Month: July 2009

Basic configuration on a fiber switch (Zoning)

This document shows how to perform a very basic configuration on a fiber switch, based on how to configure zoning and access permissions between HBAs (Host Bus Adapter) of servers and HBAs in a storage array. This example is based on a configuration executed for a VMware ESX environment, we will have four servers with two HBAs each against a booth that also has two cards. All this will be joined by two switches, each HBA from each server to a switch (logically).

Uninstalling and installing Citrix clients automatically

Well, for those who need to uninstall a Citrix client from one or all computers on the network, be it a current customer or an old one to replace it with a new one if possible personalized (We can be guided by this: HTTP://www.bujarra.com/?p=676), there is a utility from a friend of mine called UNICA de Gourami that is totally free and runs by command line. With this program we will be able to uninstall any version of the Citrix client from the version 4.0 to the current one 11.0 o XenApp Plugin. Apart from putting parameters to the command we can put the file to install after a successful uninstallation, another parameter to put a message while performing the process and another to generate a LOG file with the information of what happens.

How to Upgrade VMware vCenter 2.5 to VMware vCenter 4.0

If we want to have the new VMware virtualization technology, vSphere, with the new version of VMware ESX hosts, we will need to update our VMware vCenter Server virtual infrastructure management server. And this will have to be updated before updating our ESX host to the latest version. This procedure shows the steps to upgrade a VMware VirtualCenter server from the release 2.5 to the 4.0.

Setting up an HP Lefthand array

In this document you will see certain generic configurations that allow these HP SAN arrays called HP Lefthand, this case is carried out by means of virtual arrays under a VMware environment, as they allow you to work perfectly in a much more flexible laboratory environment. HP has several models of physical Lefthand arrays, all with the same system, but with different capacities, Disc Models, Ethernet Mouths… would be the HP LeftHand P4500 and HP LeftHand P4300 series. But also for production environments there is the HP LeftHand P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance or VSA. In this document we will see the main characteristics of the cabins, such as storage clustering (gives greater performance and capacity), Network RAID (Increased data availability), Thin provisioning (Reduces costs and improves disk capacity utilization), iSCSI (Ethernet network technology) Snapshots and Replication using Remote Copy (for local replication […]

Virtualize an HP Lefthand Array

This is a simple thing, but I document it because not whoever manages storage systems has to know how VMware works, so it feels 😉 like having a storage cabin, a virtualized SAN can serve two purposes, one testing laboratory or a second case, for production. I am not very supportive of this last option, It's a personal thing, HP advises it, for certain small environment scenarios it could be right, couldn't?. But, well, it is always interesting to be able to operate a cabin freely or more visually in a virtual environment such as VMware's. HP Lefthand physical arrays follow the nomenclature of 'HP LeftHand P4000 SAN’ have several models, The P4300, P4500… but in virtual environment the nomenclature changes to HP Lefthand VSA or HP LeftHand P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance.

Deploying ESX servers in bulk

If we are facing an installation of many ESX servers and we have to make a new installation on the servers we have, We can or do it by hand one by one, inserting the CD and completing the wizard or, use a virtual appliance that will allow us to deploy new ESX servers per network, all of them already configured with the options that interest us. This will save us a lot of time, is a virtual appliance called EDA or ESX deployment Appliance available on the VMware Virtual Appliance Web.