Virtual Architect

Last week Vmware released a new version of VirtualCenter: version 2.0.2.

Three new features were added to the package. In short:

1. License Administration – Granular control over ESX Server and VCB license redistribution and allocation. It’s now possible to stick licenses to specific hosts, in order to prevent situations were adding another host results in ’nicking’ the last remaining license
2. Newly supported database for virtualcenter 2.0.2 release – Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2 (both 32 bit and 64 bit) are now supported. Note that using the native driver still isn’t supported, make sure you use the SQL Server driver
3. Permission Can Be Assigned to Users and Groups With Long Names – In VI Client, you can now create permissions and assign them to users or groups with names that are up to 250 characters long

Furthermore there are a bunch of bugs and security issues solved in this release. For details please check the releasenotes.
Download Virtual Center here.

When doing an upgrade be aware of the following:

• Add host operation fails when /tmp/vmware-root directory is missing in the ESX Server 3.0.x host
• Canceling the VirtualCenter Database Upgrade process closes the Upgrade Wizard UI, but the process continues to run in the background
• make a backup of your current VirtualCenter Database (trivial eh?)
• When upgrading and choosing the "use an exising database server"-option make sure to make the right choices, just hitting the "yes"-button instead of "no"-button will result in a loss of all history and configuration and you will end up with an empty database
• After upgrading VirtualCenter remember to upgrade the VI-Client on the windows-hosts

A couple of days ago VMlogix released version 3.0 of its Lab manager, a tool to simplify software lifecycle management. Whats new? Here is a highlight:

• VMware ESX 3.0.X support
• Shared iSCSI, NFS, SAN/NAS storage
• LDAP / Active Directory & SSL
• 64-bit OS support
• IPZones for network isolation
• Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• Sun Solaris (x86 Architectures)
• Enhanced User Interface & Performance

The great thing about this product is that you’re not bound to one single virtualization platform (like with vmware labmanager where you must use esx). VMLogix Labmanager also supports VMware Server and Microsoft Virtual Server (and claim to support others soon).

You can download a 30 day trial here or take a screenshot tour here.

Ilya Baimetov, Director of Technology at of SWsoft says Intel’s investment & support for VMware (together with the VMware IPO) is good news for the virtualization industry. SWsoft recieved it back in 2005 and it allowed them to deliver better products, faster. 

Read more at: Virtuozzoblog or VMware

With the recent release of VMware Lab Manager 2.5, VMware also launched a new Lab Manager ROI calculator, which details in graphical format the savings you can realize through lab system consolidation, improved provisioning, and much more.

VMware Lab Manager ROI Calculator – START NOW [http://www.vmware.com/products/labmanager/calculator.html?id=LabManagerAnnouncement] Why virtualize the test lab with VMware Lab Manager? A virtual lab automation system improves IT operational and infrastructure efficiency by:

• Reducing server sprawl across development and test teams
• Shortening the time spent provisioning by 50% or more
• Enabling reliable reproduction of software defects discovered during testing

For more information about what’s new in Lab Manager 2.5, read the VMware Lab Manager 2.5 datasheet. [http://www.vmware.com/pdf/labmanager_datasheet.pdf]

Source: VMware

It’s been a couple of days ago already, but I did not want to withhold the info.

I’ve been a bit busy (holiday/work/family) lately so my posts were not that regularly as before. I do try to keep up the pace a little now. So first some catching up to do.

It started on the (very early) morning of the 18th of june 2007. I got in my car at 06:00 AM in the morning heading to a meeting point (MCDrive) where I picked up a collegue of mine. At 08:45 we arrived in Amsterdam after enjoying(not) the typical trafic jam.

This was the first edition of an annual Technet Live event ever (that is in The Netherlands) and it replaces the regional "Technet Meetings". This event was crowded.

Nice to see that there were a lot of people I met before, even some customers I worked with.

Roughly spoken there were two types of sessions you could attend. The type of sessions depended on the money factor… in concreto: You either paid for it or not. Luckily the event fee for the payable content was on another level compared to Tech Ed IT Forum. You even were offered to pick a book title.

A lot of sessions were offered which I am not listing here, their probably somewhere on the web, as I am thinking of it, I’m sure they are because I got a mail with a link to all the slides, some of them in Dutch and some in English.

After listening to the Keynote -  mainly about exchange 2007 and collaboration and of course the stunning Microsoft Round Table Device (a new teleconferencing camera/mic device which follows the direction of sound in order to provide voice and video) – I  enjoyed the session of Mark Minasi most, maybe not entirely based on the contents but surely based on his presentation skills, boy he was really funny.

While you’re reading this you’re probably wondering what about the virtual aspect then?

I also enjoyed two sessions concerning virtualization. The first one I attended was a so called sponsor session during the lunch break. In this case the sponsor was… VMware. It was a nice one, a pity he did it in English because his dutch accent was embarrasing at some point, but anyway it was a nice overview of VMware’s capabilities. The exact word to describe this session should be ‘couragious’ (operating behind enemy lines). Another teaser was the VMware booth: they were showing off a Nintendo WII.

The other session I attended was a session about windows virtualization ( to be released 180 days after the RTM of Windows Server 2008). This was a very nice session hosted by Ronald Beekelaar MVP. This was the second time I attended a session from him and it was a very nice session. Not too much news though. The glimpse of Virtual Machine Manager used with windows virtualization, was funny because the version showed was a pre-beta version which contained a funny description of VLAN tagging "Does Something". It just shows that vlans are new to Microsoft (at least for some people). For the rest of the session details see the slides.

Today VMware released a new version of its software lifecycle management product Lab Manager, details about this version I posted at the start of the BETA are to be found at this link. As you can see there are no major changes in functionality, it’s just a minor update.