In the last installment of the vSphere 5.5Â series we installed the SSO service. Now that the Java JRE is installed (via the SSO installer), we have the tools ready to create our vCenter SSL certificates via an online Microsoft CA. If you don't have an online Microsoft CA that can...
Yes, seven parts into this series we can finally mount our handy dandy vCenter 5.5 ISO and start installing software. Hopefully I haven't lost anyone along the way with all of the background and SSL information. But with the complexities in vCenter 5.5 and all the moving parts, I think it's important...
Now that you understand what type of SSL certificates you need and how many vCenter 5.5 requires, we need to create a Certificate Authority template that will mint proper certificates. You may very well be able to get away with the Microsoft "Web server" template, but it is missing a few...
Now that you've read up on upgrade best practices and SSO enhancements in the first four installments, we can get to the fun stuff! Understanding vCenter 5.5 SSL certificates. Ok maybe not fun for all, but fun to me. Last year in my 5.1 install series I just plowed right into...
In this installment of the vSphere 5.5 installation how-to series we cover upgrading ESXi hosts, VMs, and VMFS. As stated in my vCenter 5.5 upgrade post, I'm not going to do a step-by-step screenshot filled posts for upgrades. Why? Too many different deployment types for that to be widely useful. But you do need...
Upgrades can be scary times with any enterprise product. The more your critical infrastructure relies on a particular solution, or set of solutions, the more imperative it is you fully understand and test the new product. vSphere 5.1 taught us that thorough testing cannot be skipped and you should not rush a new product...
Imagine having this dream: You are in the VMware company grocery store where each isle displays a VMware product, shelves fully and neatly stocked with product. You wonder over to the isle labeled 'SSO 5.1'. To your horror you see a huge mess: SSL certs lying all over the floor, incorrectly configured...
At VMworld 2013 in San Francisco VMware unveiled vSphere 5.5, the successor to vSphere 5.1. Customers are now chomping at the bit for vSphere 5.5 upgrade information. Of great anticipation was what VMware did to the vSphere 5.1 SSO service to address common complaints. If you've been living under a rock,...
So here we are, at the end of a somewhat long journey. Yes, this is the last installment in the SQL 2012 Failover cluster series. However, two very important settings are configured. The first is Kerberos, which is the preferred authentication protocol (vice NTLM). In fact, some software will break...
The SQL 2012 failover cluster series is finally starting to wind down. While this is not the last installment, it's pretty darn close. In this session we configure some critical SQL maintenance checks and run a configuration check script to see how badly our SQL server is configured. A big...
In this installment of the SQL 2012 failover cluster guide we are configuring two very important parameters: SQL server max memory and email alert notifications. Both settings are often overlooked, yet are critical to a properly performing and healthy SQL server cluster. Blog Series SQL 2012 Failover Cluster Pt. 1:...
One of the most important aspects of SQL performance is TempDB. Applications can use TempDB as a scratch space, and in most cases you should not rely on just a single TempDB file. Current best practices is to create 1/4-1/2 the number of TempDB files that you have processor cores....