Customer Goals and Challenges (Read Part 1 here<http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/need-title.html>.)
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016766f11abd970b-500wi] <http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016766f11abd970b-pi>
As I'm running Mozy, an SMB company perhaps in some ways like yours, I'm continually looking for opportunities to increase revenue, control costs, and expand our services for customers. This can be a delicate balance. Frequently my management team and I feel like we have too much to do and not enough resources to do it. We need to be thoughtful about the projects where we choose to invest, and look for greater flexibility in how we deliver our solutions, both in our software development methodology and our infrastructure.
A company developing software services, Mozy is especially dependent upon IT infrastructure. Our systems not only provide the tools for our employees to be productive, but also the services that we've built our business on. In our environment, job number one is to keep things up and running.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016305fd56f3970d-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016305fd56f3970d-pi>Our customers expect our service to be available 24x7. We have contractual commitments for 99.5% uptime, and internally measure ourselves against a target of 99.9% uptime. That translates to about 43 minutes of downtime a month, which doesn't leave much margin for error. One month all components of the system were working perfectly, but we missed our internal target when a cooling pipe came loose in one of our data centers. At the same time, we needed to be efficient as possible with our operations team.
To meet our service level agreements while maintaining efficiency, we've automated a battery of tests, deployed extensive monitoring, and created an architecture that accommodates hardware failure. When you store over 90PB data, drive failures are a fact of life. We've built redundancy into our storage system so that a customer's data isn't dependent on any single drive or rack of drives. Then when systems do have issues, we can respond quickly and minimize the effect on our service delivery.
Though less visible, our development environments are just as critical. A problem in our development or test environments means our talented engineering team can't be developing new features or fixing bugs, and ultimately can mean less innovation delivered to our customers. For maximum flexibility we maintain multiple virtual test environments, so that we can properly support our three development sites spread across two continents.
While your business may not have the exact same requirements, I'll bet the themes are familiar: high availability, delivering business value, and doing more with less. Perhaps you've also found that virtualization plays a key role by enabling flexible, responsive deployments, high availability and fault tolerance, and more efficient use of your IT dollars.
I travel a lot. Between my VMware responsibilities, visiting my distributed team, or meeting with partners or customers, I'm on the road every week. Yes, many of my meetings use video teleconferencing instead, but sometime you just need to be there. When traveling I carry a variety of devices, including a Windows laptop, Macbook Air or iPad (usually not all at the same time!), and an Android phone. I've taken to storing my data in the cloud for easy access across these devices, using an internally developed service currently in beta<http://mozy.com/stash/>. The cloud, public or private, can give your organization the flexibility to meet the needs of today's mobile workforce
It's striking how much our working conditions have changed: distributed teams, rapidly changing business conditions, evolving technical requirements and an increasing number of mobile employees. These changing conditions in turn demand changes in our IT infrastructure to support them.
I'd like to hear what you're experiencing. Where are your current systems serving you well, and where are you feeling the most urgency to make a change? What's driving the need for that change? How do you see IT playing a role in reaching the strategic goals of your business? Given the time, what strategic projects would you want to focus on?
Follow my next post where I'll talk about the traditional IT environment and how it may be holding you back.
~ Russ Stockdale
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/vmware-smb-vision-part-2-customer-goals-and-challenges-this-is-part-2-in-the-vmware-smb-vision-series-read-part-1-<http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/vmware-smb-vision-part-2-customer-goals-and-challenges-this-is-part-2-in-the-vmware-smb-vision-series-read-part-1-her.html>
Thursday, May 31, 2012
New Training - VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Analyze and Predict [V5.0]
This course<http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrreg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=one&id_subject=31492>, for experienced VMware vSphere personnel, teaches skills for the use of VMware vCenter™ Operations as a forensic and predictive tool. The course is based on VMware vSphere ESXi 5.0, VMware vCenter Server 5.0, and vCenter Operations Manager 5.0.
• Understand major and minor badges and their underlying metrics.
• Use these badges to find root causes of common operational issues in a vSphere environment.
• Perform capacity management and what-if analyses.
• Use the Operations tab, the Planning tab, the Alerts tab, the Analysis tab, and the Reports tab.
• Navigate the vCenter Operations Manager 5.0 user interface.
• Use heat maps and create a custom heat map.
• Use smart alerts to detect system issues.
Course Datasheet<http://mylearn.vmware.com/descriptions/EDU_DATASHEET_vCenterOpsMgrAnalyzePredict_V5_BETA2.pdf>
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/jtLomRotNjc/2059-New-Training-VMware-vCenter-Operations-Manager-Analyze-and-Predict-V5.0.html
• Understand major and minor badges and their underlying metrics.
• Use these badges to find root causes of common operational issues in a vSphere environment.
• Perform capacity management and what-if analyses.
• Use the Operations tab, the Planning tab, the Alerts tab, the Analysis tab, and the Reports tab.
• Navigate the vCenter Operations Manager 5.0 user interface.
• Use heat maps and create a custom heat map.
• Use smart alerts to detect system issues.
Course Datasheet<http://mylearn.vmware.com/descriptions/EDU_DATASHEET_vCenterOpsMgrAnalyzePredict_V5_BETA2.pdf>
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/jtLomRotNjc/2059-New-Training-VMware-vCenter-Operations-Manager-Analyze-and-Predict-V5.0.html
Top 5 VM Configuration Issues that Cause Performance Problems White Paper
This whitepaper by vExpert David Davis discusses the top five virtual machine configuration issues that cause performance problems, how to resolve them manually as well as provide information on automated tools that will make that process easier.
http://www.vkernel.com/resources/whitepapers/top-5-vm-configuration-issues
http://www.vkernel.com/resources/whitepapers/top-5-vm-configuration-issues
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
June “HOWTO” VMware/EMC Webcast series
Trying to continue the effort to make Webcasts useful, technical, and marketing free – June is "HOWTO" month. HOWTOs are detailed step-by-step instructions/whitepapers/videos on how to make something work.
Remember – the EMC/VMware webcasts are at the same time, same day – every week. Thursday at 8am PT/11am ET/15:00 GMT.
June has a lot of goodness. Click on the picture below to register for one or all.
* June 7: EMC/VSI (Virtual Storage Integrator) – our vCenter plugin, and something everyone should use. It's a great tool, always updating (lots of people still don't know about the delegated controls and performance reports), and free. Simon Seagrave is the presenter (vSpecialist on the technical enablment team), and a great guy!
* June 14: Application Availability (SRM and EMC) – I have yet to encounter a customer who's not happy with SRM. Perfect? No (I still hear that the re-IPing is less than perfect when you have large scale) – but I hear great feedback. lots new here in the latest SRM rev, and new use cases too (SRM **with** stretched vSphere clusters). Presenters are Ed Walsh (vSpecialist extraordinaire from the northeastern part of the US) and Ken Werneburg from VMware.
* June 21: Using tools to make application-integrated replicas in the VMware context, including (in the Exchange case) simple and easy mailbox level recovery. Rick is a webcast veteran – and recently moved into the product team that does this at EMC (Replication Manager and AppSync)
* June 28: "Chad's Choice" – A little out of the "HOWTO" list, but I'm thinking of making this month's session a EMC World 2012 summary + VMworld 2012 preview (though I might be a bit premature). Thoughts?
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305f682c8970d-pi]<http://emcinformation.com/62502/LP/.ashx?reg_src=WEB_Blog_VitrualGeek>
Remember – the EMC/VMware webcasts are at the same time, same day – every week. Thursday at 8am PT/11am ET/15:00 GMT.
June has a lot of goodness. Click on the picture below to register for one or all.
* June 7: EMC/VSI (Virtual Storage Integrator) – our vCenter plugin, and something everyone should use. It's a great tool, always updating (lots of people still don't know about the delegated controls and performance reports), and free. Simon Seagrave is the presenter (vSpecialist on the technical enablment team), and a great guy!
* June 14: Application Availability (SRM and EMC) – I have yet to encounter a customer who's not happy with SRM. Perfect? No (I still hear that the re-IPing is less than perfect when you have large scale) – but I hear great feedback. lots new here in the latest SRM rev, and new use cases too (SRM **with** stretched vSphere clusters). Presenters are Ed Walsh (vSpecialist extraordinaire from the northeastern part of the US) and Ken Werneburg from VMware.
* June 21: Using tools to make application-integrated replicas in the VMware context, including (in the Exchange case) simple and easy mailbox level recovery. Rick is a webcast veteran – and recently moved into the product team that does this at EMC (Replication Manager and AppSync)
* June 28: "Chad's Choice" – A little out of the "HOWTO" list, but I'm thinking of making this month's session a EMC World 2012 summary + VMworld 2012 preview (though I might be a bit premature). Thoughts?
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305f682c8970d-pi]<http://emcinformation.com/62502/LP/.ashx?reg_src=WEB_Blog_VitrualGeek>
Monday, May 28, 2012
You can do it! Virtualize Oracle on VMware | Toronto VMware User Group
[http://tovmug.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/database-150x150.jpg]<http://tovmug.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/database.jpg>Hi Folks,
Here is a good 4-part video discussion on virtualizing Oracle on vSphere, enjoy!
Don Sullivan, VMware<http://www.vmware.com/>, Staff Systems Engineer and Jeff Browning, EMC<http://www.emc.com/>, Oracle <http://www.oracle.com/> Community webmaster sit down to discuss the benefits of virtualizing Oracle Database environments with VMware.
Have you done this already, share your story at our next VMUG meeting – I can be contacted at Toronto [at] vmug.com<http://vmug.com>
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/3tBJ_YZxg7g/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/3tBJ_YZxg7g>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 4
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/I0RERp8Airg/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/I0RERp8Airg>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 3
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/qhEyA0G9FvM/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/qhEyA0G9FvM>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 2
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/BgvXrp1RLRY/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/BgvXrp1RLRY>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 1
Original Post:
http://tovmug.com/?p=844
Here is a good 4-part video discussion on virtualizing Oracle on vSphere, enjoy!
Don Sullivan, VMware<http://www.vmware.com/>, Staff Systems Engineer and Jeff Browning, EMC<http://www.emc.com/>, Oracle <http://www.oracle.com/> Community webmaster sit down to discuss the benefits of virtualizing Oracle Database environments with VMware.
Have you done this already, share your story at our next VMUG meeting – I can be contacted at Toronto [at] vmug.com<http://vmug.com>
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/3tBJ_YZxg7g/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/3tBJ_YZxg7g>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 4
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/I0RERp8Airg/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/I0RERp8Airg>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 3
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/qhEyA0G9FvM/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/qhEyA0G9FvM>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 2
[http://img.youtube.com/vi/BgvXrp1RLRY/default.jpg]<http://www.youtube.com/embed/BgvXrp1RLRY>
VMware VSphere's Value In Virtualizing The Oracle Database Environment - Part 1
Original Post:
http://tovmug.com/?p=844
Friday, May 25, 2012
VMware Diagram & Icon Library (2012)
These are the official icons and diagrams of VMware. VMware allows the use of these icons and diagrams in derivative works by VMware Community members to illustrate virtualization concepts and IT architectures.
VMware PowerPoint Icons and Images - 2Q12<http://communities.vmware.com/thread/400678>
[http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/iconppt.png]<http://communities.vmware.com/thread/400678>
Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/8r4RHscWjF0/2057-VMware-Diagram-Icon-Library-2012.html
VMware PowerPoint Icons and Images - 2Q12<http://communities.vmware.com/thread/400678>
[http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/iconppt.png]<http://communities.vmware.com/thread/400678>
Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/8r4RHscWjF0/2057-VMware-Diagram-Icon-Library-2012.html
Oldies, but goodies - Site Recovery Manager Setup Videos
I recently stumbled across a bunch of recordings that I made for the VMware KBTV<http://blogs.vmware.com/kbtv/> channel some time ago. If you are looking for a short overview on how to configure SRM with some different storage arrays and replication technologies, or how to use some SRM features like shared recovery site or the DR IP customizer tool, you might like to check these videos out.
In no particular order:
1. Configure an EMC Celerra for SRM:
2. Configure an EMC Clariion for SRM:
3. Configure a NetApp for SRM:
4. Configure an HP/LeftHand for SRM:
5. How to setup the Shared Recovery Site SRM Feature:
6. How to use the DR IP Customizer Utility:
Get notification of these blogs postings and more VMware Storage information by following me on Twitter: [http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef014e8a7e2282970d-800wi] <http://twitter.com/#%21/VMwareStorage> @VMwareStorage<http://twitter.com/#%21/vmwarestorage>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/oldies-but-goodies-site-recovery-manager-setup-videos.html
In no particular order:
1. Configure an EMC Celerra for SRM:
2. Configure an EMC Clariion for SRM:
3. Configure a NetApp for SRM:
4. Configure an HP/LeftHand for SRM:
5. How to setup the Shared Recovery Site SRM Feature:
6. How to use the DR IP Customizer Utility:
Get notification of these blogs postings and more VMware Storage information by following me on Twitter: [http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef014e8a7e2282970d-800wi] <http://twitter.com/#%21/VMwareStorage> @VMwareStorage<http://twitter.com/#%21/vmwarestorage>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/oldies-but-goodies-site-recovery-manager-setup-videos.html
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Manitoba VMUG Meeting - June 20th, 2012
Join us for the upcoming Manitoba VMUG meeting taking place on Wednesday, June 20, 2012.
Registration is now open and available to all VMUG members. This is a great opportunity to meet with your peers to discuss virtualization trends, best practices, and the latest technology!
Meeting Agenda
- 5:45 p.m. Registration and Refreshments
- 6:00 p.m. Welcome
- 6:15 p.m. ESTI Presentation: VMware View Technical Overview
- 7:15 p.m. ESTI Presentation: VDI Licensing Considerations
- 7:40 p.m. Break and Networking
- 8:00 p.m. Oracle Database on VMware Best Practices
- 8:40 p.m. Q&A and Prize Draws
- 9:00 p.m. Meeting Concludes
Visit the Event Details Page for the full agenda. Be sure to share this meeting information with your colleagues.
Be sure to visit our new Manitoba VMUG Workspace and subscribe to our listserv! Connect with your fellow VMUG members in the forum, ask and answer questions about VMware, and get involved in your VMUG community.
Hot Off the ‘Virtual’ Press - VMware Insights Magazine - Issue 2
VMware Insights Magazine - the online magazine for your growing business
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016766a8b50a970b-120wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016766a8b50a970b-pi>Read how one growing business used virtualization and management tools to reduce costs and improve customer service.
Learn how to optimize your virtual environment with VMware IT management solutions.
Get the latest news on VMworld 2012 and other upcoming events, product updates, new offers, training tools, and more here<http://portal.sliderocket.com/vmware/VMware-INSIGHTS-2?src=blog>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/hot-off-the-virtual-press-vmware-insights-magazine-issue-2.html
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016766a8b50a970b-120wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef016766a8b50a970b-pi>Read how one growing business used virtualization and management tools to reduce costs and improve customer service.
Learn how to optimize your virtual environment with VMware IT management solutions.
Get the latest news on VMworld 2012 and other upcoming events, product updates, new offers, training tools, and more here<http://portal.sliderocket.com/vmware/VMware-INSIGHTS-2?src=blog>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/hot-off-the-virtual-press-vmware-insights-magazine-issue-2.html
Tighter Integration between EMC VNX Storage and VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite Announced
This week I'm out at EMC World 2012, and wanted to let you know of an exciting new announcement that EMC has made. EMC announced this week that they will provide Advanced Storage Analytics for their VNX storage arrays using VMware's vCenter Operations product. The tighter integration between storage hardware and the vCenter Operations monitoring suite will mean EMC storage customers will get the best in breed analytics and monitoring software delivered by VMware Operations in order to provide them with the in depth storage statistics and operations monitoring necessary for storage administrators to optimize storage performance and validate that storage level SLAs are met. The new product, The VNX Storage Analytics Suite and VNX Connector for VMware vCenter Operations, announced this week will be generally available later this year.
For the official EMC announcement: http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20120521-05.htm
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168ebac3c27970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168ebac3c27970c-popup>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/tighter-integration-between-emc-vnx-storage-and-vmware-vcenter-operations-announced-today.html
For the official EMC announcement: http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2012/20120521-05.htm
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168ebac3c27970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168ebac3c27970c-popup>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/tighter-integration-between-emc-vnx-storage-and-vmware-vcenter-operations-announced-today.html
Monday, May 21, 2012
VNX Inyo is going to blow some minds….
VNX had an incredible 2011, and 2012 is looking as bullish!
So – what's new?
In Rich Napolitano's keynote – the standout to me is the preview of the upcoming (2H'12) VNX software upgrade – codenamed "Inyo" (because code names are cool). This has 6 big features that will help our customers get more out of their existing infrastructure:
1. 50%+ higher core efficiency.
2. Mixed FAST VP pools
3. FAST VP pool automatic rebalancing
4. All-new snapshot behavior
5. Appsync
6. Storage Analytics package
Read on past the break for detail and some additional color.
1) More efficient storage pools – with larger RAID groups, with the same protection and rebuild characteristics.
EMC tends (not always, but tends) to be relatively conservative around the IO stack. It's one of those things you can only take deadly seriously – as a "bad storage day" is really, really bad. The VNX engineering teams looked at the stats across all our customers – and also at the increasing CPU horsepower in the Storage Processors in the VNX, and realized we needed to open up some additional RAID options. This means that between faster rebuild times, relative lower parity penalties with CPU horsepower, hot-sparing and more – they all that translates into larger RAID groups being possible within storage pools. The parity configurations that are added are 8+1 for RAID 5 (used with 10K/15K SAS or SSDs) and 14+2 for RAID 6 (target is NL SAS). While I expect that it will take time for the customers to really adopt the 8+1 RAID 5 config – I expect the 14+2 RAID 6 for NL SAS to become the defacto model rapidly. These net out to a 50%+ efficiency improvement, and when you consider we fared well against other when it came to efficiency before this – it's upside :-)
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23eb1970d-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e5d1970c-pi>
2) Mixed RAID types in a storage pool!
This is, IMO, the #1 feature request from current customers: "can I mix different RAID types in a storage pool". Before the answer was "no". Customers are digging the new "create a pool and just go" provisioning model – but today, when you create it, the RAID type of the underlying disks in the pool are the same – and that's not as efficient as it could be… With Inyo, you can have differing RAID types in a pool – meaning you can have large RAID 6 for Nearline (NL) SAS, RAID 5 for 10/15K SAS, and RAID 10 or RAID 5 for SSDs – simple and efficient.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e5ec970c-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016766a62ab4970b-pi>
3) VNX FAST VP Pool rebalancing!
This next one is probably the #2 request from customers :-) Customers would configure their pools, love it, and then want to grow the pool (most commonly in either the IOps vector by adding SSDs, or in the capacity vector by adding NL SAS), they would expect (naturally) that the pool would rebalance. Until Inyo, it doesn't. The good news is that Inyo has a fundamental update to the CBFS (the "virtualization/indirection") code layer in VNX-OE that makes FAST VP work better overall, including rebalancing pools. BTW – this continued investment in CBFS will continue to pay dividends, making the system perform better, and also be able to continue to add additional features.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e600970c-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23ec9970d-pi>
4) Brand new VNX Snapshots!
This is a ground-up re-write of snapshot behavior in VNX. Like the FAST VP pool rebalancing – this is dependent on the CBFS layer of the VNX-OE code, and has nothing in common with SnapView. It uses a pure pointer-based "reallocate on write" model rather than the Copy-on-Write model of SnapView. No Reserve LUN Pool. No Snapshot sessions. Auto-deletion policy. Simple.
This has a dramatic increase in the scale (both per device and per array) and function (nested snaps). One thing that is cool is that you can create a clone of prod into another storage pool, and then take snaps off that clone to isolate the snaps from prod if you want. Also cool – all the goodness that people expect with respect to consistency groups has been maintained. There's still a lot of work to validate the performance envelopes (I'm particularly curious about the snapshot delete behavior – that's always the bugaboo with these pool/pointer based models), but expect more right around the corner.
Personal Sidebar: It's interesting to see how both VNX and VMAX are keeping the things they did well (SnapView Clones worked well, ditto with TF/Clones), but are re-architecting their snapshot models as the core architectures move to pool/virtualized based models. Everyone now uses this redirection mechanisms in their core architectures – IMO we should have been using this snapshot approach sooner. The startup I came from into EMC was using a virtualized pool model with Reallocate on Write snaps – back in 2001. While I'm a huge fan of EMC – sometimes it takes us time to realize errors in our ways, and when you are big with loads of customers – change can be harder than when you are small. That said - when it happens, we do realize it, and work to fix. I wish we had done it earlier, but I'm glad to see we're doing it.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e61b970c-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016766a62ae3970b-pi>
5) AppSync!
Replication Manager is the EMC tool that integrates applications and storage replication. It's one tool, and one that covers a ton of use cases, applications, and recovery/replication technologies. But… It could be simpler. AppSync is designed to (like ProSphere is doing for Control Center) start with simpler use cases, be re-architected for simplicity and scale, and then over time, cover the set of use cases that Replication Manager covers today.
From a simplicity standpoint, AppSync is much simpler than Replication Manager. It integrates with the Unisphere UI, so can be "part of the array". It also has application modules (people want to drive protection from the application context) – so for example, there will be a vCenter plugin (the next major version of VSI), an addition to the EMC System Integrator (ESI) for AppSync.
Beyond that – we got feedback that agentless is preferable, but where a host agent is required (VSS operations, log handling during restore), we needed to think about the maintainability – in other words, push install/update need to be part of the thinking.
Out of the gate, AppSync will support Exchange and SQL Server use cases – and then expand to cover Sharepoint and then others (like Oracle/SAP).
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23ef6970d-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23eeb970d-pi>
… While the above are all big news – I think this one might turn out to be the biggest:
6) EMC and VMware collaborate on the VNX Storage Analytics pack – which is based on a custom vCenter Operations and VNX Connector integration.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23f0e970d-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e63e970c-pi>
I'll put it this way: EMC has worked with VMware and we will be providing a version of vCenter Operations targeted (and priced) to be included with almost every array.
This is a customized version of vCenter Ops designed to be included with the array, and used by both the VMware administrator and the Storage Administrator. It includes the EMC VNX connector which does more than just pass data – it helps correlate core issues (performance, availability – anything that could affect health) from the VM to the array innards.
It will be very easy for customers when they see just how cool vCenter Operations is to look to see how they could provide the same intelligence to other parts of their infrastructure and check out the full vCenter Operations Enterprise.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out the pioneering efforts of a couple vSpecialists (Clint Kitson, Matt Cowger – feel proud!) who invested a lot of personal effort into initial prototype vCenter Operations connector development (at VMworld 2011) and are plugged in to the engineering teams as it has been productized. It's no coincidence they were up with Rich during his keynote doing the demo :-)
Once again – I'm so proud to see folks on the team innovating, and then working hand in hand with their engineering brothers/sisters to turn an idea into a product!
Original Post: (long URL)
http://emcfeeds.emc.com/l?s=100003s2sm4ns80vcpn&r=googlereader&he=687474702533412532462532466665656470726f78792e676f6f676c652e636f6d2532462537457225324674797065706164253246647341562532462537453325324669324431526263584e7245253246766e782d696e796f2d69732d676f696e672d746f2d626c6f772d736f6d652d6d696e64732e68746d6c&i=70726f78793a687474703a2f2f7669727475616c6765656b2e747970657061642e636f6d2f7669727475616c5f6765656b2f323031322f30352f766e782d696e796f2d69732d676f696e672d746f2d626c6f772d736f6d652d6d696e64732e68746d6c
So – what's new?
In Rich Napolitano's keynote – the standout to me is the preview of the upcoming (2H'12) VNX software upgrade – codenamed "Inyo" (because code names are cool). This has 6 big features that will help our customers get more out of their existing infrastructure:
1. 50%+ higher core efficiency.
2. Mixed FAST VP pools
3. FAST VP pool automatic rebalancing
4. All-new snapshot behavior
5. Appsync
6. Storage Analytics package
Read on past the break for detail and some additional color.
1) More efficient storage pools – with larger RAID groups, with the same protection and rebuild characteristics.
EMC tends (not always, but tends) to be relatively conservative around the IO stack. It's one of those things you can only take deadly seriously – as a "bad storage day" is really, really bad. The VNX engineering teams looked at the stats across all our customers – and also at the increasing CPU horsepower in the Storage Processors in the VNX, and realized we needed to open up some additional RAID options. This means that between faster rebuild times, relative lower parity penalties with CPU horsepower, hot-sparing and more – they all that translates into larger RAID groups being possible within storage pools. The parity configurations that are added are 8+1 for RAID 5 (used with 10K/15K SAS or SSDs) and 14+2 for RAID 6 (target is NL SAS). While I expect that it will take time for the customers to really adopt the 8+1 RAID 5 config – I expect the 14+2 RAID 6 for NL SAS to become the defacto model rapidly. These net out to a 50%+ efficiency improvement, and when you consider we fared well against other when it came to efficiency before this – it's upside :-)
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23eb1970d-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e5d1970c-pi>
2) Mixed RAID types in a storage pool!
This is, IMO, the #1 feature request from current customers: "can I mix different RAID types in a storage pool". Before the answer was "no". Customers are digging the new "create a pool and just go" provisioning model – but today, when you create it, the RAID type of the underlying disks in the pool are the same – and that's not as efficient as it could be… With Inyo, you can have differing RAID types in a pool – meaning you can have large RAID 6 for Nearline (NL) SAS, RAID 5 for 10/15K SAS, and RAID 10 or RAID 5 for SSDs – simple and efficient.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e5ec970c-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016766a62ab4970b-pi>
3) VNX FAST VP Pool rebalancing!
This next one is probably the #2 request from customers :-) Customers would configure their pools, love it, and then want to grow the pool (most commonly in either the IOps vector by adding SSDs, or in the capacity vector by adding NL SAS), they would expect (naturally) that the pool would rebalance. Until Inyo, it doesn't. The good news is that Inyo has a fundamental update to the CBFS (the "virtualization/indirection") code layer in VNX-OE that makes FAST VP work better overall, including rebalancing pools. BTW – this continued investment in CBFS will continue to pay dividends, making the system perform better, and also be able to continue to add additional features.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e600970c-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23ec9970d-pi>
4) Brand new VNX Snapshots!
This is a ground-up re-write of snapshot behavior in VNX. Like the FAST VP pool rebalancing – this is dependent on the CBFS layer of the VNX-OE code, and has nothing in common with SnapView. It uses a pure pointer-based "reallocate on write" model rather than the Copy-on-Write model of SnapView. No Reserve LUN Pool. No Snapshot sessions. Auto-deletion policy. Simple.
This has a dramatic increase in the scale (both per device and per array) and function (nested snaps). One thing that is cool is that you can create a clone of prod into another storage pool, and then take snaps off that clone to isolate the snaps from prod if you want. Also cool – all the goodness that people expect with respect to consistency groups has been maintained. There's still a lot of work to validate the performance envelopes (I'm particularly curious about the snapshot delete behavior – that's always the bugaboo with these pool/pointer based models), but expect more right around the corner.
Personal Sidebar: It's interesting to see how both VNX and VMAX are keeping the things they did well (SnapView Clones worked well, ditto with TF/Clones), but are re-architecting their snapshot models as the core architectures move to pool/virtualized based models. Everyone now uses this redirection mechanisms in their core architectures – IMO we should have been using this snapshot approach sooner. The startup I came from into EMC was using a virtualized pool model with Reallocate on Write snaps – back in 2001. While I'm a huge fan of EMC – sometimes it takes us time to realize errors in our ways, and when you are big with loads of customers – change can be harder than when you are small. That said - when it happens, we do realize it, and work to fix. I wish we had done it earlier, but I'm glad to see we're doing it.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e61b970c-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016766a62ae3970b-pi>
5) AppSync!
Replication Manager is the EMC tool that integrates applications and storage replication. It's one tool, and one that covers a ton of use cases, applications, and recovery/replication technologies. But… It could be simpler. AppSync is designed to (like ProSphere is doing for Control Center) start with simpler use cases, be re-architected for simplicity and scale, and then over time, cover the set of use cases that Replication Manager covers today.
From a simplicity standpoint, AppSync is much simpler than Replication Manager. It integrates with the Unisphere UI, so can be "part of the array". It also has application modules (people want to drive protection from the application context) – so for example, there will be a vCenter plugin (the next major version of VSI), an addition to the EMC System Integrator (ESI) for AppSync.
Beyond that – we got feedback that agentless is preferable, but where a host agent is required (VSS operations, log handling during restore), we needed to think about the maintainability – in other words, push install/update need to be part of the thinking.
Out of the gate, AppSync will support Exchange and SQL Server use cases – and then expand to cover Sharepoint and then others (like Oracle/SAP).
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23ef6970d-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23eeb970d-pi>
… While the above are all big news – I think this one might turn out to be the biggest:
6) EMC and VMware collaborate on the VNX Storage Analytics pack – which is based on a custom vCenter Operations and VNX Connector integration.
[http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd28833016305b23f0e970d-pi]<http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/.a/6a00e552e53bd288330168eba7e63e970c-pi>
I'll put it this way: EMC has worked with VMware and we will be providing a version of vCenter Operations targeted (and priced) to be included with almost every array.
This is a customized version of vCenter Ops designed to be included with the array, and used by both the VMware administrator and the Storage Administrator. It includes the EMC VNX connector which does more than just pass data – it helps correlate core issues (performance, availability – anything that could affect health) from the VM to the array innards.
It will be very easy for customers when they see just how cool vCenter Operations is to look to see how they could provide the same intelligence to other parts of their infrastructure and check out the full vCenter Operations Enterprise.
I would be remiss if I didn't point out the pioneering efforts of a couple vSpecialists (Clint Kitson, Matt Cowger – feel proud!) who invested a lot of personal effort into initial prototype vCenter Operations connector development (at VMworld 2011) and are plugged in to the engineering teams as it has been productized. It's no coincidence they were up with Rich during his keynote doing the demo :-)
Once again – I'm so proud to see folks on the team innovating, and then working hand in hand with their engineering brothers/sisters to turn an idea into a product!
Original Post: (long URL)
http://emcfeeds.emc.com/l?s=100003s2sm4ns80vcpn&r=googlereader&he=687474702533412532462532466665656470726f78792e676f6f676c652e636f6d2532462537457225324674797065706164253246647341562532462537453325324669324431526263584e7245253246766e782d696e796f2d69732d676f696e672d746f2d626c6f772d736f6d652d6d696e64732e68746d6c&i=70726f78793a687474703a2f2f7669727475616c6765656b2e747970657061642e636f6d2f7669727475616c5f6765656b2f323031322f30352f766e782d696e796f2d69732d676f696e672d746f2d626c6f772d736f6d652d6d696e64732e68746d6c
Sunday, May 20, 2012
EMC’s first Ivy Bridge based storage array!
This thing is SWEET. World – welcome to the Iomega StorCenter px12-450r! Seriously – the kind of storage you can get in the Iomega family is pretty hardcore – from the entry stuff (IX2) all the way up to the...
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/dsAV/~3/GvDhJQ10Uqg/emcs-first-ivy-bridge-based-storage-array.html
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/dsAV/~3/GvDhJQ10Uqg/emcs-first-ivy-bridge-based-storage-array.html
Thursday, May 17, 2012
VMware Released View 5.1 and Launched Horizon Application Manager 1.5
Now available: VMware View 5.1, VMware Horizon Application Manager 1.5 and a public beta program for the Project Octopus cloud data synchronization and collaboration service.
http://www.vmware.com/end-user-computing/
http://www.vmware.com/end-user-computing/
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I’m virtualized! Now what?
Many of you may be wondering what virtualization can do for you beyond server virtualization. At VMware, we like to call this the "virtualization journey." Virtualizing your server hardware infrastructure is really just the first step in the journey to transform your business through IT. [http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb8c938e970c-800wi] <http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb8c938e970c-pi> Virtualization opens the door to greater IT agility, resource utilization and cost savings. It also enables critical solutions, like business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR). The ability to maintain business operations in the event of a disaster or an outage is critical to the survival of a business. Failure to have a business continuity and disaster recovery solution in place can result in grim consequences.
"43% of companies experiencing disasters never re-open, and 29% close within two years." McGladrey and Pullen
"93% of businesses that lost their data center for 10 days went bankrupt within one year." National Archives & Records Administration
So, needless to say, having a reliable and viable business continuity and disaster recovery solution is essential. Thankfully, virtualizing your hardware infrastructure is the first step towards building a solution. The inherent characteristics of virtual machines (partitioning, isolation, encapsulation and hardware dependence) are the building blocks of a BCDR solution. By combining these characteristics with solutions like VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, companies can build a reliable and cost-effective BCDR solution.
Take a look at the resources below to learn more about VMware's solutions for business continuity and disaster recovery and how to get started.
Resources:
* Myron Steves, a 200 employee insurance wholesaler in Texas, has been able to slash their business continuity and disaster recovery costs across the business to become a more agile organization. Learn more<http://bit.ly/MkPb6k>.
* Business continuity solution brief<http://bit.ly/KmuHFW>
* Uptime Blog<http://bit.ly/LbEZO8>
* Backup & Recovery VMware Community<http://bit.ly/JjJKOM>
~Rob Chen
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/im-virtualized-now-what.html
"43% of companies experiencing disasters never re-open, and 29% close within two years." McGladrey and Pullen
"93% of businesses that lost their data center for 10 days went bankrupt within one year." National Archives & Records Administration
So, needless to say, having a reliable and viable business continuity and disaster recovery solution is essential. Thankfully, virtualizing your hardware infrastructure is the first step towards building a solution. The inherent characteristics of virtual machines (partitioning, isolation, encapsulation and hardware dependence) are the building blocks of a BCDR solution. By combining these characteristics with solutions like VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, companies can build a reliable and cost-effective BCDR solution.
Take a look at the resources below to learn more about VMware's solutions for business continuity and disaster recovery and how to get started.
Resources:
* Myron Steves, a 200 employee insurance wholesaler in Texas, has been able to slash their business continuity and disaster recovery costs across the business to become a more agile organization. Learn more<http://bit.ly/MkPb6k>.
* Business continuity solution brief<http://bit.ly/KmuHFW>
* Uptime Blog<http://bit.ly/LbEZO8>
* Backup & Recovery VMware Community<http://bit.ly/JjJKOM>
~Rob Chen
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/im-virtualized-now-what.html
VMware View Evaluator's Guide
The purpose of this document is to support a self-guided, hands-on review of VMware View 5. The content is intended to show how easily you can set up a VMware View 5 environment so you can evaluate both new and important capabilities. These capabilities include creating and managing virtualized desktops, and validating the suggested use cases.
The guide is divided into the following main sections:
1. Key New Features of VMware View 5
2. Description of VMware View Components
3. Setting Up a View Evaluation Environment
4. Evaluation Tasks
An appendix includes the evaluation tasks from the View 4.6 Evaluator's Guide, so that you can test those features if you have not yet done so. This document assumes you have basic knowledge of VMware vSphere™ or VMware ESX™ or ESXi™, and are comfortable configuring networking and storage in a virtual environment.
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/view/VMware-View-Evaluators-Guide.pdf
The guide is divided into the following main sections:
1. Key New Features of VMware View 5
2. Description of VMware View Components
3. Setting Up a View Evaluation Environment
4. Evaluation Tasks
An appendix includes the evaluation tasks from the View 4.6 Evaluator's Guide, so that you can test those features if you have not yet done so. This document assumes you have basic knowledge of VMware vSphere™ or VMware ESX™ or ESXi™, and are comfortable configuring networking and storage in a virtual environment.
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/view/VMware-View-Evaluators-Guide.pdf
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Registration for VMworld 2012 US is Now Open
IT is undergoing a top to bottom transformation…Are you ready?
Take advantage of the best educational opportunity to expand your knowledge, maximize your investments and gain greater competitive edge with cloud and virtualization solutions at VMworld 2012.
Register now<http://www.vmworld.com/?scr=VMworld2012-0511-blog-YOURVERTICAL>
VMworld enables you to:
* Choose from over 300 expert led breakout sessions and hands-on labs highlighting key trends and strategies to help empower your organization
* Collaborate with knowledge experts and share experiences in focused group discussions and one-on-one meetings
* Leverage, network and share best practices with the VMware community
* Engage with more than 250 technology partners showcasing leading innovations
Register<javascript:void(0);> by June 8 for the best rates and learn how to transform the way you work.
Stay Connected ...
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/vmworld>
Twitter<javascript:void(0);>
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2028037&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=%2Egdr_1333474009594_1>
YouTube<http://www.youtube.com/vmworldtv>
Google+<javascript:void(0);>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/registration-for-vmworld-2012-us-is-now<http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/registration-for-vmworld-2012-us-is-now-open.html>
Take advantage of the best educational opportunity to expand your knowledge, maximize your investments and gain greater competitive edge with cloud and virtualization solutions at VMworld 2012.
Register now<http://www.vmworld.com/?scr=VMworld2012-0511-blog-YOURVERTICAL>
VMworld enables you to:
* Choose from over 300 expert led breakout sessions and hands-on labs highlighting key trends and strategies to help empower your organization
* Collaborate with knowledge experts and share experiences in focused group discussions and one-on-one meetings
* Leverage, network and share best practices with the VMware community
* Engage with more than 250 technology partners showcasing leading innovations
Register<javascript:void(0);> by June 8 for the best rates and learn how to transform the way you work.
Stay Connected ...
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/vmworld>
Twitter<javascript:void(0);>
LinkedIn<http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2028037&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=%2Egdr_1333474009594_1>
YouTube<http://www.youtube.com/vmworldtv>
Google+<javascript:void(0);>
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/registration-for-vmworld-2012-us-is-now<http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/registration-for-vmworld-2012-us-is-now-open.html>
Detailed vForum Agenda
For those who have been looking for a more detailed agenda for next week’s vForum, you can download it from the link below:
Winnipeg vForum Agenda: https://www.box.net/shared/997f292c0935ee3e321f
Shameless plug, come see me and Christina Garcia from VMware at 11:20 for:
Maximize your vSphere investment with vCenter Operations
If for some reason you are unable to download it, please e-mail me and I’ll send you a copy.
VMware vForum - Winnipeg
When: May 15, 2012 at 8:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Where: Fairmont Hotel - Winnipeg
This event requires registration: http://info.vmware.com/content/7339_REG?src=sales
Hope to see you all out for this great event,
Mike Yallits
Cool Tool - Cloud Resource Meter
[http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/crm-logo.serendipityThumb.png]<http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/crm-logo.png>
6fusion's Cloud Resource Meter<http://www.cloudresourcemeter.com/> is a VMware vApp that allows you to profile any vSphere 4.1 or 5.0 environment and evaluate the cost of running that environment in the cloud – all for free and all right from the vSphere Console. Cloud Resource Meter installs in your VMware vSphere environment in minutes and allows users to view "real time" computing consumption information at a glance for the entire system, any vSphere grouping of VMs, or for each VM in the infrastructure.
Cloud Resource Meter comes in two versions Free and Pro. When you sign up and download the application, you are automatically set up with the Free Plan. If you need more, you can choose to upgrade to the Pro Plan from within the application. Take a look at the intrudcution video here<http://youtu.be/IMN2WCNO38g>.
Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/Q-prrzpw-G8/2045-Cool-Tool-Cloud-Resource-Meter.html
6fusion's Cloud Resource Meter<http://www.cloudresourcemeter.com/> is a VMware vApp that allows you to profile any vSphere 4.1 or 5.0 environment and evaluate the cost of running that environment in the cloud – all for free and all right from the vSphere Console. Cloud Resource Meter installs in your VMware vSphere environment in minutes and allows users to view "real time" computing consumption information at a glance for the entire system, any vSphere grouping of VMs, or for each VM in the infrastructure.
Cloud Resource Meter comes in two versions Free and Pro. When you sign up and download the application, you are automatically set up with the Free Plan. If you need more, you can choose to upgrade to the Pro Plan from within the application. Take a look at the intrudcution video here<http://youtu.be/IMN2WCNO38g>.
Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/Q-prrzpw-G8/2045-Cool-Tool-Cloud-Resource-Meter.html
Etcher iPad case turns your iPad into a fully functioning Etch A Sketch
[http://cdn.tipb.com/images/stories//2012/05/Etcher-A-Sketch1.jpg]
A new case has landed on Kickstarter that looks to take your iPad <http://www.imore.com/ipad/> back in time and turn it into a fully functional Etch A Sketch. In case you have forgotten or are simply not old enough to remember, the Etch A Sketch was launched in the 1960's and was a small tablet like slab with two knobs; one on each side. One knob drew a vertical line and the other a horizontal line on the screen. Turning both knobs together created a diagonal line.
Everyone can relate to an Etch A Sketch. It's an enduring childhood memory. Now, you can re-experience Etch A Sketch on your iPad--and share the experience with your friends and family. Etcher adds functional knobs to the iPad. As a user turns these knobs, lines appear on the iPad screen, exactly like the original Etch a Sketch. Improving on the original, users can save their drawings in digital format and share with friends and family over email and social media sites like Facebook.
The Etch A Sketch iPad case has an official license from the Ohio Art Company which owns the trademark. The project needs $75,000 of pledges before it will be funded and become a reality. If you want to get involved, you can pledge as little as $45 and become an early adopter.
[http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif]<http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&title=Etcher+iPad+case+turns+your+iPad+into+a+fully+functioning+Etch+A+Sketch&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imore.com%2F2012%2F05%2F11%2Fetcher-ipad-case-turns-ipad-fully-functioning-etch-sketch%2F>
[http://da.feedsportal.com/r/134204099006/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/1f413766/kg/318/a2.img]<http://da.feedsportal.com/r/134204099006/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/1f413766/kg/318/a2.htm>Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/VRJPydO6VWw/story01.htm
A new case has landed on Kickstarter that looks to take your iPad <http://www.imore.com/ipad/> back in time and turn it into a fully functional Etch A Sketch. In case you have forgotten or are simply not old enough to remember, the Etch A Sketch was launched in the 1960's and was a small tablet like slab with two knobs; one on each side. One knob drew a vertical line and the other a horizontal line on the screen. Turning both knobs together created a diagonal line.
Everyone can relate to an Etch A Sketch. It's an enduring childhood memory. Now, you can re-experience Etch A Sketch on your iPad--and share the experience with your friends and family. Etcher adds functional knobs to the iPad. As a user turns these knobs, lines appear on the iPad screen, exactly like the original Etch a Sketch. Improving on the original, users can save their drawings in digital format and share with friends and family over email and social media sites like Facebook.
The Etch A Sketch iPad case has an official license from the Ohio Art Company which owns the trademark. The project needs $75,000 of pledges before it will be funded and become a reality. If you want to get involved, you can pledge as little as $45 and become an early adopter.
[http://res3.feedsportal.com/images/emailthis2.gif]<http://share.feedsportal.com/viral/sendEmail.cfm?lang=en&title=Etcher+iPad+case+turns+your+iPad+into+a+fully+functioning+Etch+A+Sketch&link=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.imore.com%2F2012%2F05%2F11%2Fetcher-ipad-case-turns-ipad-fully-functioning-etch-sketch%2F>
[http://da.feedsportal.com/r/134204099006/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/1f413766/kg/318/a2.img]<http://da.feedsportal.com/r/134204099006/u/49/f/616881/c/33998/s/1f413766/kg/318/a2.htm>Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/VRJPydO6VWw/story01.htm
New vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) Whitepapers now published
A quick post today to let you know that VMware has just published some new performance whitepapers on the vSphere Storage Appliance. The performance evaluations were carried out by Principled Technologies with a view to measuring real-life workloads on the VSA. One looks at the performance with a RAID-5 configuration, the other looks at the performance with a RAID-6 configuration. You can get the whitepapers from the VSA landing page here<http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/vsphere-storage-appliance/resources.html>. Hope you find them useful.
Get notification of these blogs postings and more VMware Storage information by following me on Twitter: [http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef014e8a7e2282970d-800wi] <http://twitter.com/#%21/VMwareStorage> @VMwareStorage<http://twitter.com/#%21/vmwarestorage>
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/new-vsphere-storage-appliance-vsa-whitepapers-now-published.html
Get notification of these blogs postings and more VMware Storage information by following me on Twitter: [http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef014e8a7e2282970d-800wi] <http://twitter.com/#%21/VMwareStorage> @VMwareStorage<http://twitter.com/#%21/vmwarestorage>
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/new-vsphere-storage-appliance-vsa-whitepapers-now-published.html
Thursday, May 10, 2012
BYOD and Your CEO
[http://www.ciodashboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/6033657657_64f378c8fa_z-e1336689994478.jpg]<http://www.ciodashboard.com/leadership/byod-and-your-ceo/>
What's small, shiny and keeps CIOs up at night? The CEO's personal devices<http://www.ciodashboard.com/mobile/5-smartphone-usage-trends-for-2012-and-beyond/>.
CEOs are like every other employee. They love tablets, smart phones and apps. The glaring difference is that the CEO's personal devices put the company at much greater risk than the gadgets of virtually all other employees combined. CIOs must include chief executives in conversations as they grapple with putting BYOD security policies and procedures in place.
Many CEOs criss-cross the globe carrying the company's most sensitive information—trade secrets, delicate details about employees, financial projections, etc—in the palms of their hands. At any given moment, the CEO could lose her data-laden device on a plane or in a coffee shop. Or possibly, a hacker on a mission to harm the company intentionally swipes the device's information when the CEO isn't looking.
If those risks weren't enough, there's also the potential for the CEO to lose her precious personal files by forgetting a password or unintentionally mishandling information.
Take what happened to the CEO of an email management provider recently<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/043012-byod-mimecast-258799.html>. He was vacationing with his family when his five-year-old tried unsuccessfully to access Dad's smartphone five times. The firm's Mobile Device Management (MDM) system kicked in and wiped the CEO's vacation pictures. Luckily for the CIO the CEO couldn't blame anyone but himself since he was instrumental in setting the company's BYOD usage policy<http://www.ciodashboard.com/it-governance/how-the-cio-can-establish-a-byod-usage-policy/>.
In this instance, the CEO-sanctioned system erased pictures in the event the device was compromised because employees often take pictures of their whiteboard brainstorms. This is an example of where a business decision to guard trade secrets had a personal impact on the CEO that he probably didn't anticipate.
These devices are extremely risky to the company and personal to employees<http://pwc.to/F0z4CS>. So it's crucial that CIOs have meaningful conversations with employees, including the CEO, about the responsibilities of managing their own personal devices and the ramifications of BYOD usage and security policies and procedures. (see Building a BYOD Ready Infrastructure<http://www.ciodashboard.com/mobile/building-byod-infrastructure/>) CEOs often get special privileges, but CEOs certainly shouldn't be allowed to muscle exceptions to BYOD rules or miss the opportunity to have a say in shaping the company's security strategy.
Scenario planning using real-life possibilities and demos<http://www.ciodashboard.com/leadership/we-need-more-demos/> helps IT paint a vivid picture for senior leadership and employees about the risks of BYOD. My colleague, Jim Guinn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimguinn>, stresses the importance of employee education to protect the business and the personal interests of employees in his new cyber security video.
You have to educate people on what they are doing and what their exposures are. Not only to the corporation: You have to teach them what the risks are to them personally. It's all about training and education and tying them to real-world issues and incidents.
Mike Phillips<http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewphillips>, CISO, CenterPoint Energy<http://www.centerpointenergy.com/home>, agrees: "People get very upset if you change the functionality of their device. And the reality of it is if you are going to put something on it like a secure container or encrypt the email you might have to change the email client and the minute they connect with you you've changed it."
You can view the entire conversation between Jim and Mike here<http://pwc.to/F0z4CS>.
The last thing a CIO wants is to upset or frustrate the CEO. Or worse, fail to protect the organization from the obvious risks of BYOD. Make sure the CEO understands exactly when IT will be accessing his device, for what purpose, and what could happen as a result. Make sure she is backing up her files and knows what will transpire if the device is lost or stolen. Giving the CEO a heads up and ongoing guidance will avoid heartbreak and headache.
Have you had the "BYOD talk" with your CEO? Share your best practices and concerns below.
Image shared by allensima<http://www.flickr.com/photos/allensima/6033657657/>
If you liked this, you might also like:
1. How the CIO Can Establish a BYOD Usage Policy<http://www.ciodashboard.com/it-governance/how-the-cio-can-establish-a-byod-usage-policy/>
2. Building a BYOD Ready Infrastructure<http://www.ciodashboard.com/mobile/building-byod-infrastructure/>
3. What's the CIOs Role in Compliance?<http://www.ciodashboard.com/risk/cios-role-compliance/>
Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ciodashboard/~3/OqKr2mlQEzM/
What's small, shiny and keeps CIOs up at night? The CEO's personal devices<http://www.ciodashboard.com/mobile/5-smartphone-usage-trends-for-2012-and-beyond/>.
CEOs are like every other employee. They love tablets, smart phones and apps. The glaring difference is that the CEO's personal devices put the company at much greater risk than the gadgets of virtually all other employees combined. CIOs must include chief executives in conversations as they grapple with putting BYOD security policies and procedures in place.
Many CEOs criss-cross the globe carrying the company's most sensitive information—trade secrets, delicate details about employees, financial projections, etc—in the palms of their hands. At any given moment, the CEO could lose her data-laden device on a plane or in a coffee shop. Or possibly, a hacker on a mission to harm the company intentionally swipes the device's information when the CEO isn't looking.
If those risks weren't enough, there's also the potential for the CEO to lose her precious personal files by forgetting a password or unintentionally mishandling information.
Take what happened to the CEO of an email management provider recently<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/043012-byod-mimecast-258799.html>. He was vacationing with his family when his five-year-old tried unsuccessfully to access Dad's smartphone five times. The firm's Mobile Device Management (MDM) system kicked in and wiped the CEO's vacation pictures. Luckily for the CIO the CEO couldn't blame anyone but himself since he was instrumental in setting the company's BYOD usage policy<http://www.ciodashboard.com/it-governance/how-the-cio-can-establish-a-byod-usage-policy/>.
In this instance, the CEO-sanctioned system erased pictures in the event the device was compromised because employees often take pictures of their whiteboard brainstorms. This is an example of where a business decision to guard trade secrets had a personal impact on the CEO that he probably didn't anticipate.
These devices are extremely risky to the company and personal to employees<http://pwc.to/F0z4CS>. So it's crucial that CIOs have meaningful conversations with employees, including the CEO, about the responsibilities of managing their own personal devices and the ramifications of BYOD usage and security policies and procedures. (see Building a BYOD Ready Infrastructure<http://www.ciodashboard.com/mobile/building-byod-infrastructure/>) CEOs often get special privileges, but CEOs certainly shouldn't be allowed to muscle exceptions to BYOD rules or miss the opportunity to have a say in shaping the company's security strategy.
Scenario planning using real-life possibilities and demos<http://www.ciodashboard.com/leadership/we-need-more-demos/> helps IT paint a vivid picture for senior leadership and employees about the risks of BYOD. My colleague, Jim Guinn<http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimguinn>, stresses the importance of employee education to protect the business and the personal interests of employees in his new cyber security video.
You have to educate people on what they are doing and what their exposures are. Not only to the corporation: You have to teach them what the risks are to them personally. It's all about training and education and tying them to real-world issues and incidents.
Mike Phillips<http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikewphillips>, CISO, CenterPoint Energy<http://www.centerpointenergy.com/home>, agrees: "People get very upset if you change the functionality of their device. And the reality of it is if you are going to put something on it like a secure container or encrypt the email you might have to change the email client and the minute they connect with you you've changed it."
You can view the entire conversation between Jim and Mike here<http://pwc.to/F0z4CS>.
The last thing a CIO wants is to upset or frustrate the CEO. Or worse, fail to protect the organization from the obvious risks of BYOD. Make sure the CEO understands exactly when IT will be accessing his device, for what purpose, and what could happen as a result. Make sure she is backing up her files and knows what will transpire if the device is lost or stolen. Giving the CEO a heads up and ongoing guidance will avoid heartbreak and headache.
Have you had the "BYOD talk" with your CEO? Share your best practices and concerns below.
Image shared by allensima<http://www.flickr.com/photos/allensima/6033657657/>
If you liked this, you might also like:
1. How the CIO Can Establish a BYOD Usage Policy<http://www.ciodashboard.com/it-governance/how-the-cio-can-establish-a-byod-usage-policy/>
2. Building a BYOD Ready Infrastructure<http://www.ciodashboard.com/mobile/building-byod-infrastructure/>
3. What's the CIOs Role in Compliance?<http://www.ciodashboard.com/risk/cios-role-compliance/>
Original Post:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ciodashboard/~3/OqKr2mlQEzM/
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
12 critical insights on the state of IT in 2012
[http://i.techrepublic.com.com/blogs/leader-cloud-mobile-052012.jpg]
I regularly moderate The Great Debate<http://www.zdnet.com/debate/> over on ZDNet and it's always a fun opportunity to get a couple smart commentators together and let them cross swords over a controversial topic. However, this week the debate was especially great, as TechRepublic's Justin James<http://www.techrepublic.com/topics/justin+james> and ZDNet's Dana Gardner<http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gardner> clashed on the topic of IT Department: Cost Center or Profit Center?<http://www.zdnet.com/debate/your-it-department-cost-center-or-profit-center/6361393>It ended up being about the current trajectory of the IT department and how to change it.
If you missed it, then you missed a crash course in why many IT departments are struggling today and advice on how IT can transform itself into an indispensable force. Fortunately, you can still read the entire debate online<http://www.zdnet.com/debate/your-it-department-cost-center-or-profit-center/6361393>, but I've also selected and curated 12 of the most important insights from Gardner and James into the following list.
1. The problem with IT
Justin James: "Most IT departments consistently fail to deliver value! When all you've done is replace the intraoffice mail system with email and IM, and replaced the filing cabinets and accounts ledgers with databases and applications, all for a price so expensive that you wonder if it wasn't cheaper to just pay people to do it instead, then of course IT doesn't look like a profit center. And it isn't. And when folks offer suggestions on how to improve it, the IT department likes to say 'no.' Sure, they usually have a good reason for it, but it still feels like stonewalling to the business folks."
2. Losing the stranglehold
Justin James: "The IT department is losing its stranglehold on the corporate IT resources, now that individuals can BYOD and departments can source IT from the cloud. This forces IT to work harder and smarter within the organization, when in the past they could adopt an attitude of, this is what were giving you, and you had better like it!"
3. A new class of IT
Dana Gardner: "Rather than remove IT in favor of cloud or SaaS — businesses must embrace a larger role of IT as services broker… Already a new class of strategic IT organization is emerging, one that uses cloud, mobile, mixed-sourcing, strategic souring, ecommerce as core components. By delivering business services better than competitors -– even partners — the modern value chain flows to them. Via innovation, they take more share, more margin, more opportunity."
4. The Amazon revenue model
Dana Gardner: "Before Amazon Web Services, a.k.a. Amazon's public cloud, IT there was a cost center, enabling their online retail and business functions. Now, IT is a profit center, adding entirely new revenues to Amazon in the form of paid cloud services. I'm seeing companies now following that model, taking their IT capabilities and making them the product, of combining their digital services and market insights to forge whole new services, and bringing in whole new revenues. So the discussion has changed. It's not how will IT support the old business, it's how is IT able to create new lines of business."
5. The Apple innovation model
Justin James: "Most companies view the accounting department as a cost center, a necessary evil. Then you get a company like Apple, who puts a lot of really smart accountants and lawyers to work, and they come up with revolutionary new ways of exploiting loopholes in tax laws, and all of a sudden, the accounting department is adding BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the bottom line. They transformed the 'cost center' accounting department into a 'profit center.' How many IT departments are doing the same kind of thing? Not many."
6. The SMB model of IT
Justin James: "A lot of IT departments are struggling to define their mission, struggling to be relevant to the business, and struggling to deliver real, provable value and ROI… and I think that in the next few years, we're going to see the small business model of IT - cloud services bolstered by a small cadre of on-site techs and a handful of part-time experts or consultants for the big stuff - start to move up the food chain."
7. Measure and report
Dana Gardner: "Measure whatever you can on how IT impacts business. Make the causal connections between a new application that improves a process and the results of the process. Use social tools inside the enterprise to do polls, to ask users to tell the good and bad about what IT is doing. Like with app dev, do scrums in the ops side to determine performance and then share that back to the developers and forwards to the users. A lifecycle approach where there is visibility from IT … will help improve perceptions."
8. The organizational dilemma
Justin James: "Which departments have the foresight and willingness and open-mindedness to work hand-in-hand with IT? Which employees are willing to make the decisions to go ahead, knowing full well that the process is going to possibly cost a lot of people their jobs? That's probably one of the biggest issues: folks know in the back of their heads that a push to modernize can cost jobs."
9. Find a hero project
Dana Gardner: "IT must pick its first battles very carefully. It's essential to show benefits early on to get buy-in later, and make those perceptions shift to the goodness of IT. So find a pain point for the leadership: Perhaps it's visibility into some business process, or ability to use data better and faster. Business leaders love a good chart. Make them see that IT is making data, analytics and dashboards a priority. Or find a problem that impacts those tasked with business development and fix it or offer suggestions. IT needs to proactively court those that are building the new business winners and engage with them. It has to be more than repaving cow paths and replacing older servers… It's a culture thing, as much as anything. And people change culture."
10. The technical CEO
Dana Gardner: "I expect to see offices of the CEO comprised of a COO-CIO duo. When business operations, market strategy and IT knowledge are combined, big things can happen. The fact that CEOs have one come from sales and founders may need to give way to more technology savvy people at the top. Selling is important, of course, but making the strategy align with what the technology allows is more important nowadays. You need to have something to sell, and the products and services themselves are increasingly about technology. So let's get more techies in the corner office for more kinds of companies."
11. The three factors you must have
Justin James: "You need to have … a proactive IT department and a visionary leadership team (not merely the CEO), AND open-minded employees who won't drag their heels and sabotage the process. That's a rare combination, and it's one of the big reasons why we don't see organizations transforming their IT as much as we see new organizations coming up that use IT to drive profits from day 1."
12. Dominance of the technically-capable
Dana Gardner: Let's face it, a lot of companies are not going to make IT a profit center, and they will be in trouble, and then more trouble. It will be very hard to transform a company that is dysfunctional in IT. On the other hand, companies that do IT well, that integrate the technically possible with the business necessary will be able to change and adapt. And they will hire that best minds that can build on the successes and go dominant in a big way. It's not just survival of the fittest, it's dominance by the most technology capable.
Original Post:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/12-critical-insights-on-the-state-of-it-in-2012/10551
I regularly moderate The Great Debate<http://www.zdnet.com/debate/> over on ZDNet and it's always a fun opportunity to get a couple smart commentators together and let them cross swords over a controversial topic. However, this week the debate was especially great, as TechRepublic's Justin James<http://www.techrepublic.com/topics/justin+james> and ZDNet's Dana Gardner<http://www.zdnet.com/blog/gardner> clashed on the topic of IT Department: Cost Center or Profit Center?<http://www.zdnet.com/debate/your-it-department-cost-center-or-profit-center/6361393>It ended up being about the current trajectory of the IT department and how to change it.
If you missed it, then you missed a crash course in why many IT departments are struggling today and advice on how IT can transform itself into an indispensable force. Fortunately, you can still read the entire debate online<http://www.zdnet.com/debate/your-it-department-cost-center-or-profit-center/6361393>, but I've also selected and curated 12 of the most important insights from Gardner and James into the following list.
1. The problem with IT
Justin James: "Most IT departments consistently fail to deliver value! When all you've done is replace the intraoffice mail system with email and IM, and replaced the filing cabinets and accounts ledgers with databases and applications, all for a price so expensive that you wonder if it wasn't cheaper to just pay people to do it instead, then of course IT doesn't look like a profit center. And it isn't. And when folks offer suggestions on how to improve it, the IT department likes to say 'no.' Sure, they usually have a good reason for it, but it still feels like stonewalling to the business folks."
2. Losing the stranglehold
Justin James: "The IT department is losing its stranglehold on the corporate IT resources, now that individuals can BYOD and departments can source IT from the cloud. This forces IT to work harder and smarter within the organization, when in the past they could adopt an attitude of, this is what were giving you, and you had better like it!"
3. A new class of IT
Dana Gardner: "Rather than remove IT in favor of cloud or SaaS — businesses must embrace a larger role of IT as services broker… Already a new class of strategic IT organization is emerging, one that uses cloud, mobile, mixed-sourcing, strategic souring, ecommerce as core components. By delivering business services better than competitors -– even partners — the modern value chain flows to them. Via innovation, they take more share, more margin, more opportunity."
4. The Amazon revenue model
Dana Gardner: "Before Amazon Web Services, a.k.a. Amazon's public cloud, IT there was a cost center, enabling their online retail and business functions. Now, IT is a profit center, adding entirely new revenues to Amazon in the form of paid cloud services. I'm seeing companies now following that model, taking their IT capabilities and making them the product, of combining their digital services and market insights to forge whole new services, and bringing in whole new revenues. So the discussion has changed. It's not how will IT support the old business, it's how is IT able to create new lines of business."
5. The Apple innovation model
Justin James: "Most companies view the accounting department as a cost center, a necessary evil. Then you get a company like Apple, who puts a lot of really smart accountants and lawyers to work, and they come up with revolutionary new ways of exploiting loopholes in tax laws, and all of a sudden, the accounting department is adding BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to the bottom line. They transformed the 'cost center' accounting department into a 'profit center.' How many IT departments are doing the same kind of thing? Not many."
6. The SMB model of IT
Justin James: "A lot of IT departments are struggling to define their mission, struggling to be relevant to the business, and struggling to deliver real, provable value and ROI… and I think that in the next few years, we're going to see the small business model of IT - cloud services bolstered by a small cadre of on-site techs and a handful of part-time experts or consultants for the big stuff - start to move up the food chain."
7. Measure and report
Dana Gardner: "Measure whatever you can on how IT impacts business. Make the causal connections between a new application that improves a process and the results of the process. Use social tools inside the enterprise to do polls, to ask users to tell the good and bad about what IT is doing. Like with app dev, do scrums in the ops side to determine performance and then share that back to the developers and forwards to the users. A lifecycle approach where there is visibility from IT … will help improve perceptions."
8. The organizational dilemma
Justin James: "Which departments have the foresight and willingness and open-mindedness to work hand-in-hand with IT? Which employees are willing to make the decisions to go ahead, knowing full well that the process is going to possibly cost a lot of people their jobs? That's probably one of the biggest issues: folks know in the back of their heads that a push to modernize can cost jobs."
9. Find a hero project
Dana Gardner: "IT must pick its first battles very carefully. It's essential to show benefits early on to get buy-in later, and make those perceptions shift to the goodness of IT. So find a pain point for the leadership: Perhaps it's visibility into some business process, or ability to use data better and faster. Business leaders love a good chart. Make them see that IT is making data, analytics and dashboards a priority. Or find a problem that impacts those tasked with business development and fix it or offer suggestions. IT needs to proactively court those that are building the new business winners and engage with them. It has to be more than repaving cow paths and replacing older servers… It's a culture thing, as much as anything. And people change culture."
10. The technical CEO
Dana Gardner: "I expect to see offices of the CEO comprised of a COO-CIO duo. When business operations, market strategy and IT knowledge are combined, big things can happen. The fact that CEOs have one come from sales and founders may need to give way to more technology savvy people at the top. Selling is important, of course, but making the strategy align with what the technology allows is more important nowadays. You need to have something to sell, and the products and services themselves are increasingly about technology. So let's get more techies in the corner office for more kinds of companies."
11. The three factors you must have
Justin James: "You need to have … a proactive IT department and a visionary leadership team (not merely the CEO), AND open-minded employees who won't drag their heels and sabotage the process. That's a rare combination, and it's one of the big reasons why we don't see organizations transforming their IT as much as we see new organizations coming up that use IT to drive profits from day 1."
12. Dominance of the technically-capable
Dana Gardner: Let's face it, a lot of companies are not going to make IT a profit center, and they will be in trouble, and then more trouble. It will be very hard to transform a company that is dysfunctional in IT. On the other hand, companies that do IT well, that integrate the technically possible with the business necessary will be able to change and adapt. And they will hire that best minds that can build on the successes and go dominant in a big way. It's not just survival of the fittest, it's dominance by the most technology capable.
Original Post:
http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/hiner/12-critical-insights-on-the-state-of-it-in-2012/10551
Virtualization and the VMware Vision for SMBs
Part 1 – Introducing Russ Stockdale
I'm Russ Stockdale - Vice President and General Manager of Small and Midsize Business (SMB) at VMware. In my role I'm responsible for VMware's SMB solutions<http://bit.ly/KMKNaC>, product marketing and go-to-market efforts across the product lines that cater to our SMB customers.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb0c2c9d970c-320wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb0c2c9d970c-pi>I work with the product teams across VMware to develop product strategy, positioning and the right solutions for SMBs while working closely with our sales and partner teams to make sure that we're delivering the right product experience and services to our customers.
I came to this role through my position at Mozy where I first joined as chief marketing officer and held the position of VP of Product and Program Management as well as, most recently General Manager of the business, a role I still hold today. Mozy gave me the opportunity not only to work with a number of SMB customers but to run an SMB business and see first hand the challenges that SMBs are faced with on a daily basis. I think this has given me a unique perspective in my current role delivering solutions for SMBs.
From school and throughout my career I've had a passion for solving problems with technology and making that technology accessible to the masses. I've been lucky enough to work on some pretty big projects to that effect, including making desktop OSs more user friendly with early versions of Windows and making the Internet more accessible by working on the team that delivered the first versions of Internet Explorer. This has contributed to my perspective in my current role, making enterprise-class technology and solutions accessible to customers of all sizes.
Connecting enterprise class solutions with the unique requirements of SMB customers can be a challenging task, but I have some brilliant engineers and solution strategists on my side. In addition, the sales and partner "feet on the street" that you, our customer, work with are some of the finest in the industry. We're all here to help you, take advantage of the efficiencies and possibilities that virtualization has to offer.
This task is not as simple as selling an enterprise solution to an SMB customer or making a stripped down version of an enterprise offering at a lower cost. While cost is often a factor, SMBs still need the right mix of features and functionality that cater to their unique challenges. In many cases the challenges SMB customers are faced with every day are very different from their enterprise counterparts. I go into this more in the following video<http://bit.ly/ISGDmf>.
In the coming weeks I'll elaborate on the points that I covered in this video including:
* The challenges that SMBs are faced with and how these challenges can stand in front of the goals of the business.
* The unique characteristics of SMBs and how this contributes to the complexities in the IT environments.
* The VMware vision for SMBs to overcome today's IT challenges and take full advantage of what virtualization and the cloud have to offer.
I look forward to hearing your opinions and feedback and I hope that my posts not only provide some insight into VMware solutions but also a venue for discussion.
~ Russ Stockdale
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/need-title.html
I'm Russ Stockdale - Vice President and General Manager of Small and Midsize Business (SMB) at VMware. In my role I'm responsible for VMware's SMB solutions<http://bit.ly/KMKNaC>, product marketing and go-to-market efforts across the product lines that cater to our SMB customers.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb0c2c9d970c-320wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb0c2c9d970c-pi>I work with the product teams across VMware to develop product strategy, positioning and the right solutions for SMBs while working closely with our sales and partner teams to make sure that we're delivering the right product experience and services to our customers.
I came to this role through my position at Mozy where I first joined as chief marketing officer and held the position of VP of Product and Program Management as well as, most recently General Manager of the business, a role I still hold today. Mozy gave me the opportunity not only to work with a number of SMB customers but to run an SMB business and see first hand the challenges that SMBs are faced with on a daily basis. I think this has given me a unique perspective in my current role delivering solutions for SMBs.
From school and throughout my career I've had a passion for solving problems with technology and making that technology accessible to the masses. I've been lucky enough to work on some pretty big projects to that effect, including making desktop OSs more user friendly with early versions of Windows and making the Internet more accessible by working on the team that delivered the first versions of Internet Explorer. This has contributed to my perspective in my current role, making enterprise-class technology and solutions accessible to customers of all sizes.
Connecting enterprise class solutions with the unique requirements of SMB customers can be a challenging task, but I have some brilliant engineers and solution strategists on my side. In addition, the sales and partner "feet on the street" that you, our customer, work with are some of the finest in the industry. We're all here to help you, take advantage of the efficiencies and possibilities that virtualization has to offer.
This task is not as simple as selling an enterprise solution to an SMB customer or making a stripped down version of an enterprise offering at a lower cost. While cost is often a factor, SMBs still need the right mix of features and functionality that cater to their unique challenges. In many cases the challenges SMB customers are faced with every day are very different from their enterprise counterparts. I go into this more in the following video<http://bit.ly/ISGDmf>.
In the coming weeks I'll elaborate on the points that I covered in this video including:
* The challenges that SMBs are faced with and how these challenges can stand in front of the goals of the business.
* The unique characteristics of SMBs and how this contributes to the complexities in the IT environments.
* The VMware vision for SMBs to overcome today's IT challenges and take full advantage of what virtualization and the cloud have to offer.
I look forward to hearing your opinions and feedback and I hope that my posts not only provide some insight into VMware solutions but also a venue for discussion.
~ Russ Stockdale
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/need-title.html
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Now available in Rough Cuts - The Official VCP5 Certification Guide
[http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/ShowCovervcp5.serendipityThumb.jpg]<http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/ShowCovervcp5.jpg>
The Rough Cuts service from Safari Books Online gives you exclusive access to an evolving manuscript that you can read online or download as a PDF and print. A Rough Cuts book is not fully edited or completely formatted, but you'll get access to new versions as they are created.
This is the first and only official guide to VMware's new VCP510 (VCP 5) exam. Organized to follow VMware's newest exam blueprint, it's also designed from the ground up to be both engaging and enjoyable. Author Bill Ferguson acts like a "study buddy," encouraging virtualization professionals, anticipating their questions, and helping them gain both mastery and confidence. Throughout, he provides many illustrations, tables, figures, screenshots, and realistic sample test questions - all designed to help readers learn more, learn faster, and remember more of what they learn. Coverage includes: * Understanding how virtualization can best be integrated into today's real-world IT environments * Recognizing what to change, and what to leave alone * Planning, installing, configuring, and upgrading vCenter Server and VMware ESXi * Planning and configuring vSphere networking and storage * Deploying and Administering Virtual Machines and vApps * Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels * Performing basic troubleshooting * Monitoring vSphere implementations * Managing vCenter Server alarms * Preparing for the future of VMware virtualization.
Table of Contents:
1. Planning, Installing, Configuring and Upgrading vCenter Server and VMware ESXi
2. Planning and Configuring vSphere Networking
3. Planning and Configuring vSphere Storage
4. Deploying and Administering Virtual Machines and vApps
5. Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels
6. Performing Basic Troubleshooting
7. Monitoring a vSphere Implementation and Managing vCenter Server Alarms
http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0132965658
The Rough Cuts service from Safari Books Online gives you exclusive access to an evolving manuscript that you can read online or download as a PDF and print. A Rough Cuts book is not fully edited or completely formatted, but you'll get access to new versions as they are created.
This is the first and only official guide to VMware's new VCP510 (VCP 5) exam. Organized to follow VMware's newest exam blueprint, it's also designed from the ground up to be both engaging and enjoyable. Author Bill Ferguson acts like a "study buddy," encouraging virtualization professionals, anticipating their questions, and helping them gain both mastery and confidence. Throughout, he provides many illustrations, tables, figures, screenshots, and realistic sample test questions - all designed to help readers learn more, learn faster, and remember more of what they learn. Coverage includes: * Understanding how virtualization can best be integrated into today's real-world IT environments * Recognizing what to change, and what to leave alone * Planning, installing, configuring, and upgrading vCenter Server and VMware ESXi * Planning and configuring vSphere networking and storage * Deploying and Administering Virtual Machines and vApps * Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels * Performing basic troubleshooting * Monitoring vSphere implementations * Managing vCenter Server alarms * Preparing for the future of VMware virtualization.
Table of Contents:
1. Planning, Installing, Configuring and Upgrading vCenter Server and VMware ESXi
2. Planning and Configuring vSphere Networking
3. Planning and Configuring vSphere Storage
4. Deploying and Administering Virtual Machines and vApps
5. Establishing and Maintaining Service Levels
6. Performing Basic Troubleshooting
7. Monitoring a vSphere Implementation and Managing vCenter Server Alarms
http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0132965658
VDI in SMBs – Not just Shelfware, Study Finds VMware Leads with More Than Half of the Installs
As the industry heads to Citrix Synergy and Interop this week, there will be no shortage of news in the End-User Computing world. Amongst it all, Spiceworks released the results of their annual State of SMB IT report for 1H 2012 today. If you have not checked it out, it is a great read.
Over the years, we have been pretty impressed with the quality of the data the Spiceworks team has produced. So, we asked Spiceworks to investigate desktop virtualization industry trends among small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb52c93d970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb52c93d970c-popup>
According to the results of the "Trends around Desktop Virtualization for Small and Mid-sized Organizations"<http://bit.ly/JbREuC> study (April 2012):
* More than 60 percent of SMBs who responded to the survey plan to roll out or evaluate desktop virtualization in 2012.
* VMware View represented 53 percent of desktop virtualization installations within SMBs (under 1,000 employees)
* Citrix installations represented 27 percent of virtual desktop installations, with an additional 3 percent accounted for by Kaviza (recently acquired by Citrix).
* 88 percent of respondents would implement an on-premise solution if they move to desktop virtualization and cloud computing, while 12 percent said they would consider a hosted virtual desktop offering.
In addition, VMware View is gaining momentum within the enterprise… 50,000 seats deployed at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi; 14,000 seats at ING; 8,000 seats at Johns Hopkins… The list goes on. This quote from Brian Madden last week perhaps says it best…
"I asked my contacts at both Citrix and VMware for lists of public references with >7k seats, and VMware got back to me right away with a pretty long list. So they're doing something right over there."
Respondents are from the following geographies: 66percent were from North America, 26 percent from EMEA, 6 percent from Asia-Pacific, and 2 percent from Latin America.
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/vdi-in-smbs-not-just-shelfware-study-finds-vmware-leads-with-more-than-half-of-the-installs.html
Over the years, we have been pretty impressed with the quality of the data the Spiceworks team has produced. So, we asked Spiceworks to investigate desktop virtualization industry trends among small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb52c93d970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb52c93d970c-popup>
According to the results of the "Trends around Desktop Virtualization for Small and Mid-sized Organizations"<http://bit.ly/JbREuC> study (April 2012):
* More than 60 percent of SMBs who responded to the survey plan to roll out or evaluate desktop virtualization in 2012.
* VMware View represented 53 percent of desktop virtualization installations within SMBs (under 1,000 employees)
* Citrix installations represented 27 percent of virtual desktop installations, with an additional 3 percent accounted for by Kaviza (recently acquired by Citrix).
* 88 percent of respondents would implement an on-premise solution if they move to desktop virtualization and cloud computing, while 12 percent said they would consider a hosted virtual desktop offering.
In addition, VMware View is gaining momentum within the enterprise… 50,000 seats deployed at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi; 14,000 seats at ING; 8,000 seats at Johns Hopkins… The list goes on. This quote from Brian Madden last week perhaps says it best…
"I asked my contacts at both Citrix and VMware for lists of public references with >7k seats, and VMware got back to me right away with a pretty long list. So they're doing something right over there."
Respondents are from the following geographies: 66percent were from North America, 26 percent from EMEA, 6 percent from Asia-Pacific, and 2 percent from Latin America.
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/vdi-in-smbs-not-just-shelfware-study-finds-vmware-leads-with-more-than-half-of-the-installs.html
Monday, May 7, 2012
Hosting.com shares data on bandwidth, sync times, and RPOs with vSphere Replication
[http://a1.twimg.com/profile_images/1567278155/kenw]
Posted by
Ken Werneburg
Tech Marketing
It's my pleasure this week to have some data to share with you that comes from usage of Site Recovery Manager with real systems and VMs. I often get asked to provide generic guidance on vSphere Replication and usually answers are hard to quantify as they are so specific to an individual environment. Having success in a production deployment is always easier when you have information based on previous lessons, so it is a boon to be able to draw on the success of others who have gone down the same path.
When creating a disaster recovery solution using Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication<http://www.vmware.com/products/site-recovery-manager/overview.html> there are a few best practices and tips that can be used to make the project a success and the transition smoother.
We've asked Wayne Shaw, Systems Architect, from service provider Hosting.com<http://www.hosting.com> to share some real-world observations and recommendations to consider when planning your disaster recovery solution.
Wayne will share:
* Bandwidth and performance statistics of various operating system
* Formulas for calculating synchronization time
* Tips for determining RPO
Wayne Shaw, Hosting.com<http://www.hosting.com>:
"Over the last few months, we've been testing and observing the performance of our Cloud Replication solution which utilizes VMware's Site Recovery Manager and vSphere solution. The findings and recommendations below should give you a better idea what to expect and will help with the planning process for a successful disaster recovery solution.
Bandwidth Usage
There are two types of vSphere Replication (VR) traffic: initial synchronizations and ongoing synchronizations. Below are Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>'s VR bandwidth consumption observations of and comparisons between the two types of synchronization traffic. You'll also see our observations of VR performance for various guest operating systems.
Bandwidth consumption observations:
* Bandwidth consumed by VR traffic scales linearly based on the number of virtual machines (VMs) being replicated.
* Bandwidth consumed by VR traffic varies depending on the type of synchronization. Initial synchronizations transfer faster than ongoing synchronizations.
* Bandwidth consumed by VR traffic varies depending on the guest operating system and underlying file system with VMs.
We have observed average data transfer during initial syncs for Windows VMs at ~19 Mbps per VM when available bandwidth between sites is not a limiting factor.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0167664403f6970b-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0167664403f6970b-popup>
We have observed the average data transfer during initial syncs for Linux VMs at ~11 Mbps per VM when available bandwidth between sites is not a limiting factor.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676644045d970b-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676644045d970b-popup>
For ongoing synchronizations, we typically see both Windows VMs and Linux VMs transfer data at an average rate of ~6 - 9 Mbps per VM. Although, we see the transfer rates for the Windows VMs fluctuate much more than the Linux VMs.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb463101970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb463101970c-popup>
There are several things that can affect VR synchronization transfer speeds, such as:
* The available bandwidth between sites
* Latency between the two sites
* VM guest operating system
* Load of the target VR server(s)
* The number of VR server
In the example data provided above, the link between the two sites was a 100 Mbps VPLS circuit with an average of 55 ms latency replicating to a single target VR server. The VMs consisted of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Red Hat 6 for the guest OS. The distance between the two sites was 1550 miles or 2494 kilometers.
One thing to point out is that vSphere replication statistics have been added to host and VM performance graphs in vSphere 5. These statistics are useful when trying to gauge the actual bandwidth footprint for your VR workloads and evaluating viable Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).
Synchronization Times
Below is a general formula for calculating how long it will take to transfer VM data between sites for initial or ongoing synchronization.
First, you'll need to discover:
* Size of data to be synced
* Transfer speed for synchronization
Size of changed data (bits) / Transfer speed (bps)= Transfer Time (seconds)
In the single Linux VM initial sync example above, the actual data used on disk was 13.5GB and the average transfer speed was 11 Mbps during the initial sync.
115960000000 /11000000 = 10542 seconds (~ 3 hours)
At Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>, we've experienced relatively consistent results for VR performance and have been able to accurately calculate the expected synchronization times for various workloads using this formula.
Recover Point Objectives
Understanding your VM workloads, actual VR transfer speeds, and per VM synchronization times is key when planning your Recover Point Objectives using VR.
In general, your calculated transfer times must be less than the desired RPO to be within tolerances. In other words, your RPO cannot be less than the time it takes to replicate the changed data per sync.
We've found that viable RPOs can be calculated accurately for various change rates, if the change rates are known ahead of time. We've also found that violations of RPOs are successfully detected and alerted upon using vCenter SRM alarms. When RPOs are violated, synchronizations continue to run until completion. vCenter SRM alarms clear when sync is back within specified RPO again.
For more information on Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>'s cloud-based disaster recovery solutions, please register here<http://www.hosting.com/company/events/webinar-dr-to-the-cloud> for the DR to the Cloud webinar on May 17th featuring experts from VMware and Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>. Or visit our website here<http://www.hosting.com/disaster-recovery/cloud-replication>."
My sincere thanks to Wayne, and Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>, for sharing their findings on replication and recovery; It's great to see what they've been accomplishing with their Cloud Replication service, and hopefully their willingness to share their real-world findings on bandwidth, sync times and RPOs can help you understand your own requirements for these items in building your own disaster recovery solutions with SRM.
Keep tracking the blog - we'll be posting another entry really soon with more information on real-world deployment practices of SRM by Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>, and make sure you register for the webinar!
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/when-creating-a-disaster-recovery-solution-using-site-recovery-manager-and-vsphere-replication-there-are-a-few-best-practices.html
Posted by
Ken Werneburg
Tech Marketing
It's my pleasure this week to have some data to share with you that comes from usage of Site Recovery Manager with real systems and VMs. I often get asked to provide generic guidance on vSphere Replication and usually answers are hard to quantify as they are so specific to an individual environment. Having success in a production deployment is always easier when you have information based on previous lessons, so it is a boon to be able to draw on the success of others who have gone down the same path.
When creating a disaster recovery solution using Site Recovery Manager and vSphere Replication<http://www.vmware.com/products/site-recovery-manager/overview.html> there are a few best practices and tips that can be used to make the project a success and the transition smoother.
We've asked Wayne Shaw, Systems Architect, from service provider Hosting.com<http://www.hosting.com> to share some real-world observations and recommendations to consider when planning your disaster recovery solution.
Wayne will share:
* Bandwidth and performance statistics of various operating system
* Formulas for calculating synchronization time
* Tips for determining RPO
Wayne Shaw, Hosting.com<http://www.hosting.com>:
"Over the last few months, we've been testing and observing the performance of our Cloud Replication solution which utilizes VMware's Site Recovery Manager and vSphere solution. The findings and recommendations below should give you a better idea what to expect and will help with the planning process for a successful disaster recovery solution.
Bandwidth Usage
There are two types of vSphere Replication (VR) traffic: initial synchronizations and ongoing synchronizations. Below are Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>'s VR bandwidth consumption observations of and comparisons between the two types of synchronization traffic. You'll also see our observations of VR performance for various guest operating systems.
Bandwidth consumption observations:
* Bandwidth consumed by VR traffic scales linearly based on the number of virtual machines (VMs) being replicated.
* Bandwidth consumed by VR traffic varies depending on the type of synchronization. Initial synchronizations transfer faster than ongoing synchronizations.
* Bandwidth consumed by VR traffic varies depending on the guest operating system and underlying file system with VMs.
We have observed average data transfer during initial syncs for Windows VMs at ~19 Mbps per VM when available bandwidth between sites is not a limiting factor.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0167664403f6970b-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0167664403f6970b-popup>
We have observed the average data transfer during initial syncs for Linux VMs at ~11 Mbps per VM when available bandwidth between sites is not a limiting factor.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676644045d970b-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676644045d970b-popup>
For ongoing synchronizations, we typically see both Windows VMs and Linux VMs transfer data at an average rate of ~6 - 9 Mbps per VM. Although, we see the transfer rates for the Windows VMs fluctuate much more than the Linux VMs.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb463101970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb463101970c-popup>
There are several things that can affect VR synchronization transfer speeds, such as:
* The available bandwidth between sites
* Latency between the two sites
* VM guest operating system
* Load of the target VR server(s)
* The number of VR server
In the example data provided above, the link between the two sites was a 100 Mbps VPLS circuit with an average of 55 ms latency replicating to a single target VR server. The VMs consisted of Windows Server 2008 R2 and Red Hat 6 for the guest OS. The distance between the two sites was 1550 miles or 2494 kilometers.
One thing to point out is that vSphere replication statistics have been added to host and VM performance graphs in vSphere 5. These statistics are useful when trying to gauge the actual bandwidth footprint for your VR workloads and evaluating viable Recovery Point Objectives (RPO).
Synchronization Times
Below is a general formula for calculating how long it will take to transfer VM data between sites for initial or ongoing synchronization.
First, you'll need to discover:
* Size of data to be synced
* Transfer speed for synchronization
Size of changed data (bits) / Transfer speed (bps)= Transfer Time (seconds)
In the single Linux VM initial sync example above, the actual data used on disk was 13.5GB and the average transfer speed was 11 Mbps during the initial sync.
115960000000 /11000000 = 10542 seconds (~ 3 hours)
At Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>, we've experienced relatively consistent results for VR performance and have been able to accurately calculate the expected synchronization times for various workloads using this formula.
Recover Point Objectives
Understanding your VM workloads, actual VR transfer speeds, and per VM synchronization times is key when planning your Recover Point Objectives using VR.
In general, your calculated transfer times must be less than the desired RPO to be within tolerances. In other words, your RPO cannot be less than the time it takes to replicate the changed data per sync.
We've found that viable RPOs can be calculated accurately for various change rates, if the change rates are known ahead of time. We've also found that violations of RPOs are successfully detected and alerted upon using vCenter SRM alarms. When RPOs are violated, synchronizations continue to run until completion. vCenter SRM alarms clear when sync is back within specified RPO again.
For more information on Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>'s cloud-based disaster recovery solutions, please register here<http://www.hosting.com/company/events/webinar-dr-to-the-cloud> for the DR to the Cloud webinar on May 17th featuring experts from VMware and Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>. Or visit our website here<http://www.hosting.com/disaster-recovery/cloud-replication>."
My sincere thanks to Wayne, and Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>, for sharing their findings on replication and recovery; It's great to see what they've been accomplishing with their Cloud Replication service, and hopefully their willingness to share their real-world findings on bandwidth, sync times and RPOs can help you understand your own requirements for these items in building your own disaster recovery solutions with SRM.
Keep tracking the blog - we'll be posting another entry really soon with more information on real-world deployment practices of SRM by Hosting.com<http://Hosting.com>, and make sure you register for the webinar!
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/when-creating-a-disaster-recovery-solution-using-site-recovery-manager-and-vsphere-replication-there-are-a-few-best-practices.html
Making Things Easier with My VMware
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0163052ee98d970d-800wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0163052ee98d970d-pi>
Managing product licenses and support entitlements can be a time consuming task for any IT organization big or small. We know that the more products and vendors you add to the mix the more tedious this process can become. The recent launch of My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY> has taken on the challenge from our customers to make the process of managing your VMware licenses and support entitlements easier so you can focus on managing your VMware infrastructure and delivering more value to your business.
With <http://www.vmware.com/my_vmware/overview.html> My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY> we listened to feedback from you the customer to deliver features to:
* Reduce the number of portals to log into
* Make navigation easier with a more intuitive interface
* Simplify how you manage your support entitlements and product licenses
* Make downloads for releases, updates and evals fast and easy
* Improve access to support request and resources
This is just a few of the many new features that you can find in <http://www.vmware.com/my_vmware/overview.html> My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY>. Here's a list of links for more information:
* My VMware Resources<http://www.vmware.com/go/myvmware>
* My VMware login & registration<https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/login>
* My VMware Help Articles<http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-18442>
* Top 10 things to know about My VMware<http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2017468>
* Getting started with My VMware articles<http://blogs.vmware.com/kb/2012/04/my-vmware-is-easy.html>
Let us know how <http://www.vmware.com/my_vmware/overview.html> My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY> is making things easier in your environment in the comments below or on Twitter<http://bit.ly/IOFqwb>.
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/making-things-easier-with-my-vmware.html
Managing product licenses and support entitlements can be a time consuming task for any IT organization big or small. We know that the more products and vendors you add to the mix the more tedious this process can become. The recent launch of My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY> has taken on the challenge from our customers to make the process of managing your VMware licenses and support entitlements easier so you can focus on managing your VMware infrastructure and delivering more value to your business.
With <http://www.vmware.com/my_vmware/overview.html> My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY> we listened to feedback from you the customer to deliver features to:
* Reduce the number of portals to log into
* Make navigation easier with a more intuitive interface
* Simplify how you manage your support entitlements and product licenses
* Make downloads for releases, updates and evals fast and easy
* Improve access to support request and resources
This is just a few of the many new features that you can find in <http://www.vmware.com/my_vmware/overview.html> My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY>. Here's a list of links for more information:
* My VMware Resources<http://www.vmware.com/go/myvmware>
* My VMware login & registration<https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/login>
* My VMware Help Articles<http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-18442>
* Top 10 things to know about My VMware<http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2017468>
* Getting started with My VMware articles<http://blogs.vmware.com/kb/2012/04/my-vmware-is-easy.html>
Let us know how <http://www.vmware.com/my_vmware/overview.html> My VMware<http://bit.ly/JWiUxY> is making things easier in your environment in the comments below or on Twitter<http://bit.ly/IOFqwb>.
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/making-things-easier-with-my-vmware.html
ESXi Image Builder and Auto Deploy PowerCLI Quick Reference
Kyle Gleed, Sr. Technical Marketing Architect, VMware
To help the PowerCLI novice get started with Image Builder and Auto Deploy I put together the attached quick reference guides.
Working with the ESXi Image Builder and Auto Deploy cmdlets in vSphere 5.0 was my first experience using PowerShell/PowerCLI, and early on I know I spent a lot of time just trying to keep track of the different cmdlet names, let alone the syntax. As I've had several requests for some kind of Image Builder and Auto Deploy PowerCLI quick reference guide I suspect I'm not unique. I hope these will prove helpful.
Enjoy!
Download ImageBuilder5.0-PowerCLI-Quick-Reference-v0.2<http://blogs.vmware.com/files/imagebuilder5.0-powercli-quick-reference-v0.2.pdf>
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb44666f970c-800wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb44666f970c-pi>
Download AutoDeploy5.0-PowerCLI-Quick-Reference-v0.2<http://blogs.vmware.com/files/autodeploy5.0-powercli-quick-reference-v0.2.pdf>
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb446716970c-800wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb446716970c-pi>
Original Post: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/esxi-image-builder-and-auto-deploy-powercli-quick-reference.html
To help the PowerCLI novice get started with Image Builder and Auto Deploy I put together the attached quick reference guides.
Working with the ESXi Image Builder and Auto Deploy cmdlets in vSphere 5.0 was my first experience using PowerShell/PowerCLI, and early on I know I spent a lot of time just trying to keep track of the different cmdlet names, let alone the syntax. As I've had several requests for some kind of Image Builder and Auto Deploy PowerCLI quick reference guide I suspect I'm not unique. I hope these will prove helpful.
Enjoy!
Download ImageBuilder5.0-PowerCLI-Quick-Reference-v0.2<http://blogs.vmware.com/files/imagebuilder5.0-powercli-quick-reference-v0.2.pdf>
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb44666f970c-800wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb44666f970c-pi>
Download AutoDeploy5.0-PowerCLI-Quick-Reference-v0.2<http://blogs.vmware.com/files/autodeploy5.0-powercli-quick-reference-v0.2.pdf>
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb446716970c-800wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0168eb446716970c-pi>
Original Post: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/esxi-image-builder-and-auto-deploy-powercli-quick-reference.html
Penultimate Just Became a Must-have App
[http://isource.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Penultimate-and-Evernote_thumb.jpg]<http://isource.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Penultimate-and-Evernote.jpg>
Penultimate, one of the most popular handwriting apps for the iPad, has become part of the Evernote family – as in, Evernote has acquired the company that makes Penultimate.
Cocoa Box's Penultimate<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/penultimate/id354098826?mt=8>, the beautifully simple handwriting app for iPad, has been one of our favorites pretty much since it came out two years ago, so we're very thrilled to announce that we've acquired the company and that Penultimate is now part of the Evernote family!
This looks like very good news for users of Penultimate and Evernote as well as for anyone looking around for a great notes and / or handwriting app for iOS. I especially like seeing this section of the Evernote announcement<http://blog.evernote.com/2012/05/07/evernote-acquires-penultimate/>:
Penultimate creator, Ben Zotto, is joining Evernote to head up future app development. Penultimate will stay a separate, elegant application and will get many much-requested Evernote-y improvements including full search and synchronization. Ben will also lead the effort to put handwriting and digital ink functionality into other Evernote products and platforms, so you'll see handwriting cross-pollination popping up everywhere.
Again, this sounds like great news for both of the existing apps – and also suggests that we may well see some exciting new apps come out of this acquisition.
Share this:
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Penultimate, one of the most popular handwriting apps for the iPad, has become part of the Evernote family – as in, Evernote has acquired the company that makes Penultimate.
Cocoa Box's Penultimate<http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/penultimate/id354098826?mt=8>, the beautifully simple handwriting app for iPad, has been one of our favorites pretty much since it came out two years ago, so we're very thrilled to announce that we've acquired the company and that Penultimate is now part of the Evernote family!
This looks like very good news for users of Penultimate and Evernote as well as for anyone looking around for a great notes and / or handwriting app for iOS. I especially like seeing this section of the Evernote announcement<http://blog.evernote.com/2012/05/07/evernote-acquires-penultimate/>:
Penultimate creator, Ben Zotto, is joining Evernote to head up future app development. Penultimate will stay a separate, elegant application and will get many much-requested Evernote-y improvements including full search and synchronization. Ben will also lead the effort to put handwriting and digital ink functionality into other Evernote products and platforms, so you'll see handwriting cross-pollination popping up everywhere.
Again, this sounds like great news for both of the existing apps – and also suggests that we may well see some exciting new apps come out of this acquisition.
Share this:
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Thursday, May 3, 2012
End-User Computing Portfolio: Delivering a Better Desktop in the Post-PC Era
On May 2 VMware unveiled VMware View 5.1 and an updated portfolio of end-user computing solutions designed to empower a more agile, productive and connected workforce.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676609cb99970b-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676609cb99970b-popup>
Our end-user computing portfolio is designed enable easy-to-manage, enterprise-class desktop applications virtualization solutions that effectively scale with your business as it grows. With VMware View, the industry's easiest to deploy and manage desktop virtualization solution, small and midsized organizations can take advantage of enterprise-class technology to deliver desktops as a service to end users in a cost-effective and streamlined manner. But that is just the beginning of today's news…
Products featured in this launch include:
VMware View 5.1: Simplifying the Delivery of a Better Desktop – VMware View 5.1<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/whats-new-in-view-51.html> continues to enable the industry's best end-user experience while simplifying IT management for large-scale deployments and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) associated with a virtual desktop infrastructure by up to 50 percent.
VMware vCenter Operations for View: Cloud Infrastructure Insight – Offered as a new add-on to VMware View, vCenter Operations for View<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/announces-general-availability-of-vcenter-operations-manager-for-view.html> will enable administrators to have broad insight into desktop performance, quickly pinpoint and troubleshoot issues, optimize resource utilization, and proactively address potential issues in real-time.
VMware Horizon Application Manager 1.5: Your Personal Cloud Broker – Offered as an on-premise, virtual appliance, VMware Horizon Application Manager 1.5<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/vmware-horizon-application-manager-15.html> is a centralized policy and entitlement engine that will broker users access to applications, virtual desktops, and data resources. Integrating the application virtualization capabilities of VMware ThinApp, the VMware Horizon Application Catalog will benefit both IT and end-users by consolidating diverse applications types into a single, unified catalog.
VMware Project Octopus: Your Personal Data Cloud – VMware Project Octopus<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/project-octopus-public-beta-now-available.html> will enable IT organizations to provide employees with an easy and secure way to share data and collaborate with anyone from any device. Deployed on-premise or accessed via a VMware service provider, VMware Project Octopus will provide the ability for IT to govern usage and set policies for data access and sharing within their organization or with external contributors.
VMware Personal Cloud Applications: Share More, Send Less – Comprised of VMware Zimbra<http://www.zimbra.com/> and VMware Socialcast<http://www.socialcast.com/>, VMware cloud applications connect employees to the knowledge, ideas, and resources they need to work smarter. As part of today's announcement, VMware Zimbra 7.2 now features support for Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) for government deployments requiring encryption.
Want more information on the launch, check out the VMware EUC blog<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/>.
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/end-user-computing-portfolio-delivering-a-better-desktop-in-the-post-pc-era.html
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676609cb99970b-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01676609cb99970b-popup>
Our end-user computing portfolio is designed enable easy-to-manage, enterprise-class desktop applications virtualization solutions that effectively scale with your business as it grows. With VMware View, the industry's easiest to deploy and manage desktop virtualization solution, small and midsized organizations can take advantage of enterprise-class technology to deliver desktops as a service to end users in a cost-effective and streamlined manner. But that is just the beginning of today's news…
Products featured in this launch include:
VMware View 5.1: Simplifying the Delivery of a Better Desktop – VMware View 5.1<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/whats-new-in-view-51.html> continues to enable the industry's best end-user experience while simplifying IT management for large-scale deployments and reducing the total cost of ownership (TCO) associated with a virtual desktop infrastructure by up to 50 percent.
VMware vCenter Operations for View: Cloud Infrastructure Insight – Offered as a new add-on to VMware View, vCenter Operations for View<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/announces-general-availability-of-vcenter-operations-manager-for-view.html> will enable administrators to have broad insight into desktop performance, quickly pinpoint and troubleshoot issues, optimize resource utilization, and proactively address potential issues in real-time.
VMware Horizon Application Manager 1.5: Your Personal Cloud Broker – Offered as an on-premise, virtual appliance, VMware Horizon Application Manager 1.5<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/vmware-horizon-application-manager-15.html> is a centralized policy and entitlement engine that will broker users access to applications, virtual desktops, and data resources. Integrating the application virtualization capabilities of VMware ThinApp, the VMware Horizon Application Catalog will benefit both IT and end-users by consolidating diverse applications types into a single, unified catalog.
VMware Project Octopus: Your Personal Data Cloud – VMware Project Octopus<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/project-octopus-public-beta-now-available.html> will enable IT organizations to provide employees with an easy and secure way to share data and collaborate with anyone from any device. Deployed on-premise or accessed via a VMware service provider, VMware Project Octopus will provide the ability for IT to govern usage and set policies for data access and sharing within their organization or with external contributors.
VMware Personal Cloud Applications: Share More, Send Less – Comprised of VMware Zimbra<http://www.zimbra.com/> and VMware Socialcast<http://www.socialcast.com/>, VMware cloud applications connect employees to the knowledge, ideas, and resources they need to work smarter. As part of today's announcement, VMware Zimbra 7.2 now features support for Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) for government deployments requiring encryption.
Want more information on the launch, check out the VMware EUC blog<http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/>.
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/05/end-user-computing-portfolio-delivering-a-better-desktop-in-the-post-pc-era.html
Project Octopus Beta
Original Post: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/05/03/project-octopus-beta/
I've been using Octopus for months internally already as I already discussed in my enterprise social collaboration post<http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/01/31/enterprise-social-collaboration-solutions/> and I think it is an awesome tool! I would recommend everyone who is interested in an enterprise level file sharing solution, not unlike dropbox, to sign up for the beta as Octopus is the way to go!
Project Octopus is the successful marriage of Zimbra and Mozy technologies, with some additional code jointly developed by the two teams. Prior to GA release, it will be folded into Horizon, providing a centralized policy and entitlement engine that will broker user access to applications, virtual desktops and data resources. The result will be a simple, seamless end-user experience when accessing work resources across private and public clouds on whatever device the user chooses.
The beta is open to all<http://www.vmwareoctopus.com/> and will last through VMworld. Due to limited support resources, priority will be placed on customers with active engagements.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0163050c8d5f970d-800wi]
"Project Octopus Beta<http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/05/03/project-octopus-beta/>" originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com<http://www.yellow-bricks.com>. Follow us on Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/DuncanYB> and Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yellow-Bricks-virtualization-blog/132292893499196>.
Available now: vSphere 5 Clustering Deepdive. (paper<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1463658133/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=yellowbricks-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1463658133&adid=07SG91DX7FQT2HS66PMM> | e-book<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005C1SARM/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=yellowbricks-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B005C1SARM&adid=16Q69JRGDTX1DHPRKTQM&>)
I've been using Octopus for months internally already as I already discussed in my enterprise social collaboration post<http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/01/31/enterprise-social-collaboration-solutions/> and I think it is an awesome tool! I would recommend everyone who is interested in an enterprise level file sharing solution, not unlike dropbox, to sign up for the beta as Octopus is the way to go!
Project Octopus is the successful marriage of Zimbra and Mozy technologies, with some additional code jointly developed by the two teams. Prior to GA release, it will be folded into Horizon, providing a centralized policy and entitlement engine that will broker user access to applications, virtual desktops and data resources. The result will be a simple, seamless end-user experience when accessing work resources across private and public clouds on whatever device the user chooses.
The beta is open to all<http://www.vmwareoctopus.com/> and will last through VMworld. Due to limited support resources, priority will be placed on customers with active engagements.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0163050c8d5f970d-800wi]
"Project Octopus Beta<http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2012/05/03/project-octopus-beta/>" originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com<http://www.yellow-bricks.com>. Follow us on Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/DuncanYB> and Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Yellow-Bricks-virtualization-blog/132292893499196>.
Available now: vSphere 5 Clustering Deepdive. (paper<http://www.amazon.com/dp/1463658133/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_til?tag=yellowbricks-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1463658133&adid=07SG91DX7FQT2HS66PMM> | e-book<https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005C1SARM/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=yellowbricks-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B005C1SARM&adid=16Q69JRGDTX1DHPRKTQM&>)
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Video - Provisioning Virtual Desktops with VMware View 5.1 and VAAI
Original Post:
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/new-storage-features-in-vmware-view-51.html
Cormac Hogan<http://twitter.com/VMwareStorage>: Although this feature is a Technology Preview in View 5.1, it is another cool storage feature of the release. View desktops deployed on VMware's linked clone technology consumes CPU on the ESXi hosts, and network bandwidth when they are deployed on NFS datastores.
With this new Native NFS Snapshot feature via VAAI (vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration), customers can offload the cloning operation to the storage array, minimizing CPU usage and network bandwidth consumption. Once again this enhanced VAAI functionality was introduced in vSphere 5.0 specifically for VMware View.
This feature requires a VAAI NAS plugin from the storage array vendor. Once installed and configured, customers will be able to use a storage array vendor's own native snapshot feature for deploying View desktops. Selecting this new desktop deployment method can be done via standard work-flows in View Composer.
http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/new-storage-features-in-vmware-view-51.html
Cormac Hogan<http://twitter.com/VMwareStorage>: Although this feature is a Technology Preview in View 5.1, it is another cool storage feature of the release. View desktops deployed on VMware's linked clone technology consumes CPU on the ESXi hosts, and network bandwidth when they are deployed on NFS datastores.
With this new Native NFS Snapshot feature via VAAI (vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration), customers can offload the cloning operation to the storage array, minimizing CPU usage and network bandwidth consumption. Once again this enhanced VAAI functionality was introduced in vSphere 5.0 specifically for VMware View.
This feature requires a VAAI NAS plugin from the storage array vendor. Once installed and configured, customers will be able to use a storage array vendor's own native snapshot feature for deploying View desktops. Selecting this new desktop deployment method can be done via standard work-flows in View Composer.
Exchange Server Deployment Assistant Update for Exchange 2007 and Office 365 Hybrid Deployments
Original Post: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/05/02/exchange-server-deployment-assistant-update-for-exchange-2007-hybrid-deployments-with-office-365.aspx
We're happy to announce that the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exdeploy2010/default.aspx> (ExDeploy) now includes support for configuring hybrid deployments using Exchange 2010 SP2 and Exchange 2007 on-premises organizations.
This newly added scenario is for Exchange 2007 organizations interested in maintaining some users on-premises and some users hosted in the cloud by Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises<http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/online-software.aspx>. Like the Exchange 2003 scenario released in March, this Exchange 2007 scenario uses the Hybrid Configuration wizard<http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/12/08/introducing-the-hybrid-configuration-wizard.aspx> to streamline deployment.
Some things to know about this new Exchange 2007 scenario:
* Information is only available in English at this time.
* You'll need to add at least one Exchange 2010 SP2 server to your current Exchange 2007 organization.
* If you have previously configured a hybrid deployment using ExDeploy and Exchange 2010 SP1 and still need guidance; don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you! For your convenience, checklists for configuring hybrid deployments with Exchange 2010 SP1 are in Office 365 Hybrid Deployments with Exchange 2010 SP1<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh582245.aspx>.
And, we're not done yet with updating ExDeploy. Although limited, interim hybrid deployment configuration support for Exchange 2010 on-premises deployments is also included with this April update, complete hybrid deployment checklists for the 2010 on-premises scenario are in progress. Watch this space for announcements about the upcoming Exchange 2010 hybrid deployment scenario update.
Hybrid deployments offer organizations the ability to extend the feature-rich experience and administrative control they have with their existing on-premises Microsoft Exchange organization to the cloud. It provides the seamless look and feel of a single Exchange organization between an on-premises organization and an Exchange Online organization. In addition, hybrid deployments can serve as an intermediate step to moving completely to a cloud-based Exchange Online organization. This approach is different than the simple Exchange migration ("cutover migration") and staged Exchange migration options currently offered by Office 365 outlined here<http://help.outlook.com/en-us/beta/ms.exch.ecp.emailmigrationstatuslearnmore.aspx>.
About the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant
The Exchange Server Deployment Assistant<http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=171086> (ExDeploy) is a web-based tool that helps you upgrade to Exchange 2010 on-premises, configure a hybrid deployment between an on-premises and Exchange Online organization or migrate to Exchange Online.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-postimages/8267.ExDeploy_2D00_Home.png]
Figure 1:The Exchange Deployment Assistant generates customized instructions to help you upgrade to Exchange 2010 on-premises or in the cloud
It asks you a small set of simple questions, and then based on your answers, it provides a checklist with instructions to deploy or configure Exchange 2010 that are customized to your environment. These environments include:
* Stand-alone on-premises Exchange installations and upgrades
* Hybrid deployment configurations and
* Cloud-only Exchange deployment scenarios.
Besides getting the checklist online, you can also print instructions for individual tasks and download a PDF file of your complete configuration checklist.
Your feedback is very important for the continued improvement of this tool. We would love your feedback on this new scenario and any other area of the Deployment Assistant. Feel free to either post comments on this blog post, provide feedback in the Office 365 community Exchange Online migration and hybrid deployment forum<http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/162.aspx>, or send an email to edafdbk@microsoft.com<mailto:edafdbk@microsoft.com> via the Feedback link located in the header of every page of the Deployment Assistant.
Exchange Deployment Assistant Team
We're happy to announce that the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/exdeploy2010/default.aspx> (ExDeploy) now includes support for configuring hybrid deployments using Exchange 2010 SP2 and Exchange 2007 on-premises organizations.
This newly added scenario is for Exchange 2007 organizations interested in maintaining some users on-premises and some users hosted in the cloud by Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises<http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/online-software.aspx>. Like the Exchange 2003 scenario released in March, this Exchange 2007 scenario uses the Hybrid Configuration wizard<http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2011/12/08/introducing-the-hybrid-configuration-wizard.aspx> to streamline deployment.
Some things to know about this new Exchange 2007 scenario:
* Information is only available in English at this time.
* You'll need to add at least one Exchange 2010 SP2 server to your current Exchange 2007 organization.
* If you have previously configured a hybrid deployment using ExDeploy and Exchange 2010 SP1 and still need guidance; don't worry, we haven't forgotten about you! For your convenience, checklists for configuring hybrid deployments with Exchange 2010 SP1 are in Office 365 Hybrid Deployments with Exchange 2010 SP1<http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh582245.aspx>.
And, we're not done yet with updating ExDeploy. Although limited, interim hybrid deployment configuration support for Exchange 2010 on-premises deployments is also included with this April update, complete hybrid deployment checklists for the 2010 on-premises scenario are in progress. Watch this space for announcements about the upcoming Exchange 2010 hybrid deployment scenario update.
Hybrid deployments offer organizations the ability to extend the feature-rich experience and administrative control they have with their existing on-premises Microsoft Exchange organization to the cloud. It provides the seamless look and feel of a single Exchange organization between an on-premises organization and an Exchange Online organization. In addition, hybrid deployments can serve as an intermediate step to moving completely to a cloud-based Exchange Online organization. This approach is different than the simple Exchange migration ("cutover migration") and staged Exchange migration options currently offered by Office 365 outlined here<http://help.outlook.com/en-us/beta/ms.exch.ecp.emailmigrationstatuslearnmore.aspx>.
About the Exchange Server Deployment Assistant
The Exchange Server Deployment Assistant<http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=171086> (ExDeploy) is a web-based tool that helps you upgrade to Exchange 2010 on-premises, configure a hybrid deployment between an on-premises and Exchange Online organization or migrate to Exchange Online.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-postimages/8267.ExDeploy_2D00_Home.png]
Figure 1:The Exchange Deployment Assistant generates customized instructions to help you upgrade to Exchange 2010 on-premises or in the cloud
It asks you a small set of simple questions, and then based on your answers, it provides a checklist with instructions to deploy or configure Exchange 2010 that are customized to your environment. These environments include:
* Stand-alone on-premises Exchange installations and upgrades
* Hybrid deployment configurations and
* Cloud-only Exchange deployment scenarios.
Besides getting the checklist online, you can also print instructions for individual tasks and download a PDF file of your complete configuration checklist.
Your feedback is very important for the continued improvement of this tool. We would love your feedback on this new scenario and any other area of the Deployment Assistant. Feel free to either post comments on this blog post, provide feedback in the Office 365 community Exchange Online migration and hybrid deployment forum<http://community.office365.com/en-us/f/162.aspx>, or send an email to edafdbk@microsoft.com<mailto:edafdbk@microsoft.com> via the Feedback link located in the header of every page of the Deployment Assistant.
Exchange Deployment Assistant Team
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