Packet Capture on VMware Workstation

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Packet capture is an essential tool in any network/systems engineers toolset, mainly when working with services in a development environment or during troubleshooting. So recently when I was testing the installation of the NSX VIBs onto the nested ESXi host in my VMware Workstation lab, I wanted a facility to capture the conversation between a single ESXi host, NSX Manager and the vCenter Server (vcsa). You could naturally perform this packet capture directly on the ESXi host (running as a VM), or instead, perform it from your underlying operating system.

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NSX-v: ESG – submitting tasks via the API Asynchronously

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Why you would want to execute tasks via the NSX API asynchronously is a good question, and, can be answered with two words “Parallel Workflows”. In a Software Defined Datacenter (SDDC) where automation is extensively used, it may be beneficial to execute tasks asynchronously so that your automation workflow can continue while a certain NSX logical construct is built (deployed), one such example is an Edge Services Gateway. This same framework also provides us the ability to query the status of the job to verify if it has been successful or not, which can be quite important if you need to check if a logical component is configured or not. Continue reading “NSX-v: ESG – submitting tasks via the API Asynchronously” →

NSX-v Communications Diagram

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Below is diagram to visually see the communications (protocol/port) of the NSX-v (6.2.x) components. The focus of the diagram is from an NSX-v viewpoint. Therefore, I haven’t included the comms for vSphere, and it’s relevant components. Continue reading “NSX-v Communications Diagram” →

NSX-v Load Balancer Application Rules

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Application rules in NSX for vSphere allow you to create advanced load balancing rules which may not be possible with the application profile or services natively available on the Edge Services Gateway (ESG). However, the ESG enables you to add your specific application rules to support your load balancing scenario; application rules are built using HA Proxy syntax. Continue reading “NSX-v Load Balancer Application Rules” →

Save files to Google Drive automatically from Gmail

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I have been using Gmail since it’s inception when it was still an invite only email service and haven’t looked back. It’s flexibility and speed have made it my personal email account of choice and with Google steadily adding more services to Gmail and their other online collaboration tools it’s always getting better. So I was intrigued when I found out that Google were giving you a way to extend their Google Apps services further with Google App Script. Although it’s primarily aimed towards businesses that are leveraging Google Apps, you can use App Script to automate your own workflows to make your digital life that little bit easier.

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Backup iMessage Photo’s using a Python Script

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I wrote this quick python script to backup my iMessage photo’s that I received, as I currently have to manually save individual photo’s to my camera roll or somewhere else on my MAC. Which tbh is pretty annoying, as I just want everything backed up into my photo’s directory.

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DMVPN Phase 1

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Part 1 in a four part series, this post will look at the configuration of DMVPN Phase 1 and the routing implications using OSPF. Although Phase 1 today is considered obsolete, it is still worth reviewing.

Prior to delving into the specifics of DMVPN Phase 1 configuration, let’s start with a underlay network – NBMA (Non-Broadcast Multi-access Network), the underlay can either be the public internet or a MPLS network.
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DMVPN Phase 2

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In the first post of this series, DMVPN Phase 1, the DMVPN concept and configuration parameters that were pertinent to the configuration for Phase 1 were explored. Although the parameters are similar to Phase 1 for Phase 2, the actual operation of traffic flows and routing configuration has changed.
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