Eric Sloof - NTPRO.NL

Since Antonio Dias and his colleagues are is still busy with writing the VMware command-let’s for PowerShell we have to find an alternate way to use PowerShell in combination with ESX server. TechProsaic created a PowerShell script that uses plink to communicate with ESX server. This script can do some basic things like snapshots and get a list of VM’s.

The Dutch VMug event attracts a lot of attention. In September 2005, the first time this event was held the number of attendees was around 50. This number has risen over the years. The next event will take place on the 7th of December and is nearly overbooked! The Dutch VMug expects around 400 attendees. It looks like the Dutch VMug has become some sort of mini VMworld. The VMug also contracted Virtuozzo and Vizioncore as new sponsors. I have spoken with Viktor van den Berg (professional photographer an car-racer ;-) ) who is in charge of organizing the VMug event and he told me to expect one or two special surprises. I’m not going to disclose any information, but when you get the chance, register before it’s too late.

After three successful meetings of The VMware User Group Belgium , it is time for another one! They would like to invite you to attend the 4th VMware User Group meeting on the 31st of October 2007, 13.30 o´clock at www.lerayonvert.be The agenda of this meeting:

• DataCenter Optimisation & Disaster Recovery. ((Derrick Struys (netapp) & Dirk Demeirsman (VMWARE))
• Best Practices – Netapp & VMWARE (Bart Van Praet (Uptime))
• VMWORLD 2007 (Bert Arnauts (VMWARE)) Expected end time : 17.00 o'clock

Uberpulse posted two video fragment on You Tube, in the first one Diane Greene is talking about EMC’s VMware acquisition. In the second one Diane is making a short comment about the possibility that VMware is going to buy EMC.

Since Antonio Dias and his colleagues over at VMware are very bussy with creating PowerShell command-let’s I thought lets take a dive into this new scripting language. Windows PowerShell introduces the concept of a cmdlet (pronounced "command-let"), a simple, single-function command-line tool built into the shell. You can use each cmdlet separately, but their power is realized when you use these simple tools in combination to perform complex tasks. Windows PowerShell includes more than one hundred basic core cmdlets, and you can write your own cmdlets and share them with other users. Like many shells, Windows PowerShell gives you access to the file system on the computer. In addition, Windows PowerShell providers enable you to access other data stores, such as the registry and the digital signature certificate stores, as easily as you access the file system. There is a powerful Tool available on the internet, called PowerGUI. It is a Free GUI (Graphical User Interface) PowerShell Tool sponsered by Quest. The PowerGUI allows we to use the Windows PowerShell in a familiar and intuitive GUI, like a MMC console. To download the PowerGui, we can check the new version out, at the official site: http://www.powergui.org/

Sean Clark over at the Pella Health center uploaded a really cool video demonstrating how VMworld 2007 rocked their world. You can watch it at the VMworld 2007 what rocked my world video contest home. But don’t rate them to high otherwise I can say goodbye to that fully loaded Alienware Gaming Laptop. I still make a change if you rate the esloof video’s with five stars The video contest page is still unchanged and the contest remains open. Due to unforeseen vacation plans, The people behind the contest only recently started to have work begun on having the contest page updated. So as a result, they have been still accepting submittals after the end date until they get the page updated. The judges also have been also been staggering their vacations so they have had to push out the judging and hence the winner announcement. The landing page will be updated next week (10/29) and a winner will be identified/announced the following week (week of 11/5).

You can preregister for the VMworld Europe 2008 in Cannes held from 26 February till 28 February. Don't miss the first VMworld Europe - where thousands of your peers, technology providers and industry experts from around the world will gather in Cannes, France to experience the latest and greatest in virtualization technology and business solutions. VMworld Europe will also incorporate VMware TSX Europe, the company's annual technical symposium, making it ideal for attendees of all levels of experience in virtualization - from business decision-makers to technical experts and systems architects.

It’s not just a certification, like the slew of them we can all put on out resumes to impress the next interviewer, it’s a career-enhancing move. Does the certification make you any more of an expert than you may or may not be? That’d be debatable on a case-by-case, person-by-person basis, but it’s definitely a mark that you know what’s hot, and aren’t “stale�. The hotness-factor of the VCP is high, the demand is there in the market, and the value a VCP can add to your career makes it worth the time and effort to earn. Read the rest of this great post from Joe Foran here.

Ever wondered why vRanger is copying VMDK files via the COS so fast ? Here’s the answer. Someone from Vizioncore showed me this video at the TSX in Nice. The vzboost-vmkmod module is written by a Vizioncore software engineer who studied the original VMFS module code from VMware and rewrote it into the vzboost-vmkmod module. You can take a look at vzboost in action using this link. First you see the original VMware driver running with 280 writes per second after the vzboost driver is loaded the speeds will jump to 639 writes per second.

vOptimizer is an advanced optimization solution that quickly and easily reduces a Microsoft or VMware virtual machines virtual hard drive to the smallest possible size while optimizing the Windows guest operating system to boost performance. vOptimizer FreeWare and Desktop Editions enable local VM optimization while Network Edition enables entire repositories of VMs located anywhere on the network to be optimized via scheduled automated jobs. Vizioncore vOptimizer Freeware may be used for a maximum of two (2) users within Licensee's organization. For more than two (2) users within an organization licenses must be obtained. This license does not entitle Licensee to receive hard-copy documentation, technical support, telephone assistance, or enhancements or updates to the Product from Vizioncore. Thanks to Alessandro Perilli over at virtualization.info for the download link.

Free Citrix product that allows for basic VM administration of ESX servers via a smartphone. You can download this cool VMware tool here. The Mobile VM Manager was developed using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and the VMware software development kit (SDK). The development of this application illustrates the advantages of using Visual Studio to develop applications that can be delivered to a smartphone through Citrix Presentation Server.

Viktor van den Berg is a busy guy these days. He contracted three new sponsors for the Dutch VMware User Group event 2007 in the Nieuwegein Business Center on December the 7th. Besides XTG, CDG, Dell, Etc and VMware the following three companies will be present with interesting new products: Equallogic, FalconStor and VeeAm. The speaker list is also available. Who is that intelligent looking guy at the bottom? Stay tuned for more information.

Did you ever wonder how your ESX server looks like when you lose one of your storage processors ? Well the past three weeks I  attended the SAN Technology training over at CoreEducation in Eindhoven along with 8 VMware trainers. On the last day Frederik Vos yanked out one of the storage processors from an EVA 5000.   In the picture taken by Viktor van den Berg (the professional photographer) you’ll see the paths vmhba1:0:1 and vmhba2:1:1 became red and Dead. When I plugged the storage processor back, within a few minutes the original path was restored and became active again. I learned a lot about SAN storage but the most important lesson was:  never let a bunch of trainers play with your equipment, eventually it will die.

SearchServerVirtualization is pleased to announce that their newest site,  SearchVMware.com, will be launching in mid November. This new site offers the Web's best independent resources on managing VMware environments.  You'll get expert advice on implementing VMware-related virtualization technologies for server consolidation, disaster recovery, lab and test, desktop centralization or other production usage. For more information on the upcoming SearchVMware.com and to sign up for VMware-specific newsletters, click here: http://go.techtarget.com/r/2366544/6232044