Like everyone else, I have been reviewing the Release Notes for the latest Update 1 release of vSphere 4.1, but I decided to point out specific fixes that will make full image VM backups better for everyone. Note that I work for Veeam Software, but the fixes I am referring to are all VMware resolved … [Read more...]
A VMware Hypervisor For Networkers?
August 12, 2010 by Leave a Comment
As my friend Stu Miniman pointed out, a recent VMware video suggests the company is about to jump into networking in a big way. Dubbed "vFabric," This new offering would be a generic hypervisor for virtual network devices, from load balancers to security appliances, and would presumably be … [Read more...]
Why Storage Federation Is What We Need
May 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
You may have assumed from my previous post on VPLEX that I am negative towards the concept of storage federation. That couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, ever since I was involved in deploying ESX onto enterprise storage infrastructure (some 4 years ago), I’ve been waiting for the … [Read more...]
Why Does Cloning A VM From Template Take A Long Time?
April 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Over the past few years I’ve been asked to troubleshoot and explain why cloning a virtual machine (VM) from a master template would take a longer time than expected more than once. Usually when I’m asked the virtualization admin is frustrated at the hypervisor. “This shouldn’t take this … [Read more...]
Likewise Agreement Means Active Directory Integration In Future vSphere Versions
March 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment
A recent announcement from Likewise Software hints that future versions of VMware vSphere may make it easier for companies to manage ESX hosts using Active Directory (AD) credentials. vCenter, which runs on a Windows Server operating system, is commonly added to an AD domain already, but special … [Read more...]
Design Challenges Of Virtualized vCenter With A vNetwork Distributed Switch
March 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The vSphere Enterprise Plus vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) has been heralded as, and I might add lives up to it’s reputation of, an administrator’s time saver and single point of virtual networking configuration and visibility across many ESX/ESXi 4 hosts. However, the vDS presents some … [Read more...]
VMware Hot-Add Memory/CPU Support
December 9, 2009 by 4 Comments
I've been asked to take a look into the Hot-Add Memory and CPU features which are available with vSphere 4. The concept seems pretty useful and straight forward, but what isn't is the list of Operating Systems that support these features. There doesn't seem to be a definitive list. … [Read more...]
Review: DroboPro – Part I
December 1, 2009 by Leave a Comment
My new DroboPro arrived this week and so far I’m less than impressed. As you know, I already have had a generation 1 Drobo for some time. It has been a great device, doing exactly what I wanted. After winning a second standard Drobo at Tech Field Day, I paid for the upgrade to the … [Read more...]
EvoStor: VMware Storage Evolved!
September 11, 2009 by 6 Comments
Server virtualization challenges the enterprise storage status quo, so storage must change to support virtualization. Virtualization platforms like VMware vSphere concentrate and randomize I/O, demanding low latency and high performance from underlying storage systems. Although many conventional … [Read more...]
vSphere 4.0 – What’s new in vSphere Storage
August 13, 2009 by Leave a Comment
This weekend I finally had the chance to catchup on some of the new storage features released as part of vSphere 4.0, there are quite a few changes to cover, some of them quite exciting. VMFS Upgrade Once of the good pieces of news to come out is that the VMFS changes in vSphere are … [Read more...]