Eric Sloof - NTPRO.NL

Dutch - Een bar met geniën

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:00:00 +0200

VMware-expert Eric Sloof neemt tijdens VMware Forum deel aan een nieuw initiatief: de 'Genius bar'. In onderstaande blogpost legt hij uit wat dit inhoudt:

"Begin juni staat iets leuks te gebeuren! Je kunt namelijk op 4 juni gratis het VMware Forum in Den Bosch bezoeken. Deze dag geeft je de gelegenheid om met leveranciers te praten en technische sessies bij te wonen, maar als klap op de vuurpijl is er dit jaar een zogenaamde Genius bar ingericht.

De term Genius bar is komen overwaaien uit Amerika waar op evenementen als VMworld een speciale stand aanwezig is met VMware-specialisten die klaar staan om je vragen te beantwoorden. Een ware primeur voor Nederland is dat we dit jaar op het VMware Forum in Den Bosch ook een echte Genius bar hebben. Deze bar wordt bemand door Bouke Groenescheij, Duco Jaspars, Gabrie van Zanten, Joep Piscaer, Viktor van den Berg en mijzelf, Eric Sloof.

Deze vooraanstaande geniën zijn afkomstig uit het bedrijfsleven en werken dagelijks met de oplossingen van VMware. Je kunt bij deze VMware-enthousiastelingen terecht met al je vragen. Ieder 'genie' heeft zijn eigen expertise en kennis, en kan je ongetwijfeld verder helpen met je VMware-vraagstukken.

Je bent op 4 juni dus van harte welkom in Den Bosch op VMware Forum 2013. Kom vooral even langs bij de Genius bar met eventuele technische vragen. Maar je mag natuurlijk ook gewoon even een praatje komen maken :-)."

Registreer u nu gratis voor het Forum via deze link.

Windows 7 and Windows 8 Optimization Guide for Horizon View Virtual Desktops

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Thu, 16 May 2013 10:14:47 +0200

This guide provides guidelines for configuring a standard Windows image for use in a VMware Horizon View infrastructure. It gives administrators the information necessary to create a standard Windows image, whether by leveraging the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) or by utilizing a script-based approach to optimize traditionally installed Windows virtual machines.

The recommended configuration settings optimize the operating system to enhance overall scalability and performance in a Horizon View implementation. The procedures described in this guide apply to the Windows 7 andWindows 8 operating systems. Scripts and task sequences to optimize both operating systems are included.

Horizon View 5.2 supports Microsoft Windows 8 and the Metro style user interface. Windows 8 offers more options for security and personalization as well as new built-in desktop virtualization capabilities. The new Group Policy templates for Windows 8 enable more control and consistency for desktop users and greatly enhance the Horizon View virtual desktop experience. Horizon View also supports basic gestures in a View Client running on Intel-based Surface tablets.

In Windows 8 there is now a services state change where only the necessary services are running at system startup, with most services marked as Manual (Triggered Start). In this scenario, services are started only when the user accesses a component that requires the triggered service to be started. This improves Windows performance

Windows 7 and Windows 8 Optimization Guide for Horizon View Virtual Desktops

Epping leaves VMware for a new job at Nutanix

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Mon, 13 May 2013 12:44:00 +0200

I had an interview earlier today with Raymon Epping about his jump to Nutanix - He will be the first SE in the Netherlands and is very exited about his new job.

> Hi Raymon, when you're were working at VMware, you started out as a senior consultant and later switched to Technical Account Management. What's the big difference between those roles?

PSO consulting is a pure technical position, hence the number of VCDX's coming out of VMware PSO, where Technical Account Management is more focussed on account management and customer relationships. My primary focus was to guide our enterprise customers on their journey to the cloud by introducing aspects like automation, orchestration, self-services, chargeback, configuration management and virtual infrastructure management. On top of this the TAM is the logical bridge between the customer and VMware for everything related to support, product features, engineering and account management.

> Once you were working as a Technical Account Manager, you've earned a reward for your outstanding work. Isn't it hard to quit a role that really fits you?

I got this award based on two of the enterprise customers that I was responsible for where we successfully introduced our cloud vision. Our vision, as you know, is based on increasing agility by introducing simplification through automation and orchestration and that was the link for me with Nutanix. At Nutanix we introduce a radically simple solution compared to traditional data centers that easily scales and at the same time will reduce cost and complexity by introducing a "pay as you grow" model.

> Your new job at Nutanix involves a lot of pioneering since you're the first SE in the Netherlands. Do you enjoy exploring new challenges and territories?

As you know I'm always in for a challenge. When I joined VMware almost 4 years ago I came from Oracle with an Identity and Access management background, within 6 months I was VCAP-DCA + VCAP-DCD certified. So jumping into something completely different is not new to me. That said, I strongly believe in the value that we as Nutanix can bring to the market by offering rapid deployment, highly scalable architecture, enterprise-class hyper converged storage and compute capabilities and a modular scale-out approach.

> If I want to capture the philosophy behind Nutanix in one sentence and say "As many virtual machine per cubic centimetre as possible" am I on the right track?

No, unfortunately not. Nutanix provides a datacenter infrastructure which is indeed 2 to 5 times smaller in space and power but Nutanix is not only about the number of VM's per host / node / block. It's much more than that. What you could say is the following:

Nutanix offers a linear infinite scale-out architecture that enables a cost-effective and seamless growth path for organizations that need to scale their compute and storage infrastructure.

The Nutanix virtual computing platform converges all compute and storage resources into a single, integrated system. Multiple sever nodes and Nutanix blocks can be seamlessly clustered to achieve massive scale. Each Nutanix solution is delivered in easy-to-deploy 2U appliances, with virtualization software pre-installed and ready to run out of the box.

> What's, in your experience, the real wow factor when people are starting out with the solutions Nutanix is offering?

The real wow factor is a combination of how simple it is to set it up plus the ease of maintenance and at the same time delivering a next generation infrastructure for your virtual landscape. A Nutanix cluster can be setup within 30 minutes, we offer 1 intuitive user interface for management and we deliver Google-like datacenter capabilities. For more information see our video Nutanix in 2 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xORDdqOKOSA

> Last but not least, I've heard you're throwing a party in a cinema and everyone is invited, can you tell me more about it.

6th of june we are throwing a big party to introduce Nutanix to the Netherlands and everyone is invited. We are hosting the premiere of Star Trek into darkness. Star Trek is well known for it's influence on the world outside of science fiction, it was an inspiration for several technological inventions such as the cell phone. In other words it connected the future with today, the same as we are now doing at Nutanix.

Registration for this event is open: http://go.nutanix.com/Movie_Register.html and we are looking forward to seeing you there!

New Book - VCDX Boot Camp: Preparing for the VCDX Panel Defense

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Sun, 12 May 2013 16:15:42 +0200

Prepare to succeed at your VCDX panel defense and gain world-class knowledge for designing complex VMware environments. VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) is the highest level of VMware certification, achieved by dedicated professionals who have demonstrated exceptional skill in VMware enterprise deployments.

To earn a VCDX, professionals must create a complete enterprise VMware design and undergo an arduous defense at the hands of some of the world’s most sophisticated VMware experts.

Now, for the first time, there’s a comprehensive guide to VCDX defense: VCDX Boot Camp. Based on the legendary standing-room-only boot camps led by VCDX co-creator John Arrasjid, this guide captures the unsurpassed personal experience of three pioneering VCDX certification holders, program developers, and defense panelists.

John Arrasjid, Ben Lin, and Mostafa Khalil cover everything you need to know to prepare for certification. They demystify the entire VCDX defense process, clearly explain its format and prerequisites, and offer indispensable tips for maximizing your likelihood of success. Detailed chapters on both design and troubleshooting offer four complete scenarios explaining exactly what VCDX panelists will expect from your defense.

Learn how to think like a VCDX, discovering powerful insights and best practices for designing your own world-class virtualized environment.

Coverage includes:

Authoritative preparation guidance (including expert insights into scheduling your preparation and defense)
Tips for conducting mock defenses, boot camps, and study sessions with your colleagues
How to select, create, and document a superior, defensible design
How to make design choices and incorporate design patterns that support the VCDX blueprint
How to confidently defend your skills in architecture, designing new solutions, and troubleshooting design or implementation flaws
Proven tips for responding to tough questions from panelists
Detailed example defenses of designs incorporating VCDX-DCV, VCDX-Cloud, and VCDX-DT

John Arrasjid (VCDX 001)

VCDX Boot Camp: Preparing for the VCDX Panel Defense

New Technical White Paper - VMware Horizon View 5.2 Performance and Best Practices

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:35:39 +0200

This paper presents best practices and performance data for VMware Horizon View 5.2 and also highlighted some of the new features. With optimized PCoIP image caching, a bandwidth improvement of up to 10% is seen across different network conditions. The other PCoIP improvements included dynamic GPO settings and the support of relative mouse.

Windows 8 optimizations are also presented which can provide up to 60% bandwidth savings. There were also performance improvements in the View management side where up to 2x improvement is seen for various administrative operations such as provisioning, recompose, and rebalancing.

Furthermore, with new SESparse disk, administrator can minimize storage overhead by efficiently using and reclaiming storage-space to minimize the storage capacity requirements for persistent desktops and decreases the need to continuously recompose and restore images.

For the vSGA feature, the results illustrated the ability of VMware’s hardware-backed 3D support to scale efficiently and it was illustrated that for light 3D workloads, a 2-socket x86 server with 2 GPUs can support over 100 3D desktops.

This clearly showed the benefits of GPU virtualization and the strength of VMware’s 3D strategy where VMs over-and-above those that can be supported by the GPUs seamlessly use VMware’s software renderer. Finally, best practices for optimizing the parent template, for optimizing PCoIP for different network conditions, and for the vSGA feature were presented.

Technical White Paper - VMware Horizon View 5.2 Performance and Best Practices

New Technical White Paper - VMware Horizon View 5.2 and Hardware Accelerated 3D Graphics

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:28:00 +0200

The significant cost savings that can be realized by leveraging a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), coupled with the rapid growth in cheaply available bandwidth (both on LAN and WAN), has meant that VDI no longer need be constrained to low-resolution desktops associated with task workers, but can be leveraged to cost effectively bring high-fidelity, high resolution, multi-monitor 3D desktops to an ever wider audience.

This whitepaper discusses the support for hardware accelerated 3D graphics that debuted with vSphere 5.1 and View 5.2 and presents performance and consolidation results for a number of different workloads, ranging from knowledge workers using 3D desktops to performance-intensive CAD-based workloads.

Further, given that the intensity of a 3D workload will vary greatly from user to user and application to application, rather than highlighting specific case studies, we demonstrate how the solution efficiently scales for both light- and heavyweight 3D workloads, until GPU or CPU resources are fully utilized. This paper also presents key best practices to extract peak performance from a 3D VMware®

Horizon View™ 5.2 deployment.

Technical White Paper - VMware Horizon View 5.2 and Hardware Accelerated 3D Graphics

New Technical White Paper - Understanding vSphere 5.1 Storage DRS

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:27:11 +0200

Virtual machine storage provisioning historically has imposed operational challenges. Monitoring datastore capacity and I/O load has proven to be very difficult and as a result is often neglected. During the provisioning process for virtual machines, virtual disk datastores are often randomly selected, leading to hot spots and over- or underutilized datastores.

VMware vSphere Storage DRS was a new feature introduced in VMware vSphere 5.0 that provides smart virtual machine placement and load-balancing mechanisms based on I/O and space capacity. It helps decrease operational effort associated with the provisioning of virtual machines and monitoring of the storage environment. There are five key features that vSphere Storage DRS offers:

Resource aggregation
Initial placement
Load balancing
Affinity rules
Datastore maintenance mode

Technical White Paper - Understanding vSphere 5.1 Storage DRS by @Frankdenneman

Free e-learning course - vCloud Automation Center: Fundamentals

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:32:41 +0200

VMware vCloud Automation Center (also known as vCAC) is comprised of three modules: Virtual Resource Manager (VRM), External Cloud Manager (ECM) and Physical Resource Manager (PRM).

Together, these modules provide an enterprise-wide system for provisioning virtual, cloud and physical machines and for comprehensively managing the machine lifecycle from user request and administrative approval through decommissioning and resource reclamation, while dramatically improving resource cost control and management.

Built-in customization and extensibility features also make vCloud Automation Center a highly flexible means for customizing machine configurations as needed and integrating machine provisioning and management with other enterprise-critical systems.

This free eLearning course covers the main features, components, architecture, and configuration of vCloud Automation Center v5.1.

Register here

Free e-learning course - Security Principles in Virtualized Datacenters

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:21:27 +0200

In this self paces (3 hours) free eLearning course you will review security requirements and learn how to secure the virtualized datacenter environment as well as explain cloud security features and concepts.

In the first module, Security in a Virtualized Datacenter, we will describe security principles and identify unique security considerations in virtualized datacenter environments.
In the Platform Hardening module we will describe VMware vSphere® security and present some vSphere hardening examples.
In the Security Compliance and Governance module we will describe compliance, common standards, common compliance controls, VMware compliance example with PCI, and examine VMware compliance solutions.
In the Security Use Cases in Virtualized Datacenters module we will explain how to protect business-critical applications in virtualized environments and how to secure VMware View virtual desktop infrastructure deployments.
In the Private Cloud Security module we will define cloud computing, examine private cloud architecture, and examine security considerations in private clouds.
In the last module, the Ecosystem Enablement and APIs, we will describe the vCloud Ecosystem Framework, introduce the relevant APIs, along with the VMware Ready program that Technology Alliance Partners use to access the APIs. Finally, we will show some examples of partner integrations.

New Training Course - VMware Horizon Mirage: Install, Configure, Manage

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:06:09 +0200

This hands-on training course builds your skills in installing, configuring, and performing common administrator tasks and end user tasks with the VMware Horizon Mirage software. This course is based on the Horizon Mirage 4.0 release.

Before attending this course, you should have the following knowledge:

Using VMware vSphere Client to view the state of virtual machines, datastores, and networks
Opening a virtual machine console in VMware vCenter Server and accessing the guest operating system
Navigating Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Microsoft SQL Server user interfaces

By the end of the course, you should understand the features and operation of Horizon Mirage and be able to do the following:

Install and configure Horizon Mirage components.
Demonstrate how to navigate and use Horizon Mirage Management Console.
Identify the process for deploying Horizon Mirage to endpoints.
Explain the tasks for capturing and assigning base layers and application layers.
Identify the tasks for performing a Windows XP to Windows 7 migration.
Define the methods of performing desktop recovery.
Recognize how to plan and perform a mass hardware migration.
Demonstrate how to use the Client Status window and the Sync and Snooze options.
Discuss how to install and configure Horizon Mirage File Portal and how end users access their files.

Course Datasheet

VMware Horizon Mirage: Install, Configure, Manage [V4.0] BETA

New Technical White Paper - Storage Considerations for VMware View

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:16:10 +0200

VMware View is an enterprise-class virtual desktop manager that securely connects authorized users to centralized virtual desktops. It allows you to consolidate virtual desktops on datacenter servers and manage operating systems, applications and data independently for greater business agility while providing a flexible high-performance desktop experience for end users, over any network.

Storage is the foundation of any VMware View implementation. This document is intended for architects and systems administrators who are considering an implementation of View. It outlines the steps you should take to characterize your environment, from determining the type of users in your environment to choosing storage protocols and storage technology.

The paper covers the following topics:

• Windows Disk I/O Workloads

• Base Image Considerations

• Storage Protocol Choices

• Storage Technology Options

• Storage Array Decisions
• Increasing Storage Performance

Technical White Paper - Storage Considerations for VMware View

VMworld 2013 session voting is open to everyone

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:20:00 +0200

VMworld 2013 session voting is open from April 23 till May 6. You will be required to login to your vmworld.com account to participate. If you do not have a vmworld.com account, you can set one up for free. This is a global voting process, approximately 80% of sessions selected will be presented at both VMworld 2013 Europe and US.

Once you login to the voting site, you can select a Track, Area of Interest or do a Keyword Search (Session ID, title, sloof, etc.) to find specific sessions. You can vote on as many sessions as you’d like. You can only cast one vote per session. For sessions that you like and would like to see in the VMworld program, click on the “Thumbs Up” symbol next to the Session ID. You will receive confirmation that your vote has been counted.

To remove a vote, you will need to click on the on the “Thumbs Up” symbol again and this will remove the vote. Your votes will votes be saved and you will be able to view them each time you login to the voting site. I've submitted two sessions on my own and one with Duco Jaspars over at vConsult this year:

4882 - How to create professional video tutorials

In this session you will learn how to create professional videos easily. You will get a walkthrough with some basic steps like setting-up you lab, using the right microphone and disabling other interfering software. Besides a lot of great tips for recording an instructional video, you will also learn how to edit the videos and use special effects to make the tutorials more attractive to watch. You will also learn how to import other content. Once the video is ready, you will get a heads up about all the different possibilities for sharing the video.

4943 - VMware High Availability Failover Capacity Demystified

VMware High Availability offers several options to configure failover capacity for a cluster. This session will show you the different options and their pitfalls. You will learn how to configure vSphere HA to tolerate a specified number of host failures. With the Host Failures Cluster Tolerates admission control policy, vSphere HA ensures that a specified number of hosts can fail and sufficient resources remain in the cluster to fail over all the virtual machines from those hosts.

5008 - vCenter Operations and the quest for the Missing Metrics (with Duco Jaspars)

This session will teach you how to customize vCenter Operations to provide you the information you really need for your business. You will get an insight of very useful vCenter Operations Manager customizations. We do this by giving you some real life examples from the field where we use Custom Dashboards, Super Metrics, Adapters and Alerts in order to give you the best possible view in to the well-being of your environment.

Go to VMworld 2013 session voting

Frank Denneman leaves VMware for PernixData

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:00:00 +0200

VMware’s Senior Architect Technical Marketing; Frank Denneman leaves VMware to join PernixData, a start-up founded by another ex-VMware employee Satyam Vaghani. Satyam, who’s one of the co-founders and CTO of PernixData, has spoken at TechfieldDay earlier this week, where he presented their new storage technology. A recorded video can be found here. I’ve conducted an interview with Frank this weekend about his jump to PernixData.

Eric: Hi Frank, at VMware you’re working for one of the most prestigious companies in a dream role. Why do you quit at VMware and leave your comfortable position for a relatively unknown future at a start-up?

Frank: Hi Eric, leaving such a great company was a very tough decision and especially when you consider the role I had. Working in technical marketing you are exposed to both sides of the story, meaning that you talk to both the customers and the engineers. Bringing those worlds together is a great experience. Discussing future product directions with a great group of engineers and working alongside with some of the brightest minds in the virtualization community made my job absolutely awesome.

Frank: When I attended a technical preview of the Flash Virtualization Platform at Pernixdata I got excited. I think just as excited as when I saw my first vMotion. Not only am I thrilled about the current benefits the platform offers, but also the strategic value the platform provides. It decouples the performance element from the capacity element of the storage architecture, allowing them to be separately managed. By turning the storage stack into a modular model it essentially changes the way virtualization infrastructures will be designed. And think about the potential of such a platform inside the hypervisor layer. I think addressing latency of storage I/O to accelerate the application is only a fraction of the possibilities of FVP. As you notice I really get excited when discussing the solution, and this by itself made me realize that I wanted to become a part of this success story.

Eric: That sounds very exciting indeed, talking about great minds. You will be working with Satyam Vaghani who is the inventor of techniques like VMFS, VAAI and vVols. Those techniques are really the big game changers in the IT industry. Do you think storage optimization will still be the next big thing? And why not networking, VMware is also about to launch NSX. If you look at a regular datacenter, what takes the most floor space after computing?

Frank: I think storage optimisation can exists next to the initiative of network virtualization. Both are game changers in the datacenter that helps to abstract, pool and automate resources. NSX on the network layer, FVP on the storage layer. Both solutions break the traditional datacenter design and both are necessary to move the datacenter forward into the 21st century. With storage optimalisation we do not remove the need of centralized storage but it contributes to keep the datacenter footprint as small as possible. Typically a lot of spindles are necessary to offer the performance required by the application. Spindles equals footprint. By decoupling the performance capacity from the storage capacity you can return to a design model where the storage array is primarily focusing on providing storage capacity. This can slow down the need for more datacenter floorspace. By solving the storage performance and scaling problems on an infrastructure level at the server side it changes the resource demand to your existing storage arrays. This can delay your next storage acquisition and implementation project and avoid the typical changes to datacenter configuration and offered data services.

Eric: Awesome, so in your previous role, you've written and contributed to some amazing technical white papers. I'm also a big fan of your website. Can we continue to enjoy your contributions to the community in the future and what is going to be your daily work in your new role at PernixData?

Frank: Thanks for the compliment Eric, always great to hear people appreciate your output. As the soon to be Tech Evangelist for PernixData I will be responsible for helping the virtualization community to understand FVP and any other subsequent offerings. Although you will see an increase of articles about FVP it does not take away my love for producing articles covering compute and storage resource management in virtual infrastructures. Besides by Tech Evangelist role I will be responsible for building out the EMEA organization.

Eric: Great Frank, many thanks for the interview. Good luck with your new job at PernixData.

Frank can be reached on twitter at @FrankDenneman. The address of his blog site is: FrankDenneman.nl

Embarking on a new adventure – Joining PernixData as Tech Evangelist

New Training Course - VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 22:51:40 +0200

This training course focuses on the advanced capabilities of VMware vCenter Operations Manager 5.6, such as adapters, customization and management topics. You will learn how to use adapters, define custom super metrics, customize dashboards, and use the Custom user interface. The course is based on vCenter Operations Manager 5.6, and integration with VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware vCloud Director 5.1, and VMware vFabric Hyperic.

Identify the capabilities of adapters, their use cases, availability, and installation.
Describe super metrics, attributes, and attribute packages as well as object tagging.
Manage user access to the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Custom UI.
Work with smart alerts and custom alert notification.
Use custom dashboards to build specific views for operations and application monitoring.

VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design [V5.x] - BETA
(Beta) Course Datasheet - VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design
Save 50% on BETA Course: VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design [V5.x]

Monitoring VMware View Users with Stratusphere UX Adapter for VMware vCenter Operations Manager

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 11:15:00 +0200

Stratusphere UX provides properly related KPIs for over 40 critical desktop metrics for both physical and virtual machines. These metrics can be fed by the Stratusphere UX Adapter into vCenter Operations Manager’s superior analytics engine to provide fast root-cause analysis by correlating user desktop events with other events across the virtualization layers and other supporting systems, including vSphere host and storage layers. Desktop performance can be monitored through customer dashboard in the vCenter Operations console and desktop administrators receive rapid at-a-glance alerts through custom dashboards.

Stratusphere UX provides over 40 metrics to vCenter Operations Manager from physical or virtual windows desktops, along with several unique KPI’s not available in other competing solutions including:

Login Delay
Application Load Time
Non-Responding Applications
GPU Utilization
CPU Queue Length
Disk Queue Length
Disk Read vs. Write IOPS
Network Latency
Network Failed Connections

New vCops Feeds Introduced in Stratusphere UX 5.4

Free e-learning course - VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator Fundamentals

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 08:47:19 +0200

This free e-learning course covers how to install vCenter Infrastructure Navigator as well as how to use its main features. You can use vCenter Infrastructure Navigator to leverage the application dependency context to proactively manage the virtual infrastructure.

With intelligent operations groups and vCenter Operations Manager integration users are enabled to quickly identify in-context performance and capacity issues, as well as optimization opportunities, as they relate to grouped objects either by business, or operational relevance.

The course consists of three modules:

Overview discusses the major vCenter Infrastructure Navigator functions, its architecture, resource requirements, and installation considerations.
Installing and Configuring vCenter Infrastructure Navigator discusses how to install and configure vCenter Infrastructure Navigator.
Using vCenter Infrastructure Navigator covers how to use the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator vApp and specially define a custom service.

After completing the course, you should be able to:

Recognize the main functions of vCenter Infrastructure Navigator
Describe the vCenter Operations Manager 5.0 vApp resource requirements and installation considerations.
Diagram the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance architecture.
Describe the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance resource requirements.
List the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance installation considerations.
List the tasks for deploying the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance.
Discuss how to apply a license for vCenter Infrastructure Navigator.
List the initial configuration tasks.
Demonstrate how to use vCenter Infrastructure Navigator.
Discuss the steps for defining a custom service.

Register for free: VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator Fundamentals [V2.X]

Coming Soon - VMware Certified Professional Network Virtualization (VCP-NV)

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 09:45:00 +0200

VMware is set to release a new network certification program at the coming VMworld 2013 which will be held San Francisco. With the VMworld Call for Papers Voting now open, the voting process is well underway and lots of people are promoting their sessions.

There was one session in particular that caught my eye. The title of this session is "Join the Network Virtualization Revolution by Becoming VMware’s Newest VCP, VCP-NV!" - It's presented by VMware's Sr. Technical Certification Developer Jon Hall. Some of you may know Jon already from a similar launch back in 2010 of the VCAP certification. The abstract of this upcoming VCP-NV session is very revealing:

Network Virtualization is revolutionizing the data center. VMware NSX is enabling rapid deployment of networking and security by decoupling network services from physical network hardware. The demand for IT professionals that have proven skills with this technology is strong, and now you can be one of the first IT professionals to earn VMware’s newest certification, VCP-NV (Network Virtualization).

As a VCP-NV, you will demonstrate your mastery of network virtualization implementation and administration skills. And the VCP-NV certification is just one component of VMware's Network Virtualization Certification Track. This track provides a proven means of conveying your mastery of these skills to employees, partners and the virtualization community. Begin your path by becoming a VCP-NV, the foundation of this new program.

As your skills grow, Advanced Professional certifications can be achieved in the areas of Network Virtualization Infrastructure Administration and Network Virtualization Infrastructure Design, culminating in the opportunity to become a leading expert in this field by achieving the VMware Certified Design Expert – Network Virtualization certification. This session will provide details of each certification, including the steps to achieve the certification, tools and resources available, structure of the advanced certifications and more. Come join us and join the Network Virtualization Revolution!

So if you want to know more about VMware's future network virtuliztion track, vote for 4729 Join the Network Virtualization Revolution by Becoming VMware’s Newest VCP, VCP-NV! Also check-out this new training course which aligns well with the new certification: Upcoming Training Course - VMware vCloud Networking and Security for vSphere Professionals.

Update: Please keep in mind that VMware Education Services hasn’t officially released the new titles yet. They will be making an announcement soon regarding the new certification plans, and of course provide more detail around the program and its implications.

VCAP5-DCD been there done that – but only 3 seconds left

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:40:22 +0200

Here’s a short write-up regarding my VCAP5-DCD exam experience. The training course I was scheduled for this week was cancelled, so I decided to give the VCAP5-DCD exam another try. I already failed for the beta and my first attempt for the regular one but VMware was so kind to provide me with a voucher, which would expire soon.

So besides some household tasks, I’ve used this week for some serious prepping. One of the most important sources for my study was the lecture guide of the VMware vSphere design Workshop. I’ve delivered this training course several times and it has some great content. Especially the first chapters where the different types of design stages like logical and conceptual are well explained. They definitely need some extra attention. You have to know what happens at each specific stage.

Also take a very good look at this diagram, which explains abbreviations like RTO, RPO and MTPOD. Source (http://www.goh-moh-heng.com/wp-content/uploads/defining-RTO.png)

I’ve seen some posts about exam timing. Yes it’s essential for passing the exam but don’t get to hung-up on it (don’t stare at the clock every single minute). When you start the exam, the first page will present the amount of design labs and the total amount of questions. It also shows the average time you should spend on the design questions. The number of design questions is reduced a bit compared to earlier versions of the DCD exam, so with only 5 or 6 questions you should be able to complete them all.

Before starting at a design question write down the number 1,2,3,4 or 5 and the time you’ve started designing. Don’t jump into Visio-mode, I nearly blew one by connecting the connectors to the wrong objects. Read the assignment well enough to be able to complete the lab. It is a myth that the design questions don’t count for your final score. They are responsible for a significant part of your end score, so take them serious.

The drag and drop questions are sometimes a bit lengthy, but don’t skim the text. There are very important details hidden in it so read it fully. The other “multiple choice” and “choose all that apply” questions are not that hard. It’s the knowledge that you already posses that will get you through. Just think straight but don’t answer too fast and click next, because you can’t go back.

I finished the exam with only 3 seconds on the clock left. My end score was 338. I must admit, I had the feeling I did a bit better and would end-up near 400 points, but a pass is a pass. Good luck with your VCAP-DCD.

New Technical White Paper - Virtualized Hadoop Performance with VMware vSphere 5.1

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:01:57 +0200

Apache Hadoop provides a platform for building distributed systems for massive data storage and analysis using a large cluster of standard x86-based servers. It uses data replication across hosts and racks of hosts to protect against individual disk, host, and even rack failures. A job scheduler can be used to run multiple jobs of different sizes simultaneously, which helps to maintain a high level of resource utilization. Given the built-in reliability and workload consolidation features of Hadoop it might appear there is little need to virtualize it.

However, there are several use-cases that make virtualization of this workload compelling:

Enhanced availability with capabilities like VMware High Availability and Fault Tolerance. The performance implications of protecting the Hadoop master daemons with FT were examined in a previous paper.
Easier deployment with vSphere tools or Serengeti, leading to easier and faster datacenter management.
Sharing resources with other Hadoop clusters or completely different applications, for better datacenter utilization.

In addition, virtualization enables new ways of integrating Hadoop workloads into the datacenter:

Elasticity enables the ability to quickly grow a cluster as needs warrant, and to shrink it just as quickly in order to release resources to other applications.
Multi-tenancy allows multiple virtual clusters to share a physical cluster while maintaining the highest levels of isolation between them.
Greater security within each cluster as well as elasticity (the ability to quickly resize a cluster) require the separation of the computational (TaskTracker) and data (DataNode) parts of Hadoop into separate machines. However, data locality (and thus performance) requires them to be on the same physical host, leading to the use of virtual machines.

A detailed discussion of these points is beyond the scope of this paper, but can be found elsewhere. As great as the current and potential future benefits of virtualization are for Hadoop, they are unlikely to be realized if the performance costs are too high. The focus of this paper is to quantify these costs and to try to achieve an understanding of the implications of alternative virtual configurations.

This is done through the use of a set of well-understood and high-throughput benchmarks (the TeraSort suite). While these applications are not generally representative of production clusters running many jobs of different sizes and priorities, they are at the high end of infrastructure resource usage (CPU, memory, network and storage bandwidth) of typical production jobs. As such, they are good tools for stressing the virtualization layer.

The ultimate goal is for a Hadoop administrator to be able to create a cluster specification that enables all the above advantages while achieving the best performance possible.

Performance Study - Virtualized Hadoop Performance with VMware vSphere 5.1

Beste Practices Guide - VMware Site Recovery Manager and Nimble Storage

nospam@example.com (Eric Sloof) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:43:00 +0200

Nimble Storage fully integrates with VMware SRM to automate DR protection, test and recovery for the storage layer. Major points of integration between VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager and the Nimble Storage Arrays are done via a “Storage Replication Adapater” (SRA) written by Nimble to the specifications provided by VMware. The SRA allows for a number of storage interaction workflows to be initiated from Site Recovery Manager, such as: Discovery; Test Failover; Cleanup; Planned Migration; Disaster Recovery; Reprotect.

The SRA helps SRM discover Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) datastores that are configured with cross-site replication. Arrays are pre-configured with replicated devices or consistency groups, which are then presented to the vSphere clusters. In the SRM server the SRA must be installed to allow visibility to these replicated devices. After the SRA is installed and configured, replicated devices are represented within SRM, available for use in workflows.

Beste Practices Guide - VMware Site Recovery Manager and Nimble Storage