Virtualization

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    The Console

  • Where Did the “Boxes” Go?

    VMTN
    12 Nov 2009 | 2:50 pm
    Posted by Rick Jackson Chief Marketing Officer At VMworld 2009 this past September, we rolled out an updated VMware logo as a predecessor to our overall re-branding efforts.  The obvious change that most people saw and commented on was the absence of the “bug” – that part of the logo that is not our company name.  I.e., “Where did the boxes go?” The original VMware logo that contained the boxes, formally referred to as the rings, first appeared in 1999, and symbolized multiple virtual machines.  It was simple, and yet incredibly descriptive.  The concept of…

  • Brand – Holistic and Consistent

    VMTN
    10 Nov 2009 | 6:47 pm
    Posted by Rick Jackson Chief Marketing Officer VMware has now passed the decade mark, and created what is arguably one of the most important brands in software.  In this case, I am simply referring to the name of our company as the brand.  It is incredible how well recognized we are amongst our primary target buyer – the IT audience.  As we look forward to what we want to accomplish in the next decade, we decided that it was time to pump up the whole essence of the VMware brand.  And in this case, I am referring to the brand identity – the collection of attributes…

  • Energize and Save – Standing Out in a Crowd

    VMTN
    8 Nov 2009 | 10:07 pm
    Posted by Rick Jackson Chief Marketing Officer When a company grows as rapidly as VMware has, you know there is real value being delivered to customers.  One of the challenges we faced at VMware was how best to articulate our core value proposition, when there were just so many great things to talk about.  This was a classic exercise in defining the Point That Matters, the core reason why your customers buy from you.  (The Point That Matters is a phrase I borrow from Zoom Marketing, our trusted partner during this process.) This exercise was a combination of examining our…

  • VMware, HP’s Converged Infrastructure, and the Private Cloud

    VMTN
    5 Nov 2009 | 10:01 am
    Posted by Steve Herrod Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of R&D This week HP introduced their Converged Infrastructure Architecture, which is appropriately described as “a blueprint for chief information officers to create elasticity in their technology environments.” This blueprint unlocks currently siloed datacenter resources (including compute, storage and network components) and, with the help of virtualization, integrates them into a pool of very fluid resources that can be smartly and safely allocated to the applications running on top. Put another way, HP has…

  • VMware's Desktop Vision

    VMTN
    21 Sep 2009 | 6:00 am
    Posted by Scott Davis VMware View Chief Technology Officer cross-posted from Scott's new blog: VMware View-Point Welcome to VMware View-Point, our Desktop Office of the CTO Blog.  My name is Scott Davis and  I’ve recently moved over to our Desktop BU as our overall CTO. So, who is this guy and what does he know about desktop computing and virtualization? Besides being an expert in operating systems, storage, virtualization and enterprise IT, I’m also an entrepreneur at heart and I am very excited about the opportunity in front of us; using virtualization insights and…
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    vSphere PowerCLI Blog

  • PowerCLI 4.0 U1 is out!

    Carter Shanklin
    19 Nov 2009 | 10:18 pm
    Tonight we released PowerCLI 4.0 U1. This release contains more than 60 new cmdlets as well as greatly improved performance, a new feature to make it easy to manage multiple ESX or vCenter servers from a single window and much, much more. We’ve also put our cmdlet reference online. Watch this space over the next few days for demo videos but in the meantime don’t forget to download and give it a try.

  • “Project Onyx” is here.

    Carter Shanklin
    16 Nov 2009 | 9:14 pm
    A few months ago we announced a very exciting new application we call “Project Onyx”. To put it simply, Project Onyx is a script recorder for vSphere Client. Since then my inbox has been flooded with requests from all over the world from people wanting to try Onyx. At long last we’ve released our first public alpha. Here’s a video that shows a quick demo of using the alpha build. You can also go straight to the download.   There are two things to note when you’re using Onyx. First, the code Onyx generates makes heavy use of direct API calls rather than PowerCLI cmdlets. So even…

  • San Diego VMUG October 2009 Recap

    Carter Shanklin
    28 Oct 2009 | 12:06 pm
    If you didn’t manage to make it to the San Diego VMUG you missed a pretty good show. Darin Pendergraft from Quest was there showing off EcoShell and I had cooked up a couple of demos of my own. One of the more popular topics was a script I wrote to determine LUN latencies and the VMs that are writing to particular LUNs. One of the trickiest challenges when adopting virtualization is the effective use and partitioning of shared resources. Technologies like VMware DRS address exactly this challenge, but it’s safe to say that we’re still nearer the beginning than the end when it comes to…

  • Come see PowerCLI at the San Diego VMUG, October 22 2009

    Carter Shanklin
    15 Oct 2009 | 1:59 pm
    If you’re in the San Diego area next week don’t miss the San Diego VMUG because I, your humble servant, will grace you with my presence and the vast stores of wisdom one only obtains through thousands of lonely nights in front of the computer. I’ll be there to talk about – what else, PowerCLI and how it will help you automate your way to bliss. As always I’ll be spending a lot of time on hands-on demos that will give you a first hand feel for what PowerCLI is and how it works. I’ll be covering reporting, provisioning and storage management, three of the most popular topics among…

  • When was the last time that VM was powered on?

    Carter Shanklin
    5 Oct 2009 | 8:57 pm
    People often want to know the last time that a VM was powered on. Unfortunately there is no completely fool-proof way to figure this out using just vCenter or ESX, but PowerCLI offers an approach that is pretty good, good enough that you can create a simple report and identify VMs that may be ready for that big hypervisor in the sky. This is also a popular topic on the PowerCLI community, where LucD offers a solution to the problem, which relies on using events to determine when the poweron took place. Since Luc gave this solution a few things have happened: The bug that caused Get-VIEvent to…
 
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    VMware Networking Blog

  • Formation of VCE coalition

    Guy Brunsdon
    3 Nov 2009 | 11:40 am
    The Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) coalition was announced this morning. This is a coalition between Cisco and EMC, together with VMware to accelerate customers’ ability to increase business agility. Apart from bringing a single point of contact for design, service, and support, the coalition introduces the notion of the “Vblock Infrastructure Packages.” These are ready-to-go infrastructure packages that are fully tested, integrated and validated. You can find more information (presentations, papers, videos, etc) at: Press Release Cisco’s VCE Coalition page EMC’s VCE Coalition…

  • Special new ways to manage, monitor and configure virtual networks

    Guy Brunsdon
    9 Oct 2009 | 12:20 pm
    vSphere has SDKs and APIs for just about every component, feature and product (including the new vCloud API!). Just take a look at the VMware developer site. This is a powerful adjunct to vSphere enabling extremely powerful virtualization solutions. But this is a networking blog, so let’s talk about the vNetwork API. This is already a powerful toolset enabling you to extend the capabilities of your network. But we’re not stopping there. Those of you who caught Howie Xu’s (Director, R&D) presentation at VMworld would have caught a glimpse of how we are enhancing monitoring,…

  • Blogging contest around the vNetwork Distributed Switch

    Guy Brunsdon
    5 Oct 2009 | 1:03 pm
    Apologies for the long time between posts, but this might get a few of you interested… Through to the end of this week, we are running a blogging contest around vDS (a.k.a. the VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch). All you have to do is blog about a novel technical or business ROI topic around vDS. Once you have posted your blog entry, send an email to vmtn@vmware.com to submit the entry for consideration. Remember, you have until Friday October 9, so get your thinking cap on and write away! You can find more information on the competition at this entry at the VMware vSphere Blog. You can…

  • VMworld is almost here … here are your must attend networking sessions

    Guy Brunsdon
    26 Aug 2009 | 9:02 pm
    **updated 8/27 to include room numbers!** VMworld is upon us next week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. We have a fantastic assortment of sessions from beginner level right up to the very advanced—something for everyone. Breakout Sessions As usual, we have a good assortment of networking sessions hosted by ourselves and our partners. I’ve listed the sessions in chronological order (I’m presenting the first two and then I’m done!). Srinivas Neginhal’s “VMware vSphere 4 Networking Deep Dive” (TA2525) is a 90-minute session and is also repeated at Thursday at 4:00pm. Session…

  • vNetwork API Community Website launched

    Guy Brunsdon
    26 Aug 2009 | 5:12 pm
    Feeling creative? Have a virtual networking problem or idea? If so, then the vNetwork APIs could be for you. The '”vNetwork API Community” is now open for business at the easy to remember url of vmware.com/go/vnetworkapis The vNetwork API Community is hosted under the VMware Developer Communities website where you’ll find APIs, code samples, and other developer goodies for a range of VMware products and technologies.
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    VROOM!

  • Performance Study of VMware vStorage Thin Provisioning

    Mandar Kulkarni
    16 Nov 2009 | 4:48 pm
    vStorage Thin Provisioning, a key component of VMware vSphere™, is a technology that redefines storage provisioning by allocating space on demand to the virtual disks. We recently published a paper that gives the details of this feature and discusses experiments conducted to study the performance of thin-provisioned disks in a VMware vSphere™ environment.The data we have collected reveals Both thin and thick disks perform similarly on various workloads. Thin provisioned disks show similar performance trends as thick disks do when scaled across different hosts. External fragmentation has…

  • Storage performance improvements in vSphere 4.0

    Devaki Kulkarni
    20 Oct 2009 | 4:17 pm
    We made a huge number of performance improvements in vSphere 4.0. The ESX storage stack was no exception. We ran a wide variety of micro and real world benchmarks to thoroughly evaluate and optimize vSphere’s storage subsystem. It is now even more efficient for the enterprise and ready to support the cloud. A wide variety of I/O intensive applications will run efficiently on vSphere with all the improvements.  You can find details on the architectural changes and storage performance improvements made in this white paper. Some of the noteworthy improvements are:…

  • Comparing Performance of 1vCPU Nehalem VM with 2vCPU Harpertown VM

    Todd Muirhead
    21 Sep 2009 | 2:09 pm
    vSphere has a new feature called Fault Tolerance that allows for a VM to be running in vLockstep on two physical servers at the same time.  In the event of a failure of the primary VM, the secondary VM will immediately take over with no downtime for the VM.  There is a great whitepaper that covers FT architecture and performance.  There have also been a couple of blog posts on VROOM! recently that cover FT performance as well.  One uses VMmark to show how FT has excellent performance in a heavily loaded multi workload environment.  The other blog post shows how…

  • Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere 4 and ESX 4.0

    Harold Rosenberg
    18 Sep 2009 | 5:59 am
    Performance problems can arise in any computing environment. In a virtualized computing environment performance problems can arise due to new and often subtle interactions occurring in the shared infrastructure. Uncovering the causes of those problems requires an understanding of the available performance metrics and their relationship to underlying configuration issues. A new guide covering performance troubleshooting for VMware vSphere 4, including ESX 4.0 hosts, is now available. This document uses a guided approach to lead the reader through the observable manifestations of complex…

  • Performance Evaluation of VMXNET3 Virtual Network Device

    Yong Wang
    14 Sep 2009 | 3:49 pm
    vSphere 4.0 introduces a new para-virtualized network device - VMXNET3.  We recently published a paper demonstrating its performance characteristics, compared to that of enhanced VMXNET2 (the previous generation of high performance virtual network device from VMware).Some highlights of this paper are:(1) Throughput gains of up to 92% for 10G TCP/IPv4 Rx workloads with large socket buffer, which greatly improves bulk data transfer performance in a data center environment.(2) Dramatic gains across all configurations of IPv6 traffic, with significant CPU usage reduction and throughput…
 
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    Virtualization.com

  • Release: Univa UniCluster 5.0

    Robin Wauters
    19 Nov 2009 | 4:57 pm
    Univa UD, a provider of cloud management software products, today announced UniCluster 5.0, a major new version of Univa’s infrastructure and workload management software stack that provides the underpinnings of Univa’s cloud computing solutions. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • NextIO to Bring Virtualization Technology To IBM Cluster Solutions

    Robin Wauters
    19 Nov 2009 | 4:48 pm
    NextIO has announced it is working with IBM to offer customers integrated cluster solutions that incorporate NextIO technology, with availability in 2010. The solution will enable reconfigurable and on demand GPU compute capabilities for IBM iDataplex customers. [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Release: Elastra Cloud Server (ECS) 2.0 – Enterprise Edition

    Robin Wauters
    19 Nov 2009 | 4:45 pm
    Elastra Corporation, a provider of application infrastructure automation software, has announced the immediate availability of Elastra Cloud Server (ECS) 2.0, Enterprise Edition. In this release, ECS lets customers compose, orchestrate and manage systems made up of Oracle databases, WebLogic Application Servers and other Enterprise-grade software as well as open-source applications like MySQL,... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Zenoss Launches Version 2.5 Of Enterprise Product

    Robin Wauters
    19 Nov 2009 | 4:43 pm
    Zenoss, a commercial open source provider of IT enterprise management products, today announced the general availability of version 2.5 of its commercially licensed Zenoss Enterprise product. This latest version includes several new enterprise-grade scalability features targeted at managing today's datacenter as well as expanded management support for next generation datacenter technologies and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Release: Hyper9 Virtual Environment Optimization suite

    Robin Wauters
    19 Nov 2009 | 4:42 pm
    Hyper9 has announced the release of its Virtual Environment Optimization solution to provide better data, faster diagnosis and more reliable remediation associated with the virtualization of high performance applications. The critical nature of tier-1 business applications puts high demands on IT organizations to maintain predictable service levels and fast response times – standards that can be... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    DABCC: Virtualization Analysis

  • Enough Is Enough - Twitter, Facebook, Google Wave is a Waste of Time - E-Mail Works - Top Twitter and Facebook Users Are Lazy - Suck It

    10 Nov 2009 | 7:35 pm
    I?m back with another rant and this time it is not about Citrix or VMware and/or even Microsoft. In fact, those companies have nothing at all to do with this rant but I need to get this off my chest as it is long overdue. It is all about ?too many clients? and the people that use them. Don?t worry; I will make it short?...

  • VMworld 2009 Vendor Spotlight: Dynamic Ops

    23 Oct 2009 | 7:07 am
    VMworld's Solution Exchange floor was packed with many vendors covering many aspects of virtualization. As I made my way around the floor talking to these vendors, I was very impressed with what one was doing. I stopped at the booth of DynamicOps and spoke to Rich Bourdeau about what DynamicOps is all about and what they bring to the industry....

  • Citrix Licensing Changes for XenDesktop 4.0..Part Deux

    19 Oct 2009 | 5:20 pm
    Citrix has listened to the community and has created a flexible licensing model for XenDesktop 4.0...

  • IT Is Still The Roadblock To Business Agility

    19 Oct 2009 | 5:52 am
    This week is the Gartner IT Symposium in Orlando, FL. In this morning's keynote the "tweets" were flying, but one in particular caught my eye: "60% of CEOs believe that IT constraining their business", and that was duplicated throughout the early morning hours today....

  • VMworld 2009 New Innovator Spotlight: Tranxition

    13 Oct 2009 | 1:40 am
    There were some amazing technology vendors at this year's VMworld conference. In this short article I want to share with you one of those vendors that I found to be doing the right thing at the right time. That company is Tranxition. Tranxition debuted their Adaptive Persona product at the show and I found it to be one of the best when it came to addressing the critical issue in doing virtual desktops; user personalities and related settings....
 
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    blog.scottlowe.org

  • Virtualization Short Take #31

    slowe
    18 Nov 2009 | 5:00 am
    Welcome back to yet another Virtualization Short Take! Here is a collection of virtualization-related items—some recent, some not, but hopefully all interesting and/or useful. Matt Hensley posted a link to this VIOPS document on how to setup VMware SRM 4.0 with an EMC Celerra storage array. I haven’t had the chance to read through it yet. Jason Boche informs us that both Lab Manager 3 and Lab Manager 4 have problems with the VMXNET3 virtual NIC. In this blog post, Jason describes how his attempts to install Lab Manager server into a VM with the VMXNET3 NIC was failing.

  • Storage Short Take #5

    slowe
    17 Nov 2009 | 8:35 am
    I’ve decided to resurrect my Storage Short Take series, after almost a year since the last one was published. I find myself spending more and more time in the storage realm—which is completely fine with me—and so more and more information coming to me in various forms is related to storage. While I’m far from the likes of storage rockstars such as Robin Harris, Stephen Foskett, Storagebod, and others, hopefully you’ll find something interesting and useful here. Enjoy! This blog post by Frank Denneman on the HP LeftHand product is outstanding. I learned more from…

  • Thinking Out Loud: Is VMware Legitimizing the Competition?

    slowe
    16 Nov 2009 | 5:13 am
    I was reading a completely unrelated post on Alessandro’s site this morning about how VKernel is reacting to VMware’s release of CapacityIQ when a thought occurred to me: is VMware legitimizing the competition? Here’s the excerpt from Alessandro’s post that started me thinking: And of course VKernel now is also in hurry to clarify that support for Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer is coming. Now, let me ask you this question: what is one of the largest complaints about products like Microsoft Hyper-V and Citrix XenServer? It’s the size of the partner…

  • Links for 2009-11-12 [del.icio.us]

    13 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    NetApp - Hardware Universe Sectional Guides (login required) This page (NOW login required) has documentation and reference sheets for NetApp hardware, including controllers, shelves, drives, and adapter cards.

  • Links for 2009-11-09 [del.icio.us]

    10 Nov 2009 | 12:00 am
    Five Most Important Leadership Traits This article discusses what the author considers to be the five most important leadership traits.
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    Chris Wolf's Virtualization Tips and Ramblings

  • Webcast: Re-architecting Backup and Recovery for Virtual Environments

    Chris
    11 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pm
    I recorded a webcast today on the subject of best practices for re-architecting backup and recovery for virtual environments. If you’re interested, you can view the webcast below, or click here to view the webcast in a separate window.

  • Virtual Desktop NAS Guest Post - Kaviza

    Chris
    29 Oct 2009 | 3:55 am
    Kaviza is the third vendor to offer a submission to the Virtual Desktop NAS Vendor Challenge. Today’s guest post comes from Kumar K. Goswami, Kaviza Co-Founder & CEO. Kumar’s guest post begins below. —– Your  notion that many customers are just priced out of desktop virtualization and that much of the cost and complexity with VDI (sever-based desktop virtualization) has to do with it being layered on top of server virtualization was precisely the driving factor behind the genesis of Kaviza.  Our mission has been to drive down the cost & complexity of VDI and…

  • The Time to Redefine Client Application Licensing is Now

    Chris
    7 Oct 2009 | 9:08 am
    There’s been plenty of fanfare surrounding the release of Citrix XenDesktop 4.0 this week. I plan to blog about the XenDesktop 4.0 technical features after I’ve spent some quality time with them in my lab over the next couple of weeks. However, I’d like to contribute to the XenDesktop 4 conversation by talking about its impact on client software licensing. It’s no question that user expectations for how they should access corporate resources are changing. Sometimes I need to quickly grab or view a doc from my iPhone. Other times I need to view resources on my laptop…

  • Upcoming Webcast: Hypervisor Competitive Differences

    Chris
    11 Sep 2009 | 6:46 am
    If you missed our latest presentation on hypervisor competitive differences with regards to our evaluation criteria, you can see it for free next week at IT Virtualization Live. The webcast will run Tuesday September 15th at 12:30 ET. To see it, you can register here. The webcast will show our complete evaluation criteria list, and detail how vSphere 4.0, XenServer 5.5, and Hyper-V R2 stack up. The webcast also includes a series of tables that outline side-by-side comparisons between each hypervisor. If you’re interested, here is the webcast abstract. Hypervisor Competitive Differences:…

  • Thoughts on the VMworld Day 2 Keynote

    Chris
    3 Sep 2009 | 6:58 am
    I was very impressed by the information disseminated in the second VMworld keynote, led by CTO Steve Herrod. Here’s a summary of the thoughts I tweeted during the morning keynote (in chronological order). Steve Herrod talked about a “people centric” approach. VMware’s technology needs to understand desktop user behavior. The existing offline VDI model (requiring a manual “check-out”) is not people centric. VMware’s announcement to OEM RTO Software’s Virtual Profiles was a good move. Burton Group considers profile virtualization a required element of enterprise…
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    Gabes Virtual World

  • StorMagic SvSAN with High Availability mirroring

    Gabe
    20 Nov 2009 | 4:47 am
    Recently I had the opportunity to review StorMagic’s SvSAN software. Their current release available from their website is only compatible with VMware ESX 3.5, since my home lab is already running... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Review: VMware Data Recovery 1.0

    Gabe
    19 Nov 2009 | 12:30 pm
    Part 4 of my backup products review has been released at SearchVMware.com. Follow the link below to see my reviews Backup and replication product review directoryI. Introduction II. Veeam Backup and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Review: PHD Virtual Technologies’ esXpress 3.6

    Gabe
    19 Nov 2009 | 12:28 pm
    Part 3 of my backup products review has been released at SearchVMware.com. Follow the link below to see my reviews Backup and replication product review directoryI. Introduction II. Veeam Backup and... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Change blocksize of local VMFS

    Gabe
    5 Nov 2009 | 7:46 am
    During install vSphere now creates a VMFS partition by default on the local storage on which the service console partitions will be installed. When you want to use this partition to store your VMs on... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

  • Is there enough support for ESXi already

    Gabe
    3 Nov 2009 | 4:38 am
    We all know that the future version of vSphere will probably only be the ESXi version. At least, this is what VMware’s aim is for ESX5. Because it is wise to already get used to ESXi now to get... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
 
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    Virtual Black Hole

  • Where to download VMware Cold Clone

    I had the opportunity recently to try to help a friend on his quest to P2V a Microsoft ISA Server.  We tried all sorts of different setting to allow communication between the ISA and in this case both Virtual Center and a Platespin server trying to get either one to ...

  • Let’s Talk About VMware DPM

    Today's topic is going to be about VMware's Distributed Power Management or otherwise known as VMware DPM.  If you have not heard about VMware DPM before, I found an interesting video interview with Anne Holler who works at VMware as a Senior Staff Engineer.  I found this interview at Vladan ...

  • My Thoughts on the VCE Announcement

    It seems the big news for the day is the Announcement of the VCE Coalition.  Seems I have been reading blog posts about this all morning with the last post being Scott Lowe's thoughts on the subject. I have been hearing that this has been in the works for a ...

  • Some Thoughts on Thin Provisioning

    One of the enhancements or features in VMware's latest release, vSphere, is the option to create virtual machines with thin provisioned disks. I found the skinny on Thin Provisioning with vSphere on the VMware Blog by Michael Adams. vStorage Thin Provisioning optimizes storage costs through the most efficient use of storage ...

  • Driving A Successful Virtualization Adaption

    This week's VMTN podcast was Title: #69 - The Virtualization Journey with Vittorio Viarengo was a discussion about the steps for driving a successful virtualization adaption.  You can also download the podcast on iTunes. For years now I have had a tag line that I use. It's my motto, if ...
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    h0bbel.p0ggel.org

  • Microsoft's Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool Revoked?

    Christian Mohn
    10 Nov 2009 | 3:15 am
    Yesteday I had to reinstall my home computer due to a botched BIOS flash (don't ask, long story...), and decided that it was time I installed Windows 7 on that computer as well.Remembering the Microsoft's Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool, I went looking for the download only to be met by a 404 (page not found) error when I tried to download it. The whole information/documentation section was still available on the Microsoft Store site, but the downloadable file was missing. No information was given, so I assumed it was a glitch on Microsofts behalf and located an alternative download site…

  • Howto: Using ExtPart to Expand Windows Server 2003 VM Boot Volume

    Christian Mohn
    28 Oct 2009 | 6:28 am
    Over time the boot partition on a Windows Server 2003 installation might just turn out to be too small. There can be various reasons for this, but the fact remains that over time you will accumulate data on the boot drive that you didn't take account for when you set it up initially.Luckily I run almost all of my servers in a VMware based virtualized environment, where it's easy to expand the the virtual disks. The problem is that Windows Server 2003 doesn't let you easily expand the boot volume, at least not without downtime. I've previously talked about using tools like GParted to expand…

  • Got Windows 7? Got USB device? Get Installed

    Christian Mohn
    22 Oct 2009 | 12:11 pm
    A little while a go I mentioned a great little tool called Novicorp WinToFlash.Seems like Microsoft figured out that was a great little idea, and in conjunction with todays official Windows 7 release, they've also made the Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool available.Since you can buy Windows 7 and then download the ISO directly from the new online Microsoft Store (Can anyone say Apple?!) it makes sense that they have created their own little tool that enables you to install Windows 7 from an USB stick. The tool makes it easy to copy the ISO to a USB stick, and then use that to boot your…

  • Temple of the Dog Reunion - Briefly

    Christian Mohn
    7 Oct 2009 | 1:31 pm
    Now this is something I don't often do as this is mostly a tech blog, but this is huge. Last night Temple of the Dog reunited when Chris Cornell joined Pearl Jam on stage.Temple of the Dog was Chris Cornell, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Matt Cameron, Mike McCready and Eddie Vedder all of which were present at Los Angeles’ Gibson Amphitheatre performing “Hunger Strike” from the self titled album released in 1991.Now, can Pearl Jam please come play in Bergen, Norway? And, yes, I wouldn't mind it much if Chris Cornell came along for the ride too...

  • Does your ESXi Need Have Have?

    Christian Mohn
    23 Sep 2009 | 3:56 am
    Nice little error message shown when trying to hot add a new HDD to a VM running on ESXi 4.0.How much need have have do you need?Addendum:Clearly I'm not the first to notice this rather peculiar wording in ESXi 4. Maish Saidel-Keesing posted the same screenshot back in May 2009 in his post called Hot Add and "Need have have".Read that post instead of mine, it also highlights what ESXi 4 is missing as well as poorly worded error messages.Funny thing is that I can even remember reading Maish post back when it was published, but I don't remember seeing that weird error message. Oh well. :)Thanks…
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    Malaysia VMware Communities

  • VMware vSphere 4 update 1

    craig
    20 Nov 2009 | 7:11 pm
    VMware had officially released the vSphere 4 update 1 yesterday. There are many new support features and also bug fixes. Is time to take a look for a major upgrade this month to overcome some challenges we faced with the previous version. Please view more information from the release note. Beside the bug fixes, there are some new key highlight here too. VMware View 4.0 support This release adds support for VMware View 4.0, a solution built specifically for delivering desktops as a managed service from the protocol to the platform. Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 support –Officially Supported…

  • Qlogic CNA Adaptor are on VMware HCL list now

    craig
    20 Nov 2009 | 6:55 pm
    If you had previously deployed FCoE and 10 Gbps Ethernet with Qlogic CNA adapter, you may now able to see them are part of the HCL list been certified by VMWare officially. This had clear up a lot of curious question we had asked around for the pass 2 quarters why Qlogic had not been part of the HCL and only Emulex does. Previously due to the HCL, I have no choice but to purchase the CNA adapters from only EMULEX. Now, definitely I have a choice to choose between both Qlogic and Emulex. You can visit the HCL site here. Tags: CNA, emulex, qlogic, VMware

  • ESX Cluster through WAN with Netapp Metro Cluster

    craig
    17 Nov 2009 | 8:40 am
    Recently there are some request from my client who suggested to have their production and DR site to be automated protected and fail over in the event of disaster. VMware SRM seems to be right choice for most of the time, but these clients are decided to bring it to another level of fail over procedure during the DR happen. I am doing some research today and found this interesting topic from Netapp which the Metro cluster suppose to synchronize from production to DR through dark fiber to prevent controller failure, DR or disk corruption. If the bandwidth is not a concern in this case, ESX HA…

  • Great Article about Cisco UCS Networking with Palo adapter

    craig
    13 Nov 2009 | 6:56 am
    Cisco had officially launched the Palo adapter for their UCS platform. Now you will have more choice to select the adapter to be used by the UCS platform. While I am searching more information on the net to compare about the different within Palo and Menlo, I found this great article which provide a very detail overview of the UCS networking, nexus 1000v and etc. Menlo adapter use the general CNA (Converge Network adapter) technology to provide FCoE connection from servers to switch level. Palo is working slightly different which support up to 128 vnic which user will able to present multiple…

  • Vblock and VCE Join Venture

    craig
    9 Nov 2009 | 7:39 am
    Vblock and the new VCE join venture program had been officially launched by Cisco, EMC and Vmware globally since 3rd November 2009. What is contain in Vblock? It is an end to end package of virtualization include Cisco, EMC and VMware products which simplify the delivery method of the virtualization cloud infrastructure moving forward. You can read the full details from here Related posts:Server Virtualization & Cloud Computing ModelCisco UCS will soon to be in MalaysiaNexus 1000V come with free when Virtualization with VMware vSphere 4 on Cisco UCS Tags: Cisco, EMC, vblock, VCE, VMware
 
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    NTPRO.NL

  • VMware has released View 4

    20 Nov 2009 | 10:12 pm
    Introducing VMware View 4, the industry’s first purpose built solution for delivering desktops as a managed service. Download VMware View 4http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_view/4_0

  • Download Chrome OS VMware image

    20 Nov 2009 | 5:51 am
    After Google announced the availability of the Chrome OS / Chromium OS source code, one of GDGT's engineers (Jon Ursenbach), immediately got to work on compiling the code, trying to see if he could get an instance of Chromium OS running in a virtual machine.He was finally able to do it! You can download a copy of the virtual machine to use in VMware (300MB compressed / 700MB uncompressed): http://gdgt.com/google/chrome-os/download/ Ga door met lezen van "Download Chrome OS VMware image "
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    RTFM Education

  • VMware View4 and PCoIP

    Mike Laverick
    18 Nov 2009 | 4:07 pm
    Well, I thought it would be nice to discuss the attributes and features of VMware View4 new PCoIP protocol which will be released very shortly. In case you don’t PCoIP stands for PC over IP - and then intention is to deliver remote display protocol which rivals “legacy” thin-client protocols such as RDP/ICA with a [...]

  • VMware View3 Chapter Serialized

    Mike Laverick
    12 Nov 2009 | 3:14 pm
    techtarget.com has very kindly taken one of my chapters from my soon to be released book on vSphere4. The chapter was original meant to be VMware View3. Unfortunately, because of length and publishing deadlines - the VMware View3 chapter didn’t make the final cut my book. So techtarget.com very kindly offered to serialize it over [...]

  • Reminder - North UK VMUG Group - 1st Meeting

    Mike Laverick
    9 Nov 2009 | 5:36 am
    Just in case you missed this there is a 1st meeting planned for the North UK VMUG Group. Signed up for the meeting here: http://www.vmug.org.uk/index.php?option=com_seminar&task=3&cid=2

  • VMware View 4 is ANNOUNCED…

    Mike Laverick
    9 Nov 2009 | 1:20 am
    Well, the legendary beta programme (that’s practically no-one I knew could get on!) is over and the product has has not GA’d. What I thought was a GA is actually an announcement… and you can register to do eval… probably in 60-days time (I’m joking actually there..) http://www.vmware.com/products/view/features.html Notable additions is the PCoIP (PC over IP) which [...]

  • Are DvSwitches “ready” for Production - Reader Email

    Mike Laverick
    6 Nov 2009 | 9:53 am
    This week I was asked in an email the following question: [By the way I hate Wordpress - even when I put paragraph returns in this post it ****ing well removes them!] Hope you been doing well. I have been busy, busy, busy. Got a question for you. Preparing to start a new vSphere farm and trying [...]
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    SearchServerVirtualization Blog

  • Red Hat virtualization: No Windows Server 2008, RHEL management

    Colin Steele
    4 Nov 2009 | 8:33 am
    The new Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization for Servers platform made its debut yesterday, with Red Hat touting it as a “standalone, lightweight, high-performance hypervisor” that “provides a solid virtualization foundation for cloud deployments” and comes with software “for configuring, provisioning, managing and organizing virtualized Linux and Microsoft Windows servers.” Sounds good so far, right? Well, are a few things Red Hat neglected to mention in that press release. First, there’s this sentence buried in the Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization…

  • VMware: Hyper-V turns Windows into DOS

    Colin Steele
    2 Nov 2009 | 6:29 am
    The trash talk in the Microsoft vs. VMware feud once reached Reggie Miller vs. Spike Lee heights. The two companies rarely passed up the opportunity to disparage, make fun of or even spread lies about each other. But things had quieted down lately, and a lot of the more recent trash talk just rehashed old criticisms and insults. That is, until VMware issued its “Competitive News Flash” about Hyper-V R2, which compares “Microsoft myths” to “VMware realities.” (Hmm, where have we heard that before?) The four-page document, marked “confidential,”…

  • Blades vs. rack servers: A different perspective

    Colin Steele
    15 Oct 2009 | 7:12 am
    Our recent blades vs. rack servers face-off between Chris House and Rick Vanover has spurred some hot debate. Virtualization blogger Aaron Delp, a senior engineer at ePlus Technology, submitted this response on the topic of blades vs. rack servers: Here is how I see the rack vs. blades debate: No solution is right all the time! There are situations in which racks are better, and there are situations where blades are better. Before I go into the use cases, let me clarify one or two points for both architectures: Everyone’s prices are different based on a million different factors. No one…

  • SearchServerVirtualization.com opens POY call for entries

    Lauren Horwitz
    12 Oct 2009 | 1:05 pm
    This year, SearchServerVirtualization.com is once again running its annual Products of the Year awards. Nominate your favorite product or your company’s product in one of the following categories: Virtualization platforms Virtualization management Virtualization security Hardware for virtualization Backup and storage for virtualization Desktop virtualization The call for entries is open now through Nov. 13, 2009. Products qualify if they were released between Nov. 1, 2008, and Nov. 1, 2009 (including beta). Click here for deadlines, details and criteria on Products of the Year. And…

  • Data Center and Virtualization group hosts VMworld 2009 party

    Jeannette Beltran
    3 Sep 2009 | 11:14 am
    Following Tuesday’s VMworld 2009 keynotes and sessions at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, TechTarget’s Data Center and Virtualization Media Group hosted an after-party where attendees had a chance to wind down before another full day. If you missed this year’s VMworld action (or if you just want to re-live the memory), check out our staff photos from the event. RingCube Technologies was out in full force at TechTarget’s VMworld 2009 event (pictured here with TechTarget editor Jo Maitland). Brian Madden and others at TechTarget’s VMworld 2009 party. Jo Maitland…
 
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    vinternals

  • Offline for a few weeks…

    stu
    18 Nov 2009 | 12:29 pm
    Yes i know, it’s been a while since my last post anyway . In a few days I’ll be heading back to my hometown of Sydney (via Tokyo – I love Japan) for a few weeks, so the internets will be a little less ranty for a little while. And unfortunately, I’ll be missing the [...]

  • ECV – Utility Emerging

    stu
    3 Nov 2009 | 4:51 pm
    Todays announcement from EMC, Cisco and VMware (ECV) amounted to a declaration of war on the datacenter players in the industry as we know it. But it wasn’t the only thing that it amounted to – I see it as the first true sign of utility computing, and if the rest of the industry just [...]

  • Virtual Hardware 7 Undocumented Feature Revealed!

    stu
    2 Nov 2009 | 11:14 am
    So after my last post, VMware did some digging and the real reason for the initially odd behaviour was exposed – it’s a combination of the way Virtual Hardware 7 presents virtual disks to Guests, and the difference in default policy settings of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition and Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition. So in [...]

  • Virtual Hardware 7 Bug, Woeful VMware Response

    stu
    29 Oct 2009 | 2:05 pm
    UPDATE This post is actually woefully inaccurate – go read this one instead! I don’t like making posts like this, really i don’t. As much as I’ll sing the praises of VMware ’til I can’t sing no more, I’ll also point out the shortcomings – I don’t turn a blind eye just because I like the [...]

  • VCP4 Exam Post Mortem (Yes, I Passed :)

    stu
    27 Oct 2009 | 11:58 am
    Pretty sneaky of me to post my thoughts on the exam material the night before sitting the exam eh? Well, not really, but at least I’m not going to make you all anxiously wait for the follow up post like I know you were. C’mon, I know it. Seriously. Somebody was. Other than me. And [...]
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    The Virtual Troll

  • Quite a few updates from VMware incl. vSphere 4.0 Update 1 and View 4.0

    Heino Skov
    21 Nov 2009 | 12:17 am
    View 4 available for download among other updates… The long awaited View 4 is available for download. The earlier version did not support vSphere 4.0 and this new version of View 4 does. It requires VMware vSphere 4.0 Update 1 which also now is available. So for all that was running View 3.1 in Proof of Concept which required VI 3.5, it would now be possible to upgrade your VMware platform with both vSphere 4.0 Update 1 – which also got released this week. So there have been quite a few updates from VMware this week: VMware vSphere 4.0 Update 1 available for both ESX and vCenter…

  • My Company, BusinessMann A/S won VMware Partner of the Year 2009 award in Denmark

    Heino Skov
    13 Nov 2009 | 5:32 am
    I attended a local party held by Arrow ECS in Copenhagen last night, and several awards were given out during the party. One award stood out to me, of course, which this blog post is about. My company was nominated in the category of VMware Partner of the Year in Denmark with 3 other of our competitors. The happy news was that BusinessMann A/S won the VMware Partner of the Year 2009 award, which makes me really proud. First of all, thanks to VMware for giving BusinessMann A/S this award and thanks to all my collogues for the hard work in 2009. Also thanks to Arrow ECS for a great party

  • VMware announces VMware View 4

    Heino Skov
    9 Nov 2009 | 6:09 am
    VMware has today announced the new VMware View 4 platform for virtualizing desktops on their own VMware vSphere platform. So yes, VMware View 4 has support for VMware vSphere 4.0. It is built and tested on the latest VMware vSphere 4.0 releases It has been a while since VMware announced the partnership with Teradici to use their PCoIP protocol within VMware View for improved user multimedia experience. This is a huge upgrade from the current RDP protocol, which VMware used in prior versions of View I have watched a few demo’s of Teradici’s PCoIP protocol and has been pretty…

  • VMs NIC disconnects after a VMotion

    Heino Skov
    6 Nov 2009 | 11:49 pm
    I had a customer calling me the other day about a weird problem. Some VMs disconnected their NIC after a VMotion. It was not possible to connect the NIC back on a again The customer was in the process of upgrading to vSphere, so used DRS/VMotion to put ESX hosts in maintenance mode, so they could be upgraded. After looking in log files, we saw the following errors: ————Edited/output ———— 6 10:19:21 esx1 vmkernel: 0:20:07:45.197 cpu3:6256)Net: 1317: can’t connect device: LAN: Out of resources 6 10:24:03 esx1 vmkernel: 0:20:12:27.267…

  • vCalendar Widget added to Virtualtroll.com

    Heino Skov
    10 Sep 2009 | 3:54 pm
    Jason Boche over at http://www.boche.net/blog/ came up with an initiative to create a vCalendar. Its quite nice and if I had a work with a personal desktop, I would certainly try to get one of these. Instead I did the 2nd best option, because Jason also made a vCalendar Widget. I have now added this widget to my blog, so the dailiy tips, tricks, comments etc is shown on virtualtroll.com. So now you just need to come back here to virtualtroll to read the daily virtualization quote of the day Read more about it here Thanks to Jason for this initiative.
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    Virtualfuture.info

  • VMware View 4 available for download!

    Sven Huisman
    20 Nov 2009 | 11:01 pm
    Yes, finally we can all find out ourselves if PCoIP is really as good as they say: View 4 is available for download! Here is all the information you need to get you started: First, you need to upgrade your Virtual environment to one of the following: VMware vSphere 4 Update 1. Update 1 is required (this update [...]

  • Introduction to Vmware View 4

    Sven Huisman
    16 Nov 2009 | 1:16 pm
    This week VMware will release VMware View 4, “the industry’s first purpose built solution for delivering desktops as a managed service” as VMware calls it. I don’t know about that, but at least this release is a step in the right direction. The 2 big improvements View 4 brings are the new display protocol PCoIP [...]

  • Citrix XenDesktop 4 released and available for download

    Matthijs Haverink
    16 Nov 2009 | 1:06 pm
    The moment is here, XenDesktop 4 is available! Much awaited and true to their promise Citrix has just officially made XenDesktop 4 available for download on the download page of MyCitrix.com : http://www.citrix.com/English/ss/downloads/results.asp?productID=163057 (you need to be registered and login). So now everybody can go ahead and download the Citrix XenDesktop 4 Evaluation and try it on their own [...]

  • VMware View 4 announced!

    Sven Huisman
    9 Nov 2009 | 2:00 am
    VMware announces VMware View 4 on the new VMware website: “VMware View 4 is the industry’s first purpose built solution for delivering desktops as a managed service. Transform desktop management into a simplified and automated process, reduce the total cost of desktop ownership by 50%, provide end users a consistent high performance desktop experience and bring [...]

  • Bloggers-Battle: Desktop Virtualization is THE way to go!

    Sven Huisman
    4 Nov 2009 | 12:17 pm
    Before I start my first post in the VirtualFuture.Info Bloggers-Battle, let me first respond to Matthijs’  first post. And let me remind the readers, this is a Bloggers-Battle. Matthijs and I are trying to convince each other and the readers that one product is a better choice than another, just for this Battle. As consultants [...]
 
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    Security, Compliance and Best Practices

  • The little things will kill you

    Dwayne Melancon
    20 Nov 2009 | 3:10 pm
    My cohort Gene Kim and I were in San Francisco meeting with a number of journalists yesterday.  We were discussing trends, virtualization, IT risks, and things of that sort and everyone wanted to know about what new risks, threats, etc. were going to be a problem in the next year. Everyone wanted to know about the next big thing, but the fact of the matter is that most of our IT problems will come from little things, and not some big "happening."  The things that will bite us will be the things that always bite us.  And they are all rooted in what I like to call…

  • Really? A LinkedIn invite from Bill Gates? How cool am I!?

    Chris Orr
    30 Oct 2009 | 11:30 am
    Seriously though…when an experimental phishing attack was tested against anti-spam and phishing filters it succeeded 100 percent of the time. http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4791&tag=nl.e539 Can you imagine if it were real?  I wonder how many people would really think that Bill Gates is taking personal time to send you (no matter how cool you think you are) an invitation to be part of his network?  Some times you have to wonder.  And one it succeeded either your LinkedIn account would be owned or some nasty malware would begin to percolate through your corporate network. Boy…

  • Clouds gain steam as LA votes to go Google…

    Chris Orr
    29 Oct 2009 | 10:37 am
    Boy I do hope they get this right… any security issues will be problematic for the millions of folks being served by city of Los Angeles.  It will certainly raise the profile of cloud computing enough to get the attention of the Pirates that are out their…. Google’s IT Ninjas better be up to the task… http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=26641&tag=nl.e550 “Clearly, this is a big deal for the city of Los Angeles. But this vote is also monumental for cloud computing as a whole, which has gained popularity and widespread interest but still relatively little adoption…

  • "VMware" is not a synonym for "cloud"

    Dwayne Melancon
    19 Oct 2009 | 10:10 am
    I was just reading a NetworkWorld article called “Internal clouds are more than just virtualization” and it’s got some pretty good data (and perspective) about how companies view internal clouds. One interesting (but not so surprising) quote in the article is this one: …when asked to define the internal cloud, IT executives typically replied “my VMware environment” Sure, many internal clouds will run on the back of VMware, but not all.  And VMware alone will not satisfy all of the business’s requirements for running an effective internal cloud. Why not?

  • How on earth could this be a good idea?

    Chris Orr
    24 Sep 2009 | 10:16 am
    Maybe its just me but implanting a chip in my arm heralds the coming of the zombie apocalypse… http://www.smartplanet.com/business/blog/smart-takes/implanted-microchip-reminds-you-to-take-your-pills-via-text-message/1096/ So apparently you stick this thing in your arm and it texts you when its time to take your pills…wouldn’t a cloud based web application have the ability to do the same thing? And what else could be done with this chip… can you imagine what the pirates would be able to do if they were able to hack the dang thing?  If RFID gives folks the willies this…
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    VIRTUALIZATION PRO

  • First update to vSphere released

    Eric Siebert
    20 Nov 2009 | 11:33 am
    VMware has finally released the first update to vSphere almost 6 months after the initial release of vSphere in May 2009. Version 4.0 Update 1 delivers many fixes to bugs and issues as well as support for new features, products and operating systems. Perhaps the biggest updates in this release are support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 as guest operating systems as well as support for the newly released VMware View 4.0. This release is significant in the fact that is the first update to vSphere which should appease all those who were waiting to upgrade to vSphere for fear of bugs…

  • Why use vShield Zones?

    Eric Siebert
    19 Nov 2009 | 12:08 pm
    VMware introduced vShield Zones as part of the vSphere release along with VMware Data Recovery as a value-added product that is available in certain editions. I’m always interested in virtualization security products so I spent a lot of time checking out the product which resulted in me writing a series of tips about it. That was a while ago, so I thought I would summarize the information in this blog post and provide some use cases for vShield Zones. Let’s start with what a vShield Zone is. A vShield Zone is essentially a virtual security guard for your vSwitches that…

  • What can we learn about DR from survival situations?

    Mak King
    18 Nov 2009 | 12:02 pm
    From the time I was little I was always taught to be prepared. I took outdoor survival classes and first aid courses in the evenings long before I was old enough to drive. My vehicles have extra tools in them. When mountain biking in Moab I carried enough equipment to rebuild a small nuclear reactor. Several years ago I moved to the “end of the road,” that is, Fairbanks, Alaska, to learn what it took to live in a tough environment — the last frontier. Thus, I was thrilled to find the October Popular Mechanics titled “Survive Anything.” I particularly…

  • Quota limits in vSphere?

    Eric Siebert
    11 Nov 2009 | 7:22 pm
    A reader was recently reading the VMware white paper  What Is New in VMware vSphere 4: Storage and he came across this paragraph: Improved Storage Resources Control As the scope of storage resources have increased significantly with large deployments of virtualization environments, so has the need for greater automation and control of these resources. In the vSphere release, vCenter has been enhanced with several new storage specific capabilities to help the virtual administrator manage these environments with a higher degree of control. These enhancements provide administrators with…

  • Does virtualization really reduce administrator headcount and workloads?

    Eric Siebert
    11 Nov 2009 | 2:36 pm
    One benefit of virtualization that is often stated is that by virtualizing you will reduce the number of administrators needed to manage your server environment. I heard this first hand years ago when we were looking to do a server virtualization project and I was skeptical as to how that would be possible. VMware itself touts this as a benefit of virtualization on their cost savings webpage stating the following: VMware shifts the paradigm from managing “the raw ingredients of IT”, i.e. component-level infrastructure management, to cloud-based delivery of IT services. This…
 
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    VM /ETC

  • VMware View 4 Now Available. Overview of Features, PCoIP, and Architecture

    Rich Brambley
    21 Nov 2009 | 9:37 am
    As promised a few weeks ago, you can now download the latest version of VMware’s VDI solution, VMware View 4. The download can be found here, and the Release Notes explain What’s New and other helpful information about Getting Started. View 4 is available for trial with a 60 day license – plenty of time to work out the deployment and pilot a group of users. Be sure to upgrade to vSphere 4 Update 1 to take full advantage of View 4. I thought I’d be a little different and offer a quick overview of View 4’s Features, the new PCoIP protocol, some key deployment…

  • Considering Ocarina Networks Optimized Data For Virtual Environments

    Rich Brambley
    20 Nov 2009 | 7:33 pm
    Ocarina Networks presented to us during the Day 2 morning session of the GestaltIT Tech Field Day. Their presentation was a deep dive into storage compression and optimization. If you read my Ideas About Presenting To Engineers from earlier this week, then you’ll know what I mean when I say that Ocarina had “black magic” that wasn’t as interesting to me as how and where the solution was deployed in the data center. After all, Ocarina claims that they will optimize and compress data on any storage device. I wanted to know how they could integrate with existing, third…

  • VMware Data Recovery 1.1 Release Supports File Level Restore

    Rich Brambley
    19 Nov 2009 | 8:01 pm
    The VMGuy has the scoop on all the VMware releases tonight! VMware has also made available an updated version of the GUI based virtual machine (VM) backup and restore plugin for vCenter 4, VMware Data Recovery 1.1 (VDR). Download it here and check the check the Release Notes here. VMware is saying VDR has improved performance and progress information during intgregity checks, enhanced CIFS support, and that the previous experimental support status for File Level Restores of Windows VMs has been elevated to full support. Although I could find no mention of it on the VDR web page, the data…

  • ESX 4.0 U1 Release Paves Way For View 4, Supports Win 7, and Updates vSphere Client

    Rich Brambley
    19 Nov 2009 | 7:23 pm
    It was speculated that it might not happen until next week (Monday 11/23), but VMware engineer Dave Lawrence’s post Release: ESX 4.0 Update 1 on his VMGuy Blog confirms that ESX 4.0 U1 is now available for download. The most notable changes in this update include full support for VMware View 4 (expected to be available for download on 11/23), full support for Windows 7 and 2008 R2 in both 32 bit and 64 bit flavors, and an update to the vSphere Client that fixes the problem when installing on Windows 7 desktops – eliminating the need for the workaround VI admins have had to…

  • MDS and Xsigo Power VMware GETO Mobile Demo and VMworld Booth Rack

    Rich Brambley
    16 Nov 2009 | 7:10 pm
    The VMworld 2009 Hands on Labs (HOL) VI was not the only VMware Global Engineering Technical Operations Team (GETO) managed infrastructure at the Moscone Center in 2009. The VMware Cloud Pavilion Booth and it’s demos, some customer demos, and even the VMTN Lounge and vExpert booth (I used personally) was run from a self contained, mobile rack. That rack was/is powered by MDS Quadv Servers and Xsigo I/O Virtualization Solutions. MDS and Xsigo were sponsors of the GestaltIT Tech Field Day, and their presentations were first on our Day 1 agenda. Although I knew VMware (big thanks are due…
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    Yellow Bricks

  • vMA Patch 2

    Duncan Epping
    20 Nov 2009 | 11:54 pm
    vMA 4.0 Patch 2 has just officially been released. This release contains multiple bugfixes and security patches. Make sure to install the patch. KB article 1014689 describes how to do the upgrade from within the appliance. "vMA Patch 2" originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com.Support Yellow-Bricks.com and save 10% on select VMware Products at the same time.Learn how to fully utilize VMware vSphere with a Computer Based Training by Train Signal!Follow me on Twitter and add Yellow-Bricks.com to your RSS Reader.

  • VMware View is available!

    Duncan Epping
    20 Nov 2009 | 11:37 pm
    VMware View has just officially been released. (VMware View Manager 4.0 | 11/20/09 | Build 210939) Key features are: VMware View with PCoIP – PCoIP provides an optimized desktop experience for the delivery of the entire desktop environment including applications, images, audio, and video content for a wide range of users on the LAN or across the WAN. PCoIP can compensate for an increase in latency or a reduction in bandwidth, to ensure that end users can remain productive regardless of network conditions. PCoIP includes VMware View Display with support for up to four monitors and the…

  • ESX(i) 4.0 -> ESX(i) 4.0 U1 update

    Duncan Epping
    20 Nov 2009 | 8:45 am
    My colleague Lee Dilworth just emailed me the following. Those who are running vSphere ESX(i) and have the Cisco Nexus1000v installed might want to read this: If your customers are on ESXi/ESX 4.0 and want to update to U1 using the vihostupdate then first they need to read this new KB: http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015879 From here you will see mention of a file VEM-4.0.0-update01.zip which is not on the U1 download page. One useful addition to the KB article would be to remind customers that to obtain this VEM update you need to navigate to: http://support.vmware.com/selfsupport/download/ From…

  • Solutions for Remote and Branch Offices

    Duncan Epping
    20 Nov 2009 | 12:33 am
    VMware just released two new editions of vSphere which are specifically targeted at retail store / branch office environments. A PDF describing these package can be found here and the solution page on VMware.com can be found here. VMware vSphere Essentials for Retail and Branch Offices offers a package solution for each of a customer’s branch offices to scale agility, security, and efficiency across the organization. VMware vSphere Essentials Plus for Retail and Branch Offices provides a turnkey solution for complete business agility and continuity at all remote sites by adding high…

  • vSphere ESX/vCenter 4.0 Update 1

    Duncan Epping
    19 Nov 2009 | 10:36 pm
    VMware just released ESX 4.0 Update 1 and vCenter 4.0 Update 1. Most people have already reported on this by now. Two things that stood out for me personally is the following: HA Cluster Configuration Maximum — HA clusters can now support 160 virtual machines per host in HA Cluster of 8 hosts or less. The maximum number of virtual machines per host in cluster sizes of 9 hosts and above is still 40, allowing a maximum of 1280 Virtual Machines per HA cluster. Enhanced Clustering Support for Microsoft Windows – Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) for Windows 2000 and 2003 and Windows Server 2008…
 
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    VMware Videos.com

  • VIDEO: Installing the vSphere Client in Windows 7

    David Davis
    19 Nov 2009 | 10:46 am
    While the vSphere Client does install fine in Windows 7, it is when you attempt to connect to your vCenter Server that you discover there is a problem. VMware doesn’t officially support the vSphere Client under Windows 7 but there is a workaround to make it work. In this video, I cover how to get the vSphere Client working in Windows 7, step by step. You can download the special system.dll file that is needed here. How To Install VMware vSphere Client in Windows 7 from Train Signal. Your leader in Computer Training Special thanks to those who have posted on this topic before me as I…

  • Learn how to configure VMware ESX Server Alarms

    David Davis
    18 Nov 2009 | 10:12 am
    In my new VirtualizationAdmin.com article, I cover how to configure VMware ESX Server Alarms properly. For example, the difference between defined alarms and triggered alarms, and how alarms work in the vSphere heirarchy. Read the full artile at- Learn how to configure VMware ESX Server Alarms

  • Using the new VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA)

    David Davis
    13 Nov 2009 | 3:08 pm
    Did you know that VIMA has been renamed to vMA ? Or do you have any idea what VIMA and vMA are and how they can help you manage your vSphere infrastructure from the command line? Read my new article – Using the new VMware vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) – to find out the answers to all of these questions and learn how and where to download and install vMA!

  • VOTE NOW on who has the best VMware Training Product!

    David Davis
    9 Sep 2009 | 1:36 pm
    There are lots of training and certification options out there but who has the “BEST” training product covering VMware and virtualization? In my opinion, Train Signal has the best solution because they provide what the training that you need, for a price you can afford, and you can watch it at your own pace on just about any device. Well, Train Signal has been nominated for the Windows IT Pro  2009 Community Choice Awards and now they need your help to WIN! Hopefully you have enjoyed some of my Train Signal VMware video training courses. If so, Vote for Train Signal in category…

  • David Davis, interviewed by John Troyer at VMworld 2009

    David Davis
    3 Sep 2009 | 11:49 pm
    Today at VMworld 2009, I was interviewed by John Troyer of VMware (@jtroyer on Twitter). This was a totally live recorded video and was streamed on the Internet. In this video, we talk about my vSphere training videos, Best of VMworld hardware winners (Cisco UCS and Xsigo IO Virtualization), vCloud Express first experiences, the new VMware Go. I hope you like the video. By the way, you can learn about my Train Signal vSphere video training course here!
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    VMware Tips

  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 Released Today

    Rick Scherer
    9 Nov 2009 | 10:14 am
    I know this isn’t a topic on virtualization, however I know a lot of companies that were waiting for Exchange 2010 so they could merge their upgrade and virtualization project into one.  Well, the day is here. Exchange 2010 is out and is ready for your upgrade. Exchange Server 2010 includes a host of new features customers will benefit from, including new integrated e-mail archive and discovery functionality, new user features to battle inbox overload, voice mail management enhancements, and improvements that simplify administration. For businesses, highlights include: New integrated…

  • VMware View 4 Released Along with New VMware Website

    Rick Scherer
    9 Nov 2009 | 9:49 am
    Being on the west coast of the US typically means I’m a little late on getting to the newest announcements, especially since this one came around 5am PST while I was still dreaming of VMotion, DRS and HA. But here it is, the long awaited VMware View 4 is official, complete with it’s PCoIP goodness. For the most part you should all understand the concept of VMware View and virtualized desktops.  Virtualized Desktops are simply Virtual Machines with a desktop operating system installed (Windows 7, etc.) running on the VMware vSphere platform.  They are delivered and managed…

  • The New Player on the vBlock

    Rick Scherer
    3 Nov 2009 | 1:44 pm
    VMware, EMC, Cisco, VCE, Intel, Acadia….whew! what does it all mean?!  VMware, Cisco and EMC created a new marketing ploy called VCE (Virtual Compute Environment), this will provide technical innovations as well as integrated pre-sales services and support. What is the product? vBlock.  Think of vBlock as the plug and play data-center solution, it will consist of Cisco UCS/Nexus/MDS, EMC Storage and VMware Virtualization all within a pre-designed and built rack solution - simply drop it in your data-center, plug it in and deploy virtual machines.  This is not really any different…

  • VMware ESXi 4 and HP Servers

    Rick Scherer
    27 Oct 2009 | 1:21 pm
    I’m proud to say that HP has full support for ESXi 4 installed on SD or USB Flash memory.  They even offer the installable ISO pre-built with their CIM providers, available here. There is a catch though, they only support their approved SD or USB Flash memory….sorry, but you cannot BYOF (Bring Your Own Flash).  This is reflected on their download page: HP VMware ESXi 4.0 solution requires the following: VMware ESXi 4.0 free downloadable product. To upgrade your license to Enterprise Plus, purchase HP VMware ESXi 4 product 571979-B21. HP ESXi 4 CIM Providers. Registration on…

  • San Diego VMware Users Group Meeting

    Rick Scherer
    21 Oct 2009 | 1:46 pm
    San Diego VMUG Meeting The next San Diego VMUG meeting will be held on October 22nd, this will feature a recap of VMworld 2009 as well as special guest Carter Shanklin from VMware to discuss PowerShell and how to automate your vSphere environment. Date: Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 Time: 12:30pm - 5:30pm *Lunch Will Be Provided* Location: CareFusion - 3750 Torrey View Court, San Diego, CA 92130 Topics: PowerShell and VMworld 2009 Agenda 12:30pm - 1:00pm — Registration & Lunch Pick-Up 1:00pm - 1:15pm — Introductions 1:15pm - 2:00pm — Ask the Experts / Bloopers Session…
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    Citrix XenServer

  • XenClient as You've Never Seen It (Part 1 of 3)

    Tyler Carter
    18 Nov 2009 | 12:14 pm
    We had some studio time available recently and took the opportunity to capture the alpha version of Citrix XenClient as you've never seen it...in HD. We thought it fitting given our ongoing dedication to HDX technology in both the Citrix XenClient and Citrix XenDesktop platforms. Before we get to the videos, let me take just a few moments to review some basics about Citrix XenClient. XenClient is a bare-metal local desktop virtualization platform based on the same technology that goes into Citrix XenServer including the open-source Xen hypervisor. Translation - XenClient allows you to run…

  • Most common licensing issues reported by Technical Support

    David McGeough
    16 Nov 2009 | 2:27 am
    Citrix Support is focused on ensuring Customer and Partner satisfaction with our products. One of our initiatives is to increase the ability of our Partners and Customers to leverage self-service avenues via our Knowledge Center. Our Licensing team in Citrix Support receive lots of questions everyday around How to retrieve licenses for XenApp Platinum or How to license XenServer, etc... The most common questions asked are documented in the Citrix Knowledge Center. Below you will find a list of the most common questions asked. Article Title Article Link How to Fulfill/Convert a MetaFrame…

  • Introducing the Citrix Support "How To" Video Series

    David McGeough
    9 Nov 2009 | 12:47 pm
    Citrix Support is focused on ensuring Customer and Partner satisfaction with the support of our products. One of our initiatives is to increase the ability of our Partners and Customers to leverage self-service avenues for finding answers and resolving problems. A key area that the Support teams focus on is development a series of How To videos covering the most common questions asked in support. To date there are over 40 How To videos covering 11 products available from Citrix TV. Over the coming weeks and months lots more will be added. If you have a How To video suggestion or feedback on…

  • xvp - A Web Interface for XenServer

    Ewan Mellor
    7 Nov 2009 | 4:08 am
    One of the most common requests from XenServer customers is for a web interface, so that they can manage their VMs from a browser. I'm pleased to say that I've found one! It's called xvp, and has been developed by Colin Dean at Durham University in the UK. There are four components: xvpweb: A web front end for XenServer, running on Apache/PHP. xvpviewer: A Java applet for accessing XenServer consoles (used by xvpweb, of course). xvp: A server-side proxy for XenServer consoles, so that you can use ordinary VNC clients. xvpdiscover: A tool that queries a XenServer pool, and writes the…

  • Help Scope the Next Generation of XenServer Training

    Mark Carter
    5 Nov 2009 | 2:52 pm
    Citrix Education is hosting the following 1-hour virtual sessions to scope the next generation of XenServer training: For Citrix customers: Tuesday, November 17, 1:00pm Eastern/10:00 Pacific For Citrix partners: Wednesday, November 18, 1:00pm Eastern/10:00 Pacific If you would like to participate in one of these sessions, then email me at mark.carter@citrix.com for registration information. In your email, state whether you are a customer or a partner and what level of XenServer experience you have. Each session is limited to 5 participants, so don't delay! Also, feel free to email me if you…
 
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    VCritical

  • The Truth About Storage Hot Add and Remove

    Eric Gray
    18 Nov 2009 | 7:34 am
    VMware vSphere 4 supports a range of hot storage management technologies: vStorage VMFS Volume Grow Hot Extend for Virtual Disks Hot Virtual Disk Add/Remove With these capabilities, if space gets tight in your vSphere environment, it is easy to be proactive and address the issue before anyone notices.  The process goes something like this: Allocate additional physical hard disk space on your SAN to an appropriate LUN Grow your VMFS datastore onto the newly added free space Extend, or add new, virtual disks for the VMs that need more storage Expand the volume inside the guest to create more…

  • vSphere Thin-Provisioned Disk Performance

    Eric Gray
    14 Nov 2009 | 10:19 pm
    Thin disk provisioning is a fully-supported feature in vSphere 4 that can save tons of storage space on your SAN by allowing virtual disks to consume storage space as needed instead all at once. Under the supervision of VMware vCenter Server, ESX 4 thin provisioning is safe and reliable even for production workloads thanks to advanced storage accounting and built-in monitoring.  And even if the worst does happen — an unexpectedly full datastore — recovery is simple. Now that you are convinced that VMware vSphere thin provisioning has a place in your data center, you may be…

  • SCVMM/PRO Complexity: High

    Eric Gray
    10 Nov 2009 | 3:10 am
    About a year ago, I wrote about the complex requirements for enabling PRO Tips in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM).  That was the previous release — what has changed now that SCVMM 2008 R2 is available? Not much. First Things First Before you can use PRO to Live Migrate virtual machines between hosts (which is sort of the whole point), you need to first configure Hyper-V, failover clustering, and Cluster Shared Volumes — something eWeek found to be significantly more complicated than VMware ESX. After Hyper-V and Live Migration are up and running, the next step…

  • Layers and Layers of FUD

    Eric Gray
    3 Nov 2009 | 4:02 am
    Unbelievable.  That old tale about VMware adding an extra layer is still being told in the Microsoft Virtualization Comparison Brochure.  [Update: The document is currently unavailable for download; MSFT has pulled it for editing.] Pretty surprising, and not at all honest — using the term layer implies a particular order or hierarchy, not merely quantity.  And what on earth is the virtualization layer doing on top of applications? The case Microsoft is really trying to make here is that if you don’t have VMware virtualization, then you don’t have VMware.  True enough, I…

  • Which 50% will you virtualize?

    Eric Gray
    26 Oct 2009 | 2:40 pm
    PC World recently published an article on Hyper-V R2 competing with VMware vSphere.  I found this statement from Bob Kelly, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Infrastructure Server Marketing, to be remarkable: “That’s why I still maintain that at some point, you’ll be at 40 percent to 50 percent virtualized and you’re 50 percent physical, and that’s an important thing to recognize. If you recognize that, you can set the strategy. It’s not, ‘Oh God, we thought the world was going to be only virtual.’ That, fundamentally, is why I think VMware…
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    VCritical

  • The Truth About Storage Hot Add and Remove

    Eric Gray
    18 Nov 2009 | 7:34 am
    VMware vSphere 4 supports a range of hot storage management technologies: vStorage VMFS Volume Grow Hot Extend for Virtual Disks Hot Virtual Disk Add/Remove With these capabilities, if space gets tight in your vSphere environment, it is easy to be proactive and address the issue before anyone notices.  The process goes something like this: Allocate additional physical hard disk space on your SAN to an appropriate LUN Grow your VMFS datastore onto the newly added free space Extend, or add new, virtual disks for the VMs that need more storage Expand the volume inside the guest to create more…

  • vSphere Thin-Provisioned Disk Performance

    Eric Gray
    14 Nov 2009 | 10:19 pm
    Thin disk provisioning is a fully-supported feature in vSphere 4 that can save tons of storage space on your SAN by allowing virtual disks to consume storage space as needed instead all at once. Under the supervision of VMware vCenter Server, ESX 4 thin provisioning is safe and reliable even for production workloads thanks to advanced storage accounting and built-in monitoring.  And even if the worst does happen — an unexpectedly full datastore — recovery is simple. Now that you are convinced that VMware vSphere thin provisioning has a place in your data center, you may be…

  • SCVMM/PRO Complexity: High

    Eric Gray
    10 Nov 2009 | 3:10 am
    About a year ago, I wrote about the complex requirements for enabling PRO Tips in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM).  That was the previous release — what has changed now that SCVMM 2008 R2 is available? Not much. First Things First Before you can use PRO to Live Migrate virtual machines between hosts (which is sort of the whole point), you need to first configure Hyper-V, failover clustering, and Cluster Shared Volumes — something eWeek found to be significantly more complicated than VMware ESX. After Hyper-V and Live Migration are up and running, the next step…

  • Layers and Layers of FUD

    Eric Gray
    3 Nov 2009 | 4:02 am
    Unbelievable.  That old tale about VMware adding an extra layer is still being told in the Microsoft Virtualization Comparison Brochure.  [Update: The document is currently unavailable for download; MSFT has pulled it for editing.] Pretty surprising, and not at all honest — using the term layer implies a particular order or hierarchy, not merely quantity.  And what on earth is the virtualization layer doing on top of applications? The case Microsoft is really trying to make here is that if you don’t have VMware virtualization, then you don’t have VMware.  True enough, I…

  • Which 50% will you virtualize?

    Eric Gray
    26 Oct 2009 | 2:40 pm
    PC World recently published an article on Hyper-V R2 competing with VMware vSphere.  I found this statement from Bob Kelly, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Infrastructure Server Marketing, to be remarkable: “That’s why I still maintain that at some point, you’ll be at 40 percent to 50 percent virtualized and you’re 50 percent physical, and that’s an important thing to recognize. If you recognize that, you can set the strategy. It’s not, ‘Oh God, we thought the world was going to be only virtual.’ That, fundamentally, is why I think VMware…
 
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    Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft virtualization blog

  • PowerShell pack and PowerShell cheat sheet

    Ilija Brajkovic
    18 Nov 2009 | 12:12 am
    Power Shell is becoming widely used tool for Windows system administrators. PowerShell 2.0, which is also included in Windows 7, brings many new improvements and cmdlets for Windows Diagnostics, Active Directory, Internet Information Services (IIS) and more. It supports branching, looping, functions, debugging, exception handling, and internationalization. Learning PowerShell should be must-do... Copyright © Ilija Brajkovic http://www.brajkovic.info

  • Free physical to virtual tool Disk2vhd

    Ilija Brajkovic
    16 Nov 2009 | 9:56 am
    Till now, if you wanted to convert your host operating system to virtual one, you had to use System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). It is great product, but it costs some money. But thanks to guys from Sysinternals, now you can create VHD file from your host operating system for free. They have [...] Copyright © Ilija Brajkovic http://www.brajkovic.info

  • How to install an application in XP Mode?

    Ilija Brajkovic
    15 Nov 2009 | 9:52 pm
    I don’t have any old application which doesn’t work on Windows 7, but two weeks ago I needed to test Windows XP Mode and show it during presentation to high-school teachers (here is the info on how to deploy Windows XP Mode). I was very surprised how easy is to install application in XP Mode [...] Copyright © Ilija Brajkovic http://www.brajkovic.info

  • Going to Sinergija conference

    Ilija Brajkovic
    12 Nov 2009 | 9:09 am
    Next week, from Nov 17th to Nov 19 I will be in Belgrade, to attend Sinergija conference. Sinergija is Serbian version of the Windays conference that we have here in Croatia, and I am looking forward to go there and compare these two events, as I compared Windays with TechEd conference a year ago. [...] Copyright © Ilija Brajkovic http://www.brajkovic.info

  • VIDEO: Hyper-V Virtual Networks Overview

    Ilija Brajkovic
    3 Nov 2009 | 2:43 pm
    As me and some of my readers noticed, lately I write a lot (or too much) about Windows 7. As this blog is about Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft virtualization, let’s get back on the track. I’ve just found nice video which has been made by Janique Carbone, where she describes Hyper-V virtual networks. In [...] Copyright © Ilija Brajkovic http://www.brajkovic.info
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