VSM support for vSphere 6.7?

Just to be clear, I see the VSM under the Flash Client, but not available under the HTML5 Client!

For me this version was suppose to support full HTML 5?

This thread makes me glad this PS6210 we have was acquired by buying a company, I'd be **bleep** if I had actually spent money on it.  

Thank you!

 That is very kind of you to say.  I appreciate it very much.  I also appreciate the frustration of those waiting for it.

  Kind regards,

Don

Hello, 

 I can appreciate your position. Until a version of VSM supporting is released I would suggest you stop using VSM.  Move any snapshot and replication schedules to the Group manager scheduler.  

 Restoring a snapshot can be done manually without VSM.  So they features you do lose are group info integrated into VCS, creating, resizing, deleted VMFS Datastores and VVOLs.  Only VVOLs actually requires VSM to function. All the other features can be done manually. 

 Since there has not yet been an announcement regarding HTML5 support for VSM, it cannot be disclosed on a public forum.  With an NDA in place you can discuss the roadmap with your Sales representative. 

 Regards, 

Don 

And so NOW when the Flash is deprecated in Jan-2021 and we talked about the HTML5 support for VSM in 2019.... but still on the latest VSM 5.0.1.16 there is no support for HTML5 ! Using some hacks we can still enable Flash version to run on IE11 or Edge browser (after Jan.12.2021), but this works till the Windows updates that promise to cut away the Flash from everywhere.

There are tasks that you could do in VSM, only using Flash version (The Dell Virtual Storage Manager icon is displayed in the Inventories section in VMware vSphere Web Client) ! As there is no such option in HTML5 version you can't adjust/add your Second "Storage" network adapter (if you use one for management and the second for storage network), can't add your PS storage domain to VSM, any operations with creating/editing snapshot schedules, managing and restoring snapshots, etc... 

Many of the vendors updated their apps during 2020 to replace Flash, as it was already announced that Flash will be dead by the end of 2020 ! I talk about those vendors who cares about their customers....

Can somebody inside DELL SW developers team tell, when we can see a new VSM with HTML5 support ?  

Hello, 

Re: VM restore. Yes.  In fact doing it manually would allow you to restore a file. You don't roll back the snapshot, you MOUNT it to an ESXi node.  So bring the snapshot online, rescan. Then do "Add Storage" select the snapshot. You will be given an option to resignature it or reformat it.  Select Resignature.  It will now show in Datastores as "snapshot-OLDUUID-DatastoreName.   Now you can browse the snapshot and copy/paste the VMDK OR start the VM. You have so solve and duplicate IP issues or if part of a cluster but once online you can copy the file you want off that VM.  I.e. over to a network share. 

Just make sure you have some snapshot reserve available.  Depending on size at least 20%.  As booting up will involve many writes. 

You will find this process faster than using VSM.  As it has to go back and forth with VCS. 

Same process for replicas. 

Regards, 

Don 

Hi Don... you always here to help us

But on Group Manager I can see how to make all the snapshot schedules and restore snapshot in emergency case. But this restore rolls back the full Datastore to the point of snapshot. So if I have there in Datastore1 many VMs it will do a horrible job when restoring all of them... when I need to revert only one !  Some servers like web-http or dhcp, tftp, network routers or workstations can be rolled back "painless" in a week or month in time, if nothing was changed in configs or files. But some servers like customer database, SQLs, financial processing, etc - can't be rolled back even in 1 day, unless you have completely dead system or unrepairable database. If this happens it requires many hours to restore from additional daily backup files to the current state. So the snapshot restore in the level of Datastore can't be a solution for me. Ans yes VVOLs works only in VSM, too. 

Is there a way in Group Manager to perform a Datastore snapshot restore for a specific VM, like in VMware vSphere Web Client (Flash) ?

Hello, 

 Sorry left out another way to restore a single file. 

 You can add an existing VMDK to another VM.   Then you can copy off the file(s) you need.  Only downside is that to unmount that VMDK you need to power down the VM.  I use a template VM for this process.  And the VMDK boot up.  Get the files, shutdown and remove the VMDK from the template configuration file. 

 Then offline the snapshot on EQL side. Do a recan on the ESXi node and you are done. 

 Regards, 

Don 

Hello, 

 You don't need a standalone ESXi node. Any node that is accessing that node will do.  You just run the operations at the ESXi node level,  I.e. don't do a rescan on all nodes, there's no point and it takes much longer.  

Re: Faster. It is faster.  When using VSM it spends a lot of time "thinking and processing...."  

 Also all the VMDKs in the VM will be restored.  What if you just need one?  Or you want to experiment with the data on the VM without impacting production VM.  The uses for this process are numerous. 

 It's not menu driven like VSM all in one place. But it's vey easy to do and much more finite in its restoration. 

 Regards, 

Don 

Wow ! Thanks for ideas.

I see now it is doable without VSM.... but in (Flash)vSphere Web app for VSM it is just choose the snapshot date, than choose the whole Datastore or just one VM to restore, and click "OK". It is like 4 clicks in one program.

In your solutions I need a standalone ESXi (all my ESXi hosts currently managed by vCenter). Need to do on Group Manager all the tasks for: bring the snapshot online, "Add Storage", resignature, mount new datastore on ESXi host, browse the snapshot and copy/paste the VMDK OR start the VM, solve duplicate IP issues, copy files from VM.... 

And when you said: "You will find this process faster than using VSM." - it must be a joke

In real life if I have no other choice to recover my VM from snapshot, than I go all these steps. But not sure all the guys in my team will do all the steps quick, from the first try and without errors ! As some have only knowledge how to do tasks on vCenter with already added ESXi hosts but never tried full process with datastores mounting and operating Group Manager.   

FYI:  The steps I outlined are what VSM does under the covers.  Brings online, scans, resigature, etc. 

Then if you restore the VM all the VMDKs are copied it's not restoring directly on the EQL array.  That array is block storage not file aware.  

Regards,

Don