VMware Blog

2006-11-08T08:37:00.001-05:00

VMware Blog is shutting down. I'm too busy to dedicate any time to this blog and with great bloggers already doing the work in this area, there is no need to duplicate it. Instead, I'll concentrate on my ThoughtComm blog. Thanks...

**Updated 2/9/11 to reflect more recent blogs before sale

2006-09-28T16:57:00.000-04:00

VMware 'miles ahead' of Microsoft Virtual Server, expert says

I agree.

2006-09-21T08:18:00.000-04:00

Vizioncore's got VMware's back | InfoWorld | Review | 2006-09-21 | By Paul Venezia

From the article:

The backup and restore process itself is the very model of simplicity. Armed with the root credentials to the VMware servers and administration rights to Virtual Center, esxRanger’s backup method is straightforward: It creates a snapshot of the target server and then leverages tar and gzip to collect and compress the snapshots and the VMDK (VM Disk Format) hardware configuration file for the target VM into an SSH connection between the ESX or VI3 server and the workstation. From there, the resulting tarball is placed onto the destination medium, whether it is a local disk, a SAN, or a simple Windows share. Alternatively, the backup may be directly placed on a file system mounted on the VMware server, be that a SAN LUN (logical unit number) or an NFS file system.

2006-09-19T15:39:00.000-04:00

VMware preps less painful ESX upgrades

virtualization.info reported over a month ago about zero downtime migration from ESX 2.x to ESX 3.x. Now it seems we have a name for this feature, "Dmotion" as well as a bit more detail. I think it would be much more appropriate to call it "Promotion".

2006-09-06T16:37:00.000-04:00

Phil Windley's Technometria | VMWare ESX Performance Report

Phil Windley, former CIO of Utah, had a student do a report on ESX server performance. He reports the following findings from the student:

Single CPU virtual machines scale better than virtual machines using Virtual SMP.
Hyper-Threading increases throughput if there are a large number of virtual CPUs, but makes no difference if the number of virtual CPUs is less than or equal to the number of physical CPUs.
Do not allocate excessive resources to virtual machines. Additional resources may hurt performance.

2006-08-30T15:42:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Tool: Live View

A forensic analysis tool from CERT which allows virtualization on the fly so systems can be untouched in the physical world but manipulated in the virtual world. Try it out for yourself.

2006-08-15T10:57:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Features comparison: VMware Workstation 5.5.2 vs Server 1.0.0

Helpful reference as to how these products compare. I'm running Workstation on my desktop and Server on my laptop. Some feature in Workstation are definitely worth the money.

2006-08-15T10:55:00.000-04:00

VMware Appliance Winners

VMware's introduction of virtual appliance was simply brilliant. Organizing a contest and challenging the community to contribute their best appliances sparked a variety of ideas and purposes for virtual machines. Now we have the winners with this appliance (HowNetWorks) taking top honors. Download a copy and try out the result of ingenuity, teamwork and practical application.

2006-08-07T10:59:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: VMware Workstation for Mac OS X to enter beta soon

2006-08-02T11:57:00.000-04:00

Two new migration offerings for ESX

Vizioncore debuts esxMigrator and PlateSpin releases PowerConvert 6.0. Both products can assist in the move to VI3. Check them out and let us know your experiences.

2006-07-20T20:34:00.000-04:00

LinuxWorld | VMware slams XenSource-Microsoft deal

via digg

2006-07-12T13:36:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Release: VMware Server 1.0

Full version available.

2006-07-12T13:33:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Release: VMware VirtualCenter 1.4

2006-07-04T18:32:00.000-04:00

Improving Business Continuity Using Virtual Infrastructure

Dell e-seminar available next week.

2006-06-26T11:04:00.000-04:00

VMGuru : Restoring an ESX 2.X Virtual Machine on VMware Server

Nice article at VMGuru on using VMware server as a restore environment for disaster recovery on an ESX 2.x server. A GUI for the manual changes to the header file is forthcoming on VMGuru.

2006-06-26T10:59:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Whitepaper: Unofficial upgrade guide to VMware ESX Server 3.x and VirtualCenter 2.x

Thinking about upgrading to VI3, it might be worth checking out this paper.

2006-06-26T10:57:00.000-04:00

VMware Utilities

If you haven't checked out these utilities, you may find them a great deal of help. VMware DiskMount GUI and VMware DiskManger GUI are available here.

2006-06-26T10:54:00.000-04:00

Australia's Premier Virtualisation Community

The VMTN blog introduces a new blog in the community that has some good articles focused on VMware issues. Check it out.

2006-06-21T23:54:00.000-04:00

Installing Windows 2003 (within ESX 3.0) on an 8 processor AMD64 Opteron server

Rockin'! Also enjoy Richard's installation of the ESX 3.0 which has some nice banjo. I need to play some of this when I upgrade. Thanks, Richard (http://www.cyclelicio.us)!

2006-06-15T22:45:00.000-04:00

South Carolina VMware User Group - June 29th Meeting

Register to come and join us for the following:

Agenda: Upgrade/Migration Strategies to Virtual Infrastructure 3
* Intro's
* Elect Officers
* Discussion on Migration Strategies to move from ESX 2.x to VI3
* Q&A round-table

2006-06-13T12:16:00.000-04:00

Ecora First to Deliver Configuration Management Solution for VMWare

The press release says:

Ecora Reporter and Auditor for VMWare come loaded with 28 ready-made report templates, including:

• ESX security settings
• Virtual machine permissions
• VMFS files
• VMFS volumes
• ESX and GSX host overview
• Virtual machine summary
• Physical NIC and virtual switches
• Linux local users and groups, and many more.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

2006-06-08T23:00:00.000-04:00

Flash: VMWare eats Microsoft's lunch again, steals toys, cuts in line - Computerworld Blogs

Jeff Boles has a few words to say. Here is his final thought:

I think even the Microsoft fans in us love to love VMWare, because it finally makes our hope come alive - finally, a way to use this nice GUI OS without having to worry about how we're shooting ourselves in the foot. As VMWare continues to add tremendous depth to their product line, it doesn't look like competitors in the same space have a wing or a prayer.

2006-06-06T08:42:00.000-04:00

VMware Not Resting on Laurels, President Says

eWeek reports Diane Greene's announcement of VI 3 yesterday.

2006-06-06T08:32:00.000-04:00

VMware Infrastructure 3

Visit the VMware site for more info in detail about the products now available. Some nice pdf's concerning the details.

2006-06-05T08:03:00.000-04:00

VMware aims higher with new bundle | CNET News.com

VMware is introducing VMware Infrastructure 3, combining a number of products together as a package. Pricing is expected as follows:

VMware said Infrastructure 3 will be available this month in three versions: Infrastructure Starter for small and medium-size companies costs $1,000 per two processors; Infrastructure Standard is for companies consolidating department-level environments and costs $3,750 per two processors; and Infrastructure Enterprise, aimed at large companies, sells for $5,750 per two processors.

2006-05-22T13:27:00.000-04:00

CRN | VMware To Launch ESX3, VirtualCenter 2 In June

This is the latest information on release timeframes

2006-05-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

Yankee Group / Sunbelt Survey on virtualization via WServerNews

Put in your two cents. Here is what they say about their survey:

...Yankee Group / Sunbelt survey that will provide you with what the current status is regarding virtualization and what your peers are up to. You are invited to fill out this web-survey, it's going to take you about 3-4 minutes max, and we will report back with the Executive Summary in a coming issue.

2006-05-16T23:04:00.000-04:00

InfoWorld Virtualization Report | VMware Outlines Hardware Requirements for 64-Bit Guest Operating Systems

Make sure you know your 64-bit environment is compatible with VMware if you intend to go that direction. With Exchange 2007 being 64-bit only, production environments like mine will require the upgrade if intending to stay virtual.

2006-05-11T15:59:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Trends in virtualization interest

Nice job by Alessandro by applying the Google Trends announcement yesterday to VMware and virtualization. I found it interesting that the top 10 city and region hits for VMware did NOT include a U.S. location.

2006-05-04T15:57:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: TV: vizioncore esxRanger on CNBC

Set your Tivo...should be worth watching

2006-05-04T10:25:00.000-04:00

InfoWorld | Will Carmine be enough in Microsoft's fight against VMware? By David Marshall

Answer: No, VMware is way ahead of the game.

2006-05-02T07:00:00.000-04:00

MercuryNews.com | 05/01/2006 | Network needs drive VMware's explosive growth

Nice, short overview of VMware with this quote showing the growth VMware is experiencing with the boom in virtualization:

VMware is now bursting out of its offices on bucolic Porter Drive in Palo Alto. It will soon begin building a new campus nearby, not far from Stanford University, where its technology originally was developed. VMware, with 1,600 workers worldwide, expects to double in size locally, to 2,000 employees by next year.

2006-04-26T06:55:00.000-04:00

The virtualization myth | InfoWorld | Column | 2006-04-26 | By Tom Yager

Tom says "There’s a lot more to it than a bunch of developers running Windows and Linux together" and indeed there is. He paints some attractive scenarios, one of which I've wondered about myself. Namely, software/applications should be delivered as a VM and not as a bunch of install disks. I shouldn't have to be concerned about correct installations if a company has already mastered a VM with the right drivers, etc. and can deliver the product to me in this ready-to-go form. Combine this with the ease of "giving" someone a copy of my server for support purposes after deployed and there is an overwhelming case for even more virtualization.

2006-04-21T16:36:00.000-04:00

Why not VMware, Cisco?

Yesterday I attended a seminar sponsored by Nortel and a presentation by Cisco at our Carolina Cisco Users Group monthly meeting. Both meetings focused on IP telephony. However, neither one of these mentioned virtualization of any kind. I was disappointed despite knowing hearing the "v" word from these vendors would be a longshot. So let me tell you where I thought I needed to hear it and how Cisco specifically is missing the boat.

I've helped build our Cisco infrastructure over the past six years and VoIP has been part of the growth we've experienced. Specifically, the Cisco Unified CallManager needs to be able to grow with the enterprise. Virtualization is the best way to make this happen. Not only could it provide more resources to the servers needed to run their software, it could simplify deployment by Cisco providing a VM guest pre-built and configured correctly. Quick deployments, redundancy and backups are all addressed in this scenario. Right now, we're stuck in the physical world. Please consider this change, Cisco. It only makes sense.

I'm anxious to see what kind of partnerships between Cisco and VMware may develop in the future. I've heard we need to keep our eyes open for some.

2006-04-21T14:25:00.000-04:00

VMware User Group in Columbia, SC begins

I thoroughly enjoyed my time today meeting other VMware users and hearing about the variety of environments we have in our area. Tommy Walker, our VMware sales engineer, walked us through a quick overview of ESX 3.0/VC 2.0 and said all is on target for Q2. The improvements are significant and if you haven't taken a look, you need to here. This is the presentation Tommy shared with us today. We'll also probably piggyback on the Charlotte group's website (http://www.vmusers.org) for our web presence.

2006-04-21T14:20:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: VMware proposal for a standard virtualization interface in Linux kernel

Alessandro updates us on the issues by quoting the original VMware proposal.

2006-04-21T07:46:00.000-04:00

VMware Local User Group -- Columbia, SC

I'm headed over to the South Carolina VMware User Group kick-off. Here's the schedule:

Date: April 21, 2006
Time: 11:00am to 1:00pm

Location: Training Concepts
250 Berryhill Road
Suite 502
Columbia, SC 29210
(803) 772-6441

Agenda:
Introduction to local VMware Team
VMware Users Group Introduction
Lunch provided
Topics for future meetings
Round Table Discussion
Q&A

2006-04-21T06:56:00.000-04:00

Linux team tells VMware and Xen to get their acts together | The Register

This is an important story on this tug-o-war. Read on...

2006-04-21T06:55:00.000-04:00

Techworld.com - VMware's VM Challenge leads to bigger things

2006-04-21T06:53:00.000-04:00

VMware problems on 64bit hosts continued-User experience

Anyone have some help for this guy?

2006-04-20T23:20:00.000-04:00

virtualization.info: Tech: Exporting VMware Server beta virtual machines to ESX Server 2.x

Good tip!

2006-04-16T22:43:00.000-04:00

Virtualization saves tax giant $1M

Another success story:

As the Monday U.S. deadline for filing taxes quickly approaches, tax preparation firm H&R Block says it has found a way to cut IT costs.

With the use of virtualization software from EMC subsidiary VMware, the tax firm estimates it has saved about $1 million on hardware purchases since rolling out the technology in June 2005, said Ron Rosenkoetter, senior systems engineer for H&R Block, in Kansas City, Missouri.

2006-04-15T21:39:00.000-04:00

Virtual Appliances: VMTN Appliances

The new Virtual Appliances Directory is available per the VMTN blog.

Nice features to filter this ever-growing list. It's a really great list of usable VM's. I've just downloaded Fedora Core 5 to try it out.

2006-04-15T21:34:00.000-04:00

Download | VMware ESX Server 2.5.3

No longer beta, ready for download.

2006-04-13T16:09:00.000-04:00

VMware-friendly change likely for Linux | Tech News on ZDNet

Linux programmers are moving toward a change that would put virtualization software from VMware on a more even footing with open-source rival Xen....

"For a long time, it was thought that we'd just merge the Xen patches as-is and be happy. But then, Linux would only run on Xen," Morton said. Instead, VMware programmers suggested a documented, stable interface between the kernel and the hypervisor--and they're preparing one, he said.

"From a high-level design perspective, I think that VMware's point is a good one, and that a general kernel-to-virtual machine interface is a better thing than a Xen-only one," Morton said.

Definitely good news for VMware.

2006-04-07T15:20:00.000-04:00

Dell CTO scores A on virtualization test

Interesting post by David Berlind on how VMware may be too late in some of their recent moves. He highlights the recent decision by XEN Source to license Microsoft's Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) format versus VMware's Virtual Machine Disk Format (VMDK) as evidence that the variety of players and options is making for a interesting race.

2006-04-06T20:36:00.000-04:00

macosXrumors Exclusive: VMware being ported to Mac

Very reliable sources recently informed MacOSXRumors that VMware, the maker of virtualisation solutions for Windows and Linux, is currently porting its software on Mac OS X.

Sources told us that the company is already successfully running the Mac version of its software with Linux and Windows operating systems in its labs.

With the advent of Boot Camp and other vendors making Mac virtualization products, it seems expedient for VMware as the best of breed vendor in this space to be providing a product.

Update: virtualization.info highlights an article on running VMware console for VMware Server on Mac OS X

2006-04-01T13:51:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware launches Server beta 2

Upgrade if you've installed beta 1. Snapshot features are very useful.

2006-03-27T08:32:00.000-05:00

Backing Up the Virtual Machine - Computerworld

2006-03-24T16:41:00.000-05:00

Virtual Strategy Magazine - How To Build An Effective Virtual Machine Template

Straight forward, easy to follow tutorial. If you are just getting started or want to see if you're missing any steps, check out this article.

2006-03-21T06:56:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: Acronis adapts TrueImage to do P2V migrations

This is wonderful news. When we did our migration, we used Acronis to create the images of our physical servers and used VMware's P2V utility to update the image to its new VMware environment. Packaging this with a single product as good as Acronis makes a lot of sense. I'd like to see this implementation in action, making sure all the drivers are present in a single folder for the VM migration.

2006-03-13T14:29:00.000-05:00

VMTN Posts Today

Scenario involving using VMware Player in a doctor's office

VMware and Microsoft licensing

2006-03-07T22:09:00.000-05:00

Intel and Vmware | Technology News Daily

Intel Corporation and VMware, Inc. will collaborate to bring the benefits of virtualization to enterprises and new market segments. In a keynote at the Intel Developer Forum, Intel Senior Vice President Pat Gelsinger and VMware President Diane Greene announced expanded product support and a global joint marketing campaign to increase awareness and adoption of the technology. Intel also announced a new virtualization capability that VMware plans to support in its future products."

2006-03-06T14:41:00.000-05:00

Virtual Strategy Magazine - Real-Time Replication for ESX Server: a Sneak Peek at esxReplicator

Vizioncore makes great tools for VMware ESX enterprises. The CEO of Vizioncore, David Bieneman, gives us a peek at their new product. Sounds great for an off-site standby setup.

2006-03-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware Challenge suggestions

If you haven't heard about he VMware Challenge, read here. Otherwise, Mr. Perilli has some great suggestions if you're trying to win the $100,000 prize.

2006-03-01T11:35:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 4 released!

I've been stable at Patch 3 so I'll probably hold off for now.

2006-02-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

Techworld.com - VMware's ticking storage time bomb??

I'm with Jim on this...he says

Maybe if the virtual machines are given raw access to the luns... but still, the file system that the virtual disk (vmdk)files are kept on are a file system that windows can't read (vmfs)... I'm not really sure what this guy's talking about.

I'm not sure what they're saying either. I don't see any VMware security risk. My Windows VM's can't see other virtual disks not mounted from the SAN.

2006-02-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

Behind the virtual curtain at VMware

Robert Mitchell at ComputerWorld interviews Raghu Raghuram, vice president datacenter and desktop platform products at VMware for some insight into the recent moves by VMware and where they're headed.

2006-02-09T00:00:00.000-05:00

Day 3: Not Much Progress

Trying to figure the amount of resources being used by SUSE. Between examining memory on the OS and Vista VM, I never got to running multiple VM's on my new box. The system was really dragging.

2006-02-08T23:50:00.000-05:00

Thomas Tomiczek's Corner: Virtual Servers becoming a commodity - and MS is falling behind (maybe)

2006-02-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

Day 2: Windows 2003 R2 & Vista 5270 CTP Working

Yesterday, I was in the throws of installing...first SUSE 10, then VMware Server. I started Windows Vista and was able to finish it today. A couple of quirks on reboot of the VM but booting into Safe mode without loading 32 bit drivers initially seemed to help. I installed Windows 2003 R2 flawlessly today as well. However, running these two simultaneously is problematic probably due to my lack of memory...only 1GB. I'll play around tomorrow (assuming I have the time) and see if I can make any adjustments there. Otherwise, it's truly sweet.

So far I've read several items about how VMware is distinguishing the various products. I'd really like to know once VMware Server is out of beta and free, what the most compelling reason is to continue to pay for VMware Workstation? Chip Hammond at VMware claims it's "VMware Server has no support for multiple snapshots or team functionality" but is that enough? I'm checking on the Snapshot piece too because it's there...just haven't tested it.

Stay tuned.

2006-02-06T16:26:00.000-05:00

VMWare Server Installed!!

I installed SUSE 10 on my GX280 which took a little time (disabled ACPI for the install). I proceeded to follow the
VMware Server Beta Release Notes
which were invaluable. The only "gotcha" was making sure the gcc was installed in SUSE which I did after the fact. Everything loaded without a hitch.

Now I'm in the process of loading Windows Vista 5270 from December as one guest OS and Windows 2003 R2 as another. I'll have to pick up tomorrow so stay tuned.

2006-02-06T10:36:00.000-05:00

VMware Server Arrives!

It's downloading now...I'll be updating you on my experience loading and using the product. I've never run GSX myself, just Workstation and ESX. I plan on loading it on a Dell GX280 desktop 3.2Ghz Pentium IV with 1GB of RAM. Right now, I think I'm going to use SUSE 10 and the Linux product. We'll see how the day progresses.

2006-02-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: Exclusive: free VMware Server details leaked

Alessandro was tipped off by a reader and captures some details which should be forthcoming shortly. I'm truly interested to see how this is positioned. I think tomorrow we'll know more. Stay tuned...

2006-02-03T00:08:00.000-05:00

Free VMware Server Encourages Virtualization Adoption

Big news! When I saw this in eWeek's feed tonight, my mouth dropped open. If this is GSX server, this is amazing technology for FREE! Virtualization.info has some a few more details on this breaking story.

2006-01-27T20:53:00.000-05:00

» The best way for Windows users to be safe on the internet | Spyware Confidential | ZDNet.com

Suzi Turner of SpywareWarrior.com quotes Mike Healan from the Spyware Weekly newsletter on his position concerning the only safe way to surf the Internet...the VMware appliance. Mike's four part article covers a lot of good basic steps to make the appliance running on the VM player more useful. He also discusses doing updates to the virtual environment which you will need to do as Linux or Firefox security issues are found. The VM player itself may have a security issue from time to time too. So pay attention to updates.

I'd like to hear how consultants are doing encouraging people to use this tool to avoid problems on the web. I'm interested in how they take to this virtual Linux environment from a Windows one. How about their multimedia experience via this approach? Anyone have some feedback?

2006-01-27T20:36:00.000-05:00

VMware ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 3 (for 2.5.x Systems) now available

I received notice of this via e-mail this afternoon. If you have a Dell server, you'll want to pay attention to this one. The applicability is as follows per the site:

his patch fixes a timing issue in the LSI Logic MegaRAID driver shipped with ESX 2.5.x. This issue causes ESX Server systems using LSI Logic MegaRAID controllers to become unresponsive when storage management agents are installed on the service console.

VMware has seen this problem on Dell non-blade systems when storage management agents are installed on the service console. However, the issue may also be triggered by other applications that communicate directly with internal MegaRAID firmware. See knowledge base article 2025 for more information.

I'll be looking at my Dell 2850's next week. Things have been running well for last few months so I'll be examining this one closely.

2006-01-18T06:53:00.000-05:00

The Blackfriars Blog: Memo to Apple: time to call VMWare

If Microsoft is dragging their heals on updating their Virtual PC product for the Mac OS X platform, they should call VMware (which they should do anyway). With the Intel architecture, things just got easier. And more competition is better.

2006-01-18T06:46:00.000-05:00

VMworld 2006 · November 7-9 · Los Angeles

Got my e-mail announcing the event for the Fall. Last year's event brought lots of good information which you can take advantage of accessing even if you couldn't make the conference. I'm sure this year will be as useful, especially given the release of ESX 3.0 this year sometime.

2006-01-09T22:55:00.000-05:00

VMware's Greene leads virtualization pack

An interview with the President of VMware...highlights the virtualization landscape, competitors and challenges going forward.

2006-01-09T22:50:00.000-05:00

Byte and Switch - EMC Buys Windows Expertise

This is great news. Hopefully EMC will work this expertise into the VMware side of the house to support production environments like mine running MS Exchange and SQL on ESX. It will be interesting to see the impact of this acquisition.

2006-01-01T20:53:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: Release: VMware ESX Server 2.5.2 Upgrade Patch 2 released!

2005-12-29T20:56:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware ESX Server performance comparison on AMD and Intel servers

virtualization.info picks up the Tom's Hardware ESX server analysis on a variety of server platforms. Page 17 has the overall results but the entire thing is well worth the read as Alessandro points out. Our server platform is the Dell PE 2850 running hyper-threaded 3.4 Ghz processors with 8GB of RAM. It's SAN attached with a variety of high I/O virtual guests including Exchange 2003 and SQL 2000.

2005-12-21T08:01:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware Player 1.0.1 released to Address Security Issue

We all needed to know about this one. Spread the word...

2005-12-20T16:13:00.000-05:00

VMTN Blog Reports Some Interesting Snippets

Running VM Workstation as a service may not be supported, but the concept is truly interesting. Definitely not production stuff but the flexibility is nice for technical users like myself.

2005-12-20T09:59:00.000-05:00

VMware not based on Red Hat - official

Some suggestion that VMware's ESX was based on Red Hat proves untrue.

2005-12-13T10:41:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware launches Community Virtual Machines

Great news! As Alessandro points out, now we can share VM's on a global scale. Given licensing costs for some operating systems, my guess is this list will remain pretty much open source unless we see a platform vendor providing some freely licensed VM's.

2005-12-09T08:15:00.000-05:00

Microsoft grooms Virtual Server to be a true VMware challenger | InfoWorld | By Oliver Rist

Microsoft is truly entering the game and upping the stakes with their latest Virtual Server 2005 R2 offering. It has some interesting features which show some maturity and advantage. What we need to see now is real world scenarios and performance.

2005-12-08T11:03:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: Whitepaper: VMware ESX Server Performance and Resource Management for CPU-Intensive Workloads

Helpful whitepaper available.

2005-12-08T07:40:00.000-05:00

To MSDE or Not MSDE...That Is The Question

Within the last several weeks, I've taken action to address a problem with Virtual Center 1.3. When I upgraded from VC 1.2 to 1.3, I aggravated an issue regarding the performance graphs. For a while now, I've been experiencing gaps in graphed data. With the upgrade, it became a real issue (see picture).

Working with our support vendor, they determined that running MSDE as our SQL backend must be the problem. However, I remain unconvinced.

First, there is much debate about whether this configuration is supported or not (see discussion threads here and here) I maintain that MSDE is SQL lite and so I am running SQL for Virtual Center. I know about the limitations but I'm nowhere near meeting those. I don't think you should be required to spend money on a full-blown SQL license just to run Virtual Center. Products from Cisco's Security Agent Management Center to NetIQ management products use MSDE as their database.

Second, there was no exploration of the database content itself to see if it was "corrupt" as the support engineer claimed based on the graphs. More investigation would need to be made before identifying MSDE as the cause.

Lastly, we made another change which addressed the issue. We changed the number of samples taken and time interval. This seemed to do the trick. Changing the time interval from 5 minutes to 10 minutes and samples from 288 to 144 fixed the graphs. I don't believe I should have to do this and I already have a gripe about the lack of real-time averages to gauge real performance but it's resolved for now.

Is it MSDE? I won't know without a more thorough investigation if it happens again.

2005-11-30T12:48:00.000-05:00

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

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

2005-11-30T06:38:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-29T22:34:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-28T21:46:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-23T22:55:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-15T23:24:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-15T22:44:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-10T17:46:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-04T08:24:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: VMware Workstation 5.5 expected for middle December

It's almost here...

2005-11-01T18:18:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-11-01T18:09:00.000-05:00

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.

2005-10-31T09:05:00.000-05:00

TaoSecurity's short review of VMware Workstation 5 Handbook

2005-10-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

virtualization.info: Create VMware VMX configuration files easily

Alessandro finds a gem of a utility which makes VMX files. Very useful for the VMware player.

2005-10-29T18:11:00.000-04:00

Podcast: VMware co-founder Diane Greene: ZDNet Australia: Insight: Software

Matt Tett from RMIT's IT Test Labs spoke to VMware co-founder and president Diane Greene at the recent VM World conference in Las Vegas. Listen or download [14MB].

2005-10-29T18:09:00.000-04:00

Techedge - Server Consolidation seminar

Seminar was in London. ESX server and VMware in general were main players.

2005-10-28T23:53:00.000-04:00

Bink.nu | Microsoft changes its support for Vmware!

Slight changes...still not all the way there. Will Microsoft ever recognize the validity of third party virtualization solutions for the average shop? It seems like this distinction is just for convenience without any technical justification. Haven't run into any issues yet but if I do, it will be time to break out the escalation path at Microsoft. My experience shows you just have to appeal to the right person...even if it's a VP.

2005-10-28T15:37:00.000-04:00

The Desktop Has Two Faces - CFO.com

Virtualization makes the most of hardware investments. We've seen tremendous gains by consolidating 15 physical servers to 2 ESX servers...and we still have room to grow! Lower power costs from less hardware and less of a need to cool the server room as well as actually accessing the real potential of server hardware make VMware's solution financially sound.

2005-10-27T23:05:00.000-04:00

VMworld 2005 Conference Sessions

According to the site, Monday, October 31, 2005 there will be audio and presentation materials available from these sessions. There's tons of stuff here. I'll have my time booked up for a while.

2005-10-27T06:39:00.000-04:00

Tom's Hardware Guide Processors: Virtual Infrastructure Summit At VMWorld 2005 - Will New CPU Technology Impact Our Virtuality?

Tom's Hardware explores ESX, VMWorld 2005 and the relationship of VMware to processors. I agree wholeheartedly with the IBM quote in the article's closing thought "Virtualize everything - Virtualize now!"

2005-10-25T23:28:00.000-04:00

Server Pipeline | Are Virtual Servers Reliable Enough For Critical Apps?

Desert Schools Federal Credit Union is doing it and so are we. Critical applications running on VMware's ESX is where businesses get to put skin in the game. I recently heard of some organizations running ESX but only in their development area. Now don't get me wrong, it's great there but putting it into the high availability production environment is where ESX can really shine.

I'm excited that the new version will support higher end resources for VM's but we're running SQL 2000 and Exchange 2003 without any resource issues today. SQL is about a 60GB data set and Exchange is about 80GB. In both cases, we've given the VM's the maximum amount of processor and memory ESX 2.52 is capable of. This has addressed any issues we experienced early on in our migration. Oh, yes, they were both physical server which have been P2V'd.