Eric Sloof - NTPRO.NL

Imagine being able to instantly identify capacity bottlenecks on hosts, clusters and resources pools. Capacity bottlenecks, when not resolved, cause performance problems or even downtime. VKernel’s Capacity Analyzer Virtual Appliance immediately builds a list of current RAM, CPU, storage and network bottlenecks in your VMware infrastructure. It also predicts future capacity bottlenecks and alerts you when trends exceed customizable thresholds.

Today VMware launched VDM2 as a part of VMware VDI: Delivering Desktops from the Data Center. The abbreviation VDM stands for Virtual Desktop manager, the connection broker software that supports a VDI environment. I participated in the Beta and deployed VDM2 in a production environment. When Capgemini Outsourcing had obtained an outsourcing contract from office Furniture group Ahrend last September, it has taken over management of the office ICT environment and the service desk. As the senior system administrator at Ahrend I created a VDI pool with desktops. During the transition of all the hardware from the Ahrend Datacenter in Nieuwegein to the Capgemini datacenter in Amsterdam,  the Ahrend ICT colleagues could easily move to the Capgemini office without losing their old desktop. There are two things I really like about VDM2; the first one is the automatic provisioning and the second one is USB support. VDM2 really made the transition to Capgemini run a lot smoother. VMware has asked me to act as a marketing reference for this launch, so I can speak to the press and author a quote. I already created an install and configure presentation which I presented to the Dutch VMUG audience last December. When you need any further information please let me know.

  Photo taken by Viktor van den Berg

In 2002, a group of professors from three universities designed and implemented the NomadBIOS paravirtualized hypervisor, and were the first to show how a VM running a production-class operating system could be migrated between two hosts with almost imperceptible downtime, less than 100 ms. Such functionality, now commonly referred to as "Live Migration", has since become a hallmark of VM systems, and is supported in products from VMware, Citrix, Oracle, and planned in a future product announced by Microsoft. When you are interested in the background of this VMotion technique, you should really take a look at this PDF.

Mastering VMware Infrastructure 3 offers a strong design component followed by an in-depth look at the day-to-day tasks that make virtualization a key technology for any enterprise. Having access to a massive server infrastructure, the authors are able to provide real-world examples and best practices that apply to the integral parts of the virtual administrator's professional life. Topics include creating and managing virtual networks, creating and managing storage devices, migrating and importing virtual machines, managing and monitoring resource access, and protecting data.