VMware

Checking if your SSD supports “TRIM” using FreeNAS 8.x

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I have been playing with the newer versions of FreeNAS for shared storage on my home VMware vSphere lab recently (after having last used it on version 7.x). I added a spare OCZ Vertex Plus 120GB SSD to my mini-ITX based FreeNAS box and was wondering how TRIM would be handled, if at all with FreeNAS.

 

To check to see if your SSD supports TRIM under FreeNAS, open up a Shell session to your FreeNAS box – i.e. PuTTy, or via the Web GUI. Then issue the following command, specifying your SSD drive where /dev/ada0 is used as an example below. Note that we are using the CAM control program that comes with FreeBSD. Please exercise caution with this command as it has the potential to cause damage if not used correctly!

 

camcontrol identify /dev/ada0

 

If you need to check disk/device names to figure out which one is your SSD, you could use the GUI. Go to Storage -> View Disks, then check the name column for the device names of each disk. Use /dev/diskname in the command above. After running the command above, you’ll get a list of disk information back, just check the “data set management (TRIM)” row to see if TRIM support is enabled or not.

 

I have not yet worked out a way to see if TRIM is actually being actively used yet though – so if anyone has any suggestions or ideas as to how to check that it is actually in use, please let me know!

 

Announcing vMetrics for WordPress

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vMetrics is a small plugin for WordPress that works in conjunction with a PowerCLI Updater Script. You install the plugin, add the Widget to your sidebar in WordPress, configure which stats you would like to show, then run, or schedule the PowerCLI script against a standalong ESX/ESXi host, or vCenter server.

 

 

I have been working on this in my evenings whenever I find spare time over the last couple of weeks. It is based off Nicholas Weaver’s excellent WP-vSpherestats plugin, but has been re-worked to be more customisable, offer more metrics and statistics about your vSphere environment, and offers a PowerCLI Updater script, meaning you can easily change or customise the information that is brought back into the plugin.

You can find out more, or download the plugin over here.

 

Free Virtualization Icon set

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For a recent personal project I have been working on (vMetrics for WordPress), I had a requirement for some Icons, all virtualization related. I had a quick look around but couldn’t find many that had no strings attached. I therefore decided to create my own set. These are all original and I have created them myself. You will of course recognise some of the designs from the vSphere Client – these I used as inspiration and re-created from scratch.

 

 

Feel free to use these in your own projects, charts, or presentations. All that I ask is that you drop me a comment below to let me know if they were useful or not 🙂

 

[download id=”18″]

 

vSphere Home Lab / whitebox builds – 16GB RAM in a HP N40L Microserver

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I recently purchased a HP N40L Microserver for my home vSphere lab, with the intention of buying a second unit to create a small vSphere cluster for lab work. This would take me away from having nested virtual ESXi hosts. You can actually currently get great deals on this hardware – with HP offering £100 cashback on the purchase cost. I ended up paying around £260.00 for my HP Microserver, getting 100 off, which means it only cost about £160.

 

Great deal - £100 cashback on the HP N40L Microserver

 

For this price, this microserver makes great hardware for a home lab cluster build, however the one thing that has always been a downer on this is the fact that all specsheets and official documentation from HP list the maximum amount of RAM supported as 8GB for the Microserver. This doesn’t leave much room for VMs to run per host.

 

Today I received an interesting e-mail in my inbox from Serversplus.com. They claim to have tested running 16GB of Crucial ECC DDR3 Unbuffered (2 x 8GB modules) in the HP N40L Microserver! This, if it is true (which I am sure it is, as they are now selling bundles with 16GB RAM), is great news for us looking to build home labs on the cheap. Sure, 8GB modules are much more expensive than 4GB at the moment, but we now know that there is no 8GB limit on the N40L Microserver – rather 16GB. As soon as I can afford the two 8GB modules for a total of 16GB, I’ll be looking at upgrading my current Microserver to 16GB. If this works, I’ll definitely be purchasing a second unit.

 

Here is a screencap of the e-mail I got from serversplus.com –

If you are UK based, you can grab the full bundle from Serversplus.com.

 

AutoCorrect hell – VMware

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If you are like me and can’t stand it when Office Applications change the casing of Pronouns such as “VMware” to “Vmware” for example, there is a quick fix you can do. Most may already be aware, but this has hassled me one too many times today, and I therefore sought out the option to prevent it from happening. I was using Excel 2010, however similiar steps should apply to all Office Applications.

 

  • Go to the File -> Help -> Options -> Proofing menu.
  • Click “AutoCorrect Options” -> make sure the tickbox for “Correct two INitial CApitals” is either off, or alternatively and the better option, click “Exceptions”.
  • Add an entry called “VMware” under the “INital CAps” tab.
  • Apply

For a fun list of VMware spelling derivatives be sure to check out Darren Woollard’s “VMware, it’s all in the name” blog post.