VirtualizationAdmin.com Monthly Newsletter of September 2008 Sponsored by: Acronis

Welcome to the VirtualizationAdmin.com newsletter by David Davis, 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. VMworld 2008 & MS Virtualization Launch - Quick Summary

Thank you for reading issue #4 of our VirtualizationAdmin.com newsletter! Last month we talked about VMware's big "timebomb" mistake in Q&A and the upcoming virtualization conferences from Microsoft & VMware. This month, there is a lot to talk about in the world of virtualization so let's get started...

There is nothing like exciting new features to make everyone forget about the "VMware timebomb". I attended VMworld 2008 this month in Las Vegas, NV, USA. It was a very exciting conference but no one ever mentioned the Q&A mistake that was the "VMware timebomb". Oh well, let's just put that behind us so I can tell you about VMworld. What do you need to know about VMworld?

• VMware CEO Paul Maritz is a good speaker and something that most engineers would appreciate. His keynote was very tech-oriented, not marketing-oriented. He went into the history of virtualization and he demonstrated, hands-on, some of the new features that VMware will release.
• The new VDC-OS (virtual data center OS) is actually a "framework" that describes VMware's new vision for using their virtualization software and advanced features for managing your datacenter. For example, vCloud will allow you to connect to service providers and rent virtual servers as needed. These offsite virtual servers could be powered on and operational within seconds, dynamically, as needed.
• Other new features of ESX Server 4.0 / Virtual Infrastructure 4.0 (assuming that is the number that will be used), are vLockstep, GUI for SVMotion, improved historical performance graphing, AppSpeed, and Data Recovery (and many more).
• vLockstep will allow you to offer high availability for guest servers (similar to VMHA) but if a host server goes down, the guest server will immediately be available on another host, without the guest ever having to restart (unlike VMHA).
• AppSpeed is the new name for the application performance tools that VMware bought from B-Hive. The features of AppSpeed will be integrated into the Virtual Infrastructure Suite and you will be able to monitor and measure the performance of your virtual guest applications.
• VMware's Data Recovery is the new integrated backup application that will offer just about all the virtual guest backup features you need, inside the virtual infrastructure suite.
• The VMworld Party at the Las Vegas speedway was exciting and fun! You could ride in a race car that travelled around the track at 140mph and NASCAR driver Danika Patrick made a guest appearance.

So how did Microsoft's Virtualization conference in Redmond, Washington (see Microsoft Virtualization Launch Events) compare to VMworld? Well, honestly, there is not much comparison. While I do not know how many people attended Microsoft's event, I do not believe it was even half of the 14,000 that attended VMworld 2008. However, Microsoft's event is important from the perspective that it is their official launch into the virtualization market and that they made some important announcements at the event. First off, Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), used to manage Hyper-V and VMware Servers, will be released within 30 days. Second, Hyper-V will be released in a FREE standalone version in the next 30 days. And third, Microsoft demoed upcoming features of Hyper-V such as their "Live Migration" that will be available in Hyper-V R2.

My take on all this is that VMware continues to innovate and lead the virtualization industry. Microsoft continues to tout that "VMware has nothing unique to offer" and that they can easily reproduce it but still, VMware is the only company offering these advanced feature, VMware continues to demonstrate new more powerful features, and VMware has real companies using those features already. All the while, Microsoft gets much of the press and VMware's stock continues to go down. While it is true that Microsoft may be able to catch up in the next few years, that is yet to be seen. I wish that VMware would get the recognition that they deserve from the industry and financial press.

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

• VMware ESX Server- Voted Virtualizationadmin.com Readers' Choice Award Winner - Hypervisor
  
• Dealing with MAC Address Pool Duplication in Hyper-V
  
• How to Install your first VMware ESX Server Guest Operating System
  
• Using VMware: Understanding the Virtual Switch
  
• Managing Hyper-V with SystemCenter Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (Part 2)
  
• Virtualization FAQ - over 50 entries!

4. KB Articles of the Month

• VMware KB 1005807 -  misc. ESX patches for VKernel, hostd,  and other RPMs
  
• VMware KB 1005808 - Update the Service Console Kernel
  
• VMware KB 1005809 - Update the iSCSI Driver
  
• Microsoft: Sleep and hibernate power features are not available when you enable Hyper-V technology on a Windows Server 2008-based portable computer
  
• Microsoft: The classic Start menu is not displayed correctly in Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V
  
• Microsoft: Error message when you try to start a Hyper-V virtual machine on a Windows Server 2008-based or Windows Vista-based computer that uses the NUMA architecture: "An error occurred while attempting to change the state of virtual machine VMNAME"
  

5. Virtualization Admin Tip of the Month

With Cisco announcing that they will create a "Cisco Version" of the VMware VI virtual switch, I recommend you take a few minutes to learn about virtual switches in VMware ESX Server. If you only use ESX for the most basic features then it is likely that you have not thought about the built-in ESX Server virtual switch. However, in Robert J. Shimonski's new article, Using VMware: Understanding the Virtual Switch, he does a great job educating us on the various components of the VMware ESX virtual switch using some great diagrams. I encourage you to learn about how virtual networking works inside VMware ESX now because, come the next version of ESX Server & the VI Suite, virtual networking will get more complicated with distributed virtual switches and optional Cisco virtual switches. You will need a base of knowledge to build on so read Robert's article today - Using VMware: Understanding the Virtual Switch.

6. Helpful Links

• Virtualization Congress 2008 - coming to London
  
• VMworld Europe 2009 - Pre-registration
  
• 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
  
• Microsoft Virtualization Team Blog
  

7. Ask David Davis

Question

What will the release of Cisco's new virtual switch mean to me?

Answer

In 2009, Cisco will release their Nexus 1000V virtual switch. This will offer many more options for virtual networking but will also change the way that large IT groups think about virtualization. No more will the server admin have to configure virtual networking. You will be able to delegate virtual network configuration tasks out to the network admins and they will be able to configure the virtual networks using the Cisco IOS CLI that they know and love. Additionally, with this new virtual switch, you will gain the features as you would normally have with a physical switch. Truly, the integration of Cisco switches into your virtual infrastructure will change how you and your network admins think about and configure virtual networking in VMware ESX Server.

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