Posted by admin on Oct 29, 2009 in Orchestrator, VMware | 0 comments
I’ve been wondering what would be possible with VMware Orchestrator. After some reading and attending product demos things are much clearer now. This tool is going to make automation of common tasks much easier for the admins that are not good script writers. Orchestrator provides a GUI to create work flows that will automate a large number of tasks. The Orchestrator will also allow plugins from 3rd parties to extend the functionality.
While all of these tasks were possible in the past either by manual methods or through scripting. If you were not good a creating your own scripts there is a very dedicated community around VMware and there most likely was already something out there that you could use. With Orchestrator you will have over 400 built in work flow options to perform tasks like find orphaned vm’s, vm’s with snapshots, convert to thin provisioning, add hosts and many other tasts.
Some even better news is that Orchestartor will work with both ESX 3.5 and vSphere 4 hosts. Each will be made available with a plugin and can talk to multiple vCenter servers for each generation.
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Posted by admin on Oct 28, 2009 in VMware, Workstation | 0 comments
A product beloved by many has advanced with a long list of improvements. I’ve been using it since I was invited to the technology preview and I think it’s taken a huge step forward. One of my favorite features of the new version being a Virtual Admin is it’s native support to run ESX installs withing VM Workstation. In prior releases it was possible with some manual tweaks of the vmx file. This also is the 10 year anniversary of the workstation product.
- Best in Class Windows 7 Support. VMware Workstation 7 is optimized for maximum performance when running on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 PCs and works seamlessly with Flip 3D and Aero Peek to show live virtual machine activity.
- The Best 3D Graphics. Run even more 3D applications with support for Windows Aero, DirectX 9.0c Shader Model 3 and OpenGL 2.1 in Windows virtual machines.
- Features Designed for Professionals. VMware Workstation 7 streamlines software development and testing with new IDE integrations for the SpringSource Tools Suite and Eclipse IDE for Java & C/C++ along with Record Replay Debugging improvements that make it faster to find non-deterministic bugs.
- Most Advanced Virtualization Capabilities. Run 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems with up to four virtual CPUs and 32GB of RAM dedicated to each virtual machine.
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Posted by admin on Oct 15, 2009 in Player, VMware | 0 comments
With the debut of the Release candidate of VMware player 3.0 comes a bunch of new features. It also looks like Player 3.0 RC is become more of an entry level of VMware workstations. The biggest new feature has to be the ability to create new Virtual Machines with the free product. This puts it in the same class with other free products like Sun’s Virtual Box and Microsoft Virtual PC.
You can see full details on the RC version of VMware Player 3.0 and download it here.
Below is a list of features that are new in version 3.0.
- The ability to create Virtual Machines
- Aero support for Windows 7 and Windows Vista guests!!!
- OpenGL support for Windows guests (give Google Earth a try!)
- New User Interface including a Virtual Machine Library
- Windows 7 support (as a Host and Guest OS)
- Automatically download and install the latest VMware Tools package
- Multiple Monitor Support
- Print from your VM without installing printer drivers. Virtual Printing courtesy of our friends at ThinPrint.
- ALSA Sound support on Linux hosts enables multiple VMs to play “music” concurrently
- VIX API support will let our coding fans write applications that can interact with their VMs
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Posted by admin on Oct 15, 2009 in VMware | 3 comments
If you are interested in becoming a VCI (VMware Certified Instructor) on ESX 4.0 vSphere the details have been updated. You will need a wide area of knowledge to make the cut in todays environment. VMware has always been pretty selective but with so many good candidates out there they have the pleasure of being pretty selective.
Vmware is looking for candidates that have experience with VMware, Windows, Linux, Storage, Networking and previous teaching experience. While some of these might be obvious in the past it was a bonus to have most of them and not it’s become a requirement. While they still might pick someone with a majority of the list you need to be very strong on most of these subjects to have a shot.
With the new VCP 410 for vSphere you will need to score a 400 or higher out of a possible 500 points to be considered for the VCI program. This is much higher than the 300 score need to become a VCP. This may be the easiest portion of the process as I see a lot of VCP’s with some pretty outstanding scores. You will need to have the work experience and the ability to teach the skills to anyone from a sales rep to a life long Linux admin that will try and trip you up.
The process starts with an inteview with a Senior VCI that will be a VMware employee not a contrator instructor. The interview process will cover your work history, what your looking for in the VCI program and a Technical interview. The technical part will consist of a bunch of questions that cover a wide range of material. While it’s important that you answer them correctly it’s also important that you answer them as if you were speaking to students.
If you pass the interview process and have achieved a 400 or higher on the VCP exam then you will need to attend a VMware class for a co-teach. After you sit for the extra class you will then need to attend a train the trainer type program. This is a extensive week long program were potential VCI’s work with existing trainers to present material and are graded on their knowledge and teaching styles. If you pass the train the trainer program with high enough scores on technical and teaching style requirements then you are ready to start training students.
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Posted by admin on Oct 15, 2009 in Troubleshooting | 0 comments
The knowledge base team over at VMware have created a short video to show you how to restart the mgmt agenst on ESX and ESXi hosts. These commands are good for ESX 3, 3.5 and 4. So if you are someone that likes to see things in a video rather than reading this is a good thing for you. Swing by VMwares site and see the video here.
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