vSphere Data Protection End of Availability

VMware has announced the EOA (End of Availability) for thier vSphere Data Protection (VDP) product.

This means that if you are using this product, you may want to start planning for third-party product.

VMware vSphere 6.5 will be the last version to include VDP.

Dell EMC is offering a complimentary migration to Dell EMC Avamar Virtual Edition for VDP Customers with 3 years free AVE licensing up to 4TB of data (Maintenance costs continous to apply). Offer until October 15, 2017.

For more info: https://www.emc.com/en-us/microsites/offer-programs/vdp-eoa.htm

Logs loading Issue SPINTIRES

For those of you who are encountering the logs loading issue on Spintires Game, i.e. can't pick up log from the logs kiosk or cannot load up logs from the lumber yard, here's the workaround I did:

Logs Kiosk Bug

Two red indicator dots should appear on the spawned log when trying to pick up the log with the crane. With the bug the indicator dots does not appear.

The spawned log also appears to be immovable when trying to lift it with the crane.

Lumber Yard Bug

While trying to load up logs in the lumber yard, the Load up button is disabled making loading logs on the truck impossible.

Logs Issue Workaround

Here are the workaround I did to fix these issues:

1. Navigate to Spintires installation folder > Media > classes > models and locate the following files:

2. Back-up these files then remove/delete them from the models folder.

3. Load the Spintires game then try again.

After removing those files, you should be able to load logs without problems.

Logs Kiosk Fix

Lumber Yard Fix

This is just a workaround, if you have better idea/fix, you leave a comment below. Enjoy!!!

FAS2650 Console port speed settings

NetApp has launched FAS26XX series. For all those of you having issues connecting to the Micro-USB console port, you need to set the speed setting on your terminal emulator program (i.e. putty). For the FAS26XX the speed setting: 115,200 Baud with N-8-1. The speed setting can be found on the Installation and Setup Instructions.

Steps to unfail a disk in maintenance mode.

The “disk unfail” command in maintenance mode is different from normal mode. The normal mode “disk unfail” clears the disk’s failure bytes and Failed Disk Registry (FDR) entry while in maintenance mode, only the failure bytes is cleared. The disk’s FDR entry should be also be removed.

NOTE: If a disk has failed due to normal wear and tear (not admin failed), the disk should be replaced (RMA).

Procedure on unfailing a disk in maintenance mode:

1.  Run “disk unfail” command to clear the failure bytes. 
   
   
   
2.  Remove the disk from the Failed DiskRegistry (FDR).
• Run "raid_config info showfdr" to view the Failed disk registry.
• Run “raid_config info deletefdr” to remove it from the failed entry.
  

RDB RIngs in CDOT

A couple of years ago, I took up NetAppU introductory classes for CDOT in Singapore. Back then, there were 4 RDB units. Upon release of  CDOT 8.3 version a fifth RDB unit was introduced.

NetApp's Clustered Data ONTap (CDOT) replicates the configuration information, called RDB units, of each node to other nodes in the cluster. These RDB (Replicated Database) units does not contain user data but only data for managing the entire cluster.

Each RDB units are replicated to each node separately using cluster replication rings via the cluster network interconnect (cluster network).

The 5 RDB Units are: MGWD, VLDB, vifmgr, BCOMd, and the latest CRS.

The original 4 RDB units are: MGWD, VLDB, vifmgr and BCOMd. The fifth and latest addition, called the CRS (Configuration Replication Services), is used for CDOT 8.3's support for MetroCluster.

Replicated Database (RDB) Cluster Rings

• MGWD (Management Gateway Daemon), also known as Management Application, contains the configuration or the management data of the entire cluster. the MGWD provides the CLI.
• VLDB (Volume Location Database) contains information of volumes and aggregates througout the entire cluster. the VLDB content is cached in memory of each node.
• Vifmgr (Virtual Interface Manager) is responsible for creating and monitoring NFS, CIFS and iSCSI LIFs (yep! You read that right). It handles NAS LIFs' failover and migration.
• BCOMd (Blocks Configuration and Operations Management Daemon), read as bee-kom-dee, also known as the SAN Management Daemon, contains the SAN configuration of the cluster such as: LUN mappings and initiator groups (igroup).
• CRS (Configuration Replication Services) exists only in MetroCluster configurations. Non-MetroCluster configurations only have four (4) RDB units.

To view the status of the RDB replication rings, use the "cluster ring show" command.

Cluster Ring Show