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New vSphere 6.0 APIs for VSAN, VVOLs, NFS v4.1 & more!

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vSphere 6.0 includes a number of new storage platform capabilities and new features which includes VSAN 6.0, VVOLS and NFS v4.1 to just name a few. For those of you who are interested in consuming these new capabilities programmatically for Automation, here are some of the new vSphere 6.0 APIs to be aware of from a Storage stand point.

Generic Storage Sub-System

  • HostStorageSystem (Existing Managed Object)
    • Methods to manage and configure NFS v4.1
      • ChangeNFSUserPassword
      • ClearNFSUser
      • QueryNFSUser
      • SetNFSUser
    • Methods to mark a Disk device either Local or Remote
      • MarkAsLocal_Task
      • MarkAsNonLocal_Task
    • Methods to mark a Disk device as either an SSD or Magnetic Disk
      • MarkAsNonSsd_Task
      • MarkAsSsd_Task
    • Methods to turn On or Off the LED for supported Disk devices
      • TurnDiskLocatorLedOn_Task
      • TurnDiskLocatorLedOff_Task
    • Method to issue VAAI UNMAP operation
      • UnmapVmfsVolumeEx_Task
VSAN 6.0
  • VsanUpgradeSystem (New Managed Object) - Methods to upgrade to the new VSAN 6.0 on-disk format
    • PerformVsanUpgrade_Task
    • PerformVsanUpgradePreflightCheck
    • QueryVsanUpgradeStatus
  • HostVsanInternalSystem (Existing Managed Object) - Methods to query & upgrade VSAN Objects
    • QueryVsanObjectUuidsByFilter
    • UpgradeVsanObjects
  • HostVsanSystem (Existing Managed Object) - Methods to manage VSAN Node and disks
    • EvacuateVsanNode_Task
    • RecommissionVsanNode_Task
    • UnmountDiskMapping_Task
  • ComputeResource (Existing Managed Object)
    • faultDomainInfo - New Property to configure Fault Domains
VVOL
  • HostDatastoreSystem (Existing Managed Object) - Methods to create and delete VVOL Datastores
    • CreateVvolDatastore
    • RemoveDatastoreEx_Task

Completely automating vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 5.5 Configurations

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As promised, here is a new script called configureVCSA55.sh that I have put together after learning about a couple new VCSA automation tips here and here. This script will fully automate the configuration of a vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 5.5 and once the script has completed, you will have a fully functional vCenter Server Appliance. There are several variables at the top of the script that you will want to edit prior to running the script.

Here is a summary of the high level operations the script is performing and not all operations will be performed, it will depend on the variables that you have configured.

  • Accept EULA
  • vSphere Inventory Size Configuration
  • Active Directory Configuration (optional)
  • DNS Search Domain Configuration
  • NTP Configuration
  • vCenter Server Database Configuration
  • vSphere SSO Configuration
  • vSphere SSO Identity Source Configuration for Active Directory (optional)
  • Active Directory default Identity Source Configuration (optional)
  • VMware Telemtry Configuration (optional)

To run the script, you can either SCP the script to a newly deployed VCSA and run it locally in the shell or remotely via SSH using the following command:

ssh root@[VC-IP] < configureVCSA55.sh

completely-automate-configuration-vcsa55.0
I almost never go through a manual configuration of the VCSA anymore (since 5.0) as it just takes way too long! Hopefully you will find this script handy when needing to quickly test something or automating the deployment of a few dozen VCSA which I know of a few customers that are doing on a regular basis 🙂

Quick Tip - Automate JVM Heap configurations after increasing VCSA memory

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If you are using the VCSA (vCenter Server Appliance) and you wish to increase the VM memory settings to one of the three supported memory configurations: 8-16GB, 24GB & 32GB, there is on additional configuration change before the new memory configuration can take effect. This change is adjusting the JVM Heap memory settings for the following vCenter Server Services: vSphere Web Client, Inventory Service and SPS (vSphere Profile-Driven Storage). If you would like to do this from the UI, you can access the VCSA's VAMI interface and under vCenter Server->Services tab, there is a "Inventory Size" toggle that you will need to set based on your VCSA's configured memory. Once you have save the settings, you will need to restart the vCenter Server for the changes to take effect.

increase_memory_on_vcsa
Note: The text in the VAMI states that the appliance requires at least 16GB of RAM for a Medium configuration which is actually incorrect, it should actually say 24GB for Medium configuration. The correct supported VCSA memory configuration maximum can be found here.

The UI is great but what if you wish to automate this change? This is especially handy if you have already automated the memory increase for the VCSA itself. Luckily, we can turn to our handy vpxd_servicefg command which supports modifying the JVM Memory based on the three supported vSphere Inventory Sizes. Below is the chart with the respective Inventory Size and command to issue within the VCSA. The parameters reflect the JVM Heap configurations for the vSphere Web Client, Inventory Service and SPS (vSphere Profile-Driven Storage).

Inventory Size VCSA Memory Command
Small 8-16GB /usr/sbin/vpxd_servicecfg 'jvm-max-heap' 'write' '512' '3072' '1024'
Medium 24GB /usr/sbin/vpxd_servicecfg 'jvm-max-heap' 'write' '512' '6144' '2048'
Large 32GB /usr/sbin/vpxd_servicecfg 'jvm-max-heap' 'write' '1024' '12288' '4096'
Once the command has successfully completed, you can refresh the VCSA VAMI interface and you should see the appropriate size has been configured. For the changes to take effect, you will need to restart the vCenter Service by issuing one of the following commands:

/usr/sbin/vpxd_servicecfg service restart

or

/etc/init.d/vmware-vpxd restart