Author's posts
May 07 2009
Service Console Links
Common Linux commands on the service console
Command Line Interface Tips and Tricks for Vmware ESX Server 2 and 3 (VMworld 2006)
Third-Party Software in the Service Console
Send email from Service Console
Enabling Root SSH Logins on ESX Server 3
Guide to ESX 3 Service Console
B2V Guide to VMware ESX Server3
Customised Security Banner for Console Login
VMware ESX 3 Security with SSH and SUDO
Command Line Tools for Scripting and Snapshots
VIMSH for ESX 3.5
VIMSH for ESX 3.0
VIMSH for ESX 3.0 Networking Examples
VMware’s undocumented VIMSH
Checking for resource starvation of the ESX Server service console
Increasing the amount of RAM assigned to the ESX Server service console
Verifying that the Secure Shell Daemon is running on an ESX Server host
Unable to connect to an ESX Server host using Secure Shell (SSH)
May 07 2009
Security Links
General
Security Design of the Vmware Infrastructure 3 Architecture
VMware Infrastructure 3 Security Hardening
VMware ESX Server – Providing LUN Security
Security in a Virtualized Environment (VMworld 2007)
Security Architecture Design and Hardening VI3 (VMworld 2007)
VMware’s Security Response Policy
ESX Security White Paper
VI3 Security Risk Assessment Template
Virtualization Security Playbook
Being escorted out of the cave
Security Implications of the Virtual Data Center
Virtualization and Enterprise Configuration Policy Compliance (VMworld 2007)
Using the Secure Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) with VI3 (VMworld 2007)
Proven Practice: 20 Questions from IT Security Professionals
Top 100 Virtualization Security Questions
CPNI Technical Note 1/2009 Security Considerations For Server Virtualization
Virtualization: Disruptive Technologies Video Interview: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
The Four Horsemen of the Virtualization Security Apocalypse
The Four Horsemen of the Virtualization Security Apocalypse (Slides)
ESX Host
CIS ESX Server 3.x Security Benchmark
How to secure your VMware ESX Server
Security Hardening and Monitoring of VMware Infrastructure 3 (VMworld 2007)
ESX Server Security Technical Implentation Guide
Anti-virus software on the VMware ESX Service Console?
Compliance
Surviving Regulatory Compliance in the Virtual Infrastructure (VMworld 2006)
PCI Knowledgebase
How Server Virtualization Impacts Data Security and PCI Compliance
PCI DSS Security Standard
How to Achieve Security and Satisfy Compliance (VMworld 2007)
Best Practices for Surviving Regulatory Compliance (VMworld 2007)
Achieving Compliance in a Virtualized Environment
Ten Steps to Continuous Compliance: Putting in Place an Enterprise-Wide Compliance Strategy
Reducing the Scope of Your PCI Audit: Innovative Network Segmentation Using Host Intrusion Defense
Staying PCI Compliant in Virtual and Physical Environments
Insights from an Auditor: Ensuring a Successful PCI Audit
VMware Compliance Center
How Virtualization affects PCI DSS – Part 1 Mapping PCI Requirements and Virtualization
How Virtualization affects PCI DSS – Part 2 A Review of the Top 5 Issues
DMZ
DMZ Virtualization with VMware Infrastructure
Proven Practice: Choosing a DMZ Strategy
Preventing VMware ESX or ESXi network security breaches in DMZs
Hacking
Subverting the Windows Kernel for Fun and Profit
On the Cutting Edge: Thwarting Virtual Machine Detection
Detecting the Presence of Virtual Machines Using the Local Data Table
Attacks on Virtual Machine Emulators
Analysis of the Intel Pentium’s Ability to Support a Secure Virtual Machine Monitor
Compatibility is Not Transparency: VMM Detection Myths and Realities
An Empirical Study into the Security Exposure to Hosts of Hostile Virtualized Environments
Hardware Virtualization Rootkits
Networking
Virtual Switch Security
802.1Q VLAN Security Report
Epiphany: For Network/InfoSec Folks, the Virtualization Security Awareness Problem All Starts With the vSwitch…
Oh Noes: We Can’t Monitor/Protect Against Intra-VM Traffic!
Keeping your Vmotion Traffic Secure
Minimizing promiscuous mode port group security breaches
Avoid high-risk data commingling with VMware virtual networks to prevent security vulnerabilities
Virtual Machine
CIS Virtual Machine Security Benchmark
Improving VM Security: Best Practices
Hardening the VMX File
Hardening the VMX File: Redux
May 07 2009
Scripting Links
General:
Managing your Virtualization through the VMware API’s (VMworld 2007)
Using the VIX API (VMworld 2007)
Scripting VMware getting easier
Leveraging the VI3 SDK with .NET – Part One
Leveraging the VI3 SDK with .NET – Part Two
Virtual Disk API Programming Guide
VI3 SDK – Performance Counters
An introduction to scripting VI using Perl or Powershell
VI API Webinar Series Virtual Machine Reconfiguration
VMware Infrastructure (VI) API Reference Documentation
PowerShell
PowerShell scripting with VMware ESX tutorial Pt.1: Installing and using the PowerShell tool
PowerShell scripting for VMware ESX Pt. 2: Using Quest’s PowerGUI PowerPack script editor
Managing VI3 with Windows PowerShell (VMworld 2007)
Managing VMware with PowerShell FAQ
Getting Started with VMware’s PowerShell Toolkit
Creating a PowerShell GUI with PrimalForms
Getting Started with PowerShell and PowerGUI in your Virtual Infrastructure
5 New Videos on Managing your VMware Infrastructure Using PowerGUI
VI Toolkit (for Windows) Admin Guide
Introduction to Windows PowerShell Cmdlets
Windows PowerShell Owners Manual
VI Toolkit Quick Reference Guide
PowerCLI Mastery
VI Toolkit Hands-on Lab Manual VMworld Europe 2009
Perl:
How to VI Perl Toolkit on Windows
Beginner’s Guide to the VMware Infrastructure Perl Toolkit (VMworld 2007)
May 07 2009
Running ESX & ESXi inside a Virtual Machine Links
HOWTO-48minutes-InstallESXi35Update2
HOWTO-100minutes-InstallESXi35Update2
VI3.5 in a box – ESX3.5 on Workstation 6.5 BETA (build 99530)
Running VMware ESX 3.5 and ESXi in Workstation on your desktop PC
Run ESX in a VM just for Fun
VMware ESX 3i Running Inside VMware Workstation 6.5
How to Install VMware ESX3.5 on VMware Player as a VM
Running VMware ESX Server in Fusion on a Mac
How to Install ESX Server 3.5 and ESXi as a VM on VMware Server 2.0
May 07 2009
Performance Links
VMware ESX Server guest performance tips Pt .1
VMware ESX Server guest performance tips Pt. 2
VMware ESX Server guest performance tips Pt. 3
Top 12 ways to Improve Guest Server Performance under VMware ESX Server (VMworld 2006)
Tuning Windows Server 2003
Linux Performance and Tuning Guidelines
Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2003
Performance Tuning for VI3 (VMworld 2006)
Performance Tuning Best Practices for ESX Server 3
ESX Server 3.0 Tips and Tricks (VMworld 2006)
VMware Infrastructure 3 – Best Practices for Performance (VMworld 2007)
Performance Monitoring and Capacity Planning (VMworld 2006)
A Performance Comparison of Hypervisors
Using esxtop to troubleshoot performance problems
ESX Server 2 Architecture and Performance Implications
ESX Server 2 Storage Subsystem Performance in ESX Server: Buslogic vs. LSI Logic
Performance Trends (VMworld 2007)
Performance Aspects of x86 Virtualization (VMworld 2007)
VMware ESX Server Storage Performance – A Scalability Study (VMworld 2007)
Understanding Performance in a Virtualized Environment (VMworld 2007)
Interpreting Performance Statistics in VI3 (VMworld 2007)
SPECweb2005 Performance on ESX Server 3.5
Performance of VMware VMI
What’s New in VMware Infrastructure 3: Performance Enhancements
Large Page Performance
VM Performance Monitoring and Logging
Virtual Platform Performance Benchmarking with VMmark (VMworld 2007)
Performance Monitoring and Analysis
Performance Tuning – Tips and Experiences from the Field (VMworld 2007)
Performance Benchmarking in Virtual Environments (VMworld 2007)
Storage Performance Analysis and Monitoring
VirtualCenter Performance Counters
Counters for Disk Performance
Scalable Storage Performance
Performance Best Practices and Benchmarking Guidelines
Using Perfmon in a Windows VM
Storage System Performance Analysis with Iometer
Interpreting esxtop Statistics
Understanding and Customizing VMware ESX Server Performance Charts
May 07 2009
Patching Links
Patch Management for ESX Server 3.0
Patch Management for ESX Server 3.5
Autopatching ESX host
Patching and updating Vmware ESX Server 3 (VMworld 2006)
Auto-patch Script
VMTS Patch Manager
Determining Detailed Build Number Information for VMware ESX Server 3.5 and ESX Server 3.0.x Hosts
How to update your ESX Server using esxupdate
The Art of Patching your Virtual Infrastructure (Part 1)
Best Practices for Patching VMware ESX/ESXi
Managing Patches and Updates for Hosts and VMs (VMworld 2007)
VMware ESX Server 3 Patch Management (VMworld 2007)
Strategies for ESX Server Update Management (VMworld 2007)
May 07 2009
Networking Links
General
VMware Virtual Networking Concepts
VI3 Networking – Concepts and Components (VMworld 2007)
VI3 Networking – Advanced Configurations and Troubleshooting (VMWorld 2007)
High Performance Virtualized I/O in 10 Gigabit Ethernet Era (VMWorld 2007)
Networking Virtual Machines (VMworld 2006)
Networking Scenarios & Troubleshooting (VMworld 2006)
Network Throughput in a Virtual Infrastructure
Integrating Virtual Machines into the Cisco Data Center Architecture
Performance Comparison of Virtual Network Devices
Networking Performance in VMware ESX Server 3.5
Server Virtualization – Network Implications and Best Practices
VMware Infrastructure 3 in a Cisco Network Environment
Physical network design options for VMware Infrastructure 3 environments
VMware Network Communications
10Gbps Networking Performance on ESX 3.5 Update 1
VI3 Networking:Advanced Troubleshooting
Troubleshooting VMware ESX network performance
How To Configure Networking from the Service Console Command Line
Verifying ESX Server host networking configuration on the service console
vSwitch
Ken Cline’s The Great vSwitch Debate Series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7
Enabling Netflow on Virtual Switches
Configuring and Troubleshooting N-Port ID Virtualization
Using VMware: Understanding the Virtual Switch
Beaconing Demystified: Using Beaconing to Detect Link Failures
When is it OK to default on your VI?
Sample configuration of EtherChannel / Link aggregation with ESX 3.x and Cisco /HP switches
Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) network information via command line and VirtualCenter on an ESX host
Configuring the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) with ESX Server
Sample Configuration – Network Load Balancing (NLB) Multicast mode over routed subnet – Cisco Switch Static ARP Configuration
Sample Configuration – Network Load Balancing (NLB) Multicast Mode Configuration
NICs
Changing the MAC address of a virtual machine
Multi-NIC Performance in ESX 3.0.1 and XenEnterprise 3.2.0
NIC Teaming 802.3ad
ESX Server Requirements for Link Aggregation
Best Practice Recommendation: Use Cisco Link-State Tracking to Detect Switch Failure
Verifying the integrity of the physical network adapter
Understanding NIC Utilization in VMware ESX
Choosing a Network Adapter for Your Virtual Machine
Implementing Microsoft Network Load Balancing (NLB) in a Virtualized Environment
Configuring the speed and duplex of an ESX Server host network adapter
VLAN Tagging/802.1Q
VMware ESX Server 3 802.1Q VLAN Solutions
Configuring VLAN’s in VMware Infrastructure 3
VLAN Configuration on VI3: VST, EST VGT Tagging Tips
ESX Server, NIC Teaming and VLAN Trunking
VLAN Configuration on Virtual Switch, Physical Switch, and Virtual Machines
Sample Configuration – ESX connecting to physical switch via VLAN access mode. External Switch VLAN Tagging (EST Mode)
Sample configuration of virtual switch VLAN tagging (VST Mode) and ESX Server
Sample configuration of virtual guest VLAN tagging (VGT mode)
May 07 2009
Monitoring Links
