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List of Procedures undergoing Research and Development - Update 20091121

focaccio — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:34:57 GMT

Here is the list of Procedures, with 3 letter identifier, being researched and developed in my 3BX blog. The status of each procedure is noted: P-Plans for future; O-Open; C-Completed; S-stopped until a question answered or some other obstacle removed; D-Deprecated

******************
Open - 1
******************
O - WIP
Wiki Platform
Inception 2009 / Opened 20091121 / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X
Notes:

******************
Completed - 4
******************
O - MAP (4)
Mathematica Platform
Inception 20091109 / Opened 20091109 / Procedure first complete 20091112 / Procedure count 1

C - BES (3)
Backup Virtual Machine to External Storage
Opened 20091108 / Procedure first complete 20091109 / Procedure count 1

C - GUI (2)
Graphical Network Simulator on Ubuntu server platform installation
Opened 20091013 / Procedure first complete 20091013 / Procedure count 1

C - UBP (1)
Ubuntu platform build for graphical network simulator GNS
Opened 20091012 / Procedure first complete 20091013 / Procedure count 1
Notes:

******************
Stopped - 0
******************

******************
Planned - 3
******************
P - RES
Restore Virtual Machine from External Storage backup
Inception 20091109 / Opened X / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X
Notes:
This is the necessary corollary procedure to BES. The procedure will be tested on the Wiki platform created at the completion of the WIP procedure.

P - JOS
Build a VMware platform for Olive to simulate the Juniper Operating System
Inception 20091004 / Opened X / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X

P - NIT
Reconfigure system to allow Network Interface Trunking
Inception 20091004 / Opened X / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

******************
Deprecated - 1
******************
D - SES
Snapshot external storage - How do I store snapshots on external storage?
Opened 20091013 / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count 0
Notes: This was deprecated in favor of procedure BES

Virtualisation SERVER

king@it.ibm.com — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:36:58 GMT

I am not going to open the attachment..... I am scared....

Massimo.

View 4 downloads are now available

cburry — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:36:27 GMT

View 4 downloads are now available.

Multiple physical servers combined into one virtual server

king@it.ibm.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:45:06 GMT

Maybe I am misinterpreting your request but is VMware Fault Tolerance what you are looking for?
http://www.vmware.com/products/fault-tolerance/

As a side note consider that you will never be able to create a Guest OS that spans across two or more servers for scalability reasons. Say you have a server with 4 cores and 64GB of memory. You will not be able to configure a guest with 8 cores and 128GB of memory.

What you could do (with VMware FT) is configure a guest with 4 cores and 64GB of memory that runs on lock steps on both servers (one image is active and the other is its shadow).

As a general rule of thumb a VM cannot exceed the boundaries of a physical server in terms of the resources assigned to it.

Massimo.

Why Intel-VT/AMD-V for 64 Bit guests?

AWo — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:11:23 GMT

Welcome to the forums!

Please don't ask in already answered threads. Otherwise you might never get an answer.

Regarding your question: Intel-VT must be enabled to run any 64 bit guest under all VMware products.

AWo
VCP / VMware vEXPERT 2009
[:o]===[o:]
=Would you like to have this posting as a ringtone on your cell phone?=
=Send "Posting" to 911 for only $999999,99!=

Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d NAS Server performance?

qmacker — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:19:42 GMT

Hi Jase,

I used NFS for ease of use and backup purposes. In my earlier tests I did find that iSCSI was marginally faster. This was my first time out the gate with NAS storage and VMware though, so I decided to stick with NFS for its versatility.

how are packet loss detected by ESX server?

Texiwill — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:04:16 GMT

Hello,

For HBAs many of the errors actually appear within /var/log/vmkernel as they happen. You did ask about Network packet loss, now you have switched to HBAs. Which are we really discussing?

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|
Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

VMWare and IaaS (WAN)

king@it.ibm.com — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:53:12 GMT

As David mentioned this is technically feasible. The part I would pay more attention to is the security/connectivity front. That's a science of its own and there are organizations that are building a business on that alone. Example:

http://www.virtualization.info/2009/08/amazon-turns-ec2-into-private-virtual.html

Massimo.

Mixing HP blades with rack-mounted servers

Texiwill — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:31:08 GMT

Hello,

I have never seen a problem. One thing to consider with blades is the way networking happens, blade to blade may give better performance than blade to rack mount server. This of course depends on the blade switching you are using. Pass Thru switches are equivalent, others may have slight concerns.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|
Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

Hosting Licensing

michael.custance — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:01:36 GMT

trying to decipher the licesne agreement - providing you tell vmware you are an outsourcing IT company life is good. In this scenerio we would be providing Designated Administrative access on resource groups/vm's to third parties (our customers)

1.1 "Designated Administrative Access" means that access to the standard user interfaces of a given instance of the Software (designated in this section) that you may grant to a designated third party (a) for which you have provided advance written notice to VMware that you are providing outsourced services and (b) for whose dedicated benefit you have licensed such instance of the Software. Designated Administrative Access is applicable only where you are 1) an IT outsourcing company that is providing outsourced IT services to a client company and 2) applicable only to the following Software: ESX, VMware Server and VirtualCenter.

What do you guys think?

VM Appliance creation

Xternal — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:10:31 GMT

Good day to you folks.

I neeed to create a vmware appliance thing, which would be a demo with some preinstalled software and settings. Btw, i don't need networking support.
Just boot, click the button on the desktop and open the browser.

This is working from a bootable usb flash (with ubuntu 9.10 onboard) with persistent storage. Filesystems stores in loopback file 'casper-rw' with aufs.
It contains python, postgres, avahi, git and some bundled system.

Thing is to create the copy of this stuff ASAP.

So here we have a couple of questions:
1) What is the simplest way to do it? -- common question.

And no in more detail:

2) Can I just create an ISO from the needed files (usb flash content), make it bootable -> create virtual machine (with ISO in cdrom) --> boot it --> make a snapshot? Can I load this snapshot anywhere in vmware without other stuff? And how can I load my loopback file (storage) like a hard drive?

3) Can I create VM Appliance with VMStudio using ubuntu 8.04 template but with ISO with my flash drive contents? My distr is based on ubuntu 9.10 for a moment And again -- how can I use my loopback file in VM like a persistent storage?

4) Can I somehow copy loaded system in VM Appliance? Does anyone have success stories with VMWare Converter?

5) Or these options will fail because of loopback-file storage practise, and i have to install ubuntu 8.04 from a template and configure it again?

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance,
Pavel.

How to contact VMware sales?

markcampion — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:55:15 GMT

I have been experiencing the same issue here in the UK, terrible approach to customer service. Waiting for over an hour then having to hang up is not a productive use of my time!

I was given a direct contact last week who I spoke to (eventually) through dialling the extension number given, called back today to ask some additional questions and the phone number now belongs to someone else!

Xen server is looking like a preferable option given their responsiveness.

ESXi vs Full ESX

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:07:34 GMT

ESX vs ESXi

ESX and ESXi official comparison:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006543 - VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015000 - VMware ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison

Probably the big difference is that ESXi has a POSIX Management Appliance that runs within the vmkernel and ESX has a GNU/Linux Management Appliance that runs within a VM.

ESX vs. ESXi which is better?
http://communities.vmware.com/blogs/vmmeup/2009/04/07/esx-vs-esxi-which-is-better
Dilemma: buy vSphere with ESXi4 or with ESX4?

ESXi vs. ESX: A comparison of features
http://blogs.vmware.com/esxi/2009/06/esxi-vs-esx-a-comparison-of-features.html

ESXi limitations

No official interactive console (there is only a "unsupported" hidden console: http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/vmware-esx-articles/general/how-to-access-the-vmware-esxi-hidden-console.html)
No official supported SSH access (there is only a "unsupported" access: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2008/08/10/howto-esxi-and-ssh/)
No support for some 3th part backup programs (see also Backup solutions for VMware ESXi)
No support for some 3th part programs
No hot-add feature for virtual disk in ESXi 4.0, but only on ESXi 3.5 (or also on ESXi Advanced with hot-add license)
No SNMP "get" polling"
No virtual Serial or Parallel port
No USB disk in the "console"
No support for mount ext2/ext3/ntfs/cifs filesystem in the console
No fully functional esxtop
No fully functional esxcfg-mpath
No vscsiStats tool
No PXE install or scriptable installation (but seems that there is a solution: http://www.mikedipetrillo.com/mikedvirtualization/2008/11/howto-pxe-boot-esxi.html)
Normally with a standalone ESXi host you'll get 1 hour of performance data, the graph should be set to reset every 20 seconds (you can also extend the performance data to 36 hours will a simple hack - http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/extending_performance_data.php)

Free ESXi limitations

ESXi 4.0 free can not be connected to a vCenter Center (it required a VC agent license)
VCB does not work (it require a VCB license)
Lot of 3th part backup programs does not work with free ESXi (see also: Backup solutions for VMware ESXi)
RCLI and VMware Infrastructure toolkit are limited to read-only access for ESXi free
The free version of VMware ESXi does not support SNMP
The free version of VMware ESXi does not support Active Directory integration at this time
Free ESXi EULA has some interesting restrictions including enforced read only mode for v4 and later versions of v3.5.

See also: What's the difference between free ESXi and licensed ESXi?
http://vmetc.com/2008/08/10/whats-the-difference-between-free-esxi-and-licensed-esxi/
VMware ESX/ESXi EULA - http://www.vmware.com/download/eula/esx_esxi_eula.html

ESXi advantages

Small footprint
Can be installed on a flash card or USB key
Does not use a vmdk for console filesystems (as ESX 4.0 does)

Sources

Serious ESX vs ESXi in the Enterprise
Compare ESXi with ESX?
Re: list of features that you cannot use with ESX4i
Looking for more good comparisons of ESX 4 and 4i
Re: ESXi Free edition - limitations

Test

prashantmz — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:43:13 GMT

Test

Virtualizing Desktops

jeremywatco — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:27:23 GMT

Thanks for the response.

The HP Thin Clients have HP's OS called HP ThinConnect and it says it uses Microsoft RDP for the protocol. Maybe an option is to poney up the $199 for one of these and just try it out.

How to persuade manager install new servers virtual instead of physical ?

Texiwill — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:10:45 GMT

Hello,

Get with HP and perform a proof of concept. You need to get the hardware lent to you by HP once its there and working he may spring for everything but remember, you not only have to buy the hardware, but the ESX licenses. If cost is an issue this may be a good 'upgrade' path instead of first run.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|
Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

a little guidance please

Texiwill — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:07:07 GMT

Hello,

If you use ESXi or ESX, Xen or Hyper-V you will need to also use a Management Workstation. For ESXi 3, This workstation usually running Windows would run the Virtual Infrastructure Client which would then connect to the ESXi host so that you can manage the host, import VMs, etc. Without this management workstation you cannot do much.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|
Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

a general system error occurred on vmware - i have to do service mgmt-vmware restart ?

Texiwill — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:28:57 GMT

Hello,

Which version of ESX once more... v3 or v4?

You need to restart the agents from the service console using 'service mgmt-vmware restart' as the root user.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

is HP ProLiant WS460c G6 supported?

trxman — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:59:04 GMT

So, in that case, I can use dual-port 1Gbps non-iSCSI NIC for software iSCSI initiator.

Guess dual E5520 (quad-core each) will be able to handle maximum of 2Gbps iSCSI traffic.

No storage-intensive applications are planed, but we can peak at 2Gbps sometimes.

Thx a lot!

List of Procedures undergoing Research and Development

focaccio — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:29:12 GMT

******************
Open - 1
******************
O - MAP
Mathematica Platform
nception 20091109 / Opened 20091109 / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X

******************
Completed - 3
******************
C - BES (3)
Backup Virtual Machine to External Storage
Opened 20091108 / Procedure first complete 20091109 / Procedure count 1

C - GUI (2)
Graphical Network Simulator on Ubuntu server platform installation
Opened 20091013 / Procedure first complete 20091013 / Procedure count 1

C - UBP (1)
Ubuntu platform build for graphical network simulator GNS
Opened 20091012 / Procedure first complete 20091013 / Procedure count 1
Notes:

******************
Stopped - 0
******************

******************
Planned - 2
******************
P - RES
Restore Virtual Machine from External Storage backup
Inception 20091109 / Opened X / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X

P - JOS
Build a VMware platform for Olive to simulate the Juniper Operating System
Inception 20091004 / Opened X / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X

P - NIT
Reconfigure system to allow Network Interface Trunking
Inception 20091004 / Opened X / Procedure first complete X / Procedure count X

Interesting number

Anton V Zhbankov — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:36:06 GMT

Long live VMware!

P.S. but not to new forum design...

---
MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009
http://blog.vadmin.ru

VI 3.5 vs vSphere 4.0

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:44:54 GMT

VI 3.5 and vSphere 4.0

What’s New with VMware vSphere 4 - http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/upgrade-center/
What's New in VMware vSphere 4.0 - http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_40_new_feat.html
VMware vSphere Editions Comparison - http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/buy/editions_comparison.html

Pro and cons

VI 3.5 pro

Does not require a "new" x64 CPU
Support old hardware - See HCL (http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility)
Less resources for ESX (1 GB vs 2 GB requirement)
Less resources for vCenter Server (3 GB vs 3 GB requirement)
Free ESXi can be managed by vCenter Server
VI 3.5 has the disk hot add feature also in free version (on vSphere you need at least the Advanced version)
Lab Manager 3 is supported only on VI 3.5 (but now there is also LM 4)
SRM 1 is supported only on VI 3.5 (but now there is also SRM 4)
View 3 is supported only on VI 3.5 (but now there is also View 4)
3th part tools may work only on VI 3.5 (but most of them now works also on vSphere)
It can use a 2 TB disk (without the 512B limitation)... ok it's bug... it's not a feature - Re: Disks bigger than 2TB - 512B are not supported.

vSphere pro

Faster on CPU, Mem, I/O - See also http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-vSphere-Performance-WP-EN.pdf
VMware Fault Tolerance (only with Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus) - See also VMware FT
Thin provisioning with GUI (in ESX 3.5 was possible only with CLI)
GUI Storage VMotion (but there was also 3th part GUI for VI 3.5)
Host profiles (only with Enterprise Plus)
vDistributed Network Switches and Cisco Nexus 1000v integration (only with Enterprise Plus)
vShield Zone (only with Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus)
VMware Data Recovery (only with Essential Plus, Advanced, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus)
Hot pluggable (add/remove devices while VM's online)
Double resources support (ram, memory, etc.)
Support cloud solution & x64 bit architecture & seperate SC VM (vmdk)

Compatibility between products

You need last version of vSphere Client and vCenter Server to manage old and new products.
See also:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_compatibility_matrix.pdf - VMware Infrastructure Compatibility Matrixes

Downgrade to VI 3.5

New customers will have only the vSphere licenses.
To downgrade them to the VI 3.5 version see:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010533 - Downgrading a vSphere 4.0 license to a ESX 3.5 license

To evaluete VI 3.5 try to evaluete View 3, you will have also VI 3.5 evaluation licenses.

How work without vCenter Server

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:58:31 GMT

For who does not have vCenter Server here are some features that can be realized (of course with a lots of limitations) also without this product.

Note also that now there is a new free management tool specific for ESXi that can do a lot of interesting task:
VMware Go - http://www.vmware.com/go/vmware-go/
VMware to launch Go: a free web management service for ESXi - http://www.virtualization.info/2009/08/vmware-to-launch-go-free-web-management.html
VMware Free Service Simplifies ESXi Hypervisor Use - http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Virtualization/VMware-Free-Service-Simplifies-ESXi-Hypervisor-Use-341468/

Host and VM Management

The client is still the same (vSphere Client or VI Client), just point directly to the ESX/ESXi name or IP.
You will loose all vCenter specific menu (migrate, template, cluster, converter, maps, alarms, ...)

VMware HA

VMware HA require vCenter Server only during installation, that the HA agents will work on the ESX/ESXi. Also you must be licensed for HA.

Without vCenter Server and with only two hosts (but is possible to do also with more) you have to use shell script and VMware CLI.
See:
http://vmetc.com/2009/03/25/script-for-vmware-ha-feature-without-virtualcenter/

Also you can try Starwind: in this whitepaper (http://www.starwindsoftware.com/vmware-availability-guide) you can read how to implement HA using SAN.

VM template

Re: Creating templates without VirtualCenter Server?
http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=8774

VM Host Migration (with shared storage)

If you have vCenter, you could shutdown the VM and do a cold migration. Or use VMotion on a live VM but only if you have VMotion license and a shared storage.

If you do not have vCenter Server, you can simply power off the VM, go on destination host, browse the datastore with the required VM, right click on the vmx file, add to the inventory and then power-on the VM.
There could be a question about keep or modify the UUID of the VM (on vSphere the question is about you have moved or you have copied the VM). Choose "keep" (or "moved").

This is very useful also in case where exist a vCenter Server, it's a VM, but there isn't a VMotion license (like in vSphere Essential bundle).
How to migrate vCenter Server VM

VM Storage Migration

If you have vCenter Server, you could shutdown the VM and do a cold migration. Or if the ESX host in which the guest is on local storage, can see the new shared storage, you can do an SVMotion and then you wouldn't have downtime.

If you do not have vCenter Server, you can copy the VM folder (with VM powered off) using cp commnad from ESX CLI.
Note that your datastore are under /vmfs/volumes.
After the copy you add add the "new" VM to the inventory, test it, and if all works delete the old one.

Upgrade a major release of ESX/ESXi

With vCenter Server is very simple: just use VUM.
Without vCenter Server there are different solutions.

ESXi 3.5 -> ESXi 4.0

http://www.vm-help.com/esx40i/ESXi40_upgrade_without_virtualcenter.php
You can do it with "host upgrade utility" which is included to vSphere Client bundle.
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011542 - Take a look at this VMware kb here on a method to obtain the Host Update Utility since you don't have vCenter.
You then download the media and add the media to the host update utility...

ESX 3.5 -> ESX 4.0

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1009440 - Performing an offline upgrade from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0 on a local ESX host
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_upgrade_guide.pdf

Backup

VCB and most of the beackup programs can works both with vCenter Server or directly with ESX/ESXi.
Just point to the ESX name or IP.
See also: VCB backup without vCenter vSphere 4.0 Standard

SRM without SRM

Automating Disaster Recovery without SRM

about vmware

Dave.Mishchenko — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:57:38 GMT

Hello Sajid, welcome to the VMware Community forums. You can find out a bit more about VMware here.

VMware provides a number of free products that you can get started with as you learn about virtualization and how to leverage virtualization to enable that single PC or server at home to become a multi server test environment to extend your MCSE training.
VMware Player - http://www.vmware.com/products/player/
VMware Server - http://www.vmware.com/products/server/
VMware ESXi - http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi/

For each product check out the FAQs page. For each you'll also see a documention page which provides some good material to get started with. ESXi is the most powerful of the 3, but has more restrictive hardware requirements. Player and Server can both be installed on Windows or Linux. ESXi does not require an underlying host. I would suggest starting with Player or Server and then moving to ESXi. ESXi is part of VMware's flagship vSphere product so what you learn with it won't go to waste.

Dave
VMware Communities User Moderator

New book in town - vSphere Quick Start Guide -http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/08/12/new-book-in-town-vsphere-quick-start-guide/.
Do you have a system or PCI card working with VMDirectPath? Submit your specs to the Unofficial VMDirectPath HCL - http://www.vm-help.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=21.

Vmware infrastructure documentation format

Ravi1987 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:15:19 GMT

Thanks For your Support.

I got some ideas which are little different then usual from your points

Thanks.

iSCSI connectivity using software initiators

Texiwill — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:04:57 GMT

Hello,

ESX v3.x supports a limited subset of iSCSI HBAs, ESX v4.0 supports a few more. Verify that HBA is on the HCL before purchasing.

As for connectivity with the software initiator, AndreTheGiant has a workable solution. For ESX v3.x the SC must participate in the iSCSI network. This is not true for v4.0 however.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

Help me pass regualtory BS with VMware

Texiwill — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:56:37 GMT

Hello,

There are two components to vSphere/ESX 4/ESX 3....

There is the hypervisor component, which I would think is really an appliance... and ...

There is the management appliance often referred to as the Service Console for ESX or the Management Appliance for ESXi. This component could be considered an OS as you can run arbitrary code, etc.

Given that ESX 3/ESX 4 boots into the vmkernel, creates a VM, then boots the management appliance within this VM ...
Given that ESXi 3/ESXi 4 boots into the vmkernel then starts the BusyBox Posix Environment

I would not classify ESX 3/ESX 4 as an OS and I would not classify ESXi as an OS either as there are many appliances (switches, etc.) that also run BusyBox so there is a proven track record for use of BusyBox as an appliance.

ESX is often mistaken for Linux. It is NOT Linux it is a appliance that understands VM and vSwitch objects, etc. It however either has a GNU/Linux or Posix Management Appliance.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

What a poor show from VMware and how bad they have become.

Texiwill — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:43:18 GMT

Hello,

In order to bring this up to the powers that be, which you can do yourself actually, we would need the specifics of the support call, names the SR number and to whom you spoke.

You can also do the same thing through your sales representative or by elevating the call to a manager on duty, etc.

If you want to PM (Private Message) me the details I can forward to the powers that be, not sure what will happen but without that information there is no real way to proceed.

Please do not post your SR#.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

Re: Plugin name and description do not show correctly within Plug-in Manager Window

tom howarth — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:49:57 GMT

post branched off and moved to the correct forum

If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points

Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on "VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment”. Currently available on roughcuts

soft or hard?

IkerSilva — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 11:41:13 GMT

I found StarWind 5 the most reliable and usefull.

Thnls everybody for your responses.

Anyone Running EMC AX-4 with/without snapview?

tom howarth — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:08:56 GMT

As you have had no response I am moving this to a more visible forum.

VMware VMDirectPath I/O

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:10:43 GMT

Introduction

VMDirectPath I/O allows a guest operating system on a virtual machine to directly access physical PCI and PCIe devices connected to a host. Each virtual machine can be connected to up to two PCI devices. PCI devices connected to a host can be marked as available for passthrough from the Hardware Advanced Settings in the Configuration tab for the host.
VMDirectPath allows guest operating systems to directly access an I/O device, bypassing the virtualization layer. This direct path, or passthrough can improve performance for VMware ESXTM systems that utilize high‐speed I/O devices, such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet.

VMware unveils VMDirectPath technology, Intel to support it with Nehalem:
http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=8474
http://www.virtualization.info/2008/08/vmware-unveils-vmdirectpath-technology.html

Intel releases new CPUs and NICs with nested page tables and I/O virtualization:
http://www.virtualization.info/2009/03/intel-releases-new-cpus-and-nics-with.html

Configuration

Configuring VMDirectPath I/O pass-through devices on an ESX host - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1010789
Configuration Examples and Troubleshooting for VMDirectPath - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_vmdirectpath_host.pdf

Configuration Examples and Troubleshooting for VMDirectPath
{youtube}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhMkmTqBbUA{youtube}

Configuring VMDirectPath IO with Cisco UCS and vSphere
{youtube}http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQ5Ej8r-aA{youtube}

Requirements

vSphere (well… common)
Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d)
AMD IP Virtualization Technology (IOMMU)
Devices must be connected to the host and marked available for pass through
VMs require hardware version 7

VMDirectPath I/O is experimentally supported for the following Storage and Network I/O devices:

QLogic QLA25xx 8 Gb Fibre Channel adapters
Emulex LPe12000 8 Gb Fibre Channel adapters
LSI 3442e-R and 3801e (1068 chip based) 3 Gb SAS adapters
Intel 82598 10 Gigabit Ethernet controller
Broadcom 57710 and 57711 10 Gigabit Ethernet controllers

VMware regularly adds support for new hardware. Check on HLC: http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php

Limitations

When using VMDirectPath you lose following features:

VMotion
Storage VMotion
FT
Device hot add
Suspend and resume
Record and replay

USB virtualization

If your server has support for device pass-through you may be able to provide USB access to Virtual Machines:
Enable USB Support for ESXi with VMDirectPath - http://vm-help.com/esx40i/VMDirectPath/USB_Setup.php
VMware ESXi4 and VMDirectPath - http://www.petri.co.il/vmware-esxi4-vmdirectpath.htm

Note that you give (if it works...) the entire USB chipset... so all the USB devices to a single VM!

Sources

Introduction from SimonLong Blog
http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/2009/08/03/vmware-vmdirectpath-io/

VMDirectPath? Paravirtual SCSI? – vSphere VM Options and You!
http://professionalvmware.com/2009/08/vmdirectpath-paravirtual-scsi-vsphere-vm-options-and-you/

how to connect two virtual machines hosted on two different vmware

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:57:56 GMT

If you use Workstation/Player/Server you have to use a bridge connection and put all VM on the same LAN.
Or you have to put on each host a virtual appliace that can create a VPN connection between the two private LAN.

Andre

5nine P2V Planner for Hyper-V and VMware Vs. Opnet capacity planning tool

AndreTheGiant — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 05:54:20 GMT

A good product not related only for VMware world is Platesin Recon:
http://www.platespin.com/products/recon/Default.aspx

See also:
http://verbeiren.blogspot.com/2008/01/vmware-capacity-planner-vs-platespin.html

Andre

Client Hypervisor

AndreTheGiant — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 05:17:30 GMT

Introduction

Client Hypervisors: Why Would I Need One of Those? - http://www.virtual-strategy.com/Features/AppSense-20090721.html
Endpoint virtualization: http://www.neocleus.com/OurVirtualizationApproach.html

Existing solutions

There are several Client Hypervisors out there at the moment, like:

NXtop - http://www.virtualcomputer.com/Products/nxtop
Neucleus - http://www.neocleus.com/ (is easier to deploy as it self virtualises itself)

VMware and Citrix have on in the pipeline:
http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/cvp-intel-vmworld.html
http://www.virtualization.info/2009/01/citrix-and-intel-to-jointly-develop.html

VMware Client Hypervisor (CVP)

http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/cvp-intel-vmworld.html
http://www.brianmadden.com/blogs/brianmadden/archive/2008/10/13/a-deeper-look-at-vmware-s-upcoming-bare-metal-client-hypervisor.aspx
http://vinf.net/2009/02/24/vmware-client-hypervisor-cvp-grid-application-thoughts/
Seems that CVP will be not release with the new version of View 4.0: CVP release with View 4??

Source

Re: How do I run many operating systems at same time without host OS?

connect Host and guest are on the same machine

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 16:17:03 GMT

How can I copy files between host and guest without network access?

I do not remember if GSX Server has the shared folder feature, but probably not...
So you have to use the network access.

Andre

How to monitor VMware Esx server

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:14:09 GMT

Some data can also be read with the VMware Client.
Or with vCenter Server.

Also there are a lot of monitor programs, like Veeam Monitor.

Andre

Who can give me some document about specification on virtualization ??

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 14:59:16 GMT

Without VMware DPM (or similar solution) you simple can reduce energy power required with server consolidation.
Also new server can use less power than old server so it could be simple to calculate the energy saving.

Related to VMware:
http://www.vmware.com/solutions/green-it/index.html
www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/green-datacenter-wa.html
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/distributed_power_management_vsphere.pdf - VMware Distributed Power Management: Concepts and Usage

More general information:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=prod_development.server_efficiency
http://hightech.lbl.gov/DCTraining/best-practices-technical.html
http://searchsystemschannel.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid99_gci1364160,00.html

Andre

Primary & secondary ESX

krish09 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:54:17 GMT

Thanks for the Information..was very helpful..

Hyper-V on VMWare products?

awliste — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:37:54 GMT

Read some interesting chatter on hypervisors embedded into processors recently.

That would be pretty cool. I'd like to see a hypervisor that lets me assemble my own machine; eg, "Let's see... I'd like a northbridge like this, a southbridge like this... some bus speed over here... some different buffer sizes here..."

That kind of granularity would be extremely interesting and very impressive.
- abe

Abe Lister

Just some guy that loves to virtualize
==============================
Ain't gonna lie. I like points. If what I'm saying is something useful to you, consider sliding me some points for it!

About installation of vSphere

aandriolli — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:04:53 GMT

A lot of people do that, I eventually hear something about it - sometimes just fine, sometimes with some "it does not recognize my hardware" issue. But the main thing here is support - not in HCL, no VMware support. If ESX works on your hardware, be it on the HCL or not, chances are that it really will work fine. But every time VMware issues an ESX patch, you will get scared about something getting broken.

Some people from the user community keep lists of white boxes - hardware not in the VMware HCL but known to work with ESX/ESXi. Check them at:

http://www.virtualpro.co.uk/2009/01/17/where-to-start-with-your-vmware-esx-whitebox/

VMs Made in Brazil
PS: por favor considere dar pontos a este ou qualquer outro post caso lhe seja útil.

VMware Server Migration Questionnaire

liamfleming — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:59:25 GMT

I'm a student from Loughborough University. For my dissertation I intend to research the migration of servers into a virtualised environment. The focus of the investigation is to establish whether the promised savings can be made in the time estimated. I want to find out if there are any common problems that occur within organisations that delay server migrations and therefore add cost to the project.

I'm hoping to find as many real life examples as possible. Ideally I would like to find details regarding how well projects keep to time and cost. Any information on return on investments etc. If the project was successful finding evidence for the cost saving. If the project wasn't successful the reasons as to why it wasn't. Hopefully I will be able to find examples from different industries and different size companies so as to cover a substantial cross section of the market.

I would be very grateful if any of you could provide me with your experience of virtualised server migrations by completing the questionnaire below. I know that this information maybe confidential. A university representative and I are willing to sign confidentiality forms to prevent the information from being distributed if you require it. If you want to send the questionnaire to me personally rather than post it on the forum my email address is l.fleming-06@student.lboro.ac.uk any additional information/ideas that you think would be interesting would be very welcome.

Many thanks

Liam

VMware Server Migration Questionnaire

*ignore if previous question was no for N/A

A) Company:

B) Role:

C) What were the business objectives of moving into a virtualisation environment? Highlight the three most important factors.

Reduce IT Costs

o Improve existing hardware utilization to reduce costs

o Reduce software license requirements

o Leverage scarce IT resources to manage more

o Reduce energy costs and drive Green IT initiatives

o Improve management of virtual infrastructure

Drive Business Improvements

o Better adapt to business changes

o Deliver services on demand

o Improve availability of applications

o Better secure data and infrastructure from risks

D) How successful would you consider your virtualisation project to be?

A) Number of servers estimated to migrate?

B) Actual servers migrated?

C) *Reason for difference?

A) Projected time to complete the migration?

B) Actual time taken?

C) *Main reason for delays?

A) Was there any cost over run? If so what percentage?

B) * Main reason for difference?

A) What was the estimated return on investment (ROI) for the project?

B) What was the actual (ROI)?

C) What was the estimated Payback period for the project?

D) What was the actual Payback period?

A) Did the management style, culture or organisational structure limit or delay the project?

B) Did the physical distribution of servers prove to be an issue? E.g. communication and planning methods for migration?

C) Where there any other factors that made the migration more challenging. E.g. lack of knowledge or experience in the company, key members of staff leaving, changes in budget etc.

A) Where there any compatibility issues regarding hardware and software that delayed the project?

B) Where there any licensing problems? Did this delay the project or add additional costs?

C) Where the planned consolidation ratios reached?

A) What affect did the migration have on performance?

B) Did users experience any downtime?

C) Did you reduce energy needs? If so by how much ?

D) Do you feel the correct virtualisation package for your company was used?

Thanks

How do I run many operating systems at same time without host OS?

tom howarth — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:18:42 GMT

there are several Client Hypervisors out there at the moment, there is NXtop, Neculeus, VMware and Citrix have on in the pipeline. personally Neculeus is easier to deploy as it self virtualises itself, very cool indeed.

What is the major difference between VMware Esx and VMware Esxi

Texiwill — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:33:42 GMT

Hello,

This is the major difference and actually a very important one.

ESXi has a POSIX Management Appliance that runs within the vmkernel.

ESX has a GNU/Linux Management Appliance that runs within a VM.

License-wise:

ESXi Free EULA has some interesting restrictions including enforced read only mode for v4 and later versions of v3.5.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
SearchVMware Pro|Blue Gears|Top Virtualization Security Links|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast

Efficiently update large templates at remote offices?

petedr — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:01:38 GMT

Thanks Edward for mentioning esXpress. Yes we can backup templates and replicate using the backups to a remote site. The backups are always only the changed blocks and if they are DeDup backups we can inject the changed blocks directly into the replicated template ( as long as it stays off ). One thing though esXpress requires licensing on each side for the replication.

Pete@esXpress

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of esXpress

Memory reservation on a large scale

Anton V Zhbankov — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:25:57 GMT

Actually VMware ESX is not AIX, and as already was said, memory reservation should be used only if host memory is oversubscribed (som of VM memory > host physical memory).
Memory reservation affects HA also.

The only reason to use memory reservation is to guarantee certain critical services that VM won't go into swap and they will have physical memory anytime, but this is not really common situation. I have only 2 such VMs out of 150.

---
MCSA, MCTS, VCP, VMware vExpert '2009
http://blog.vadmin.ru

Clustering Software in a VMware environment

AndreTheGiant — Sat, 23 May 2009 15:42:13 GMT

It is possible to combine virtualization technology with "traditional" cluster technology to increase the availability of some service.
As is physical case, guest clustering usually require shared storage.

Guest Cluster type

Guest Cluster can be created in 3 different schema:

Cluster in a box: two VM inside the same ESX (can also work without shared storage)
Cluster across box: two VM in different ESX
Cluster physical-virtual: one physical node and one VM

A different approach could be use a software iSCSI initiator inside the guests: in this case the cluster's nodes are "normal" VM with only their own local disks. The shared disks are visible only inside the VM so from VMware side you do not have any limitation, from guest side the OS and the vendor must only support a configuration with software iSCSI.

MSCS vs VMware HA

Note that application/guest clustering is different from VMware HA (and also from VMware FT):
Microsoft Cluster Server (MCS) versus VMWare HA
Pros and Cons to have MS Cluster?
To use MSCS or not?
VMware HA Vs Microsoft Cluster Server: http://it20.info/blogs/main/archive/2008/03/26/102.aspx

Windows 2003 MSCS

Actually the only supported cluster environment in ESX 3.x is MSCS (Microsoft Cluster Service) 2003 in a 2 node configuration using FC SAN (for cluster across boxes and cluster physical-virtual):
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35u2/vi3_35_25_u2_mscs.pdf

This does not mean that is not possible to have a working Guest Cluster with iSCSI storage (and it can work fine also with iSCSI RDM disks, but is not officially supported by VMware...).

To configure VMware for a cluster in a box there is a good step-by-step guide:
http://exchangeexchange.com/blogs/bkeane/archive/2007/07/30/mscs-clustering-in-vmware.aspx

To configure the Microsoft part, just use the Technet Guide:
For 2003: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Server Clusters Quick Start Guide
To setup a MSCS Cluster, could also be usefull this document:
http://www.boche.net/blog/index.php/2009/04/01/setup-for-microsoft-cluster-service/

Windows 2008 Fail-over Cluster

Windows 2008 fail-over cluster will work only in ESX4 (due to lack of SCSI3 reservation in ESX 3.x).
For more info of MSCS configuration in vSphere:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_mscs.pdf
http://vmguy.com/wordpress/?p=1019

To configure the Microsoft part, just use the Technet Guide:
For 2008: Failover Cluster Step-by-Step Guide: Configuring a Two-Node File Server Failover Cluster

Other informations about Microsoft cluster

For a complete list of Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) support on ESX Server 3:
Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) support on ESX - http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1004617

For specific Microsoft cluster solutions:
SQL 2008: SQL Server Clustering Guide
Exchange 2007: Implementing Exchange 2007 on VMware

To using VMware Converter to convert Microsoft Cluster (MSCS) nodes to virtual machines there is a specific KB:
http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1002661

Other type of Guest Cluster

Other cluster technology could work, but usually are Linux based and Linux is not Windows, and Windows is not Linux .

For Veritas Cluster Server (VCS) and VMware:
http://symantec.dciginc.com/2008/10/veritas-cluster-server-vcs-and.html

For RedHat Cluster and VMware:
http://sources.redhat.com/cluster/wiki/VMware_FencingConfig

Guest Cluster limitations

Note the application cluster configuration will have several limitations and restrictions (http://communities.vmware.com/message/1099039#1099039):

no shapshot on the VM
no vMotion
no VCB

Certified Virtualization Expert (CVE)

notCVE — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:47:58 GMT

Here's what I just faced while writing the CVE cert exam.

Registered in the Ultimate Bootcamp and at the end of the week registered to write the CVE.

Minutes into writing the exam problems started, everyone writing was kicked out of the terminal sessions, once we were back in we discovered the clock had not stopped ticking. We all lost prescious minutes off our exam. A while later, it happened again. We had the training centre contact the exam host (vmware) to identify the issue. We were all back in, now we had lost approx 15 minutes off the exam due to system instability. THis did not stop there, it happened a grand total of 10 times to myself, 12 to a few others writing. I lost a good 30 to 35 minutes. At one point, I was at question 36, got kicked out, finally got back in to find myself sitting back at question 16 with the clock still ticking away. In frustration and time constraints I had to answer questions as quickly as possible.

Come the end of the exam and time to end it, you clicked on exit exam, confirmed and was presented with a message telling us that the exam was "REJECTED" from the host. No one was able to successfully submit. We sat through 2 hours of this to be told at the end that the results were not submitted to the server.

We received an explanation from the test centre that one of the Vlan cards had died and would not come back up. Was one of the biggest features during the week that in cases like this, you can vMotion the host to a different LUN without losing so much as a PING. Why could this happen, and why could the people supporting the product not handle the issue before it bacame a huge problem.

My question about the CVE cert: "How valid and recognized is this cert"?

Not even the vendor was able to prevent a problem that should have been handled quite easily and efficiently.

VM seems to be having CPU issue

FredPeterson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:08:30 GMT

I assume you're referring to the one VM with ~4.34% CPU Ready Time? In my opinion thats perfectly acceptable for a two vCPU VM.

Generally CPU Ready's shouldn't become a concern until they start staying above 5-10% consistently.

Troubleshooting guide for ESX

petedr — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:07:30 GMT

xtravirt published a HA troubleshooting whitepaper

http://xtravirt.com/xd10005#

www.phdvirtual.com, makers of esXpress

__vmware_user__ questions!!

mripper — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:40:51 GMT

Thank you for both replies, they were very helpful!

It has set my mind at ease, as brute forcing, or sam hacking would be rather difficult as the password is randomized per virtualization start.

THANKS AGAIN!

vmware converter while source machine is in use?

jze1212 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:30:28 GMT

Done deal, sorry, I'm new to this forum

Certified Virtualization Expert (CVE) VMware course

weinstein5 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:00:07 GMT

Whether a course is any good depends on two things - 1) the materials and course development and the 2) the instructor - I cannot speak to the CVE course materials but I do not it follws the VMware Install and Conifgure class and is less expensive - the VMware course materials are well prepared and very good - the onstructor will be a crap shoot since I do not think there is a centralized body managing the training of the instructors it will depend on the training facility meanwhile VMware mainatains tight control on who can become a VMware Certified Instructor -

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful

Understanding Desktop Virtualization and Its Challenges

tektools — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:58:44 GMT

How to generate Visio Diagram for whole Virtual infrastructure (50 Hosts) ?

Ethan1412 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:08:46 GMT

I have installed vizio 2003. Please let me know if you finout the solution.

Thanks.

Uptime 5

JDLangdon — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:01:16 GMT

Is anyone using Uptime 5 as a monitoring tool for their VMware environments? We still looking for something that will provide accurate resource usage and trending reports but I'd like something that monitors both the VM and the OS.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

________________________________
Jason D. Langdon

Sage applications running on VMware

FredPeterson — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 02:26:42 GMT

We run Sage FAS 100 in a virtual machine....we had the product from Best before Sage bought them out. I did not realize they did not support the product in VMware, however I have called once in the past and did not hide the fact and nothing was said about non-support.

Depending on the application, it may be simply possible to just install the software on the hardware system and point it to the same database, or copy all of the files from old to new and just fire it up.

Are you being forced to do a migration back to physical hardware or are you just being paranoid about support?

As for V2P - look at PlateSpin. Unless you really know what you're doing when it comes to using something like ghost to image the hard drive and dump it on new hardware, a V2P product is probably the best option to use.

vSphere Client on the Linux Desktop

Gerrit.Lehr — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 09:48:43 GMT

A lot of linux users are looking for a way to run .Net applications on their desktop, too. Since Wine does not provide the ability to do so and running an entire VM to use the complete Windows Desktop is an annoying option, these users are looking for a better solution. For Example the VMware vSphere Client, which requires .Net Framework and does not come as a Linux Version, forces Users and Admins to step back to Windows. But using Seamless RDP by Cendio, there is a way around this.

This Howto applies to Windows VMs running in background in any
virtualization product or physical systems alike. Also, this is of
course not limited to the VMware vSphere Client and can be used to run
any Windows application.

On the Windows System (e.g. a VM or the VMware vCenter Server) download the GPL licensed SeamlessRDP Tool and extract it into a folder, e.g. C:\RDP

Also, install the application you wish to use on your Linux Desktop

Enable the Remote Desktop in System Settings - Remote tab - "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer.". You might want to create an extra user for the remote access and enable it to connect via RDP.

Within the SemalessRDP folder, create a .bat file that runs your needed application, followed by the logoff command to make sure the session gets closed after usage. E.g: vsphere.bat:

"C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Launcher\VpxClient.exe"
logoff

Install rdesktop on your Linux system, using the appropriate way for your distribution or sources from www.rdesktop.org. Make sure you are using at least rdesktop version 1.5.

On your Linux Desktop, create a shourtcut for your Application, e.g. vSphere Client and call the following command from this shourtcut:

rdesktop -A -s "C:\RDP\seamlessrdpshell.exe batchfile" IP Address -u User -pPassword

You can of course create an extra user for the remote access and need
to insert the appropriate IP Address and Batch file to call. In my
vSphere example this looks like:

rdesktop -A -s "C:\RDP\seamlessrdpshell.exe C:\RDP\sphere.bat" 192.168.1.23 -u remote -p remoteP@55

On running the shourtcut from your Linux desktop, rdesktop will initialize a seamless session to the Windows system, start the batchfile to open the vSphere Client, and present only the application Window to our Linux Desktop.

So far this is probably the best solution we have to bring the VMware vSphere Client to the Linux Desktop. Enjoy.

This article can be found in English and an additional German Version on my Blog: http://thepickyblog.blogspot.com/

VMware Virus-Testing Environment?

VMmatty — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:46:34 GMT

I'm only kidding.. One of the nice benefits of using virtual machines is the ease with which you can throw together test environments and isolated servers for all sorts of reasons. If using this helps you get your certification then I'd be happy to hear that.

Give it a try and report back if you have any other problems.. Good luck.

Presentation / introduction to virtualization

mbascome — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:01:11 GMT

Hello, would you kindly send me your .ppt on intro to virtualization? thanks so much.

mbascome@evolveip.net

vmkping from esx to san?

athlon_crazy — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:30:48 GMT

yeh, just use "vmkping xx.xx.xx.xx"

vcbMC-1.0.6 Beta
vcbMC-1.0.7 Lite
http://www.no-x.org

EVC / Proposed Migration

tmoriarty — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:33:13 GMT

Did you have to power off existing VM's to be able to VMotion? Is EVC currently off.

This is our senerio, We have one cluster with 3 ESX servers 3.5 update We did have EVC on because 1 server has a different proc. VMotion works.

We now added another new ESX server into the cluster with 3.5 update 4. (newer proc) Vmotion does not work with new server in the cluster.

Turned off EVC, (not a good idea) now the only servers that will VMotion is the 2 servers with the same procs. (it is telling us we have to power down all vm's to enable)

Now do enable EVC we have to bring down all the VM's. This is not good. All servers are at 3.5 update 4 now, but no EVC.

Did you have any issues with this? Can anyone offer any insight?

can renaming a file or a directory on VMFS delete the file ?

Gostev — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 11:31:43 GMT

I did some testing last night and was unable to confirm any issues around ESXi 4 and FastSCP 3.0.1.266. I can see and copy all files, including -flat.vmdk files. Renaming folders is not causing any deletions either. Make sure you have the latest FastSCP release (3.0.1 build 266 released on July 7th) - as previous versions of FastSCP do not support vSphere at all...

Need help on setting up VDI

AMcCreath — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:13:30 GMT

If you want the drains up view go have a look at http://xtravirt.com/vdi

they've been very helpful in this community for a long while now and worth making a point of reference for anything "v".

Best regards,

Andrew

Only one HBA sees newly provisioned LUNs

Androsbg — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:44:49 GMT

My opinion is it has to do something with the SAN. Ask for the output of fcping <WWN ESX> <WWN symmetrix> from both fabrics. Then on the Symmetryx check the LUN presentation is on the same CHIP port with which the ESX is zoned with. If all this is fine, reboot the ESX and enter the HBA BIOS. Scan both ports and see whether there are targets visible. Set your topologies to Point to Point.

Some hints for the SAN team - on the fabric you don't see your LUNs - disable and enable the ports. Check for errors on the port.

New VMware install on 2003 host

krowczynski — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 14:25:10 GMT

Hi,

as the guys told you before, ESX is based on baremetal.

In you case if you want to install an product an you windows host (host based virtualization) you can use VM Workstation, or VMware Server.

MCP, VCP

need help deciding on version-licensing-subscription

firestartah — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:17:39 GMT

Not a problem =0)

Well you can buy the essentials bundle at a later date and in this is support for your ESXi server.

Not 100% sure on support but as far as i know if you have a support block it doesn't matter if it's ESXi or any other vmweare product they will provide support.

If you found this or other information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful".

Gregg Robertson, VCP, MCSE, MCSA, MCTS, MCITP

Replication question

Gostev — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:03:39 GMT

Edward, thanks for mentioning our solution.

Ron, we are getting ready to release Veeam Backup and Replication version 4 in the coming weeks, it has some exciting new features as it comes to replication

Replica seeding (initial sync over removable storage)
Near-CDP protection by leveraging new ESX4 capabilities
Support for slow and high-latency links
Safe snapshot removal to prevent timeouts on source VM during removal of large snapshots
Disk exclusions (so you can move your swap file to a separate virtual disk and do not replicate it)

Of course, there are tons more features around backup and management - replication is just one part of our product.
More info on this new release (incl. video) can be found here: http://www.veeam.com/go/backup40

But even with the current version, our replication is unique in the number of ways, and has features you will not find in competitive solutions:

Replica rollback (ability to failover to an early point in time in case you noticed software corruption too late and it got replicated to replica)
Network traffic compression
No requirement to keep open snapshot on source VMs
LAN free replication that does not touch your production hosts (data retrieved directly from the shared storage, instead of leveraging ESX host agent)
VSS support for ALL VSS-aware Windows OS (not just 2003/2008), with custom restore for Domain Controllers and Exchange servers (fully implementing Microsoft restore guideliness).
File level restores from replica
and many other features

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to PM me, or better yet, ask it on Veeam Community Forums at http://www.veeam.com/forums/

Known friendly USB Fax/modem

robertl30 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:52:29 GMT

has anyone gotten a USB modem to work with the Digi AnywhereUSB? I bought one and a USR 5637 modem. No joy. Modem works great on a physical machine, but when I try to do USB-over-IP into a VM I can't communicate with the modem. Windows sees the modem and it shows up in Device Manager. But when I try to query it I get a "can't communicate" error.

More research reveals that USB modems rarely work with this solution. But I thought this is what VMware recommended we use. So, what modem actually works?

Thanks

clone server

Texiwill — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:02:00 GMT

Hello,

This is a vendor licensing issue.... CPU ID is not hard to get from the Virtual Machine but it will not be unique per virtual machine, but disk ids are not possible to get. You are not really using a disk but a LUN most likely.... Either case your vendor needs to solve this licensing problem. If they refuse to do so, which is still a problem, I suggest you start looking for another vendor. If this is critical software and that vendor is the only one, then you need to continue to work with that vendor but seriously start looking for someone else that understands virtualization and will work with you.

Some vendors are just a wee bit stubborn.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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VMFS vs. Physical Disk performance

Texiwill — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:59:03 GMT

Hello,

THere is also one other concern I should mention as I got bit by this during a restore. My Virtual RDM LUN was 384 Gigs. Great, I did my backups religiously and needed to restore. When you restore a virtual RDM it restores as a VMDK. Whoops, my VMFS only allowed a maximum of 256GBs.... I had to scramble to find more storage to restore the Virtual RDM so that I could then do a file level copy from within the RDM back into the Virtual RDM.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Infrastructure suggestion

Texiwill — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:56:00 GMT

Hello,

I have used Linux w/NFS and iSCSI Target Code, OpenFiler, FreeNAS, and have played with StarWind and Windows NFS servers.

Personally I lean to not using Windows as a storage provider as the performance on the Linux hosts (OpenFiler, Straight Linux) or FreeBSD Hosts (FreeNAS) is really quite a bit better. However, I would also run your own tests, each VM load is different from site to site.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Physical to Physical (P2P) Arena

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:19:21 GMT

Hello,

Moved to Virtualization Technology and Industry forum.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Single Root I/O Virtualization

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 17:28:58 GMT

Hello,

Correct, only works with VMDirectPath which is for networking.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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VMware 3.5 PPT

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:57:13 GMT

Hello,

Even duplication of your written copies will be restricted. There is quite a bit of licensing that goes with the courseware.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Can snapshot exceed size of the original virtual disk?

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:13:05 GMT

Hello,

Please note that at one time it was possible for a snapshot/REDO FILE to exceed the physical size of the VMDK, this has changed with the GA of VMware ESX 3. This history is why there is often contradictory statements. MOdern individual Snapshot's contain no more than same number of blocks as the original VMDK.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Saving Hard Disk Space.

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:07:04 GMT

Hello,

Hardware dedupe is the best way, however you can also use Linked Clones to achieve some level of dedupe. I.e. install the OS, then use a linked clone per new machine. That way only changed blocks from the original VMDK are stored on disk.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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How to restore deleted VMKernel Switch

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:21:12 GMT

Hello,

Which ESX product are you using? ESXi 3, ESXi 4, ESX 3, ESX 4? etc.

However, with either of these, once the vmkernel portgroup is deleted there is almost no chance of getting the information back unless you have a) Change Management capability ala Tripwire, ConfigureSoft, etc. or b) keep a backup of your profile for each ESX host.

Old settings are just not stored anywhere.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Defrag guest on solid state drive necessary?

Texiwill — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:39:01 GMT

Hello,

Defragging Disks is a relatively bad idea on several levels. First, if you are using Thin Provisioning then you may just allocate your entire disk removing the benefit of thin provisioning. The second is that defrag causes a huge amount of disk IO, so if you run defrag you could seriously impact overall performance.

In general I just do not bother.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Slow performance when backing up virtual machines with VCB

AlbertWT — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 11:30:51 GMT

Hi rabbit2001,

In this case you are using -m SAN mode since the VCB Proxy and BE 12.5 SP2 is in VM form, may i know what is the command line in performing the backup please ?

At the moment I'm in the process of doing -m hotadd mode by creating blank Windows Server 2003 x64 VM with the VCB v1.5u1 + BE 12.5 SP2 with integration script (no VMWare agent required). plus the VM(VCB-HELPER) blank vm.

The ultimate goals are: Faster backup process without the use of expensive Backup Exec Agent for VMWare Virtualization Infrastructure (AVVI).

Kind Regards,
AWT

Maximum vCPUs ESX 3.5

mmatzko — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 01:04:47 GMT

Can you tell me how you compare the block size of the vmdk disk to the LUN? I know where to get the LUN bock size but don't see where I can find the associated disk block size. Maybe I'm missing something.

Thanks!

Michael

AS400 integrated W2K3 servers and VMware

tom howarth — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:25:27 GMT

errr No I think my comment was correct the first time but thank you for putting the record straight, I do not like writing FUD, even if it was with the best intentions

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Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
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Reducing database on sqlserver

ksuchewie — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:56:59 GMT

It was the transaction logs that were the problem. The database was really only 3 GB, but the transaction logs was 40GB. I was able to clear the logs with this query:

DBCC SHRINKFILE("vmware_Log", 1)

BACKUP LOG vmware WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY

DBCC SHRINKFILE("vmware_Log", 1)

I am backing up my sqlserver with Symantec so now I have to figure out why the logs aren't purging.

To do Vmotion

Tanav — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 09:11:49 GMT

for Vmotion you need to have shared storage, CPU compatiblity, Swap and Common network.

without this Vmotion cannot run.

vcenter 4 on SAN LUN or local storage?

Anton V Zhbankov — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 20:10:15 GMT

You can run vCenter on phsysical or virtual machine.
In case of virtual machine you should run it on SAN without any doubts, RDM or VMDK.

---
VMware vExpert '2009
http://blog.vadmin.ru

Migration of VM's from One Datacenter to Another

ranjitcool — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:32:45 GMT

Hey Bulletprooffool,

When you mentioned "alteratively, if you have network stoarge that can replicate the VMs, (e.g. Netapps / EMC Mirrorview etc)"

We have an emc san and mirror view which mirrors the luns to another san on the fibre, how can i use this to migrate vms?

please explain

thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

veeam back up or vmware consolidated backup?

Texiwill — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:48:19 GMT

Hello,

Granted VCB is not as feature rich as Veeam but you can compare the two, they both take data off the ESX host and place it on a backup server. You do not necessarily need a script to do this with VCB, however one will definitely help! For really small environments by hand vcbMounter commands will move the data from the ESX host to your backup host. Then you will need some mechanism (even when using Veeam) to move the backup to some sort of tape, blu-ray, or other backup device.

Granted in some cases Veeam will also make use of VCB to do its backups and Veeam combined with VCB is a pretty good combination.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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need monitoring help

Texiwill — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 20:51:50 GMT

Hello,

If it was me I would install VMware vCenter... However with out that I would look into using something like Munin, Nagios, HPSIM, Dell OpenManage, vWire, Hyper9, vKernel, etc.

The issue is up down state of the VM that is pretty easy to solve with any of the mentioned tools.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Quickest Way To Push Out Virtual Machines

weinstein5 — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:49:56 GMT

You can take a look at ACE - http://www.vmware.com/products/ace/ - this will allow you to create an installable VM that can run on the desktop -

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Any time frame to write an VCP 310?

AndreTheGiant — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:00:07 GMT

VCP310 exam will be avaible at least until the end of the year:
VCP 3 exam - when does it retire?

For the paths to get VCP4 certification there is also this page:
http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=12457

Andre

vmfs or raw for vms? which to choose

king@it.ibm.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:07:53 GMT

if I have a database on a vmfs lun, then performance might be affected since too many vms access the same vmfs? (correct me if i am wrong)

Remember that your raw device would be a LUN carved out from an array that will support more LUNs anyway. So your DB (even on a RDM) would have to fight for contention for disk access (disk = actual physical spindle) among other VMs (on VMFS or RDM on the same array). This is unless you dedicate each LUN an array (which doesn't make sense at all).

All in all it's a trade-off between performance and manageability. And since RDMs have never showed HUGE perf improvements Vs VMFS/VMDKs it's a no brainer (generally speaking).

Massimo.

Networking a virtual PC to the physical PC to another physical PC

DLeid — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:00:01 GMT

Hi Boxxy27

Try to turn off your Windows firewall on the vms and try again.

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Capacity Planner error

nrand — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:44:32 GMT

Hi

Thanks all for the information. The Assessment report is now working for this client. It seems the site did not want records that were not collecting in the mix so once deactivated the report ran. I don't recall having this issue in prior versions however this was the resolution. Thanks again.

Vmware Sizer.... what you need for Version 4?

VmwareSizer — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:38:59 GMT

Datacenter Parameter will included.

Ok, I dont really understabd VMware, maybe someone could point me in the right direction

JamesWHS — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:30:22 GMT

I answered this but it isnt showing up. I think 2.0 would be perfect as WHS is designed to be ran headless anyhow through RDP and Connector software. Curiously, Could I run 2 different OS' through their own VM..

Im thinking that maybe it would be cool to through an emulated Linux distro to, That way I could still surf the interwebs with no threat of virus corrupting my OS' Considering Ill only be using the windows 7 for HTPC content, and all update will be turned off, I could essentially just disable the lan adapter for windows 7

VCB (nbd mode) error : NBD_ERR_GENERIC

mustangzt — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:31:29 GMT

did you ever find an answer, I am having the same issue. Everything works on ESX 3.5 but I get same error on 3.02

~~2009-09-15 09:54:18.675 'vcbMounter' 2188 error~~ Error: Failed to open the disk: NBD_ERR_GENERIC

This error only happens when trying to access a 3.02 host

which vendor to go with?

ranjitcool — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:54:47 GMT

Thanks for the replies, i am going with the architect guys.

Thanks again i will keep u posted on how its going.. i am a newbie myself or so i consider myself..

thanks

May be we all live virtual lives..

Testing software on variety of VMWare solutions - is it worh doing?

Texiwill — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:04:13 GMT

Hello,

For 'desktop' software I would test in VMware Workstation or Fusion.
For 'server' software I would test in ESX maybe VMware Server.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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Migrating from datastore to SAN based assist

Texiwill — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:30:21 GMT

Hello,

Is this ESX 3.x or 4.x?

Also, if your ESX host can see the local storage and the SAN based VMFS then you can use Storage VMotion to move the VM to the SAN while the VM is running. Then you can VMotion the VM to the other host.

THis is how I do things like this. If you can not Storage VMotion then you have to use a Hot Clone type approach.

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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VM2.0 website?

Texiwill — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:25:49 GMT

Hello,

The problem is that even if you get the webAccess bits correct, which you can for ESX and that should work for VMware Server as well (never tested it). There is a great section on this in my latest book. However, the problem is that ONLY so many remote consoles can be opened at once, and if your number of users using this link goes over that number then they will not get a remote console.

This is the MAJOR reason something like RDP/VNC is recommended. The other reason is purely security reasons. Remote Console uses the management network and not your VM network. If your network is flat this is not much of an issue but does cause issues.

Saying this is the :way it is going to be going forward" is great if you realize these limitations within the design. If it was me, and I have designed such system actually I would investigate using a combination of the following tools. These little limitations can really impact the VMs availability.....

RDP Web Connection
VNC over Web
xrdp - RDP server for Linux

Best regards,
Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009, Virtualization Practice Analyst
Now Available: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment'
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'
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