Storage Capabilities not appearing after Installing & configuring the Netapp VASA Provider 1.0

 

When installing the Netapp VASA provider 1.0 today, I was surprised to find the Storage Capabilities were not being populated (as shown in the screen shot below). As I have installed and configure the Netapp VASA provider numerous times and never had an issue, this was very annoying.

StorageCapabilitiesBlank

 

I had completed the configuration of the VASA provider (see below) and successfully registered the provider.

netappvasaconfig_blank

I confirmed the provider was showing up by going to the “Solution providers” in vSphere Client

NetappVASASolutionProviders

Then confirming the vendor provider has been registered as per the below.

VendorProviders

So after unregistering the provider then uninstalling and re-installing the Netapp VASA Provider software the problem was still not solved.
After a quick Google, much to my surprise I couldn’t find anything on this issue.

It turns out, it was a quite simple “fix” if I can call it that.

For whatever reason I configured the storage system first, then proceeded to complete the other steps.

If your having this issue, you can avoid the problem by configuring the VASA provider (shown below) in this order

1. Configure the username and password for communication with vCenter
2. Configure the vCenter server details and register the provider
3. Register the storage system

 

netappvasaconfig

 

Shortly there after the storage capabilities all appeared successfully.

StorageCapabilitiesWorking

So the above contradicts the official Netapp installation guide for the VASA provider, which states on P11 that you can add storage systems at any time,  but solved my problem.

Hope you found this useful.

VMware View 5.1 Reference Architecture on Netapp Storage (NFS)

I just saw this reference architecture from VMware and Netapp, and wanted to share it with you.

It gives excellent examples of the benefits of using VCAI (View Composer Array Integration) and the VSA (View Storage Accelerator).

Anyone deploying any significant number of VMware View virtural desktops should review this architecture.

VMware View 5.1 Reference Architecture on Netapp Storage

vForum 2012 Sydney – TechTalk – VMware View 5.1 Desktop Deployment Solutions

At this years vForum in Sydney, I presented a TechTalk on VMware View 5.1 Desktop Deployment Solutions.

Below is the link to the recording, appologies the audio is not great as the TechTalk was done in the vForum lounge.

Josh Odgers – vForum 2012 TechTalk – VMware View 5.1 Desktop Deployment Solutions

As the video is not very clear I have provided a copy of the presentation below.

vForum VMware View Provisioning Options V0.