Virtrix - Virtual Tricks

The truth is out there -bist blog IS ALIVE!

2010-10-13T14:25:00.004+02:00

Ok, this has been a long time guys (and girls) but Virtrix is back (for a brief moment ;)) to share some very important news: against all odds, the (rather excellent) blog of my collegue Geert Verbist (http://virtual.bist.be) is actually being read!!! By accident, I stumbled upon a guy who was reading a blog post in Copenhagen!!! Can you imagine??

Here is the evidence:

VMware: creating vCenter database fails: “login failed”

2009-06-25T10:51:00.001+02:00

Today we got a strange issue when creating a new vCenter instance on our corporate SQL 2005 server. During installation we got “error 25003: setup failed to create the virtualcenter repository”.

When setting up the ODBC connection, we used the correct SQL Native Client for 2005. ODBC connection to the SQL was tested and working.

However, in the vpxd installation log we got the following error message:

[VpxdVdb] Converted munged password in registry
[2009-06-25 10:05:14.697 'App' 5392 warning] ToUCS2: Invalid UTF-8 sequence during conversion.
[2009-06-25 10:05:14.744 'App' 5392 error] ODBC error: (28000) - [Microsoft][SQL Native Client][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'VirtualCenterUser’

The problem? Character translation of the vCenter installer failed because we were using a “strange” character in the password (in our case ù). So be careful when using auto generated passwords and check for non-standard character sets!

VMware vSphere Health Check Report v1.0

2009-04-24T16:17:00.002+02:00

Lamw has updated his Perl based Health Check Report script (now compatible with vSphere 4.0). This script generates a health check report similar to that of vmwareHealthCheckScript but for the new vSphere release of VMware ESX(i) 4.x and VMware vCenter 4.x and it's managed entities.

Requirements:

vSphere SDK for Perl (formally VI Perl Toolkit) or VMware vMA 4.0 (formally VIMA)
VMware vCenter 4.x+ and/or ESX(i) 4.5+

Check it out here!!

ESX - VLAN compare / checker script for PowerShell

2009-04-17T13:03:00.001+02:00

First and foremost: all credit goes to Hugo Peeters over at http://www.peetersonline.nl. I just took his script and modified what was useful from a VLAN perspective. The code below will create a HTML page with VLAN inconsistencies. This can be a useful script in a large environment to compare all VLANs/portgroups presented on a per cluster basis. I know we use it ;)

Copy/paste this in PowerGUI script editor and run! Make sure c:\temp exists

BTW: in vSphere we will have host profiles and distributed vSwitches to tackle the “not presented everywhere” problem ;)

---------------------------------------------------------------

$outputFile = 'C:\temp\compareVLAN.html'
$VCServer = "<vCenter FQDN>"
$VCUsername = '<username>'
$VCPassword = "<password>"

Function Create-HTMLTable
{
    param([array]$Array)
    $arrHTML = $Array | ConvertTo-Html
    $arrHTML[-1] = $arrHTML[-1].ToString().Replace('</body></html>',"")
    Return $arrHTML[5..1000]
}

$output = @()
$output += '<html><head></head><body>'
$output += '<style>table{border-style:solid;border-width:1px;font-size:8pt;background-color:#ccc;width:20%;}th{text-align:left;}td{background-color:#fff;width:20%;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;}body{font-family:verdana;font-size:8pt;}h1{font-size:12pt;}h2{font-size:10pt;}</style>'
$output += '<h1>VMWARE CONFIGURATION INCONSISTENCIES - VLAN</h1>'
$output += '<p>The following VLANs are not available to all ESX servers in the cluster:</p>'

$VC = Connect-VIServer $VCServer -User $VCusername -Password $VCPassword

ForEach ($Cluster in (Get-Cluster | Sort Name))
{
        $output += "<h2>" + $Cluster + "</h2>"
        $VMHosts = $Cluster | Get-VMHost | Sort Name
        $vSwitches = Get-VirtualSwitch -VMHost $VMHosts
        $AllPGs = Get-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch $vSwitches
        $myPGCol = @()

        $PGdiffs = $VMHosts | ForEach {Compare-Object $AllPGs (Get-VirtualPortGroup -VMHost $_) -SyncWindow 1000} | ForEach {$_.InputObject} | Sort Name | Select Name -Unique
        ForEach ($PGdiff in $PGdiffs)
        {
            If ($PGdiff.Name -ne $null)
            {
                   $myPGObj = "" | Select VirtualPortGroup
                $myPGObj.VirtualPortGroup = $PGdiff.Name
                   ForEach ($VMHost in $VMHosts)
                   {
                   $myPGObj | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name $VMHost.Name -Value (!!(Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $myPGObj.VirtualPortGroup -VMHost $VMHost -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue))
                }
                $myPGCol += $myPGObj
            }
        }
        If ($myPGCol.Count -eq 0)
        {
            $output += '<p>'
            $output += "All VLANs OK."
            $output += '</p>'
        }
        Else
        {
            $output += Create-HTMLTable $myPGCol
        }
        Clear-Variable $VMHosts -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $myPGObj -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $myPGCol -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $PGdiffs -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
        Clear-Variable $PGdiff -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
}

$output += '</body></html>'
$output | Out-File $outputFile -Force
ii $outputfile

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False

---------------------------------------------------------------

VMMU and TPS @ yellow-bricks

2009-03-06T16:17:00.001+01:00

Duncan over at Yellow-Bricks just wrote an interesting article on the effect of vMMU on Transparent Page Sharing. He concludes that when virtualized MMU was set to “force” Transparent page sharing didn’t take place or at least at a lower grade. Read more here. Make sure you check out the links in the article!

Disk.UseLunReset and Disk.UseDeviceReset Advanced options

2009-03-04T14:13:00.001+01:00

One word of advice: if using a SAN attached ESX deployment, make sure Disk.UseLunReset is set to 1 (default = 1) and Disk.UseDeviceReset is set to 0 (Defaults to 1). The reason to disable the Disk.UseDeviceReset param is because it does a complete SCSI bus reset. All SCSI reservations will be cleared, not for a a specific LUN but for the complete device. This could disrupt your SAN fabric. I would suggest setting the ESX host in maintenance mode and reboot it afterwards. See also page 118 of the Fibre Channel SAN Configuration guide or Yellow Bricks post on the topic for more info.

Alternatively, you can also set this via the Service Console by issuing the following commands:

esxcfg-advcfg -s 1 /Disk/UseLunReset
esxcfg-advcfg -s 0 /Disk/UseDeviceReset
service mgmt-vmware restart

VMworld roundup – day 2 (and party time!)

2009-02-26T08:49:00.001+01:00

Good morning everybody! First and foremost: congratulations to my Xylos college Geert Baeke on becoming a VMware vExpert!!! Check it out here. He deserves it as he must be one of the granddaddy bloggers. So I guess he will be driving his BMW M5 soon ;)

Here is a small recap on some of the things we did yesterday.

In the general session, Stephen Herrod (the company CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D) talked about VDC-OS, the vCloud and vClient initiatives in more detail.

vCenter is one of the focus points during the keynote:

Availability: vCenter will have an Active/Passive model using heartbeat (based on Neverfail technology)
Scalability: there will be a possibility to use a feature called “Linked-mode”. You can connect to a maximum of 10 vCenters using a single VI Client. Oh yes, to search through al these VMs and hosts you will have the ability to use an (advanced) search feature.
Automation: of course, the eagerly awaited Host profiles feature will be spot on for operations teams to keep their ESX deployments in synch. A short demo was shown where a new ESX was added to the cluster and immediately made compliant with the profile.
Linux: VMware finally created a vCenter in a Linux appliance

The new componentized model of vSphere is explained in more detail: vStorage (SAN API’s to offload certain features to the SAN => see my previous comments on the NetApp session yesterday), vNetwork aka distrivuted switching and the omnipresent Cisco Nexus 1000V and vCompute.

vCloud

The concept of the vCloud is definitely an important one: once we have vSphere, VMware will be able to leverage some long distance (storage?) VMotions into or out of the internal/external cloud via a concept known as a “Private cloud”. A short demo with the new vCloud plug-in was shown.

vClient

Stephen talks about Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP) and the PCoIP (PC over IP) concept using advanced hardware (will be software in the future) acceleration techniques such as Teradici 3D/2D mulitimedia accelerators.

Then a Nokia N800 is brought onto the stage to show what the mobile hypervisor will be capable of: a dual- OS using on the one hand Windows CE as the “business” mobile OS, and Google Android for your personal settings.

We decided it was time to do some Labs. First, we did the vCenter data recovery Lab (BTW, it reminds me of a product called ESXpress). Anyway, it’s based on a virtual appliance and a vCenter plug-in.

In a nutshell: you must prepare your backup destination (for example a network share), and create a backup plan using a specific retention policy. By default, data is de-duplicated

File-level restore will be available to in the final version and it will be possible to change the network settings when doing a restore rehearsal (currently, the restore rehearsal boots up the same VM with the same IP by default)

Check out Yellow-Bricks for more info on the hot-add feature used in the virtual appliance to do the backup: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2009/02/25/vmworld-day-2-random-stuff-and-data-recovery/

Another lab we followed was the one on the new Cisco Nexus 1000V. As I said in my last blog, this is all about vNetwork: use a managed distributed switch in vSphere to leverage monitoring, Access lists, etc, on your vSwitches. A Virtual machine always uses the same Veth marker, so this is useful after DRS/VMotion is triggered. Check out the key benefits in the screenshot below:

Here is another overview of the Nexus architecture:

A Nexus enabled vSwitch looks something like in the screenshot below: note the UpLink0 (a number of uplink port profiles is created by default BTW) that is used to connect the assigned NICs to your distributed vSwitch. Note the Manage Virtual and Physical adapters links ;)

And then it was… party time! A lot of food/drinks/live music/arcade gaming and beautiful women. Happy times in the Cloud Nine!

VMworld roundup – day 1

2009-02-24T18:55:00.001+01:00

Well, last night we had a great party. We did meet with some other colleagues and customers/friends in the evening.

This morning we woke up and…the weather was excellent here in Cannes! We (Geert Verbist over at virtual-scene.info, Guy and myself) attended the general keynote and some sessions.

For the first time (well, that is not counting partner day) Paul Maritz actually used the term vSphere to describe what will be the VDC-OS of the future (this will be the name of the ESX/VI 4.0 suite of products that will be released in the first half of 2009). The 2 main keywords of this VMworld: VDI/vClient solutions and the internal/external (v)Cloud/VDC-OS

Next, I attended a great session on VMware with NetApp integration. The things these guys are doing (combined with the next-gen vStorage API) are just amazing. Soon we will be able to offload all Snapshot/Clone/Thin Provisioning/… tasks to our storage. At last! What used to take minutes (as in: deploying a template is just a copy operation of a .vmdk) is now done in seconds! Needless to say the demo’s were quite impressive.

Oh yes, did I mention Multipathing in vSphere? I didn’t? Well, listen to this: it will be possible to configure the optimal path to your san (using vStorage API) with just 1 click of the mouse: “Apply optimal path configuration” (or something like that, I don’t remember the exact command). Gone are the days of manual multipathing. Anyway, I hope all other vendors will follow NetApps example and integrate all these nice toys in their products.

Next up was the first 3rd party vNetwork Distributed vSwitch: Cisco Nexus 1000V, a (software) plug-in to ESX that creates an advanced vSwitch version built on Cisco NX-OS. We will finally see a managed vSwitch on ESX with full configuration, monitoring and security options! The VEM (Virtual Ethernet Module, or the vSwitches themselves) are managed by a VSM (or Virtual Supervisor Module, a VM or hardware appliance that manages all VEM instances and that tightly integrates with vCenter).

Don’t worry: if the appliance fails, all configuration states are unchanged until the VSM is revived/restored. You can manage the switches as you can manage a “real” Cisco switch. As this is a distributed switch, you must only create it once per cluster. So adding a new ESX host will be a breeze(oh yes, did I mention host profiles ;))

Another session that got my attention was the one about SRM design best practices. Glad to here we already set-up SRM by the book.

Last (but definitely not least) we checked out a session from the (in)famous Brian Madden himself: VDI versus Terminal Services. In his (controversial) typical way he compared VDI to TS as being both SBC (server based computing) with the same problems/advantages since Citrix launched WinFrame (now called XenApp) for NT 3.51 in 1997.

His conclusion: with TS, you currently get more bang for the buck (or should I say more users per server?). HOWEVER: if you see how fast the VDI space is growing and the fact that there is tremendous competition amongst Citrix, Quest and VMware he predicts that by June 2010 all major problems with VDI as such will be gone. We’re thinking graphical enhancements (Terradici, HP RGS, ....), more users per server, thin provisioning on your SAN, etc..). Yay to TS! Yay to VDI!

Next up: the VMware Benelux party with 250+ Benelux people. Happy times and kisses from Cannes and see you tomorrow!

First day at VMworld Europe 2009

2009-02-22T21:33:00.001+01:00

Ok, so we arrived early @ Nice this afternoon, took the bus to the Palais des festivals in Cannes and went through the registration process. All settled then! Tomorrow we’ll have partner day (and the Benelux party of course!) so stay tuned for some nice blogposts on ESX 4.0 (vSphere?), SRM and VMware View!

VMware: Installing Suse Linux Enterprise 10 on ESX

2007-12-13T08:26:00.000+01:00

After installing the VMware Tools on our Suse Linux Enterprise 10 guest, we kept losing the network configuration. Apparently, after loading the vmxnet driver there were 2 network cards present.

So here is the workaround:

Start yast (or use the gnome desktop to configure yast via the GUI)
Click the Network devices link and click on Network Card
Leave the default “traditional method with ifup” and click Next
Select the current configured card and click the Edit button
Write down (copy) the current configuration name (eth-id-xxxxxxx)
Click the back button and remove the current configured network card by pressing the delete button. NOTE: only 1 network card should remain
Back in yast overview, navigate to Network devices => Network Card
Select the card that is not configured and click the Edit button
On the configuration name, replace pci-xxx by eth-id-xxxx (written down earlier)
Fill out all necessary IP configuration (IP Address, subnet mask).
Leave yast and commit your changes
Done!

VMware: ESX 3.5 / VirtualCenter 2.5 / VCB 1.1 release!

2007-12-11T09:29:00.000+01:00

VMware has just released the brand new VMware Infrastructure 3 version 3.5, filled with interesting new features:

Storage VMotion
VMware Converter integration

DPM (Distributed Power Management
Clone/provision virtual machines between datacenters
An integrated Update Manager (for ESX, Linux and Windows)
x64 customization
support for 256 Gb ram
VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) enhancements
and much, much more...

The release notes can be found here

Microsoft: Windows Server Core commands

2007-10-02T13:54:00.001+02:00

Petri IT Knowledgebase has some nice articles on the upcoming Windows Server Core product.

Check them out:

Configure Time and Date Settings in Windows 2008 Server Core

Configuring Windows Server 2008 Server Core Basic Networking Settings

Managing Windows 2008 Server Core Local Settings

Managing Windows 2008 Server Core through RDP

Understanding Windows Server 2008 Server Core

VMware: Stopping a Virtual Machine gone haywire

2007-09-20T13:50:00.001+02:00

Sometimes a Virtual Machine can't be stopped via the VIClient. The job just hangs. There are a number of options to stop your Virtual Machine from within the Service Console. Keep in mind that these are last resort options!

Stopping the virtual machine by issuing the command vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/<datastorename>/<vmname>/<vmname>.vmx stop. This must be done on the ESX host where the Virtual Machine is running!
If this does not work, one can issue the following command: vmware-cmd /vmfs/volumes/<datastorename>/<vmname>/<vmname>.vmx stop hard. This will try to kill the Virtual Machine instantly.
A final solution is to kill the PID (process ID). Issue the following command: ps auxfww | grep <vmname> to locate the correct PID (BTW: this cannot be done via ESXTOP). The first number to appear in the output is your PID. The PID can be used to terminate the process by issuing kill -9 PID.

VMware: New HA features in VC 2.0.2

2007-09-19T11:50:00.001+02:00

As you know, HA is triggered on an ESX host after 15 seconds when it cannot contact it's cluster partners and the default gateway. By Default, all virtual machines running on the ESX host are shut down and restarted on the remaining ESX hosts in the cluster (using a Legato AAM agent to do it's job).

The only thing you could do up until now was changing the default gateway (via the das.isolationaddress option/value set). However, for most companies this is not enough. When a general network maintenance is scheduled, you should disable HA to avoid an unnecessary HA trigger.

New in VirtualCenter 2.0.2 are the following option/value pairs:

das.failuredetectiontime = <value> (default 15 seconds)
das.isolationaddress2 = <value>

These values can be set under Your Cluster => Edit Settings => VMware HA => Advanced Options.

See also VMware's HA_Tech_Best_Practices.pdf document for more info!

VMware: Installing Windows XP on ESX using LSI Logic driver

2007-09-18T10:28:00.001+02:00

I get a lot of questions concerning the deployment of Windows XP on ESX. By default, ESX will use the LSI Logic driver when deploying a new Windows XP virtual machine. The LSI Logic driver is not found on the CD-ROM media, so Windows XP will not continue with the installation if this driver is not found.

The steps:

Create a new Windows XP Virtual Machine
Upload a Windows XP .iso file to your datastore/ISOstore (preferably a VLK version) and link it via the CD-ROM options in your Virtual Machine. Make sure it is connected / at power on
Go to http://www.lsilogic.com/cm/DownloadSearch.do and search for a driver for the LSI20320-R controller.
Extract all files in the symmpi_wXP_1201800.ZIP
Use a program such as WinImage to create an LSILogic.flp file and include the extracted files in the .flp image.
Upload the newly created LSILogic.flp to your datastore/ISO store
Link the .flp file via the Floppy options => use existing floppy image in datastore in your Virtual Machine. Do NOT connect it yet.
Power On your Windows XP machine. The installation of Windows XP should begin.
During setup, press F6 to select additional SCSI drivers
Now is the time to connect your floppy and use S during Windows Setup when prompted to connect to the floppy drive.

The LSILogic drive should appear. Press ENTER to continue
Setup will continue as normal
Install VMware tools
Done!

NOTE: when using the BusLogic driver instead, you can download & use a preconfigured .flp file from the VMware site: http://download3.vmware.com/software/vmscsi-1.2.0.4.flp. Follow the same procedure as described above. The driver should be name VMware SCSI Controller in Windows XP.

VMware: how to get more performance counters in VirtualCenter

2007-09-14T11:56:00.001+02:00

Ever wondered why you could select gazillion performance counters in real-time, but only 1 or 2 counters when selecting Per Day/Per Week/Per Month/Per Year/Custom? Here is the solution: in the VIClient, go to VirtualCenter Management Configuration and then statistics. By default, the Statistics Collection Level is set to 1 (Basic Metrics).

Ideally, you could set the level to 3 or even 4. After a while, you will notice new performance counters available for selection in the chart options menu! These are great for doing memory sizing/ CPU sizing over a longer period of time. Great huh?

HP: DL580 G5 released - the virtualization monster

2007-09-12T09:08:00.001+02:00

HP has released the G5 version of the DL580. This is a lean mean virtualization machine:

Up to 4 Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processors with up to 8MB (4x2) shared L2 cache (16 cores in total)
Up to 128GB (with 4GB DIMMs, 32 slots!) of 667MHz DDR2 Fully-buffered DIMMs
Up to Eleven PCI-Express Slots

This is a great VMware/Viridian/XenSource/... virtualization machine with plenty of room for extra NICs & HBA's. I hope VMware will be able to use this model in their ESXi platform. How hard can it be to stick an extra 32Mb SSD module in this one ;)

Citrix: Presentation Server with Ardence OS Streaming

2007-09-05T13:45:00.001+02:00

Wilco van Bragt (sbc.vanbragt.net) has written a nice how-to article on preparing a Citrix Presentation Server (version 4.0 or 4.5) with Ardence streaming.

Some Advantages of OS streaming in combination with terminal servers:

Flexible provisioning
Rapid software (OS/Apps) deployment
Servers are always 100% identical
Easy implementation of updates and hotfixes to the operating system and applications
Easy rollback scenarios
After a restart the system is back in clean state

Citrix MPS/Xensource/Ardence combo anyone ;)

Read the complete article here

VMware: WTS/Citrix on VMware ESX 3

2007-08-29T13:58:00.001+02:00

Are you interested in virtualizing your Citrix or Terminal Services environment? If so, check out Rene Vester 's article "A short guide to virtualizing Presentation and Terminal servers on VMware ESX 3" on the Brian Madden website. He goes into great detail on the steps required to successfully install WTS or Citrix in a virtualized environment.

This is a great addition to my previous blogpost "Best practices for deploying Citrix on ESX"

Read the entire article here

WTS: How To Configure Folder Redirection

2007-08-23T13:51:00.001+02:00

Patrick Rouse has written a nice little article on the use of folder redirection in a SBC environment.

Folder redirection can limit the amount of data that is copied between the Roaming Profile Share and the Terminal Server at each logon and logoff. This is accomplished by redirecting folders like Desktop, My Documents, and Application Data to a Network Share outside of the Roaming Profile Share, so it is not copied at each logon and logoff.

You can read the complete article on the msterminalservices.org website

Microsoft: W2K8 "Documentation Survival guide"

2007-08-23T13:38:00.001+02:00

Microsoft has created a nice link to all info concerning Windows Server 2008 on technet. It's called the Documentation Survival Guide. Jump to it here

Learn

• Windows Server 2008 product information: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90853
• Windows Server 2008 TechCenter: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=86041

Evaluate

• Changes in Functionality from Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to Windows Server 2008: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=90854
• Windows Server 2008 TechNet Virtual Labs: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90855
• Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=90856

Troubleshoot

• Windows Server 2008 Troubleshooting: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90857
• TechNet Troubleshooting and Support: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90728

Connect with Community

• Windows Server 2008 Forums: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90920
• Windows Server 2008 Podcasts: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90919
• Windows Server 2008 Chats: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=90918

Additional Resources

Security

What can you do to secure your systems? These links to prescriptive security guidance resources, virus alerts, and security bulletins will help you find the security information that you need.

• TechNet Security Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=29482
• TechNet Security Virus Alerts: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=26702
• Microsoft Security Bulletin Search: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=24822

Downloads, Help and Support, TechNet Technologies, and Scripting

Need to find the latest product downloads or other technical information? These links will help you keep your systems current and learn about the latest Microsoft technologies.

• Microsoft Download Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=63637
• Microsoft Help and Support: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=7588
• TechNet Products and Technologies: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=26708
• Script Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=63080

Windows Server 2008 Technical Library

Need to learn more about what’s new for key Windows Server 2008 technologies and where to get additional information? These links to the Windows Server 2008 Technical Library will provide you with introductory and technical overviews and other resources.

Citrix: Citrix to acquire XenSource

2007-08-15T20:15:00.001+02:00

Holy god, this is breaking news! After rumors on the brianmadden website about Citrix wanting to buy XenSource, there is now an official statement: Citrix has signed a definitive agreement to acquire XenSource.

Citrix’s acquisition of XenSource comes on the heels of a substantial new release of XenEnterprise, the company’s flagship commercial product line. The new XenEnterprise v4 marks a significant milestone. Citrix will thus become one of the major players in the virtualization field (and a direct competitor to VMware & Microsoft).

Read the official announcement on the Citrix website here

Microsoft: Windows Server 2008 Component Posters

2007-08-08T21:23:00.001+02:00

I came across some interesting W2K8 posters. These two posters, originally published in the July 2007 issue of TechNet Magazine, provide a strong visual tool to aide in the understanding of various features and components of Windows Server 2008.

One poster focuses exclusively on powerful new Active Directory technologies, while the other provides a technical look at a variety of new features available in Windows Server 2008 (such as Server Core, Network Access Protection, and more).

These should look great on my wall. Make sure to download them here

VMware: ESX 3.0.2 and VCB 1.0.3 released

2007-08-01T13:51:00.001+02:00

As promised, VMware's ESX 3.0.2 has been released. In addition, VCB version 1.0.3 has also been released. Keep in mind that VCB 1.0.3 is compatible with VirtualCenter 2.0.2 (released recently) and ESX Server 3.0.2 (or newer) only. There are tons of updates in this release. Check them out here.

Download the ISOs at the source

VizionCore: ESXReplicator 2.1 Beta announced

2007-08-01T13:41:00.001+02:00

Vizioncore has announced the Public Beta Release of esxReplicator v2.1, a real-time replication solution for the VMware Vi3. It addresses a number of problems we face in production. esxReplicator 2.1 offers the following new features:

Fixed Interval Scheduling
Failover Testing
VM Display Name configuration
Free Space Monitoring/Alerting

The beta release can be downloaded from: http://www.vizioncore.com/download.html