networkvirt

Revision notes from VMware Network Virtualization Fundamentals Course

Networking, VMware, , , , , , , ,

VMware released a free course around Network Virtualization Fundamentals, which maps to the first steps on the ladder for all things NSX. It is also recommended by VMware to take the course before taking on the VCA-NV.

I urge anyone looking into NSX to take this course, you can’t argue with the price after all!!! Secondly, although there are many NSX posts online name, Brad Hedlund has some of the best posts in my opinion.

Check the NSX-Link-O-Rama aswell.

And finally, the NSX Compendium over at Network Inferno

Below are my notes I took whilst going through the course.

The Basics
Virtual switch
  • Ports organised into port groups
  • Uplinks connect virtual switch to physical network
  • Connections to support virtual infrastructure

Virtual standard switches – configuration per host, therefore needs to be replicated exactly to all hosts

  • Port groups
  • VMkernel Ports
  • Uplink Ports
  • Policies at virtual switch level can be over-ridden  at port group level
  • VLAN’s set at port group level and VMKernal Port level only
  • No support for things like STP, as virtual switches cannot be connected to one another, nor do they learn MAC addresses.

vsphere-network-standard-switch

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veeam 2014 logo color tag

Veeam Hidden Feature – Backup Validator

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So the other day I was using the Veeam Backup Extractor Tool, located in the installation folder, when I noticed another .exe file that I hadn’t paid attention to previously.

  • Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe

This a CLI based tool, and does exactly as the name suggests, validates backups.

You can access it by running command prompt;

  •  CD “C:\Program Files\Veeam\Backup and Replication\Backup”
  • Veeam.Backup.Validator.exe and your arguments(to see the full options, see at the bottom)

This is a handy little tool for validating the backup files, and can probably be scripted as well. However unlike the SureBackup feature, it will not guarantee that once the files have been restored, the Virtual Machine’s operating system is intact and in a working condition.

An example of its use

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read

Blog posts I’ve been reading and sharing recently

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Since before the Christmas break, I’ve not had a great deal to write about, in terms of break fix, as I’ve been busy studying to pass my CCNP exams, and now I’m under way with taking on further exams.

At the same time, I’ve also found some of my posts appearing on a daily round-up of blog posts on Michael White’s site notesfrommwhite.net. So I’ve decided to do something similar, sharing links to some of the content I’ve found interesting and content I’ve been sharing at work recently.

This won’t be a regular thing they’ll I’ll be doing, but more ad-hoc, as I find that the tabs on my laptop and phone fill up quickly with a plethora blog posts which peak my interest, usually found on twitter, so this is what I’ll be sharing.

The Posts and Sites

First off, you need to check out Michael White’s website, found some great stuff through his newletters;

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visio networks

How to produce good documentation – Part 4 – Diagraming a network

General, Networking, , , , ,

So in my last post, I looked at how to record the logical information about your IP addresses and switchport locations, making it easier for troubleshooting in the future.

Now lets tackle the big one, how to produce good documentation when diagraming your network.

For this, I am going to use a real world example of a network I audited, and then made a visio diagram. Personally, I don’t believe this is one of the best visio diagram’s I have produced, however it includes a lot of various parts which I think are useful.

So below, you find the original hand drawn diagram as I was tracing cables and devices, and then the final product.

Note: Unfortunately I do not have the Visio file available for distribution used in this post.

The diagram

original diagramNetwork Diagram

Starting off

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