VxRail/vSAN Archives

PowerCLI and vSAN: Automating Storage Policies, Health Checks, and Capacity Reporting

July 24, 2025July 21, 2025 by Paul Bryant

Introduction Managing vSAN clusters efficiently requires automation that spans configuration, policy enforcement, health monitoring, and capacity analysis. PowerCLI, with its Storage Policy-Based Management (SPBM) integration, gives administrators a powerful set of tools to operationalize vSAN at scale. This article covers: My Personal Repository on GitHub VMware Repository on GitHub Prerequisites Ensure you are connected to … Read more

GPU-Powered VDI: Dell vSAN + NVIDIA vGPUs in Hybrid Work EnvironmentsBusiness Value & Complete Deployment Guide with Real-World Example

July 17, 2025 by Paul Bryant

Table of Contents 1. Introduction: VDI, GPUs, and the Hybrid Work Revolution Hybrid work is now the new normal. Enterprises are reimagining digital workspaces to enable secure, performant access from anywhere. As demand grows for high-performance apps such as CAD, 3D modeling, AI, and analytics, traditional CPU-powered Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) often falls short. Enter … Read more

VMware Cloud on Dell EMC (VxRail) VMworld 2020

May 30, 2022September 29, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Over the last four years the partnership between VMware and Dell Technologies has allowed for some incredible integrations into the Dell portfolio. The flagship of this partnership VxRail has evolved into the new backbone infrastructure component of the modern datacenter. That is why VMware Cloud on Dell is a huge step forward into towards the … Read more

Deploy VMware Datacenter, Cluster, & Hosts 7.0 Quickstart

May 30, 2022September 27, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Now that I have my new 7.0 vCenter stood up in my solution center I figured it was time to add in the datacenter and my management cluster. Since I’m playing around in 7.0 I thought I would give the cluster quickstart method a try. Step by step process Right click on the vCenter name … Read more

How to Install & Deploy vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) 7.0 c

May 30, 2022September 21, 2020 by Paul Bryant

It has been a while since I’ve posted a how to article. I’m in the process of building a new solution center and figured why not update my how to install VCSA with a fresh 7.0.0c. As always, plan ahead to avoid long delays for issues that could have been planned around or avoided. Download … Read more

Upgrade vCenter (VCSA) 6.7 U3 to 7.0.0c

May 30, 2022September 7, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Recently, I had to upgrade my existing VMware 6.7 U3 VCSA to the new 7.0 VCSA. I know a lot of people who are planning for this upgrade by the end of the year so I hope this helps everyone out. Prerequisites Need temp FQDN & IP with valid DNS registration for deployment process, will … Read more

The Rise of the VMWare Platform Reliability Engineer

May 30, 2022June 20, 2020 by Paul Bryant

In the last few years as a VMWare person I have watched containers and Kubernetes go from people saying containers cannot replace virtual machines to now Kubernetes being integrated into vSphere. Years ago, I thought containers were really cool but it lacked all the infrastructure features we relied on to run in enterprise environments. Yet, … Read more

Discover & Add DellEMC VxRail Host into Existing 4.7 Cluster via Plug-in in vCenter

May 30, 2022May 12, 2020 by Paul Bryant

If you have worked with VxRail as long as I have then you know it is inevitable to relocate a host from one cluster to another to support other projects. Also, it is likely you’ve had a couple hosts laying around in the datacenter awaiting install. I thought I would put together this quick how … Read more

Post RASR Reset of VxRail 4.7 Host Re-Add Host into Additional Virtual Distributed Switch (vDS)

May 30, 2022May 4, 2020 by Paul Bryant

As I’m sure many of you are aware VxRail Manager is only responsible for the virtual distributed switch it creates at install. What about any additional vDS that you create? You are 100% responsible for their upgrade and management. It doesn’t sound so bad right? How often do we actually interact with a vDS? Here … Read more

Generate VxRail 4.7 log bundle in vCenter 6.7

May 30, 2022April 21, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Have you ever been working with DellEMC VxRail support and they ask you to generate a VxRail log bundle or you get that generic reply from creating an R that requests logs? I thought I would take a quick moment and show everyone the quick and painless way to generate a quick log bundle in … Read more

Generate Log Bundle for VMWare vCenter 6.7 and ESXI 6.7

May 30, 2022April 21, 2020 by Paul Bryant

I was recently asked by someone new to VMWare what is the quickest way to generate a log bundle that VMWare is asking for. I thought I would take the amount of time to generate a log bundle to write this article. Navigate to the top bar in vCenter and right click on your vCenter … Read more

VMWare Virtual Machine can’t migrate / vMotion because the VM is installing VMware Tools and cannot initiate a migration operation quick CLI fix

May 30, 2022April 20, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Have you ever been trying to vMotion a VMWare virtual machine but get an error that prevents you because the VM is attempting to install VMWare Tools? Has this ever occurred when trying to put a host into Maintenance Mode? Are you looking for a quick way to vMotion the VM? Below I have the … Read more

Upgrade VMWare vCenter 6.7 U1 U2 U3 to 6.7 U3f

May 30, 2022April 11, 2020 by Paul Bryant

As many of you are aware VMware recently came out with a CVE: CVE-2020-3952 that requires taking your existing VMWare vCenter to 6.7 U3f or 7.0. Since going from 6.7 to 7.0 requires a re-deploy of the vCenter I thought doing an in place upgrade would be the quickest way to fix this security vulnerability. … Read more

Powershell / PowerCLI Script to List & Unmount ISO on VMWare VMs prior to VxRail 4.5 or 4.7 upgrade

April 21, 2023March 31, 2020 by Paul Bryant

In the past I have spoken about needing to remove mounted ISOs from VMs prior to a VxRail upgrade. I have had many people DM me asking if I use a script or do it manually. First, it would only be possible in a small environment to manually remove mounted ISO files or in environments … Read more

VMWare 6.7 U3 vCenter, DellEMC VxRail iDRAC, DellEMC VxRail event codes

April 21, 2023March 23, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Have you ever gotten an alarm on your VxRail Manager with some strange code like VXR124003 and wonder what does this mean? I thought I would take a moment and post the VxRail event codes below as well as publish the link to the DellEMC support site. DellEMC Support site URL:https://support.emc.com/docu91469_VxRail-Appliance-4.5.x-and-4.7.x-Event-Code-Reference.pdf?request=akamai Summary: As always I hope … Read more

How to change VxRail w/ vSAN 6.7 U3 storage policy for entire VM or each object individually.

May 30, 2022March 20, 2020 by Paul Bryant

I was recently asked for a quick way to edit all and individual objects in vSAN 6.7 U3. I thought I would put together a quick how to for quick storage policy changes. **Remember, certain changes in storage policies will trigger a resync on the backend, IE changing RAID types. Step by Step: Right click … Read more

How to fix Thick non-vSAN provisioned policies on your VxRail cluster running vSAN 6.7 U3

May 30, 2022March 19, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Have you ever had someone do a restore of a backup to your vSAN cluster? Ever find it annoying that it does a non-vSAN policy and spits health errors in your vSAN Health check? Ever find it annoying when this new VM is Thick provisioned and 99% of the time it can be thin provisioned? … Read more

How to fix Out of Date VxRail vSAN 6.7 U3 status on VM Storage Policy

May 30, 2022March 19, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation where a vSAN object Storage Policy Compliance status will become Out of Date. To resolve this you must go to the VM object and Reapply VM Storage Policy. Why you may get this error:The compliance status for a virtual machine is Out of Date. The status indicates … Read more

How to check VxRail & vSAN 6.7 U3 Storage Policies Compliance on a VM

May 30, 2022March 19, 2020 by Paul Bryant

Sometimes you will need to confirm that a VM is in compliance with it’s Storage Policy. Please find below that three ways to confirm if your VM is in compliance with the mandated VM Storage Policies. First way – bottom of the VM summary page To update the check just click check compliance Second way … Read more

How to create new VxRail vSAN storage policy in 6.7 U3

May 30, 2022March 19, 2020 by Paul Bryant

When you stand up a new cluster you may have storage requirements besides just the default vSAN storage policy. Since the screens have change slightly 🙂 between 6.5 and 6.7 update 3 I thought I would take a moment for a high level walk through of creating a new storage policy. Go to Menu > … Read more