Virtual Architect

VMware is already busy planning the second VMworld Europe, the event will be held on Feb 24-26 2009 at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes . That is the same location as the previous VMworld Europe event in 2008.

If you want to be kept informed about the event you can already pre-register here or click on the picture below.

Richard Garsthagen from VMware at www.run-virtual.com posted a nice article about ESXi and the ability to get full control over it.

an excerpt from his post:

As you probably know ESX 3i is the embedded version of ESX, mainly run from USB flash disks build-in servers from HP, Dell, IBM and FSC, but you can also install this on your own servers.

…

The main thing about 3i is that the Red Hat service console has been removed and replaced by a small busybox Linux version.

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By default the 3i server gives us no access to this small service console, but there are some down sides to this, as certain things can only be done from the service console and until VMware builds those missing functionalities into the VC interface you still need to get yourself console access. In the beta versions of 3i there was an option in the advanced settings, but this has been removed in the final releases. Luckily the service console is based on a open source product, so VMware has to publish this source code.. after some lovely source code reading, I found the new backdoor to still get console access.

…

Hit ALT-F1

type: unsupported

and viola you will get a password prompt and after typing the root password you have a console

So what can you do with (why you need) this service console:

• enable SHH access to your server remotely
• change HBA driver options
• make use of thin-provisioned disks (disks will start small and only grow when you need the space)!!

Richard also posted an animated gif with which he shows the screenshots of the process to access the small console.

Read the full article here

The Xtravirt Virtual SAN (XVS) appliance for VMware ESX3 Server, is a free solution to provide the benefits of shared VMFS storage without the cost of a SAN – this allows the utilisation of otherwise unused local storage in the ESX server to facilitate enterprise level features such as vMotion, DRS and HA normally only available through the use of a shared storage device. All volume data is synchronously replicated between hosts, providing full fail-over capability with data integrity in the event of host, disk or appliance failure. The appliance is menu driven and has been designed to be as easy to configure as possible, and full documentation is provided. 

Its features include:

• XVS is a SAN and local Disaster Recovery all-in-one
• It provides enterprise level functionality such as vMotion, DRS, and HA, all using direct attached storage
• All volume data is synchronously replicated between hosts providing full failover capability with data integrity in the event of a host, disk or appliance failure

Download it here

Today I received an email from VMware in which the company made some announcements about the general availability of two products and a new softwarebundle.

On May 12, 2008, the company announced VMware Stage Manager, VMware Site Recovery Manager, VMware IT Service Delivery Pack, and the Management and Automation bundle.

VMware Stage Manager is a breakthrough product for accelerating and automating the delivery of applications from staging to production.

VMware Site Recovery Manager, which is part of VMware’s suite of management and automation products for the datacenter, leverages virtualization to simplify business continuity planning and testing, and reduces the risk and complexity associated with executing disaster recovery.

The VMware IT Service Delivery Bundle includes all the products necessary to automate the entire lifecycle of IT services, from initial request to final retirement: VMware Lifecycle Manager and either VMware Lab Manager or VMware Stage Manager. These products use virtualization to provide a more cost effective and powerful way to manage the entire software lifecycle.

The VMware Management and Automation Bundle provides a single package for addressing both IT Service Delivery and Business Continuity. It includes VMware Lifecycle Manager, VMware Lab Manager, VMware Stage Manager, plus the disaster recovery product VMware Site Recovery Manager, a significant improvement over traditional tools for disaster recovery configuration, testing, and management. All products are available for purchase as of May 19, 2008.

Arnold Veenema a colleague of mine wrote an interesting item on his website about how to create your own bootable USB stick with ESXi (Previous called ESX 3i) using the download of the ESXi installable ISO-image. In twelve easy steps you will be able to use your own USB stick with ESXi!

Take a look at it here:

http://www.veenema.net/index.php?Virtualization:HOW_TO_Create_your_own_bootable_ESX_3i_usb_stick

During the Dutch VMUG Meeting in December 2007 the VMUG team announced that it would organize smaller meetings focusing a specific subject.

The first meeting of this kind will be held on Thursday June 5, 2008 at NetApp.

Important! To attend you will have to sign up because the number of attendees is limited.

During this VMUG Meeting NetApp will present and demonstrate their possibilities and solutions focused on their relationship with VMware technologies. NetApp is a specialist in networked storage and delivers a broad scale of storage solutions.

The language will be Dutch and this is the Agenda (in Dutch):

Het onderwerp van de presentatie is: “Data protection binnen een VMware omgeving”.

Het programma is als volgt:
- 16:00-16:30 Welkom/Ontvangst
- 16:30-16:40 Ontvangst namens VMUG (Viktorious)
- 16:40-18:00 Technische presentatie NetApp incl. Demo (Tim Waldron)
- 18:00-18:30 Pauze incl. pizza en versnaperingen
- 18:30-19:00 Vervolg presentatie / Q&A (Tim Waldron)

De volgende onderwerpen zullen tijdens de presentatie aan bod komen:
- Snelle backup / recovery van VM’s
- DR binnen Vmware omgevingen
- De-duplicatie binnen Vmware omgevingen

The VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) on VMware Infrastructure 3 is an advanced certification developed for design architects of VMware enterprise deployments.

There are four core validation components to achieve VCDX.

(1) Must be certified as a VMware Certified Professional (VCP) on VMware Infrastructure 3.

(2) Pass the VMware Enterprise Administration Exam. Includes live labs and tests a higher level of skill set than the exam for VCP on VMware Infrastructure 3.

(3) Pass the VMware Design Exam. This exam focuses on actual design scenarios and contains simulations and situational questions.

(4) Submit, present and defend a successful VMware Infrastructure design and implementation plan.

The Enterprise Exam (first exam required) is available from April 30, 2008 (so that is now!). See the blueprint here …more info

To prepare make sure you complete your VCP on VMware Infrastructure 3 requirements complete. You may take one of three courses as a prerequisite: VMware Infrastructure 3: Install & Configure; VMware Infrastructure 3: Deploy, Secure & Analyze; or VMware Infrastructure 3: Fast Track

Learn More

Think you might qualify as a VCDX?
Check your skills here! Follow this link to our qualification review. This is a required first step for those who want to pursue the VMware Certified Design Expert certification. Only those who meet qualifications will continue on to take the exams. You will need to login to take this review:Skills Review

It was announced earlier and I showed some pictures in an entry some time ago, but Tuesday it was announced at Microsoft’s Management Summit (MMS) 2008 by Bob Muglia during one of the keynotes: Service Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 will manage a heterogeneous virtual datacenter. SCVMM will be capable of managing Hyper-V, VI3 and Xen side by side. Together with this message also the public beta of VMM 2008 was announced. Thanks to my colleague and friend Omar (http://oehoeven.spaces.live.com), who is attending the MMS event and wrote an item on it Tuesday evening (European timezone that is..).

I also stumbled upon a post of Geert Baeke at beake.info :: SCVMM 2008 and VMware integration. In his post he describes his efforts installing SCVMM and integrating Hyper-V, VI3 (virtual center) and MS Virtual Server. He also put some screenshots in his post so check it out!