Technodrone

How VMware helps combat Viruses

2009-10-14T22:59:00.000+02:00

I am not talking about a new Anti-virus solution or a new product, even though VMware does offer VMsafe for this exact purpose.

Today I was hit with a very clever phishing attack.

Details can be found here. In short a customized email that was sent to large number of employees specifically addressed and personalized.The link was to a a site that looked like a Outlook Web Access page with a message telling that the IT support should click on the file to update your settings. Of course the file is a Trojan which does all kinds of nasty things as you can see on this report.

Now how is this connected to VMware? Well I knew this was a virus. But we needed to assess what it was doing, and the only to do that is to run the file. But knowingly infecting your computer with something like this is not the brightest idea to put it mildly, and who can predict what it will do?

But what if you had a machine that you could run the virus on, disconnected from the network, record the actions, export log files etc. and then return it back to the original state?

Do I hear anyone say a VM? Anyone?????

So this is how it went

Workstation VM.
Host-Only Network
Snapshot VM
Disconnect VM network card
Import exe file (virus) with USB key
Start up Wireshark
Start up Procmon
Run exe file
Record all actions
Stop Procmon and Wireshark capture
Save captures for further analysis
Export all to USB key.
Revert VM snapshot to previous state.
Repeat process twice more

Now if I wanted to I could have reverted the snapshot back the previous state before the virus had touched it, and continued to use it, But since this is a test VM that I use for these kind of incidents, I trashed it. Better be safe than sorry.

Logs were analyzed, virus activity was identified and measures were taken to protect the network. Report sent to AV Software provider to provide updated signature files that will identify and remove the virus.

You just gotta love the wonders of Virtualization, don't ya?

Hope you enjoyed the ride!

How to create an exe package in Windows

2009-10-13T00:19:00.000+02:00

A colleague (thanks Natan) of mine reminded me of a simple but not very well know feature that exists in Windows.

We all download software from the Internet or install applications off a CD or some other media. This is also true if you need to install/transport information into a VM that is not connected to your network.

Some people package them as Zip files, some as ISO's and some as exe files. Did you ever wonder how these exe files are created??

Expensive Software packagers? Compression utilities? Well, most of us do not know that there is a utility built into the Windows operating system.

The utility is called IEXPRESS, and this is one of the easiest was to make a executable archive.

There is no shortcut available for the utility, but all you need to do is start the search box in Vista/Windows 7 or go to %systemroot%\system32\iexpress.exe

So here we go

Choose your desired option

Name your Package

Fill in your desired text

Add a License if you would like

Choose your files that you would like in the package

Choose some more options

Give the location for the package and some more options

And it does the work

And I now have a package

And of course in reverse - double click on the exe

And as they say, "A picture is worth more than a thousand words!!"

Oh yeah, did I mention that this is available in all Microsoft Operating systems??

VCP 410 Second Shot

2009-10-08T00:33:00.000+02:00

Hot off the Twitterverse - thanks to Vlad Nagornyi

VMware will allow for those who have failed their first attempt at the VCP 410 exam to go for a second shot - FREE OF CHARGE!

It is a two part process.

1. Enroll in the 2nd Shot Upgrade Program

2. You should will receive a voucher number from VMware that you will enter when purchasing your exam that will entitle you to the free second shot - in case you fail.

Below are the details.

Upgrade to VCP4!
VMware is allowing participating candidates who fail a VMware Certified Professional on vSphere 4 exam (exam code – VCP410) to have a free re-take.
Visit www.PearsonVUE.com/VMware/Upgrade for more details.
Click Here to enroll in the 2nd Shot/Upgrade Program.

Source

Of course this has to be completed before December 31. 2009.

Good Luck!

Veeam Monitor 4.5

2009-10-06T16:02:00.000+02:00

Veeam have released a new version of their Free Monitoring product

The following is a list of new features in the Veeam Monitor 4.5:

Full Veeam Business View integration for business‐centric performance monitoring,reporting and alerting. Please refer to this video for more information on this feature
Configurable custom views which represent “intersection” of groups from different Business View categories, for instance: only show VMs with department “Marketing"and purpose “Desktop”.
New view showing top loaded ESX hosts below the selected infrastructure node.
Uptime and socket count is now shown in ESX host’s summary.
Datastore free space alarm now can be set in relative amount (percents) in addition to absolute amount.
Support for Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 and Microsoft Windows 7
Support for Microsoft SQL Server 2008.

The following is a list of new features in the Veeam Monitor 4.0.1:

Backend Microsoft SQL Server load is reduced dramatically comparing to previous Veeam Monitor releases.
Multiple enhancements improving product scalability and allowing for support of very large environments (hundreds of ESX hosts).
New “Disk Commands Issued” alarm counter representing the sum of read and write requests to a datastore has been added.
“Check Database” command in Veeam Monitor Server Settings program now also checks DB integrity and attempts to correct any issues encountered.

Release notes

And of course - there is more for the full version of the product, and for a free product
it does a very good job!!

And I do use memory over-commit

2009-09-23T23:58:00.000+03:00

One of the most ridiculous things that Microsoft are saying as of late is that the feature in vSphere that allows you to over commit memory, is not such a big thing and that most people do not use it anyway - here here and here.

If you saw my previous post you will see that I managed to double the amount of virtual machines running on the same host (from 8 to 16 VM's running Windows 2003 Server 1GB RAM) without changing the 8GB RAM configuration on the host.

Would I be able to do this with Hyper-V? Hell No!

So I will say this again to Microsoft. Customers use Memory over-commit, they use it daily, and use it all the time. As long as you do not have this feature - this will be a strong point against using your product.

Enough said about that!

Nehalem Processors Are Great

2009-09-23T23:40:00.000+03:00

A client came to me a few months ago requesting help with a problem they had.

They have a system that does some (I guess you can call it) grid computing. They were using 20 desktops with XP to compute perform some calculations, and the the process was taking 10 hours , utilizing ~100% CPU on each machine throughout the process.

Because of a change that was made in the algorithm, the process would now take 22 hours to complete, for the same amount of calculations and that was not an acceptable result.

We wanted to test, would it be possible to cram a large amount of Virtual machines to do the work and we came up with the following solution:

3 IBM x3550 Dual E5430 Processors
8 GB RAM
ESX3i on each of them
8 Windows Server 2003 VM's on each server (total of 24 VM's)

We saw that when the Virtual machines were busy doing the calculation process, they were utilizing 100% of the vCPU, bringing the host to very close to 100% utilization during the calculations. This was the hard limit of 8 VM's on each host.

The amazing thing was that the same run that would have taken 22 hours on physical Desktops now took on these three servers 8 hours (a 275% increase in performance). The client was thrilled!

We tested different configurations of more VM's with lower CPU limits, but since the utilization was 100% regardless of the speed of the vCPU, the results stayed that the optimized configuration was 8 VM's per host.

The cost for the whole design (including a test Server and a Management sever) was

Fast forward 6 months. Budget issues, etc. etc.

Client comes to say that they are ready to go forward with the project. But there was one slight problem. During that period IBM announced that they were going over to a new series of Servers (x3550M2) and that the old ones were no longer available for purchase.

And also during that period ESX4 was released.

New servers were tested with the same data as before, this time on a x3550M2 with Dual E5530 Processors.

We fired up the tests with the same 8 VM's as before. the results were pretty much the same. Except for one small thing. We were seeing that the the CPU was only 50% utilized (or more correctly only 50% of the cores were being used) Huh??

Where did I get another 8 cores from? The answer - Hyper threading!

With Hyper threading enabled - the machine recognized 16 cores. So we deployed another 8 VM's (16 in total on one host). And of course there was no problem of RAM, because since all the machines are exactly the same,

I am not saying that in all use cases this will work, but this one did. We ran the tests, and instead of the results we had with the previous hardware of 8 hours, the job was now complete in 5 (a 60% increase in performance). With this metric, we now could reduce the number of physical Hosts from 3 down to 2. Also the pricing for VMware Software that was on the original configuration (Foundation Accelerator Kit) was now replaced with the VMware Essentials at a lower price (40%). In the same configuration we now configured the system with 2 ESX hosts and 32 VM's.

the new price for the project.

So yes, the Nehalem Processors, are a good thing, and in this specific case - it managed to lower the costs and boost the performance.

Hope you enjoyed the ride!

How To Manage VMware Server 2.0.x ?

2009-09-23T00:16:00.000+03:00

When VMware released the free product VMware Server 2.0.0 version, they decided to get rid of the Console client application.

Was this a good thing? Some say no, some say that it was, personally - I think it was a mistake to ditch the Console.

A bit of background.

When you install Server 2.0.x, bundled with it you get an Apache/Tomcat installation on your host.

Now this is something that I find personally annoying. Take for example a Windows Host. Windows has IIS built in. So why do I need to add another Web server to the machine. Same goes for Linux by the way, this will install its own Web Server, regardless if you are already using Apache on you Linux host

And it uses resources..

This is the management console that you receive.

There are certain use cases for running Server instead of ESXi, to name a few - non compatible hardware, access to USB devices, sound etc. that you cannot get with using ESXi

But never fear, and this is not a very well documented feature, but it is available. Some of you might have heard about a management tool that can help. It is free, it is a VMware product and most of you are already using it.

If you have not already guessed, I am talking about the vSphere Infrastructure Client.

So how would you go about doing this? Well it is pretty simple. When managing your host through the Web interface you went to the following ling (my host IP = 10.0.0.5) https://10.0.0.5:8333/ui/#

So what you should do is open the VIC and in the host field connect to the host but on port 8333 like this:

Note the subtle differences though

And last but not least a remote console to a working VM

This is fully functional. You can create VM's, change resources, Snapshots, the works!

And of course I do not need apache running and using resources.

Why did I find it important to bring this to your attention? With this method it allows you use a single tool and application to manage all your virtual hosts, be they:

VMware Server
ESXi
vCenter

I find it useful in my mixed VMware environment.

Hope you Enjoyed the ride!

Windows 2000 - R.I.P.

2009-09-17T18:26:00.000+03:00

From this this post on Technet - we can finally say that if you have a Windows 2000 Server in your enviroment - GET RID OF IT!!!!!! (or at least before July 13, 2010)

Another small thing to note - Service Pack 2 for Windows 2003 - was the last, there will be no no SP3.

Here is the short version.

Windows 2000 Server

Extended Support for Windows 2000 Server will end on July 13, 2010. At this time, Windows 2000 Server will no longer be publicly supported. You will be able to continue using "Self-Help Online Support"*

Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2

Also on July 13, 2010, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 (at a supported service pack level) will move from the Mainstream Support phase to the Extended Support phase. During the Extended Support phase:

Microsoft will continue to provide security updates and paid support (Example: Premier and Essential support, per-incident telephone/web support, etc.)

Customers will continue to have access to all security updates and Self-Help Online Support options (Example: Knowledge Base articles, online product information etc.)

Non-security hotfixes developed during the Extended Support phase will be provided ONLY to customers who enroll in Extended Hotfix Support (EHS).

Please note: If you'd like to enroll in EHS, customers must already have a Premier Support contract. In addition, customers must enroll in EHS within the first 90 days of the Extended Support phase. Program and per fix fees may also apply. Customers with Software Assurance can enroll in EHS at any time.

Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003

We have received inquiries from our customers and partners on whether or not there will be a need for a Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003. Microsoft will not have a SP3 release for Windows Server 2003.

To Summarize...

Self-Help Online Support* will be available for Windows 2000 Server after Extended Support before it ends on July 13, 2010.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003 R2 will begin an extended support phase on July 13, 2010

There will be no Service Pack 3 for Windows Server 2003

Go forth and upgrade!! (or retire)

My New Year's Resolutions

2009-09-16T12:57:00.000+03:00

According to Jewish religion, the year is based on the lunar calendar and coming up at the end of this week is Rosh Hashanah - the beginning of the new Jewish Year.

No, I am not getting religious on you all, but it is a good time for self refection on what I have done this past year, and what I would like to accomplish in the upcoming year.

I was asked to prepare the vision for where we are going in the next year compared to where we are today.

I though I would share with you the list that I came up with (with no particular order of importance)

Internal Cloud

Collaboration of virtual resources across the forest

Connect the different virtual Centers together with Virtual Center Linked-mode
Allow for check-out - migration - check back in on a different global location

Security

Tighten Virtualization security across the board

Host
Virtual Machines
Virtual Center

Procedures - Standardize procedures for more conformity and better operations
Auditing changes made to the Infrastructure to allow a paper trail
Look into utilizing VMSafe for security on the host for virtual machines when they become more widely available

Automation

Utilize more scripting for more standardization of procedures (PowerCLI)
Make use of Orchestrator for workflows and deployment
3^rd party / native tools for monitoring / alerts / problem identification and resolution

Storage

Utilize the latest storage technologies for

Thin provisioning
Storage de-duplication
Storage offloaded snapshots
Storage replication between sites (SRM)

BCP/DR

More efficient backup methods and faster restore time
Start testing SRM

Cost / chargeback

Define a cost model for each workload we offer
Realistic chargeback according to resources consumed

Network

10gb Ethernet for higher throughput using iSCSI/NFS on the backbone network
FCOE
Integration with Cisco Nexus 1000 for bettor control and conformity of network policies and compatibility in our current Infrastructure

The Human Factor

Education to the end user - virtualization does not mean a hit in performance - on the contrary
Not every machine needs 4gb RAM 2 Quad cores
Virtualization can save money both on CAPEX and OPEX

The Business

Continue assistance to R&D / PD with enabling them to perform their job better / faster / easier
Lab manager - start to work with these products - for better productivity
Help the business with developing a Virtual Appliance Version of our product

Wishing you all a good year with good things to come (also in the virtualization world)

Shana Tova!

Search Engines - Are They Biased ?

2009-09-14T23:09:00.000+03:00

So who would you believe?

Microsoft or Google?

Quick search for VMware on

Bing

and on Google

Or are they just not as good as one another?

Quick search for Barack Obama on

Bing

and on Google

You be the judge.

Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere 4

2009-09-14T22:17:00.000+03:00

A new white paper has been published by Hal Rosenberg from VMware

it is a 51 page document, with step-by-step walkthroughs of how to troubleshoot performance problems on an ESX host regarding all aspects - Network, Storage, CPU, RAM, Guest, and Host.

The troubleshooting process starts with the top-level troubleshooting flow in Top-Level Troubleshooting Flow. However, the introductory material includes background information that is important for the successful completion of a performance troubleshooting effort. Identifying Performance Problems discusses what we mean by a performance problem, and how to tell when observed behavior is and is not a problem. Performance Troubleshooting Methodology gives an overview of the troubleshooting methodology used in this document. Using This Guide discusses how to use this guide. The guided approach makes using this document different than reading a typical manual. Performance Tools Overview gives an overview of the performance monitoring tools used in the troubleshooting process. Starting with Top-Level Troubleshooting Flow, the remainder of the document covers the process of using the performance monitoring tools to identify observable performance problems, find the root-cause of those problems, and then fix the causes.

A highly recommended document for all ESX Admins.

The vSphere Blogging Contest - It Begins!!

2009-09-14T21:40:00.000+03:00

From the WebEx that held this evening (IDT 21.00), VMware will be announcing a new bloggers contest that will be focusing on specific technologies over the next few months.

Keep your browsers open and refreshing automatically (until John gets the page up) pointing at
this page - where the contest will be announced.
(Update.. - The page is now live)

So what is VMware looking for? (I have cut the email address - until the official announcement)

The timeline of contest is as follows

The rules (so I am sorry Duncan - you cannot participate)

The idea behind this contest is to promote the leading features - and get more in-depth information about these features out to the public.

So I will play, not for the prizes. I mean, I blog anyway on most of these subjects.

All-in-all a nice idea - it should bring some more publicity to the winning blog entry (and blogger) and of course allow us bloggers to spread our religion about next best thing since sliced bread.

Hope you enjoyed the ride.

FTP client in ESXi

2009-09-14T20:49:00.000+03:00

This one I saw from a Tweet from lamw.

Of course activating the shell console on ESXi is not supported - I do not need to remind you about that. But, if you already have done it and would like to transfer files in and out of your ESXi host with FTP, here is how.

VMTN Thread

~ # ftpget
BusyBox v1.9.1-VMware-visor-654 (2008-12-17 10:01:32 PST) multi-call binary

Usage: ftpget [options] remote-host local-file remote-file

Retrieve a remote file via FTP

Options:
        -c,--continue   Continue previous transfer
        -v,--verbose    Verbose
        -u,--username   Username
        -p,--password   Password
        -P,--port       Port number

~ # ftpput
BusyBox v1.9.1-VMware-visor-654 (2008-12-17 10:01:32 PST) multi-call binary

Usage: ftpput [options] remote-host remote-file local-file

Store a local file on a remote machine via FTP

Options:
        -v,--verbose    Verbose
        -u,--username   Username
        -p,--password   Password
        -P,--port       Port number

How to Prepare for Enterprise Plus?

2009-09-10T22:39:00.000+03:00

Last week I prepared a short explanation of what changes there are in vSphere Licensing in anticipation of the upcoming date of December 15, 2009 whereas we will no longer be able to purchase vSphere ESX Enterprise.

Think this is a good summation of what your options are, and thought that I would share it with the community.

It is always good idea to be pro-active, instead of re-active.

With the release of vSphere at the end of May 2009, the licensing Structure for vSphere has changed from the previous structure that we are accustomed to in VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3.5 (VI3)

1. There is no change in vCenter Server Licensing.

2. vSphere is now sold per physical CPU. The VI3 license was always for 2 CPU's. As of the change to vSphere it is priced per CPU, so please take care when placing your orders.

3. The editions in which ESX are now offered have changed from what was available in VI3

Editions Available in ESX 3.x were:

                Foundation

                Standard

                Enterprise

Editions available in ESX 4.x are:

- Essentials / Essentials Plus (Bundle)

- Standard

- Advanced

- Enterprise (*This is a special case that will explained later in detail)

- Enterprise plus

Below is a schematic as to how the different editions map between the versions
(all Prices in the document are VMware List Price)

Here is the feature breakdown for the new versions

Most of the Servers deployed today in our company are using the ESX Enterprise version, and using the Enterprise features of: VMotion, Storage VMotion, and DRS.

In order to accommodate customers VMware decided to continue the Enterprise License - but only until the End of the year (December 15, 2009). Thereafter, this edition will not be available for purchase. This has been confirmed with VMware support and licensing departments and on numerous locations in the Virtual community.

What does this mean for customers and for company in particular?

1. Starting December 16, 2009 - Enterprise will no longer be an option for purchase.

2. The Enterprise version will continue to be supported after the deadline mentioned above.

3. We will have to choose which version we will purchase instead - Enterprise Plus or Advanced.

Advanced

We will be able to continue to use most of the features we have been using until now - besides two important features

- Storage VMotion (migration of VM's from one storage device to another in real-time)

- DRS (Dynamic Resource Scheduling of optimal placement of Virtual machines - based on their
utilization)

Enterprise Plus

This will include all previously used features plus the new features of Host Profiles, Distributed vSwitch and 8-way vSMP.

Important issues to note if upgrading to Enterprise Plus

If you currently use the features of SVMotion and DRS and plan to do so in the future then you will have to purchase the Enterprise Plus license.

The new features that come with Enterprise plus will only work if all of the hosts in that cluster are at the same level.

That leaves you with some choices

Create separate clusters with only Enterprise Plus licenses (which will limit redundancy in your clusters)

Upgrade your entire cluster to Enterprise Plus (50% discount on upgrade until mid-December, but includes mandatory maintenance fees for additional year)

Mix your cluster with Enterprise and Enterprise Plus and continue to utilize SVMotion and DRS, forfeit the new features, but leave place for future growth

Purchase Advanced instead and save the extra expense but give up on the SVMotion and DRS.

In addition, the new Essentials/Essentials Plus Package - are ideal for for small environments / lab solutions - the package includes:

vCenter (limited to manage 3 hosts)

6 CPU licenses of ESX

To recap and summarize

- Licenses are now per single Physical CPU

- Enterprise will be available for order only until mid-December 2009

- Enterprise Plus will have planning issues which can be solved by:

Separate Clusters

Upgrade current Enterprise to Enterprise Plus (better to do before mid-December)

Evaluate if the features are needed, and if not go down to Advanced

- Essentials/Essentials Plus can be a cost-effective solution for small environments/ labs.

Hope you enjoyed the ride!

Master Luc (LucD22)

2009-09-09T21:58:00.000+03:00

I would like you all to give a very warm welcome to Luc Dekens.

Luc is one of the Masters of PowerCLI Forums. If you have a question about Powershell and VMware - he is the guy to ask - and he will answer!

He has finally started a Blog - I advise you to follow each and every post - it is a gem

More VMworld 2009 Numbers

2009-09-06T22:59:00.000+03:00

Continuing this post from Dave Lawrence - VMworld 2009 by the numbers I will add a few of my own.

29 video interviews done by John Troyer on the VMworld Live Ustream channel
23 (at least) new VCP4's
251 blog posts that came through on PlanetV12N about VMworld
7600 Tweets that have accumulated in my inbox (I use Twinbox) Since the beginning of VMworld
35MB - The amount of storage space - those 7600 tweets use in my PST
11 Blog posts on my blog about VMworld 2009 (and counting) - AND I WAS NOT EVEN THERE!!!

Thanks for a great Show!

Best of VMworld 2009 Contest Winners

2009-09-03T22:42:00.000+03:00

Category: Business Continuity and Data Protection

Gold: Vizioncore Inc., vRanger Pro 4.0
Finalist: Veeam Software Inc., Veeam Backup & Replication
Finalist: PHD Virtual Technologies, esXpress n 3.6

Category: Security and Virtualization
Gold: Hytrust, Hytrust Appliance
Finalist: Catbird Networks Inc., Catbird vCompliance

Category: Virtualization Management
Gold: Netuitive Inc., Netuitive SI for Virtual Data Centers
Finalist: Veeam Software, Veeam Management Suite
Finalist: Embotics Corp., V-Commander 3.0

Category: Hardware for Virtualization
Gold: Cisco Systems Inc., Unified Computing System
Finalist: Xsigo Systems, VP780 I/O Director 2.0
Finalist: AFORE Solutions Inc., ASE3300

Category: Desktop Virtualization
Gold: AppSense, AppSense Environment Manager, 8.0
Finalist: Liquidware Labs, Stratusphere
Finalist: Virtual Computer Inc., NxTop

Category: Cloud Computing Technologies
Gold: Mellanox Technologies, Italio Cloud Appliance
Finalist: InContinuum Software, CloudController v 1.5
Finalist: Catbird Networks Inc., Catbird V-Security Cloud Edition

Category: New Technology
Winner: VirtenSys, Virtensys IOV switch VMX-500LSR

Category: Best of Show
Winner: Hytrust, Hytrust Appliance

Congratulations to all the Winners!!!

New Free Products from Vizioncore

2009-09-02T17:00:00.000+03:00

Vizioncore have released 3 new products that are free.

vControl

vControl Multi-Hypervisor Management provides multi-VM control and task-based automation to reduce VM administration and improve consistency. Furthermore, vControl Multi-Hypervisor Management allows organizations to automate manual and repetitive tasks while enabling a cost-effective solution for high availability in the data center.

Working across multiple platforms, including VMware ESX/ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, and Sun Solaris Zones, vControl gives administrators the power to manage single or multiple VMs one-by-one or simultaneously. Finally, vControl Multi-Hypervisor Management provides pre-configured workflows to manage daily tasks, as well as a workflow builder for customization.

vControl Multi-Hypervisor Management helps organizations:

Reduce virtual machine (VM) administration time and errors without sacrificing control of the virtual environment

Perform various actions on a single VM or for multiple VMs to reduce time and effort

Automate manual and repetitive tasks while freeing up time to perform more valuable tasks

Reduce the costs of providing high availability (HA) to VMs

Reduce VM configuration and setup times while preventing oversight

More Details here

vConverter

vConverter SC freeware from Vizioncore is enterprise-class software that significantly reduces the time, cost, and effort required to convert physical and virtual machines to VMware^®, Microsoft^®, or XenServer^™. vConverter SC is suitable for all types and sizes of server consolidation initiatives where several or even thousands of physical servers need to be virtualized.

vConverter SC enables fast, easy and reliable conversions without disrupting the source physical system during the conversion process. There is no need to reboot, no need to visit machines being converted and no software to install on the source, which means virtually no downtime, thus significantly reducing the time and cost of the conversion process. vConverter SC also automates many time consuming and error prone conversion tasks such as target VM configuration and post conversion clean up.

More details here

vOPtimizer Wastefinder

vOptimizer WasteFinder is powerful freeware product that scans through VMware vCenter Servers (formerly Virtual Center) to locate over allocated virtual storage and misaligned Virtual Machines (VMs). The vOptimizer WasteFinder Space and Alignment Report provides totals of wasted storage and also a potential savings estimate if the space is reclaimed.

This unique storage optimization solution allows organizations to determine whether they are wasting expensive storage assets, to locate which VMs will yield the best storage reclamation results, and to discover how much money they are really spending on unused virtual storage. Potential savings estimates are calculated using customer provided storage costs and free space requirements to ensure accuracy.

vOptimizer WasteFinder also locates all VMs that not properly aligned on 64K partition boundaries. Improperly aligned VMs experience decreased I/O throughput and higher latency. Optionally, vOptimizer Pro from Vizioncore can be purchased to quickly and easily reclaim wasted virtual storage and to align VMs to proper 64K partition boundaries.

More Details here

Keep these wonderful products coming!!!

VMware GO - Will You GO?

2009-09-02T01:00:00.000+03:00

VMware has announced the Beta release of their new management product for ESXi free -
VMware GO.

From the short summary of the product

VMware Go is a Cloud based application that enables you get up and running quickly with VMware virtualization in a completely automated fashion.

Web Browser Interface

Easy-to-use Wizard

Quickly create ESXis

Easily add VMs

Manage ESXis and VMs

Ok I have already gone through the motions of installing. A few points that I have noted.

Supported OS XP SP3, Vista 32bit SP2, Vista 64bit SP2 (No Windows Server OS).
Support Browsers: IE 7 & up, Firefox 3 & up.
I found the the installation finicky - with Firefox - because of the .Net components
The whole application is run from your browser on the web - it is a cloud App.

I posted a few questions on the forum, which immediately came to mind.

All the data is stored where - I gather with VMware somewhere on a DB - correct?
Is the GO interface the only way to interact with the product?
From what I remember - the API's in ESXi free were read only - so what changed that this now allows changes?
Will there be a possibility to run the GO application on my network - and not with VMware? (Virtual Appliance)
What information is collected by VMware and what is done with this information?

The answers I received

VMware Go stores information that's discovered from your ESXi servers, VMs, Patch Data, etc in a secure database.
The Go interface is the only way to interact with that data at this time. Although future versions will be able to export data and get more extensive reports.
VMware Go can read and write from your ESXi installation using the VMware PowerCLI. It does not interface to ESXi through APIs.
VMware Go is a SaaS application that runs in the cloud and cannot be run locally on your network. However, since the VMware Go agent runs on your client machine, you can access ESXi and VMs running on your network and they can be used by VMware Go.
VMware Go is available for free on the internet, there are no plans for intranet versions for personal use.
The information stored by VMware Go like IP address, ESXi Config data, etc, are stored only to create a good user experience in VMware Go and improve future reporting capabilities.

So from these answers I was left with even more questions? (and Texiwill - forgive me for being the paranoid security guy here in your place)

People will have issues "entrusting" their infrastructure to an application that they have absolutely no control over
I have no idea of what information is stored in on VMware's servers.
I have no idea what VMware will do with this information?
Who can assure that the information will not be compromised?
How all of a sudden did the read-only API in the free ESXi become read/write?
If the configuration can be triggered from the WWW is this not punching a whole in the corporate LAN?

I know that this is free, I know that is targeted to the SMB market but quoting Wikipedia

EU Member States traditionally have their own definition of what constitutes an SME, for example the traditional definition in Germany had a limit of 250 employees, while, for example, in Belgium it could have been 100. But now the EU has started to standardize the concept. Its current definition categorizes companies with fewer than 10 employees as "micro", those with fewer than 50 employees as "small", and those with fewer than 250 as "medium".^[1] By contrast, in the United States, when small business is defined by the number of employees, it often refers to those with fewer than 100 employees, while medium-sized business often refers to those with fewer than 500 employees.

Will those businesses allow the first 5 points that I mentioned above to endanger their environment?

I as one would suggest that they make this available as a application (Virtual Appliance like almost everything that is being added today) that each customer can run in his own infrastructure.

Would be interested to hear your opinions.

You can follow the thread here

VMWorld – for the masses (not in SF)

2009-09-01T13:04:00.000+03:00

For all of you people (like me) who are not able to attend the conference in San Francisco – a post on the VMWorld communities about a decent number of sessions that you can view online (for free)

None of these sessions are available as live sessions at the conference

Here is the Available List:

BC2082	VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager Performance and Best Practice
BC2253	Pain-free VMware Agentless Backup AND Recovery - VCB & Beyond
BC3083	Mission Critical: Virtualization and Robust DR Architectures for Vital Systems
BC3602	VMware Fault Tolerance - vSphere Workflows and API Considerations
DV1406	Integrating VMware View with your VPN
EA1396	SQL, Exchange and SharePoint Deployments on EMC Celerra Unified Storage
EA3216	Best Practice for Virtualizing Active Directory using vSphere
EA3579	Oracle Enterprise Workloads on VMware How-To
TA1440	Networking in ESX: VM DirectPath Dynamic - the road to Direct VM to Hardware
TA3488	All Hypervisors Are Not Created Equal - The Unique Advantages of VMware ESX
V12789	VMware vCenter Converter 101
VM2711	Virtual Infrastructure Performance Optimization: From the Data Center to the Desktop
VM3237	vCenter Databases: Setup, Management and Best Practices
VM3237	VC Linked Mode in vSphere 4.0
VM3325	vSphere and ESXi Log Files 101 & 102
VM3404	Alarms for vCenter 4.0
VM3414	Study Reveals Production Best Practices for Virtualization

Enjoy!!

VMware Studio 2.0 - GA

2009-08-31T20:38:00.000+03:00

Release Notes

General Availability Release | 31 August 2009 | Build 1017

Last document update: 25 August 2009

New Features in VMware Studio 2.0

The following features were added between VMware Studio 1.0 and 2.0:

Ability to create multiple-VM appliances, or vApps, to run on VMware vSphere.
More provisioning engines including ESX/ESXi 3.5 and 4, VMware Workstation 6.5.1, and VMware Server 2.0.
Build support for Windows Server 2003 and 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit) virtual appliances.
Build support for 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and SUSE Enterprise Linux Server (SLES).
Build support new Linux distributions RHEL 5.3, CentOS 5.3, and Ubuntu 8.04.1.
Extensible management services allow you to customize an interface into a new tab.
An Eclipse™ plug-in helps you package applications and create management services.
Automatic dependency resolution for application packages installed on Linux-based virtual appliances.
Existing VM build (input-as-VM) for Linux virtual appliances.
DMTF standard OVF 1.0 and open virtual appliance (OVA) packaging. VMware Studio 1.0 supported OVF 0.9.

Can be downloaded from this link

Cloud API Technology Preview

2009-08-31T17:41:00.000+03:00

This was from an announcement from John Troyer

I saw a demo of a plug-in that utilizes this a while ago

The forum is now live

http://communities.vmware.com/community/developer/forums/vcloudapi

From the Q&A

vCloud API General Description
What is the vCloud API?
The vCloud API is an interface for providing and consuming virtual resources in the cloud. It enables deploying and managing virtualized workloads in internal and external clouds as well as interoperability between clouds. The vCloud API enables the upload, download, instantiation, deployment and operation of vApps, networks and Virtual Datacenters.

What are networks in this case?
These are virtual L2 networks in the cloud that enable flexible model for establishing connectivity between vApps in the cloud and connecting them to external networks outside the cloud.

What is a Virtual Datacenter?
A virtual Datacenter (vDC) is a new construct in the VMware vocabulary that contains storage, networking and compute capacity in which vApps are deployed.

What are vApps?
vApps are software solutions optimized for the cloud, consisting of one or more virtual machines, packaged and maintained as a single entity in OVF format. Just like the UPC bar code contains all information about a product, the vApp gives application owners a standard way to describe operational policies for an application which VMware vSphere (cloud OS) can automatically interpret and execute. Therefore, vApps are self-describing to and self-managing on the platform they run.

What is OVF?
Open Virtualization Format (OVF) is a platform independent, efficient, extensible, and open packaging and distribution format for virtual machines. OVF enables efficient, flexible, and secure distribution of software, facilitating the mobility of virtual machines and giving customers vendor and platform independence. Customers can deploy an OVF formatted vApp on the virtualization platform or cloud of choice. Learn more about OVF.

What version of the vCloud API was announced at VMWorld 2009?
This is the alpha version (0.8) – Technology Preview - of the API

Do I have to pay a royalty to VMware to use the API?
No.

If I build a product using this API is there some claim I can make about being VMware compatible?
Not at this time.

Key Features & Technical Details
What are the key characteristics of the API?
The vCloud API is an open, RESTful API. It is a standards-based, platform independent, pure virtual API compatible with a broad and diverse range of applications.

What is REST?
It is very common for a compute cloud to have programmatic control. In working with customers a common request was to use REST. Representational State Transfer (REST) is an architectural style characteristic of programs that rely on the inherent properties of hypermedia and HTTP to create and modify the state of an object that is accessible at a URL.

What do you mean by “pure virtual”?
The API does not expose any aspect of the physical infrastructure (servers, storage, networks) or how the physical infrastructure is virtualized. In a cloud service only virtual forms of the infrastructure can be exposed through the API. The pure virtual nature of the API also helps make the API simple to use and implement

How does this API support multi-tenancy?
For a cloud service to be multi-tenant, both its API and its implementation must support multi-tenancy. The pure virtual nature of the vCloud API enables it to be multi-tenant. Each cloud customer, or tentant, can only see its own set of virtual resources while having no means to address the shared underlying physical resources. This kind of isolation between tenants is analogous to the isolation between processes in a conventional OS achieved through the use of virtual memory: each process sees a continuous memory address space for its own use, but cannot directly address the underlying physical memory or the virtual memory of another process. Just like the virtual memory sub-system of a conventional OS in cooperation with its platform APIs works to achieve isolation between processes, in the same manner the cloud service implementation together with the vCloud API can support multi-tenancy.

How does the VMware implementation of the vCloud API allow for scalability?
VMware vSphere aggregates industry standard devices, storage and networking systems into unified logical resource pools to provide the highest level of reliability with the lowest cost of running applications. Such resource pools are managed by vCenter Server. The VMware implementation of the vCloud API spans multiple vCenter Servers to provide available virtual resources. This offers improved scalability needed a cloud service.

Is the vCloud API extensible?
Yes, it is possible for implementers to add links to new features and functions as well as extend the request and response schemas for defined API functions.

Is the vCloud API an extension of the vSphere/VIM API?
No, the vCloud API is not an extension, replacement or a subset of the vSphere/VIM API. The vSphere API remains unchanged. The two APIs serve different roles. While the vSphere API focuses on providing programmatic control for the creation and configuration of virtual resources based on physical resources, the vCloud API is focused on the use of these virtual resources while completely hiding the underlying physical resources. In other words, while the vSphere API is a virtualization API, the vCloud API is a pure-virtual API. The two do not mix: each represents a different plane of abstraction onto which subject entities are projected.

Documentation and Availability
What is currently available as part of the vCloud API launch?
At VMWorld 2009, VMware released the API as a Technology Preview. The API Programming Guide, API Specification and schema definition files are available for download from the vCloud API developer community. These documents will enable developers to write code to the API specification.

When will the vCloud API be available?
VMware is working towards releasing the API in beta form. We will inform interested developers and IT Admins as we approach our beta availability. We look forward to receiving your feedback. Share your thoughts and comments.

How can I participate in the vCloud API beta?
If you are interested in participating in the vCloud beta and wish to be informed on updates.

Audience use cases
Who is the vCloud API targeted towards?
The vCloud API is targeted towards developers and IT Admins across our service provider, ISV and enterprise customer community

What are some key distinguishing characteristics of the vCloud API?

Pure virtual nature makes it very easy to use and implement
Supports the industry standard OVF 1.0 format.
It is designed to support existing customers as well as enterprise still running applications on physical hardware to move their legacy applications into the cloud.
Developing an application to the vCloud API, makes it compatible with a large number of VMware-based internal clouds or external service provider clouds à broad application compatibility and choice of SPs (no lock in)

How can service providers use the API?
As part of their external cloud offerings, Service Providers can build “Infrastructure as a Service” portals with a standard, consistent programmatic interface. They can also use existing portals to orchestrate cloud functions through the API.

How can ISVs use the API?
ISVs can extend their existing software to make use of cloud services that present the vCloud API or build entirely new applications that make use of the API.

How can enterprises use the API?
The vCloud API enables enterprises to build internal clouds based on the VMware technology stack. They can extend their workflow automation and provisioning to make use of vCloud services that implement the vCloud API.

Licensing, Implementations
What licensing terms govern usage of the vCloud API?
The vCloud API Specification and schema definition files are being released under a permissive (MIT like) license. Developers and service providers are free to make use of the API under a royalty free license that allows for extension. See specific details on the license terms.

F5 Live App Migration Between Clouds Demo

2009-08-31T17:32:00.000+03:00

F5 Announced today that they were providing with their BIG-IP can VMotion from one site to another without downtime.

First the VM is sVmotioned from one storage to another, and then Vmotioned, F5 BIG-IP will redirect the to the remote site, including live sessions that are currently in progress.

Taken from the Demo on their Site

In this webcast we will demonstrate how to perform a secure live migration of a VM from one cloud to another, without downtime, and without user disruption using LTM, GTM and vCenter APIs. Until now, it has been difficult if not impossible to accomplish this. VMotion is today limited to a single L2 broadcast domain, and Storage VMotions are even more restrictive. IP address space limitations make management cumbersome at best.

F5 will be demonstrating this capability on Wednesday, September 2 at 10:30 a.m. and 5:15 p.m. at the VMware vCloud Pavilion at VMworld 2009. Come visit F5 Networks at Booth #2302

Demo You can download the webcast video here

Useful VMWorld 2009 info

2009-08-26T11:15:00.000+03:00

Wifi
Complimentary wireless access is available to all conference attendees in specific areas. Look for “VMworld2009” in your list of available wireless networks. The wireless network supports 802.11 a/b/g protocols and there is no WEP key. Once you connect to the network, just launch your Internet
browser to gain access. If you need help connecting, please see the conference staff at the information desks located throughout the conference.
Email stations
Sponsored by HP, where you can check email, confirm and print your schedule, and fill out overall conference surveys, are located throughout the VMworld conference venue. VMworld email stations are located in the Moscone South Lobby, Concourse Level and at the Marriott Hotel, Yerba Buena Ballroom.
Meals
- Breakfast and Lunch are served in the Moscone Center, Hall A.
  Lunch will also be served in The Forum, with additional seating in
  Yerba Buena Gardens.
- Continental Breakfast
  Tuesday & Wednesday: 6:30 am – 8:00 am
  Thursday: 7:30 am – 9:00 am
  Lunch
  Tuesday through Thursday: 11:30 am – 1:30 pm
VMWorld Alumni
Have you attended two previous VMworld conferences as a general attendee? If yes, you’re a VMworld Alumnus! We want to recognize and thank you for your continued support of VMworld, so be sure to take advantage of the many special alumni activities and opportunities during the conference. Drop by the exclusive Alumni Lounge, located in Room 105 of the Moscone Center, to hang out, get online, have a snack or simply rejuvenate. You can pick up your exclusive alumni button here, too. Alumni also get 10% off VMware merchandise during VMworld 2009, redeemable at the VMware Company Store, located in the South Lobby.

VMWorld Conferences 2010

2009-08-26T11:05:00.001+03:00

I know we are all busy with next weeks VMworld 2009 in San Francisco but a small heads-up for next year

Next year the conferences will be back-to-back

VMworld US 2010 – Aug 30-Sep 02 in Moscone Center, San Francisco

Vmworld Europe 2010 - Oct 11-14, Bella Centre, Copenhagen

Mark your Calendars!!!!