WilliamLam.com

Using NSX-T Policy API to retrieve the Routing Table in VMC

by // Leave a Comment

When configuring connectivity from your on-premises environment to your VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) NSX-T SDDC, you can either use a Direct Connect (DX) or a Route/Policy-based VPN. During the configuration, it can really be useful to have insights into the network routing table, especially if you need to verify a specific route or for general network debugging. Today, the NSX-T routing table in VMC is not currently available in the Network and Security UI, however this information can be retrieved using the NSX-T Policy API, which I have written about quite extensively here, here, here and here.

The NSX-T routing table can be retrieved by performing a GET operation on /policy/api/v1/infra/tier-0s/vmc/routing-table?enforcement_point_path=/infra/sites/default/enforcement-points/vmc-enforcementpoint By default, you will get the entire routing table, but you also filter out specific route sources such as BGP, Static or Connected routes by appending the following query parameter to the request URL ?route_source={BGP,CONNECTED,STATIC}

To demonstrate how this API works, I have created a new function in my VMC NSX-T PowerShell Module as well as a quick shell script sample using cURL.

For PowerShell/PowerCLI users, I have a new Get-NSXTRouteTable function which will list the entire routing table by default as shown in the screenshot below.


You can also filter on a specific route source such as BGP, CONNECTED or STATIC routes by simply providing the -RouteSource argument and the route source type. In the screenshot below, I am only interested in the BGP routes.


Here is the output when running the list_vmc_nsxt_route_table.sh script which requires a valid CSP Refresh Token, OrgId and SDDCId

PowerShell for PhotonOS on Raspberry Pi 3

by // 4 Comments

Did you know VMware PhotonOS can also run on a Raspberry Pi (rPI) 3? I definitely did not until recently when I found out the latest 3.0 version also had an image for the rPI. This is great for anyone who is already familiar with PhotonOS and wish to run it in an even smaller form factor such as an rPI. There are definitely some interesting use cases for an rPI such as a tiny management host, troubleshooting tool for consultants or even a quick PowerShell/PowerCLI host that contains some basic tools and scripts which you can quickly access.

I was definitely interested in getting PowerShell and PowerCLI running on top PhotonOS on the rPI. Although you can already run PowerShell on an rPI using the Raspbian OS, the current distribution from Microsoft is actually only 32-Bit, which is a problem for PhotonOS as it is a 64-Bit OS. I was about to give up but while browsing the Microsoft PowerShell repo, I came across their upcoming PowerShell 6.2.0 (Preview) release which now looks to include a 64-Bit ARM build, which is exactly what I needed. For PowerCLI, although I was able to get the modules loaded, I was not able to connect to a vCenter Server or ESXi endpoint, you can find more details at the bottom of this post.

Below are the instructions for installing PhotonOS on the rPI and getting PowerShell setup:

Step 1 - Download and install the Etcher tool which will be used to flash our rPI

Step 2 - Download and install PhotonOS 3.0 RC rPI image using Etcher


Once PhotonOS has been installed, you can login (default credentials are root/changeme) and we now have PhotonOS running on our rPI!


Next we will install PowerShell as well as the latest PowerCLI modules.
[Read more...]

Automating Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) configuration using vSphere API and PowerCLI

by // 2 Comments

After publishing my recent article on the new the vSphere Health capability which takes advantage of VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), I had a couple of folks reach out asking how their customers could check whether CEIP is enabled for a given vCenter Server and if not, how to enable it using Automation. For one of these customers, they had over 25+ vCenter Server, so they were not interested in doing this by hand and nor should they.

For those interested in the vSphere UI, the CEIP settings is configured in the Administration menu under the Deployment section as shown in the screenshot below.


We can also manage the CEIP settings programmatically using vSphere API and this is controlled by an Advanced vCenter Server setting called VirtualCenter.DataCollector.ConsentData. The value of this property is actually a JSON payload as you can see in the screenshot below and when updating this property, we need to update both the change version as well as whether we want CEIP enabled or disabled for a given vCenter Server.

[Read more...]