Dell vCloud FAQs

1.

Q

What’s the difference between a vApp and a VM?

A

A vApp is a logical container for one or more VMs, which allows you to group VMs of similar tasks, departments and/or functions together. For example, you may have three VMs in a vApp that include a database, web-server, and security server. A VM is a stand-alone instance of a compute resource with and operating system installed (Windows, Linux, etc)

2. 

Q

What are the supported guest operating systems?

A

Click the following link to view supported operating systems. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2005976

3.

Q

What are the supported browsers for the Cloud Management Console?

A

Supported browsers for the Cloud Management Console include:

• •                     Internet Explorer versions; 8, 9, and 10 (note: Internet Explorer 7 is supported for functionality but not for layout)
• •                     Firefox versions; 3.6+, 8, 9 and 11
• •                     Chrome versions; 16, 17, and  18
• •                     Safari 5 (for Windows and MAC)

4.

Q

What are the supported browsers for the vCloud Console?

A

Click the link to view supported browsers. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2005819

5.

Q

Do you have DNS available?

A

DNS is not available from Dell. The routed network is populated with public DNS servers as default. You can change these settings and also have the option to stand up your own DNS server, if required.

6.

Q

Do you have reverse DNS available for your vCloud environment?

A

Reverse DNS is available from Dell. Please contact ProSupport (CloudServices_Support@dell.com or click here for phone numbers) and provide us with the Reverse DNS information, in the appropriate format. We will insert it on our next update. Immediate updates to our DNS system are not available.

7.  

Q

If we upload a catalog, are we responsible for licensing?

A

You cannot upload a catalog. You can however create a catalog and upload OVF, ISO or FLP files to a catalog. You are responsible for licensing anything that is uploaded to the Organization Catalogs. Public catalog templates are licensed by Dell.

8.

Q

How do I create the OS off an ISO image?

A

Use the following procedure.

1. 1.       Upload the ISO file, if not yet uploaded.
2. 2.      Create VM, but do not start it.
3. 3.      Right-click the VM and select Insert CD/DVD from catalog. It points to the Organization Catalogs and displays a list of media files.
4. 4.      Select the ISO file.
5. 5.      Click Insert.
6. 9.       

9.

Q

How do I specify a new password for Guest OS Customization?

A

Use the following procedure.

1. 1.       With the VM off, right-click and select properties.
2. 2.      Select the Guest OS Customization tab
3. 3.      Under Password Reset, select the specify password radio button.
4. 4.      Enter the required password in the text field.

Note: If this is done after the VM has already been powered on, you will need to use the Power on and Force Re Customization option when you right-click on the VM.

10.

Q

Can I extend the C drive on the VM?

A

No. When using a template from the Public Catalog, extension of the C Drive is not supported via the vCloud Director User interface.

11.

Q

Why wouldn’t I want to use DHCP?

A

If you have firewall rules that are specific to DHCP-assigned IP address (es) when the DHCP lease expires the firewall rules need to be reset.

12.

Q

Do VPN connections support any type of routing protocol or are all routes between my network and vCloud managed manually?

A

IPSec VPN support is for standard IKEv1 negotiated site-to site tunnels. The vShield Edge device in its current version does not support dynamic routing protocols.

13.

Q

Can multiple IP addresses be assigned to a single network interface or does each IP address require its own interface?

A

This is completely dependent on the client OS. If the OS on the VM supports multiple IPs per NIC, the normal limits for that OS apply.

14. 

Q

If separate interfaces are required is there a limit to the number of interfaces that can be assigned to a VM, and if so, what is the limit?

A

The current limitation imposed by hypervisor of VMware is no more than 10 separate NICs per VM.

15.

Q

Does vCloud support multiple peers per VPN tunnel for redundancy?

A

No. The vShield Edge device will only support 1 x Peer IP address per tunnel. You can have multiple tunnels going to different peer IP addresses, but you cannot have multiple peer IP’s in the same tunnel.

16.

Q

Are private vLANs supported or would each VM that needs to be segregated have to be placed on a separate network?

A

Private VLAN’s are not offered via vCloud Director. A VM can either be placed in a “fenced” vApp (creating a unique vShield Edge device for that vApp), or connected to a separate external org network.

17.

Q

vCloud pricing includes Windows server licenses for templates provided by Dell. If I upload my own Windows Server 2012 media and provision a Windows Server 2012 VM, does vCloud also cover this license? If not, when is this expected to be added?

A

You would need to purchase the Windows Server 2012 license. Currently there is no set date as to when this template will be added.

18.

Q

When will snapshots be available?

A

Snapshots are a new function available in vCloud Director 5.1 (not yet part of Dell’s infrastructure), but there are no guarantees that Dell will support this function.

19.

Q

Can VMs in vCloud be downloaded?

A

Yes. The vApp containing the VM would first need to be copied to a catalog, and then it can be downloaded to a local system.

20. 

Q

Does Dell Support Trusted Platform Module (TPM) access in our cloud for use with BitLocker Encryption and other such applications?

A

We do not supply access to TPM modules in vCloud. There are two reasons for this policy.

1. 1.                   This is a multi-tenant environment. We cannot allow access to the underlying hardware layer. Two customers having access to the same TPM module would be a security risk.
2. 2.                  Normal operations require us to perform migrations of Virtual Machines between ESXi hosts for both load leveling and maintenance reasons. The relationship between Virtual Machine and TPM module is one to one. If we migrated such a machine, it would fail to operate.

21

Q

Whycan’tIuse100%ofmyvCloudresources?

A

Virtualmachinesrequireacertainamountofavailableoverheadmemorytopoweron.ThisishowVMwaredesignedtheirvirtualenvironment.Formoredetailedinformation,pleaserefertothefollowingarticleintheVMwareknowledgebase.http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.vsphere.resmgmt.doc_50%2FGUID-B42C72C1-F8D5-40DC-93D1-FB31849B1114.html