VMTN Blog

From VMware:

• VMware's addendum to our white paper "Microsoft Virtualization Licensing and Distribution Terms" (some good new developments, a few clarifications, and a few more data points)
• VMworld 2007 registration now open
• You have tried the TCO Calculator, yes?
• Workstation 6.0
  • Christian always nails it: May I present VMware Workstation 6.0
  • virtualization.info: Feature comparison: Workstation 6.0 vs Server 1.0
  • Adrian Kingsley-Hughes at ZDNet: "I have a philosophy when it comes to new versions of software that I use a lot.  What I like to see is a new product that's familiar enough so I can get on and use it without having to dive into the manual too much, but at the same time I like to see a crop of new, useful features.  VMware Workstation 6 delivers on both of these expectations."
  • It's not about paravirtualization per se, but it's about it just working under the hood transparently: InfoWorld Virtualization Report, The Register, and a silly article from Byte and Switch that tries to make a big deal out of either-or, when it's both!
  • Props to Ubuntu for Feisty Fawn's debut that ships with the new paravirt-ops in the kernel (and you can get it from Dell, no less!).

Elsewhere in the virtual blogosphere:

• Huge compendium of good VMware links from esiebert7625, including good forum threads
• New site: xtravirt, including a "utility for automating bulk downloads of ESX patches, a white paper we wrote about the vimsh command, and some webcasts for those new to VI3."
• New blog at ZDNet: Virtually Speaking from Dan Kuznetzky
  • Why choose a virtual environment?
  • Additional reasons to adopt virtualization
  • Virtual Appliances - the good, the bad, and the ugly
• SearchServerVirtualization: "The biggest thing I learned at Analyst Day was the VDI is in fact, not doomed."
• I'm really enjoying watching Martijn bootstrap their VDI project step by step.
• We really try to avoid schadenfreude in this blog, so I'll just point to this VMTN Forum thread since Fred points out the ability to do a "live migration" (vMotion), is really a baseline requirement for an enterprise virtualization solution. See also Scott Lowe, h0bbel,  baeke. 
  
• Virtualization More Powerful Than Ever: "From virtual SANs to virtual PCs and right down to such esoteric matters as disaster recovery and business continuity, it turns out that the virtual environments being installed now have the potential to continue paying dividends well into the future." [via]
• RTFM: Ultimate Deployment Appliance 1.4 Released with support for ESX 3.x.x
• Keep track of what Moka5 and Jumpbox are doing with VMware technology.
• Nixu Software: Hardware Appliances: A Thing of the Past?
• SearchServerVirtualization newsletter: Virtualization Advisor
• Virtual Strategy Magazine podcast: Using VMware Converter for P2V from Mark Gabryjelski of the Expert Server Group
• VMware Converter Experience: "Hot dog! I've got plenty of space for my Oracle 10G install! vdiskmanager , 4sysops and google save the day!"
• daemon_b's Comparison of ESX Server Backup Strategies
• Transcript of a Church IT Roundtable on virtualization. Yes, virtualization is not just for the Fortune 100. (By the way, 501(c)3 orgs do get a education discount at VMworld.)

Virtualization Tips:

• Great blog start from Stefan Schuller:
  • ESX Server: Keeping Time on Your Side
  • Control ESX Server from your PocketPC
  • Guide: performance tips for running Citrix Presentation Server on vmware ESX
• How to install VMware Server on Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn) from HowtoForge
• Also, note that you can get VMware Server in Canonical's commercial repository. A blogger approves: "apt-get install vmware-server. Done. That easy. That is the way it should be done."
• How-to install VMware Server 1.0.1 on Windows XP SP2 from Jed Daniels at Network Physics
• Be careful with single vs double CPU settings in your VMs.
• VMware sometimes gives you enough rope to screw up your environment. (Calling Glenn Cochran!)
• Provisioning script from Charles Nathaniel Wyble [via]
• Nightly automated VM builds using psexec
• VMware, PowerShell and much automation
• VMware Player Image Creation from 2006, but still a goodie [via]
• Resize a VMware Disk. Since people keep writing these tutorials, the docs and/or web searches are evidently not clear, so I'll keep linking to them.
• Remotely Start a VMware Server
• Install/Configure VMware Server on CentOS. It's just one rpm call away.
• Ctl-Alt-Del tip