VSAN – Page 31

VSAN Management 6.2 API Quick Reference

05.31.2016 by William Lam // 2 Comments

With the release of VSAN 6.2 (vSphere 6.0 Update 2), a new VSAN Management API has been introduced which covers all aspects of VSAN functionality including: complete lifecycle (install, upgrade, patch), monitoring (including VSAN Observer capabilities), configuration and troubleshooting. Although there is a well documented VSAN Management API Reference Guide which you can navigate around, I personally find it useful to be able to have a quick reference to all the APIs in on place which I can easily search and reference. This is especially true when I am learning about a new API.

With that, I have created a "Quick Reference" of the new VSAN 6.2 Management API. You can find a screenshot below as well as the direct link to the quick reference. I used Draw.io to create the diagram but it is not just a static image of all the new Managed Objects and their respective methods, but each API method also links back to the VSAN Management API Reference Guide and best of all, because it is in HTML, you can easily search in the quick reference itself.

I initially had created this for myself, but I figure that others could also benefit. I am curious if others find this useful and whether we should have something like this as part of the official VSAN Management API Reference Guide?

VSAN Management 6.2 API Quick Reference: https://s3.amazonaws.com/virtuallyghetto-download/vsanapi.html

Getting started with the new VSAN 6.2 Management API

03.17.2016 by William Lam // 4 Comments

As I have previously written, with the release of VSAN 6.2 (vSphere 6.0 Update 2), a new VSAN Management API has been introduced which allows developers, partners and administrators to automate all aspects of VSAN functionality including: complete lifecycle (install, upgrade, patch), monitoring (including RVC and VSAN Observer capabilities), configuration and troubleshooting. Simply put, anything that you can do from the vSphere Web Client UI or the RVC CLI from a VSAN standpoint, you will be able to completely automate using one of the four new VSAN Management SDKs: Python, Ruby, Java and C#.

In this article, I will show you how to quickly get started with the new VSAN Management API by exercising two of the VSAN Management SDKs: Python and Ruby. Another must bookmark is the VSAN Management API Reference Guide which provides more details on the individual APIs and how they work.

Step 1 - Download the VSAN Management SDK of your choice. You can find the VSAN Management SDK downloads in either of two locations:

VMware Developer Center, under the SDK tab
vSphere Download page under Automation Tools & SDK(s) Tab

In this example, I will be using the VSAN Management for Python and Ruby.

Step 2 - Extract the VSAN Management SDK zip file which should give you a directory that contains a README on how to setup the SDK and three folders as shown in the screenshot below:

The bindings directory contains the language specific library to the VSAN Management API. The docs folder contains the offline copy of the VSAN Management API Reference Guide and lastly the sample directory contains a basic sample to connect to VSAN Cluster as well as an individual ESXi host contributing to a VSAN Cluster.

Step 3 - Each of the VSAN Management SDKs extends the existing vSphere Management SDKs. This means that you will need to have the appropriate vSphere Management SDK installed on your system before you can proceed further. In our example, Python requires pyvmomi (vSphere SDK for Python) and Ruby requires rbvmomi (vSphere SDK for Ruby). If you are on Mac OS X, it is pretty easy to install these packages. Make sure you are running the latest version of these SDKs.

Installing pyvmomi:

pip install pyvmomi

Upgrading pyvmomi: (if you already have it installed)

pip install --upgrade pyvmomi

Installing rbvmomi:

gem install rbvmomi

Step 4 - Copy the VSAN Management SDK library file over to the samples directory.

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Python:

cp bindings/vsanmgmtObjects.py samplecode/

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Ruby:

cp bindings/vsanmgmt.api.rb samplecode/

Step 5 - At this point, we can quickly verify that everything was setup correctly by going into the samplecode directory and then run one of the following commands below. If everything is working as expected, then you should see the usage information being printed out. If you do not, the issue is most likely with vSphere Management SDK either not being the latest version or not configured in the default library path for the sample to access.

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Python:

python vsanapisamples.py

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Ruby:

ruby vsanapisamples.rb

Step 6 - Now that we have verified our VSAN Management SDK installation was successful, we can now connect to a real VSAN Cluster. To do so, run the following command and specify your vCenter Server along with the credentials as well as the name of the VSAN Cluster. If successful, you should see the status for each of your VSAN hosts and its current state as seen in the screenshot below.

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Python:

python vsanapisamples.py -s 192.168.1.139 -u '*protected email*' -p 'VMware1!' --cluster VSAN-Cluster

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Ruby:

ruby vsanapisamples.rb -o 192.168.1.139 -u '*protected email*' -k -p 'VMware1!' VSAN-Cluster

Step 7 - Each individual ESXi hosts that participate in the VSAN Cluster also exposes an VSAN Management API endpoint. We can use this exact same sample to connect to one of the hosts to get some additional information. To do so, run the following command and specify your ESXi hosts along with the credentials.

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Python:

python vsanapisamples.py -s 192.168.1.190 -u root -p vmware123

VSAN Mgmt SDK for Ruby:

ruby vsanapisamples.rb -o 192.168.1.190 -u root -p vmware123

As you can see, it is pretty straight forward on getting the new VSAN Management SDK up and running. The provided sample only scratches the surface of what is possible and for a complete list of capabilities within the new VSAN Management API, be sure to check out the VSAN Management API Reference document for more information. I am really looking forward to seeing what solutions our customers and partners develop using this new API. If you would like to contribute code samples back to the community or just find new samples be sure to check out the VMware Developer Center Sample Exchange.

Adding custom VSAN BIOS splash screen to the Intel NUC

03.06.2016 by William Lam // 5 Comments

One of the last things I wanted to look into after setting up my new VSAN 6.2 home lab on the new 6th Gen Intel NUC was to add a custom BIOS splash screen giving my system a personal touch. Updating the BIOS splash screen would require flashing the BIOS itself which gave me some concerns after hearing about the BIOS v33 issue in which the M.2 slot would no longer be detected after the update. Although there was a simple workaround after the update, I still wanted to be cautious. Over the weekend I had noticed that Intel had released BIOS v36 for the Intel NUC which resolved the M.2 issue among a few others. I decided to give it a shot and hope that I that I do not brick my NUC.

I am happy to say that I was successful in updating to the latest Intel NUC BIOS and as you can see from the screenshot below, I was also able to replace the default Intel BIOS splash screen with a Captain VSAN BIOS splash screen (TV is 46" for those wondering) 🙂

The process for building and customizing your Intel NUC BIOS is relatively straight forward but because I waited until after I had everything installed, it ended up being a bit more work than I had hoped. To customize your BIOS, Intel provides a Microsoft Windows only utility called Intel Integrator Toolkit. The easiest way to build and update your BIOS is to initially start off by installing Microsoft Windows on the Intel NUC itself which then allows you to easily flash the BIOS using the executable that is generated from the toolkit. Since I had already consumed both of my SSDs for VMware VSAN and Microsoft Windows does not allow you to install its OS directly onto a USB device, I had to use this method here to install a bootable version of Microsoft Windows onto the USB device since I did not want to blow away my VSAN setup.

OK, so now onto the cool stuff. Below are the instructions on how to build and customize your BIOS for the Intel NUC. If you would like to use the exact same BIOS splash screen as well as update to the latest BIOS v36 and do not want to go through the hassle, I have made my custom VSAN BIOS image available here. You just need to download the executable and run it on the Intel NUC itself which must be running Microsoft Windows (I used 8.1) and then follow the screens on flashing your BIOS.

Step 1 - Download the following two packages and transfer them to Microsoft Windows image running on your NUC:

Step 2 - Install the Intel Integrator Toolkit and then start the program

Step 3 - Select the "Customize a BIOS file" option and load either the custom VSAN BIOS image which I have made available here OR load the NUC BIOS v36 file you had downloaded earlier.

Step 4 - In the lower left hand corner, browse for the graphic image that you wish to use for your BIOS splash screen (images with black background works the best). For those interested, you can find the Captain VSAN image that I had used here. The tool actually supports several image formats in addition to the default BMP such as JPEG and PNG, you just need to change the extension type. There is a size limitation, but the nice thing about the tool is that there is an option to compress the image when it detects it is too large. Make sure to change the image for the four different options by clicking on the drop down wizard. I thought I only had to replace the first image but it looks like other versions of the splash screen is also used and it is best to just replace them all. You also have the option of changing other default settings in the BIOS, feel free to click on the tooltip for details on each of the options.

Step 5 - Once you are done customizing your BIOS, you will then save your changes and the tool will produce a single Windows executable (SY0036.exe) which you will run on the NUC itself to flash the BIOS. You will be prompted with a couple of questions and once the process begins, it will restart and you will need to confirm one more time before the imaging process starts. If everything was successful, you should now see a new BIOS splash screen replacing the default Intel image. There is a good chance you may go through this process a few times depending if you are happy with the splash screen display. I think it took me about three tries. Hope this helps anyone looking to add that personal touch to their home lab!