Wednesday, November 30, 2005

baeke.info :: ESX performance can be impacted by shared interrupts

Not an issue in my enterprise but still a useful tip worth checking out.

IT Spending Priorities via CIO News

Security spendgin is still tops but VMware's star continues to rise as evidenced by these findings.
Among enterprise software vendors, VMware Inc. and SAP AG were the two most-cited companies that are receiving an increasing percentage of the respondents’ IT budgets.

I can concur with this as our enterprise made the move to virtualizing 15 servers using VMware's ESX platform about six months ago.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

VMTN Blog covers the Workstation 5.5 Release

Yes, it's finally official. Now why don't I have it loaded??!! My network engineer beat me to the punch with the free upgrade from 5.0. Since I run my desktop as a VM, I'm moving a little slower. Maybe tomorrow. I'll finally be able to load the latest revision of MS Vista as the new 5.5 code has what it takes to avoid some install issues.

Monday, November 28, 2005

virtualization.info: VMware products could gain high availability soon

Alessandro predicts high availability configurations with VMware servers due to a 2004 acquisition. Looking at the presentation for ESX server 3.0, I can see this coming as well.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

VMware Workstation 5.5 Released

Download the full version. Read about the highlighted features. I can't wait because I need 5.5 to load the latest beta of Windows Vista.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

SteveX Compiled » VMWare and HTTP.SYS

A post today from a user who says he has problems (maybe) with the interaction of http.sys and VMware Workstation's virtualization drivers. Mark Russinovich (who uncovered the issue) notes he solved this problem with the final version of the product but maybe it's still around. I can't say I've seen current issue in my install with this but it's worth keeping in mind.

NetIQ Extends Award Winning AppManager Suite to Manage VMware Virtual Infrastructures

I've loved NetIQ products. We used the Chariot Assessor product (now called Vivinet) during our planning for a VoIP deployment in our 55+ Wide-Area network locations. I've tested some of their Administrator programs as well. Now to see this extension of NetIQ's AppManager to VMware is a very nice addition.

I think it's time to download.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

EMC should set VMware free | The Register

The Register is advocating EMC to spinoff VMware. Here is some of their reasoning...
In its most recent quarter, VMware reported revenue of more than $100m for the first time in its history. EMC noted that it's "continuing to be one of the fastest-growing major software businesses in the world." No other start-up in the server software realm enjoys such a stranglehold on the market leader position or the incredible margins VMware achieves by selling its products for thousands of dollars per processor.

As a comparison, Red Hat recently posted second quarter revenue of $65.7m. That marked a 42 per cent year-over-year rise and sent Red Hat's shares up to 20 per cent higher in just 24 hours.

One year ago, VMware pulled in $61m, which was a 200 per cent rise over its pervious third quarter. Moving from $61m to this year's $100m also gives VMware more than a 60 per cent year-over-year revenue surge - far better than say, Red Hat.

VMware ownership is certainly an incredible value proposition. Should it fly free? Think about it and leave your thoughts.

Friday, November 04, 2005

virtualization.info: VMware Workstation 5.5 expected for middle December

It's almost here...

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

VM Builder

Earlier this week, I highlighted a script to download and generate vmx files for your VM player. Now there is this pretty cool online VMX file creator. I like the layout and usability of the page.

Virtual Strategy Magazine - A VMware ESX question: Boot from SAN?

Should you boot your VMware ESX from SAN? Virtual Strategy Mag has a Q&A with Mark Gabryjelski of Expert Server Group (a VMware Authorized Consultant (VAC)) who is "one of the most skilled and experienced System Engineers in North America in implementing Server Virtualization". Mark does quick work of laying out the issues and helping you decide.