This e-learning course<http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrreg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=det&id_course=132265> covers how to install and configure vCenter Operations Manager as well as how to use its many robust features.
VMware vCenter Operations Manager is an automated operations management solution that provides integrated performance, capacity, and configuration management for highly virtualized and cloud infrastructure. Deep VMware vSphere integration provides the most comprehensive management of VMware environments. VMware vCenter Operations Manager is purpose-built for VMware administrators to more effectively manage the performance of their VMware environments as they move to the private cloud.
[http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/uploads/vcops.png]
The course<http://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrreg/courses.cfm?ui=www_edu&a=det&id_course=132265> consists of five modules:
1. Technical Overview of vCenter Operations Manager covers the vCenter Operations Manager 5.0 vApp architecture and resource requirements, the vCenter Operations Manager 5.0 vApp installation considerations, and introduces you to the major and minor badges.
2. Installing and Configuring vCenter Operations Manager discusses how to install and configure vCenter Operations Manager.
3. Using the Dashboards and Badges explains the main function of the major and minor badges, how to interpret the badge results, and how to configure thresholds and notifications.
4. Operations and Planning describes how to use the Operations tab and the Planning tab.
5. Working with Smart Alerts and Reports covers how to configure and use smart alerts, how heat maps are used, and how to work with reports.
________________________________
Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/-mtEIaBW-QM/2084-Free-e-learning-course-VMware-vCenter-Operations-Manager-Fundamentals.html
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Mike Fegan on vCenter Operations Manager
The demand on today's IT department is daunting. More and more small and midsize size businesses (SMB) are using the "do more with less" philosophy. Because of this, IT Professionals are finding themselves wearing more hats than ever before. Furthermore, with a smaller IT staff it can become extremely difficult to be proactive or even track down an issue that is affecting production.
Virtualization has helped with consolidation of the server infrastructure, but now you may be faced with managing a large number of virtual machines (VMs). So, how are SMBs with a small IT staff expected to handle these new challenges?
Tool Belt With Tangible Benefits
vCenter Operations Manager has the tools to support the under-staffed IT department. Instead of tracking down log files and manually measuring metrics, vCenter Operations Manager does this all for you, allowing you to focus on deploying resources to more proactive, strategic solutions and planning. Have an application performance issue? Identify it immediately with the "Health Badge". Health is measured on a scale of 1-100, with 1 being bad and 100 being good (pretty easy, huh?). You can see from this image that the overall health of our environment is OK. It's not quite 100, so if you dig just a little deeper you can tell that this particular cluster is bound by memory.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649dbf5970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649dbf5970c-pi>
Concerned about your capacity? From a single view you can quickly determine how long you can continue to run or how many new VMs you can deploy with your current hardware resources before having to add new servers. You can see in the example below that based on current usage we have more than a year before we need to add hardware resources. Additionally, with our current capacity we can add approximately 460 VMs.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0176164ed39d970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0176164ed39d970c-pi>
Now, lets just say you're "Time Remaining" is less than a year and "Capacity Remaining" shows that you can only add 5-15 new VMs. What do you do? There's always the option of asking for budget to purchase more hardware, or you can be a hero and look into reclaiming capacity from overprovisioned VMs. As you can see below, we have a lot of reclaimable capacity! We've provisioned way more vCPUs and vRAM than we need for these VMs. With this information at your fingertips you can quickly identify ineffeciencies and increase your consolidation ratio making better use of your existing hardware infrastructure.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649e016970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649e016970c-pi>
Simple Install to Boot!
vCenter Operations Manager is a snap to install. It's delivered as an .OVF template. From your vSphere client, simply choose "Deploy OVF Template"; follow the simple wizard and the analytics server starts analyzing your environment immediately.
In summary, vCenter Operations Manager is the tool that allows the smaller IT departments to "do more with less." You're virtualized. And by cost-efficiently adding breadth with this tool you can quickly identify operational issues, minimize the amount of time it takes to troubleshoot an issue, plan for the future, significantly increase your consolidation ratio, and allow your IT team to focus on more strategic projects and end-user support.
Want to learn more about vCenter Operations Manager?
* vCenter Operations Introduction Video<http://bit.ly/LcTS24>
* VMware vCenter Operations Manager Getting Started Guide<http://bit.ly/OVMSai>
________________________________
Original Page: http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/07/mikefegan_vcenterops.html
Virtualization has helped with consolidation of the server infrastructure, but now you may be faced with managing a large number of virtual machines (VMs). So, how are SMBs with a small IT staff expected to handle these new challenges?
Tool Belt With Tangible Benefits
vCenter Operations Manager has the tools to support the under-staffed IT department. Instead of tracking down log files and manually measuring metrics, vCenter Operations Manager does this all for you, allowing you to focus on deploying resources to more proactive, strategic solutions and planning. Have an application performance issue? Identify it immediately with the "Health Badge". Health is measured on a scale of 1-100, with 1 being bad and 100 being good (pretty easy, huh?). You can see from this image that the overall health of our environment is OK. It's not quite 100, so if you dig just a little deeper you can tell that this particular cluster is bound by memory.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649dbf5970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649dbf5970c-pi>
Concerned about your capacity? From a single view you can quickly determine how long you can continue to run or how many new VMs you can deploy with your current hardware resources before having to add new servers. You can see in the example below that based on current usage we have more than a year before we need to add hardware resources. Additionally, with our current capacity we can add approximately 460 VMs.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0176164ed39d970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef0176164ed39d970c-pi>
Now, lets just say you're "Time Remaining" is less than a year and "Capacity Remaining" shows that you can only add 5-15 new VMs. What do you do? There's always the option of asking for budget to purchase more hardware, or you can be a hero and look into reclaiming capacity from overprovisioned VMs. As you can see below, we have a lot of reclaimable capacity! We've provisioned way more vCPUs and vRAM than we need for these VMs. With this information at your fingertips you can quickly identify ineffeciencies and increase your consolidation ratio making better use of your existing hardware infrastructure.
[http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649e016970c-500wi]<http://blogs.vmware.com/.a/6a00d8341c328153ef01761649e016970c-pi>
Simple Install to Boot!
vCenter Operations Manager is a snap to install. It's delivered as an .OVF template. From your vSphere client, simply choose "Deploy OVF Template"; follow the simple wizard and the analytics server starts analyzing your environment immediately.
In summary, vCenter Operations Manager is the tool that allows the smaller IT departments to "do more with less." You're virtualized. And by cost-efficiently adding breadth with this tool you can quickly identify operational issues, minimize the amount of time it takes to troubleshoot an issue, plan for the future, significantly increase your consolidation ratio, and allow your IT team to focus on more strategic projects and end-user support.
Want to learn more about vCenter Operations Manager?
* vCenter Operations Introduction Video<http://bit.ly/LcTS24>
* VMware vCenter Operations Manager Getting Started Guide<http://bit.ly/OVMSai>
________________________________
Original Page: http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/2012/07/mikefegan_vcenterops.html
Monday, July 9, 2012
Everything You Need to Know About Exchange Backups* - Part 3
In Part 1<http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/06/04/everything-you-need-to-know-about-exchange-backups-part-1.aspx> and Part 2<http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/06/14/everything-you-need-to-know-about-exchange-backups-part-2.aspx> of this series we looked at the fundamentals of Exchange backups using VSS, and the flow of an active DAG database backup.
In Part 3 we break down how a passive DAG database copy undergoes a full backup. The Exchange Writer responsible for passive copy backups doesn't run in the Information Store Service, but rather as part of the MS Exchange Replication Service. Among other functions, this service coordinates the backup process between the passive copy node and the active copy server. Similar to the backup of an active database described in Part 2, this post describes the backup of a passive database copy of DB1, hosted on server ADA-MBX1. The active mounted database copy is on ADA-MBX2, and again, a non-persistent copy-on-writer (COW) snapshot is utilized by the backup solution:
(please click thumbnails for full size version of graphics in this post)
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/2350.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_40949099.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0537.image_5F00_416CF683.png>
The first steps to back up a passive database copy are about the same as for an active one. The backup application gets the metadata for DB1 from the Exchange Writer, but again, the writer is running in the MS Exchange Replication Service. A new writer instance GUID is generated which will persist throughout the job, as with an active database backup.
Event 2021 indicates that the backup application, or VSS requestor, has engaged the Exchange Writer. It will appear numerous times throughout the backup as different components are read from metadata, such as log and database file locations.
Events 2110 and 2023 indicate that the backup application has requested a particular set of components to back up, and the backup type.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/1680.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_7EADAB4A.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/2262.image_5F00_71B3CB39.png>
The replication service for the passive copy's server signals the active copy server that a backup is in progress. Events 910 and 210 on the active copy server, as well as 960 on the passive copy server, signify two things: First, they establish which server backing up a passive copy of the database; Second, the STORE service on the active copy server has marked the database with "backup in progress" in memory and acknowledges that the surrogate backup will proceed. Once this occurs it is not possible to backup the database again until either the current surrogate backup completes, or the "backup in progress" status is otherwise cleared.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/3817.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_20B60711.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/5305.image_5F00_16D115A6.png>
Events 2025 and 2027 are generated when the replication writer prevents the replication service from writing logs copied from the active copy server to the local disk. Replay of logs also stops, thereby keeping the contents of the database files unchanged. At this point writes of data for the database getting backed up are "frozen". VSS can now create the snapshots in shadow storage for each disk specified in the metadata.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/8117.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_65822B45.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/1261.image_5F00_14B416DD.png>
VSS creates snapshots of disks D: and E:. Once these complete it signals the Exchange Writer, which in turns allows the replication service to resume log copy and replay. Events 2029 and 2035 are generated when the "thaw" is completed and normal disk writes are allowed to continue.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/4478.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_63652C7C.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0184.image_5F00_2B92E859.png>
Once the snapshots are created the backup application can copy blocks of data through VSS, which transfers blocks of data from shadow storage if they've been preserved due to a change, or from the actual disk volume if they haven't. The replication service writer waits for the signal that the transfer of data is complete. This flow of data is represented by the purple arrows, which in this case indicates data getting copied out of the snapshots in storage, through I/O of the Exchange server, and on to the backup server.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/8508.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_01633A71.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0675.image_5F00_107A194B.png>
When the files necessary for backing up DB1 are safely copied to backup media, the backup application signals VSS that the job is complete. VSS in turn signals the replication writer, and Exchange generates events 963 and 2046 on the passive copy server. The replication service then signals the Information Store service on the active copy server that the job is done, and that log truncation can proceed if all necessary conditions are met. The active copy node generates events 913 and 213 signaling that the surrogate backup is done, and that the database header will be updated with the date and time of the backup.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/5554.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_664A6B62.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0184.image_5F00_678F0441.png>
Events 2033 and 2037 signal the end of the backup. The active copy node flushes and rolls the current transaction log containing database header updates. That log is then shipped and made eligible for replay according to schedule so that the passive database copy is marked with the new header information at the earliest available time. Log truncation also proceeds if possible. In this case the snapshots are destroyed, and normal operations continue.
For more on the subject of this series here are some more great references:
Volume Shadow Copy Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636(WS.10).aspx
Exchange VSS Writers
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb204080.aspx
Overview of Processing a Backup Under VSS
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384589(VS.85).aspx
Backup Sequence Diagrams
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa579076(v=exchg.140)
Troubleshooting the Volume Shadow Copy Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff597980(EXCHG.80).aspx
Jesse Tedoff
TechNet Blogs [cid:/images/orig-link.png] <http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/07/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about-exchange-backups-part-3.aspx> |by The Exchange Team on July 9, 2012
◆
________________________________
Original Page: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/07/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about-exchange-backups-part-3.aspx
In Part 3 we break down how a passive DAG database copy undergoes a full backup. The Exchange Writer responsible for passive copy backups doesn't run in the Information Store Service, but rather as part of the MS Exchange Replication Service. Among other functions, this service coordinates the backup process between the passive copy node and the active copy server. Similar to the backup of an active database described in Part 2, this post describes the backup of a passive database copy of DB1, hosted on server ADA-MBX1. The active mounted database copy is on ADA-MBX2, and again, a non-persistent copy-on-writer (COW) snapshot is utilized by the backup solution:
(please click thumbnails for full size version of graphics in this post)
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/2350.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_40949099.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0537.image_5F00_416CF683.png>
The first steps to back up a passive database copy are about the same as for an active one. The backup application gets the metadata for DB1 from the Exchange Writer, but again, the writer is running in the MS Exchange Replication Service. A new writer instance GUID is generated which will persist throughout the job, as with an active database backup.
Event 2021 indicates that the backup application, or VSS requestor, has engaged the Exchange Writer. It will appear numerous times throughout the backup as different components are read from metadata, such as log and database file locations.
Events 2110 and 2023 indicate that the backup application has requested a particular set of components to back up, and the backup type.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/1680.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_7EADAB4A.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/2262.image_5F00_71B3CB39.png>
The replication service for the passive copy's server signals the active copy server that a backup is in progress. Events 910 and 210 on the active copy server, as well as 960 on the passive copy server, signify two things: First, they establish which server backing up a passive copy of the database; Second, the STORE service on the active copy server has marked the database with "backup in progress" in memory and acknowledges that the surrogate backup will proceed. Once this occurs it is not possible to backup the database again until either the current surrogate backup completes, or the "backup in progress" status is otherwise cleared.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/3817.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_20B60711.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/5305.image_5F00_16D115A6.png>
Events 2025 and 2027 are generated when the replication writer prevents the replication service from writing logs copied from the active copy server to the local disk. Replay of logs also stops, thereby keeping the contents of the database files unchanged. At this point writes of data for the database getting backed up are "frozen". VSS can now create the snapshots in shadow storage for each disk specified in the metadata.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/8117.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_65822B45.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/1261.image_5F00_14B416DD.png>
VSS creates snapshots of disks D: and E:. Once these complete it signals the Exchange Writer, which in turns allows the replication service to resume log copy and replay. Events 2029 and 2035 are generated when the "thaw" is completed and normal disk writes are allowed to continue.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/4478.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_63652C7C.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0184.image_5F00_2B92E859.png>
Once the snapshots are created the backup application can copy blocks of data through VSS, which transfers blocks of data from shadow storage if they've been preserved due to a change, or from the actual disk volume if they haven't. The replication service writer waits for the signal that the transfer of data is complete. This flow of data is represented by the purple arrows, which in this case indicates data getting copied out of the snapshots in storage, through I/O of the Exchange server, and on to the backup server.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/8508.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_01633A71.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0675.image_5F00_107A194B.png>
When the files necessary for backing up DB1 are safely copied to backup media, the backup application signals VSS that the job is complete. VSS in turn signals the replication writer, and Exchange generates events 963 and 2046 on the passive copy server. The replication service then signals the Information Store service on the active copy server that the job is done, and that log truncation can proceed if all necessary conditions are met. The active copy node generates events 913 and 213 signaling that the surrogate backup is done, and that the database header will be updated with the date and time of the backup.
[http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/5554.image_5F00_thumb_5F00_664A6B62.png]<http://blogs.technet.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-31-06-metablogapi/0184.image_5F00_678F0441.png>
Events 2033 and 2037 signal the end of the backup. The active copy node flushes and rolls the current transaction log containing database header updates. That log is then shipped and made eligible for replay according to schedule so that the passive database copy is marked with the new header information at the earliest available time. Log truncation also proceeds if possible. In this case the snapshots are destroyed, and normal operations continue.
For more on the subject of this series here are some more great references:
Volume Shadow Copy Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee923636(WS.10).aspx
Exchange VSS Writers
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb204080.aspx
Overview of Processing a Backup Under VSS
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384589(VS.85).aspx
Backup Sequence Diagrams
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa579076(v=exchg.140)
Troubleshooting the Volume Shadow Copy Service
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff597980(EXCHG.80).aspx
Jesse Tedoff
TechNet Blogs [cid:/images/orig-link.png] <http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/07/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about-exchange-backups-part-3.aspx> |by The Exchange Team on July 9, 2012
◆
________________________________
Original Page: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2012/07/09/everything-you-need-to-know-about-exchange-backups-part-3.aspx
Saturday, July 7, 2012
RTFM Education » Blog Archive » Windows XP, IDE and vSphere5
One of the more slight irritating things about running Windows XP on vSphere is the default around what virtual disk controller type to use. By default if you create a clean/new instance of Windows XP is that it will default to using a IDE controller. If you these "Typical" wizard when creating a VM you don't even see this – as the option to select the controller is hidden… If you use the "Custom" option you will see the default is IDE. This happens despite being asked to select a SCSI controller type in previous dialog boxes. So watch out for Mr Next, Next, Next and looking out your office windows when hitting the [ENTER] key…
[http://www.mikelaverick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Screen-Shot-2012-03-22-at-12.44.17.png]<http://www.mikelaverick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Screen-Shot-2012-03-22-at-12.44.17.png>
Note: Many thanks to Brian Dewar<https://twitter.com/#!/BrianDewar> for helping on the screen grab front, and double-checking this against vSphere4 (which I no longer run) and vSphere5 which I do.
The trouble is I don't feel IDE is a good choice in a production environment for two reasons. Firstly, you cannot increase the size of IDE virtual disk from anywhere within the GUI (That's true if the VM is created in vSphere4, and then gets moved into a vSphere5 environment). I know this from hard experience. Back in the day when there was no such thing as thin-provisioned disk, and I lacked large amounts of physical disk space – I got in the habit of making my VMDK's quite small. Also before VAAI capabilities were introduced it helped with the cloning process. So you guessed it my Windows XP SP2 VM had insufficent disk space to take SP3 (which is a requirement for the View Agent in View 5.1).
Secondly, performance is sub-par when you use IDE disks inside Windows XP. With the use of Windows XP in a VDI environment – and storage performance one of the major scalability issues. This was brought to my attention by some testing<http://www.vmdamentals.com/?p=1060> done by Erik Zandboer<https://twitter.com/#!/erikzandboer> on his vmdamentals.com<http://www.vmdamentals.com/?p=1060> website. It took me back to the days when this debate used come-up on my courses – and I used to always recommend using LSILogic consistently for all systems (including Windows 2000 which actually defaults to BusLogic incidentally).
VMware has a KB article<http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1016192> (KB1016192) which outlines some of the limitations surrounding IDE, and guide on converting an IDE drive to SCSI. Personally, I just ended up blatting my IDE Windows XP and starting again from scratch – as it wasn't a complicated build – just base install used for doing "Captures & Builds" for ThinApps.
So why did VMware introduce this IDE option when blows so much. Well, I guess one of the problems folks had with virtualizing Windows XP back in the ESX 2.x days was the fact that Windows XP didn't have either the BusLogic or the LSILogic drivers built-in to the XP media. Folks like me had to hunt down the drivers from LSI Logics site, get them into a floppy disk file and then using F6 during the boot from the Windows XP CD to provide them during the install routine.
So this is whole story was a trip down memory lane to 2003 when we had to do this crazy kind of stuff just get an OS loaded – on twitter I called this "jumping into my TARDIS'. I'm figuring that this is why VMware changed the default of Windows XP in later versions of vSphere. Personally, I think this is a bad decision. They should have stuck with the less friendly approach – after all its one off PITA, compared potentially creating hundreds of Windows XP instances for a VDI project on IDE.
I had an amusing discussion with Erik Zandboer who put me on to the performance issue with IDE. We were joking about how we would explain this to customers. He came up with:
Q. Can we use IDE?
A. Don't
Q. Can you elaborate?
A. Yes… Don't Ever?
My take was this:
First rule of IDE, never use IDE
Second Rule of IDE, NEVER use IDE
Third Rule of IDE, NEVER USE IDE….
Of course, all this is rather moot really. WindowsXP is a dead isn't? At least in a VDI context. Aren't we all meant to be using "Surface" devices by Tuesday of next week? Erm, I think not…
________________________________
Original Page: http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/2012/07/06/windows-xp-ide-and-vsphere5/
[http://www.mikelaverick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Screen-Shot-2012-03-22-at-12.44.17.png]<http://www.mikelaverick.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Screen-Shot-2012-03-22-at-12.44.17.png>
Note: Many thanks to Brian Dewar<https://twitter.com/#!/BrianDewar> for helping on the screen grab front, and double-checking this against vSphere4 (which I no longer run) and vSphere5 which I do.
The trouble is I don't feel IDE is a good choice in a production environment for two reasons. Firstly, you cannot increase the size of IDE virtual disk from anywhere within the GUI (That's true if the VM is created in vSphere4, and then gets moved into a vSphere5 environment). I know this from hard experience. Back in the day when there was no such thing as thin-provisioned disk, and I lacked large amounts of physical disk space – I got in the habit of making my VMDK's quite small. Also before VAAI capabilities were introduced it helped with the cloning process. So you guessed it my Windows XP SP2 VM had insufficent disk space to take SP3 (which is a requirement for the View Agent in View 5.1).
Secondly, performance is sub-par when you use IDE disks inside Windows XP. With the use of Windows XP in a VDI environment – and storage performance one of the major scalability issues. This was brought to my attention by some testing<http://www.vmdamentals.com/?p=1060> done by Erik Zandboer<https://twitter.com/#!/erikzandboer> on his vmdamentals.com<http://www.vmdamentals.com/?p=1060> website. It took me back to the days when this debate used come-up on my courses – and I used to always recommend using LSILogic consistently for all systems (including Windows 2000 which actually defaults to BusLogic incidentally).
VMware has a KB article<http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1016192> (KB1016192) which outlines some of the limitations surrounding IDE, and guide on converting an IDE drive to SCSI. Personally, I just ended up blatting my IDE Windows XP and starting again from scratch – as it wasn't a complicated build – just base install used for doing "Captures & Builds" for ThinApps.
So why did VMware introduce this IDE option when blows so much. Well, I guess one of the problems folks had with virtualizing Windows XP back in the ESX 2.x days was the fact that Windows XP didn't have either the BusLogic or the LSILogic drivers built-in to the XP media. Folks like me had to hunt down the drivers from LSI Logics site, get them into a floppy disk file and then using F6 during the boot from the Windows XP CD to provide them during the install routine.
So this is whole story was a trip down memory lane to 2003 when we had to do this crazy kind of stuff just get an OS loaded – on twitter I called this "jumping into my TARDIS'. I'm figuring that this is why VMware changed the default of Windows XP in later versions of vSphere. Personally, I think this is a bad decision. They should have stuck with the less friendly approach – after all its one off PITA, compared potentially creating hundreds of Windows XP instances for a VDI project on IDE.
I had an amusing discussion with Erik Zandboer who put me on to the performance issue with IDE. We were joking about how we would explain this to customers. He came up with:
Q. Can we use IDE?
A. Don't
Q. Can you elaborate?
A. Yes… Don't Ever?
My take was this:
First rule of IDE, never use IDE
Second Rule of IDE, NEVER use IDE
Third Rule of IDE, NEVER USE IDE….
Of course, all this is rather moot really. WindowsXP is a dead isn't? At least in a VDI context. Aren't we all meant to be using "Surface" devices by Tuesday of next week? Erm, I think not…
________________________________
Original Page: http://www.rtfm-ed.co.uk/2012/07/06/windows-xp-ide-and-vsphere5/
vSphere on NFS Design Considerations Presentation - blog.scottlowe.org - The weblog of an IT pro specializing in virtualization, storage, and servers
This presentation is one that I gave at the New Mexico, New York City, and Seattle VMUG conferences (this specific deck came from the Seattle conference, as you can tell by the Twitter handle on the first slide). The topic is design considerations for running vSphere on NFS. This isn't an attempt to bash NFS, but rather to educate users on the things to avoid if you're going to build a rock-solid NFS infrastructure for your VMware vSphere environment. I hope that someone finds it useful.
My standard closing statements goes here–your questions, thoughts, corrections, or clarification (always courteous, please!) are welcome in the comments below.
Original Post:
http://blog.scottlowe.org/2012/07/03/vsphere-on-nfs-design-considerations-presentation/
My standard closing statements goes here–your questions, thoughts, corrections, or clarification (always courteous, please!) are welcome in the comments below.
Original Post:
http://blog.scottlowe.org/2012/07/03/vsphere-on-nfs-design-considerations-presentation/
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Raspberry Pi Thin Client for VMware View 5 - Eric Sloof
The Raspberry Pi is a 25$ credit-card sized computer that plugs into your TV and a keyboard. It's a capable little PC which can be used for many of the things that your desktop PC does, like spreadsheets, word-processing and games. It also plays high-definition video. Now the VMware View Client 5.0 is working on RaspberryPi, SSL security options is ok also auth via RSA. PCoIP protocol seem not working at the moment, just the RDP.
Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/zt8cnQLHcEg/2081-Raspberry-Pi-Thin-Client-for-VMware-View-5.html
Original Page: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Ntpronl/~3/zt8cnQLHcEg/2081-Raspberry-Pi-Thin-Client-for-VMware-View-5.html
Monday, July 2, 2012
VMware Labs presents its latest fling - Guest Reclaim
Guest Reclaim reclaims dead space from NTFS volumes hosted on a thin provisioned SCSI disk. The tool can also reclaim space from full disks and partitions, thereby wiping off the file systems on it. As the tool deals with active data, please take all precautionary measures understanding the SCSI UNMAP framework and backing up important data.
Features
* Reclaim space from Simple FAT/NTFS volumes
* Works on WindowsXP to Windows7
* Can reclaim space from flat partitions and flat disks
* Can work in virtual as well as physical machines
What is Dead Space Reclamation ?
Deleting files frees up space on the file system volume. This freed space sticks with the LUN/Disk, until it is released and reclaimed by the underlying storage layer. Free space reclamation allows the lower level storage layer (for example a storage array, or any hypervisor) to repurpose the freed space for some other storage allocation request.
For example:
* A storage array that supports thin provisioning can repurpose the reclaimed space to satisfy allocation requests for some other thin provisioned LUN within the same array.
* A hypervisor file system can repurpose the reclaimed freed space from one virtual disk for satisfyingallocation needs of some other virtual disk within the same data store.
* GuestReclaim allows transparent reclamation of dead space from NTFS volumes.
http://labs.vmware.com/flings/guest-reclaim
Features
* Reclaim space from Simple FAT/NTFS volumes
* Works on WindowsXP to Windows7
* Can reclaim space from flat partitions and flat disks
* Can work in virtual as well as physical machines
What is Dead Space Reclamation ?
Deleting files frees up space on the file system volume. This freed space sticks with the LUN/Disk, until it is released and reclaimed by the underlying storage layer. Free space reclamation allows the lower level storage layer (for example a storage array, or any hypervisor) to repurpose the freed space for some other storage allocation request.
For example:
* A storage array that supports thin provisioning can repurpose the reclaimed space to satisfy allocation requests for some other thin provisioned LUN within the same array.
* A hypervisor file system can repurpose the reclaimed freed space from one virtual disk for satisfyingallocation needs of some other virtual disk within the same data store.
* GuestReclaim allows transparent reclamation of dead space from NTFS volumes.
http://labs.vmware.com/flings/guest-reclaim
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