VSC 5.0: No linked mode support?

[MURRAYCH1]

Upon my first run of a VSC 5.0 install (upgraded from 4.2.1) in the web client, my screen stays grey with this message at the top:

"This web client is connected to more than one vCenter server.  Virtual Storage Console does not support this configuration"

I have two vCenter servers running in linked mode.  Am I dead in the water here?

[datacenterdude]

Officially, VSC does not support Linked Mode vCenter.  Never has.

Dead in the water?  No.  You can run unique installs of VSC on a per-vCenter basis.  Let me look into "how" exactly for you, with regards to the web client.

Backstory: Support for Linked Mode has been floating around as a request for some time.  There has been a lot of back and forth with VMware about the future of federated vCenter management, and whether Linked Mode was the way forward.  That decision hasn't been made, so we've opted to wait until that time and prioritize other features above it.

[MURRAYCH1]

I realize that VSC doesn't support linked mode itself; I've always run two copies of it (one for each vcenter server).  When your method of interacting with VSC was through the classic client plugin, I just selected which instance to connect to (and that was fine).

What I am seeing now, though, is the web client detects a linked mode install and doesn't let me work at all.

Honestly linked mode is just a convenience and I can live without it if necessary; but it feels like it's for a silly reason   It would be great if I could just have VSC (via the web client) just look at one server at a time, like with VSC 4.2.1.

[nettonetto]

Hallo,

Same Problem herer. New Installation VSC 5.0 and Virtual Center 5.5 Linked Mode. After Registration the VC in VSC nothing happens in the Web Client.

"This web client in connected to more than on Vcenter server, Virtual Storage Console does not support this configuration"

Loading storage system details ... and nothin happens in Web Client ?

Any Workarounds ?

Alexander

[MURRAYCH1 · Accepted solution]

I've turned off linked mode on my setup this morning (I'm sure some of the admins are going to yell ).  Upgraded my second system and I can see VSC now.

However on the first system, I am still seeing the above error even though linked mode has been disabled.  Restarted services to no avail, thinking I might have to do a reinstall of VSC.

UPDATE:  After a reinstall and a restart of the vSphere Web Client service, it is working (with linked mode disabled).

[AKARIJNTAP]

Any update on getting this working in the Web Client?  Other requirements mean I can't just disable vCenter Linked Mode.  I only need VSC on this primary vCenter; the other sites aren't NetApp storage anyway.

I've got the same greyed-out screen in Web Client with the red unsupported warning and just spinning "Loading Storage System Details"

[BEEFY1471]

Same problem. it worked in the classic client (seperately)

we need linked mode (SRM, shared licences, single management view)

we also need VSC and use it in our vsphere 5.0 setup (VSC 4.2) fine!

help!?

is there any work around such as removing linked mode. carrying out 2 installs and get them working them re-enable linked mode or will it just come back? is there a config file we can stop the check for linked mode happening?

[BEEFY1471]

Can we run VSC 4.2.1 on vsphere 5.5 U1?

that is our current thought process until this is fixed. anyone doing this?

[DSIMMONS5280]

Any updates on running VSC against a vcenter in linked mode?

[nettonetto]

Little bit off topic, but to all People who working with VSC 4.x or 5.x how u mange your Snap Vault Relations VM Backups to a Secondary Filer ?We still using On Command Host packages 1.3 with Data protection Manager from Netapp and it Works with VMWAERE 5.5 ( Local Backup, the Snap Vault VMWARE . Are they any Changes in the VSC 5 Version, that a Local Backup can be Snapvaultet to a Secondary Filer without Scripts, or still only Snapmirror function?

Thanks

[BEEFY1471]

SV is supported in VSC 5.0 (finally!) but only for those on 8.2 CLUSTER mode (yeh cheers!)

we use the SMVI.cmd scripts but not formally supported and a pain to manage

We are foced to use 4.2.1 on our setup as we cant use VSC 5.0 due to this linked mode issue. Why not release a fix and let us run the instances seperately like we did with VSC 4.x?

netapp??

[velsjanjaaps]

Same problem here.

Worked in vSphere client.

But now with VSC 5.0 it just hangs on "Loading storage system details...".

We need linked-mode AND VSC

I don't need VSC to be linked-mode aware or anything like that, the way it worked before was just OK; two seperate, non-aware of each other, instances.

So... netapp?!? 

Beta?

[velsjanjaaps]

I just encountered a problem which suggests that Backup and Recovery in 4.2.1 isn't supported on Windows 2012 (R2).

Getting the error: 503 problem accessing /smvi/gwtrpc service unavailable. https://communities.netapp.com/thread/34048

So it is not possible for us to use 4.2.1 unless we install it on two 2008 R2 servers, just for VSC...?!?

Looking forward to a working VSC 5.1; without the linked-mode error (linked-mode support not needed)!

Beta?

[BEEFY1471]

It just goes from bad to worse doesnt it. We have worked with netapp since 2007. In the last 18 months they have really gone downhill

1. VSC 5.0 takes months to come out then doesnt support linked mode even with 2 seperate installations of VSC

2. VSC 5.0 drops support for single file restore and then says it might come back later (like WTF)

3. VSC 4.2.1 gets released but doesnt work properly for most people using vsphere 5.5

Where does this leave people on vSphere 5.5 wanting to use VSC. I guess looking for an alternative product to do the job (we are already evaluating)

It also really grates me that we cannot upgrade our Data on Tap to 8.2.x because only snapdrive 7 is supported for exchange in 8.2 and above, and guess what snapdrive 7 only supports exchange 2013 which was less than 6 months old when they made that decision. for now we are stuck on DOT 8.1.x as we run exchange 2010 on snapmanager 6.0.x and stuck with VSC 4.2.1 which we now have to run on seperaste 2008 R2 servers. total nightmare. thanks netapp.....

[velsjanjaaps]

Well...

We're a happy VSC user now for a couple of years, and only now running into problems due to our currently not supported  setup.

We're also a (happy) VEEAM user and really looking forward to VEEAM v8, which may eliminate the need for VSC Backup and Recovery.

VEEAM v8 offers Netapp integration (VM create snap, Netapp snap, VM delete snap/snap commit,  VEEAM mount netapp lun(s)/export(s), VEEAM backup from Netapp snap, delete Netapp snap)

If however it is possible to keep the VEEAM orchestrated Netapp snap (which could be snapmirrored) then VSC Backup and Recovery is no longer a need for us.

I still don't know if it is possible to keep this snapshot though (without snapvault), but i sure do hope it will be!

The only other thing we use in VSC is Monitoring and Host Configuration, but fur us is really only needed once per ESXi host for NFS settings,etc. this could also be done by hand.

Though the overall view is nice we could do without. VSC of course has more functionality, but we don't use it.

More info: http://go.veeam.com/v8-netapp

[datacenterdude]

Just wanted to come in and let everyone know that you've been heard loud and clear, and it is something we're intensely investigating with VMware.  I can't go into too many details here, but I will say that the backend [read: API] functionality with SSO isn't as robust with web client as it is/was with the VIC.

We're hoping to get a lot of these things fixed in the upcoming maintenance release.

Thank you for all of the information, and most importantly, your patience!  We're on it!

-Nick

[BEEFY1471]

fixing linked mode and bringing back single file restore?

if not we will stay on 4.2.1

any timescales on a release of this patch / update

[datacenterdude]

Linked-Mode:  We're investigating possibilities with VMware, but please understand that the ball to enable 3rd-party interaction with that is in their court.  There's not much we can do until they give us the ability to do so.

SFR: The original Single-File Restore mechanism was cloogy and hard to use, and we heard that feedback from a majority of users, most of which were opting to just restore a VM, grab what they needed, and delete the restored VM.  We do have plans to greatly enhance Backup & Recovery sections of the VSC as a whole, but its undetermined as of yet whether or not functionality similar to SFR will be a part of that.

The current 5.0.1X3 Beta is available (just posted yesterday!) for you to try.

-Nick

[BEEFY1471]

Hi Nick

The problem isnt linked mode per say. I think most of us accept we cant use that (and never have). What is the frustrating point is we cant use even seperate instances of VSC at 2 datacenters linked with linkedmode. this was possible in 4.x and I currently use this setup in 4.2.1 as many others in this thread do. If we have linked mode we cant even get to the point of configuring anything locally on each virtual datacenter. that makes the product unuseable for us hence looking at alternatives while we continue with 4.2.1 for now.

SFR: I have to disagree with you. Yes the interface isnt perfect (which netapp product is ) but we use it extensively. its much faster doing SFR to get some config files back rather than an entire VM restore. Also an entire VM restore overrights the exisiting machine so unless you are VERY careful (and understand the consequences) it requires many more steps and takes a lot longer than SFR. Another reason to stay on 4.2.1! For us its SFR and then VM restore in that order!

what is in the beta, can I get around the problem we all have (pictured in the 4th post of this thread?) if not then we shall remain on 4.2.1 and review the like sof veeam. its beyond frustrating and its not the only product you guys do this with.

We need something that works properly, with all the features we are used to (and more?!) when vSphere 6.x comes out and as the c# client will be dropped I expect 4.2.1 support will do as well.

Will

[MURRAYCH1]

A few more thoughts since this thread has touched a vein with many:

I think most agree with Will; VSC "support for linked mode" isn't really that important.  In 4.x we just had separate instances of VSC for each vCenter server and that was just fine.  In 5.0 if you have Linked mode the product doesn't work AT ALL.  I think, and it hasn't been said, that part of this has to do with adoption of the vSphere Web Client over the traditional C# client.  I personally hate the Web Client (that's a different discussion), and I can accept it has forced third-party tools to work differently.  I have my money on that being the real reason this is such a problem (Web Client doesn't present linked mode the same way or something).  If I was a programmer, I would have built a separate VSC interface rather than integrate into the web client.

SFR is very important.  9 out of 10 restore requests our team gets are for a specific set of files, not for a whole VM.  I don't agree the process was cludgy before.  Maybe the CODE was, but the process of cloning a snapshot, mounting it to a host, mounting VMDK's, and browsing files...well it's a lot of steps but isn't really anything hard to understand.  In theory many of us should be able of making that work with a few powershell commands; I do expect professional programmers can do it in a reliable fashion

Some more product feedback:

The terminology in the menu options is horribly ambiguous.  "Restore" overwrites a VM with no option to restore a copy somewhere else.  Mounting a backup requires going under the "Backup" option.  Not once has someone who isn't in here regularly been able to get what they want without coming to our team for assistance.  Should be clearer.

There should be better feedback when something is broken.  I had to do a restore yesterday and while everything appeared to be working fine, when it went to actually mount a backup I saw a progress bar, a note to watch progress in the recent tasks area, and then nothing happened.  I still don't know what's broken or why.

Consider the intention of these comments to be constructive, not negative. 

[DEF__HEAD]

Hi All

We were VSphere 5.1 in Linked Mode using the thick client with VSC 4.2.1 install on both virtual centers.  We have since upgraded to VSphere 5.5 (hating the web client) and are looking to upgrade VSC but we now wont since we can't run VSC 5.0 in linked mode.

We'll remain using VSC 4.2.1 via the thick client (it works fine) and keep a close eye on future releases of VSC. We do hope Netapp continue supporting VMware environments running in Linked Mode, so customers can continue that single pane of glass for VSphere management.