An error occurred while connecting to depot.

Not long before I was working with one customer and their team reported that they are unable to update ESXi hosts to the latest image using lifecycle manager.

Being curious in nature I enquired as in what is the error they are getting?

They shared the error message " An error occurred while connecting to depot".

I suggested to check the connectivity to the VMware update sources from vCenter, check if there is any proxy configured, as in our usual suspects. But that didn't resolve the issue.

In this post I will explain what I did to help them fix their issue.

NSX-T backup is failing with error code:99

Backing up your VMware NSX-T Data Center (NSX-T) is an absolute must for any business that relies on a network virtualization platform. Focusing on this will help you ensure availability, recoverability and integrity of your system. 

Establishing a backup strategy that fits your business' needs is critical. This includes the frequency of backups, how long they are retained for & amp; ensuring that all storage practices follow necessary security regulations. To assure the effectiveness of your NSX-T backups, it is highly recommended to regularly check the restoration procedures. This will guaranteed the trustworthiness and dependability of your backup files.

Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 upgrade

In my previous post Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P5 we have have completed deployment of NSX-T with BGP routing.

Once NSX-T becomes operational, upgrading the product and keeping it at the latest is something we all have to do.

Hence in this post we will be covering NSX-T upgrade procedure.

First thing is to download the binaries for the upgrade from VMware customer connect portal.

We are currently running version 3.1 and we will be upgrading it to version 3.2. So lets start.

Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P5

In my previous post Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P4 we have have covered deployment Tier-0 Gateway and configuration of BGP for route re-distribution.

Now we have established north south connectivity. Its time we make provision for east west communication.

Based on design decisions and customer requirements you can connect overlay segments to Tier-0 Gateway or Tier-1 gateway. Both will work and machines connected to segments will be able to communicate.

But to keep up with the ever changing needs of technology and customers, its a good choice to go with Tier-1 gateway for your east-west communication. Not just that it has many other use cases.

Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P4

In my previous post Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P3 we have have covered deployment of edge nodes and adding them into an edge cluster.

Now our NSX-T datacenter is ready to host north south services. In order to facilitate north-south communication we need to deploy virtual router instances.

In NSX-T world these are called T0 and T1 routers.T1 routers are mainly responsible for east-west communication and T0 routers are responsible for north-south communication, this is the reason we call it a 2 tier architecture.

We are also going to follow 2 tier architecture in our deployment, this post is dedicated on deploying and configuring Tier-0 Gateway.

Step by step configuration of pfsense router part 2

In my previous post I covered deployment of pfSense virtual router, now in this post I will continue with the basic configuration which is needed for our nested lab to function as a real datacenter.

pfSense is a software-based routing solution that enables multiple virtual networks to be created on a single physical network. To configure a virtual router using pfsense, a popular open-source firewall platform, you can use the pfsense firewall GUI to create virtual network interfaces and assign them to different nested VLANs. This allows for the creation of distinct subnets with their own IP ranges and routing tables. Pfsense also supports gateway firewall functionality, which allows for fine-grained control over traffic flow between virtual networks and the Internet. Additionally, dynamic routing protocol BGP can be configured on pfsense to automate network topology discovery and route selection.

Step by step deployment of pfsense router part 1

In my homelab series I used CSR1000v router for providing layer 3 services, however that had a small issue speed.

So in order to address that challenge I started using pfSense community edition router which is free for home use.

Not only that it has firewall functionality with which you can actually restrict traffic between networks same as we do on our real datacenter.

In this post I am going to cover step by step deployment of pfsense router.

Designing VMware Cloud Foundation? Dont Forget to Consider These..

Building on VMware cloud foundation can be an exciting prospect. However, there are some challenges that architects need to take into consideration before making the jump.

Architects have a lot to consider when deciding whether or not to build the solution on the VMware cloud foundation. Some of the challenges include how much control you want over your environment, what type of workloads it will be running, and if you need to ensure high availability for your workloads. The two major advantages of using a VMware based solution are that it lowers the total cost of ownership and reduces complexity.

Below are the points which an Architects should consider while evaluating VMware Cloud Foundation, as it is a future ready solution and it will enable you to start your cloud first strategy with your own private cloud.

Upgrading NSX-T to version 3.2 getting error?

Recently I was helping one of the customer with the upgrade of NSX-T to version 3.2. Everything was going well until it wasn't.

Well when we reached to the point of upgrading NSX Manager we encountered an error which didnt make much sense as we upgraded edges and hosts using the the same image.

Error was " Download and verify bundle failed with msg: Failed to verify bundle: ['tar','f', '/var/vmware/nsx/file-store/VMware-NSX-unified-appliance-3.2.1.1.0.20115694.nub','--list'] returened 2: b'tar: This does not look like a tar archive\ntar: Exiting with failure status due to previous errors\n' More..."

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install decommision Host

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install Add Host we have added new host to our VMware cloud foundation inventory and then expanded an existing cluster.

Which helped us dealing with the scalability requirement of any SDDC, now its time we move forward with the next requirement of a DC which is removing a host out of cluster or decommissioning a host from the environment.

After we have learned how to remove a host from VMware cloud foundation environment we will move forward with upgrade of the same environment.

In this post I am going to cover removal of a host from existing cluster and decommissioning of the host from a VMware cloud foundation environment.