VMware: Create new port group via PowerCLI

If you want to create a standard vswitch portgroup on all hosts in a cluster, this script is for you!

This script will connect to your vcenter, and iterate through every host in the cluster.  Just make sure to set the parameters highlighted in yellow correctly.

connect-viserver VCENTER

$Cluster = "Cluster01"
$vSwitch = "vSwitch0"
$NPG = "PORT-GROUP-NAME"
$VLAN = "VLAN-NUMBER"
Get-Cluster -Name $Cluster | Get-VMHost | foreach { New-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch ( Get-VirtualSwitch -Name $vSwitch -VMHost $_ ) -Name $NPG -VLanId $vlan }

Mass Removal of VM Port Group

Here's a quick one-liner to remove a port group from all hosts on vCenter using standard vSwitches...in this case, vSwitch0

get-vmhost | Get-VirtualSwitch -Name vSwitch0 | Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name PORTGROUPNAME | Remove-VirtualPortGroup

NetApp - Slow access to management from Teamed/LACP Hosts

If you are a good sysadmin, you have an out-of-band management network.  You also have an out-of-band management host which is a standalone server.  And because you're that awesome, you probably team your NICs.  LACP is a great way to do that.

However, if you have a NetApp, and you use LACP on your OOBM host to connect to your NetApp management host, you may have some odd behavior when attempting to manage it.  Non-LACP hosts or hosts on a separate broadcast domain don't have an issue.

By default, this option is set to ON on all NetApp filers:

ip.fastpath.enable           on

Change this to:
ip.fastpath.enable           off

You'll no longer have an issue.

Nexus 5000 Zoning

If you want to zone in your new FC or FCoE host quickly, use this template.  Obviously, modify the highlighted areas to match your zone names, vsan numbers, and device names.

Fabric A
zone name fabricname-A vsan nn
member pwwn DEVICEWWPN
zoneset activate name zonesetname vsan nn
device-alias database
device-alias name DEVICENAME-A pwwn DEVICEWWPN
exit
device-alias commit
sh fcns database
end
copy run start

Fabric B
zone name fabricname-B vsan nn
member pwwn DEVICEWWPN
zoneset activate name zonesetname vsan nn
device-alias database
device-alias name DEVICENAME-B pwwn DEVICEWWPN
exit
device-alias commit
sh fcns database
end
copy run start

Cisco IOS Software Configuration Management

Here's a great way to archive your IOS configurations and have the option to roll back.  This also creates a detailed configuration change log.

archive 
path disk0:archived-config 
maximum 14 
time-period 1440 
write-memory

Source:  http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk648/tk361/technologies_tech_note09186a0080120f48.shtml#ios

Cisco/HP Trunk Nomenclature

There sometimes appears to be confusion among networking novices about what a "trunk" is.  I used this table to properly clarify for staff.

Technology / Vendor	Cisco	HP
Port Aggregation	Port Channeling (LACP) Etherchannel (Cisco Proprietary)	Trunk (LACP)
VLAN Tagging (802.1q)	Trunk	Tagging