Virtual Server request form / quastions

[Homerek12]

Hey guys,

Stupid request... I'm on the server team and have a really good relationship with the DBA team. I create VM's for them all the time and they create DB's for me all the time when I need them. But recently they gave me a very hard time when I needed a DB and made me fill out a DB request forum with over 70 questions on it.. I guess this is there standard process but I always figured I'm special since we all work together in IT. So as a joke / revenge I want to put a VM request form with tons of stupid questions just as a joke so next time they ask me for a server I would make them fill it out. I'm having a hard time coming up with stupid questions do you guys have any ideas of what else I can put in there? Like I said there request is 70 questions... Below is that I got so far

Name

IP

date needed by

OS required

RAM

Partition size

Additional partitions

App name

App purpose

If it needs to be backed up

down time window

contact to vendor

any vendor docs

PO # for OS

[JonRoderick]

Did you wonder why you didn't get any replies to this post.....?

Jon

[azn2kew]

It really depends on your Change Management policies, and for production its suggested to have a audit trail of where and what has been provision on the virtual environment. So if anything need to be built, it has to go through approval process which include a fill out form with general details of (OS, Applications, patches level,memory, size, requester...etc..) you name it.

That would become standard request form and should be approved by manager and than grant permission to help desk group just to be able to create new virtual machine or you can do it. Once done notify them and keep the form for records and you can keep track of it that way and protect yourself since you got manager approved. We have very thorough production change control systems on all systems not just virtualization deployment.

If you don't manage it them effectively, everyone will be able to creat new vm, then you have fill up storage, hosts and eventually created virtual machine sprawl. Good luck.

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

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

VMware vExpert 2009

iGeek Systems Inc.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[vserverdude]

If you want a tool that will help you create that 70-question VM request form (or some more usable & practical forms), be sure to try the new virtual appliance at www.newscale.com/vmware

It's available for download as a free trial. There's a built-in self-service portal with policy and entitlement-based controls, no vCenter log-in required. It has a design tool for configuring rich and interactive request forms, to record everything you need for your server build sheet. And can control who can request a VM - with automatic approvals, role-based approvals, or both.

The appliance is integrated with vCenter and there are some cool features for tracking VM requests - so you can identify which VMs should be decommissioned and who's still using what VMs and for what purpose.

Check it out!