NSX-T Automation using Terraform: The how (VMC)!

August 10, 2020 Chris Noon 3

I started the series with a post about why I wanted to use Terraform. Now we have the why out of the way, let’s get to the fun stuff… the how! I use Terraform for 2 things. The first is to spin up SDDC’s on VMC and configure the VMC NSX-T piece. The second is spinning up NSX-T environments in the lab, which will hopefully make it into production one day. In this post, I’ll focus on the VMC element. The VMC Environment. I’ll start by assuming you know what VMC on AWS is and have a high-level understanding of its concepts and what it delivers. I’ll skip the step for deploying a VMC SDDC using Terraform, but if you […]

NSX-T Automation using Terraform: The why!

August 3, 2020 Chris Noon 1

Hi all, I hope you are all doing well during these trying times. For months, possibly even years, I’ve been convincing myself I’d dive into automation.  What better time than one where I am forced into isolation with my laptop.  In truth, I was jolted into action by a business requirement for automating the build of a number of environments.  These environments had to be standardised and utilise many of the same configuration elements. I’ve spent the better part of a month learning about Cloud (AWS and VMC on AWS) along with Network Automation, which brings us onto our first section… Why Terraform? I first began by googling ‘Network Automation Tools’ and reading a ton of articles.  Whittling down my […]

Avi Network: Base Configuration via API

June 19, 2020 Chris Noon 3

API Reference. I wrote a post a few weeks back on how to get an Avi proof of concept up and running. Hopefully, it helped and continues to help others wanting to start playing with Avi. I like to spin my lab up and down, pushing config when needed. This post will be focused around the Avi APIs and how to stand up the basic configuration previously discussed. I used the Avi API guide for reference:https://avinetworks.com/docs/latest/ Alternatively, you can navigate to:https://[Avi Controller IP]/api At this stage, I will assume at least 1 or 3 Controller(s) has been deployed, a logical cloud has been created along with the relevant networks for Avi consumption. Disclaimer. I will be providing the bare minimum […]

Using the VMware Lifecycle Manager 8.1 API to deploy vROps, vRLI, vRA and vRNI

June 10, 2020 Kim Bottu 0

Introduction Creating the API calls I needed in my lab took me quite some time. I probably could have saved a lot of time by first looking at the JSON files VRSLCM can export out of the box. But of course, I didn’t. vRSLCM is able to export a JSON file for any environment you have setup using vRSLCM. In this blog post I want to show you how I did what I did and where you can find the bits and pieces I needed to create my API calls. The easy way If you want to see a JSON file of a real world deployed environment in vRSLCM, why not export it from the UI? That is right, the […]

Host troubleshooting, migrations and all that.. and Runecast

June 6, 2020 Kim Bottu 0

I have done my fair share of vSphere installations, migrations and upgrades and some of the main causes for delays, is that often people just assume that all hosts in a cluster or across clusters are running the same version of ESXi. Or that all existing hosts in a cluster or across clusters, which you plan on upgrading, are running on hardware that supports the required version of ESXi.Yeah, assumptions… downward spiral, right there. Runecast benefits I have often wished for a tool which would allow me to easily verify if the physical environment is up to being upgraded. But I was just gobsmacked when I had a look on how Runecast Analyzer handles this. Just have a look at […]

How the vExpert program improves my life

June 1, 2020 Kim Bottu 1

When I embarked on the journey to become a vExpert, I did so because of a wish to find like minded people, people who like working with the same technology and like to share stories about how they have accomplished awesome things using VMware technology. I really wanted to connect to people who have the same professional goals in life, and who could inspire me professionally. Professionally… At my previous employer, certification was not encouraged, and even though I knew I wanted to get certified, no one was cheering me on. Getting to the next step in my career seemed daunting to me. I discovered very fast that the vExpert community is more than just a word. A lot of […]

Avi Networks: Base Configuration

May 24, 2020 Chris Noon 1

Load Balancing. I covered Avi Networks at a high level in my first post. I now want to dive into the base configuration of Avi and at its core, it is a Load Balancer. Saying that there are a few flavours of Load Balancing. Layer 4 Load Balancing. – Focusing on the IP address and TCP port.Layer 7 Load Balancing. – Focusing on layer 7 attributes such as HTTP headers.Global Server Load Balancing. – Adopting the layer 4 and layer 7 concepts to balance applications across geographical regions. While running through the base configuration I will be focusing on layer 4. While layer 7 and GSLB is something I eventually want to play with it will be further down the […]

My experience with the VMware Cloud on AWS – Master Services Competency Specialist Exam 2019

May 21, 2020 Manny Sidhu 0

The other day I happened to jump onto Jeffrey Kusters’ blog and saw his post about him passing this test last year. The post got me thinking. I was lucky to get some hands on experience with HCX late last year albeit not to the cloud from legacy on-prem to VCF on-prem. I also have had experience with SRM and more recently with NSX over the years during my time in the trenches. It looked like I checked off the main boxes for having the skills to get through the test. Jeffrey’s compiled links and notes came in handy, so did Manish Jha’s blog posts located here. Jeffrey’s mind map was very useful too to make it all sort of […]