Eric Sloof - NTPRO.NL

Mike Laverick has created a new RTFM Guide. His latest edition covers all of the new features and enchantments we can find in the ESX 3.5 release. His Guide concludes with : As you can see VMware have once again added new functionality to both ESX and VirtualCenter at no additional “upgrade� cost. Additionally, there has been some significant finessing of existing features which make the administration of VI-3.5 easier. The core product remains the same despite the introduction of DPM, VUM and Guided Consolidation. So anyone reading the VI-3book will still find lots of useful and relevant material between its covers. The authors of the VI-3book will continue to maintain and updates its content as the VMware Infrastructure 3 evolves. These updates will supplied as free PDF files which can be downloaded from VI-3book.com. However, it seems like the next big release for VMware will be VMware Infrastructure 4. The photo taken by Viktor van den Berg at the VMworld2007 in SF where I conducted an interview about the upcoming VI3 book.

There are some new features in the SDK release that goes along with ESX 3.5. The VMware Infrastructure Web Service API on VirtualCenter 2.x or ESX Server 3.x. Latest Version: 2.5.0 | 12/10/2007 | Build: 64154 gives access to Managed Objects like the FileManager, VirtualDiskManager and ViewManager. Alltough these objects are still experimental and subject to change in future releases they give us great possibilities.  You can get the VMware Infrastructure SDK 2.5.0 Sample code, documentation and the WSDL for developers using at the following link:http://www.vmware.com/download/download.do?downloadGroup=VC-SDK

VMware had to fix some minor bugs in ESX build 64557, that’s why last Friday the launch was stopped at the last moment but today it’s here. The new build (64607) is online and ready for download.

 


The “don’t distribute the download link� build:
ESX Latest Released Version: 3.5.0 - Released 12/07/07 - Build #64557
VirtualCenter Latest Released Version: 2.5 Released 12/03/07 - Build #64201

The one currently online:
ESX Latest Released Version: 3.5.0 - Released 12/10/07 - Build #64607
VirtualCenter Latest Released Version: 2.5 Released 12/10/07 - Build #64201

I was one of the speakers at the Dutch VMUG event, my presentation covers the introduction to the installation and administration of VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM). VDM is a connection broker for VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). It connects users to virtual desktops running on VMware Virtual Infrastructure (VI), and plays a critical role in security, access control, and overall desktop management. VMware VDM integrates with Active Directory and VirtualCenter to manage and deploy desktops to end users. VDM also provides a client that enables users to connect to virtual desktops using either a Windows PC or thin client. VDM provides a secure environment for deploying and accessing virtual desktops and leverages existing Active Directory functionality for authentication and login. You need the PowerPoint Viewer 2007 to open my presentation.

  Photo taken by Viktor van den Berg

I must admit  that I’m very impressed by all the enthusiasm I experienced yesterday. The Dutch VMUG 2007 was a really great success. I collected some video footage and posted three movies on my YouTube page. There’s a problem with the audio sync but I don’t have a clue what’s causing it. Viktor van den Berg (the professional photographer) posted a lot of great pictures on his Flickr site and there runs a thread about the VMUG event on this link. Thanks to all of you and see you next year.

Gabrie (one of VMUG 2007 the attendees) downloaded the latest version of ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 and has written an impressive report.

Today I went to the VMUG event in the Netherlands which was very good again. Especially the session about ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5 and a session by Eric Sloof about VDM2 beta. When I arrived home again, I found a very interesting posting on the many Virtualisation RSS feeds I browse through daily. There was the announcement of the download of ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5. Wow, I hadn't expected it so soon after the delay on december 4th. But I ofcourse had to have it, so I started downloading. After the download had finished I first upgraded my Virtual Center 2.0.2 to VC 2.5.

Gabrie worked all night and has switched over to Wordpress. He created a new weblog with tons of information about ESX 3.5 and VC 2.5. In his report you can find lots of screenshot’s and finding dealing with : Logon with the VI Client, Getting Started Wizard, Plugins, Hosts & Clusters, Hosts level and Performance graphs.

http://virtualgabe.wordpress.com/

I’m running on Red Bull the past few days. My VMUG presentation is nearly ready, the image shows a glimpse of it. I’m going to talk about Virtual Desktop infrastructure, in particular my presentation will take a close look at VMware VDM2, the Virtual Desktop Manager that will be launched by VMware next year. Besides the presentation I created a video leader that will be used for the video footage I’m going to collect during this event. Some numbers, the Dutch VMware User Group Event 2007 has 400 attendees, 14 sessions, 11 sponsors and two parallel labs. Be aware of someone who wants an interview with you ;-) See you next Friday.

Bas Vinken over at the Kadaster (the Dutch Land Registry Office) has written a PowerShell script with great potential. It first detects and then removes the snapshots from all your virtual machines. This script uses the PowerShell snap-in from the VI-Toolkit. Great work Bas.

Get-VIServer "VCSERVER" -User bas -Password vinken

$AllVirtualMachines = Get-VM

foreach ($VirtualMachine in $AllVirtualMachines)

{$AllSnapshots=Get-Snapshot -VM $VirtualMachine

foreach ($Snapshot in $AllSnapshots)

 {If ($Snapshot.ID -like "VirtualMachineSnapshot-*")

  {Write-Host $VirtualMachine.Name, $Snapshot.Name, $Snapshot.Description

   Remove-Snapshot -snapshot $Snapshot –Confirm Write-Host  } } }