Mike Tabor

Update vCenter Server Appliance from 6.5 to 6.5 Update 1

August 15, 2017August 16, 2017 VMware

VMware just released VMware vCenter 6.5 Update 1 just last month, in case you’ve missed it check out the release notes as there are a lot of fixes, improvements and additions.

In this post we’ll see just how easy it is to update the VMware VCSA. Before you do any VMware update I’d highly recommend checking out the VMware Interoperability Matrices to check compatibility of other VMware products. Once you’ve done that, lets begin!

Backup and Restore VMware VCSA 6.5

August 9, 2017 VMware

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With the release of vSphere 6.5, the VCSA has had a built-in and convenient way easily backup the configuration, inventory and even historical data right from the VAMI and directly into a TAR bundle. VMware has also made restoring the VCSA from a backup just as easy as well.

Below are quick and dirty steps to backing up and restoring your VMware VCSA!

VMware P2V Permission to perform this operation was denied fix

July 27, 2017 VMware

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Just the other day we had a Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard physical server that needed to be P2V’ed, and after trying to use VMware Converter Standalone 6.1.1 we ran into the error message “Permission to perform this operation was denied” after entering the source machine details.

Even after trying to start VMware Converter as “Run as administrator” the error persisted. Below is the workaround we performed to quickly allow us to P2V the physical server.

How to create a virtual machine on a Synology NAS

June 25, 2017 Synology

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A common request I’ve seen among Synology NAS owners, is the ability to run virtual machines directly from their NAS. Recently Synology released a beta version of their new Virtual Machine Manager package that allows users to do exactly that.

Below I’ll detail how to install, configure, and create a Windows 10 virtual machine on my Synology DS1815+.

Before getting started, your Synology NAS not only needs to be compatible but also needs to meet a couple requirements:

Have at least one Btrfs volume
4GB or more memory (now might be a great time to check out my Upgrade Synology DS1815+ to 16GB RAM post)
Running DSM 6.1.1 or better.

You’ll also want to have a couple ISO images downloaded and ready; Windows 10, Synology Guest Tools, and Windows Virtio Drivers.

With that, lets get started!

Top vBlog 2017 Voting has begun!

June 2, 2017July 9, 2020 Other

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It’s that time of year again – time to vote for your favorite blog and podcast!

Just as he has every year, Eric Siebert from vSphere-Land.com has kicked off voting for the 2017 Top vBlog and will remain open until June 30th 2017! Eric has also made a few suggestions on what to keep in mind when voting which I certainly agree with and can be found

Microsoft Hyper-V Failover Clusters now supported in NAKIVO 7.1

May 30, 2017July 9, 2020 Tools

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Just a few months ago NAKIVO released version 7, a major release that added several new features, one of which was the support for Hyper-V backup. Today NAKIVO has released version 7.1 which builds upon that feature set by adding support for Hyper-V failover clusters!

Passed: AWS Solutions Architect – Associate Exam Tips

April 19, 2017April 19, 2017 AWS

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Yesterday morning I finally took the AWS Solutions Architect – Associate and even managed to pass it!

While everything about the exam is still fresh in my mind I wanted to share my experience taking the Solutions Architect – Associate exam as well as share a few tips that certainly helped me in taking the exam in hopes that it might help others as well.

How to host a static website using AWS S3, CloudFront, Route 53 and Cert Manager

April 4, 2017April 3, 2017 AWS

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In addition to running this blog I also run several online forum communities, but in the past I never had a place to showcase these communities in one place. This post will detail my steps I took to host a static website using AWS S3, CloudFront, Route 53 and Certificate Manager to showcase those communities all in one place. All without the need to worry manage another server.

Requirements before getting started:

An Amazon Web Services account.
Domain name – I use and suggest either Namecheap or NameSilo to register new domains if you haven’t already. (Use coupon SAVE1OFFNAMESILO at NameSilo to save $1.00)
Already have a static HTML page designed and ready to upload.

So briefly I’ll explain why I choose these services and what they will offer.

VMware Workstation 12.5.5 released, fixes Pwn2Own exploits

March 28, 2017March 28, 2017 VMware

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VMware has just released Workstation 12.5.5 which includes bug fixes as well as fixes for several vulnerabilities found in this years Pwn2Own contest, which two hacking teams, 360 Security (@mj011sec) and Team Sniper was able to successfully complete a virtual machine escape.

While these are serious exploits, VMware has said they are not aware of any active exploitation of the vulnerabilities that has now been fixed in 12.5.5.