Archive for August, 2007

After I did that blog post two further issue came to light – they weren’t serious, but they were pretty obivious. I forgot to update properly my UDA which I use to automate ESX installs. Firstly, my UDA was still configured to use the old HP Insight Management Agents what were released for ESX 3.0.1 (Version 7.7). It wasn’t difficult to fix. I had to download the new HP SIM for ESX 3.0.2; upload it to the UDA; extract and then last modify my script that automates the install of the HP SIM for the new paths.

The second issue was that I had left in place the patching solution I was using for ESX. In truth none of my hardware runs in anything production in my environment – its a pure test & dev equipment. But I got interested in the problem of patching that became such a hot-topic in recent months, and had always planned that the UDA should patch an ESX as well as install it. This very easy fix. I remarked out the line in my kickstart files that called the script. I’ve left the old patches on the UDA, in case I decide to go back to ESX 3.0.1 for any testing reasons. Also when new patches come out for ESX 3.0.2 I will be able to download them, and upload them to the UDA. By the way the script I use to patch an ESX host is by Michael Knight, and it is in the “Free Tools” sections of RTFM…

The Register has an interesting articule discussing VMware’s long term future. Ironically, the article seems sepend more time discussing how Microsoft got virtualization wrong – than VMware’s financial prospects. To debate VMware’s long term future based on Microsoft inability to position itself properly with the wave of virtualization seems a little strange to me – like everything in the IT industry must be always seen through the lense of Microsoft.

Interestingly, the writer seems to really put emphasis on the platforms (ESX vs MS vs Xen). For me the platform war is over. VMware won. The best platform is ESX. All that is left now is Microsoft and Xen to play “catch-up” – and they aren’t making a very good job of that if delays and back-peddling/uturns that typify Veridian is anything to go by.

So Microsoft is trying to take on VMware. The guys at VMware aren’t stupid. They know this. What some at Microsoft don’t appear to appreciate is that really the game has already moved on – the game is about managability and availability – not platforms. When you read the market bumpf about VMware now. It isn’t about ESX. It’s about VirtualCenter, DRS and HA.  To think that VMware is going to rest on its laurels for the next 24-months doesn’t seem to suggest that the writer knows much about kind of company VMware is…

Anyway, I guess that all sounds a bit damning. Nonetheless its a stimulating article whether you agree or disagree with mine or Aslee Vance’s comments.

Link:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/23/vmware_microsoft_double/

Last week I did my first VC 2.0.1 to VC 2.0.2 and ESX 3.0.1 to ESX 3.0.2. I had intended to just blog about it all but it got a bit lengthy. So endedup in a PDF file instead

Link:

http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/docs/vmwdocs/esx-upgrading.pdf

Before I went off on my holidays recently I was treated to an invite-only online webnair on VMware Fusion. I couldn’t see who else was invited, but by the accents there was quite a few Americans – and the European voice that asked questions was mine. Still it was Friday at 6pm – and as we know, Europeans at 6/7pm are usually in the bar by that time!

To be honest I don’t have a strong position on Fusion. I’m not a MAC user, and never have done. Not that I am MAC hostile, in the slightest. In fact I’ve wanted for a while to be run the MAC OS on VMware legitimately. I currently know of only illegal hacks to get MAC on VMware ESX/Server. MAC OS X as understand it is only FreeBSD. But I guess neither Apple or VMware see a market for doing this – after all when people buy a MAC they are buying (in their minds) a piece of hardware not just an OS… If they had been talking  about Apple MAC VDI – now that would have been a really interesting  development – but I can’t see VMware doing that or more importantly Apple allowing them!

So I find it hard to evaluate the product because I have nothing to compare it too… unlike all those guys going on about “I can do X or > Y in parallels”…

So I spent conferrence call ear-wigging the other attendees. I took note of the lack of DirectX 9. This is also not present on Vista on ESX – which means if people want their fancy areo-glass experience they are not going to get it. More awwahh, than wow I guess… I doubt though that this will be a show stopper for MAC people, unless they want to run PC games…

I asked the guys at VMware about how large the market was for the product – because I wondering what kind of profit they are hoping to make with Fusion. Over in the UK MAC’s are pretty much exclusively used in media/publishing - although a lot of those Apps will run on PC’s now. As for “consumers” - although the iPod is as popular this side of the Atlantic as anywhere else – its really PC’s that dominate the home-user market…

So my reason for being there – was because that was the first time that VMware have gone out of their way to include me in a product launch. I figured there might be more on the way in future – so wanted  to get on that attendees list for future product releases.

Anyway, VMware got round to taking this web event together as a media presentation which you can view here if you are interested:

http://download3.vmware.com/demos/fusion/launchdemo2.html

I subscribe to MS Technet Articles newsletter. It goes back to the days when I was a Microsoft Certified Trainer (not that I practise those skills much now). They had a section on virtualisation, which I thought I would reproduce here for those who don’t subscribe and might have missed the content. Nothing particular startling to report. Although I did think it amusing that System Center Virtual Machine Manager abbreviates to SCVMM. Doesn’t that look suspiciously like SCUM?

Anyway, here’s the article in full…

(more…)

Myself, Ron Olgesby and Scott Herold have released a FREE sample chapter of our eagerly expected book. The PDF is free, and a hard-copy can be bought for a nominal fee. Remember this is not the full book just a free sample chapter. Enjoy!

Link:

http://www.lulu.com/content/1115401

My pal, Jase McCarty has put me on to a free VDI connection broker that he discovered recently. You can read more about “Crossroads” on Jase’s blog

Link:

http://www.jasemccarty.com/

One method (amongst many) of stopping your SAN being “touched” by Anaconda installer is to remove the drivers that Anaconda uses for HBA’s. Dinny Davies wrote an article about this on the xtravirt.com website.

Link:

http://www.xtravirt.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=75&func=fileinfo&id=13

Fellow blogger, Bouke Groenescheij has taken this idea to next logical conclusion by writing a script that does it all for you.

Links:
http://www.jume.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=5
http://www.jume.nl

Virtualization.info has a break down of alleged features in next major release of Vi3. No sources are named to stop the guilty/innocent from incriminating themselves. I had hoped to get an inside-track on future Vi3 developments but my NDA never came through, and my email became errily silent. I guess some people just can’t be trusted to keep their mouths shut?

Link:

http://www.virtualization.info/2007/08/vmware-esx-server-31-virtualcenter-21.html

My good friend Michael Knight has just drawn my attention to this annoucement – confirming a rumour that has been circulating for sometime…

Link:

http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_680809.asp