In addition to the support of Nutanix clusters that use Nutanix native AHV hypervisors, HYCU introduces the support for Nutanix environments that use VMware ESXi hypervisors. By using the native Nutanix storage layer snapshot technology, VMware snapshot stuns are avoided.
Jan
31
HYCU – Backing up virtual machines from Replicated Nutanix Snapshots
In remote office/branch office (ROBO) environments, HYCU allows you to back up virtual machines from their replicas on the central site Nutanix cluster. Backing up data from replicas without having to transfer the virtual machine data twice frees up WAN bandwidth for other business processes.
To be able to back up virtual machines from their replicas, make sure that the replication retention on the Nutanix cluster is adjusted to the backup policy’s RPO. This allows HYCU to use the Changed Region Tracking (CRT) feature to get a list of changed data since the last snapshot and perform an incremental backup. For example, if the Nutanix schedule interval is two hours and the RPO of the HYCU backup policy is eight hours, the retention policy for the remote site must be set to 4 or more snapshots (that is, at least the last four snapshots must be kept).
Related articles
Dec
15
Nutanix Calm Blueprints Overview
A blueprint is the framework for every application that you model by using Nutanix Calm. Blueprints are templates that describe all the steps that are required to provision, configure, and execute tasks on the services and applications that are created. You can create a blueprint to represent the architecture of your application and then run the blueprint repeatedly to create an instance, provision, and launch your applications. A blueprint also defines the lifecycle of an application and its underlying infrastructure starting from the creation of the application to the actions that are carried out on a blueprint until the termination of the application.
You can use blueprints to model the applications of various complexities; from simply provisioning a single virtual machine to provisioning and managing a multi-node, multi-tier application.
Blueprint editor provides a graphical representation of various components that enable you to visualize and configure the components and their dependencies in your environment.
repeatable and auditable automation
Dec
12
Running IT: Docker and Cilium for Enterprise Network Security for Micro-Services
Well I think 40 min is about as long as I can last watching a IT related video while running after that I need music! This time I watched another video from DockerCon, Cilium – Kernel Native Security & DDOS Mitigation for Microservices with BPF
Skip to 7:23: The quick overview of the presentation is that managing IP Tables to lock down micro-services isn’t going to scale and will be almost impossible to manage. Cilium is open source software for providing and transparently securing network connectivity and load balancing between application workloads such as application containers or processes. Cilium operates at Layer 3/4 to provide traditional networking and security services as well as Layer 7 to protect and secure use of modern application protocols such as HTTP, gRPC and Kafka. BPF is used a lot of the big web-scale properties like Facebook and Netflix to secure their environment and to provide troubleshooting. Like anything with a lot of options there is a lot of ways to shoot yourself in the foot so Cilium provides the wrapper to get it easily deployed and configured.
The presentation uses that example of locking down a Kafka cluster via layer 7 instead of having the whole API left wind open which would happen if your were only using IP tables. Kafka is used for building real-time pipelines and streaming apps. Kafka is horizontally scalable and fault-tolerant so it’s a good choice to run it in docker. Kakfa is used by 1/3 of Fortune 500 companies.
Cilium Architecture
Cilium Integrates with:
Docker
Kubernetes
Mesos
Cilium runs as a agent on every host.
Cilium can provide policy for Host to Docker micro-service and even between two containers on the same host.
The demo didn’t pan out but the 2nd half of the presentation talks about Cilium using BPF with XDP. XDP is a further step in evolution and enables to run a specific flavor of BPF programs from the network driver with direct access to the packet’s DMA buffer. This is, by definition, the earliest possible point in the software stack, where programs can be attached to in order to allow for a programmable, high performance packet processor in the Linux kernel networking data path.
Since XDP can happen earlier on at the nic versus iptables with ipset, CPU can be saved, rules load faster and latency under load is a lot better with XDP.
Dec
05
Handling Network Partition with Near-Sync
Near-Sync is GA!!!
Part 1: Near-Sync Primer on Nutanix
Part 2: Recovery Points and Schedules with Near-Sync
Perform the following procedure, if network partition (network isolation) between the primary and remote site occurs.
Following scenarios may occur if the network partition occurs.
1.Network between primary site (site A) and remote site (site B) is restored and both the sites are working.
Primary site tries to transition into NearSync automatically between site A and site B. No manual intervention is required.
2.Site B is not working or destroyed (for whatever reason). If you create a new site (site C) and want to establish sub-hourly schedule from A to C.
Configure sub-hourly schedule from A to C.
The configuration between A to C should succeed. No other manual intervention is required.
3.Site A is not working or destroyed (for whatever reason). If you create a new site (site C) and try to configure sub-hourly schedule from B to C.
Activate the protection domain on site B and set up the schedule between site B and site C.
Dec
01
Supported Anti-Virus Offload for Nutanix Native File Services(AFS)
As the list grows with releases I will try to keep this updated.
As of AFS 2.2.1 supported AV ICAP based vendors:
McAfee Virus Scan Enterprise for Storage 1.2.0
Symantec Protection Engine 7.9.0
Kaspersky Security 10
Sophos Antivirus
Nutanix recommends the following file extensions for user profiles are added to the exclusion list when using the AFS Antivirus scanning:
.dat
.ini
.pol
Symantec Pre-Req
Each Symantec ICAP server needs the hot fix (SPE_7.9.0_HF03.zip) installed from http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH216348.
Kaspersky Pre-Req
When running the Database Update task with the network folder as an update source, you might encounter an error after entering credentials.
Solution
To resolve, download and install the critical fix 13017 provided by Kaspersky
Download Link:
Nov
19
Nutanix Additional Cluster Health Tooling: Panacea
There are over 450 health checks in the Cluster Health UI inside of Prism Element. To provide additional help a new script called “panacea” had been added. Panacea is bundled with NCC 3.5 and later to provide a user-friendly interface for very advanced troubleshooting. The Nutanix Support team can take these logs and correlate results so you don’t have to wait for the problem to reoccur again before fixing the issue.
The ability to quickly track retransmissions with a very low granularity for a distrusted system is very important. I am hoping in the future this new tooling will play into Nutanix’s ability for degraded node detection. Panacea can be ran for a specific time interval during which logs will be analyzed, possible options are:
–last_no_of_hours
–last_no_of_days
–start_time
–end_time
Login to any CVM within the cluster and the command can be ran from home/nutanix/ncc/panacea/
The below output is from using the tool when digging for network information.
Network outage can cause degraded performance. Cluster network outage
detection is based on following schemes:
1) Cassandra Paxos Request Timeout Exceptions/Message Drops
2) CVM Degraded node scoring
3) Ping latency
In some cases, intermittent network issue might NOT be reflected in ping latency, but it does have impact on TCP throughput and packet
retransmission, leading to more request timeout exceptions.
TCP Retransmission:
——————-
By default, Panacea tracks the TCP connections(destination port 7000) used by Cassandra between peer CVMs. This table displays stats of
packet Retransmissions per min in TCP socket. Frequent retransmission could cause delay in application, and may reflect the congestion status on the host or in the network.
1) Local: Local CVM IP address
2) Remote: Remote CVM IP address
3) Max/Mean/Min/STD: number of retransmissions/min, calcuated from
samples where retransmission happened.
4)
5) Ratio: N/M, N = number of samples where retransmission happened
M = total samples in the entire data set
+————–+————–+——-+——+——+——+——+——+——+———+
| Local | Remote | Max | Mean | Min | STD | 25% | 50% | 75% | Ratio |
+————–+————–+——-+——+——+——+——+——+——+———+
| XX.X.XXX.110 | XX.X.XXX.109 | 19.00 | 1.61 | 1.00 | 1.90 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 133/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.111 | XX.X.XXX.109 | 11.00 | 2.41 | 1.00 | 1.54 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 236/280 |
| XX.X.XXX.112 | XX.X.XXX.109 | 12.00 | 2.40 | 1.00 | 1.59 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 235/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.109 | XX.X.XXX.110 | 32.00 | 3.04 | 1.00 | 2.70 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 4.00 | 252/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.111 | XX.X.XXX.110 | 9.00 | 1.51 | 1.00 | 1.02 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 152/280 |
| XX.X.XXX.112 | XX.X.XXX.110 | 11.00 | 2.21 | 1.00 | 1.31 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 231/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.109 | XX.X.XXX.111 | 9.00 | 2.01 | 1.00 | 1.20 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 202/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.110 | XX.X.XXX.111 | 10.00 | 2.70 | 1.00 | 1.68 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 244/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.112 | XX.X.XXX.111 | 4.00 | 1.46 | 1.00 | 0.76 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 135/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.109 | XX.X.XXX.112 | 5.00 | 1.56 | 1.00 | 0.85 | 1.00 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 150/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.110 | XX.X.XXX.112 | 6.00 | 2.05 | 1.00 | 1.18 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 234/279 |
| XX.X.XXX.111 | XX.X.XXX.112 | 16.00 | 3.26 | 1.00 | 2.24 | 2.00 | 3.00 | 4.00 | 261/280 |
+————–+————–+——-+——+——+——+——+——+——+———+
Most of the 450 Cluster Health checks inside of Prism with automatic alerting
CVM | CPU
CPU Utilization
Load Level
Node Avg Load – Critical
CVM | Disk
Boot RAID Health
Disk Configuration
Disk Diagnostic Status
Disk Metadata Usage
Disk Offline Status
HDD Disk Usage
HDD I/O Latency
HDD S.M.A.R.T Health Status
Metadata Disk Mounted Check
Metro Vstore Mount Status
Non SED Disk Inserted Check
Nutanix System Partitions Usage High
Password Protected Disk Status
Physical Disk Remove Check
Physical Disk Status
SED Operation Status
SSD I/O Latency
CVM | Hardware
Agent VM Restoration
FT2 Configuration
Host Evacuation Status
Node Status
VM HA Healing Status
VM HA Status
VMs Restart Status
CVM | Memory
CVM Memory Pinned Check
CVM Memory Usage
Kernel Memory Usage
CVM | Network
CVM IP Address Configuration
CVM NTP Time Synchronization
Duplicate Remote Cluster ID Check
Host IP Pingable
IP Configuration
SMTP Configuration
Subnet Configuration
Virtual IP Configuration
vCenter Connection Check
CVM | Protection Domain
Entities Restored Check
Restored Entities Protected
CVM | Services
Admin User API Authentication Check
CVM Rebooted Check
CVM Services Status
Cassandra Waiting For Disk Replacement
Certificate Creation Status
Cluster In Override Mode
Cluster In Read-Only Mode
Curator Job Status
Curator Scan Status
Kerberos Clock Skew Status
Metadata Drive AutoAdd Disabled Check
Metadata Drive Detached Check
Metadata Drive Failed Check
Metadata Drive Ring Check
Metadata DynRingChangeOp Slow Check
Metadata DynRingChangeOp Status
Metadata Imbalance Check
Metadata Size
Node Degradation Status
RemoteSiteHighLatency
Stargate Responsive
Stargate Status
Upgrade Bundle Available
CVM | Storage Capacity
Compression Status
Finger Printing Status
Metadata Usage
NFS Metadata Size Overshoot
On-Disk Dedup Status
Space Reservation Status
vDisk Block Map Usage
vDisk Block Map Usage Warning
Cluster | CPU
CPU type on chassis check
Cluster | Disk
CVM startup dependency check
Disk online check
Duplicate disk id check
Flash Mode Configuration
Flash Mode Enabled VM Power Status
Flash Mode Usage
Incomplete disk removal
Storage Pool Flash Mode Configuration
System Defined Flash Mode Usage Limit
Cluster | Hardware
Power Supply Status
Cluster | Network
CVM Passwordless Connectivity Check
CVM to CVM Connectivity
Duplicate CVM IP check
NIC driver and firmware version check
Time Drift
Cluster | Protection Domain
Duplicate VM names
Internal Consistency Groups Check
Linked Clones in high frequency snapshot schedule
SSD Snapshot reserve space check
Snapshot file location check
Cluster | Remote Site
Cloud Remote Alert
Remote Site virtual external IP(VIP)
Cluster | Services
AWS Instance Check
AWS Instance Type Check
Acropolis Dynamic Scheduler Status
Alert Manager Service Check
Automatic Dedup disabled check
Automatic disabling of Deduplication
Backup snapshots on metro secondary check
CPS Deployment Evaluation Mode
CVM same timezone check
CVM virtual hardware version check
Cassandra Similar Token check
Cassandra metadata balanced across CVMs
Cassandra nodes up
Cassandra service status check
Cassandra tokens consistent
Check that cluster virtual IP address is part of cluster external subnet
Checkpoint snapshot on Metro configured Protection Domain
Cloud Gflags Check
Cloud Remote Version Check
Cloud remote check
Cluster NCC version check
Cluster version check
Compression disabled check
Curator scan time elapsed check
Datastore VM Count Check
E-mail alerts check
E-mail alerts contacts configuration
HTTP proxy check
Hardware configuration validation
High disk space usage
Hypervisor version check
LDAP configuration
Linked clones on Dedup check
Multiple vCenter Servers Discovered
NGT CA Setup Check
Oplog episodes check
Pulse configuration
RPO script validation on storage heavy cluster
Remote Support Status
Report Generation Failure
Report Quota Scan Failure
Send Report Through E-mail Failure
Snapshot chain height check
Snapshots space utilization status
Storage Pool SSD tier usage
Stretch Connectivity Lost
VM group Snapshot and Current Mismatch
Zookeeper active on all CVMs
Zookeeper fault tolerance check
Zookeeper nodes distributed in multi-block cluster
vDisk Count Check
Cluster | Storage Capacity
Erasure Code Configuration
Erasure Code Garbage
Erasure coding pending check
Erasure-Code-Delay Configuration
High Space Usage on Storage Container
Storage Container RF Status
Storage Container Space Usage
StoragePool Space Usage
Volume Group Space Usage
Data Protection | Protection Domain
Aged Third-party Backup Snapshot Check
Check VHDX Disks
Clone Age Check
Clone Count Check
Consistency Group Configuration
Cross Hypervisor NGT Installation Check
EntityRestoreAbort
External iSCSI Attachments Not Snapshotted
Failed To Mount NGT ISO On Recovery of VM
Failed To Recover NGT Information
Failed To Recover NGT Information for VM
Failed To Snapshot Entities
Incorrect Cluster Information in Remote Site
Metadata Volume Snapshot Persistent
Metadata Volume Snapshot Status
Metro Availability
Metro Availability Prechecks Failed
Metro Availability Secondary PD sync check
Metro Old Primary Site Hosting VMs
Metro Protection domain VMs running at Sub-optimal performance
Metro Vstore Symlinks Check
Metro/Vstore Consistency Group File Count Check
Metro/Vstore Protection Domain File Count Check
NGT Configuration
PD Active
PD Change Mode Status
PD Full Replication Status
PD Replication Expiry Status
PD Replication Skipped Status
PD Snapshot Retrieval
PD Snapshot Status
PD VM Action Status
PD VM Registration Status
Protected VM CBR Capablity
Protected VM Not Found
Protected VMs Not Found
Protected VMs Storage Configuration
Protected Volume Group Not Found
Protected Volume Groups Not Found
Protection Domain Decoupled Status
Protection Domain Initial Replication Pending to Remote Site
Protection Domain Replication Stuck
Protection Domain Snapshots Delayed
Protection Domain Snapshots Queued for Replication to Remote Site
Protection Domain VM Count Check
Protection Domain fallback to lower frequency replications to remote
Protection Domain transitioning to higher frequency snapshot schedule
Protection Domain transitioning to lower frequency snapshot schedule
Protection Domains sharing VMs
Related Entity Protection Status
Remote Site NGT Support
Remote Site Snapshot Replication Status
Remote Stargate Version Check
Replication Of Deduped Entity
Self service restore operation Failed
Snapshot Crash Consistent
Snapshot Symlink Check
Storage Container Mount
Updating Metro Failure Handling Failed
Updating Metro Failure Handling Remote Failed
VM Registration Failure
VM Registration Warning
VSS Scripts Not Installed
VSS Snapshot Status
VSS VM Reachable
VStore Snapshot Status
Volume Group Action Status
Volume Group Attachments Not Restored
Vstore Replication To Backup Only Remote
Data Protection | Remote Site
Automatic Promote Metro Availability
Cloud Remote Operation Failure
Cloud Remote Site failed to start
LWS store allocation in remote too long
Manual Break Metro Availability
Manual Promote Metro Availability
Metro Connectivity
Remote Site Health
Remote Site Network Configuration
Remote Site Network Mapping Configuration
Remote Site Operation Mode ReadOnly
Remote Site Tunnel Status
Data Protection | Witness
Authentication Failed in Witness
Witness Not Configured
Witness Not Reachable
File server | Host
File Server Upgrade Task Stuck Check
File Server VM Status
Multiple File Server Versions Check
File server | Network
File Server Entities Not Protected
File Server Invalid Snapshot Warning
File Server Network Reachable
File Server PD Active On Multiple Sites
File Server Reachable
File Server Status
Remote Site Not File Server Capable
File server | Services
Failed to add one or more file server admin users or groups
File Server AntiVirus – All ICAP Servers Down
File Server AntiVirus – Excessive Quarantined / Unquarantined Files
File Server AntiVirus – ICAP Server Down
File Server AntiVirus – Quarantined / Unquarantined Files Limit Reached
File Server AntiVirus – Scan Queue Full on FSVM
File Server AntiVirus – Scan Queue Piling Up on FSVM
File Server Clone – Snapshot invalid
File Server Clone Failed
File Server Rename Failed
Maximum connections limit reached on a file server VM
Skipped File Server Compatibility Check
File server | Storage Capacity
FSVM Time Drift Status
Failed To Run File Server Metadata Fixer Successfully
Failed To Set VM-to-VM Anti Affinity Rule
File Server AD Connectivity Failure
File Server Activation Failed
File Server CVM IP update failed
File Server DNS Updates Pending
File Server Home Share Creation Failed
File Server In Heterogeneous State
File Server Iscsi Discovery Failure
File Server Join Domain Status
File Server Network Change Failed
File Server Node Join Domain Status
File Server Performance Optimization Recommended
File Server Quota allocation failed for user
File Server Scale-out Status
File Server Share Deletion Failed
File Server Site Not Found
File Server Space Usage
File Server Space Usage Critical
File Server Storage Cleanup Failure
File Server Storage Status
File Server Unavailable Check
File Server Upgrade Failed
Incompatible File Server Activation
Share Utilization Reached Configured Limit
Host | CPU
CPU Utilization
Host | Disk
All-flash Node Intermixed Check
Host disk usage high
NVMe Status Check
SATA DOM 3ME Date and Firmware Status
SATA DOM Guest VM Check
SATADOM Connection Status
SATADOM Status
SATADOM Wearout Status
SATADOM-SL 3IE3 Wearout Status
Samsung PM1633 FW Version
Samsung PM1633 Version Compatibility
Samsung PM1633 Wearout Status
Samsung PM863a config check
Toshiba PM3 Status
Toshiba PM4 Config
Toshiba PM4 FW Version
Toshiba PM4 Status
Toshiba PM4 Version Compatibility
Host | Hardware
CPU Temperature Fetch
CPU Temperature High
CPU Voltage
CPU-VRM Temperature
Correctable ECC Errors 10 Days
Correctable ECC Errors One Day
DIMM Voltage
DIMM temperature high
DIMM-VRM Temperature
Fan Speed High
Fan Speed Low
GPU Status
GPU Temperature High
Hardware Clock Status
IPMI SDR Status
SAS Connectivity
System temperature high
Host | Memory
Memory Swap Rate
Ram Fault Status
Host | Network
10 GbE Compliance
Hypervisor IP Address Configuration
IPMI IP Address Configuration
Mellanox NIC Mixed Family check
Mellanox NIC Status check
NIC Flapping Check
NIC Link Down
Node NIC Error Rate High
Receive Packet Loss
Transmit Packet Loss
Host | Services
Datastore Remount Status
Node | Disk
Boot device connection check
Boot device status check
Descriptors to deleted files check
FusionIO PCIE-SSD: ECC errors check
Intel Drive: ECC errors
Intel SSD Configuration
LSI Disk controller firmware status
M.2 Boot Disk change check
M.2 Intel S3520 host boot drive status check
M.2 Micron5100 host boot drive status check
SATA controller
SSD Firmware Check
Samsung PM863a FW version check
Samsung PM863a status check
Samsung PM863a version compatibility check
Samsung SM863 SSD status check
Samsung SM863a version compatibility check
Node | Hardware
IPMI connectivity check
IPMI sel assertions check
IPMI sel log fetch check
IPMI sel power failure check
IPMI sensor values check
M10 GPU check
M10 and M60 GPU Mixed check
M60 GPU check
Node | Network
CVM 10 GB uplink check
Inter-CVM connectivity check
NTP configuration check
Storage routed to alternate CVM check
Node | Protection Domain
ESX VM Virtual Hardware Version Compatible
Node | Services
.dvsData directory in local datastore
Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) enabled
Autobackup check
BMC BIOS version check
CVM memory check
CVM port group renamed
Cassandra Keyspace/Column family check
Cassandra memory usage
Cassandra service restarts check
Cluster Services Down Check
DIMM Config Check
DIMMs Interoperability Check
Deduplication efficiency check
Degraded Node check
Detected VMs with non local data
EOF check
ESXi AHCI Driver version check
ESXi APD handling check
ESXi CPU model and UVM EVC mode check
ESXi Driver compatibility check
ESXi NFS hearbeat timeout check
ESXi RAM disk full check
ESXi RAM disk root usage
ESXi Scratch Configuration
ESXi TCP delayed ACK check
ESXi VAAI plugin enabled
ESXi VAAI plugin installed
ESXi configured VMK check
ESXi services check
ESXi version compatibility
File permissions check
Files in a streched VMs should be in the same Storage Container
GPU drivers installed
Garbage egroups check
Host passwordless SSH
Ivy Bridge performance check
Mellanox NIC Driver version check
NFS file count check
NSC(Nutanix Service Center) server FQDN resolution
NTP server FQDN resolution
Network adapter setting check
Non default gflags check
Notifications dropped check
PYNFS dependency check
RC local script exit statement present
Remote syslog server check
SMTP server FQDN resolution
Sanity check on local.sh
VM IDE bus check
VMKNICs subnets check
VMware hostd service check
Virtual IP check
Zookeeper Alias Check
localcli check
vim command check
Nutanix Guest Tools | VM
PostThaw Script Execution Failed
Other Checks
LWS Store Full
LWS store allocation too long
Recovery Point Objective Cannot Be Met
VM | CPU
CPU Utilization
VM | Disk
I/O Latency
Orphan VM Snapshot Check
VM | Memory
Memory Pressure
Memory Swap Rate
VM | Network
Memory Usage
Receive Packet Loss
Transmit Packet Loss
VM | Nutanix Guest Tools
Disk Configuration Update Failed
VM Guest Power Op Failed
iSCSI Configuration Failed
VM | Remote Site
VM Virtual Hardware Version Compatible
VM | Services
VM Action Status
VM | Virtual Machine
Application Consistent Snapshot Skipped
NGT Mount Failure
NGT Version Incompatible
Temporary Hypervisor Snapshot Cleanup Failed
VSS Snapshot Aborted
VSS Snapshot Not Supported
host | Network
Hypervisor time synchronized
Sep
07
Windows Get Some Love with #Docker EE 17.06
With the new release of Docker 17.06 EE Windows containers gets lots of added features. First up is the ability to run Windows and Linux worker nodes in the same same cluster. This is great because you have centralized security and logging across your whole environment. Your .NET and Java teams can live in peace to consolidate your infrastructure instead of spinning of separate environments.
Continuously scanning for vulnerabilities in Windows images was added if your have Advanced EE license. Not only does it scan images it will also alert when new vulnerabilities are found in existing images.
Bringing everything together you can use the same overlay networks to connect your application in the case of SQL server and web servers running on Linux. Your developers can create a single compose file covering both SQL and web severs.
Other New Windows related features in Docker 17.06:
Windows Server 2016 support
Windows 10586 is marked as deprecated; it will not be supported going forward in stable releases
Integration with Docker Cloud, with the ability to control remote Swarms from the local command line interface (CLI) and view your repositories
Unified login between the Docker CLI and Docker Hub, Docker Cloud.
Sharing a drive can be done on demand, the first time a mount is requested
Add an experimental DNS name for the host: docker.for.win.localhost
Support for client (i.e. “login”) certificates for authenticating registry access (fixes docker/for-win#569)
New installer experience
Aug
29
VMworld attendees get to the Docker booth to save money & time like Visa.
The Docker booth is right beside the Nutanix booth at VMworld this year so I have seen lots of people there but not 23,000 but there should be. Docker had been apart of all the announcements if you realized it our not. Lots of talk about Google with Kubernetes. Kubernetes still requires Docker as the container engine so whether it’s Swarm or Kubernetes you’re going to be using Docker. If you want Enterprise support Docker is both you want to be visiting and learning what they can do to develop better end to end software while saving you money.
With Docker EE has been in production at Visa for over 6 months and is seeing improvements in a number of ways:
Provisioning time: Visa can now provision in seconds rather than days even while more application teams join the effort. They can also deliver just-in-time infrastructure across multiple datacenters around the world with a standardized format that works across their diverse set of applications.
Patching & maintenance: With Docker, Visa can simply redeploy an application with a new image. This also allows Visa to respond quickly to new threats as they can deploy patches across their entire environment at one time.
Tech Refresh: Once applications are containerized with Docker, developers do not have to worry about the underlying infrastructure; the infrastructure is invisible.
Multi-tenancy: Docker containers provides both space and time division multiplexing by allowing Visa to provision and deprovision microservices quickly as needed. This allows them to strategically place new services into the available infrastructure which has allowed the team to support 10x the scale they could previously.
Visa moved a VM-based environment to containers running on bare metal and saved the time to provision and decommissioned its first containerized app by 50%.By saving time and money on the existing infrastructure and applications, organizations can reinvest the savings — both the time and money — in transforming the business.
BTW Nutanix can do bare-metal or run AHV to provide great experience for containers with our own Docker Volume plugin.
Aug
16
Move Your DBs From Cloud or 3-Tier Clunker to Nutanix with Xtract
Xtract for DBs enables you to migrate your Microsoft SQL Server instances from non-Nutanix infrastructures (source) to Nutanix Cloud Platform (target) with a 1-click operation. You can migrate both virtual and physical SQL Servers to Nutanix. Xtract captures the state of your source SQL Server environments, applies any recommended changes, recreates the state on Nutanix, and then migrates the underlying data.
Xtract is a virtual appliance that runs as a web application. It migrates your source SQL Server instances to Nutanix in the following four phases:
Scanning. Scans and discovers your existing SQL Server environments through application-level inspection.
Design. Creates an automated best practice design for the target SQL Servers.
Deployment. Automates the full-stack deployment of the target SQL Servers with best practices.
Migration. Migrates the underlying SQL Server databases and security settings from your source SQL Servers to the target SQL Servers.
Note: Xtract supports SQL Server 2008 R2 through SQL Server 2016 running on Windows 2008 through Windows 2012 R2.
Xtract first scans your source SQL Server instances, so that it can generate a best-practice design template for your target SQL Server environment. To scan the source SQL Server instances, Xtract requires the access credentials of the source SQL Server instances to connect to the listening ports.
You can group one or more SQL Server instances for migration. Xtract performs migrations at the instance level, which means that all databases registered to a SQL Server instance are migrated and managed as part of a single migration plan. Xtract allows you to create multiple migration plans to assist with a phased migration of different SQL Server instances over time.
Once the full restore is complete and transaction logs are in the process of getting replayed, you can perform the following actions on your SQL Server instances:
In the Migration Plans screen, you can perform one of the following:
Start Cutover
The cutover operation quiesces the source SQL Server databases by placing them in the single user mode, takes a final backup, restores the backup to the target server, and then brings all the databases in the target server online and ready for use. This action completes all migration activities for a migration plan.
Test
The test operation takes a point-in-time copy of the databases in the source instance and brings them online for testing in the target SQL Server instance. This action does not provide a rollback. Once a Test action has been initiated, you can perform tests on the copy. However, if you want to perform a cutover after the Test operation, you should begin again from the scanning phase.
Come to the Nutanix Booth at VMworld in Vegas to see it in action. One-click yourself out of your AWS bill.
