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vSphere 4.1 – The Links

vSphere 4.1 is finally out, here’s all the links you need to get you started with it, keep checking back as this post is a work in progress and will keep growing. Be sure and check out the valuable KB articles at the bottom of this post.

Features:

What’s New in VMware vSphere 4.1
What’s new in Networking with vSphere 4.1 (VMware white paper)
What’s new in vCenter Server 4.1 (VMware white paper)
What’s new in Availability & Resource Manager in vSphere 4.1 (VMware white paper)
What’s new in Performance for vSphere 4.1 update (VMware white paper)
What’s new in vSphere 4.1 storage (VMware white paper)

Release Notes:

VMware vSphere 4.1 Release Notes – ESX Edition
VMware vSphere 4.1 Release Notes – ESXi Edition
vSphere CLI 4.1 Release Notes

Other:

vSphere Hypervisor FAQ (Free ESXi)
ESXi 4.1 Migration Guide (VMware white paper)
VMware vSphere: The CPU Scheduler in VMware ESX 4.1 (VMware white paper)
Understanding Memory Resource Management in VMware ESX 4.1 (VMware white paper)
Managing performance variance of applications using Storage IO control (VMware white paper)
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Performance on VMware vSphere 4.1 (VMware white paper)
What is new in vSphere SDKs 4.1 (YouTube video)
vSphere 4.1 and EMC – VAAI – Hardware Accelerated Full Copy (YouTube video)

Blog posts:

Tidbits on the new vSphere 4.1 release (vSphere-land)
Test ESXi 4.1 today, migrate smoothly from ESX tomorrow (SearchVMware.com)
VMware vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS clustering improvements (SearchVMware.com)
What’s new in ESXi 4.1: Active Directory integration, Tech Support Mode and more (SearchVMware.com)
VMware VAAI pros and cons and the hidden fourth primitive (SearchVMware.com)
VMware vSphere 4.1: Not the Typical .1 Release (Chris Wolf)
It’s here! The latest version of ESXi (ESXi Chronicles)
VMware vSphere 4.1: Advancing the Platform for Cloud Computing (The Console)
Proportional Allocation of Shared Storage Resources using Storage I/O Control (Vroom!)
Understanding Memory Resource Management in VMware ESX Server 4.1 (Vroom!)
Got Network I/O Control? (VMware Networking blog)
Steve Herrod, VMware’s CTO, Introduces VMware vSphere 4.1 (VMware TV)
Introducing VMware Sphere Hypervisor 4.1 – the free edition of VMware vSphere 4.1 (vSphere Blog)
Upgrading to SRM 4.1 – including upgrading to vSphere VirtualCenter 4.1 (VMware Uptime)
VDR and vSphere 4.1 compatibility (VMware Uptime)
A Few Gotchas With vSphere 4.1! (Daily Hypervisor)
PowerCLI 4.1 is out (PowerCLI blog)
vDS in PowerCLI 4.1 (PowerCLI blog)
PowerCLI 4.1: A fork in the road (Poshoholic)
VIDEO: New vSphere 4.1 ESXi Tech Support Mode (VMware Videos)
VIDEO: New vSphere 4.1 Windows Active Directory Authentication (VMware Videos)
VIDEO: vChat – Episode 1 – New vSphere 4.1 and Top 15 Killer Features (VMware Videos)
vSphere 4.1 and vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) (Virtual Storage Guy)
VMware vSphere VAAI Demo with NetApp (Virtual Storage Guy)
The Migration From ESX to ESXi is Happening. Moving Configurations (Kendrick Coleman)
vSphere 4.1 Memory Enhancements – Compression (NTPro.nl)
vSphere 4.1 – Virtual Serial Port Concentrator (NTPro.nl)
VMware boosts performance with vSphere 4.1 (SearchVirtualDataCentre)
Performance Improvements on vSphere 4.1 (another Case Study) (My Virtual Cloud)
vSphere 4.1 – What do the vStorage APIs for Array Integration mean to you? (Virtual Geek)
vSphere 4.1: VPXA Holds ESX Host at Ransom (Virtual VCP)
What’s New in vSphere 4.1 – Storage I/O Control (Technodrone)
What’s New in vSphere 4.1 – Network I/O Control (Technodrone)
VMware vSphere 4.1 released – What’s new? (Gabe’s Virtual World)
vSphere 4.1, VMware HA New maximums and DRS integration will make our life easier (Yellow Bricks)
New vSphere 4.1 CLI Utilities Marketing Did Not Tell You About Part 1 & Part 2 & Part 3 (Virtually Ghetto)
New way of enabling and disabling services using vSphere 4.1 (Virtually Ghetto)
ESXi 4.1 – Major Security Issue (Virtually Ghetto)
resxtop & vi-fastpass Downgraded Feature In vMA 4.1 (Virtually Ghetto)
ESXi 4.1 – Major Security Issue – The Sequel And The Workaround (DeinosCloud)
vSphere’s Total Lockdown (Everyday Virtualization)
VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) 4.1 kickstart – A.K.A. official “touchfree” ESXi installs (get-admin)
What’s New in vSphere 4.1 API? (Double Cloud)
vSphere 4.1 and ESXi (Virtualization Practice)
DPM scheduled tasks (Frank Denneman)
VM to Hosts affinity rule (Frank Denneman)
VMware vSphere 4.1 (Virtualised Reality)
vSphere 4.1 – Batteries (Client) Not Included in ESX/ESXi (Jase’s Place)
vSphere 4.1 Hidden Gem: Host Affinity Rules (Latoga Labs)
USB passthrough in vSphere 4.1 (vStorage)
VMware vSphere 4.1 Storage IO Control (SIOC) understanding (GeekSilver’s Blog)

News articles:

VMware Introduces Enhanced Virtualization Offerings for Small and Midsize Businesses (VMware news release)
VMware Advances Foundation for Cloud Computing With VMware vSphere 4.1 and Expanded Virtualization Management Portfolio (VMware news release)
VMware throws bone to enterprises, SMBs with vSphere 4.1 (SearchServerVirtualization)
VMware adopts per-VM licensing, pricing (SearchServerVirtualization)
First look: VMware vSphere 4.1 keeps the virtualization crown (Network World)
Will vSphere 4.1 help VMware compete with Microsoft, Citrix for SMB users? (Infoworld)
VMware scales up vSphere virt, rejigs prices (The Register)
VMware to change the vSphere architecture significantly (Virtualization.info)
Release: VMware vSphere 4.1 (Virtualization.info)
vSphere 4.1 Flexes Muscles, Trims Costs (Virtualization Review)
Why small businesses should care about VMware vSphere 4.1 (PC Pro)

Downloads:

Main Download Page
ESX 4.1
ESXi 4.1
vCenter Server 4.1
vSphere Hypervisor (Free ESXi)
vSphere Management Assistant (vMA) 4.1

vSphere CLI 4.1
vSphere PowerCLI 4.1
Cisco Nexus 1000 AV1 Virtual Ethernet Module

Documentation:

Main and Documentation sets:

Main documentation link
Download the complete ESXi 4.1 Embedded and vCenter Server 4.1 Documentation Set
Download the complete ESXi 4.1 Installable and vCenter Server 4.1 Documentation Set
Download the complete ESX 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 Documentation Set

Individual Docs:

Documentation Roadmap
Configuration Maximums for VMware vSphere 4.1
VMware vSphere Compatibility Matrixes
Introduction to VMware vSphere
Getting Started with ESX
ESX and vCenter Server Installation Guide
Upgrade Guide
Datacenter Administration Guide
Virtual Machine Administration Guide
vSphere Web Access Administrator’s Guide
ESX Configuration Guide
Resource Management Guide
Availability Guide
Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide
iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide

ESXi:

Getting Started with ESXi Installable
Getting Started with ESXi Embedded
ESXi Installable and vCenter Server Setup Guide
ESXi Embedded and vCenter Server Setup Guide
ESXi Configuration Guide

Upgrade:

Upgrading to ESX 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 best practices (1022104)
Upgrading ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 (1022140)
vSphere 4.1 upgrade pre-installation requirements and considerations (1022137)
Performing an offline upgrade from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.x (1009440)
How to: Upgrade to vSphere 4.1 (VMGuru.nl)
ESX host upgrade to 4.1 using esxupdate (vReality)
Upgrade ESXi4.0 to ESXi4.1 – The Unofficial Method (DeinosCloud)
Upgrading ESXi 3.x/4.0 to 4.1 – “Failed to read the upgrade package metadata.xml” (A. Mikkelsen)

Install:

Installing ESX 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 best practices (1022101)
Troubleshooting ESXi 4.1 Scripted Install errors (1022308)

KB Articles:

VMware ESX and ESXi 4.1 Comparison (1023990)
Changes to DRS in vSphere 4.1 (1022842)
Changes to VMware High Availability in vSphere 4.1 (1022843)
Changes to VMware Support Options in vSphere 4.1 (1023118)
Changes to vMotion in vSphere 4.1 (1022851)
Changes to Fault Tolerance in vSphere 4.1 (1022844)
vStorage APIs for Array Integration FAQ (1021976)
Overview of Active Directory integration in ESX 4.1 and ESXi 4.1 (1021970)
Improvements in handling thin provisioned devices (1021272)
ESX 4.1 and ESXi 4.1 root passwords are authenticated up to only 8 characters (1024500)
vCenter Server 4.1 fails to install or upgrade with the error: This installation package is not supported by this processor type (1019144)
Powering on virtual machines fails with the error: MAX VCPUs limit is reached (1020121)
Using Tech Support Mode in ESXi 4.1 (1017910)
USB support for ESX/ESXi 4.1 (1022290)
I/O Statistics in vSphere 4.1 (1021953)
Lockdown mode configuration after upgrading from ESXi 4.0 to 4.1 (1021935)
vSphere 4.1 upgrade pre-installation requirements and considerations (1022137)
Load Based Teaming in vSphere 4.1 (1022590)
Migrating to the vCenter Server 4.1 database (1021635)
Update Manager 4.1 patch repository features (1021695)
Upgrading to ESX 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 best practices (1022104)
Upgrading ESX 4.0 to ESX 4.1 (1022140)
Using vShieldZones 1.0 with ESX 4.1 (1022536)
Deploying ESXi 4.1 using the Scripted Install feature (1022263)
Network I/O Resource Management in vSphere 4.1 with vDS (1022585)
Changing the number of virtual CPUs per virtual socket in ESX/ESXi 4.1 (1022289)
Troubleshooting ESXi 4.1 Scripted Install errors (1022308)
Troubleshooting Storage I/O Control (1022091)
Installing ESX 4.1 and vCenter Server 4.1 best practices (1022101)
vCenter Server 4.1 network port requirements (1022256)
Configuring IPv6 with ESX and ESXi 4.1 (1021769)
Recreate vSphere 4.0 lockdown mode behavior in vSphere 4.1 (1017628)
Securing Credentials in vMA 4.1 (1017669)
Accessing USB storage and other USB devices from the service console (1023976)

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