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.

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

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRNI we have completed deployment of vRealize network insight using vRealize lifecycle manager in a VMware cloud foundation environment.

Which was the last product we deployed to make it a complete software defined datacenter (Software Defined Compute, Software Defined Storage and Software Defined Network).

Next thing in the agenda should be scalability of the VMware cloud foundation environment. When I say scalable it covers both vertical and horizontal growth of DC.

In this post I am going to cover expansion of VMware cloud foundation cluster by adding additional host in the inventory and then add it to the required cluster.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRNI

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRNI Binaries we have uploaded vrealize network insight binaries to the local repository which has enabled us for deployment of vRealize network insight.

As we have already discussed in our previous post that vRealize network insight is not a part of VMware cloud foundation bill of material. Its deployment is a little bit different from other vRealize suite products.

In this post we will be discussing how to deploy vRNI and how this deployment is different from other vRealize suite products. This is not the last product which can be integrated with VMware cloud foundation, this is the last product I am going to cover in this VCF design and deploy series.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRNI Binaries

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRA we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize Automation, now only network monitoring part is left in our true sddc environment.

Well monitoring is very important for running anything efficiently. For virtual environment we have enabled monitoring with vRealize operations manager and in integration with vRealize log insight which takes care of logs management.

Not only compute and storage, but network is also virtualized with the help of NSX-T and needs to be monitored.

Now in order to monitor networking we need a solution, and VMware offers vRNI as a network monitoring tool, which not only monitors software defined networking but also extends monitoring ability for physical network devices all at one place.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRA

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRLI we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize log insight, now we are ready to start deployment of vRealize Automation aka vRA.

When we talk about a true SDDC, its incomplete without automation layer. With the pace IT is evolving, actions from IT can not take days, if it does than it can not satisfy the need of  business, and if it can not be an enabling unit then may be IT wouldn't be needed. Visionaries already anticipated it. Solution was to automate day2day tasks which reduces delivery time significantly. Not only that, reactive approach reduces action taken on an incident which helps in better operations. Now due to automation most of the manual tasks will not need human resources, same resources can be utilized in innovation.

People initially thought automation will result in loss of jobs, however it presented with other opportunities. 

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRLI

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vROPS we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize operations manager, now we are ready to start deployment of vRealize log insight solution aka vRLI.

In order to proceed further in our journey of a complete software defined datacenter stack, we need to incorporate products and solutions which fulfills certain needs of the SDDC. So far we have added the capability of self driving operations with VMware vRealize operations manager. What we still lack is a solution with which we can do our logs management. In every organization we have compliance requirements which includes keeping logs available for a certain amount of time (Long term archival). In this post we will be adding that capability to our SDDC.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vROPS

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install WSA we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize workspace one access, now we are ready to start deployment of vRealize operations manager aka vROPs.

Its very important we understand that flow, first we installed vRealize lifecycle manager, did a repository sync and created a global environment for workspace one access. Workspace one access will deliver identity and access management in VMware cloud foundation environment, as it is installed in a cross region nsx segment we can leverage it on each site which is part of same VCF deployment.

But before we start discussing how we are going to consume these services, we should complete the deployment of vRealize suite components. Next in line is vRealize operations manager.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install WSA

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install VRLCM we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize lifecycle manager, as explained in my previous post in order to install vRealize components in a VMware cloud foundation environment we need vRLCM.

If you go to vRealize tab on  SDDC manager before installing vRLCM you will get a clear message as in you need to deploy it before you can deploy other vRealize suite products.

As shown in the image below. Once vRLCM is deployed we start vRealize suite deployment with workspace one access.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install VRLCM

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install AVNs we have completed deployment of application virtual networks, where we will be hosting our vRealize suite products. As VMware Cloud Foundation is the private cloud it would be incomplete without automation, logs management, operations management. That's where vRealize suite comes in picture. 

Before we talk about vRealize suite, we need to be aware of the life cycle management. Not only in IT lifecycle management plays an important role. knowingly or unknowingly we do it in our day to day life.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install AVNs

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install Edge Nodes we completed deployment of edge node cluster in VMware cloud foundation management domain and successfully deployed T0 and T1 router instance for dynamic routing. For dynamic routing we used BGP in real world deployment your network team will enable BGP on uplink devices, however if you are doing it in LAB then you need to enable BGP on your uplink router which would be in our case CSR1000v. Please refer to my post where I have enabled it on our virtual router. 

Now as we are advancing with the deployment its time we create AVNs for hosting vRealize components. As each component will be placed on a AVN based on its usage and compliant with VMware Validated Designs.

I have already talked about VMware validated designs in my post Home Lab Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P1 I would recommend to have a look at it once.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install Edge Nodes

In my previous post "Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install MGMT domain" we have completed VCF management domain deployment.

As we are using version 4.3, which gives us flexibility of deploying either with Static routing or dynamic using BGP, it doesn't deploy edge nodes and no AVN gets created. It actually allows us "Architects" to design and deploy without manual intervention or work around for keeping up with the needs of customer.

In a brown field deployment if you have an underlay network which is configured with static routes, as customer have limited subnets and do not have requirement of rapid network provisioning, they would not want to enable BGP, only to accommodate VCF and to design around this requirement we used work arounds, but now its a straight solution.