"For those familiar with the ITIL framework you will of course know that by its very nature it tries to remain platform agnostic. But based on our experience working with ITIL and VMware, a number of key areas have been identified as being a focus point where the specifics of using VMware will have an effect.

To provide some guidance to people not familiar with the ITIL v3 Capacity Management terminology I will provide a brief overview of each section prior to discussing where the key areas of interest are in relation to VMware."

You can read the full article here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

"Zenoss 2.3 includes improvements in Windows and Java application monitoring as well as native VMware management for Zenoss Enterprise Edition. We are also taking the opportunity to highlight over 30 new ZenPacks developed by the Zenoss community for expert monitoring of Asterisk PBX, Brocade Switches, Cisco Security Appliance, and many more."

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Very nice work done by Mark Wilson on this Active Directory series!

Here are the links:

• Active Directory design considerations, part 1: Introduction


• Active Directory design considerations, part 2: Forest and domain design


• Active Directory design considerations, part 3: Organizational Units


• Active Directory design considerations, part 4: Group policy objects


• Active Directory design considerations, part 5: Security groups


• Active Directory design considerations, part 6: DC placement and site design


• Active Directory design considerations, part 7: DC configuration and DNS


• Active Directory design considerations, part 8: Summary and further information

Sources:

Mark Wilson's Blog

The things that are better left unspoken

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Here you have the best links and articles for the past week:

1. ESX Server Security Technical Implementation Guide via US Department of Defense
2. Why Virtualization Amplifies The Disconnect Between Security and IT Operations, And What You Can Do About It via Virtualization Security
3. Upgrading your Active Directory to Windows Server 2008 via Sander Berkouwer's Blog
4. Well, that's interesting news - now what? via Virtual Geek
5. Optimize My IT via VMware

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

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

And the winners for this week are:

1. Storage options for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V via Jose Barreto's Blog
2. More on Storage Options for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V via Jose Barreto's Blog
3. Microsoft Licensing: Part 5 (virtualization) via markwilson.it
4. Remote Access for Vendors via Life as a Healthcare CIO
5. Dice reports a 40% increase in the demand for virtualization jobs via virtualization.info

"The Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool was developed independently by ex-Gartner TCO/ROI experts at leading ROI tool developer Alinean, Inc. This ROI tool helps partners and customers examine current production server, development/QA lab, desktop and application virtualization opportunities, quantifying the potential savings, service level and agility benefits, investment and ROI for implementing Microsoft Integrated Virtualization solutions.
 
The tool collects specific information about current infrastructure costs and opportunities for improvement, then uses research by Alinean to project potential costs and benefits for various optimization strategies using the Microsoft Integrated Virtualization solutions. All research was collected from the Alinean ValueBase™ of IT spending metrics, and Microsoft product and pricing experts to reflect typical costs and savings for similar company type and size."

You can access the tool here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel