December 2008
Aaron Gruber will be posting on the blog, he is a fellow IT Consultant. He is fairly new to the Virtual world, as I am, and will be working with me to learn the trade so to speak.
I hope he will also help to keep the blog updated.
Thanks Aaron.
Roger L
http://www.mikedipetrillo.com posted a cool entry on up time and ESX, titled : Mission Critical App Nears Uptime Record
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I just got an email from a colleague from EMEA. He showed me the picture below. The numbers alone for the uptime on the servers is huge (over 3 years). What’s even more interesting is the app – it’s ATM control software for over 100 banks and it’s in the production environment.
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Check out the full post for the pic, Thanks Mike!
Zenoss 2.3.2 is Now Available, posted at http://blog.zenoss.com
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The latest stable packaged version of Zenoss Core, version 2.3.2, is now available for download. Zenoss Core 2.3.2 is available from:
http://www.zenoss.com/download
and the release notes are available here:
2.3.2 Release Notes (PDF)
Installation and upgrades from earlier versions are now covered in a unified document available here:
Zenoss 2.3.2 Install Guide (zipped PDF)
OSX instructions (zipped PDF)
This is a maintenance release that addresses the following issues, by release:
Verified defects fixed in Version 2.3.2
Verified defects fixed in Version 2.3.1
Verified defects fixed in Version 2.3.0
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Thanks Matt!
VMware Virtualization Online Forum on demand Video and Audio – VMware – Netapp – EMC – Dell – HP
Here are some on demand video and audio from today VMware Virtualization Online Forum
I am not sure how long these will work, but here you go.
Netapp
Automate Virtual Machine Recovery with SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure
Virtualizing Exchange with NetApp and VMware
Disaster Recovery and Backup Strategies for Virtualized Environments
EMC
Deep Dive: Data De-duplication for VMware Infrastructure Backups
Simple Acceleration of VMware Virtual Desktop Integration
Overcoming the IT Management Challenges of Virtual and Physical Environments
DEMO: EMC Rep Manager Enables Instant VMFS Backup & Restore
Cut Virtualization Costs Using the Best Storage for Your Environment: iSCSI, NFS, or FC SAN
EMC & VMware: Scaling VDI without Scaling Cost
Optimizing SAP with VMware: A Unique Virtualization Solution
Best Practices for IT Infrastructures: Deploying Virtualization for Remote and Branch Offices
Deploying the Ultimate Disaster Recovery Solution with VMware and EMC
Managing the Server and Network Change and Configuration Lifecycle
Managing VMware Best Practices with EMC ADM
EMC & VMware: Disaster Recovery with Site Recovery Manager
Simple Acceleration of VMware Virtual Desktop Integration
EMC Solutions for Microsoft Exchange Environments on VMware
EMC on Disaster Recovery for Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Managing and Rapid Provisioning with Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
EMC & VMware: IP Storage-iSCSI, NFS, or Fibre Channel?
EMC & VMware: Redefining Backup with De-duplication
VMware
The Best Platform for Business-Critical Applications
From Zero to 1,000+ Virtual Machines: A Step-By-Step Guide
Simplifying Remote Office Management with VMware Infrastructure
Dell / Equallogic
Simple, Affordable Disaster Recovery Automation in the Virtualized IT Datacenter
VMWare/Dell EQL Simple, Affordable, Integrated Disaster Recovery and Data Protection for Virtual Infrastructures
Auto-Snapshot Manager/VMware Edition In Action
HP | AMD
Taking Your IT Consolidation to the Next Step with VMware, HP and Intel
HP | VMware Virtual Desktop Initiative
Transform Your Desktop with Virtualization: VDI solutions from AMD, HP and VMware
A new KB Article : Consolidating snapshots -VMware KB Article 1007849
This can cause problems, so I quoted the whole KB, this is all from VMware.com and none of this was written by my self.
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Symptoms
When powering on a virtual machine, the following error message is displayed:
The parent virtual disk has been modified since the child was created
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This error can occur under the following circumstances:
For more details about snapshots and missing header files, see Cannot power on a virtual machine because the virtual disk cannot be opened (1004232).
Before implementing the solution, ensure:
To match the CID of the snapshot to the base disk:
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Full KB at VMware.com
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=1007849&sliceId=1&docTypeID=DT_KB_1_1&dialogID=10302840&stateId=1%200%2010310298
VMware ESX Deployed or cloned VM base disk will point to template’s or original VM’s vmdk if “Edit Virtual Hardware” is used to modify it
http://www.vmwarewolf.com has a post titled : Deployed or cloned VM base disk will point to template’s or original VM’s vmdk if “Edit Virtual Hardware” is used to modify it
I like to link any blog posts that I think are important to business to me or others, and here is one.
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I have heard that we are getting a few calls into support on this one, so I am rushing this new Knowledgebase article ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1007755 to be publicly available. It’s not quite out yet, so here’s the scoop.
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Deployed VM’s base disk will point to the original template’s vmdk if Edit Virtual Hardware is used to modify it.
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A cloned VM’s base disk will point to the original VM’s vmdk if Edit Virtual Hardware is used to modify it.
The problem is caused by a bug in hostd. When reconfiguring of the vmdk happens, hostd sets the vmdk path in the vmx to the backing disk in the config specification.
VMware is aware of the problem and expects a future release to address it. The current recommendation is to not use this (currently experimental) feature.
In the case that you already used the feature:
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After deploying the VM, review the VM properties, specifically the virtual disk location.
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Change the virtual disk settings manually to point to the correct file by right-clicking the VM and selecting Edit Settings…
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In the Hardware tab, select Hard Disk 1
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Verify the Disk File box points to the intended vmdk file. If it does not remove the Hard Disk.
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Click Add… and use the Hardware Wizard to select the correct vmdk file.
“Thanks to http://www.vmwarewolf.com
http://www.mikedipetrillo.com has a very interesting article, titled : Using Perfmon in a Windows VM
This post is sponsored by IT Knowledge Exchange. Visit ITKnowledgeExchange.com today to ask your toughest virtualization questions and get answers from your peers.
I got a question from a customer as well as a partner recently about whether or not they should use Perfmon in a Windows VM. I emailed our internal performance team to make sure that my answer of “no – it could give you bad results” was an ok answer. Turns out they’re in the process of writing a KB article on the subject and with their permissions I’ve pasted the draft of that KB article below. NOTE: This applies to ESX 3.5 and prior. Talk to your local VMware SE to get some insight into how things are changing. Unfortunately, I can’t talk about future offerings that haven’t been publicly talked about (press, VMworld, etc) in a blog posting.
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To ensure the performance numbers are accurate for a virtual machine, perform functional testing on the virtual machine. The internal workings of the virtual machine should not be known by the tester or the performance tools. Follow these guidelines:
- Use performance tools that are located outside of the virtual machine you are monitoring.
- If possible, run the performance tools on a host where the virtual machine is not running.
- For load tests, generate the load outside of the virtual machine being measured.
- Do not use benchmarking tools. Instead, measure real applications.
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Please refer to the Full Link to read the KB Article, I have quoted just a part.
http://www.mikedipetrillo.com/mikedvirtualization/2008/12/using-perfmon-in-a-windows-vm.html
Thanks to Mike.
http://www.mikedipetrillo.com has a update on the ESXi writing via the RCLI. Titled : UPDATE: VMware RCLI now writes to ESXi Free Hosts
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I wrote a few days ago that the ESXi 3.5 U3 update unlocked the API set. Well, this was only partially true. I was just trying out some power operations and the command line kept staring back at me blank. I went back and pinged some of the folks in engineering and low and behold I ran into bigger issues. Turns out that while fixing an API bug the API set got partially unlocked. Yes, you read that right, VMware didn’t mean to unlock the API set – at least not wholly and not yet.
So, if you went out and started madly coding some killer VirtualCenter Client replacement then hold off because I’m told the U4 update will lock things back down again. Good news is that only customers who are using the free version of ESXi have been affected. VirtualCenter and VI (Foundation, Standard, Enterprise) customers are not affected since they had rights to the API set all along.
That’s what I get for running off and blogging about new finds too quick.
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Thanks for the update Mike. I guess that it’s back to the drawing board for those of us trying to do more with less.