I know there are lots of utilities out there capable of creating a high CPU load. You probably know the cpubusy.vbs from your VMware Install and Configure course and you can also download CPU-Burn freely from the internet. But what if you can’t download such a util and still want to be able to create a high CPU load within your virtual machine. Let’s take a look at the good old Windows Calculator. Go to the scientific view and just punch in a large number, the next step is to hit the n! button. Your calculator is running a mathematical function called factorial and it can consume a large number of CPU cycles. When you choose 5 for instance, it’s 5! = 1*2*3*4*5 =120, but when you choose 20, it’s 2,432,902,008,176,640,000. Hit the n! a few times in a row and your virtual machine will be busy for a while.
Tuesday, March 24. 2009
My vCenter Server is tweeting me alarms
After posting an article how to Extending the VI Client with the Twitter Plug-in, John Troyer commented, asking me if I can envision a practical use for this? Maybe if the other servers are using the Twitter API to report alerts?
In the Alarm Settings dialog box, you can use the Actions tab to specify actions taken when the alarm is triggered. My first thought was, let’s create a PowerShell script, but passing the alarm parameters to a batch file and a PowerShell script isn’t that easy.
After some searching I finally found TwitCon, it’s a Twitter updater that uses no external programs or libraries and has no graphical user interface. It's written to be compliable on any platform and give you a quick, easy, and small way to update your Twitter status in a flash.
You can pass parameters to the twitter.exe from the vCenter Server, in this example I have chosen {targetName} and {alarmName} as the most appropriate.
C:\twitter\twitter.exe username password {targetName} {alarmName}
Other parameters that can be passed to twitter.exe are:
{eventDescription}
{targetName}
{alarmName}
{triggeringSummary}
{declaringSummary}
{oldStatus}
{newStatus}
{target}
Now I can scedule my goodmoring twitter message just before Duncan Epping wakes up. :-)
Wednesday, March 18. 2009
Hyper9 Introduces Alert & Monitoring Applet
This applet makes it easier and more affordable for administrators to monitor virtual environments from inside the guest and across their virtual infrastructure. The add-on applet, as long as the core software is operational, is free to all Hyper9 trial download users and customers, and can be downloaded at: http://store.hyper9.com/product-add-ons.
The applet allows administrators to monitor and set up alerts against any facet/data point in their virtual environment. More specifically, it provides administrators with the ability to:
• Proactively manage and solve infrastructure challenges;
• Monitor configurations and issue alerts when configurations drift from a standard template; and
• Track, monitor and set up alerts for: new virtual machines, VMs missing important hotfixes, VMotion activity and more.
Tuesday, March 17. 2009
Desktop Central | Free Windows Tools
Desktop Central provides a set of free Windows tools that Windows Administrators might require on a day-to-day basis.
- Remote Task Manager Tool
- Wake On LAN Tool
- Software Inventory Tool
- Remote Command Prompt
- GPO Update Tool
- Shutdown / Restart Tool
- Join / Unjoin Computer Tool
- Currently Logged On User
- Hard Disk Space Monitor
- Local User/Group List
- Network Share Browser
Sunday, March 15. 2009
The H9Labs Search Bar Plug-in for VI3
Schley Andrew Kutz has released a new VI3 plug-in via H9Labs called the Search Bar Plug-in for VI3. The plug-in adds search capabilities to VI3 clients through an integrated search bar in the upper-left hand corner of the client. This functionality is present by default in VMware’s recently announced vSphere4, but severely lacking in VI3. Andrew, along with his CTO, Dave McCrory (who gave him great advice on the plug-in and produced the H9Labs graphics for it), figured they would simply back port the search capabilities from vSphere into VI3.
Let’s wait and see what Andrew’s next invention looks like, I received a personal note. :-)
Eric, Good job on the Twitter plug-in. I was (am) working on something similar.
Extend your IT Reach with Mobile Admin 4.2
Rove, a developer of network administration software that provides IT administrators mobile management of their IT systems and infrastructure will unveil the newest version of their flagship product next Monday. Mobile Admin 4.2 will feature full support for VMware vCenter, so users can check and administer their VMware infrastructure from their BlackBerry.
Mobile Admin enables the administration of your IT environment via mobile devices. Once the Mobile Admin Server is deployed within your network, your users can perform a wide range of administrative tasks from a variety of mobile devices, including BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and the Web Interface.
Mobile Admin supports management of the VMware Virtual Center.
Users can check and administer their VMware infrastructure on a global basis from a BlackBerry smartphone, Windows Mobile phone or a web interface.
Users can perform other VMware administrative tasks such as retrieving a running copy of a failed server from a virtual machine, or viewing VMware ESX server status information remotely when a problem occurs.
Note: Microsoft Powershell and the VMware VI Toolkit (for Windows) must be installed on the same system as Mobile Admin in order to manage VI servers with Mobile Admin.