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Partner Exchange @ VMworld 2017 Updates

Once again Partner Exchange 2017 US (PEX) will be held in conjunction with VMworld 2017 US on Sunday, August 27, at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.  On Sunday morning, PEX will kick off with partner breakout sessions starting at 8:30 AM and at 9:45 AM. The PEX General Session will be from 11:15 AM – 12:30 PM presented by VMware’s Executives as well as Channel and BU Leaders.  Partners will be able to pick from over 50-partner specific breakouts.

PRICING

  • VMworld + Partner Exchange – Early Bird (ends on June 12) is $2,190 and Regular Rate (after June 12) is $2,490
  • Partner Exchange Only – $795 flat rate

PEX PASS INCLUDES

  • Partner General Session presented by top VMware Executives and Channel Leaders
  • Regional Updates (in US) and RTM Updates (in Europe)
  • Technical Partner Breakout Sessions + Partner Programs & Incentives Updates
  • Special TAP Only Content (further details will be made available shortly)
  • Exclusive Access to the Partner Exchange Lounge with additional meeting rooms for partner meetings (open all week)
  • Special Invitation to the Partner Exchange Reception on Sunday evening

REGISTRATION UPDATE

VMworld + PEX registration is now live! See the VMworld Registration page for more details.

PEX LOUNGE

Once again we will have a Partner Exchange Lounge that will open on Sunday and run all week during VMworld. Only those partners who purchase the PEX pass will have access to the PEX lounge.  More details will be made available shortly.

IMPORTANT DATES

Early Bird Registration Ends for US – June 12 (June 20 for Europe)

Global Content Catalog Live – June 20

Schedule Builder Live for US – July 18 (July 27 for Europe)

 

If you have any additional questions, please reach out to the team at vmworldteam@vmware.com.

 

Monthly NSX Customer Advisory – May 2017

In this communication, we detail the top trending issues with VMware NSX for vSphere and provide you with helpful information on how to address the issues while we build a permanent fix. Please review the left column of the chart below to search for issues specific to your environment, and click on the hyperlinks to access more detailed information on each.

For additional up-to-date, top trending NSX issues, previous and current, please see KB Article Trending support issues in VMware NSX for vSphere 6.x (2131154).

 

NSX for vSphere Version

 Component Issue Summary Resolution/Work-Around

KB Number
6.2.x , 6.3.x ESXi ESXi 5.5 and 6.0 hosts fail with a purple diagnostic screen (PSOD): VMCIEventDelayedDispatchCB@com which occurs due to race condition in dvfilter vmci socket deregistration. This issue is resolved in ESXi 5.5 Patch 8 and ESXi 6.0 Patch 3.

To work around this issue, uninstall the dvfilter-dsa driver.

 KB : 2149242
6.3.x ESXi Hosts fails with a purple diagnostic screen when retrieving flows for ALG enabled protocols. To work around this issue, disable flow monitoring related features: IPFix, LiveFlow, Application Rule Manager, Flow monitoring-global flow collection. KB : 2149908

 

Top Issues + Resolution / Workaround

NSX for vSphere 6.3.x, 6.2.x

Issue #1: Process to change VXLAN port from 8472 to 4789 may fail or never complete.

Affected Version: 6.2.x, 6.3.x

Symptom:

  1. The process may fail or never complete while changing the VXLAN port from 8472 to 4789 (standard port assigned by IANA).

Resolution: To resolve the issue, run the REST API calls to check the status of the job and resume the change. For more details, please refer to KB 2149996.

 

Issue #2: Guest Introspection USVM reports disk is full.

Affected Version: 6.3.x

Symptom:

  1. You receive an alert that the /var/log disk space is full or almost full on one or more of the Guest Introspection USVMs.
  2. This issue occurs as there is a problem with the internal log maintenance task that causes log files to grow indefinitely, eventually leading to a full disk situation.

Resolution:  To work around this issue delete the Guest Introspection USVM. Click on resolve to redeploy. For more details, please refer to KB 2149856.

 

Issue #3: Distributed Firewall (DFW) packets hitting Default Rule instead of previous Rule allowing/blocking designated traffic.

Affected Version: 6.2.x, 6.3.x

Symptom:

  1. In examining Distributed Firewall (DFW) behavior, you may see some packets having a source, destination, and protocol (service) defined in a configured rule hitting the Default rule at the very end of the firewall rule list.
  2. In the dfwpktlogs or in LogInsight, you may see that the SYN packets and the ACK packets are being processed by the configured rule allowing/blocking the defined traffic.
  3. For the same traffic, you see RST and FIN ACK packets hitting the default block/allow rule, meaning that it is not hitting the previously-configured rule.

Resolution: To verify the rules ascribed to the filter or vNIC, type the vsipioctl getrules -f <filtername> command. From this output, you can verify that the configured rule(s) are being applied to the virtual NIC as expected. For more details, please refer to KB 2149818

 

Issue #4: VMs are removed from Exclusion List while adding new VM.

Affected Version: 6.2.x, 6.3.x

Symptom:

  1. When attempting to add a virtual machine to the NSX Manager’s Exclusion List to remove the DFW filter from the virtual machine, all other existing excluded virtual machines disappear from the Exclusion List.
  2. In the Web UI, after making the second or duplicate attempt, you may see an error similar to:
    Member: VM is already present in exclude list.

Resolution: To avoid this issue, refresh the UI page before adding the VM to the exclusion list. Refreshing the UI will clear any stale sessions and ensure that if another user has already added the VM, it is now reflected in the UI. For more details, please refer to KB 2149997.

 

Issue #5: Backing up the NSX Manager to OpenSSH 7.x or later fails.

Affected Version: 6.2.x, 6.3.x

Symptom:

  1. This issue occurs because the SFTP jar files in the NSX Manager is out of date.

Resolution: To work around this issue, use OpenSSH version 6.x or earlier as your SFTP backup endpoint. For more details, please refer to KB 2150053.

 

Trending KB

Issue #1:  Re-installing NSX to upgrade vCNS Endpoint to NSX Guest Introspection.

Affected Version: 6.2.x, 6.3.x

Symptom: How to KB.

Resolution: The KB/Solution explains the procedure to upgrade from vCNS to NSX in the environments where vCNS is configured and used for Endpoint only. For more details, please refer to KB 2150140.

 

VMware Recommended release

VMware recommends NSX 6.2.6 for new deployments. The minimum version a customer should be running is NSX 6.2.2 based on critical bug fixes identified as having a general impact in an NSX environment. For more information, see Minimum recommended version for NSX for vSphere with GID, ESXi, and vCenter Server (2144295).

 

Have feedback on this NSX Customer Advisory?

We would like to hear from you. Send us your feedback by providing comments on the Feedback Box (available at the bottom of KB Article) Trending support issues in VMware NSX for vSphere 6.x (2131154).


Thank you for helping us continually improve this communication.

 

DO NOT FORGET

Subscribe to my.vmware.com to get timely notifications on NSX Product Releases, Fixes and upcoming patches.

Updated VMware NSX Customer Advisory

In this communication we detail the top trending issues with VMware NSX for vSphere and provide you with helpful information on how to address the issues while we build a permanent fix. Review the left column of the chart below to search for issues specific to your environment, and click on the hyperlinks to access more detailed information on each.

For up-to-date Top Trending NSX issues, previous and current, see KB Article Trending support issues in VMware NSX for vSphere 6.x (2131154).

Summary of Top Trending Issues

Version Affected Component Issue Summary Resolution/Work-Around KB/PR Number (Internal)
NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 NSX Controller(s) When net-vdl2 module requests LACP details, the uplink name is returned with an additional ‘*’ at end of LAG name causing a mismatch Resolution – We strongly recommend that you upgrade to NSX for vSphere 6.3.1.

Workaround – If you are not able to upgrade at this time, please contact VMware Support for workaround steps.

 KB 2149210
NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 Distributed Firewall The vsfwd service fails to start after upgrade to NSX for vSphere 6.3.0. Resolution – We strongly recommend that you upgrade to NSX for vSphere 6.3.1.

Workaround – If you are not able to upgrade at this time, please contact VMware Support for workaround steps.

 KB 2148974
NSX for vSphere 6.3.x NSX backups NSX backup to SFTP server fails. Resolution – Ensure that the ciphers used in the SFTP server is supported in NSX for vSphere 6.3.x. KB 2149282
NSX for vSphere 6.2.x, NSX for vSphere 6.3.x Guest Introspection After Guest Introspection is deployed on an ESXi host with Instant Clone VMs with the thin agent running, the Guest Introspection service goes into Warning status on the Service Deployment Resolution – Remove all the View parent VMs from the ESXi host. Once the View parent VMs were removed, EPsec MUX service will be restored automatically without any further action. KB 2148690

 

GA ANNOUNCEMENT

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.1 was released on Tuesday, February 28th and is now available for download NSX for vSphere 6.3.1 . This release was made available to address two issues that were found by Engineering and deemed critical after NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 was released.

For more details on what is included in the NSX release, please see the VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.1 Release Notes.

 

Top Issues and recommended next steps:

NSX for vSphere 6.3.0

Issue #1 – Symptom: Virtual Machines lose network connectivity.

Issue #1 – Resolution: This issue is resolved in VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.1. For more information, see VM lose network connectivity after upgrade to 6.3.0 with ESXi 6.0.x and LACP uplink (2149210).

Issue #2 – Symptom: The vsfwd service fails to start after upgrading to NSX for vSphere 6.3.0.

Issue #2 – Resolution: This issue is resolved in VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.1. For more information, see vsfwd service fails to start after upgrading to NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 (2148974).

Issue #3 – Symptom: NSX Manager backup to SFTP server fails.

Issue #3 – Resolution:  Ensure that your SFTP server supports the following ciphers:

  • Encryption: aes128-cbc, aes128-ctr, aes192-cbc, aes192-ctr, aes256-cbc, aes256-ctr
  • Message Authentication (mac): hmac-sha2-256
  • Key Exchanges: diffie-hellman-group-exchange-sha256

For more information, see Backup to SFTP server fails in NSX-V 6.3.x (2149282).

NSX for vSphere 6.2.x, 6.3.x

Issue #4 – Symptom: After Guest Introspection is deployed on an ESXi host with Instant Clone VMs with the thin agent running, the Guest Introspection service goes into Warning status on the Service Deployment.

Issue #4 – Resolution: Remove all the View parent VMs from the ESXi host. Once the View parent VMs were removed, EPsec MUX service will be restored automatically without any further action. For more information, see Host reports lost communication with ESX module when using instant clone (2148690).

 

VMware Recommended release

NSX for vSphere 6.2.2 is still the “bare minimum” recommended release. For more information, see Minimum recommended version for NSX for vSphere with GID, ESXi, and vCenter Server (2144295).

Note: The Guest Introspection section has been recently updated. The recommended VMware Tools version is 10.1.0 and later.

 

DO NOT FORGET

Subscribe to my.vmware.com to get timely notifications on NSX Product Releases, Fixes and upcoming patches.

VMworld 2017 US Sponsorship & Exhibitor Update and Information

TAP partners who are interested in becoming sponsors for VMworld 2017 US should register today. Becoming a sponsor for VMworld 2017 US means becoming a part of the preeminent virtualization and cloud infrastructure event. Partners will reach thousands of technology experts, practitioners, hands-on users, and key decision makers and influencers at the cutting edge of powerful trends such as the software-defined data center, IT-as-a-service, hybrid cloud, and workforce mobility. VMworld 2017 US will be hosted in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center on August 27 – August 31, 2017 with Partner Exchange @ VMworld on August 27.  Top level sponsorships are selling out with only 4 Platinum and 8 Gold spots left.

VMworld US Numbers at a Glance

  • 5 days
  • 17+ industries
  • 38+ countries
  • 240+ sponsors and exhibitors
  • 23,500+ attendees

Key Benefits of Sponsorship

  • Generate qualified leads as you interact with thousands of VMware loyalists and key industry leaders.
  • Increase brand awareness and position your organization as an essential VMware partner.
  • Establish thought leadership among the visionaries shaping the new mobile-cloud era of IT.

Hear directly from our 2016 sponsors and exhibitors on why they chose to participate.

Sponsorship and Exhibitor Opportunities

To learn more about VMworld 2017 US sponsorship options or to reserve your space – contact our Sales Managers today!

Companies A-K: Shana McMahon – smcmahon@nthdegree.com or +1 617-807-6011
Companies L-Z: Bethany Porrazzo – bporrazzo@nthdegree.com or +1 617-848-8765

VMware Horizon 7 with Cisco HyperFlex

Over the last year, we have seen how Hyper-converged architectures are fueling VDI as a use case. The value proposition for deploying VDI with an HCI based architecture is compelling – ease of initial deployment, improved storage cost economics, simplified and integrated infrastructure management are a few to name. At the same time, VMware Horizon is also driving newer architectures that enables customers to successfully implement their flavor of digital workspace solutions – see recent announcements here.

Both these advancements, in VMware Horizon & the underlying HCI platforms hosting virtual desktop and application workloads, requires providing customers with a new set of guidance. On the traditional on-prem side, this includes looking at various deployment options available with Horizon such as Linked Clones, Instant Clones and Just-in-time desktops, Full-clones and RDSH based desktops and its impact on underlying platform scalability and ultimately the end user experience it delivers.

Working with Cisco UCS based HCI architectures, last year we shared with you scalability and performance results for VMware Horizon 6 with Cisco UCS Ready Nodes for VMware Virtual SAN. Today, I would like to highlight key findings from the recently published Cisco Validated Design guide (CVD) for designing and  deploying a Horizon 7 solution with Cisco HyperFlex platform:

  • Windows 10 desktops tested for scale and performance – 1000 VDI sessions for Linked clones, Instant clones and Full clones and 1200 RDSH sessions on 8 nodes tested with Login VSI results guaranteeing excellent end user performance. This includes end-to-end scalability measuring CPU, Memory and Network utilizations and average and peak storage IO latency values. Calculating a VSIMax score (as part of Login VSI test methodology) provides an accurate guidance of maximum scalability possible without compromising on the end-user performance. This scalability testing also provides a building block for achieving further linear scalability for a larger deployment
  • Provisioning 1000 Instant Clones took 22 minutes – Instant cloning technology is the basis for delivering just-in-time desktops with Horizon and rapidly clones and deploys a virtual machine leveraging the vmFork technology within vSphere. Without this enhancement, it would have taken 3x time to provision a similar environment. In addition, boot storms were tackled in less than 5 minutes for 1000 desktops proving that the infrastructure can handle extreme workload scenarios
  • Integrated Management with vCenter – Leveraging vCenter plugins for HyperFlex and Cisco UCS Manager providing ease of managing your virtual and physical infrastructure hosting Horizon

Here’s a snapshot of the platform BOM:

HyperFlex_Horizon

Please refer to the guide for complete design and deployment guidance. For more details about the new HyperFlex release read cisco’s announcement [https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=1827930] and register for the March 22 broadcast of a live TechWiseTV episode on HyperFlex [https://engage2demand.cisco.com/210-hyperflex?keycode=001473308&dtid=001473308

I look forward to engaging with customers and partners deploying this architecture. Follow @bhumikp

NSX Field Advisory – March 2017 Edition

Important Note
Subscribe to RSS Feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/NSX for up-to-date information on new products, patches and fix announcements regarding VMware NSX for vSphere.

Minimum Recommended Release

NSX for vSphere 6.2.2 and vSphere 6.0 Update 2 remains the recommended release combination. For more information, see Minimum recommended version for NSX for vSphere with GID, ESXi and vCenter Server (2144295).

GA Announcement

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.6 and 6.3.0 is now available for download.

Fixed issues in NSX for vSphere 6.3.0

For additional information, see the NSX for vSphere 6.2.6 and NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 Release Notes.

 

Top issues and What to Do

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.0

Issue #1:

Symptom: What is the minimum supported version of vSphere 6.5 with NSX for vSphere 6.3.0?

Resolution: The minimum supported version of vSphere 6.5 with NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 is vSphere 6.5a. For more information, see For sites running VMware vSphere 6.5, vSphere update 6.5a is the minimum supported version with NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 (2148841).

 

Issue #2:

Symptom: During an upgrade to VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 where an HW VTEP is used in the environment, you may experience these symptoms:

  • Upgrade is halted.
  • You see an error similar to:
    Cannot continue upgrade due to errors: “(1)” Hardware Gateway(s) found in the system. Unable to proceed with the upgrade. Please contact VMWare Support to continue. Please correct before proceeding.

Workaround: Contact VMware Support. To contact VMware support, see Filing a Support Request in My VMware (2006985) or How to Submit a Support Request. VMware can assist in verifying your Hardware Gateway is TLS 1.2 compliant which allows the upgrade to move forward. For more information, see Upgrading to NSX for vSphere 6.3.0 fails when using Hardware Gateway (2148511).

 

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.1.x,6.2.0,6.2.1

Issue #1:

Symptom: If there is a cipher chain listed that is separated by commas (“,”), then upgrade from NSX for vSphere 6.1.x, 6.2.0, and 6.2.1 to NSX for vSphere 6.2.5 fails

Resolution: Starting with NSX for vSphere 6.2.6, you can separate the ciphers with colons (“:”) instead of commas (“,”) before the upgrade.

 

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.4

Issue #1:

Symptom: Relating to CVE-2016-2107, the NSX Edge OpenSSL package is not updated with 1.0.2j.

Resolution: Starting with NSX for vSphere 6.2.6, NSX Edge OpenSSL package has been updated to 1.0.2j.

 

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.4/6.2.5

Issue #1:

Symptom: After upgrading your environment to NSX for vSphere 6.2.5 with vSphere High Availability (HA) enabled on a cluster having insufficient resources, you experience this symptom:
Upgrading the NSX Edge fails.

Workaround: This is as per the design. Refer the table below for the resource reservations used by the NSX Manager if you have not explicitly set values at the time of install or upgrade.

NSX Edge

FORM FACTOR CPU RESERVATION MEMORY RESERVATION
COMPACT 1000 MHz 512 MB
LARGE 2000 MHz 1024 MB
QUAD-LARGE 4000 MHz 2048 MB
X-LARGE 6000 MHz 8192 MB

Note: Always ensure that your installation follows the best practices laid out for vSphere High Availability (HA). For more information, see Best practices and advanced features for VMware High Availability (1002080)

 

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.1

Issue #1:

Symptom: When configuring DHCP relay agents on distributed logical router in NSX for vSphere, you experience these symptoms:

  • Virtual machines configured on Logical Switches where a DHCP relay agent is configured do not obtain IP addresses.
  • The DHCP server does not receive any initial DHCP discovery packets from the relay agent.
  • DHCP discovery packets are dropped in transit due to TTL expiry.

Resolution: This issue is resolved in NSX for vSphere 6.2.5. For more information, see DHCP relay agents do not function in NSX (2147322).

 

NSX for vSphere 6.2.2 is still the “bare minimum” recommended release. For more information, see Minimum recommended version for NSX for vSphere with GID, ESXi, and vCenter Server (2144295).

 

Note: The Guest Introspection section has been recently updated. The recommended VMware Tools version is 10.1.0 and later.

Partners interested in receiving more information on NSX updates can find them on the Support Insider Blog or by self-nominating to receive regular NSX communications.

Now Open – VMworld 2017 Call for Papers

Join industry leaders onstage at VMworld 2017!

We’re looking for speakers who will inspire the VMware community. Have you integrated VMware solutions and technologies in an innovative way? Do you have a best practice or individual technical tips and tricks to recommend? Can you tell us about an amazing app that leverages VMware solutions to improve your business? If so, please join us at VMworld 2017.  The VMworld 2017 Call for Papers is now open!

VMworld speakers are renowned in the industry and are key to the success of the conference. Attendees tell us that speaker insights on technology tips, trends and case studies are extremely valuable and have a long-lasting impact after the conference when applied to projects. If you want to share your expertise and perspectives on subjects like business mobility, software-defined data centers, cloud management, hyper-converged infrastructure, security, storage and networking, submit your ideas to the VMworld 2017 Call for Papers.

Remember to include practical advice, key success factors, proven examples, an in-depth explanation of the challenges you’ve resolved and lessons learned on topics related to IT infrastructure, cloud operations, applications and end-user computing.

Submissions will be accepted from now until March 14, 2017.

Make an Impact: Be a Speaker at VMworld 2017!  And be sure to check back on April 4, when registration officially opens for VMworld 2017.

More Information

Submit your abstract today.

How VMware vCloud Air Network Service Providers and ISVs Get the Most Out of VMware vCloud Director

Now is the time for ISVs and service providers to join the VMware vCloud Director® partner ecosystem. The opportunities have never been better.

New Training

ISVs get streamlined access and certification to vCloud Director. And because service providers get more pre-certified capabilities with new releases of vCloud Director, they can more rapidly monetize services for their customers.

VMware has also developed a new five-day course that focuses on designing, installing, configuring, and managing vCloud Director 8.10. We also offer VMware vCloud Director Fundamentals, an e-learning course that covers the basics of vCloud Director and its various components, architecture, and features.

Better Access, Better Knowledge

By joining the VMware Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program, partners can obtain early access to vCloud Director Beta releases. ISVs get more exposure to new business opportunities through the VMware vCloud® Air™ Network, and we’ve made it easier than ever for partners to have direct access to our product managers, product marketing managers, and engineers for questions, escalations, and road map discussions.

One partner who has already taken advantage of this program is Veeam Software, an independent Swiss software vendor that has built a self-service, multitenant portal that integrates with vCloud Director. The company’s customers can now configure and back up entire systems, control scheduling, recover whole virtual machines, accomplish file-level restores, and restore Oracle databases.

In the months ahead, look for further training and resources as we continue to strengthen our partner ecosystem.

Learn more about VMware vCloud Director 8.10

New online resources and VMware Education training make it easier than ever to upgrade to VMware vCloud Director 8.10. The vCloud Director products page offers a wealth of information for those new to the solution, including a vCloud Director 8.10 technical white paper and a selection of case studies showcasing some of our latest success stories.

Now available on the VMware Solution Exchange (VSX) portal, the VMware vCloud Director Compatibility Guide lists products that members of the VMware ISV program have built that are compatible with the vCloud Director 8.10 update, streamlining the vendor selection process. We have also launched the course VMware vCloud Director: Install, Configure, Manage.

TAP Winter 2017 Webinar – Wed. January 25th

On Wednesday, January 25th, at 8:00 am PDT, the TAP team will host the TAP Winter 2017 TAP Quarterly Webinar. This webinar will outline the VMware Ready for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) program and provide valuable insight for partners interested in learning more about certifying solutions that integrate with the VMware vCloud NFV bundle.

Partners interested in learning more about the NFV VMware Ready program are encouraged to attend this live webinar to take full advantage of this benefit. Partners registered for the event will also have a chance to participate in the live Q&A that follows the presentation.

Register today to learn more about the VMware Ready NFV program.

Access Previous TAP Webinars

The quarterly webinars hosted by the TAP team are designed to assist TAP partners with understanding and navigating the benefits available via the program. Previous webinars have covered topics, such as:

Recordings of the previous quarterly TAP webinars are located on the “Training” tab on the TAP Events and Training page in Partner Central.

Questions about this webinar or other TAP benefits should be directed to the TAP team via tapalliance@vmware.com or toll-free at
866-524-4966.

Starting 2017 With TAP and Partner Central

Partners looking to catch up with TAP can utilize Partner Central to take full advantage of their partnership. We publish many of our quarterly webinars and trainings in Partner Central, making the portal essential for partners looking for TAP go-to-market opportunities and training resources.

To get started, login to Partner Central and choose the option that fits your needs. Click the hyperlinks below to see examples of benefits found in Partner Central.

Note: Not receiving the regular TAP Newsletter? Go to Your Profile Page in Partner Central and select the My Communication Preferences  option. From there you can update your communication preferences to ensure you receive important program updates and communications.

Reach out to the TAP team if you need any clarification about partner benefits or requirements at tapalliance@vmware.com. Partners can also call the team at 866-524-4966 with any questions they may have.

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