Creating NFS Share on Synology NAS

I wanted to add a few NFS shares to my VMware lab in order to access my ISO’s of my software.

From the control panel create or select a new shared folder

 Give it a proper name, description and select which volume it will reside.

Give any users you wish to access the shared folder the proper permissions.

Next, you will need to add your hosts permissions.

Provide the IP or FQDN of your host

Go to your NFS share, right click and select properties. Copy the location information.

Log onto your host directly, or select it from vCenter. Select the configuration tab, and then storage.

Select Add Storage. Select Network File System.

Provide the IP or FDQN of your Synology. Paste in the folder information. Provide the Datastore name.

 You will now see your NFS share presented to your host.

Cisco SG-300 change Switch Mode to Layer 3

In order to perform interVLAN routing on the Cisco SG-300 switch, you must change the mode to Layer 3. I’ve been told in the new firmware, you can do this within the GUI however, I had issues with the latest firmware not showing my static routes.

WARNING: Changing the switch mode will erase any configuration on the switch. Perform a backup if needed.

After you connect to your switch to your network, it will obtain a IP. Log onto the switch using the default username and password (cisco, access). Enable SSH under services:

Establish a SSH session to the switch.

Hit enter at the log on prompt. Type in the default username and password.

Type in menu.

Tab to System Mode After Reset. Use the space bar to change your selection.

Tab to Save and Quit.

The switch will reboot a couple of times. It removes any previous configuration, so you start from scratch or restore from your backup.

Next post will be on how to setup the VLANs and routing.

EMC Information Storage and Management Associate – EMCISA

One of the areas I was lacking in my technical backgroud was knowing storage. As a VMware engineer you tend to be a jack of all trades: VMware, MS\Linux, networking, and storage. After completing the VCP I still did not feel I had the basic concepts of storage. Reading some forums I belong to, I came across EMC’s Information Storage and Management Associate – EMCISA.

EMC release an updated version last year. E10-001 Exam

Study Materials:

The only materials needed to pass the exam is published by EMC.

Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information in Classic, Virtualized, and Cloud Environments

The knoweldge you gain is the value in this certification. You won’t find any job descriptions looking for this one.  You can show you have basic knowledge of storage principles. As   a vSphere administrator you will need to know in order to proper communicate with your storage team. I would recommend pairing this with Mostafa Khalil’s  Storage Implementation in vSphere 5.0

vSphere 5.x Whitebox Home Lab

About a year ago I created a home lab to help me with my VCP 5 exam. I posted my write up on techexams.net. The design was a nested environment where I ran ESXi on top of ESXi. I ran FreeNas as an VM so I could use the functions of storage vmotion. This setup worked well for me at the time, and was fairly cheap in terms of cost. The hardware I used was no more than a gaming machine with parts verified to work. The post can be found here.

Now VCP-DV is over I wanted to explore going for my VCAP and I was going to need a lab closer to a production environment.

My first step was to get a NAS. I purchased a Synology 1812+ NAS. It supports iSCSI and NFS shares. I use it for my home media and soon my hosted VMs. I’m able use link aggregation in order to get better performance. I plan on installing three SSDs in a raid set for further improvement. The other 5 bays are used for media.

I plan on building a couple of ESXi hosts out of shuttle boxes, with i5 processors, and 32GB of ram. As I build the rest of my lab I will update this post. In the meantime you can see my inspiration for this lab from Ryan Birk Here.