William Lam

Quick Tip – Encoding emojis in a Microsoft Teams message using O365 API

07/13/2020 by William Lam Leave a Comment

One easy way to integrate with Microsoft Teams is to use an incoming webhook which can be configured on a per-channel basis. While working on creating some new PowerShell functions for the VMware Event Broker Appliance (VEBA), I was stuck trying to figure out how to properly encode an emoji icon into the MessageCard type for sending a message to a teams channel.

After a bit of searching and some trial/error, I finally found that you needed to use the emoji hex code with the following format:

&#x<EMOJI-HEX-CODE>;

I used this site here to find the emoji to hex code translation. In addition, I also found that the emojis will only render when used in either the activityTitle or text property of the MessageCard. I was initially trying use this within the facts property which does not work.

Here is a working PowerShell example on constructing the the MessageCard JSON which utilizes emojis:

$teamsMessage = [PSCustomObject][Ordered]@{
    "@type"      = "MessageCard"
    "@context"   = "http://schema.org/extensions"
    "themeColor" = '0078D7'
    "summary"      = "VMC SDDC Deleted"
    "sections"   = @(
        @{
            "activityTitle" = "&#x1F6A8; **VMC SDDC Deleted** &#x1F6A8;";
            "activitySubtitle" = "In VMC-Customer[0] Organization";
            "activityImage" = "https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/files/2019/07/Icon-2019-VMWonAWS-Primary-354-x-256.png"
            "facts" = @(
                @{
                    "name" = "SDDC:";
                    "value" = "M11-SDDC";
                },
                @{
                    "name" = "Date:";
                    "value" = "2020-07-12T11:20:03.364000Z";
                },
                @{
                    "name" = "User:";
                    "value" = "*protected email*";
                }
            );
            "markdown" = $true;
            "text" = "&#x1F629; This is the text field &#x1F629;";
        }
    )
}

$body = $teamsMessage | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $teamsWebhookURL  -Method POST -ContentType "application/json" -Body $body | Out-Null

$teamsMessage = [PSCustomObject][Ordered]@{

"@type" = "MessageCard"

"@context" = "http://schema.org/extensions"

"themeColor" = '0078D7'

"summary" = "VMC SDDC Deleted"

"sections" = @(

"activityTitle" = "🚨 **VMC SDDC Deleted** 🚨";

"activitySubtitle" = "In VMC-Customer[0] Organization";

"activityImage" = "https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/files/2019/07/Icon-2019-VMWonAWS-Primary-354-x-256.png"

"facts" = @(

"name" = "SDDC:";

"value" = "M11-SDDC";

"name" = "Date:";

"value" = "2020-07-12T11:20:03.364000Z";

"name" = "User:";

"value" = "*protected email*";

}

);

"markdown" = $true;

"text" = "😩 This is the text field 😩";

}

)

}

$body = $teamsMessage | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $teamsWebhookURL -Method POST -ContentType "application/json" -Body $body | Out-Null

Here is what the rendered Microsoft Teams message will looks like posting to the webhook:

Custom notification and automation based on host failure in VMware Cloud on AWS

07/09/2020 by William Lam Leave a Comment

Physical hardware failure is inevitable, this is true whether it is running in your on-premises datacenter or in the Cloud like VMware Cloud on AWS. Although vSphere HA will automatically restart all affected VMs after detecting a host failure, there is usually additional activities that must be performed by a customer such as notifying all impacted application owners and even creating an incident ticket for hardware replacement.

With VMware Cloud on AWS, the hardware replacement is done automatically for you but the downstream activity of notifying application owners to verify the application is functional is still managed by the customer. There are many ways in how customers can manage such incidents and one solution that I am a huge advocate of is taking advantage of the powerful vCenter Server Events, which has over 1700+ events, not to mention any of the 2nd/3rd party events.

When an ESXi host fails, the com.vmware.vc.HA.DasHostFailedEvent event will be generated which contains all the relavent information related to the host failure including the specific hostname/IP, when the incident occurred and details about the vSphere Cluster and Datacenter is also provided. This information is visible using the vSphere UI but it can also be programmatically retrieved using the vSphere API, which is how the vSphere UI renders this information.

Note: Everything described in this blog post including the VEBA example is applicable to any environment that contains vCenter Server and is not limited to just VMware Cloud on AWS.

Configuring dnsmasq as PXE Server for ESXi

07/09/2020 by William Lam Leave a Comment

One really cool thing that I came to learn while setting up the infrastructure to network boot the latest Raspberry Pi 4 was the use of dnsmasq, which I have used in the past but I did not realize it could do so much more. In addition to providing DNS services, it can also be configured to run TFTP and provide DHCP capabilities which can then be used to support PXE installations.

Another neat feature of dnsmasq is ability to proxy to an existing DHCP server which is extremely useful for anyone with an existing DHCP infrastructure. Given the simplicity of dnsmasq and having already set this up for the rPI, I figure it would also be useful to take folks through in setting up dnsmasq to also support ESXi installations over PXE, since this still comes up from new folks just getting started with ESXi kickstart automation.

For more details about PXE installation of ESXi, I highly recommend this whitepaper and although it states 6.0, the concepts and configurations are still applicable to the latest ESXi 7.0 release.

Two methods to network boot Raspberry Pi 4

07/07/2020 by William Lam 8 Comments

My Raspberry Pi 4 (8GB) model just came last week and after completing my RADIO (VMware's R&D Innovation Offsite) session recording, I wanted to setup my new rPI so I can start playing with it when I had some spare time. I also have the 4GB model but it was running quite hot as I was using the default case (do not recommend) and decided to put that aside for now. I ended up purchasing the 8GB model from Canakit which includes additional heatsinks and nice built-in fan with their custom case.

Look who just arrived to join the rest of 🥧 family! This will be my reward for tomorrow after I finish my #RADIO session recording pic.twitter.com/h9kxWRpM8S

— William Lam (@lamw) July 1, 2020

After spending some time setting up the rPI OS and applying the various updates, I was not too keen on using the SD Card, especially as some folks on forums mentioned that it can easily be worn out depending on the type of workload. While researching online and some references pointed out by colleagues, I came to learn that in addition to booting from USB which is now possible with rPI, you can also network boot the rPI without an SD Card or any storage for that matter! This immediately resonated with me, especially as I am a huge fan of scripted installations such as Kickstart/Jumpstart.

Here are all the resources that I had used that provided all the heavy lifting. I have optimized some of the commands to make it easy for anyone to simply copy and past who is new to setting up an rPI. The authors below did a fantastic job in outlining all the details, so I highly recommend a read if you would like to get more information. I also will be going over an alternative method at the end for booting the rPI over the network which is not really talked about.

One really cool thing that I came to learn while setting up the infrastructure to network boot an rPI was the use of dnsmasq, which I have used in the past but I did not realize it could do so much more. I may have spent more time playing with dnsmasq than with the rPI itself and I will probably cover this in another blog post on how you can easily setup a PXE/gPXE/iPXE system to enable automated OS installation (e.g. Kickstart) that can be used with ESXi or any other OS for that support network installations via BIOS/UEFI.

Five of my favorite enhancements in vSphere 7

06/30/2020 by William Lam 2 Comments

It is very easy to focus on the speeds and feeds of a new major vSphere release such as vSphere 7 which also includes a TON of new and exciting capabilities. However, often times it is the tiny improvements that has the most significant impact to our end users, especially when it comes to usability and operations. In fact, this was further reinforced by Frank Denneman's post on the Reddit with similiar observations.

I have been using vSphere 7 since it was released back in April and I have been discovering a number of new vSphere UI enhancements that has really delighted my overall user experience. I had been sharing these enhancements on Twitter, but figured it was worth a blog post given most of these features were not well known.

Do you have a favorite new feature in vSphere 7 that might not be well known? If so, share by leaving a comment below.

1. Enhanced VM Summary

I’m really digging the new VM Summary view in the #h5client with #vSphere7, especially with details about any snapshots you might have running! My only pet peeve is the gap of space at the very top /cc @APrabhudev pic.twitter.com/IRofUvMpaQ

— William Lam (@lamw) April 21, 2020

2. Update and Patch Notifications

First patch release for vSphere with Kubernetes is now available

See Release Notes for more details https://t.co/QxDYa7rmTr

Its also really cool to see the vSphere UI is also aware of the update and has nice notification along w/link to RN 🙂 pic.twitter.com/xKYJPfQRGs

— William Lam (@lamw) May 19, 2020

3. ESXi Firmware and Driver View

I just noticed the new enhancements made to ESXi “Hardware” view in #h5client for vSphere 7. Really digging the Firmware section which cleanly & clearly lays out the various devices/components along the specific driver claiming each device which is super useful! pic.twitter.com/OsNPUDaPuj

— William Lam (@lamw) June 15, 2020

4. ESXi Installation Date + Software Package Details

Pleasantly discovered two new #vSphere7 UI features this morning while using the #h5client

Navigate to ESXi Host->Configure->System->Packages

Can now see ESXi Install Date + all VIB/Components nicely listed!

Wrote about Install Date API 4yrs ago https://t.co/QXKQnGNvhj

/1 pic.twitter.com/4yYRCa9vut

— William Lam (@lamw) June 28, 2020

5. Terminate "stuck" VM

In rare case you have pesky VM that is “stuck”, it looks like we’ve now exposed the Kill (Terminate) cmd under the VM Power Operations. No need for SSH/ESXCLI

I initially noticed this with the latest #VMWonAWS release but looks like its made its way into vSphere 7.0b too!

/2 pic.twitter.com/bszXumd65I

— William Lam (@lamw) June 28, 2020

Here are two additional non-UI features that I came to learn about in vSphere 7 that you might also be interested in: Support for HTTPS using wget on ESXi and Guest Customization support for Instant Clones.

How to patch Intel NUC 10 with latest ESXi 7.0 update?

06/28/2020 by William Lam 19 Comments

vSphere 7.0b was just released last week and one of the important fixes was to resolve an issue where Nested ESXi VMs were crashing upon powering on an inner-guest VM. This looks to have also affect newer generations of CPUs including Intel's 10th Gen Comet Lake which is also found in the latest 10th Gen Intel NUCs (Frost Canyon).

A number of folks quickly found that if you simply applied the ESXi 7.0b patch, an unexpected behavior occurred on the 10th Gen Intel NUCs and the onboard networking was lost upon a reboot. This occurs as the original ne1000 driver which had been replaced with a newer version found within ESXi 7.0b no longer recognizes the onboard Intel NIC. The solution is quite simple, create a new Image Profile that contains the Intel NUC NIC Driver.

Several of you have asked for instructions and although this is a pretty common vSphere workflow, I have documented the two supported options using the vSphere Image Builder utility but there are definitely other methods which will have the same results. If you have access to a vCenter Server 6.7 or newer, I recommend using the Image Builder UI. If vCenter Server access is not available, then you can use Image Builder with PowerCLI, however you will need to have access to a Windows machine as the Image Builder cmdlet is not supported with PowerCLI Core.

Note: There is currently a known bug with the Image Builder UI when using vSphere 7 which will prevent you from authoring a new Image Profile. A workaround would be to deploy a VCSA 6.7 which does not have this issue when looking to use the Image Builder UI.