My current lab consist of the following configuration:

- 3 X ASUS P3-P5G33 Intel Core 2 Quad / Core 2 Duo / P4 / Celeron 400 Intel Socket T(LGA775) Intel G33 Intel GMA 3100 Barebone
- 3 X ASUS 22X DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model DRW-22B1LT LightScribe Support
- 3 X     Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 2.66GHz LGA 775 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80580Q9400
- 3 X    Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
- 6 X    CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model VS4GBKIT667D2 G
-3 X     Intel PWLA8391GTL 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI Desktop Adapter PRO/1000 GT Low Profile – OEM

For storage I have an IOMEGA StorCenter ix4-200d

As you can see, the above is not a bad config…but with hosts failing and 8GB RAM per host becoming insufficient for my needs, I thought I’d look at what else is out there. Like any good techy guy, I decided to take a look and get pointers from what others in the VMware community are doing. I ran into a couple of useful blogs from Kendrick Coleman and Didier Pironet who were using the Shuttle PC as part of their labs.

After some further investigation and consideration, I settled on the following configuration for the Shuttle SH67H3.

For those that might want to consider this patform, below is my BOM configuration from NewEgg.com for a single host. I plan to have 2-3 hosts.

I also added an Intel EXPI9402PT Dual Server Adapter from eBay for $99. Shop around you might be able to get a different NIC or similar model for cheaper.

I finally ordered and received all of the components for 1 host. I configured the host to boot ESX from a USB drive. Initially, I had trouble getting ESX to boot as it would PSOD during the boot process. However, I updated the Shuttle firmware and that took care of that issue.

This little Shuttle really gets the job done. I’ve added it to my existing cluster with the older hosts I have. Can’t wait to retire those and add a few more Shuttles!

I did this before the release of vSphere 5. So, my next step is to find some spare time and get my vSphere environment upgraded from 4.1 to 5!

My VMworld 2011 points

Now that VMworld 2011 is over, I wanted to share my experience of this year’s virtualization main event.
There were a couple of key points I wanted to make sure I got out of the conference. First, I wanted to get a further technical understanding in some areas I did not have alot of exposure to such as vCloud Director, vCenter Operations, and vCenter Chargeback. Second, I wanted to get a better understanding of  how VMware is innovating around the application layer and the technologies associated with  that area such as the vFabric product family. …And on one other note, I was very excited and impressed about the VMware AppBlast announcement. I can’t wait to dive in and peel back the layers on this technology to better understand it!

These areas were important to me because I believe it is going to be imperative for the many VMware Engineers out there to have an understanding of the Management & Automation capabilities and the Application layer technologies. The hypervisor is the foundation layer but it is going to be the layers higher in the stack that are beginning to really drive Cloud technology and innovation. This is apparent in VMware’s announcements and offerings. I’ll save further discussion on this topic for another blog post.

Social Scene

VMworld is an opportunity not just to attend sessions and labs but to meet people and become active in the virtualization community.
I had a great time meeting some of the key contributors in the VMware community. Although I met many in VMworld 2009, there seemed to be so many more two years later. In fact, several people I was hoping to bump into became just impossible with the enormity of the conference and busy schedules.

One nice thing is that the awesome VMUnderground party, Veeam party, CXI and others helped in meeting new people and seeing twitter friends etc. Outside of attending sessions and gaining knowledge, I think this is what VMworld is about..the virtualization community.

The VMworld party was super crowded and The Killers were AWESOME!!
I didn’t attend the after pool party. Rather, I went and enjoyed a nice steak and wine at Delmonico Steakhouse to cap the evening. I just couldn’t bring myself to be herded to the pool area with 20,000 other people. BUT it would have been awesome to see @jtroyer take that dive into the pool!

Last thoughts

This was my second VMworld (2009 was first) and it seems to get better every year. There are definitely some pain points with a large attendance of 20,000. Overall I thought VMware and the Venetian did a great job. The logistics behind this must have been incredible.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to attend VMworld this year. Once again, I want to thank Greg Stuart and sponsors for the opportunity to win the trip!

I hope to be a bigger contributor to the community and give back  some to so many others that give so much in this community.

I’ll see everyone in San Francisco next year!

Although I was able to attend VMworld 2009, I was not able to make VMworld 2010 due to my son being born around that timeframe.
So, a year has almost gone by and although I was wanting to attend VMworld 2011, I procrastinated a little bit and realized it may not be a possibility.

I decided to enter into the vdestination.com VMworld 2011 giveaway and crossed my fingers.

I’m not a lucky guy in the sense that I usually win contests or giveaways so it was a long shot for me.

Luckily enough, the stars aligned right and Greg picked my name (http://vimeo.com/26855431) from the bowl out of many participants in the contest. I didn’t know about the win until this morning while waiting in the Houston airport for a flight to San Francisco. My flight was delayed, so I was catching up on email and twitter when I noticed a CONGRATS from Greg W. Stuart. It really didn’t phase me at first. Then, I checked my email and saw another CONGRATS. At that point, I’m sure I was glassy eyed and like WTF is going on?? I had the biggest grin on my face! People in the crowded airport probably thought I was crazy.

Until just a few minutes ago (10 hours later), I saw for the first time the drawing on video. My iphone wouldn’t play the video. Now that I’ve been able to see it on my laptop, that’s been the highlight of my evening!

You can see the details and video of the contest on Greg’s blog:
http://vdestination.com/2011/07/25/pack-your-bags-youre-going-to-vmworld-2011-for-free/

I look forward to VMWorld 2011, many of the events involved, meeting Greg and sponsors, seeing vfriends and meeting new acquintances!

The videos show:
1. Remote Copy Setup
2. Failover of volumes and VMware changes needed
3. Failback of volumes and VMware changes needed

Example: HP P4000 Replication Setup

Example: Failover Remote Copy

Example: Failback Remote Copy

During the XenDesktop Setup wizard, I could not get the XenDesktop Delivery Controller and Provisioning Server to communicate with vCenter.

I was getting the following –> Error : “The hosting infrastructure could not be reached at the specified address”

After digging, I found a handy post by  Trond Eirik Haavarstein on this specific issue. Thanks Trond!!! This was very helpful.
Here is the link, and I have included the helpful article below:
http://www.xenappblog.com/2009/citrix-xendesktop-3-0-fp1-poc-hosted-on-vmware-esx-3-5/

I am working on a new Citrix XenDesktop Proof of Concept (POC) hosted on VMware ESX. During the setup I discovered some error messages I would like to share with you.

Error : “The hosting infrastructure could not be reached at the specified address”

Solution :

1. Create a host file entry that resolves vmare to the IP address of your VirtualCenter Server. Do this on the Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC) and the Provisioning Services Server (PVS).
2. Import the certificate from the Virtual Center Server (%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware VirtualCenter\SSL\rui.crt) into the trusted root authority for Computer Account – Local Computer (used the Certificate MMC to accomplish this). Do this on the DDC and PVS.

Use https://vmware/sdk in the XenDesktop Setup Wizard.

So far, Ubuntu has been really easy to use. I’ve had very few snags so far. I was even able to get Office 2007 installed natively using CrossOver.
I tried WINE but could not get Office to load with that one.

Overall, It’s been very easy to use Ubuntu as a primary OS. I use the Unity feature in VMware Workstation when I need to access any Windows related apps.
So far, that has not been very common. Mostly, I need to use windows for the SSL VPN connections that I have to make.

The only major snag for me so far is that running music from my Windows 7 VM is choppy. If I run it directly on Ubuntu, the sound is great.

I use iTunes so running music from the VM is necessary. I have heard of people getting iTunes to work using WINE but it did not work for me. I’d rather run iTunes from the VM. Hopefully, someone knows of a tweak to get the sound from the Windows VM to work properly and not be choppy.

Herrod is touching on Hosted Virtualization for “Employee-Owned IT”. Basically, the concept of BYOC – Bring Your Own Computer.
Also discussing a Bare-Metal Virtualization for “Corporate-Owned IT”. I’m really digging the bare-metal virtualization that will be happening on laptops.

• No host lesss management and patching
• 3D graphics and local performance

Demo:  On the Client Virtualization Platform
I’m very impressed with the full motion video and 3D Graphics from the user experience.

Now performing demo from a home PC to a View session demonstrating the user pc experience.

***Moving to demo on connecting to a View desktop from an iPhone using the WYSE pocket cloud. Very cool!!

Herrod now discussing the VMware Mobile Strategy

• Phone as a thinclient
• Phone for management

New solution  – Mobile Administration of VMware vCenter and View

Leading into the question of why not virtualize the phone itself?
Herrod announcing VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP)

Demo showing Visa utilizing mobile virtualization with both Windows CE and Android running on the same mobile device.

Herrod echoing Vmotion capabilities with server, storage, and networking capability.
Touching on DRS and new capabilities around DRS for Storage to set shares and limit IOPS.
Also covering how DPM utilizes VMotion to provide further efficiency to the datacenter.
Initial statistics show that DPM saves  20% of datacenter power.

Going into vCenter management products.
How is my application performing? Discussing VMware AppSpeed to handle baselining performance from an end user standpoint.

Discussing vSphere and VMsafe capabilities. The VMsafe API is available for vendors in the security space to develop products that plug into vSphere (ISS, Trend, McAfee, symantec etc)

Discussing VMware vCenter ConfigControl – goal is to discover track and model configuration data and relationships across all of the entities.
Demo ConfigControl – ships first half of next year. Appears to have alot of capability but not sure I like the interface.

Herrod discussing more of the vCloud and Long Distance VMotion capabilities.
Cisco has a validated design using Data Center Interconnect. Datacenter extension up to 200km
F5 has a solution using iSession with BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager.

Now discussing the PaaS vision (Platform as a Service) -

wrapping up now..I have to go to another session.