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Why does Proxy access logs show requests for http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt?

Q: Why does my ProxySG access logs show many requests for http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt?

A: Windows Vista and 7 system includes a Network Connectivity Status Indicator (NCSI) check. What this workstation will do is make a request for http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt . If the OS gets a response, then it assumes that the PC has internet connectivity. If it cannot reach http://www.msftncsi.com/ncsi.txt, then the OS will assume that internet connectivity is down.

Turn on BIND server logging to see queries

Q. How do I turn on DNS server logging so that I can see all the queries on my Fedora 14 server?

A. You can use the rndc command which controls the operation of a name server. It supersedes the ndc utility that was provided in old BIND releases. If rndc is invoked with no command line options or arguments, it prints a short summary of the supported commands and the available options and their arguments.

rndc communicates with the name server over a TCP connection, sending commands authenticated with digital signatures.

Task: Turn no logging

Type the following command as root to toggle query logging:
# rndc querylog

Task: View bind server query log

Once this is done, you can view all logged queries using /var/log/messages file. To view those queries, type:
# tail -f /var/log/messages

Task: Turn off logging

Type the following command as root to toggle query logging:
# rndc querylog

How do I know if VAAI is enabled on ESX/ESXi?

To determine if VAAI is enabled within ESX/ESXi:

  • In the vSphere Client inventory panel, select the host.
  • Click the Configuration tab, and click Advanced Settings under Software.
  • Check that these options are set to 1 (enabled):
DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedMove
DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedInit

VMFS3/HardwareAcceleratedLocking

Note: These options are enabled by default.

To determine if VAAI is enabled service console in ESX or the RCLI in ESXi, run the following commands and ensure that the value is 1:

# esxcfg-advcfg -g /DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedMove
# esxcfg-advcfg -g /DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedInit
# esxcfg-advcfg -g /VMFS3/HardwareAcceleratedLocking

Can I check the VAAI status from the command line?
To check VAAI status, run the command:

# esxcfg-scsidevs -l | egrep “Display Name:|VAAI Status:”

EVAPERF “Access to the host was NOT verified

Sometimes I get the “nice” message from EVAperf, when adding a new CV/EVA host to the access list:

c:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packerd\EVA Performance Monitor>evaperf fnh 127.0.0.1 <username>
Access to the host was NOT verified
Host: 127.0.0.1 not added to the list

This also goes when changing 127.0.0.1 to localhost or the IP address of the host.

Turns out that the fqn of the host fixes this issue.

EVA VAAI compliant?

Question that are thrown to me are:

Is the EVA VAAI compliant?
The EVA will be “vStorage APIs for Array Integration” (in short VAAI) compliant. It is NOT compliant at the moment.

Will it be in the next firmware release. Probably NOT.

The next… Probably YES. So we will have to wait, but until then the EVA should be fast enough by it’s own.

More information when available.

Quick install applications

Also getting tiered of over and over installing applications that you need of want in new installations (like Google Chrome, Java, etc…)

Take a look at http://ninite.com

Select the applications from the list you want to install. You will get a downloadable executable, that will fully automatically install the chosen apps. Versions you already installed by hand will be skipped.

A “Poor man’s SAN” for ESX vSphere with VSA

Just thinking on how to make a “Poor man’s SAN” I came across this this idear:

Take 2 servers with enough disk space available and the ability to expand when needed. Install on both systems ESXi vSphere. With this installed, create on your ESX hosts VM’s with the VSA you can buy from HP.
The VSA is the same software that is running on the P4000 from HP, but now running inside your vSphere environment. The licenses go up to 10TB.
Doing so on both ESX hosts you can setup you SAN/iQ management environment and also your (first) cluster.

Make sure you have enough managers running to keep your data available in case one of your ESX hosts dies.

Now you have created your own iSCSI “P4000” like SAN. You can now connect to it from your production ESX vSphere environment.

One thing. Support from HP is NOT included.
(drawing will follow)

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