Internet links of interest

Sharing some interesting links

1)Active directory and failover clustering. Nice article to know about Failover clustering relation with AD
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2014/03/24/failover-clustering-and-active-directory-integration.aspx

2)NIC teaming support for iSCSI on windows 2012
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2013/03/18/is-nic-teaming-in-windows-server-2012-supported-for-iscsi-or-not-supported-for-iscsi-that-is-the-question.aspx

3)Managing Native Multipathing Plugin(NMP)- very good exam question for VCAP5-DCA
http://www.vmadmin.co.uk/resources/35-esxserver/364-managing-nmp-changing-the-default-psp-for-a-satp-change-from-fixed-to-round-robin

4)VMware now supports more and more application with every release. so here is the link to check, whether your favorite business app is supported
http://www.vmguru.nl/wordpress/2014/03/supported-business-applications-on-the-vmware-platform/

5)New version of VMware Log insight is released-with improvements
http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2607-Log-Insight-2.0-Beta-Is-Available.html

6)Experience Sharing Article about vCenter upgrade
http://blog.mwpreston.net/2014/03/27/the-ol-vsphere-upgrade-aint-what-she-used-to-be/

7)How VMware tools for Linux Evolved
http://planetvm.net/blog/?p=2621

8)Another Great Post from Wahl network blog about LACP
http://wahlnetwork.com/2014/03/25/avoid-lacp-iscsi-port-binding-multi-nic-vmotion/

9)Subscribe to Micro Nuggets, to get your daily dose of Technology
http://www.cbtnuggets.com/lander/micronuggets

10)New Book released on- Network Diagram using Visio
Download Sample chapter from below Link
https://leanpub.com/network-diagrams-with-visio

See..ya! happy Weekend.

Job interviews and salary negotiation

Current job scenario in india is very bad! IBM india, Thomson reuters, NTT Data, Netapp and so many companies are laying off people these days in Bangalore. But, still i suggest everyone should keep their hopes high and keep searching for new job.

Using Computer Based Tutorials for cracking Interview, but for doing your job perfectly you require hadns-on experience, otherwise you'll end-up screwing production environment.

Sometimes you'll end-up succeeding that server issue..

Sharing Some Interesting Job related articles

1)Negotiating Salary Before Second Round of Interview
http://lifehacker.com/negotiate-your-desired-salary-before-the-second-intervi-1552145678

2)How to not Loose a new Job (awesome read)
http://www.atlredline.com/5-ways-to-lose-a-job-while-accepting-your-job-offer-1550419406

And if you haven't updated your resume yet, please do it now.

ESXi Host inventory Script-PowerCli

# Setup array with hosts
$vcenters = @(
    "vcenter1.prod.local",
   "vcenter2.prod.local",
   "vcenter3.prod.local",
   "vcenter4.prod.local"
);

$table = New-Object system.Data.DataTable "Results"
$col1 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn EncName,([string])
$col2 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn Blade,([string])
#$col3 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn Cluster,([string])
$table.columns.add($col1)
$table.columns.add($col2)
#$table.columns.add($col3)
# Store your U&P
$user = "your_admin"
$password = "YourSecret"

function GetInfo(){
foreach($vcenter in $vcenters) {
#lets check and see if we're already connected somewhere
disconnect-viserver -confirm:$false > $NULL 2>&1
# Connect
$SERVER = Connect-VIServer -Server $vcenter -User $user -Password $password > $NULL 2>&1
$ESX = @(get-vmhost| Select Name, ConnectionState, @{N="Cluster";E={Get-Cluster -VMHost $_}}, Version, $global:DefaultVIServer| Sort-Object Name)
foreach ($es in $esx)
{
$row = $table.NewRow()
  $row.EncName = ($es.Name).Remove(7,17)
  $row.Blade = ($es.Name).Substring(8,2)
  #$row.Cluster= (Get-Cluster -vm $vm.Name)
  $table.Rows.Add($row)
}
$table | Format-Table
$ESX | Format-Table -AutoSize
}
}
getinfo
disconnect-viserver -confirm:$false > $NULL 2>&1

Looking back again on Windows troubleshooting

While i was busy studying and working with vmware environment, there is not much windows server troubleshooting time i get. so thought of brushing-up windows troubleshooting skills, as it is also a plus for It admins.

I already have a collection of some RSS feeds and blog links-related to windows troubleshooting.

Sharing the info today with everyone..

1)Advanced Windows troubleshooting and debugging blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ntdebugging/archive/2012/08/30/troubleshooting-pool-leaks-part-2-poolmon.aspx

2)Ask Premier Field Engineer blog

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2014/03/10/another-troubleshooting-adventure-more-real-life-memory-pool-leaks.aspx

3)How to geek blogs Sysinternal tool usage series

http://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson1/

http://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson2/

4)Windows ConfigMgr 2012 DRS troubleshooting (don't get confused with VMware abbreviation)

http://blogs.technet.com/b/umairkhan/archive/2014/03/25/configmgr-2012-drs-troubleshooting-faqs.aspx

Be Social..

Next Target is Pursuing VCAP5-DCD

after successful completion of  VCAP5-DCA, i starting preparing for VCAP5-DCD examination. The Blueprint mentions that there are around 100 questions of various types. this exam is also considered as a tough exam.. let's see what happens. i'm planning to give it during August'14 (VMworld 2014), during that period VMware Education offers 75 % discounts on exams, which results in less burden on pocket.

So, for preparing for exam below URL's is going to help me..

1) vBrownBag VDCD5 video resources-Nick Marshall indexed it very well.

http://nickmarshall.com.au/vcap5-dcd-study-guide/

2)Another Blog, which is going to help me is 

http://tomverhaeg.nl/8-weeks-of-vcap-dcd/

3)Another good resource which is not going to help me, but might be in future it will help, when i get my hands-on Nutanix (i love nutanix)

http://stevenpoitras.com/the-nutanix-bible/

VCAP5-DCA Successfully completed

Today i'm really excited to successfully complete VCAP5-DCA and Now Heading towards my next target VCAP5-DCD...

Internet links of interest

Hi Folks,

Sharing with you some of the "internet links of interest".

1)VCAP-DCD - 8 weeks series
After Mwpreston.com's 8-weeks VCAP-DCA, now is a time to follow tomverhaeg.nl's 8 weeks VCAP-DCD series.
http://tomverhaeg.nl/8-weeks-of-vcap-dcd/

2)Do you like vCheck reports from vSphere infra? and Hyper-V admins are also looking for some such goodness from their Hyper-V infra? then checkout this entire Ben Armstrong's Series and  powershell script
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2014/03/17/my-daily-hyper-v-status-email-part-1-of-5.aspx

3)Another Hyper-V and Storage series of Articles to follow is
http://www.altaro.com/hyper-v/storage-and-hyper-v-part-7-actual-performance/

4)If you're also planning to upgrade from Thick vCenter to VCSA and ESXi 5.1 to 5.5 and looking for some steps and procedures to stay away from upgrade troubles then look out below link
http://lonesysadmin.net/2014/03/17/upgrading-vmware-vcenter-server-appliance-5-5-windows-vcenter-5-1/

5)Really great comparison sheet from Gartner about object storage
http://www.gartner.com/technology/reprints.do?id=1-1R78PJ9&ct=140226&st=sb

6)Want to Virtualize Active Directory, then your wait is over, follow this series for in-depth knowledge on Virtualizing AD.
http://blogs.dirteam.com/blogs/sanderberkouwer/archive/2014/03/17/virtualization-safe-r-active-directory-in-vmware-environments-part-1.aspx

7)Freeware--yes, newest freeware on the block is OneNote 2013 from M$..
http://www.howtogeek.com/185075/microsoft-onenote-is-now-available-for-free-on-all-systems/

8)Free Visio Stencils from Veeam for VMWARE and HYPER-V
http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-stencils.html

9)Cool MS VDI starter kit released for everyone..
http://blogs.technet.com/b/privatecloud/archive/2014/03/19/introducing-virtual-desktop-infrastructure-starter-kit-vdi-sk-preview-part-1.aspx


See..ya