This week, VCE announced the availability of the VCE™ Developer Portal. The Developer Portal provides developers with access to all of the resources necessary to develop functionality using the VCE Vision™ Intelligent Operations API.  Within the Developer Portal, you will find:

• Developer Resources: A collection of all of the tools and materials you need to develop against the VCE Vision API, including the VCE Vision Intelligent Operations SDK.
• The VCE Developer Community: A community of passionate individuals dedicated to creating new and exciting uses for Vblock™ Systems.

Anybody can register for and join the VCE Developer Portal.  Just go to:  www.vce.com/developers

One of my most popular articles (that I even turn to from time to time) is How To Install VMware vCloud Director 5.1 & 1.5 From Beginning to End. The article focused on installing with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5. Since RHEL 6 is now a supported OS, it's time for an update. RHEL 6 does not have a GUI installed. So the install process is a bit different, but not far off. You just have to know what you are doing with the CLI.

Many of these steps follow the same steps as the original article, but need to be tweaked slightly.

Step 1. Prepare the environment.

Part A. Database. For an Oracle setup, you're on your own because I don't do Oracle, sorry. Though, since vCloud Director 1.5 supports Microsoft SQL Server, it makes my life much easier. Follow the step by step Installing vCloud Director 1.5 With SQL Server 2008.

Part B. DNS and IPs. Each vCloud Director Cell will need, at minimum, 2 IP addresses. The DNS names associated with those are going to be for the https request and the vmrc.  so VCD-CELL01.company.com and VCD-CELL01-RC.company.com. Repeat this for as many cells as you have. In this case, we will be using 2 cells for redundancy. You may need an additional IP/DNS addition for your cells if you plan on publishing your portal to the internet. See step 3 for the information.

Part C. Syslog. vCloud Cells have the capability to export syslogs. Make sure you have a syslog server setup prior to installation.

Yet again, time for another spoon feeding tutorial.

I'm getting started with vCAC and I found it quite the task to get a GUI Next Next Next type of installation to install correctly. There is already a great article by Randy over at killercouds, VMware vCAC 5.1 Install Process – Overview, but it needs a "beginner's" touch. We will reference it as we go along. This tutorial is going to be for lab purposes ONLY. I am installing everything on a single server, utilizing an existing SQL server, and not implementing anything SSL/HTTPS based. For any production installation, please follow https://www.vmware.com/pdf/vcac-51-installation-guide.pdf

Step 1. Start off with a clean Windows 2008 R2 VM. Download vCAC-51-Installation.zip and vCAC-51-Extensibility.zip, un-pack the archives to your desktop. Also download vCAC_PrereqSetup.ps1 from http://killerclouds.com/?p=203 and place it on the desktop. And download your XML license file and place it on your desktop.

Step 2. Download and install .NET 4.5 Framework.

Today, VCE Announced alot of cool things around Vblock 100, 200, 300, 700, SAP Systems, and VCE Vision OS. To read all about it, please see my other blog post VCE Mega Launch Technical Details for 2/21 Product Announcements. It will have all the information you need.

This blog post is going to be for the eye candy for Vblock 100 BX I saw out in the wild.

For the Vblock 100. here's the speeds and feeds:

Vblock 100 Release

The Vblock 100 is a solution for Small to Mid-sized data centers and Enterprise Distributed remote locations. With pre-defined fixed configurations, the Vblock System 100 can be shipped to your location in approximately 30 days of order—and fully operational in as little as two more.

So what's in the Vblock 100?

There are two models of the Vblock 100. BX and DX. The BX is a half-height 24RU cabinet while the DX is the standard 42RU cabinet.