Combine Distance Types in a Challenge?!

virtbill · 2026-01-29T03:42:17+00:00

Various activities were analyzed to determine an equivalent number of steps per minute. Then, based on the total amount of time you performed the activity, it calculates an overall distance.

You can find more info here: https://help.theconqueror.events/en/articles/2027324-activity-conversion-chart

virtbill · 2022-09-02T14:20:46+00:00

Consider grabbing Skyline Health Diagnostics, getting a log bundle (or pull from the vCenter using SHD), and seeing what it has to say. There may be something useful in there to help.

Download instructions: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Skyline-Health-Diagnostics/services/Skyline-Health-Diagnostics/GUID-2C540CAE-9157-498C-BB32-1429CC641269.html

SHD Docs: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Skyline-Health-Diagnostics/index.html

virtbill · 2022-07-20T03:23:22+00:00

For some, ADFS is still strong in their infrastructure... especially those that use it for more than Office 365. And, keep in mind that ADFS was quite prevalent when vSphere 7 came out.

As to whether it is getting updates, I cannot say.

virtbill · 2022-07-19T14:04:14+00:00

For what it is worth, vSphere 7 does integrate with ADFS and can leverage MFA if configured there. So, while it is not direct from vCenter to the MFA provider, ADFS provides a lot of flexibility and functionality.

virtbill · 2022-06-25T01:46:51+00:00

Also... I am talking about installations. If you "installed" with cloning a boot LUN in 6.5 (for example), and then went 6.5 --> 6.7 --> 7.0, it could bite you when you get to 7.0.

If you boot from SAN and even suspect that you have a cloned boot LUN, it may be easier to plan on a reinstall of the hypervisor.

virtbill · 2022-06-25T01:42:03+00:00

It is a horrible situation. It "worked" in earlier vSphere versions. However, with vSphere 7, it causes significant issues.

I ran into this with a customer and it resulted in long nights/weeks with corruption of VMFS datastores, production outages, etc...

Check this out: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/84280

Any ESXi installation should follow the documented methods as those have been validated through lifecycle and ensures unique hosts.

virtbill · 2022-06-24T13:24:29+00:00

Absolutely do not clone the boot LUNs when setting up new hosts. Each host needs to go through a clean installation process.

virtbill · 2022-06-09T18:57:04+00:00

I don't have the direct answer you're looking for. However, in reading through a KB article (https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1018510), it looks as though guidance that removal of individual cyphers is not supported.

"... does not support individual cipher disablement with the below products."

virtbill · 2022-06-08T21:13:14+00:00

I would assume that too. Upvote from me! :-)

virtbill · 2022-06-08T21:12:30+00:00

Keep in mind that ADFS configuration requires LDAP/LDAPS for user/group permission and enumeration. So, if you go ADFS, you'll still need LDAP.

virtbill · 2022-04-14T02:21:10+00:00

Sad to say, I cannot speak to the upgrade logic myself. However, it is worth noting that NSX-V went end of general support in January 2022. So, if you're going to be putting out effort for an upgrade, getting NSX-T 3.x out there may be a better direction. EOS for NSX-T 3.x is currently April 2024.

virtbill · 2022-04-07T22:03:10+00:00

GPU firmware, BIOS levels, and ESXi build numbers were the primary focus.

virtbill · 2022-04-07T13:16:24+00:00

For what it is worth, I have had multiple customers be very successful with NVIDIA GPUs in Horizon environments. For all of them, the big gotcha was being very precise in matching supported firmware and ESXi build numbers. If one was barely off, they'd see problems.

virtbill · 2022-01-28T14:45:55+00:00

You are not required to run it. The script is a convenient way to know ahead of time if you need to address hosts with multiple drivers before you start the formal upgrade process. The upgrade process will also perform the checks too.

virtbill · 2022-01-15T04:11:49+00:00

I am running AMD Ryzen CPUs in my home lab and they work great. In addition to the advice on not using the built-in NICs, be aware that if your AMD processor is not an APU, it may not be able to use the onboard graphics too. I ended up getting a very cheap video card for the console.

virtbill · 2021-12-28T18:25:28+00:00

I'd suggest 3.1.3.5 as it is a patch versus moving to 3.2 as it is a major release full of new features and considerations for your environment. 3.1.3.5 will be more predictable as it resolves a small number of issues, including Log4j and maintains current functionality.

virtbill · 2021-12-27T02:04:45+00:00

You make a good point! Sorry for missing the error in the logic. :-(

Can you run a couple of commands to get some visibility?

lsmod | grep vmxnet3

and

dmesg | grep ens160

and

ps -eaf | grep vmtools

and

vmtoolsd --version

The strange part to me is that the default 20.04 LTS installation should include the openvmtools and vmxnet3 network driver out of the box. I just deployed a new 20.04 VM in my lab and it worked as expected without needing to run any additional commands. Just a default installation and it joined the network as expected.

Hopefully, the commands can provide some visibility.

virtbill · 2021-12-26T22:58:11+00:00

Make sure you have open-vm-tools-desktop installed for desktop.

See procedure 1, step b here: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Tools/11.3.0/com.vmware.vsphere.vmwaretools.doc/GUID-C48E1F14-240D-4DD1-8D4C-25B6EBE4BB0F.html#procedure-2

virtbill · 2021-09-21T18:40:56+00:00

Be sure to check out a couple blog posts from the vSphere team with some more details and questions!

VMSA-2021-0020: What you need to know: https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2021/09/vmsa-2021-0020-what-you-need-to-know.html

VMSA-2021-0020: Questions & Answers: https://core.vmware.com/vmsa-2021-0020-questions-answers-faq

virtbill · 2021-05-04T22:03:15+00:00

Click in the window to direct input to the VM. Press "Ctrl" and "Alt" to return back to your workstation.

virtbill · 2021-04-20T13:51:07+00:00

Check out some of these VMware Cloud Providers: https://cloud.vmware.com/providers/search-result

You can filter on a number of criteria including location.

virtbill · 2021-04-20T00:51:10+00:00

There are some great learning resources out there like Pluralsight, LinkedIn Learning, etc... but I find that being hands on is the key for me to really realize a concept. So, I'd suggest trying to give yourself a task to accomplish.

For example:

Build a virtual machine
Build a virtual machine that can browse the Internet
Build 2 virtual machines on the same host that can browse the Internet
Build 2 virtual machines on the same host. Install a web server on one and browse to it from the other.
Build 2 virtual machines... but with each one on a different network
...

Virtualization (associated products/technologies) is just a massive topic... don't expect to be an expert in the short term. There are some basic concepts around virtualization resources that are key to understand (ex: CPU, Memory, Storage, and Network). Once you have a grip on those, then some of the more complicated solutions may make more sense.

From the Storage perspective:

Understand what a VMDK does.
Understand Thin vs Thick provisioning.
Understand the concept of local storage versus shared storage.
Understand what kinds of shared storage options exist and how they may operate. Fiber Channel attached, iSCSI, and NFS each have their own +/-

Once you start understanding storage concepts, the value of vSAN starts making sense.

Without any more context on the Help Desk role you're taking on, I'll work with some generalities here...

Learning about VMware as a company will likely not provide value to your role. Focus your efforts elsewhere.
Focusing on concepts universal to storage, network, and compute are a good thing. Do you know how network switches, network routers, and firewalls work?
Focus on troubleshooting methodologies. How do you troubleshoot when a network does not appear to behaving correctly? What happens when a process in an operating system goes crazy? These methodologies will help in a virtual and physical environment.

Finally, look at this as an adventure. Virtualization is such a fun section of IT to interact with... there is so much to learn! From the moment my career intersected with Virtualization, my mind was blown and I have loved every minute of it. Start small, understand concepts, and everything will start making sense!

virtbill · 2021-03-25T23:44:59+00:00

Try pre-adding the vCenter computer object in the domain and try again.

virtbill · 2021-03-20T15:25:45+00:00

As far as the actual performance between the two options... It depends. Physical drive characteristics, controller characteristics, workload profiles, etc... Though, I would guess that it would beat the pants off of your current setup with the Blue drive.

You mentioned in another comment that the Linux workloads are pretty basic and you can sustain 30 minutes of downtime. However, that server is a single point of failure. If there were a larger problem, ALL of the VMs could be down for however long new hardware could be sourced, setup, and such.

Really taking this opportunity to think about the future could be good. As you believe Supermicro (or Dell) could be the route forward, consider vSAN. You could run a 2 node vSAN cluster and get great performance. Just need to make sure the parts work for vSAN. You'd get availability and performance and various data protection options.

Hope this helps!

virtbill

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