White Papers

Configuring vmknic-based multipathing for the software iSCSI adapter will help vSphere users enable failover at the path level as well as balance I/O traffic between the paths.

The objective of this white paper is to provide information on storage protocols and how they interoperate with  VMware vSphere and related features. Not all supported storage protocols are discussed. Some notable  exceptions are ATA over Ethernet (AoE) and shared/switched SAS. However, the protocols that are included in  this paper are the ones that VMware is most frequently asked to compare.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/Storage_Protocol_Comparison.pdf

VMware frequently is asked for guidance regarding the best storage protocol to use with VMware vSphere®. vSphere supports many storage protocols, with no preference given to any one over another. However, many customers still want to know how these protocols stack up against each other and to understand their respective pros and cons.This white paper looks at common storage protocols from a vSphere perspective. It is not intended to delve into performance comparisons, for the following two reasons:

• The Performance Engineering team at VMware already produces excellent storage performance white papers.
• Storage protocol performance can vary greatly, depending on the storage array vendor. It therefore does not make sense to compare iSCSI and NFS from one vendor, because another vendor might implement one of those protocols far better.

When implementing virtualization technology, organizations must ensure that they can continue to maintain a secure environment and meet their compliance obligations. To do so, you will have to evaluate risks that might affect protected information and mitigate those risks through risk-appropriate standards, processes, and best practices.

The draft version of the vSphere 5.0 Hardening Guide provides guidance on how to securely deploy VMware vSphere 5 in a production environment. The focus is on initial configuration of the virtualization infrastructure layer, which covers the following:

• The virtualization hosts 
• Configuration of the virtual machine container (NOT hardening of the guest operating system (OS) or any applications running within)
• Configuration of the virtual networking infrastructure, including the management and storage networks as well as the virtual switch (but NOT security of the virtual machine’s network)
• VMware vCenter Server, its database and client components
  
  

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If you have a Citrix XenApp implementation and are making a decision about taking further steps with virtualization, this discussion is for you. You probably already use VMware vSphere to virtualize your servers, including your XenApp Servers. The next steps would be to virtualize applications and desktops. If you like the concept and performance of XenApp application presentation, you can expand that functionality by adding View and ThinApp to the mix. 

This solution preserves the investment you have made in time and money in the XenApp implementation. Your staff expertise in successfully running XenApp will continue to be useful in this combined implementation. Furthermore, the expertise you have accumulated in running a vSphere environment will be leveraged with a View and ThinApp implementation.

Migrating from a physical Data Center to a virtual Data Center creates challenges in terms of determining the best practices for deploying virtualized Oracle databases. This white paper illustrates EMC IT's framework for deploying virtualized Oracle databases. EMC IT's Oracle virtual deployment models are the foundation for the "as-a-Service" cloud deployment model.