VirtualizationAdmin.com Monthly Newsletter of July 2009 Sponsored by: 2X Software

Welcome to the VirtualizationAdmin.com newsletter by David Davis, vExpert, VCP, CCIE. Each month we will bring you interesting and helpful information on the world of Virtualization. We want to know what all *you* are interested in hearing about. Please send your suggestions for future newsletter content to: ddavis@VirtualizationAdmin.com

1. vSphere 4 - So Many Improvements - So Little Time

Thank you for reading issue #14 of our VirtualizationAdmin.com newsletter! Last month, we celebrated the 1 year anniversary of the VirtualizationAdmin.com Newsletter and site by reviewing how far virtualization has come in 1 year.

This month, I would like to talk about vSphere 4. I have spent most of the last month using VMware's vSphere 4. Sure, VMware has touted the major features but, honestly, the more I use it the more I notice that there are just tons of minor features and improvements that make the product so much easier to use. No, these are not features that VMware can make an ad campaign on but, let's face it, sometimes it is something minor that makes a huge difference.

For example, I recently upgraded my iPhone to the latest version 3.0. What is the 1 new feature that I really use and really appreciate out of it? It's "Cut and Paste". I am sure that a lot of developers work many long hours on the latest major release and the only thing that I care about is a relatively minor feature of cut and paste.

In many ways, the same applies to vSphere 4. The major features of vSphere are:

• Fault Tolerance (FT)
• Vastly Improved Performance
• Cloud Computing
• Data Recovery
• Distributed Power Management (DPM) is now in production
• SVMotion has a GUI
• Thin Provisioning
• vShield Zones and VMsafe
• vApps
• Distributed Virtual Switch (dvswitch) and the Cisco Nexus 1000V option
• And many more options to add on such as AppSpeed, ConfigControl, and Orchestrator

Agreeably, these are awesome features and these are the major features that you need to be evaluating in vSphere 4. Still, I think that once you begin using it, you will discover many of the same "minor" features and improvements that I have - features that just make life as a virtualization admin easier.

Here is a short list of new vSphere 4 lesser-known features:

• Search - A search bar on every screen - like "google" for your virtual infrastructure!
• Improved hardware status with alerting - Now, your ESX hosts really know what is going on with your hardware. vSphere can take action on it. For example, vSphere could use VMotion to move off your virtual machines to another server and send you an alert.
• Improved Maps - Now, we have maps with storage and fault tolerance relationships.
• Test your network settings on install of ESX - During the installation process of ESX, you will be prompted to verify your network settings.
• Home Screen - The home screen of the vSphere client is a great way to see the full "menu" of choices that you can perfom as a vSphere admin.
• Simplified Licensing - Thank goodness that the old licensing server is gone! The new vSphere 4 licensing is so easy to configure!
• vCenter Service Status - Check the status of your vCenter services, right from the vSphere client.
• Session Management - See who else is connected to vCenter and manage their sessions in the vSphere client.
  I am not in the business of advertising for VMware but I would like everyone to see the new features - large and small - for themselves. If you have not started evaluating vSphere 4, I recommend it. The 60 day evaluation can be found at -VMware vSphere 60 day evaluation.

Stay tuned for next month's newsletter where I will cover VMworld 2009!

Note to my readers: Besides reading our newsletter, I encourage you to stay up to date on the latest in Virtualization news by subscribing to the VirtualizationAdmin.com RSS Feed so make sure you have the VirtualizationAdmin.com RSS feeds configured in your RSS reader. 

As always, if you have Virtualization questions, ideas for articles, or issues to cover in the newsletter, please feel free to write to me at ddavis@VirtualizationAdmin.com

Thank you,
David Davis, VCP, CCIE

2. Train Signal VMware ESX Server Video Training

3. VirtualizationAdmin.com Articles of Interest

• Disaster Recovery for Hyper-V (Part 2)
  
• Using Roles to Secure your VMware ESX Infrastructure
  
• Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V Virtual Machine Configuration
  
• VIDEO: Configuring Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Networking
  
• Installing Microsoft Application Virtualization (Part 1)
  
• Comparing Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
  
• VIDEO: VMware ESXi Server Installation Checklist
  

4. KB Articles of the Month

• Comparison of product offerings for vSphere 4.0 and VMware Infrastructure 3.x
  
• Installing ESX 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 Best Practices
  
• Upgrading to ESX 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 best practices
  
• The Turn on Fault Tolerance option is disabled
  
• When you try to enable, disable, or update Hyper-V technology, the process stops responding
  
• Guest operating systems that are supported on a Hyper-V virtual machine
  
• Microsoft Support Policies and Recommendations for Exchange Servers in Hardware Virtualization Environments
  

5. Virtualization Admin Tip of the Month

Want to upgrade your VMware Virtual Infrastructure to vSphere? Looking for some resources? Here is my list of VMware upgrade resources:

• VMware vSphere Upgrade Center
  
• VMware vSphere Upgrade Blog
  
• Upgrading to ESX 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 best practices
  
• Upgrading virtual machine on ESX 4.0 best practices
  
• How to Upgrade to VMware vSphere 4 (Webcast)
  

6. Helpful Links

• VMworld 2009 - August 31 - Sept 3 - San Francisco, CA
• VMware's Planet V12n Virtualization Blog Aggregator
• VMwareVideos.com - videos only related to VMware
• VMware Free Virtualization Webcasts
• Petri IT Knowledgebase - Virtualization Articles
• Virtual PC Guy's Weblog covering Hyper-V Virtualization
• Scott Lowe's Virtualization, Storage, and Server Blog
• Microsoft Virtualization Team Blog

7. Ask David Davis

Question

I use Hyper-V but would like a centralized management solution for my 2 (and growing) Hyper-V servers. I know that SCVMM is available but there is a price tag for it. Any other options?

Answer

Actually, it is the ideal time to ask this question because Citrix just released their Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V - Express and the best part is that it is free! Also, Essentials for Hyper-V makes the management of multiple Hyper-V servers quick and easy.

According to Citrix, Essentials is able to help you "simplify storage, configuration and VM provisioning".

If you use Hyper-V and you have more than 1 server, I encourage you to checkout Citrix Essentials Express Edition for Hyper-V.

Watch a video demo of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V here.

Got a question for David Davis? Send it to ddavis@VirtualizationAdmin.com