VMware - 30

A new white paper which details the installation of ESX 3.5 Update 2 on Workstation 6.5 BETA, Build 99530 and run a fully working Virtual Infrastructure. In 2007, like others in the global VMware community, Xtravirt developed a common methodology to install and run VMware ESX 3.x on VMware Workstation 6 together with a shared storage solution based upon an iSCSI software target. They called it ‘VI3 in a box’. This allowed users and professionals in the IT community to create simple and cost effective VI3 infrastructures to test, learn about and demonstrate these environments.

Upon the release of VMware ESX 3.5 we found that this methodology did not continue to hold true. Although still possible to install ESX 3.5, when attempting to start a nested Virtual Machine on the ESX VM, the ESX VM panics, and a stop message appears. However, with the release of VMware Workstation 6.5, build release 99530, a revised solution now exists. This white paper documents the process to install and configure ‘VI3.5 in a box’. (Via ICT-Freak)

VMware announced new educational services and certification programs designed to help IT professionals build world-class virtual environments. The programs are designed for varied positions, including systems administrators, design architects, operators and managers who are interested in enhancing their knowledge and skills of VMware Infrastructure for datacenter and desktop environments. New education offerings include the VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX) and Live Online and Flex Online courses.

Danny Kort launched the ultimatewhitebox.com website. Not all the hardware is supported but on the other hand, it’s cheap and you can use it to create your own home lab. The database contains several motherboards, network interface cards, I/O controllers, CPU's and memory. When you want to add your own hardware, the only thing you have to do is register and add your configuration.

Searching for a cheap supported configuration isn’t an easy job. You have to find a supported motherboard, network card and SATA controller. I have found a desktop with all these items combined. You can use The HP Compaq d530 - Small form factor (SFF)  DG755A desktop.  My model has a CPU from Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.8 GHz, a NIC from Broadcom Corporatoin NetXtreme BCM5782 Gigabit Ethernet and a SATA 82801EB (ICH5) SATA Controller. I added a 512 Mb memory bank so I have 1 Gigabyte in total. Enough to host a few virtual machines.

Share operational processes to understand all organizational steps required to implement a virtualization solution. Improve on both new and existing models for enterprise virtualization.

VMware High Availability (VMware HA) monitors your virtual infrastructure for ESX Server host failures and restarts virtual machines that are interrupted by those failures on alternate hosts. Starting with ESX Server 3.5, VMware HA can also detect and handle the failures of individual virtual machines and respond appropriately based on your specifications. With this additional functionality, called Virtual Machine Failure Monitoring, VMware HA deals with both host operating system and guest operating system failures.

This demo shows Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM) being used to initiate a VMotion on a VMWare ESX server.

VMware ESX/ESXi Server 35 Update 2

ESX Server 3i version 3.5 Update 2 Installable

ESX Server 3i version 3.5 Update 2 Installable Embedded

VMware Virtual Center 25 Update 2

Update Manager Update 2

Converter Enterprise Update 2

July ’08 is a busy moth at Palo Alto, VMware just released the update 2 for VMware ESX server 3.5 and Virtual center Server 2.5 and the free VMware ESXi Installable.

VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 Server Latest Released Version: 2.5 Update 2 | 07/25/08

VMware ESX 3.5 Server Latest Released Version: 3.5 Update 2 | 07/25/08

VMware ESXi Installable Latest Released Version: 3.5 Update 2 | 07/25/08

What's New

·         Windows Server 2008 support

·         VMotion Compatibility

·         Storage VMotion

·         VSS quiescing support

·         Hot Virtual Extend Support

·         192 vCPUs per host

·         8Gb Fiber Channel HBAs

·         SAS arrays

·         10 GbE iSCSI initiator

·         10 GbE NFS support

·         IBM System x3950 M2

·         IPMI OEM extension support

·         System health monitoring through CIM providers

·         CIM SMASH/Server Management API

·         Display of system health information

·         Remote CLI

·         HP Management Agents

·         Solaris10 U5

·         SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP2

·         Ubuntu 8.04

·         Driver updates

·         Library update

·         VMware High Availabilty (HA)

The benefits of virtual environments are widely known and accepted. However, Kroll Ontrack engineers have seen a ten-fold increase in data recovery needs in virtualised environments.  Data recovery from these systems is more complex and risky, because of the quantity and value of data residing on them.  To cater to this need Kroll Ontrack's R&D team have devised unique capabilities to recover data from virtual environments.

VMware's new Site Recovery Manager product automates failover from a production datacenter to a backup datacenter. VMware Customer Education introduces a two-day instructor-led, hands-on training course on this exciting new technology. The course covers the creation of disaster-recovery workflows, the setup of the SRM product, and testing and executing recovery plans.

View the course description and enroll in a public delivery today.