I recently had the incredible opportunity to attend VMware Explore 2023, and it was an enlightening journey into the future of digital transformation. This year’s event was brimming with innovative solutions and significant updates that left me excited about what’s coming next in the tech world.
Personal Insights
Attending VMware Explore 2023 was more than just an educational experience; it was a deep dive into the heart of innovation in MultiCloud. Each session and announcement was a glimpse into how technology can and will shape our future. From the in-depth discussions on cloud computing to the practical demonstrations of new software capabilities, every moment was an opportunity to learn and grow.
The band “Manic Street Preachers” performed at this year’s VMware Explore Party.
Czech friends
I really enjoyed spending time with you.
Looking Ahead
As I left VMware Explore 2023, I was filled with a sense of excitement and curiosity about the future of technology. With VMware leading the charge in innovation, the possibilities seem endless. I’m eager to see how these new developments will unfold in the real world, transforming how we interact with technology in our daily lives.
VMware Tanzu Application Engine: The announcement of this tech preview was a highlight. It’s an app-centric layer that brings operational governance and compliance to multi-cloud environments, offering self-service access for developers
Enhanced Multi-Cloud Cost Forecasting: The integration of VMware Tanzu Cost with CloudHealth is a game-changer for budget management and planning, leveraging machine learning for up to 36-month cost forecasting
Tanzu Developer Portal: This portal, based on the Backstage open source IDP project, is set to revolutionize collaboration and execution across enterprise software teams
VMware Tanzu Hub: A central platform for application delivery and multi-cloud management. The Tanzu Intelligent Assist, powered by AI, was particularly impressive for its ability to interpret natural language queries
Tanzu for Kubernetes Operations: This includes new visibility of cluster costs and a simplified installation process, enhancing the Kubernetes experience
VMware Tanzu Guardrails: This tool enhances visibility and aids in resolving governance issues across public cloud environments
Tanzu Application Platform Enhancements: These include a preconfigured developer environment and new DORA metrics plugin for tracking software delivery performance
VMware Tanzu Insights: AI-ML based insights for Kubernetes and multi-cloud environments are set to revolutionize issue resolution processes
VMware Tanzu Greenplum: This automated machine learning agent integrates data science into the command line, simplifying complex data tasks
VMware Cloud on AWS: The expanded regional availability and enterprise-grade cloud management capabilities caught my attention, signaling a stronger AWS collaboration
vSphere 8 Update 2 and vSphere+: This update is set to enhance operational efficiency and accelerate innovation for DevOps
Digital Employee Experience Enhancements: The integration of enhanced analysis and additional data sources in Workspace ONE Intelligence is a step forward in understanding and improving the digital employee experience
Next..
Hope to see you ALL next year 4.-7. November 2024 -> Fira Gran Via, Barcelona (Spain)
One more thing 🙂 Did you know that you can use emojit in Snapshot name?
This blog post encapsulates the significant updates and personal reflections from VMware Explore 2023, highlighting the event’s impact on the future of technology.
LAB for 2022 is ready. Last year the price of the energy go so high, that I must to turn off some of my servers. So they are not running 24×7 🙁 Usually I run 2x vCenters, NSX-T, VSAN, Cloud Director, vRO, vRLI, Tanzu, K8S etc.. and a lots of linux VM’s all for testing and learning purpose. Licenses I have are from vExpert and VMUG Advantage.
I updated NSX-T in my lab environment (more about the homelab here) from version 3.1.0 to 3.1.1 { more precisely from 3.1.0.0.0.17107157 to 3.1.1.0.0.17483185 }. And during the update I went through few issues, which I was able to solve 🙂 Learning curve go up ..
LAB for 2021 is ready. Last year new home DC building has been build. Usually I run 2x vCenters, NSX-T, NSX-V, VSAN, Cloud Director, vRO, vRLI etc.. and a lots of linux VM’s all for testing and learning purpose. Licenses I have are from vExpert and VMUG Advantage.
Upgrade to 9.7 is little bit more complicated, because you need to upgrade (if you are using it) PostgreSQL.
Step-by-step guide
Put vCloud Director + PostgreSQL DB vm’s into maintenance in monitoring system.
SSH to vCloud VM and shutdown services:
/etc/init.d/vmware-vcd stop
Start nginx or apache to show temporary web page (this needs to be configured ahead). It’s just for cases, that users are trying to connect and you don’t want to have a lot of calls/tickets why the vCloud is not running/etc/init.d/nginx start
/usr/pgsql-10/bin/pg_upgrade –old-datadir /var/lib/pgsql/9.6/data/ –new-datadir /var/lib/pgsql/10/data/ –old-bindir /usr/pgsql-9.6/bin/ –new-bindir /usr/pgsql-10/bin/
change /var/lib/pgsql/10/data/pg_hba.conf same as /var/lib/pgsql/9.6/data/pg_hba.conf
# TYPE DATABASE USER ADDRESS METHOD
# “local” is for Unix domain socket connections only
local all all trust
# IPv4 local connections:
host all all 127.0.0.1/32 trust
# IPv6 local connections:
host all all ::1/128 trust
# Allow replication connections from localhost, by a user with the
# replication privilege.
#local replication all trust
#host replication all 127.0.0.1/32 trust
#host replication all ::1/128 trust
host all all 0.0.0.0/0 md5
vi /var/lib/pgsql/10/data/postgresql.conf
listen_addresses = ‘*’
Disable PostgreSQL 9.6 and enable and start PostgreSQL 10
su postgres
./analyze_new_cluster.sh
./delete_old_cluster.sh
Remove old PostgreSQL service
yum remove postgresql96-server
Check that vcloud DB user is owner of the DB in the postgress!!
su postgres
psql #list DB’s \l
if not change owner of DB “vcloud” to user “vcloud” :ALTER DATABASE vcloud OWNER TO vcloud;
\l
\q
optional you can do second DB backup on new PostgreSQL version pg_dump vcloud > /var/lib/pgsql/vcloud-backup_pg10_20190505.sql
upgrade vCloud to 9.7
Upload new version/patch to vCloud VM ( ./vmware-vcloud-director-distribution-9.7.0-14535248.bin )
ensure that file is executable +x flag chmod a+x vmware-vcloud-director-distribution-9.7.0-14535248.bin
Run the installation bin file ./vmware-vcloud-director-distribution-9.7.0-14535248.bin
run upgrade script /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/upgrade
Dont start vCloudDriector services after upgrade DB. Manually started Nginx is running! /etc/init.d/nginx stop
/etc/init.d/vmware-vcd start
Checking free disk space…doneChecking for a supported Linux distribution…Detected CentOS7 systemdoneChecking for necessary RPM prerequisites…doneExtracting VMware vCloud Director. Please wait, this could take a few minutes…vmware-vcloud-director-25.2019.09.12-14636284.x86_64.rpmvmware-vcloud-director-rhel-25.2019.09.12-14636284.x86_64.rpmvmware-vcloud-director-h5ui-25.2019.09.12-14636284.x86_64.rpmvmware-phonehome-1.0.0-14574960.noarch.rpmdoneVerifying RPM signatures…doneAn older version of VMware vCloud Director has been detected and will beupgraded to 10.0.0.If you choose to proceed, the installer will stop the vmware-vcd service,back up any configuration files from the previous release and migrate theproduct configuration as necessary.
Would you like to upgrade now? (y/n)? y
Upgrading VMware vCloud Director…
Installing the VMware vCloud Director 10.0.0 RPM…
warning: vmware-vcloud-director-25.2019.09.12-14636284.x86_64.rpm: Header V3 RSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 66fd4949 : NOKEY
Preparing… ################################# [100%]
Updating / installing…
1:vmware-vcloud-director-rhel-25.20################################# [ 13%]
2:vmware-vcloud-director-25.2019.09warning: /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/etc/global.properties created as /opt /vmware/vcloud-director/etc/global.properties.rpmnew
################################# [ 25%]
3:vmware-vcloud-director-h5ui-25.20################################# [ 38%]
4:vmware-phonehome-1.0.0-14574960 ################################# [ 50%]
Cleaning up / removing…
5:vmware-phonehome-1.0.0-12611311 ################################# [ 63%]
6:vmware-vcloud-director-h5ui-24.20################################# [ 75%]
7:vmware-vcloud-director-24.2019.03################################# [ 88%]
Update completed.
8:vmware-vcloud-director-rhel-24.20################################# [100%]
done
No DSA certificates found; disabling DSA ciphers for SSL/TLS connections. See KB 2056026 for details
Upgrade installation complete.
Next steps:
You will need to upgrade the database schema before starting the
vmware-vcd service. The product upgrade tool should be run only once per
vCloud Director group. The tool may be run with the following command:
/opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/upgradeRun upgrade script
Run upgrade script /opt/vmware/vcloud-director/bin/upgrade
Welcome to the vCloud Director upgrade utility
Verify that you have a valid license key to use the version of the
vCloud Director software to which you are upgrading.
This utility will apply several updates to the database. Please
ensure you have created a backup of your database prior to continuing.
Do you wish to upgrade the product now? [Y/N] y
Examining database at URL: jdbc:postgresql://Postgre-DB.lab:5432/vcloud?socketTimeout=90
The next step in the upgrade process will change the vCloud Director database schema.
Backup your database now using the tools provided by your database vendor.
Enter [Y] after the backup is complete. y
Running 5 upgrade tasks
Executing upgrade task:
Successfully ran upgrade task
Executing upgrade task:
Successfully ran upgrade task
Executing upgrade task:
Successfully ran upgrade task
Executing upgrade task:
……………./Successfully ran upgrade task
Executing upgrade task:
……………[15]
Successfully ran upgrade task
Database upgrade complete
Upgrade complete
Would you like to start the vCloud Director service now? If you choose not
to start it now, you can manually start it at any time using this command:
service vmware-vcd start
Start it now? [y/n] y
Starting vmware-vcd-watchdog: [ OK ]
Starting vmware-vcd-cell [ OK ]