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How to Build a Private Cloud with OpenStack & RackSpace
July 4, 2013 | Lauren Malhoit, VCP, MCSE: Security, and CCNARackSpace is a cloud provider that runs everything using OpenStack cloud software. Their software, OpenCenter, makes deployment easier. In this article I’ll run through the initial install. The download is free.
They recommend that you deploy this using either three … Read More
Demoing the PernixData Flash Virtualization Platform Beta
July 4, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSEFlash has become a big topic in the IT world lately especially around virtualization. There are all flash arrays, hybrid flash arrays, auto-tiering within more traditional arrays, and of course server-side flash and SSD. Server-side flash puts the performance gains … Read More
VMware vCenter Log Insight Beta
July 4, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIE 1There’s a new log analyzer offered by VMware called vCenter Log Insight. Only the beta is available right now, but they have even released the expected pricing model ($200 per Operating System) so the first release should be right around … Read More
VMware Fling: vCenter 5.1 Pre-Install Check Script
July 4, 2013 | Lauren Malhoit, VCP, MCSE: Security, and CCNAIf you’ve ever done an upgrade to vCenter 5.1, you know there can be a lot of caveats. The vCenter 5.1 install is a little more involved than previous upgrades. Luckily there is a VMware fling available to help us … Read More
vSphere Storage Appliance – vMotions Without a Storage Array
July 4, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSEThe beauty of using software like VMware vSphere is the ability to cluster the hosts and do vMotions in case you need to do maintenance on one of the hosts.
However, in order to do this historically you needed a … Read More
VMware Horizon View 5.2 – BYOD Heaven via HTML Access
July 4, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSERecently VMware rebranded their end user computing (EUC) products all under the Horizon umbrella. This includes Horizon Workspace, Horizon Data, Horizon Mobile, and of course Horizon View.
Although Horizon View 5.2 was not a major release there are some significant … Read More
The Future of Virtualization is Emerging… & it’s Cloudy
June 13, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSEScott’s latest musings on the “cloud-ification’ of virtualization. What strategy considerations should be on the table?Read More
Using PowerCLI to Configure vCenter Alarm Notifications in vSphere 5.1
June 8, 2013 | Lauren Malhoit, VCP, MCSE: Security, and CCNAI’ve been playing with PowerCLI a little bit recently. It really is a nice tool for automating things in your vCenter environment. If you don’t how to use VMware PowerCLI check out this page to get started. The following script … Read More
Installing an OpenStack Private Cloud using Ubuntu 12.04
June 8, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSE 1OpenStack is open source software that allows companies to create public or private clouds. It’s one of the most popular, if not the most popular, implementations of cloud today. To see more about the conceptual architecture, check out this page.
In … Read More
Installing vCenter SSO on a Remote Database Server
June 7, 2013 | Lauren Malhoit, VCP, MCSE: Security, and CCNAvCenter 5.1 now comes with a Single Sign On Service that enables you to have SSO capabilities for VMware products. SSO is required for vCenter installation in version 5.1 and will probably continue to be. It’s pretty easy to install … Read More
Handy Backdoor Tricks for Mounting Hyper-V VHDs
June 7, 2013 | Rick Vanover, vExpert, MCITP, VCPI’ve always been a fan of learning a new thing as it specifically solves a problem for me. One example was learning the netsh command so that I could easily turn off Windows Firewall, which it’s a good idea for … Read More
Five Ways To Maximize Your VMware vSphere VM Templates
June 7, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIEOne of the true measures of virtualization sophistication is the ability to have very specific configuration for your needs. When it comes to leveraging the virtual machine template technology, this is a great way to ensure every VM has a … Read More
Installing vCenter 5.1 Using the Simple Install
June 3, 2013 | Lauren Malhoit, VCP, MCSE: Security, and CCNAThere are a couple ways to install the new vCenter 5.1 update 1. You can do a simple install which installs the Single Sign On Service, Inventory Service, and vCenter itself in the simplest way. You would use this if … Read More
vSphere Metrics Watch: Four Key Storage Metrics
May 14, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSENow that we’ve covered which memory and processor metrics to keep any eye on, let’s take a closer look at storage. When programs aren’t running, they are stored on disk along with the data that is required by said programs. … Read More
vSphere Metrics Watch: Three Key Processor Metrics
May 14, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSEThe compute tier is responsible for executing operations and supports running the code that provides an environment for the virtual machines. The compute layer is made up of servers, each two one or more processors and with each of those processors … Read More
The Top 5 Enterprise Type 1 Hypervisors You Must Know
May 12, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIE 9Before we list the top 5 enterprise type 1 hyerpvisors, you might be wondering, “what is a type 1 hypervisor”? If you don’t already know, read our post What Is a Type 1 Hypervisor? A hypervisor is software that runs virtual … Read More
vSphere with Operations Manager (vSOM) 101
April 24, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIE 3In the new VMware vSphere (starting with 5.1 and above), VMware includes the vCenter Operations Manager Foundation Edition with every version of vSphere, starting with vSphere Essentials Plus and above. While foundation edition may be a good start for the … Read More
vSphere Metrics Watch: Understanding Key Memory Metrics
April 23, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSEMemory is where programs run and is often one of the first resources to be exhausted in a virtual environment. In fact, in just about every environment that I see, I see RAM as the most used resource and always … Read More
How to Download for Hyper-V Server 2016 Free Edition
April 15, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIENote: This post has been updated to cover the latest version of Hyper-V Server 2016.
Like the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (free edition), there is also a free edition of Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V. Free Hyper-V offers many the advanced features of Windows … Read More
VMware vCenter Operations Manager 101
April 9, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIEWhile VMware’s vCenter does provide basic performance graphs, it’s just not powerful enough to answer the performance and capacity questions that virtualization admins require. vCenter doesn’t do capacity planning or correlate change tracking with performance events. Finally, vCenter can’t tell … Read More
How to Run VMware vSphere ESXi in Fusion
March 21, 2013 | David Davis, vExpert, VCP/VCAP, CCIE 3Want to learn vSphere? Test vSphere? Prepare for your VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification? Running VMware vSphere inside a local desktop hypervisor such as VMware Fusion or VMware Workstation is the best way to do it. By running vSphere in … Read More
Understanding the Top 4 Performance Metrics in vSphere
March 14, 2013 | Scott D. Lowe, vExpert, MVP Virtual Machine, MCSEvSphere environments can be complex beasts that require a lot of attention and ongoing tuning to get “just right.” When it comes to ensuring the ongoing acceptable performance of that vSphere environment, there exist hundreds of different performance metrics. vSphere … Read More