VMware HTML5 Client?

August 12, 2015
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General VMware
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I’ve caught wind of a real HTML5 web client being developed. Its currently very early into development and is released as technical preview fling. To be clear it’s not for vCenter, but we can only imagine the direction this would eventually go. This version of the ESXi Embedded Host Client is written purely in HTML and JavaScript, and is served directly from your ESXi host. So that means it’s specifically meant to run on the host, and controls only the host but it claims to “perform much better than any of the existing solutions”.

Mainly I am happy to hear that there is no Flash dependency in this version of the web client. Maybe the feedback from customer’s is actually being heard by VMware. Maybe we could see this continue to develop into replacing the vCenter version of the flash web client. We’ll have to wait and see, but for now we know that at least something is being worked on and that is better than nothing.

See full details on the ESXi Embedded Host Client on the VMware Labs website here:

NoFlashLogo

Changes to the Home Lab Directory

July 6, 2015
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tpsdave / Pixabay

Hello readers, I have made a few tweaks to the home lab directory and the submission form based on some feedback I have received.

Home Lab Directory:

Added Network column
Added Tier column (experience)
Added Updated column

There were also a few tweaks to the home lab submission form mainly to ensure the validity of submissions. New submissions are now OPEN!

Leap Second Adjustment on June 30th @ 23:59:60 UTC

June 10, 2015
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547435C351

This is an FYI. There has been some internet/email noise going around regarding the next leap second adjustment which is scheduled for June 30^th, 2015 at 23:59:60 UTC. It may cause issues on NTP synchronized devices and operating systems. Several vendors have released KB articles regarding leap second impact on their software.

A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to keep its time of day close to the mean solar time, or UT1. Without such a correction, time reckoned by Earth’s rotation drifts away from atomic time because of irregularities in the Earth’s rate of rotation. The last leap second happened on June 30, 2012. A number of organizations reported problems caused by flawed software following the June 30, 2012, leap second.

More information about Leap Second: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/doing_business/leap-second.html

VMware

Certain versions of VMware vCenter Server Appliance 5.0 and 5.1 are wknon to be impacted by leap second.
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2115818

Cisco Nexus 1000v

VSM module of Cisco Nexus 1000v is known to be impacted by leap second.
https://tools.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCus80369

Cisco Nexus 5000/5500

Cisco Nexus 5010, 5020 and 5500 switches running NX-OS 5.0, 5.1 or 5.2 are known to be impacted by leap second. Nexus 5010 and 5020 switches are commonly used as NetApp cluster interconnect switches and these devices are most likely to be running affected NX-OS version!
https://tools.cisco.com/quickview/bug/CSCub38654

EMC Avamar

Gen4 and Gen4S models of EMC Avamar are impacted by leap second. EMC has not released publicly available bulleting on the issue but fix will be provided to Avamar customers by EMC support by 30th of June.
Fix is described in Novell KB https://www.novell.com/support/kb/doc.php?id=7016150

EMC VPLEX

EMC VPLEX is impacted by leap second, fix is available and will be implemented by EMC support prior 30th of June.
https://community.emc.com/message/887102

NetApp DataONTAP

NetApp DataONTAP is not impacted by leap second.
https://kb.netapp.com/support/index?page=content&id=3011978&locale=en_US

Tintri VMstore

Tintri VMstore storage appliances are not impacted by leap second. There is no public bulletin regarding this issue but this has been confirmed with Tintri Support.

This is only a partial list. Please check with vendors to confirm if your system is affected.

If your system(s) could be affected by this it’s time to start planning ahead for June 30^th.

Visio Stencils For VMware, Hyper V, etc!

June 4, 2014
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There are a couple of great websites that have a large collection of Visio stencils. When you’re in need of something more than the basic set of stencils that is included with Visio then look no further!

Veeam provides a free collection of VMware and Hyper-V virtualization Visio stencils that can be used by ESX administrators, system integrators and datacenter managers to create their own diagrams in Microsoft Visio 2003, 2007, 2010 or 2013 as part of your Hyper-V or VMware deployment planning.

Download the Veeam VMware and Hyper-V stencils direct from Veeam here:

http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-stencils.html

There are also tons of vendor specific visio stencils on VisioCafe. VisioCafe is an independent non-profit web site for the gathering together of IT industry Visio collections:

http://www.visiocafe.com

Canada’s Anti-Spam Law – The Rundown

April 29, 2014
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This is targeted to my Canadian readers. Canada has come out with a new Anti-Spam law, dubbed “CASL“. It will affect you if you use email marketing to promote your business to customers and prospects in Canada.

Canada_AntiSpam-01

Effective July 1st 2014, when you send commercial email, instant messages, or other electronic marketing messages to residents in Canada, you’re going to have to make sure you are in compliance with the new regulations or face hefty fines. Here’s what you’ll need in order to comply with Canada’s anti-spam legislation:

Consent from the recipient, either expressed or implied.
Clear identification on the message (your business name and contact information).
An unsubscribe mechanism – basically, a way for the recipient to inform you to stop sending them messages in the future.

What’s the point of enacting these three rules?

According to the Government of Canada’s web page for the Anti-Spam Legislation, it’s all about improving online protection for Canadians while “ensuring that businesses can compete in a global marketplace.”

The goal behind the new law is to stop unwanted emails and text messages. Even if the promotional messages you send to customers don’t look like total “SPAM!” you could still be at risk for severe penalties if you don’t follow the new rules. Express consent is required before sending any email. That means that people have to explicitly say they want to receive email, by either checking a box or putting in an email address in a place that clearly states you will be receiving email.

Penalties include: