Eric Sloof

Overclocking a computer's processor or memory causes it to go faster than its factory rated speed. A processor rated at 2.4GHz might be overclocked to 2.5GHz or 2.6GHz, while memory rated at 200MHz might be pushed to 220MHz or higher. The extra speed results in more work being done by the processor and/or memory in a given time period, increasing the overall computing performance of the server. When you configure the VMware ESX Server, various system parameters are assigned predetermined values. These parameters control settings for memory, the processor and networking, for example, and affect the running of virtual machines. You can view these settings from the management interface in “Changing Advanced Settings”. To change the setting for the VMkernel configuration parameter, click the link for the value in the "Overclock" advanced setting. The Overclock VMkernel Parameter Update window opens on top of the VMware Management Interface window. In the next figure you will see one of the ESX server at 102%. When you can’t find this setting, download the newly released patch here. :-)

• Newly Supported Management Agents
• Newly Supported Guest Operating Systems
• LSI megaraid_sas and mptscsi Storage Controller Driver Update
• Enablement of Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series
• Expanded Support for Enhanced vmxnet Adapter
• Intel ICH9
• Intel ICH10

VMware ESX Server 3.5 Update 4 Release Notes

ESX 3.5 supports multiple SATA controllers. Some of these controllers are supported only in the native Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI)/SATA mode with SATA hard-drive, and some are only supported in IDE/ATA mode with SATA Optical Drive. For other controllers, VMware provides support in AHCI/SATA or IDE/ATA mode on both types of drives, but you need to be aware of certain feature limitations and trade-offs associated with each mode.

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. :-)

In the upcoming version of VMware ESX, the are a lot of new methods available in the SDK. One of the new methods is CreateScreenshot_Task which is part of the ManagedObjectReference:VirtualMachine. This method creates a screenshot of the virtual machine console, the image is saved as a portable network graphics (.png) file in the virtual machine folder. I created a little PowerShell script to initiate the screenshot.

Get-PSSnapin -registered | Add-PSSnapin -passthru -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
$Server = Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.178.250 -User Administrator -Password vmware
$vm = Get-VM -name "DC.NTPRO.LOCAL"
$vmView = $vm | Get-View
$vmView.CreateScreenshot_Task()

In the upcoming version of vCenter, the Alarm section is greatly improved. You can create alarm rules which are triggered when an event like powering on a Virtual Machine occurs. Event triggers monitor events that occur on managed objects, vCenter Server, and the License Server. An event is recorded for any action that is of interest to vCenter Server.

I created a new alarm that sends me an email when someone reconfigures one of the virtual machines. As a test, I removed the USB controller from a virtual machine and instantly I received an email from my vCenter Server.                                                

[VMware vCenter - Alarm Test Event] Reconfigured Connection on 192.168.178.251 in NTPRO

Target: Connection
Previous Status: Gray
New Status: Red
 
Alarm Definition:
([Event alarm expression: VM reconfigured; Status = Red])
 
Event details:
 Reconfigured Connection on 192.168.178.251 in NTPRO

You can use vCenter Server to create abstracted network devices called vNetwork Distributed Switches. A vNetwork Distributed Switch functions like a single virtual switch across all associated hosts. This allows virtual machines to maintain consistent network configuration as they migrate across multiple hosts. Like a virtual switch, each vNetwork Distributed Switch is a network hub that virtual machines can use. A vNetwork Distributed Switch can route traffic internally between virtual machines or link to an external network by connecting to physical Ethernet adapters, also known as uplink adapters.

Each vNetwork Distributed Switch can also have one or more dvPort groups assigned to it. dvPort groups aggregate multiple ports under a common configuration and provide a stable anchor point for virtual machines connecting to labeled networks. Each dvPort group is identified by a network label, which is unique to the current datacenter. A VLAN ID, which restricts port group traffic to a logical Ethernet segment within the physical network, is optional.

Maps are a graphical representation of the relationships between inventory objects. Physical, Virtual, and Custom map types exist for Inventory Maps and Global Maps. You can constrain and filter this information on a vCenter Server-wide level for Global Maps. In the new version you can zoom in only to a certain point, but you can zoom out until the map fits entirely into the window. You can also export maps to various graphic files, including JPEG, TIFF, and GIF.

The list with default alarm definitions in the next version of ESX server has grown tremendously. As you can see in the image the list contains a a lot of new trigger objects. You can monitor the current condition or state of virtual machines, hosts, and datastores. This includes power states, connection states, and performance metrics, such as CPU and disk usage. To set alarms on other objects in the inventory, including datacenters, clusters, resource pools, and networking objects, use event triggers. The Event Triggers monitors events that occur in response to operations occurring with any managed object in the inventory, the vCenter Server system, or the license server. For example, an event is recorded each time a virtual machine is cloned, created, deleted, deployed, and migrated.

 

In the Alarm Settings dialog box, use the Triggers tab to add, edit, or remove alarm triggers. The procedure for setting up triggers depends on whether you are setting the trigger for a condition or state or for an event. What’s new... you can set a condition length.

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.

Storage Virtual Appliances unlock the resources of the ESX server and provide a virtual SAN that enables datastores to be shared. By leveraging an available virtual machine, SVAs provide a shared storage environment without having to install a complex shared storage system.

Storage Virtual Appliance (SVA)

Storage appliance software running under VMware ESX® as a virtual machine. SVA takes control of and virtualizes Direct Attached Storage (DAS), for example internal disk drives and/or externally attached array.

• Presents it to VMware ESX over iSCSI as a virtual SAN .
• This fully enables all features which normally require an expensive external SAN High Availability and VMotion.
• Dramatically lowers the cost of deploying a server virtualization environment.
• Traditionally you would purchase 2-3 physical servers, then have expense of purchasing SAN storage.
• Now you can have a SAN using the server’s internal storage!