Hot off the presses are some ESXi 5.1 patches. This build of ESXi 5.1 (1157734) fixes several bugs and more importantly addresses some security issues. As always in any environment, please test out the patches thoroughly before putting them into production. Each environment is unique, and issues may surface that could cause you some headaches. These...
This was Part 2 of a two part series on comparing VMware and Microsoft virtualization/Cloud offerings. Part 1 was focused on the hypervisor and how Hyper-V and ESXi compare. I had a schedule conflict with part 1, so I didn't attend it. This is part 2, focusing on the private cloud...
It's that time of year again when VMware vExpert 2013 awards are handed out. Last year I was very surprised and honored that my blogging efforts got such recognition and that I made the 2012 list. Since then I've tried to do even more community work, and spent countless hours doing the vSphere 5.1 install...
I'm a huge fan of using vCenter customization specifications to automate the sysprep process for deploying new Microsoft VMs. The sysprep process ensures a unique Windows SID, sets the VM's hostname, and can even join a VM to the domain, among other things. However, the customization specifications can only be...
This San Diego VMUG session was put on by Gabriel Chapman of SimpliVity. If you've never heard of SimpliVity, you aren't alone. They are a start-up and emerged from stealth mode last year, and have been shipping product for about a month. Their OmniCube is an all-in-one 2U platform consisting...
This was the best session of the day at the San Diego VMUG! Dave Elliott and Dave Troutt from Symantec presented the detailed methodology Symantec used to define requirements essential to successfully virtualizing tier-1 apps like SQL Server, Exchange and SharePoint. Bottom line is you can virtualize nearly any app that...
This session covered some high level Clould Director best practices, by Spencer Cuffe (VMware). It was short session without a lot of detail, but for what it's worth here are a few notes: Pre-Reqs - One cell per vCenter, NTP across all devices, one vCNS per vCenter, one provider vDC...
At the San Diego VMUG this session was presented by Rick Vanover from Veeam. He covered some tips and tricks for doing VMware backups. Of course the session was Veeam focused, and highlighted features of their backup software. Tips for efficient VM Backups Take a modern approach We have a...
This was a good session presented by Proximal Data, focusing on using flash-based cache in your VMware environment. They have a product called AutoCache that boosts storage performance for VMware environments. Sounds like an interesting product. Session went by very fast, but here are some of the notes I took:...
Just like clockwork, the day VMware releases a major update to ESXi, HP releases customized installation media the same day. Hard to beat such great and timely support for your VMware environment! Last week VMware released vSphere 5.1 Update 1, and also posted was the HP ESXi 5.1 update 1...