Blog Posts

Here you have the links / posts for the last week!

1. Deploying Windows Server 2008 with slipstreamed Hyper-V RTM (Part 1) via John Howard's Blog
2. A Look at Some VMware Infrastructure Architectural Advantages via Virtual Reality
3. Arghhh.... Oh (that damn VM HA thing) via Virtual Geek
4. The Virtualization Administrator is dead ! via Virtualfuture.info
5. The Gift of Time via Life as a Healthcare CIO

Another nice article from Eric Siebert:

1-Understanding Performance in a Virtualized Environment: A VMworld 2007 presentation (you will need to sign-in) on understanding virtualization performance and overhead as well as dispelling common myths. 

2-Interpreting Performance Statistics in V13: A VMworld 2007 presentation (you will need to sign-in) on understanding and interpreting VirtualCenter/ESX statistics in the VI Client and esxtop. 

3-Performance Tuning Best Practices for ESX Server 3: A white paper from VMware with performance tips that cover the most performance-critical areas of VI3.

4-Top 12 ways to Improve Guest Server Performance under VMware ESX Server: A VMworld 2006 presentation (you will need to sign-in) with 12 tips for configuring hosts, virtual machines and guest environments for best performance.

5-Performance Monitoring and Capacity Planning: A VMworld 2006 presentation (you will need to sign-in) on performance tuning methodologies and approaches.

6-ESX Workload Analysis, Lessons Learned: A VMworld 2006 presentation on performing workload analysis and performance analysis of virtual workloads. 

7-VMware ESX Server, Best Practices for Performance: A presentation from EMC World 2007 with recommended performance practices and benchmarking guidelines.

8-VM Performance Monitoring and Logging: A VMUG presentation from VMware on performance monitoring and using log files.

9-ESX3 Performance Tuning: A VMUG presentation from Long View Systems on performance tuning ESX hosts and virtual machines.

10-Performance Tuning for VI3: A VMworld 2006 presentation on basic performance concepts, tools, technologies and recommendations.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Mike Laverick has posted two VMware Site Recovery videos that you may want to check:

"I’ve been working with VMware’s Site Recovery Manager product for sometime,
indeed I’m in the process of completing a book on the product. As a companion to
the book I’ve put together a couple of Microsoft .wmv files that show a test of
a site recovery plan, and the actual run of a recovery plan for really. One of
the reasons for doing this - is a SRM is very dynamic product which automates a
heck of lot of manual procedures - so one click can have multiple actions - and
its good to see that in live action - as you see the changes taking place at the
protected site and the recovery site. Certainly easier to capture a movie of a
recovery plan than describe in painful detail each step with hundreds of screen
grabs - I can tell you"

Back in February I wrote a post about the VMware Tools and Utilities I use to administer our VMware environment. Now, via vmware-land.com we get the following list:

1-Putty - Telnet and SSH client for remotely connecting to the ESX service console
2-WinSCP and Veeam FastSCP - SCP clients for browsing ESX server file systems and transferring files to/from ESX hosts
3-VI3 SnapHunter and SnapAlert - Utilities that can report all running snapshots on ESX hosts including name, size and date. Can also automatically email reports and optionally commit snapshots
4-VI Scripted Backup Utility - A backup utility that is run from the Service Console that provides VMDK level backups of any VM on storage accessible by the host
5-MCS StorageView - A utility that displays all the logical partitions, operating system, capacity, free space and percent free of all virtual machines on ESX 3.x or Virtual Center 2.x
6-SSH Plug-in - A VI client plug-in that integrates an SSH console directly into the client
7-Storage VMotion Plug-in - A VI client plug-in that extends the client’s functionality by providing an integrated, graphical tool that can be used to invoke storage VMotion (SVMotion) operations
8-VMotion Info - A program that will collect Vendor, Model, CPU Types and the CPU feature bits from all hosts to check for VMotion compatibility
9-VMCdConnected - Scans all Virtual Machines and shows if they have a CD connected to it. After scanning the VM’s you can disconnect all the CD’s with a click of a button
10-VMware Converter – (Performs hot and cold conversions of physical and virtual servers to virtual machines. Also converts image formats

Enjoy!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

And here you have the the best articles for the past week:

1-Significant Networking Problem with Hyper-V via Scottlowe.org

2-The Case For And Against Stretched ESX Clusters via Virtual Geek

3-VMFS Storage Sizing for Maximum Performance via VM /ETC

4-Disaster Recovery in the Datacenter via VMware Podcasts

5-ROI Analysis: Virtualization via InformationWeek

Enjoy!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Mike Laverick from RTFM Education has posted 3 interesting videos with the presentation he originally delivered at the North Carolina user group meeting.

I you feel like giving them a try (Mike always produces great content), just follow the links:

1. Myths of Virtualization 1
2. Myths of Virtualization 2
3. Myths of Virtualization 3

This is the list of the links for this week:

1. Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Connection Broker Comparison via Quest
2. Microsoft Hyper-V to flaunt advanced virtualization features via Infoweek
3. Virtualization's Impact on IT Operations - Part 1 via Virtual Strategy Magazine
4. Deploying Virtual Servers in a SAN Environment via Virtual Strategy Magazine
5. Alternatives to VCB for VMware backup via SearchVMware

"List of resolved issues:

VirtualCenter 2.0.2 Update 4 resolves previous issues with the following virtual machine management enhancements

- Templates Can Be Cloned to DRS Clusters That Have Their Automation Level Set to Be Fully Automated
This release fixes an issue where cloning a template, when the destination of the cloned template is a DRS cluster
that has its automation level set to Fully automated might fail with an error message similar to following:
Specified Parameter was not correct..."

Version: 2.0.2 Update 4 | 5/30/2008 | Build: 89601

You can download the software and/or  read the release notes.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

This is kind of new (6.5 beta build 91182), so I wanted to write about how important it will be for any IT professional / enthusiast to have the ability to run ESX 3.5 / ESX 3i in VMware Workstation 6.5 when the final release is ready.

You see, this will not only be good because it could potentially give you the chance to test patches or scripts, but also because it allows you to "learn" about the environment without having to spend a lot of money.

We all know that VMware's licensing is not cheap, nor is the hardware to run the VI3 environment, and that is why I believe VMware should always try to "facilitate" the usage and testing of all its products without having to purchase expensive equipment.

Consequently, having now and in the future the chance to run ESX 3.5 / ESX 3i in VMware Workstation 6.5 is a very welcomed opportunity to experience one of the best virtualization products we have seen so far!

More information and print screens here and here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel