Tag: News

What’s new at vSphere-land

I thought I’d give an update on some of the new things happening on this website.

  1. The vLaunchpad has been updated and over-hauled, the blog roll has been alphabetized for easier viewing. I’ve added a new Storage blogs category since virtualization and storage seem to be so closely tied to each other. I added lots of new reference links, removed some old blogs that haven’t been updated in a long time and added lots of new ones that were missing.  I also have added a Twitter section with my group lists and created a Tweet grid of the Top 20 bloggers and Top 100 VMware people that can be accessed at http://tweets.vsphere-land.com.
  2. I’ve created two Tweet lists using the new Twitter lists features so you can also quickly go to the Top 20 blogger or Top 100 VMware people tweets.
  3. Lots of vSphere link updates, including many new links on Thin Provisioning. Be sure and check out the new white paper VMware just released on the performance impact of using thin disks.

It’s been 6 months since I did an updated  Top 20 blog list, last time I let everyone vote on it instead of me picking it. Time to do another one, some of the blogs currently in the top 20 haven’t been updated in a while and there are lots of excellent new ones out there. I’m going to expand it to the Top 25 and setup a survey using a new dedicated survey website. Voting will open Dec. 1st and run through Dec. 15th.

I’d like to highlight some of the excellent new blogs that I added to the vLaunchpad:

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New white paper on 5 Ways VMware vSphere Improves Backup and Recovery

Veeam approached me recently and asked if I was interested in writing a white paper for them to coincide with their launch of latest version of Veeam Backup & Recovery (4.0). The timeframe for writing it was short but I accepted it because I was interested in learning more about the vStorage APIs and also Veeam Backup & Recovery. While doing research for it I did learn a lot about the new vStorage APIs that I had not known before. Typically unless you’re a vendor or developer you don’t deal much with APIs, but I’m the curious type though and like to dig deep and find out how things work. There are many important new features in the vStorage APIs and other storage-related APIs in vSphere that are real game-changers for vendors if they choose to take advantage of them. Even if you’re not a developer you should know a bit about them so you have a better understanding of how things work in vSphere.

I learned two additional things while writing the white paper for Veeam, the first is their new 4.0 version of Veeam Backup & Recovery is the first of the many disk to disk backup applications to take full advantage of the new APIs in vSphere, the second is that there are some pretty smart folks at Veeam that are very passionate about their products. I’d like to thank Doug Hazelman & Anton Gostev for answering my many questions about how things work behind the scenes with their product. So go checkout the white paper and more importantly Veeam’s new 4.0 version which I’ll guarantee you’ll be impressed by. Also look for an upcoming tip on searchdatabackup.com that I did that compares how disk to disk backup vendors are using the vStorage APIs and where they are at with their product releases.

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Another new white paper: VMware vSphere 4 Fault Tolerance: Architecture and Performance

On the heals of the CPU Scheduler white paper comes another great one entitled VMware vSphere 4 Fault Tolerance: Architecture and Performance. If you plan on using the Fault Tolerance feature be sure and give this one a read. Also check out my many links on Fault Tolerance.

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New white paper: VMware vSphere 4: The CPU Scheduler in VMware ESX 4

VMware just released a new 21 page white paper entitled VMware vSphere 4: The CPU Scheduler in VMware ESX 4 that is all about how the mysterious CPU scheduler functions. This is a highly recommended read and the scheduler is one of the most important components of the hypervisor and therefore you should understand how it functions. The white paper details how the scheduler works, changes made to it in ESX 4, verifies the effectiveness of CPU resource controls including Shares/Reservations/Limits, compares different co-scheduling algorithms and evaluates the performance impact of CPU scheduler changes in ESX 4. Be sure and go check it out.

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Enough whining about the VMworld band already!

It’s been announced that Foreigner will be the band for the VMworld 2009 party this year and I have seen many negative comments about VMware’s choice. Personally I like the choice, I grew up listening to Foreigner in the 1980’s and there was many a time that I was cruising around in my Camaro with the windows down cranking Juke Box Hero or Hot Blooded on my cassette player. Over 20 years later I still have the lyrics for Juke Box Hero stuck in my head. Foreigner was a big band in their day, they had many hits including  16 top-40 hits and 9 top-10 hits which is pretty damn good achievement for a band.  Here’s a bit of history about Foreigner:

  • Formed in 1976 by English musicians (Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliott,  American musicians (Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi) and an American singer (Lou Gramm). Mick Jones who is the lead guitarist is the sole original band member, Lou Gramm left in 2003 to pursue a solo career.
  • Jason Bonham, the son of late Led Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham played drums for Foreigner from 2004 – 2008.
  • They have released 8 albums, the last one in 1994, and have sold over 50 million albums world-wide, their albums are listed below:
    • 1977 – Foreigner,  #4 on U.S. charts, 5x multi-platinum
    • 1978 – Double Vision, #3 on U.S. charts, 7x multi-platinum
    • 1979 – Head Games, #5 on U.S. charts , 5x multi-platinum
    • 1981 – 4, #1 on U.S. charts, 6x multi-platinum
    • 1984 – Agent Provocateur, #4 on U.S. charts, 3x multi-platinum
    • 1987 – Inside Information, #15 on U.S. charts, platinum
    • 1991 – Unusual Heat
    • 1994 – Mr. Moonlight
  • Their 16 top 40 hits and 9 top 10 hits including the following well-known songs:
    • Cold As Ice
    • Double Vision
    • Head Games
    • Waiting for a Girl Like You
    • Feels Like the First Time
    • Urgent
    • Dirty White Boy
    • Juke Box Hero
    • Long, Long Way From Home
    • Hot Blooded
    • I Want to Know What Love Is (#1 hit)
    • Say You Will

So yes they are an older band who’s last album was released in 1994 and they currently only have one original band member but who cares, they have lots of great songs, they put on a good show and I’m sure they will really rock the VMworld party.  So instead of all the negative comments and whining please show some appreciation that VMware stepped up and chose an original band to play this year instead of a cover band like last year. I know everyone’s musical tastes vary and you definitely can’t please everyone but the VMworld party planners tried to book an original band that they thought would please the majority of attendees and I think they did a good job. Some of you might not be old enough to remember Foreigner so I say give them a try before you criticize them, there is a good chance you’ll like them. And for those that simply don’t like Foreigner, there are alot of other clubs in San Francisco that you can go to that night that might be playing the type of music you enjoy, you can always go check them out instead.

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VMworld 2009 Links – your source for everything at VMworld

My VMworld 2009 link pages are now online and I am adding new links to them every day, currently most of the links are in the Travel Info and Things to do in SF categories but the other categories will be populated as the conference approaches and during it. Each day of the conference I will be posting all of the links relevant to that day, so if you can’t physically attend VMworld this year you will still be able to virtually attend it through all the links posted here. You can get to the VMworld 2009 links several ways: directly using this URL: vmw09.vsphere-land.com, by clicking the button in the right sidebar or by selecting vLinks from the navigation menu. By the time the show is over I should have hundreds of links posted here so keep checking back.

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New articles on vShield Zones and VMware Data Recovery

I recently wrote some articles for Tech Target on the two new products that were introduced in vSphere:  vShield Zones and VMware Data Recovery. The VMware Data Recovery article covers what it is, comparisons to 3rd party products and how to install and configure it. The vShield Zones article is a 3-part series that covers what it is, how it works, how to install and configure it and many tips for using it. Special thanks to Carlos Camacho and Serge Maskalik from VMware who helped me work through some issues I had and provided me some great information on their product. vShield Zones will be the subject of the weekly VMTN podcast this week so be sure and listen in for even more information and to ask questions.

VMware Data Recovery article at searchdatabackup.com:

VMware Data Recovery Manager: A guide to installing and using VDR

vShield Zones articles at searchvmware.com:

vShield Zones: What it is and how it works (Pt. 1)
Installing and Configuring vShield Zones (Pt. 2)
Quick tips for managing vShield Zones (Pt. 3)

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OK so it’s a poem and not a limerick…

Over in the VMworld forums Theron Conrey has a thread going for his big Sunday night VMworld bash and is encouraging people to write a VMworld themed limerick to get an extra raffle ticket to win great prizes. Since I didn’t want to deal with the strict rules that makeup a proper limerick I did a poem instead and included in it some of my good buddies who I enjoyed hanging out with at VMworld last year. So here it is, and be sure and stop over to the VMworld thread to see the limericks and add your own (make sure you follow the strict limerick form!).

At the thirsty bear I hope to meet Jason Boche

Maybe drink a few beers and eat some kolache’s

If I’m lucky I will win a prize

But if not I can talk to Ken Cline and get more wise

Hopefully I don’t come down with a fever

After staying out all night and drinking with Steve Beaver

If Edward Haletky shows up at the party

We’ll all for sure be educating by that security smartie

If you plan on bringing a lady to the event that day

Watch out for Matthew Johnson who will try and steal her away

If Thomas Bryant shows up and starts drinking doubles

Look out San Francisco as there is going to be trouble

Hopefully John Troyer will show up after working in his yard

For he has a VMware corporate credit card

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