Word on the Street

Why is Virtualization Management Adapting Slowly?

2010-03-05T20:50:00Z

When looking at the majority of management solutions for Virtualization presently available, the first thing that may strike you is that these solutions and products don't seem all that different from what was available 5 or ever 10 years ago. There are many reasons why this has occurred, the chief among them is a legacy base on which most of these products have been designed. Just like Microsoft Windows has traditionally offered backward compatibility for Windows based applications, most management...(read more)

Can Virtualization help IT become more Business Aligned?

2010-02-24T19:38:39Z

This is a question that is often asked by CIOs and LOB Managers, but the answer seems to be different from company to company. All companies want (or at least should want) IT to be aligned with the business, to support business groups and the goals of the business. Companies also want IT to be able to tie themselves to different business functions to more easily adapt to the needs of the business. Traditionally, IT has been more of an independent business unit providing services to other business...(read more)

Columbus, OH VMUG Meets Mother Nature

2010-02-17T19:41:00Z

"Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow..." might be the motto of the United States Postal Service, but the VMware users in Columbus, OH and our Hyper9 team members are just as brave and share a similar belief. Even though we're from Austin, TX, we weren't going to let a little bit (or a lot) of snow stop us. Some of that can be attributed to bravery, and some of that could be the fact that we in Austin have no idea what snow is!

In spite of Mother Nature trying to ruin our fun, we had a great VMUG meeting in Columbus, OH on February 16th. I think the city received something like 8+ inches of snow that day, and a lot of businesses closed down because of it. It was touch and go for a while there; but luckily, there was a small enough window for our flight to sneak through and arrive in Columbus without being diverted somewhere else.

Thanks to everyone who made the journey and came out to the meeting. And thanks to VMUG leaders Randy and Eric for helping to coordinate everything.

We'd also like to give special thanks to Steve Gruetter, a director at Platform Lab. Platform Lab provides a great service, offering short-term physical or remote access to IT hardware, software and massive amounts of bandwidth for all types of companies for the explicit purpose of IT testing and projects. And they also just happen to be the host facility for Columbus, OH VMUG events. On this day, while the facility itself was closed from doing normal business due to bad weather, Steve was able to keep the facility open so that the VMUG event could still take place.

We had some 50+ brave individuals attend the meeting, and that included the good folks from Panera Bread who we hired to cater breakfast. Nothing better than hot coffee, bagels and pastries on a snowy morning, eh?

At the meeting, Hyper9 talked about the practical ins and outs of virtualization reporting and best practices that address the challenges related to storage (how to squeeze the most disk space out of your environment as possible), VM sprawl (how many VMs do you actually have and which VMs are you actually using?), and management reporting (who owns what and how much does it cost?).

We hope everyone had a good time at the event. And we certainly enjoyed speaking with and meeting everyone. Hopefully, we'll be invited back to Columbus in the future - Spring or Summer preferred. :)

What happened to the Goal of Business Agility?

2010-02-17T17:27:00Z

This was a mantra that many of the large software companies were speaking about several years ago ( Microsoft , IBM , SAP , ...), "what happened to Business Agility?" There was definite interest from businesses, as being able to react more quickly to lower costs and more effectively leverage resources within the business would attract virtually any executive, member of management, or business owner. The Answer: It turns out that implementing a system that coordinates an entire businesses...(read more)

How Cloud Providers are Spreading Their Bets...

2010-02-10T16:13:00Z

As the Cloud Market continues to take shape, many of the Cloud Providers have chosen to provide combinations of PaaS, SaaS, and IaaS. The reasoning behind this is that the market continues to be uncertain and probably will remain uncertain into the foreseeable future. Why is the market uncertain? Because different businesses have different demands and requirements. Mix this with the fact that developers are using the Cloud for portions of both public and private applications and you end up with no...(read more)

Nicira = Virtualization + Networking * Diane Greene

2010-02-08T19:48:00Z

After reading a news bit on virtualization.info covering a stealth company called Nicira and its connection to Diane Greene (former CEO and Co-Founder of VMware), I thought it would be interesting to dig deeper into what was being done by Nicira and why it was different/significant. What is Nicira working on? Network Virtualization, but not the sense of what most virtualization industry veterans are used to, however. When people in virtualization think of Network Virtualization they think of two...(read more)

What is a Spring Container and what might VMware want to do with it?

2010-02-03T19:14:00Z

What is a Spring Container? If you are a virtualization administrator type and heard about VMware's acquisition of Spring Source and therefore control of the Spring Framework (including the Spring Container) you might be wondering why you should really care or what this has to do with virtualization to begin with. Hopefully at the end of this blog entry you will have some of your own thoughts and opinions on where this all may be going. A Spring Container isn't something that you put into...(read more)

Wikipedia and Cloud APIs (Universal Cloud APIs - Revisited)

2010-02-01T20:51:00Z

There aren't many independent sources covering "Cloud APIs" - whether referring to "Independent" groups, standards bodies, or specific providers. This lack of sources without an agenda of some type makes it incredibly difficult to bring together good information that isn't somehow tainted. By creating this new Wikipedia entry, the hope is that a solid, independent, and over-arching resource can be created for the community to share. The cloud computing concept covers a...(read more)

Why are some Apps better in the Cloud?

2010-01-27T15:56:00Z

Some applications are more easily adapted or are just plain better running in the Cloud than they are hosted or running locally. Some people don't necessarily subscribe to this notion, however after looking as some of the reasoning behind this, it may make a bit more sense. Realizing that not only are some applications more easily put in the Cloud, others may be more difficult or nearly impossible to put entirely in the cloud (without substantial changes to code). Games, CAD, and other video...(read more)

Universal Cloud APIs Examined

2010-01-25T16:35:00Z

With the recent announcement of the vCloud API SDKs for both Java and Python, it seemed as though it might be relevant to investigate the available Cloud APIs, what they do, where they come from, and how they work. There are four Cloud APIs that are abstraction APIs (at least four of which that seemed to have a relevant amount of information around). Each of these APIs has its own take on how Clouds should be provisioned and managed through their API. All of the APIs do appear to have a common goal...(read more)

Is Cloud Computing Really New? (The History Behind the Cloud)

2010-01-20T20:45:00Z

Is Cloud Computing Really New? Where did it come from? These are questions that are often unanswered or not covered in all of the buzz that companies like Google , VMware , and Microsoft are putting out there around the Cloud. Let's step back and look at where the Cloud actually came from. In the beginning, there were great big hulking monstrosities that took up rooms of space, these were called mainframe computers. Mainframes brought us many of the terms used in computing today, along with a...(read more)

VMware GO - VMware Officially Enters the Hosted / Cloud Application Business

2010-01-15T19:50:00Z

With Yesterday's announcement of the launch of VMware GO, VMware has finally entered the Hosted (Cloud/Web) Application market. Providing services to small and medium businesses to more easily manage their ESXi implementations. On the management side, VMware GO provides a guided installation, ESXi Media Download and CD Burn (from ISO), VM Provisioning (P2V , Manual Creation, or Virtual Appliance - via the VMware Marketplace), Console Application Linking is Provided (the VMware Remote Console...(read more)

Will Cloud Computing help 2012 become the end of IT as we know it?

2010-01-14T20:38:00Z

The year 2012 is surrounded in a shroud of mystery, with many believing that some sort of cataclysmic or transformative event will take place December 21^st or 23^rd of that year. Predictions of impending doom stem from interpretations made about the Mayan and other ancient civilizations and the Long Count calendar which is said to "end" sometime around that same date in 2012.

IT folks aren't strangers from thinking about facing doom and gloom in the future. While we may not be following the Mayan calendar at work, our own calendar has certainly put misplaced fear in many of our hearts. Remember the "Year 2000" problem or Y2K? I for one was certainly glad the Millennium Bug didn't end my career like it was supposed to.

But Gartner recently announced a bit of prognostication that got me thinking. Yesterday, the analyst firm launched their 2010 and beyond predictions which spanned some 56 markets, topics and industry areas, with around 250 predictions in total.

The one that quickly caught my eye stated: "By 2012, 20 percent of businesses will own no IT assets."

What? No IT assets in one out of every five companies in as little as two years from now? Wow! That's a pretty powerful statement and quite a bold prediction.

Gartner says this will be the result of virtualization, cloud-enabled services, and employees bringing in their own desktops and notebooks to work.

Gartner writes, "The need for computing hardware, either in a data center or on an employee's desk, will not go away. However, if the ownership of hardware shifts to third parties, then there will be major shifts throughout every facet of the IT hardware industry. For example, enterprise IT budgets will either be shrunk or reallocated to more-strategic projects; enterprise IT staff will either be reduced or reskilled to meet new requirements, and/or hardware distribution will have to change radically to meet the requirements of the new IT hardware buying points."

This prediction is not entirely a surprise, however; as we have witnessed this change happen over the last seven years to hosted Websites and e-mail. Most companies are using outside providers for these types of services today rather than burdening their internal IT staff.

Virtualization has definitely done its part thus far in shrinking down the data center footprint of server equipment. But this latest prediction has one in five companies with a zero footprint - NO IT assets!!! That seems like an awfully heavy burden to place on the cloud community. It means that cloud technology will need to mature a lot faster than has virtualization in order to reach those goals.

If we plan on getting to a zero footprint of IT assets, cloud technology definitely seems to have the best chances to get us there; but that would also assume we are talking public cloud technology, and not private. In the interim, many may choose to attempt a hybrid cloud in order to help bridge the gap. But the clock is ticking, so people need to get moving if we are going to meet a 2012 time frame.

As we enter 2010, 2012 no longer seems to be that far off into the future. So if you live in the world of IT, make up your mind. Which will it be... the end of IT as we know it? Or will it be the end of the world itself? I saw the movie... so I'm voting that we change IT if we have to!

VIDEO: VMware vSphere 4 in a Box - Running VMware ESXi 4 inside Workstation

2009-07-21T20:34:00Z

David Davis does it again with yet another extremely helpful video, this time, an 18 minute demo that shows how to run VMware vSphere 4 inside a VMware Workstation virtual machine. This is a great way to test and learn about VMware vSphere if you don't have any spare hardware.

And stay tuned, Train Signal is going to be releasing his VMware vSphere training course soon enough.

Need help with VMware vSphere 4? Check out these virtualization books.

2009-06-24T20:26:00Z

Looking to learn and master VMware's latest virtualization technology? A good place to start is learning from the virtualization experts. Check out these books that will be hitting the virtual bookshelf soon enough.

Mastering VMware vSphere 4 (Computer/Tech) - By Scott Lowe

As part of the highly acclaimed Mastering series from Sybex, this book offers a comprehensive look at VMware vSphere 4, how to implement it, and how to make the most of what it offers.

Coverage Includes:

Shows administrators how to use VMware to realize significant savings in hardware costs while still providing adequate "servers" for their users

Demonstrates how to partition a physical server into several virtual machines, reducing the overall server footprint within the operations center
Explains how VMware subsumes a network to centralize and simplify its management, thus alleviating the effects of "virtual server sprawl"

Now that virtualization is a key cost-saving strategy, Mastering VMware vSphere 4 is the strategic guide you need to maximize the opportunities.

Link to Amazon.

Scott Lowe's virtualization blog.

VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing the Virtual Environment - By Edward L. Haletky

Complete Hands-On Help for Securing VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure by Edward Haletky, Author of the Best Selling Book on VMware, VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise

As VMware has become increasingly ubiquitous in the enterprise, IT professionals have become increasingly concerned about securing it. Now, for the first time, leading VMware expert Edward Haletky brings together comprehensive guidance for identifying and mitigating virtualization-related security threats on all VMware platforms, including the new cloud computing platform, vSphere.

This book reflects the same hands-on approach that made Haletky’s VMware ESX Server in the Enterprise so popular with working professionals. Haletky doesn’t just reveal where you might be vulnerable; he tells you exactly what to do and how to reconfigure your infrastructure to address the problem.

VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security begins by reviewing basic server vulnerabilities and explaining how security differs on VMware virtual servers and related products. Next, Haletky drills deep into the key components of a VMware installation, identifying both real and theoretical exploits, and introducing effective countermeasures.

Coverage includes:

Viewing virtualization from the attacker’s perspective, and understanding the new security problems it can introduce
Discovering which security threats the vmkernel does (and doesn’t) address
Learning how VMsafe enables third-party security tools to access the vmkernel API
Understanding the security implications of VMI, paravirtualization, and VMware Tools
Securing virtualized storage: authentication, disk encryption, virtual storage networks, isolation, and more
Protecting clustered virtual environments that use VMware High Availability, Dynamic Resource Scheduling, Fault Tolerance, vMotion, and Storage vMotion
Securing the deployment and management of virtual machines across the network
Mitigating risks associated with backup, performance management, and other day-to-day operations
Using multiple security zones and other advanced virtual network techniques
Securing Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Auditing virtual infrastructure, and conducting forensic investigations after a possible breach

Link to Amazon.

Edward L. Haletky's virtualization blog.

VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference - By Matthew K. Johnson and Jase McCarty

VMware vSphere 4 Administration Instant Reference is a quick-reference guide for day-to-day administration of VMware's newest virtual infrastructure software. The book includes design features such as thumb tabs, secondary and tertiary tables of contents, and special heading treatments to provide quick and easy lookup, as well as quick-reference tables, lists, and step-by-step instruction to provide VMware administrators answers on the spot. This book is the perfect companion to any book on VMware, including Sybex's Mastering VMware titles.

Link to Amazon.

Jase McCarty's virtualization blog.