Running vCD on VxRail

The topic of running VMware Cloud Director (vCD) on VxRail has come up a few times lately, with some varying questions around potential requirements, so I thought that it may be useful to create a post to talk through it at a high level.

Configure VxRail Manager syslog for vRealize Log Insight

This is a short post to explain how to configure syslog forwarding from VxRail Manager to vRealize Log Insight.

Upgrade to VCF 3.10.1 on VxRail

This post provides a high-level walk-through of the upgrade sequence and timings from VCF 3.10.0.1 on VxRail to VCF 3.10.1 on VxRail.

VCF 4 on VxRail Architecture Diagrams

This post contains some sample high-level, non-official VCF 4 on VxRail architecture diagrams and notes that I have put together for enablement purposes, and may be of use to others.

Custom VCF on VxRail vROps Dashboard

This post shows how to create a custom vROps dashboard to monitor VCF on VxRail environments.

Custom VxRail Versions Widget for vROps

A nice custom widget to add to your VxRail dashboard in vROps is a simple diagram to clearly display the various versions of VxRail running in your environment.

VxRail ACE with VCF on VxRail

VxRail ACE uses cluster personalities to enable it to identify the deployment types of the VxRail systems that it manages.

VxRail vROps Reports

The VxRail Management Pack for vRealize Operations Manager provides 5 out-of-the-box VxRail-specific reports to choose from. This post provides details on what these reports provide, how the information is presented, and how to run each report.

Adding unsupported rev of VxRail to VCF – What happens

This post explains how VMware SDDC Manager validates VxRail code levels and rejects VxRail systems that are out of compliance.

Dell EMC VxRail Management Pack for vROps

The VxRail Management Pack for vROps has been released. This post is a quick overview of what this provides and how to install it.

Using VxRail with VCF and vRealize Suite

This is a short post highlighting how some of the vRealize Suite products interact with VxRail, how they connect, and what kind of information is provided by each specific to the VxRail itself.

Sample VCF on VxRail Architecture Diagrams

This post contains some sample high level architecture diagrams that I have put together for enablement purposes.

VxRail ACE Upgrade Manager

With the GA release of VxRail ACE on November 4th comes the first phase of it’s Smart Lifecycle Management. This blog post provides an overview of what this Smart LCM brings to the table for VxRail customers.

VxRail ACE Resources

VxRail ACE went GA on November 4th 2019. This post contains links to various VxRail ACE resources.

Deploying VCF on VxRail – Understanding What does What

Published Aug 19th 2019

This post is a result of me wanting to understand the various install-tools, steps, and processes involved in deploying VCF on VxRail.

Using VxRail ACE to identify Performance Anomalies

Published August 1st 2019

VxRail ACE provides the ability to identify performance anomalies on the VxRail system, while at the same time learning which anomalies are to be expected as the norm.

Expanding Log Insight on VxRail for High Availability

Published 11th July 2019

A standard VxRail deployment provides the ability to deploy a VMware vRealize Log Insight appliance in Standalone Mode. In order to provide high availability for this Log Insight instance, the single vRLI appliance should be expanded to a 3-node vRLI cluster.

“Fix This First” – What your VxRail ACE Health Score is really telling you

A very basic rule of thumb when it comes to system monitoring is that Red is Bad, and Green is Good. Yellow/Orange/Amber then might mean that something is wrong, definitely not quite right, and needs attention before it goes Red.

The VxRail ACE Health Score helps customers prioritize those issues that need attention.

VxRail ACE – A Technical Overview

As of June 3rd 2019 VxRail ACE (Analytical Consulting Engine) is in Early Access availability for VxRail customers. This post should give you a better idea of what ACE is and how it works.

Forward Avamar Proxy log files to Log Insight

This post covers how to configure integration between Avamar Proxy Servers and VMware Log Insight.