How To Upgrade vSphere 4.1 Update 1

With VMware vSphere 4.1 update 1 now generally available, what do you need to know about it and how do you upgrade to it? Let's find out.

With VMware vSphere 4.1 update 1 now generally available, what do you need to know about it and how do you upgrade to it? Let's find out.

The new vSphere 4.1 Update 1 includes updates to vCenter, ESX Server, and ESXi Server.

The new features in ESX Server 4.1 U1 are:

• Support for up to 160 logical processors
• Support for additional guest operating systems: RHEL 6, RHEL 5.6, SLES 11 SP1 for VMware, Ubuntu 10.10, and Solaris 10 Update 9
• Support for additional drivers
• Resolution of a number of issues (bugs)

The new features in vCenter 4.1 U1 are:

• Customization of additional operating systems - Windows 7 SP1 (x32 and x64), Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (x32 and x64), RHEL 6.0 (x32 and x64), RHEL5.5 (x32 and x64)
• Additional vCenter database support - Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP3, Oracle 11g Standard/Enterprise Release 2, 11.2.0.1.0 or later, (x32 and x64), IBM DB2 9.7.2 Express C (x32 and x64), IBM DB2 9.7.2 Enterprise (x32 and x64)
• Resolution of a number of issues (bugs)

Unless you require the new OS or database support or need a bug fixed that it fixes, update 1 isn't required. However, what interests most in this update is the number of issues (bugs) that are resolved (fixed) in this release. You never know when your virtual infrastructure could be affected by one of those issues so (hopefully) you would be better off by keeping current.

To move to the latest ESX or ESXi Server platform host, I recommend the following steps:

1. Read the vSphere 4.1 Update 1 release notes for ESX Server and vCenter.
2. Download vSphere 4.1 Update 1 from the VMware vSphere 4 Download site (notice the 2011/02/10 dates on the update 1 code; see Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Downloading Update 1 from VMware's Download site. (Click image to view larger version.)

3. Upgrade vCenter using either the ISO file or the ZIP file the Windows installable (see Fig. 2). I recommend backing up vCenter (and its associated database) before the upgrade. If your vCenter server is running as a VM, the easiest way to protect yourself is to do a snapshot.

Figure 2. Upgrading via the ISO file. (Click image to view larger version.)

4. Upgrade the vSphere Client using the Windows installable.
5. Upgrade Update Manager, if you are using it.
6. Upgrade ESX Server using one of the three options below. You could prevent downtime for VMs (and end users) during the upgrade by using VMotion and to migrate VMs to another ESX host until the upgrade is completed:
   • Use vCenter Update Manager (VUM) to upgrade ESX & ESXi Server. VUM is the easiest & recommended way to upgrade your VMware infrastructure. If you already have VUM then, likely, you already know how to use it.
   • OR, use the CLI options - esxupdate for ESX Server and vihostupdate for ESXi. Here is an upgrade I did to update 1 on an ESXi 4.1 host using vCLI and the ZIP version of the update 1 install (see Fig. 3).
     
     

     Figure 3. An upgrade via update 1 on an ESXi 4.1 host using vCLI and the ZIP version of the update 1 install. (Click image to view larger version.)

     
     
   • OR, burn 4.1 update 1 on a CD and upgrade the host by using a CD-based install (watch out on this method as it could be tricky or impossible to preserve your host configurations).
7. Upgrade VMware Tools on each of the virtual machines. You could, of course, do this manually or use VUM to do it.

Once your upgrades to 4.1 update 1 are completed, you should see that your vCenter, ESX, and ESXi Servers have all changed from version 4.1.0 build 260247 to 4.1.0 build 348481 (see Fig. 4).

Figure 4. Version numbers have changed... (Click image to view larger version.)

For more detailed information and specific upgrade scenarios, consult the VMware vSphere Upgrade Guide and VMware KB 1022140

Keeping current on new releases isn't always fun and may not always seem immediately beneficial. How quickly to update critical infrastructure software like vSphere is always up for debate. On one hand, there could be a bug in a new release that causes downtime. On the other hand, the long list of bug fixes in the new release could prevent downtime if you were to be affected by one of them.

As for vSphere 4.1 Update 1, I recommend that you at least get started testing it in your lab to be prepared to update your infrastructure should it prove stable.

Lync 2010 v/s OCS 2007

What is different in Lync Server 2010

OCS 2007 / 2007 R2	Lync Server 2010
Virtualization not supported accepts some roles.	Every role can be either virtual or physical.
A/V conferencing service cannot work separate.	A/V conferencing service can run in a standalone server role which we can call A/V Conferencing Server.
No specific limits for A/V conferencing pool.	If site has more than 10,000 users, we recommend that you deploy a separate A/V Conferencing pool.
No Survivable Branch Appliance.	Survivable Branch Appliance, which is a new device introduced in Lync Server 2010.
Mediation role cannot be collocated with FE.	Collocation of mediation with FE is recommended if you are not using SIP trunking or Direct SIP.
No Topology Builder.	Lync 2010 giving you the opportunity to create your own topology for deployment.
No Central Management Store kind of thing.	In Microsoft Lync Server 2010, configuration data about servers and services is moved to the Central Management store. Read-only copies of the data are replicated to all servers in the topology, including Edge Servers and survivable branch appliances
No Management Shell accept LCSCMD command.	The Lync Server 2010 Management Shell is a new method of administration and management.
No Role base access control.	Lync introduces role-based access control (RBAC). Lync Server 2010 includes 11 predefined roles that cover many common administrative tasks, also you can create custom roles.
MMC for Administration.	Administration console is no longer using MMC, Lync Server Control Panel replaces the MMC administrative interfaces
No load balancing for SIP traffic.	The Lync Server 2010 introduces DNS load balancing for SIP and media traffic (you will still need hardware LB for other traffic such as HTTP however this is the easiest part in configuring a HW load balancer)
Edge Server is separate and in DMZ.	You manage Edge Servers from the internal network. All configuration data for servers and services resides in the Central Management database, which you can manage by using internal administrative tools.
No Support for hosted Exchange UM.	Lync Server 2010 introduces support for integration with hosted Exchange UM.
No Support for Enhanced 9-1-1.	Lync supports Enhanced 9-1-1 (E9-1-1) as part of your Enterprise Voice deployment.
1 Mediation means 1 Gateway.	New for the Mediation Server in Microsoft Lync Server 2010 is the ability for a single Mediation Server to route outbound calls through multiple gateways.
No separate pool for Mediation.	Lync Server 2010 has the ability for a Mediation Server to be deployed as a pool; this pool can be collocated with the Front End pool, or can be a standalone pool.
MOC cannot be updated through WSUS.	Lync client can be updated through WSUS.
No support for Analog devices.	Lync Server 2010 provides support for analog devices. Specifically, the supported analog devices are analog audio phone and analog fax machines. Now you can configure the analog gateways and devices in your organization to use Lync Server 2010.

How-TO: Configure DHCP on a CISCO router

This post is about configuring a CISCO router to act as a DHCP server in your network.

Task1: Configure R1 to act as a DHCP server and provide all network information to hosts in the LAN dynamically. (R1 and R2 are directly connected via Ethernet)

Server Configuration (R1)

!– enable dhcp server (default) service dhcp ! — defining DHCP pool with all network information ip dhcp pool OFFICE network 192.168.12.0 255.255.255.0 domain-name networkers-online.com default-router 192.168.12.1 !– gateway address dns-server 192.168.12.100 192.168.12.101 !– DNS servers netbios-name-server 192.168.12.99 !– WINS servers lease 2 !– lease time !– defining static binding to R2 using its client-id ip dhcp pool STATIC host 192.168.12.2 255.255.255.0 client-identifier 01cc.010d.f000.00 !– exclude server and static addresses from the dynamic pool ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.12.1 ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.12.100 192.168.12.101 ip dhcp excluded-address 192.168.12.200 p dhcp excluded-address 192.168.12.2

Client Configuration:

interface FastEthernet0/0 ip address dhcp client-id FastEthernet0/0

Troubleshooting and verfication:

IP address is assigned dynamically to R2

!– R2 f0/0 address is assigned via DHCP R2(config-if)#do sh ip int b Interface IP-Address OK? Method Status Protocol FastEthernet0/0 192.168.12.2 YES DHCP up up !– R1 bindings has R2 as a static entry R1#sh ip dhcp binding Bindings from all pools not associated with VRF: IP address Client-ID/ Lease expiration Type Hardware address/ User name 192.168.12.2 01cc.010d.f000.00 Infinite Manual

R2 gets its domain-name dynamically from R1

R2#sh ip domain networkers-online.com

R2 sets R1 as a default gateway using a floating static route

R2#sh ip route Codes: C – connected, S – static, R – RIP, M – mobile, B – BGP D – EIGRP, EX – EIGRP external, O – OSPF, IA – OSPF inter area N1 – OSPF NSSA external type 1, N2 – OSPF NSSA external type 2 E1 – OSPF external type 1, E2 – OSPF external type 2 i – IS-IS, su – IS-IS summary, L1 – IS-IS level-1, L2 – IS-IS level-2 ia – IS-IS inter area, * – candidate default, U – per-user static route o – ODR, P – periodic downloaded static routeGateway of last resort is 192.168.12.1 to network 0.0.0.0 C 192.168.12.0/24 is directly connected, FastEthernet0/0 2.0.0.0/24 is subnetted, 1 subnets C 2.2.2.0 is directly connected, Loopback0 S* 0.0.0.0/0 [254/0] via 192.168.12.1

R2 learns Primary and secondary DNS servers from R1

R2#ping xyz.comTranslating “yahoo.com”…domain server (192.168.12.100) (192.168.12.101) % Unrecognized host or address, or protocol not running.

for more information on how to configure DHCP features consult the following link CISCO IOS DHCP Server