understand how to centrally manage and automate a datacenter of any size.
• Planning, Building and Managing a Private Cloud
  This track will cover the full cycle from understanding, planning and managing Microsoft private cloud offerings. It will start by introducing Microsoft’s vision for private cloud computing and give details on how to plan a successful private cloud project, i.e. from a business & capacity planning perspective and how to work with Microsoft’s Assessment & Planning toolkit. The last part of this track will focus on implementation using a hands-on view at how Microsoft System Center Management tools help manage a private cloud, plus an in depth discussion on how to implement these tools. We will also demo System Center VMM, Opalis and Avicode.
• Introduction To Windows Azure
  Cloud computing is here. Running applications on machines in an Internet-accessible data center can bring plenty of advantages. Yet wherever they run, applications are built on some kind of platform. For on-premises applications, this platform usually includes an operating system, some way to store data, and perhaps more. Applications running in the cloud need a similar foundation. The goal of Microsoft’s Windows Azure is to provide this. This track is dedicated to provide the foundational knowledge an IT Professional needs to be successful with the Windows Azure.
• System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012
  This course focuses on how using System Center Virtual Machine Manger 2012 can help your business build, deploy, and maintain a private cloud. After completing these three modules you will have learnt about the Virtual Machine Manger 2012 product, and the features it utilizes to build and support the virtualized and physical resources that are part of your private cloud infrastructure. The course will also expose you to cloud computing at the business level, from the perspective of Virtual Machine Manger 2012, and show how to extend that knowledge to the technical level. The last module will show you how to manage applications within your private cloud using Virtual Machine Manger 2012 to deploy, update, and manage them. At the end, we will have illustrated how using Virtual Machine Manger 2012 as part of your private cloud infrastructure will benefit both your organization and the IT Pro.

source: Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) website.

Here is a simple guide how to setup Veeam Backup & Replication and the NETGEAR ReadyNAS (2100, 3100, 3200, 4200 and PRO-desktop series) as backend storage (Veeam Repository) for VMware.

There are two ways to setup the NETGEAR ReadyNAS as a backup target device (Veeam Repository)

1. the first one is by using CIFS where Veeam Backup & Replication v6 would write to a network mapped path (UNC)
2. Or (the Veeam recommended way) you can provision on the NETGEAR ReadyNAS one or more iSCSI target/LUN for Veeam backup data. The Microsoft Windows iSCSI initiator can be used on the Windows OS where you want the Veeam Repository installed on, to directly connect to the NETGEAR ReadyNAS.

note: it is very hard to show performance specs, but iSCSI is also preferred over CIFS/UNC connections because iSCSI will perform normally faster than CIFS/UNC.

For both (CIFS/UNC or iSCSI) ways start by setting up the NETGEAR ReadyNAS with the RAIDar utility.

Here I configured initially just a few things: (check the NETGEAR installation guide) change the NETGEAR ReadyNAS from leasing a IP address from a DHCP Server to a static IP address.
note: personally I prefer a DHCP Server option called IP/MAC Binding this make sure that pre-defined IP clients (based on their MAC address) always get the same pre-defined IP address.
what ever way you choose, make sure the IP address for this NETGEAR ReadyNAS is always the same  

And also check if the firmware on the NETGEAR ReadyNAS is the latest (also for the RAIDar utility) and change the default password (username: admin password: netgear1) 

for this post I’m not going to over the username and share creation piece, (check the NETGEAR installation guide for this) I will use the NETGEAR ReadyNAS default admin credentials (the one to log in on the NAS) and I will use the default share “Backup” for CIFS connection.

1. First in Veeam Backup & Replication v6 create a new repository, by selecting the repository tab on the right, and Right Mouse Click in the repository screen and select Add Backup Repository…

2. now create a name for the Repository…

3. and select next.

4. select Shared folder

and select next.

5. now select (in this case the backup share) the NETGEAR readyNAS (by IP or DNS name)

and select next.

6. Set the Repository setting… (in my case default)

and select next

7. Set the vPower settings (in my case default again)

and select next

8. Accept the review

by clicking on Next…

9. The log on the next wizard screen should be all green…

and Select Finish and you are done!

your new CIFS repository is now there

10. Right Mouse Click on this created Backup Repository…

and select Rescan repository.

11. The process should finish successfully like the window below.

if you get a warning window “Backup repository is not accessible.” (like below)

Delete this failed repository and restart from step 1. but double check in step 5. if your DNS settings are working correct! A very easy fix is to use the IP address of the NETGEAR ReadyNAS (like below) and not the DNS name…

Now all you need to do is create a backup job,
and make sure you select your just created Backup repository (like shown below)
and your backup target is the ReadyNAS!

1. first connect your internetbrouwser to your NETGEAR ReadyNAS device (like https://192.168.102.47/admin/)
   Create an iSCSI target by going under Volumes –> Volume Settings (on the left) and select the iSCSI tab (as shown on the picture below)

2. secondly enable the checkbutton “Enable iSCSI support” as shown below and click Apply

3. Back in this window you are now able to create an iSCSI Target, by clicking on this button (like below)

4. Fill in the information and select “Create” (like below)

5. Accept the “are you sure notice” if you dare (like below)

6. and accept this “process might take a while…” notice below… (like below) if you like

7.the creation process has started (see below)

and…

we are good to go! (excellent info on these steps are also available on the NETGEAR ReadyNAS website here)

7. Now in this case I have a small environment, so I will have the repository service running on the same machine as my backup server VM…

Lets mount this iSCSI target (that we have created in the earlier steps) as a drive letter on this windows backup server VM (In my case this VM is running on Windows Server 2008 R2)

The Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator enables connection of a Windows host to an external iSCSI storage array using Ethernet NICs. This download can be installed on Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. For Vista and Windows Server 2008, the iSCSI initiator is included inbox. The Microsoft iSCSI software initiator makes it possible for businesses to take advantage of existing network infrastructure to enable block-based Storage Area Networks without having to invest in additional hardware.

If you are running an older OS on this server, you might have to install the Microsoft iSCSI initator which can be found here

Select the iSCSI Initator (in the Administrative Tools tab in start menu) (as shown below)

8. Fill in your DNS or IP of your above configured NETGEAR ReadyNAS iSCSI target and click on Quick Connect… (like below)

Your status Quick Connect status should be Connected and your iSCSI target(s) should be discovered with a Succeeded Login. (like the picture below) and you can select Done

9. run from the command prompt diskmgmt.msc , bring the volume online (Right Mouse Click on the info before the volume, and select Online) (see picture below)

10. Right Mouse Click on the volume and create the disk volume (in my case a Simple Volume)

11. Run trough the windows “Volume format” wizard to format the disk and give the volume a driveletter (in my case V: )

(excellent info on this is also available on the NETGEAR ReadyNAS website here)

12. Now setup Veeam Backup & Replication v6 by creating a new repository, Selecting the repository tab on the right, and Right Mouse Click in the repository screen and select Add Backup Repository… (see below)

13. now create a name for the Repository… (see below)

14. and select next. Select Microsoft Windows server

and select next.

15. now select populate and

select the iSCSI driveletter you have created in step 11.

and select next

16. Set the Repository setting… (in my case default)

and select next

17. Set the vPower settings (in my case default again)

19. Accept the review

by clicking on Next…

20. The log on the next wizard screen should be all green…

and Select Finish and you are done!

your new iSCSI repository is now there

Right Mouse Click on this created Backup Repository…

and select Rescan repository.

21. The process should finish successfully like the window below.

Now all you need to do is create a backup job,
and make sure you select your just created Backup repository (like shown below)
and your backup target is the iSCSI ReadyNAS!

that’s it!

VMware vCD VA keystore password is ‘passwd’ and not ‘password’ and the path is /opt/keystore/certificates.ks

Happy 2012 everybody!

We will show our new MP5.7 System Center Operations Manager for VMware there in details, and how you can manage your VMware enviorment with
Microsoft System Center

more info can be found here: