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.