Eric Sloof - NTPRO.NL

Innotek VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). Presently, VirtualBox runs on Windows, Linux and Macintosh hosts and supports a large number of guest operating systems including but not limited to Windows (NT 4.0, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Vista), DOS/Windows 3.x, Linux (2.4 and 2.6), and OpenBSD. VirtualBox is being actively developed with frequent releases and has an ever growing list of features, supported guest operating systems and platforms it runs on. VirtualBox is a community effort backed by a dedicated company: everyone is encouraged to contribute while innotek ensures the product always meets professional quality criteria. On this site, you can find sources, binaries, documentation and other resources for VirtualBox. If you are interested in VirtualBox (both as a user, or possibly as a contributor), this website is for you.

I’m running out of options. I desperately want to check out the new features in ESX 3.5 but I can’t find a way to run ESX 3.5 in a virtual environment. I tried Workstation 6, VMware Server 2.0 and even VMware Player 2.0. The player starts ESX 3.5 in the blink of an eye but when I power on my first virtual machine I receive the same error I received in Workstation.

*** VMware Player internal monitor error ***
vcpu-1:ASSERT vmcore/private/physMem_shared.h:38 bugNr=131897
Please report this problem by selecting menu item Help > VMware on the Web > Request Support, or by going to the Web page "http://www.vmware.com/info?id=8&logFile=C%3a%5cUsers%5cEric%20Sloof%5cAppData%5cLocal%5cTemp%5cvmware%2dEric%20Sloof%5cvmware%2dEric%20Sloof%2d2700%2elog&coreLocation=C%3a%5cVirtual%20Machines%5cESX35%5cvmware%2dcore%5b0%2d1%5d%2egz". Please provide us with the log file (C:\Users\Eric Sloof\AppData\Local\Temp\vmware-Eric Sloof\vmware-Eric Sloof-2700.log) and the core file (C:\Virtual Machines\ESX35\vmware-core[0-1].gz).
If the problem is repeatable, please select 'Run with debugging information' in the Options panel of Virtual Machine Settings. Then reproduce the incident and file it according to the instructions.
To collect data to submit to VMware support, select Help > About and click "Collect Support Data". You can also run the "vm-support" script in the Workstation folder directly.
We will respond on the basis of your support entitlement.
We appreciate your feedback,
  -- the VMware Player team.

Since the problem with running ESX 3.5 in Workstation 6 still isn’t fixed I tried to install ESX 3.5 in the beta version of VMware Server 2.0. What you have to do is de-install Workstation 6 and leave your virtual machine files present. Then download and install VMware server 2.0 and register the vmx file of your ESX 3.5 virtual machine. Just start it up and wait for a very long time (several hours). Eventually ESX 3.5 will become active and you should be able to start your Windows XP virtual machine. There is one but,  The current virtual device type (e1000) is not supported by VMware Server e.x.p.  I gathered some handy URL’s like Logon as Local Admin – Vista,  Log on as builtin administrator in Vista and vmware beta 20 adds vista gutsy gibbon support. In the screen shot you see ESX 3.5 running within VMware Server 2.0.

VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise is the definitive, real-world guide to planning, deploying, and managing today’s leading virtual infrastructure platform in mission-critical environments. Drawing on his extensive experience consulting on large-scale ESX Server implementations, Edward L. Haletky brings together an unprecedented collection of tips, best practices, and field-tested solutions. More than any other author, he illuminates the real issues, tradeoffs, and pitfalls associated with ESX Server–and shows how to make the most of it in your unique environment. Haletky covers the entire lifecycle: planning, installation, system monitoring, tuning, clustering, security, disaster recovery, and much more. Throughout, he supports his recommendations with examples from real-world deployments. He also provides detailed checklists for handling crucial issues such as caching, networking, storage, and hardware selection. Many of his techniques and practices apply to all current virtualization platforms, not just ESX Server. This book will be an indispensable resource for every network architect, administrator, and IT professional who works with virtual servers. ESX Server newcomers will find the soup-to-nuts introduction they desperately need; experienced users will find an unparalleled source of field-tested answers and solutions.

Duncan Epping a senior consultant specialized in VMware and virtualization in general has created a weblog, his main interest is consolidation and virtualization of servers, applications and services. In the future the http://www.yellow-bricks.com/ is the place where you can find info about implementing VMware VI3 / Xensource / Virtual Iron and troubleshooting VMware problems.

Rajeev over at Firstsource has written a PowerShell (VI-Toolkit) script that creates multiple virtual machines based on a template.

$vc = Get-VIServer -Server <server> -User <username> -Password <passwd> $esx = Get-VMHost -Server $vc -Name <host> $temp = Get-Template -Server $vc | where {$_.name -like "winxp"} $i = 0 $array = "test1","test2"
while ($i -le 1)
{
$vm = New-VM -Name $array[$i] -Template $temp -Host $esx $i++ }

This script creates two virtual machines, the name of the new virtual machine is based on the contents of the array e.g. test1 and test2.

I was playing around with my VDM2/VDI setup that was still present on my laptop since my VDM2 presentation at the Dutch VMUG. I’m running Workstation 6 and have installed ESX 3.0 as a virtual machine. Within ESX 3.0 I created one base Windows XP virtual machine and added two empty virtual machines without a virtual disk. Since I created a small VMFS  I placed the Windows XP virtual machine in snapshot mode and added the virtual disk from this virtual machine as an existing disk to the other two virtual machines. I added the base disk as an independed nonpersistent virtual disk so the changes of my shadow virtual machines are discarded when I power off or revert to a snapshot. Besides an IP address conflict all three machines are running fine. In the images you can see the snapshot file and the REDO files of my shadow virtual machines. This technique could same me a lot of VDI-VMDK disk space in the first place, but what about the Windows XP license, it’s only installed once...... 

Based on feedback from the community, VMware has posted content from approximately 20 additional VMworld 2007 breakout sessions and hands-on labs. You can also find a wealth of content from previous VMworld conferences, complete with downloads, presentations videos and other media. Visit the VMworld Web site to get started.

Arne Fokkema over at ICT-Freak was the First one to discover a nice Christmas present. This release introduces VMware ESX Server 3i, the industry's first ultra-thin hypervisor. With this ultra-thin architecture, ESX Server 3i provides unprecedented levels of security, reliability, and manageability. ESX Server 3i provides all the benefits and features of VMware ESX Server hypervisor including: Increases security with a small, virtualization-centric package that minimizes attack surface area and requires minimal patching, Provides full integration with VirtualCenter 2.5, Integrates with hardware to ensure compatibility, certification, and optimized configurations, Enables standards-based management of the underlying hardware, Works in conjunction with VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to achieve plug-and-play capacity scaling for your datacenter. ESX Server 3i Installable is supported only on Dell 2950 (full support) and on HP DL380 G5 (experimental support).

Server virtualization feels unstoppable these days. The worldwide market for virtualization platform software grew 69% last year to US$1.1 billion, according to market research firm IDC, which predicts average annual growth of 27% through 2011, when global sales are expected to total $3.5 billion. But several factors could still stall the technology's growth, analysts say. For instance, software licensing terms often remain too restrictive or expensive for users that want to run their databases or applications on virtualized servers. In addition, finding IT workers who have virtualization experience can be a challenge for companies. Read the full story at Webwereld.

Cisco MDS and Emulex Virtual HBA Solutions for VMware Infrastructure 3. A Technology Overview for SAN Connectivity using NPIV in a VMware ESX Server 3.5 Environment. This co-authored technology overview provides data center users with valuable information for understanding the benefits of NPIV technology in a VMware environment and practical use cases and deployment scenarios for maximizing these benefits. This guide is intended to introduce the concepts of NPIV in a VMware environment, using Emulex and Cisco products. General use cases are presented and possible benefits are mentioned. Actual customer configurations can vary widely along with results, and these deployment scenarios may not be possible or practical in any given case. Please consult with your Cisco, Emulex and VMware representative on specific questions based on your specific needs.

The virtualization experts at Veeam Software have written a mini-whitepaper outlining three key considerations in planning your VMware backup strategy. Traditional backup technologies are application-centric. But backup of your infrastructure using this approach can become very complex, with multiple backup agents to be managed and coordinated. For many, today’s application image-level (or crash consistent) backup is a better, cheaper solution. In the physical world, image-level backup usually requires shutting down the application server. With virtualization (thanks to its snapshot technology) an image can be taken easily, without bringing a virtual machine down. Moreover, technologies like VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) make it possible to offload the backup process to a dedicated proxy. This is all good, but some important considerations still remain.

Alex Bakman is chairman and founder of VKernel, a software company with the first and only VMware certified virtual appliance for enterprise Chargeback and Cost Visibility. Alex is a recognized expert in computer security, virtualization, and systems management. He holds many US and international patents and is a frequent speaker at VMWorld, ISACA, TechEd, ITSMF and ITExpo. He is a published author in Virtual Strategy, ComputerWorld and InformationWeek magazines. A serial entrepreneur and visionary, he is the founder and current chairman of Ecora Software and founder of CleverSoft, a software company acquired by Candle Corporation. Learn how to achieve Cost Visibility and implement Chargeback in a virtualized datacenter. Understand why Cost Visibility and Chargeback are needed, what organizations need to Chargeback for and discuss when to begin the process. The advantages and disadvantages of various Chargeback models will be explored followed by a presentation of how to calculate Chargeback rates for CPU, memory, storage and network. The discussion will conclude by reviewing a suggested roadmap for Chargeback adoption and implementation to help you move forward with your current project.

I found an intresting story on the ChipX86 blog about Unity support in the upcoming new version of Workstation, but will this version also support ESX 3.5 with a running VM? Earlier this year, VMware released VMware Fusion 1.0 for the Macintosh. This was their first virtualization product for the Mac and it has been met with high praise. And jealousy. VMware Fusion managed to change how users thought about virtualization. Thanks to Unity, you were no longer forced into having a big box on your screen. With the click of a button, the applications inside your virtual machine would appear outside of the box, sitting alongside your other applications. The Mac users loved this and Windows and Linux users were left feeling like they missed out. Workstation 6.5 will include support for Unity, allowing your Windows and Linux programs to intermingle with the click of a button. VMware just released initial support in their Friends and Family beta for this. Their public beta 1 will include this feature in a vastly improved form.