VMware

Gabriel Maciel's Blog

March 2008

Previous Next
0

Implement a consistent, automated process for managing the lifecycle of virtual machines in the data center, from provisioning to operation to retirement. With VMware Lifecycle Manager, automate the virtualization workflow to improve efficiency and productivity, and ensure strict corporate compliance with company policies.

Download the Pdf

Download Lifecycle Manager

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

These are the articles / links for the past week:

  1. How-to Sysprep in Windows 2008 via Brian Desmon's Blog
  2. CoreConfigurator for Windows Server 2008 via Guy Teverovsky
  3. VMware HA Vs Microsoft Cluster Server via IT 2.0
  4. Raghu Raghuram on the hypervisor and the next big opportunity via VMTN Blog
  5. Looking to Leadership for Agile Inspiration via Gantthead
Enjoy!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

"Embrace your ability to get more for free. VMware Server equips you
with a stable, easy to use, free virtualization platform ideal for
organizations wanting to consolidate multiple servers down to few and
reduce the headaches and expense of server provisioning.

This newest beta version offers the capabilities from before, plus an
array of new features, increased performance and stability—including a
broader range of guest operating system support, direct access to
virtual machine consoles, an intuitive Web-based management interface,
and increased memory for greater scalability. With over 3 million
downloads worldwide, VMware Server continues to innovate to provide
users with a superior introductory experience to virtualization for
free."

Some screen shots can be found here

Download the product here

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

Since a second SCSI adapter is mandatory for Microsoft Clustering Services running in VMware, and it will also provide better performance for any I/O intensive virtual machine like a database server, file server, etc; adding a second controller may be a necessity or valuable option for us. Here is how it can be done:

  • After creating the VM we need to “Edit” its settings and select to “Add...” a new device



  • We then choose “Hard Disk” (not SCSI device) and click “Next”



  • We accept the defaults and click “Next” (unless we whish to re-use an existing vDisk)



  • We input the size and move on to the next screen



  • In here we need to select a different SCSI node so…



  • We are going to choose “SCSI (1:0)” and then click “Next”



  • Now we complete the Add Hardware Wizard by clicking “Finish” and then…



  • We will be back to the VM Properties where, after clicking “OK”, the changes are going to be committed



Note: If we select to edit the VM one more time, we will see the second SCSI Controller



Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

There is a new web interface for the Patch and Update Releases for VMware that simplifies the selection and download of the patches. So far, it applies to the following products: ESX Server 2.0.2 to 3.5, ESX Server 3i and Virtual Center.

This is the link to the new page!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

Here is the list of links and articles for this week:

  1. Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator via Microsoft Technet
  2. A Really Useful List of Rundll32 commands for Windows via Gus Pinto MVP Blog
  3. Windows Server 2008 Israeli Launch Event & Presentations by Daniel Petri via Petri IT Knowledgebase
  4. Remaindered links for March21, 2008 via VMTN Blog
  5. The CareGroup Network Outage via Life as a Healthcare CIO
Enjoy!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

New VMware Releases

Posted by Gabriel Macie… Mar 18, 2008

VMware Server Version 1.0.5 (free) / http://www.vmware.com/download/server

  • A security vulnerability in OpenSSL 0.9.7j could make it possible to forge a RSA key signature. VMware Server 1.0.5 upgrades OpenSSL to version 0.9.7l to avoid this vulnerability.
  • An internal security audit determined that a malicious user could attain and exploit LocalSystem privileges by causing the authd process to connect to a named pipe that is opened and controlled by the
  • malicious user. In this situation, the malicious user could successfully impersonate authd and attain privileges under which authd is executing.
  • An internal security audit determined that a malicious user could exploit an insecurely created named pipe object to escalate priviliges or create a denial-of-service attack.
  • This release updates the libpng library to version 1.2.22 to remove various security vulnerabilities.
  • A vulnerability in VMware Workstation running on Windows allowed complete access to the host's file system from a guest machine. This access included the ability to create and modify executable files in
    sensitive locations.
  • The authd process read and honored the vmx.fullpath variable in the user-writable file config.ini, creating a security vulnerability.
  • The config.ini file could be modified by non-administrator to change the VMX launch path. This created a vulnerability that could be exploited to escalate a user's privileges.

VMware Workstation 6.0.3 / http://www.vmware.com/download/ws

  • On Windows hosts, if you have configured and enabled a shared folder, it is possible for an attacker to write arbitrary content from a guest system to arbitrary locations on the host system.
  • An internal security audit determined that a malicious user could attain and exploit LocalSystem privileges by causing the authd process to connect to a named pipe that is opened and controlled by the malicious user. In this situation, the malicious user could successfully impersonate authd and attain privileges under which Authd is executing.
  • This release updates the libpng library to version 1.2.22 to remove various security vulnerabilities.
  • This release updates the OpenSSL library to address various vulnerabilities to denial-of-service attacks and buffer overflows.
  • Workstation 6.0.2 allowed anonymous console access to the guest by means of the VIX API. This release, Workstation 6.0.3, disables this feature. This means that the Eclipse Integrated Virtual Debugger and the Visual Studio Integrated Virtual Debugger will now prompt for user account credentials to access a guest.

VMware Player 2.0.3 (free) / http://www.vmware.com/download/player/

  • On Windows hosts, if you have configured and enabled a shared folder, it is possible for an attacker to write arbitrary content from a guest system to arbitrary locations on the host system.
  • Ubuntu 7.04 virtual machines sometimes power off unexpectedly if paravirtual kernel support is enabled.

VMware ACE 2.0.3 / http://www.vmware.com/download/ace/


Also, you can find VMware Server 2.0 Beta (free) here:


Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

VMworld Europe Sessions

Posted by Gabriel Macie… Mar 17, 2008

You can find the Sessions & Labs for VMworld 2007 & VMworld Europe 2008 here:

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/sessions_attendees_europe.jspa (attendees only)

Also, for the free Sessions & Labs go to:

http://www.vmworld.com/vmworld/sessions.jspa (you just need to create an account)

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

This is a new section that I am going to try to write every week. It will
have the links or articles that called my attention the most in the last 7 days, so you can have
them too. Here we go:

  1. Cheap Hypervisors: A Fine Idea -- If You Can Afford Them via
    VMware: Virtual Reality (the comments are also very interesting)
  2. The Complete Clustering How-To Presentation (VMworld 2007) via Jumé BV
  3. Managing IT Projects via Life as a Healthcare CIO
  4. Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides
  5. Webcast: Hardening Windows Server 2008 and its guide
Enjoy!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

The LinkedIn Ottawa Area VMware User Group (VMUG) is a group for professionals who want to exchange ideas and information, share experiences and
make business contacts.

If you live around the National Capital Region of Canada feel free to request your membership, it only requires an updated LinkedIn profile!

Join the group here.

http://communities.vmware.com/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-1575-2116/vmug_logo.gif

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

I have been using mRemote for two months now and I mainly like it because:

1) It supports rdp, vnc, ssh, telent, rlogin, raw, http/s and ica, so you can check your web sites, connect to the ESX Server / Unix farm and manage your Microsoft Infrastructure through RDP using only one window

http://bp3.blogger.com/_aQ4lu_8WP_o/R9hDXNQ526I/AAAAAAAAAXo/ZzV5ahq1ZuE/s200/mRemote.2.JPG

http://bp2.blogger.com/_aQ4lu_8WP_o/R9hEJ9Q527I/AAAAAAAAAXw/yleA2b1k9ys/s200/mRemote.5.JPG

2) It will recognize your Putty sessions

3) mRemote can call external applications and tell them what to do with the use of parameters and variables of the currently selected connection

Give it a try and hopefully you will like it too!

Download mRemote at Sourceforge (1)

(1) Be sure to have the .Net Framework installed in advance

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
0

A week or so ago, Andrew Kutz made public 2 new client plugins for the VMware Infrastructure 3.5 environment. This week, we are glad to see that the list goes up to 7!


  1. SVMotion: This VI plugin allows VMware administrators to invoke storage VMotion (SVMotion) events.
  2. Add Port Groups: This plugin enables the creation of multiple port groups of any type on an number of ESX servers and virtual switches at once.
  3. Rdp: Allows for RDP from VMware Virtual Infrastructure client right click menu.
  4. Console: Adds a SSH enabled tab named 'Console' when a host system is selected.
  5. KeySniffer: KeySniffer is an example of how VI 2.5 client plugins can be abused. This plugin sniffs all key strokes that occur within the VI 2.5 client and outputs them to C:\viclientkeystrokes.txt.
  6. Invoke: Allows third-party applications to be launched from within the VI 2.5 client using an existing, authenticated session cookie.
  7. 37migrations: The 37migrations plugin was developed in conjunction with 37migrations.com. It increments your VMotion count on the 37migrations server every time a migration event occurs.
This is the link to viplugins.com.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
4

Here you have some of the links I came across recently and wanted to share in the Blog:

Veeam Backup
A groundbreaking disaster recovery solution for VMware Infrastructure 3 that combines backup and replication in one product.

Virtual Center 2.5 Passthrough Authentication via www.vinternals.com
"At last! VMware have finally added passthrough auth support in VC 2.5, although it is currently classed as experimental. This is something I have been waiting / asking about for quite some time. And even better, it's on by default! To use it, simply add -passthroughAuth -s vchostname to the end of the shortcut used to launch the VI 2.5 client."

Add multiple SCSI controllers to your VM to improve performance via www.yellow-bricks.com
"A couple of months ago at the Dutch VMug meeting Bouke-Jumé gave some good storage tips. This is one of them:
The LSI Bus Logic Controller / Driver has a standard queue depth of 256. Although it isn't possible to set this higher it is possible to add a second controller and when you make sure the SCSI ID of your disk corresponds to the SCSI card you will have another queue of 256. This can lead to improved performance for Database Servers, Files Servers and other I/O intensive VM's."

Dominic Rivera's Esx-AutoPatch.pl now supports ESX 3.5.0
"I've had a number of visitors write in to inquire about esx-autopatch.pl, and when I would update the script to support ESX 3.5.0. To be honest I didn't really plan to update the script since VMware's Update Manger seems to be doing an adequate job of filling that need. But if you need to get the patches installed at build time, or don't have Virtual Center at your disposal I still believe esx-autopatch.pl is the best answer out there."

Posted By Gabriel Maciel

4 Comments Permalink
0

VMware is now offering email patch notifications for all of its products. It seems that the service has been running since last December but the VMTN Blog just mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.

"With this service, you will immediately be sent an email alert as soon as a patch or maintenance release becomes available on the VMware products you've purchased. How does this work? You can initiate this activity by selecting the Receive Patch/Maintenance Alerts link from our Support home page, providing your email address, and then, after verifying that we've got the right contact, you can select the product/s you would like notification on by selecting "Confirm Subscription" from within the email confirmation we will send you."

Posted By Gabriel Maciel

0 Comments Permalink
Click to view Gabriel Maciel Ottawa's profile Member since: Mar 11, 2008

VMware and Microsoft Virtualization - Open Source Technologies - IT Management and Security

View Gabriel Maciel Ottawa's profile

Communities