Punching Clouds

VMworld 2010 is going to be loaded with an incredibly interesting amount of presentations. This year there many new things planned, but this year VMworld is bringing something truly special… the virtualization’s dynamic duo, the Chips (TV Show) of virtualization, the John & Ponch of virtualization, AKA Chris McCain, and I (being funny).  We have a couple of interesting topics for VMworld, and now that the VMworld sessions are now available for public voting, go and check all the sessions out and what’s going to be possibly available this years,  and vote for ours if you want to see them at VMworld 2010. We’ve submitted the following session:

VMworld 2010 Session:

Private Cloud – Business Continuity Section

Exploring the vSphere 4 Business Continuity Spectrum

Session Id: BC7521

This session will explore all of the business continuity options available within a vSphere 4 virtual infrastructure. The session will define the various types of data tragedies that can occur and how to plan and react to these events. Attendees will learn how to apply defined Recovery Point Objectives (RPOs) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs) to the various vSphere 4 business continuity features.

Technology and Architecture Session

Breaking Down the Distributed Virtual Switch Starring the Nexus 1000v

Session Id: TA7523

This session will break down the components of the distributed virtual switch. Attendees will learn how to implement and manage a DVS including a look at implementing the Cisco Nexus 1000v. Topics covered will include VLANs, PVLANs, DVS security, and granular DVS port management.

Virtualization 101 Section

Managing vCenter Server Certificates

Session Id: V17522

This session will detail certificate management for vCenter Server. Attendees will learn how to implement a trusted Public Key Infrastructure using Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services along with the steps to allow vCenter to use self-issued certificates.

We’ll also be around to discuss some of the punching topics about the vSphere Resource Kit , and some other cool projects. Check out Chris’s blog, which is yet another dynamic duo creation. Hopefully we will see you all at VMworld 2010.

Head’s up Folks, here is a bit of useful information for all VMware SRM, and NetApp customers. I’ve been informed about a very serious issue that was detected with the NetApp SRA 1.4.3. As a result of this issue VMware has pulled that version of the SRA from their download site so that customers are not able to download that version of the NetApp SRA in order to protect them from possible failures with BC/DR scenarios. At the current time it’s recommended not to use that version of the NetApp SRA until the issue is corrected, and given a green light for usage by VMware, and NetApp.  At the current I don’t have any details on what the actual issues is, so if any you guys know of anything please post some feed back.

In the mean time it is recommended to use the previous version of the SAN or NFS SRA. I will post updates when things change. Thanks to Michael White from VMware for the heads up on this issue.

Ok Folks, I’m finally back! I been kind a busy lately, and haven’t been able to get post some new material and for some time even the site was down due to some database issues. Now for those of you that are system administrators, application administrators, and/or solutions architects with interest in the VDI,  and application virtualization environments with VMware View, and ThinApp, VMware just release training to satisfy your hunger. The new class Application Virtualization with ThinApp is a one day instructor led training with over 60% of the class focus on hands on labs. The course is targeted for administrators with the skills to virtualize Windows applications with VMware ThinApp application.

The Course objectives are to get the attendees to understand the operations major components, and architecture of ThinApp. This will provide knowledge on how to modify Package.ini parameters to increase the variety and complexity of virtualized applications. Make use of the Application Link to dynamically link application components such as Microsoft.NET to multiple applications, and Application Sync to update applications deployed from centralized servers. The class is not targeted for total rookies as there is a certain level of knowledge required on VMware View, and ThinApp. Take a look at the VMware Education site for more detain information.

Application Virtualization with ThinApp Course Outline

VMware ThinApp Architecture

• Architecture that supports a virtualized application
• Relationships between the ThinApp runtime, the virtual file system and the virtual registry

Packaging Applications

• Capturing and virtualizing an application

Modify Package.ini Parameters

• entry point, access control, and isolation parameters
• the sandbox folder and the sbmerge.exe utility

Building Applications with Application Link

• Application Link features
• Application Link parameters in the Package.ini file

Deploying and Updating Applications

• EXE files versus MSI files for local application deployment
• Streaming applications from servers
• Using the versioning model to update applications
• Using Application Sync to update applications

Performance and Troubleshooting

• Performance considerations
• Troubleshooting ThinApp packages

I can tell you all that there is a great deal of focus on VDI, and application virtualization and getting it done right will drive the use and stability of your deployments. If you use VMware View and ThinApp or were considering them as a possible or future solution,  one day of training on the material wont hurt.

Today VMware released the new version of their application virtualization platform. The new version ThinApp 4.5  is said to speed up the migration process to Windows 7  as much as 40 % for customers who are planning upgrading to Microsoft latest desktop operating system.

The new version of ThinApp includes new technologies and features such as:

• Support for new operating systems: Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2
• New Relink utility for upgrading applications without the need to repackage or rebuilding them
• Improve support for MSI packages larger than 2 GB
• I/O performance improvement for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
• Memory  sharing improvements for suites of applications and Terminal Server
• Startup time improvements
• Bandwidth consumption improvements
• New packages.ini parameter: OptimizedFor
• Support for capturing on partially non-clean PC
• Quality Reporting 1.0
• Journaling of Virtual file system meta data and virtual registry
• Improved support for application white listing (AppLocker for Windows 7)
• User interface improvements
• Quality improvements & Wine test
• ThinApp Community Portal for Applications

There is a great deal of information in regards to the features and improvements on the VMware ThinApp blog site so you should head there and get more details about them.

Recently I’ve been getting questions about upgrading the operating system on the server where vCenter server is installed. For the most part, I’ve gathered information from a group of folks who are somewhat confused and misled on this procedure. So far I’ve heard all types of misinformation on what’s needed and what steps are required. I want to particularly address one of those false statements, that you must create a new vCenter database when upgrading to a new version of windows.  I want to make it perfectly clear that you do not have to create a new database. 

Now let me help out a bit by clearing things up and providing some substance.  Upgrading the Windows operating system where vCenter server is installed from an older version of Windows OS (Windows Server 2003) to a newer version (Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2008 R2), doesn’t require a new vCenter Server database. regardless of what the reason may be for the upgrade (whether it’s based on going from a 32-bit to a 64-bit architecture of the OS or for an increase of management capacity for vCenter). The assumption is not accurate that in order to perform this type of upgrade a new database is required, or even going as far as to thinking that it may even be a best approach is incorrect as well.

The creation of a new vCenter database may be acceptable for environments that intend on getting a fresh start, but definitely not something larger environments consider when planning an upgrade of any sort. A new vCenter Server database is a new virtual infrastructure inventory. That means reconfiguration of the logical architecture, adding, and reconfiguring all of the settings of the virtual infrastructure like:

• Host
• Clusters
• Resource Pool
• Alarms
• Access Permissions
• and more

Upgrading the operating system on which vCenter server is installed is something that can be done without the need of creating a new database, and it can also be done in a couple of different ways. In order to upgrade the Windows operating system you should follow Microsoft’s recommendations, but when doing an in-place upgrade all services related to vCenter should be stopped before proceeding.

vCenter Server Services

Another approach to this upgrade would be to simply install vCenter Server in a newly provision system with the current and desired version of Windows. Now in order to do this effectively perform the following steps before installing vCenter Server:

• Stop vCenter related services in the Windows Services snap-in (services.msc) of the running server
• Create a new System DSN pointing the new server to the database location
• Import the SSL keys from the running server

SSL Keys Location

• Install vCenter Server on the newly provisioned system and DO NOT reinitialized the database
• Copy the SSL certificates to it’s default location on the new system

The vCenter Server SSL directory under Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is located under a hidden directory called ProgramData located in the root drive.

vCenter Server SSL directory under Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2

I hope this helps those of you looking into performing OS upgrades where the vCenter Server is involved. Let me know if there are any questions or issues. Windows Server 2008 R2 is not currently supported by VMware for vCenter 4.0, but Windows Server 2008 is officially supported. : )