Kubernetes – Part 2: CKA and CKAD Exam, where to begin – documentation or courses?

Reading Time: 4 minutes In the previous blog – Part 1, we discussed the need for learning Kubernetes (K8s), the certifications that CNCF/LF offer, pre-requisites, my motivation and answers to a few queries from a non-developer perspective. In this Part 2, I’ll share some of the on-demand courses available on-line for CKA and CKAD and the ones I shortlisted for my studies and the reasons why.…

How to: Upgrade an IBM LSI based raid controller firmware in a non-IBM systems

Reading Time: 3 minutes After executing the firmware upgrade package, it throws the error “Package and System Mismatch”, “Update failed”…“Update is not meant for this system”. My ‘use case’ was relevant to upgrading firmware of “IBM ServerRaid M5110” on a non-IBM server i.e. Supermicro X10DRi, but this process could also be applied to any LSI based raid controllers on various servers (not limited to IBM)…

10k views milestone – Thank you and a few words on my blogging odyssey (so far)

Reading Time: 3 minutes I wrote my first blog on 21st November 2018 and here I am, less than a couple of years later – one of my blogs (Home Lab Setup – Nested ESXi Host’s networking for NSX-T) being the first to cross 10K views and few more in the pipeline to reach the same milestone. NSX-T Installation Series is the big contributor (so far) which has been profoundly recognized and appreciated. Earlier this year, I witnessed almost half a million hits on shuttleTITAN.com…

vCenter GUI ‘error’ – “no healthy upstream”, vCenter server (vmware-vpxd) service would not start!

Reading Time: 2 minutes vCenter GUI shows an error – “No healthy upstream”. Trying to start “vCenter Server (vmware-vpxd) Service” shows – “An error occurred while starting service ‘vpxd’”. Trying to access vCenter login page would show – “[400] An error occurred while sending an authentication request to the vCenter Single Sign-On server – An error occurred when processing the metadata during vCenter Single Sign-On setup – Failed to connect to VMware Lookup Service https://:443/lookupservice/sdk – SSL certificate verification failed.”…

Quick Tip: VCF deployment (via VLC) on vSphere 7 Update 1 – Error “Cluster xxxx does not have any hosts”

Reading Time: 2 minutes As the title suggests, this blog is a quick tip on how to resolve the VCF (via VLC) deployment issue on vSphere 7 Update 1, which throws the following errors – “Cluster xxxx does not have any hosts” OR “Cluster xxxx will need HA disabled and DRS either set to partially automated or manual to use”, followed by “please check portgroup security policies and click the Connect button again”…

PCIe Bifurcation – What is it? How to enable? Optimal Configurations and use cases for NVMe SDDs/GPUs

Reading Time: 7 minutes One of my colleagues asked me about “Bifurcation” when it came in a discussion about running multiple NVMe drives from a single PCIe slot. As I explained “what it is” and why one should consider it before making a motherboard purchase, I shared my own home lab experience. This blog shares the insight of PCIe Bifurcation, how to enable it by understanding the motherboard layout/architecture, optimal configurations and three(3) use cases focusing on NVMe SSDs and GPU…

VMware vExpert / vExpert Subprogram – What is it? Eligibility, Acceptance Criteria, Benefits and how to apply?

Reading Time: 3 minutes I am honoured to be part of the vExpert and vExpert NSX subprogram for two consecutive years (2019 and 2020) now, it has not only provided me the platform to share my knowledge/blogs with the further wider vCommunity but has also introduced me to many skilled and talented individuals to learn from. Therefore, I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a blog on expanding the vExpert Program for many of the aspirants out there…