I had a funny experience this week. Earlier I completed my upgrade to vSphere4.1 (I think the change is not related, but not 100% sure…). I was inspired to get back to work on my guide on View 4.5. But when I started to create new Window 7 desktops I got a weird error which looked like this: Read the rest of this entry »
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This weeks chinwaggee is Daniel Eason – I know Dan from attending the User Group in London. Plus I follow his blog and tweets. He’s currently an IT Infrastructure Architect from the UK working for airline. His main specialisms are within the key areas of a Datacentre Infrastructure, and this covers technology such as Virtualisation for Server and Storage environments, Backup and Continuity, Automation and Management and Messaging. Additionally he’s also responsible at a strategic level for other core areas of IT in business such as DR/Continuity planning and Service Management. His blog is:
and you can follow him on twitter here – http://twitter.com/Daniel_Eason
Using Dan’s blog posts, I get Dan to explain what the C2C Design Approach is, and quiz him about his thoughts about PaaS… Dan has a humorous blog post entitled “Paasing Out” which caught my eye… We also chatted about how although we have more memory than ever, its also the case the memory demands of operating systems are increasing too…
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I wrote an article recently about VMware U2. And I made this god awful pun associated with U2… Update 2 and the rockband U2. Geddit?
Sadly, that reference didn’t really make the article on TechTarget. I dunno, perhaps Bono rang them up and said they couldn’t use it. The article was written sometime before the recent release of vSphere4.1 which has introduce a new set of possible gotchas (32-bit DSN for VUM on a 64-bit OS, Incompatible with View 4.0x, and the 8-character password issue…)…
This was prompted by the U1 incident with HP SIM Agents, and the U2 incident with PCoIP Protocol…
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This is the final article in a series about the new vSphere4.1 release. To be honest as I begin to the use the software on a daily basis I’m beginning to count a significant number of tiny enhancements here and there, that went totted up together really make difference. So I’m thinking at some stage I will write a 10 new things about vSphere4.1 that if you blinked you would miss them article. Snappy title.
Anyway, this article is all about the enhancements to HA/DRS/DPM and so forth or to be brief… VMware Clustering. By far I think some of the changes to the HA algorthim and its relationship with DRS will be the most significant if unseen aspect of vSphere4.1 – that the new DRS groups…
Other articles in my series include:
VMware VAAI pros and cons and the hidden fourth primitive
What’s new in ESXi 4.1: Active Directory integration, Tech Support Mode and more
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Today Yesterday, I embarked on an upgrade from vSphere 4.0 U2 to vSphere 4.1. There’s a couple of caveats here and some gotchas. Firstly, I backed up my vCenter DB, and also shutdown my SQL2K8 and vCenter VMs, and took a snapshot of them before beginning.
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“This week’s “Vendorwag” is with the folks at Double-Take Software. Specifically, with Ian Masters of DoubleTake. Ian is UK Sales and Marketing Director at Double-Take Software, and has been advising organisations on their requirements for business continuity, disaster recovery and backup for over a decade. He has a wide background in the virtualisation, storage and high availability space, working across multiple platforms. Recently, he has also entered into the world of desktop virtualisation following the launch of Double-Take Flex.
As for me I’ve been looking increasingly at availability technologies in recent weeks – as I write thought pieces for TechTarget on the subject, and also prepare for presentation at this year’s VMworld. In case you don’t know I will be speaking about VMware Site Recovery Manager. In case you don’t know that’s:
Session ID: BC7773
Title: VMware Site Recovery Manager: Misconceptions and Misconfigurations
Abstract: In the session, Mike Laverick (author of the only two books on VMware SRM) will discuss popular misunderstandings about what is possible for a configuration of SRM, and popular misunderstandings about the product. Drawing from his book, Mike will outline some of the limitations that SRM possess, and how you can work around these with a combination of PowerCLI and SDK. Finally, Mike will discuss what he thinks future versions of SRM will attempt to deliver, and how thinks the technology will evolve in the next 5 years.
So when the “Session Builder” opens in the next couple of days/weeks – be sure to track me down and add me to schedule. I understand folks will be able to walk along and drop into any session without pre-booking. So please make me your chosen destination. I hope to make folks laugh and think – that’s all…
Anyway, back to Double-Take. My vendorwag was quite wide-ranging, and it asked the following questions:
Q. Some people might say Double-Take is very rich on the in-guest services, but less so at the virtualization layer – what would you say to that?
Q. Double-Take “Move” is similar to tools like PlateSpin’s Recon – what made Double-Take want to get into this area that is already well populated by free tools, and software from virtualization vendors?
Q. What is “Double-Take for Virtual Hosts” and why might a customer pick Double-Take over say VMware Site Recovery Manager.
Q. Double-Take for Virtual Hosts – offers real-time replication for Hyper-V, but not for ESX. Do you have plans to take the product in this direction?
Q. Double-Take Backup – does it support de-duplication and back-up of virtual machine files? Do you plan to add this functionality.
As ever if you want the MP3 version of the chinwag it’s here – but to be honest it’s much easier to subscribe to the MP3 podcast via iTunes which means the podcast will be download when ever I do them. Alternatively, if you would prefer the videos on your iPAD/iPOD/iPhone – you subscribe to the video version of the Chinwags there (beware they are big!). If you don’t use iTunes, here’s the generic RSS Feed link
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Well, how’s that for blummin’ obscure blog post title.
This is for a very small number of readers who say yes to the following questions:
My iPOD cable is long enough to be lead outside of the glove compartment, with the iPhone sat on that useless recessed piece of plastic between the gear stick, and the buttons for the heated seats. I think its meant to be an ash tray.
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I say AyePhone. Because if your from the North of England, when anyone say iPhone – it always makes think of some Yorkshire Sheep Farmer. Aye… Phone.
I don’t normally blog about consumer based stuff because – well, basically I don’t care too much about it to be honest. Occasionally, you will see me blog about some experience I’ve had mainly so if I have the problem again – I can search my own blog and remember to fix the darn thing. And I figure that others will have the same issue.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Gabrie Van Zanten of GabriesVirtualWorld.com asked me to write about the iPhone and so to keep my little Dutch chums sweet I thought I would blog about my experiences to date. Of course, Gabrie’s request was sometime before the whole signal antenna issue blew up in Apples face.
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Intriguing blogpost title?
I’m hoping your wondering – hey, Mike what on earth is a “primative”. What is the fourth one, and why is it hidden. Well, it’s all about how VAAI was meant to have 4 components. And there are. But folks are just being quite quiet about the 4 component.
I think this a little-mini-scoop, and I’m hoping it will set me apart from the other guys (who I know and respect greatly) Anyway,
Posted in vSphere | 3 Comments »
This week it was my pleasure to be on the receiving end of chinwag. That’s when I get interviewed, and I just talk and talk and talk. Hey, you say – Mike? What’s new… :-p
Yeah, I know I do go on sometimes. I guess I just can’t control my natural enthusiasm for hearing my own voice all the time! :-p
Anyway, you can subscribe to the APAC Roundtable here:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/apac-virtualization-roundtable/id354097519
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