5.5, VMware

Converting a Physical Server to VMware Machine (P2V)

VMware vCenter Converter transforms your Windows- and Linux-based physical machines and third-party image formats to VMware virtual machines, So
Bayan Senur whom is the manager of Jaguar & Land Rover Contact Center have a recording server that almost crashing and there is no enough storage on server and she need that space so the best thing is to move it to Virtual environment were we can add space and back up the system without worrying any more

I have the EXE in my folder so lets get to it

Choose Next

Select agree to the terms

Choose the default folder to save the installation

I choose Local Installation

i checked the box to join the VMware which is optional

Now select Install to start the instalation

Select Finish to run the Converter
First step Select Convert Machine option

Now select the machine option
in my case my machine is powered on
then enter the detail of machine IP address (which is Jaguar Company Speechlog recording system ;D Sorry Bayan i had to test on something ) and username and password for the machine

The Agent will be deploy to the machine remotly

you can check if the Agent been deployed by going to Control Panel – Program and Feature

Now next step is select the Infrastructure that im using which is VMware infrastructure then Enter the IP Address of the vCenter with the admin login
Next step is to chose the Datacenter were you want the machine to be
then you choose the cluster and host that you will be installed on and the VM version

you can see there is an (X) error showing on the Data to Copy option and as you see the F: Drive have 368 G which bigger than our Host
Select Advanced
i made sure that i will not use the F drive in this process But in real life you need to have a bigger HD

and i made the C Drive as Thin

Also an optional i change the vCPU
In Advanced i made sure to remove any system restore point so it will not utilize more space

Press Finish

Converting process will start
and its completed

you can check the job process

Now Lets check our vCenter
Select Host and Cluster

and here under the Host that we choose earlier our Speechlog-PC Machine
i will use the credential to login
;D

Thanks to an easy Converting

5.5, VMware

Vmware Affinity

in the last blog “VMware DRS” i show you how to migrate machine automatically and this was the result, it moved my VM Machine “Windows 10-A” & “Windows 10-B” to the ESXi host “192.168.208.210”

but what if i do not want those two machines to be together and i want “Windows 10-A” & “Windows 10” to be together and “Windows 10-B” to be far away from “Windows 10-A” and not share the same host.
well there is one solution “Affinity and Anti-Affinity”
so if you go also to your Cluster – Related Objects -Virtual Machines

Okay lets adjust the component so we can see the host of each Machine
Add the Host Field

As you can see here
Windows 10 on host (192.168.208.209)
Windows 10-A on host (192.168.208.210)
Windows 10-B on host (192.168.208.210)
lets create first rule that will join Windows 10-A & Windows 10 Together
so lets go to Cluster – Manage – Settings – DRS Rules

Add a new Rule – Choose a Name
Select to Keep Virtual Machine Together
Now Add the Machine

I choose Machines:
Windows 10
&
Windows 10-A

Now Choose OK

as you can see if you highlight the rule it will show you the machine affected by that rules
Now if you go back to Cluster – Related Object – Virtual Machines
you can see that Machine Windows 10 Joined the other Machines and now become hosted by host 192.168.208.210
and you can see the Task Detail here
As i remembered we mention that we want “Windows 10-B” to be far away from “Windows 10-A”
so lets add another rule and this time we choose to (Separate Virtual Machines)

Lets choose Machines Windows 10-A & Windows 10-B
Now press OK

and if you highlight the Rule you will see the affected Machines
and if we go to the Task we will see that Machine Windows -A is moving from host 192.168.208.210 and since there is a rule to keep Windows10-A and Windows 10 together in that case also Machine Windows 10 will be moving to the other host

and Yup both machine now faaaaaar away from Windows 10-B
and both of Windows 10 & Windows 10-A hosted on 192.168.208.209

Okay now we finish with VM to VM Relationship
what if i want to Keep a specific VM tagged to a specific Host
Here we go to a new thing called : DRS Group

Add a DRS Group and choose a name
and choose a Type should be VM DRS Group

First Select the VM Machine and i selected Windows 10-B
Note: make sure you dont select the wrong VM cause it will cause an issue since you have another rule that separate Windows 10-A from Windows10-B

and its added

Now Add another DRS Group and choose a name and Type should be Host DRS Group
and select the Host needed

and then press OK

Now go back to the DRS Rule and add a rule
Type: Virtual Machine to a Host
and select the VM DRS Group and Host DRS Group that you created

and if you highlight the rule you will see the affected Machine
Now you can see VM Windows 10-B moved to 192.168.208.209
an since there is an older rule that separate windows 10-A from Windows 10-B so the VM windows 10-A moved to host 192.168.208.210
also there is a rule that Join VM Windows 10-A & Windwos 10 together then the VM Windows 10 moved to host 192.168.208.210
i know that a really confusing but i suggest you read it couple of time and test it your self to get the matter

and that is the beautiful result

and you can go to the Cluster – Monitor – vSphere DRS – History to see the procedure

5.5, VMware

VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler)

Hello Again
So in my earlier blog i manually migrate VM Machine from my first host to the second one, what if i want for my virtual machine to be moved automatically??? the Answer is:
DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler)

lets start by the configuration but first if you notice all my machine under Host [192.168.208.209] nothing under [10.1.1.32]or[192.168.208.210]
so before we start the earlier two blog is very important to be establish first for VMware DRS to work
VMotion
Shared Storage
Right Click my Datacenter – New Cluster
Give it a name and check the box DRS [Turn on] and you can choose the Automation Level and here i will show you the Fully Automated. most of the admin prefer the Partially automated as the VMware will give you suggestion and you could follow or not or Manual were an admin give suggestion
Second step is i will drag my hosts under the Cluster
and it will ask me what to do with the VM and i choose my first option and press Ok
and automatically it start moving the VM from under my host 192.168.208.209 to other Hosts

and the end result as you can see my 3 Virtual Machine moved under my biggest host [192.168.208.210]

and if you go to the cluster – vsphere DRS tab – History
you see the time and date those machines moves
(Wow i cant believe i wrote this blog in 2018 and never shared it, dont blame me i was chasing pal alto certificate)
and also you can see the CPU Utilization
and select the VM to see each Utilization

5.5, VMware

Migrate VMs with VMware vMotion

vMotion enables live migration of VM machines from one Host to another with no impact on the Daily operation But Let me tell you this
Before migrating a virtual machine with vMotion, ensure that your hosts and virtual machines have the same network card & share the storage believe me you don’t want your machine to come with different IP Address ;D

So Similar to how we did earlier when we add a Storage in the last blog we need to add a VMkernel specific for vMotion
in your Home Dashboard go to Host and Cluster
Select your Host – Manage – Networking – Virtual Switches – Add Host Networking

Choose VMkernel Network Adapter

Choose a New Standard Switch

Click on the + Sign to add a network card
Select the card you want to use
Press Next
Here we will Check the Box for vMotion Traffic
Give a static IP Address to the VMKernel
Press Finish
Now it’s created we are ready to move to the next step

Now as you can see my VM Machine (Windows 10) is located under my Host 192.168.208.210 and using my ISCSI Storage (ISCSI-A)

Right CLick on the Machine and Select Migrate

Now i have the option either to change the Host of the Machine or Change the Datastore or Both
since in my last blog i added an External storage then i will change Both
I choose to move it to the Host and the compatibility check sign is successful
(the red sign Most of the time memory size give a red sign you have to take care about it but this is just a lab)
Now choose the storage you want to move to
It’s better to choose the Recommended option
Select Finish
and you can see your Machine is Moving in the Recent Task

And Walla your Machine Moved under host 192.168.208.209
and if you go down you can see the storage information which show ISCSI-B

5.5, VMware

Clone your perfect Virtual Machine

Cloning

okay i know
Same face, Different Hair style and Different dress
its like i created a copy of my self
Guess what!!
VMware have the same Capabilities called (Cloning)
Cloning Feature allow you to create a copy of your perfect Virtual Machine instead of repetitively creating a VM from scratch over and over

So this is how you can do it
Select your Perfect VM Machine
Right Click and choose – Clone to Virtual Machine

Select a name to your new machine and choose a Datacenter
Select which Host you want to put your VM in
Select the Storage
I will not go in detail of Edit the Machine file but for a better practice you need to do it
Press Finish
you can Monitor the recent task while the machine is been created

and just like that your machine is created
Of course you need to change the IP Address to save your self from Conflict IP Address and PC Name cause we did this clone without operation system customize

5.5, VMware

How to Add ISCSI Storage to VMware ESXi

When i start my road to VMware in 2013 this is the subject that kill my head and i got the help from a friend of mine so the thanks here goes to Mohammed Hadi Bafaqeer
164

ISCSI Storage is one of the best solution for VMware Design cause you cant depend on the Storage of the server in case the server crashed all your data crashed and you cant retrieve it and also it can help you in enabling feature like Vmotion

so lets start configuring
in Home Page – choose “Hosts and Clusters”

Select the Host
Go to Manage tab – Networking – Virtual Switch
Choose to Add host networking
Select the VMKernel Network Adapter
I use the same vSwitch since I have only one network interface in my server that is up now.
I suggest to have a separate network vSwitch for Storage
Put name to it and leave the rest for default and no need to enable any Services
It better to select a static IP but since this is a lab i let it Automatically obtain an IP from DHCP
Finish

and you can see your vSwitch 0 when you highlight it it show the Storage

now Second Step
go to the host – Manage – Storage – Storage Adapter –
+ Software ISCSI Adapter
Press OK

Now highlights the ISCSI Storage Adapter
Select tab Target – AddPut the IP Address of you Storage
Mine is 192.168.200.100 press Ok
Now the Target is addedNow I will associate the VMKernel Adapter with it
Select Network Port Binding – +Select the Storage VMKernel Adapter that I configure in the beginning of the blog

It is Added and show status Not UsedClick In Rescan icon to refresh the page and

And it change from Not used to Last Active
Now Third Step is to add Datastore
Select Host – Related Objects tab – Datastores –
Choose to create a new datastore
Select the Location
Choose the Type
Choose a datastore name
and select the Version
ok here i only chooses to use 50 Gig of my 93 Gig
Then hit Finish
as you can see the storage been added under my ESXi host 192.168.208.210
and if i go to my second host 10.1.1.23 i will see the same shared Storage

Now i want to increase my Storage cause of the 50 Gig is not enough and i want to utilize my whole storage
in my Home Page go to Storage
100
Then go to select the storage i create
ISCSI-A – Manage – Settings – General – Increase 101
Select the Device 102
Use the free space 103
Increase to the size you wish 104
And simply it increase now hit finish 105
and as you can see it change from 50 Gig to 93 Gig 106 Now lets Create a Virtual Machine to be inside that storage

Choose to create a virtual Machine
Choose the Datacenter
Select the host
and now you choose the storage you create earlier
Choose the compatibility version
And select the Guest family
i am about to install Windows ;D
ALmost finish i will just select my ISO file
Windows 10 CD yessssssssss
Hit Next
and that it’s press Finish
Power on the Machine
open console to see the procedure

and proceed with he installation
And that it is
install the windows on our new storage

Note:

Selecting a wrong adapter type can result in low networking performance or inability of the guest operating system to properly detect the virtualized hardware.

Some of the network adapters that you might be available to choose for your VM include:

vlance: This adapter is also called PCNet32 and most 32-bit guest operating systems support it.
vmxnet: This adapter provides significantly better performance than vlance.
Flexible: This adapter can function as either a vlance or vmxnet adapter.
e1000: This high-performance adapter is available only for some guest operating systems.
vmxnet2 (enhanced): This adapter is a VMware vmxnet adapter with enhanced performance.
vmxnet3: This adapter builds on the enhanced vmxnet adapter.

Typically you would see only one vNIC per VM, but there is also a possibility to add more vNICs (up to 10) if you want to connect a VM to multiple vSwitches.

5.5, Active Directory, VMware

Integrate VMware vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) with Active Directory

Single Sign-On (SSO) is a part of vCenter Installation and important step in Authentication and Authorization
once you install vCenter you would have a “vSphere.local” Domain in your server, it would be better if you could integrate your existing Microsoft Active Directory (AD) environment with your organizational structure of groups and users.

So before we start with the configuration i will login with my Domain User and check that i can see anything (vCenter, Datacenter or Hosts)

And as you can see under my vCenter there is nothing of my Datacenter or Hosts

So to start as my luck i added my server to a domain already in my Earlier Blog
so to complete the steps here and add give permission to users
Go to Administrator – Single Sign-on – users and groups

so to give a permission for my self
From drop down i can change the “vsphere.local” to “mynaghi.com”

i put in the search my name so it will not list the whole organization

and if you go under Administration – Single Sign-on – Configuration – identity Sources
you see from were you get your configuration
for my case i already added my server to the domain
so to configure the user and give him access so in Home Page
vCenter – vCenter Servers – Then Select the VC-CCIEROOT.Mynaghi.com
then click on “Manage Tab” – Permission – +

Select the Assigned role as Administrator

I change the Domain to “Mynaghi” and in the Search bar i put my name and Click Add
Now I press OK
As you can see now it show under the permissions
Now let me login using my Domain Username & Password again

and as you can see i can see under the vCenter my vCenter Servers, My Data Center and My Hosts

5.5, VMware

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 (vCSA)

Helooooo
in my last Blog i show you how to install VMware vCenter on Windows Platform, well that is a history cause VMware decide to let go of it after vCenter 6.5 and complete with Linux. Yes linux virtual appliance running Linux and comes as an OVF and i download it to my Desk
So what i will show you is installation of vCenter Server Appliance 5.5

so let proceed with the installation

i login to my Host and
File – i choose to deploy OVF Template
Browse to the location of my OVF
Choose Next and it show detail of my OVF
Choose a Name to my Machine and press Next
Select the storage were i will install my machine to
I choose Thin Provision
Last press Finish
Wait till Machine been Deployed

And finally Successfully Deployed

As you can see my machine been Deployed on my Host so i Turn it on by press the power
Choose the VMware vCenter Server Appliance

And it finish and it show the link for my vCenter Server which giving to me by my DHCP Server
https://192.168.208.59:5480

go to my Firefox Browser and type the vCenter URL
https://192.168.208.59:5480

Choose Advanced and make an exception
Now login to my vCenter using The initial default user name and the default password
username: root
Password: vmware
First thing Accept the EULA
Choose to configure the default settings
And press start

It will take time but then press Close
And then you can see the Summary Page

Go to network Tab – Address
to change your configuration from DHCP to static
Type the required IP Address and Netmask
and Save your settings

Press Refresh
Go to vCenter Server Tab – Time tab
and Choose VMware Tools Synchronization and Save Settings
This gives you the option to synchronize the time of the guest OS with the ESXi host
Then go to Database Setting and choose embedded
Now to test the SSO Settings first we need to stop the Server
Go to vCenter Server Page – Summary
and press Stop front of the Server
34A
Now go to SSO Tab and set the password of the Administrator and press (Test Settings) and it may take little time and then it as you see it show Operation was Successful
Now when you press Save it will show this warning
its okay just press OK

And again the Operation was Successful

Now go back to Summary page and start the Server Again
now go to your Explorer and browse to the ip address of the vCSA
https://192.168.208.59:9443
and accept the warning
now login with the
username: Administrator@vsphere.local
Password: you choose in the SSO
And just like that it finally installed

5.5, VMware

VMware vCenter 5.5

The Management King
well i show you in the last blog how to Install VMware ESXi 5.5
Imagin if you have multiple ESXi machine its nonsense to go to each machine and manage it, well today i will introduce The VMware vCenter which will help you to manage all your ESXi hosts from a centeral place and also it will introduce you to so many feature later on.

you can download it from VMware page but When vSphere 5.5 was released, 19 September 2013, its end of support date was also published.

So first there is two Option for vCenter installation either a windows installation or Server Appliance, This is a Windows installation so first thing make sure your server is joined to the domain and next step is installing of .Net Framwork on my Windows server
Let begin i have the exe in my D Drive

i will start the installation and choose to accept the License Agreement

and the installation is complete

now i attach the CD to my PC and will proceed with the installation
I will choose the simple installation
which will install the main 4 item:
vCenter Single Sign-on
vSphere Web Client
vCenter Inventory Service
vCenter Server
Press Next
and then i will accept the license agreement
and here you find that the server already joined and DNS is resolved successfully
check the box and press Next

Choose a password for your user
the default user for vCenter is (Administrator@vsphere.local)
choose a name for your first site

Press Next

Choose where to save your installation file
here is your configuration so simply press Install

it may take so much time and it could hang so just when this error show just choose NO
Accept the SSL Sha1 fingerprint

since this is a lab and i dont have a license key i will just press Next
Since this is my lab and i dont have an Existing Database i will choose to install SQL

i will use my windows login
Check those ports and then press next
i choosed here small since its only a lab
Press Next
Press Yes

The SQL Server installation start and it may take time

Press Finish

and the installation of all 4 items is done
Now lets go to the Web
https://192.168.200.250:9443/vsphere-client/

Allow the Adobe flash to run
Now login to the web client using the Administrator username and Password
Username: administrator@vsphere.local
Password: *********

and here is our Getting started Page
click on Home Tab and you can see all your beautiful Option

you know what lets not stop here and proceed with adding our ESXi host.
So First Let Add a Datacenter and Name it Jamjoom since that is the branch im working on
so from the Home Page go to
vCenter – vCenter Servers

Now on the vCenter Server Right Click – New Datacenter
Name it Jamjoom

now if you see the Datacenters filed become 1

Now Click on the Data Center and it will lead me to the Datacenter Page were i can Right Click and Add new Host
Put the IP Address of your ESXi Host and press Next
Put the username and password of your ESXi
Accept the Security Alert for the SHA 1 thumbprint

And as you see it detect the server hardware and vendor and model

Now click next to accept the Evaluation Mode (dont look at the expire date i created this blog earlier as part of the series ;D)

Press Next

Choose the Datacenter location for this machine
Now press finish

and you can see the running task

and it added
Also i can login to the vCenter through the vSphere Client and see my Machine

choose to ignore

and as you see here that is your Datacenter (Jamjoom) that you created in the earlier step

also i will show you here to add a host through vSphere Client
put the IP Address of the Host ESXi and also in the same step you will put your login username and password then press Next
now accept the SHA1 thumbprint

and also it detect the Host vendor and Model and version
Oh that cool i have a license on that server
lets not tell my manager about it ;D
and i will not choose to Enable Lock down Mode so i press Next
Choose the Datacenter Location
and Finish

and that all it’s

And just like that we had two subject in one blog, installed the vCenter and add host it

5.5, VMware

Install VMware ESXi 5.5

The Subject that i should write about long time ago
well i have a long Road Map for this Tech and its a never ending journey:
• Install VMware ESXi 5.5
• VMware vCenter 5.5
• VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.5 (vCSA)
• Integrate VMware vCenter Single Sign-On (SSO) with Active Directory
• How to Add ISCSI Storage to VMware ESXi
• Clone your perfect Virtual Machine
• Migrate VMs with VMware vMotion
• VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler)
• Vmware Affinity
• Converting a Physical Server to VMware Machine (P2V)
• VMware Storage DRS
• VMware High Availability
• VMware 5.5 Configuring vCenter Server Linked Mode (Single Console Multiple vCenter)
• Upgrade VMware vCenter 5.5 to 6.0
• Upgrade ESXi 5.5 to 6.0 using Update Manager
• VMware 6.0 Configuring vCenter Server Enhanced Linked Mode
• VMware vMotion Cross vCenter 6.0
• VMware vSphere Auto Deploy
• Migrating vCenter Server 6.5 for Windows to vCenter Server Appliance 6.7
So i show in my earlier blog How to Debloy CUCM in ESXI Now i will show you how to install that VMWare ESXi from the scratch
so first you need to have a CD of the ESXi which can be downloaded from their web site
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?productId=352&downloadGroup=ESXI550

Then Burn that ESXi image to CD and inseart in the Machine and it will start loading

Then it will appear a welcome message Just Press (Enter) Continue
it will Ask you to Accept the End User License Agreement (EULA)
it will start to Scan the Devices in your system
Then Press (Enter) Continue to choose the Desk you need to install the ESXi on
Then Choose the Language and Press (Enter) Continue
it will prompt you for Password
type your password and confirm it
now Just press (F11) Install to start the installation

And it will start
Now your CD Room will eject and will ask you to Reboot the System so
Press (Enter) Reboot
The System will reboot and will come up Again

and finally your machine is up and you can see the http://0.0.0.0
so you need to configure your IP Address
Press (F2) to configure your Machine
it will ask you for the password that you earlier configured
now go to (Configure Management Network)
then go to IP Configuration
Select to Set Static IP Address
and fill the Filed
i Choose 192.168.208.209 as my ESXi IP Address
and press OK to confirm

now when you go back it will ask you to restart the Management Network
just press (Y) Yes

just to make sure an extra step try to test the reachability
go to Test management Network
fill the Address that you want to ping
im trying to ping 192.168.208.1 which is my Gateway
and Press (Enter)OK

and it ping went smoothly

now let me go to VMware vSphere Client and put the IP Address of my ESXi and the name and Password of my ESXi and press Login

Click Ignore for the Certificate

And here is my Lovely Machine