VMware Skyline is more than just a single tool. There are 3 different tools under the Skyline name. Each of them has a distinct purpose and use case. I have put together a few videos that might help you learn more!
I recommend you start with the Skyline Overview
There are demos of each of the Skyline Toos
I hope you find these useful! If there are other topics you are interested in – let me know in the comments…
I know many are looking to upgrade to vSphere 7.0 Update 2. If your hosts use USB Boot Media (SD-Cards, USB Sticks, etc) there is some important information you need to read before you 
upgrade. Refer to the information in the Notes from the Field section below for full details.
VMworld 2021
October 5-7, 2021
Registration is now live. You can register for free on VMworld.com. Key Dates:
In addition to the General pass (which is free), a Tech+ Pass is available for $299/individual. A comparison of the options is available here.
I know many are looking to upgrade to vSphere 7.0 Update 2. 
If your hosts use USB Boot Media (SD-Cards, USB Sticks, etc) there is some important information you need to read and action you should take before you upgrade.
Read on in this newsletter for the details you need to know…
VMworld 2021 will be from October 5-7 and is on-line. You can register for free on VMworld.com.
Key Dates:
In addition to the General pass (which is free), a Tech+ Pass is available for $299/individual. If you are curious as to the differences, a comparison of the General and Tech+ passes is available.
vSphere 7 Upgrade Notes
I am hearing of two different issues that customers are running into with vSphere 7 upgrades and wanted to pass the info along.
Last week, VMware released information on a critical issue affecting Plug-ins on vCenter Server. VMware recommend customers patch or implement the workaround as soon as possible.
The vSphere Client (HTML5) contains a remote code execution vulnerability due to lack of input validation in multiple plug-ins in vCenter (some of which are enabled by default). VMware has evaluated the severity of this issue to be in the Critical severity range with a maximum CVSSv3 base score of 9.8. The full notice (including list of plug-ins) can be read at https://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2021-0010.html
This affects certain versions of vCenter Server (Windows and the VCSA alike). The work around is to disable the affected plug-ins in vCenter – KB 83829. This does impact management and is considered a short-term stop gap.
VMware with Tanzu – Live Learn Event
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Join this exclusive educational event to gain insight and discovery into VMware vSphere with Tanzu. You will get live training and information from VMware experts, who will take you through a curated and customized set of hands-on modules on vSphere with Tanzu. Participants who complete the modules and assessments will receive a certificate.
This vSphere with Tanzu live training event has been designed to help you learn the most critical components and modules in a way that is easy and accessible:
The Central Ohio VMware Users Group will meet virtually on April 27th, 2021 from 11am to 1pm 
To attend, register on Zoom.
The following products are nearing the End of General Support. You can find the full list on the VMware Lifecycle Product Matrix.
Horizon View / Workspace ONE
NSX
vSphere 7 Update 1 introduced the vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS). This change has abstracted the Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and High Availability (HA) functionality from vCenter. These functions are now controlled by a set of small virtual machines. You will not see them in the inventory view; but you may see them on a datastore or in other reports that show running VMs. These VMs are named vCLS – or vCLS(x). You don’t need to manage them; but it is good to understand what they are. You can read more on the YellowBricks blog.
When installing vSphere 7 on a number of older processors you may see a warning that this processor will be deprecated soon. The affected processors are all in or near End of Life or End of Support status by their respective manufacturers. You can see the full list of AMD & Intel CPUs in VMware KB 82794.
The vSphere 7 Security Configuration guide has been updated and is now available.
Not a developer but interested in learning more about Kubernetes? Check out Tanzu for the vSphere Admin. You can also check out a collection of Kubernetes & Cloud-Native books.
Welcome to the inaugural post in my Before I Forget series. I”ll be using this category to document bits of knowledge that I don’t want to lose. We all perform steps that are only needed once in a while; but when you need them – you really need them! I know they will help me. I hope they benefit others as well…
In this case, I figured out how to find the MAC Address of an errant device on my network using it’s IP Address. My Homelab uses a Dell PowerConnect 6248 at it’s core. It is an older; but quite serviceable switch.
I received an alert the other day that one of my Wireless APs had gone offline. I went through a few troubleshooting steps and found that while I could ping it’s statically assigned IP – it did not show up in the Ubiquiti management console. I restarted the device but it did not resolve the issue.
Obviously something was responding on that IP Address; but I didn’t know what it was. This particular subnet was wired-only, so I knew I could track it down. A seasoned network engineer I am not; but was able to figure it out within a few minutes.
Continue reading “Finding MAC Address of rogue IP on Dell PowerConnect”
I have finally setup a certificate authority in my lab and am working on replacing self-signed certs. This week I was working on my Horizon Connection server.
When you make changes to the SSL Certificate on your Horizon Connection Server(s), you may see an error message similar to this:
Server's certificate subject name does not match the server's External URL. Server's certificate is not trusted.
When you first install the Connection Server, it uses the hostname of the server as the “External URL”. If this does not match the URL you will publish for your users, a small change needs to be made in the configuration of the Connection Server.
Carbon Black Cloud Workload Essentials has a free trial through April 2021. You can get hands-on with the product and try it out in your environment without obligation. Get more information and sign up at https://www.carbonblack.com/workload-free-trial.
vCenter Server Internal Certificate Expiration – If your vCenter server (Appliance or Windows) was deployed as 6.5 Update 2 or later, the Security Token Service (STS) signing certificate may have a 2-year validity period. Depending on when your vCenter was deployed, this may be approaching that expiration date. There is no vCenter Alarm for this condition. I highly recommend you take a few minutes and check your environment and proactively replace the certificate if needed.
