Virtualization Team

Today while doing a manual DR failback test at one of the customers sites where they use Virtual Distributed Switches, I have noticed when removing/adding a Virtual Machine to inventory it lose the configuration for its network interface of which port group its connected to and the like. As the customer was running vSphere 4.1u1, I went ahead and tested the same in my lab running vSphere 5.0  which end up  having the exact same behavior. Its important to note that this behavior only affect Virtual Machines that is connected to a Distributed Switch port group, & it does not affect port group configuration for Standard Switches. This behavior although look odd seems to be nothing but as intended by engineering as it makes the assumption that you are restoring the VM to a different Infrastructure where these Distributed Switches might not exist.

As I have spent sometime evaluating PHD Virtual Backup & Replication for vSphere to post the review on my Backup & Disaster Recovery blog TSMGuru Blog, I have went through the installation process and thought I may as well share them on here for people trying to install or just test PHD Virtual Backup & Replication for vSphere v5.3.1. On here, I will be showing how to quickly get up and running with PHD Virtual Backup & Replication, though if you want to read my review of it before testing it your self you can find it at: PHD Virtual Backup and Replication for VMware vSphere Review

While playing with VMware vCenter Server Appliance in my home lab, I have been surprised with the following error:

Error: VPXD must be stopped to perform this operation.

This error has came up while trying to change authentication to active directory authentication and kinda seen the same error when trying to change the database to an external database. For some reason the Server service stop button is shadowed as well which mean I could not stop it by the GUI interface. Although my lab setup is not ideal and it might just due to the way I set it up, though I will still document how I resolved this where the same mechanism can be used to stop and restart any other service used by the vCenter Server Appliance. Below are the steps I have followed:

Updating VMware ThinApp packages is much easier and scale with ease when compared to updating traditional software packages. In fact VMware ThinApp offer multiple ways to update ThinApp Software packages that every environment can find a mechanism that suit their needs. In this post, I will discuss the major VMware ThinApp update mechanisms and the scenario each update mechanism suit best. I have noticed many posts/articles around the web talk about how to use a certain VMware ThinApp update mechanism, but not many that explain when to use that mechanism. In this post, I will work on trying to cover both area how to use a specific VMware ThinApp update mechanism and when to use it.

VMware ThinApp can be deployed using two main methods streaming or locally deployed. The main difference between the two methods is where the ThinApp Package will be executed from. In the streaming case the ThinApp package will reside on a shared folder, where users access it remotely. In the other hand when locally deploying ThinApp packages the ThinApp package is copied to each of the end point devices and executed locally. Each method can be deployed in few different ways, & has its pros & cons. Some companies rather streaming, some rather locally installed, where others mix and match between the two. Below is a closer look on each of the two main VMware ThinApp Deployment Scenarios.

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In a previous post( The Magic of Application Virtualization with VMware ThinApp), I have shown how to create a virtualized Mozilla FireFox using VMware ThinApp and how easy the process is. If you still not sure what ThinApp is or you just want a quick idea about how it works, then please make sure you read my previous post first( The Magic of Application Virtualization with VMware ThinApp). Though if you want to get a more optimized package then there is more guide lines to follow. In this post, I will document what you need to do to create a good machine to capture & build the ThinApp packages on. Following this article will help you build better ThinApp packages faster and give you a bit more repeatable results.

I was about to head to bed till I saw this really funny VMware video on my facebook. I thought it was too funny to pass by it and not share it with my readers. Check out how the Cavemen want efficiency too! Move beyond traditional IT management solutions with VMware. Don’t miss this video and watch it and have a great laugh.

[ http://www.youtube.com/embed/rT16XImXwL8 ]

For those of you who already know ThinApp, this article might not be of a great interest though keep checking back as I am planning to write few more advance ThinApp articles in the upcoming days. If you have not heard of ThinApp or just heard a small whisper here and there about it or about Application Virtualization then keep reading. For some time I have thought everyone has heard of ThinApp, but after visiting few customers around as well talking to my friends at different large vendors I have discovered that ThinApp & Application Virtualization are still a hidden treasure.

I have just passed my VCP510 last Saturday upgrading my VCP4 to VCP5. As many of you know the last chance to upgrade your VCP is February 29, 2012 so not much time left. If you have not done so yet, then consider completing that asap to avoid having to being obligated again to attend a VCP course in order for you to be able to upgrade your VCP4 to VCP5. Below are what our website state as ways to obtain the VCP5 Certification.

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There are different paths to VCP5 certification based on your background. Choose your path and complete the three core validation components:

FREE VEEAM BACKUP & REPLICATION v6 LICENSES FOR YOUR LAB IS VEEAM CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR GIFT TO MANY OF US. If you are VMware vExperts, VMware Certified Professionals, VMware Certified Instructors, VMUG members, Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, and Microsoft Certified Professionals, then you should check the instructions below to obtain your free NFR copy of Veeam Backup & Replication. Veeam Backup & Replication is such a great backup & replication product with many outstanding features and would be a great fun to own it for free for your lab. Actually I am planning to use my free NFR copy to automate the backup and restore of my home lab, so what are you waiting for go and get yours while they are free!!!

VMware vCenter ChargeBack was released on Nov 30, 2011. It has quite few awaited enhancement and a bit of interface polishing. For those of you who did not hear of VMware vCenter Chargeback Manager or does not know why its required, I will brief you a bit before going into the details of the new releases. If you have been in the virtualization field for a while, then for sure you have heard of the VMs Sprawl(A large amount of virtual machines on your network without the proper IT management or control)  or Zombie VMs(VMs that are using resources but their role is no longer required).  For more info about Zombie VMs, you might want to check out my earlier post at: Zombie VMs.

At the current economy, it seems good free tools are just getting to be more and more popular. SolarWinds have released quite few useful ones lately & I thought I will list them below for the benefits of my readers who is hunting for such free tools:

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SolarWinds Free VM Console

The SolarWinds Free VM Console enables you to bounce your virtual machines without ever logging into VMware Plus, you can track up/down status, take snapshots, and restart VMs even if you are not a VMware administrator. Be a VM superhero with the ability to:

StarWind has asked me if I can share this info about their upcoming free Free StarWind iSCSI SAN Training/Webinar titled “Your Way to Complete Storage Redundancy!”. I thought as many of you will be looking at creating your own virtual storage for home lab or even at work you might want to look at their Webinar as it seems to be covering how to do it step-by-step. StarWind Virtual storage is actually one of the two virtual storage types I have at my home lab & it work quite well that make me believe SMB can turn an old server into a powerful virtual storage as long it has the sufficient disk capacity and speed to deliver up to the customer need. Below are the full details of this Webinar which it seems to me will be more of a free training than just a webinar as per the session explanation. I mean if it cover a step-by-step on how to do it, I would call it training!! I thought I will share  it as free training is always good to share.

StarWind iSCSI SAN
Your Way to Complete Storage Redundancy!

It seems the acquisition heat that has been spread like anything into the Virtualization space has got to VKernel this time. VKernel has announced acquisition by Quest Software (NASDQ: QSFT) last week on Wednesday, November 16, 2011. If you all remember Quest has acquired another one of my favorite Virtualization software company (VizionCore) on December 2008. It seems Quest has discovered the importance of their presence in the Virtualization Market, & I can admit they seems are doing the right acquisitions to extend their solutions to customers & areas that were out of reach before the Acquisition of such companies.

ThinApp Isolation Modes is one of the really nice settings that not many has explored. Most people who has built a ThinApp Package using the easy VMware ThinApp GUI will really not need to worry about changing the VMware ThinApp Isolation Mode in the Package.ini as the ThinApp packager GUI ask you if you want to allow the thinapped application to write to folders and files out on the physical file system the ThinApp application run on or not allow it to. What is happening in the background is that the GUI is just changing the Isolation mode in the background.