1.
1
Enforcing a vSphere Cluster Design
Using PowerCLI Automation

2.
Who is Duncan Epping?
Writer
Author
Author
Job
VMware
Social
@ Yellow-Bricks.com
of Essential Virtual SAN
of Clustering Deepdive
Chief Technologist @ VMware
VCDX
@DuncanYB (twitter)

3.
Who is @ChrisWahl?
Writer
Host
Instructor
Evangelist
Microsoft
VMware
@ WahlNetwork.com
@ DatanautsPodcast.com
@ Pluralsight.com
@ Rubrik.com
MVP (PowerShell)
VCDX (DCV & NV)

4.
4
Agenda
• vSphere Cluster Design Basics
• Crafting Declarative Configurations
• Infrastructure as Code
• An Introduction to the Vester project

5.
vSphere Cluster Design
5

6.
Architecture Methodology

7.
It is all about the app
App
VM’s
Compute
StorageNetwork
Clusters

8.
What are the things we need to think about?
Consistency is the key to success
• Compute
– DNS / NTP / TPS
• Storage
– Protocol / Limits / Resiliency
• Networking
– vMotion / Management / Storage / VMs
• vSphere HA and DRS

9.
9
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere HA Basics
• Configured through vCenter Server
• Each host has an agent (FDM) for monitoring state
• HA restarts VMs when a failure impacts those VMs

10.
10
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere HA Specifics
• One of the hosts is elected as master
• Heartbeats via network and storage
– Management network (or)
– VSAN network (if VSAN is enabled)
• It can reserve resources for restarts (Admission Control)

11.
11
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere DRS Basics
• DRS provides load balancing and initial
placement
– To keep VMs happy and maximize cluster
utilization
• DRS is the broker of resources between
producers and consumers
• DRS goal is to provide the resources the
virtual machine demands

12.
12
Brief intro to vSphere Clusters
vSphere DRS Specifics
• DRS provides cluster management
– Maintenance Mode
– Affinity / anti-affinity rules
– VM-Host groups
– Resource Pools

13.
13
And then there is compute
Many things to think about during install / config
• Gateway / DNS
• NTP
• NUMA
• Syslog + Scratch Partition
• TPS enabled or disabled?
– If enabled, how?
• Security?
– Lock down enabled?

14.
14
Storage, you got an hour or two?
iSCSI, FC, FCoE or maybe VSAN
• Many different storage systems
• Many different design considerations
– And also implications on for instance
vSphere HA
– PDL / APD
– Stretched? Replication? Sync / Async?
• Resignature? Mount? Orchestration of
DR?
• Number of Paths, Number of LUNs
• Performance aspects – RAID Types –
Flash vs Hybrid

15.
15
It is always the network
Yes, we usually do blame others… Reality is, many issues arise from
inconsistency...
• Distributed Switch vs normal vSwitch?
• Consistency in configuration of network
segments
– VLANs / Portgroups
– MTU (end to end)
• Load Balancing
– Load based teaming
– Virtual Port ID
– IP Hash / LACP

16.
Crafting Declarative Configurations

17.
17
Imperative Declarative

18.
Where’s the Value?

19.
20
Avoids Building by Hand
statements become actionable

20.
21
Repeatable Processes
consistency is your friend

21.
22
Force Multiplier
the entire team is now empowered

22.
23
Annihilate Tribal Knowledge
documentation is stale upon creation
configurations are self documenting

23.
Infrastructure as Code

24.
26
Abstract End State from Configuration
don’t store declarative configuration inside the endpoint

25.
Where do Objects Live?

26.
But I already have a vSphere environment!
• How do I pull the config out of it?
• Leverage PowerCLI as a starting point …
– DRS Rules (affinity, anti-affinity, vm-to-host)
– VDS and Port Group configs
– Resource pools
– Generic cluster configs
– VSAN & SPBM policies

27.
Get-DrsRule
31

28.
Export-VDSwitch & Export-VDPortGroup
Note! Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.Vds
32
http://blogs.vmware.com/PowerCLI/2013/03/vds-exportimport-with-powercli.html

29.
Get-ResourcePool
33

30.
Get-SpbmStoragePolicy &
Get-VsanDisk / Get-VsanDiskGroup
34

31.
35
Conversational Configuration
tracking, logging, and implementation in a single system

32.
Ops Collaboration

33.
38
Gathering Objects with PowerCLI
• Get information on the cluster
– HA, NTP, SSH, DRS, DNS, so forth
• Compare with declarative configuration
• Inspect results
– Validate always
– Remediate optional
• Report metrics

34.
Vester

35.
41
Interesting Projects
• Vester
– https://github.com/WahlNetwork/Vester
• vSphereDSC
– https://github.com/lucdekens/vSphereDSC
• Operation Validation Framework (OVF)
– https://github.com/PowerShell/Operation-Validation-Framework
• Watchmen
– https://github.com/devblackops/watchmen
• vSphere HA Deepdive
– https://ha.yellow-bricks.com (Free ebook!)
• PoshSpec
– https://github.com/Ticketmaster/poshspec

36.
Thank you!
Duncan Epping – Chief Technologist, VMware
Chris Wahl – Technical Evangelist, Rubrik