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See How VMware Go Stacks Up Against the Competition!

While we certainly enjoy the vKool-Aid around these parts, we are in fact aware that VMware Go is not the only option for IT admins that want to manage their IT infrastructure. That said, we do believe we’re by far the best option for those of you that are looking to a) get your virtualization project up and running and b) manage your virtual and physical infrastructure alike from a web-based management console.

With that in mind, here’s a quick look at some major categories for IT management products, and how VMware Go stacks up against alternative solutions:

	VMware Go Pro	Microsoft Windows and InTune	Spiceworks	SolarWinds	Kaseya SaaS Solutions
General Solution: How you get it, who it’s for, and how it’s priced
Delivery	Cloud-based through your browser	Client software with cloud-based console	Client software	Dozens of client software apps	Client software
Usability	Easy wizard-based interface for any IT admin	Multiple interfaces and PowerShell scripting for Windows specialists	Simple interface but depends on 3^rd party plug-ins	Completely separate software apps for IT specialists	Complex interface for IT specialists
Pricing	Free to deploy and manage basic virtualization. Subscription for patching.	Purchase Windows Server for virtualization. Subscription for InTune.	Free	Mainly perpetually licensed apps.	Multiple options for subscription or perpetual licensing.
Virtualization: Helping small and mid-size businesses realize the high ROI of virtualization
Deploy	Remotely deploy vSphere in minutes through a browser	Requires deploying Windows Server 2012	No	No	No
Manage	Start, stop, migrate, configure and remote console all through a browser	Requires Windows Server 2012 management console add-in or PowerShell	No	No	No
Monitor	24/7 email alerts for host and VM performance and availability	Requires 3^rd party monitoring tools	No	Separate app just for VM monitoring	Generic machine monitoring
Patching: Improving the security and reliability for everyone by keeping up with the latest OS and application updates.
Windows Updates	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Business Apps	Hundreds of business apps	No	No	Smaller catalog of apps	Smaller catalog of apps
IT Management: Increasing productivity of small and mid-size business IT staff through efficient tools and automation.
Assessment	IT Advisor recommends uses for Go to improve your environment	No	No	No	No
Asset Inventory	Yes	No	Yes	Separate app just for inventory	Yes
Helpdesk	Yes	No	Yes	Separate app just for helpdesk	Yes

Learn More!

Ready to learn about how VMware Go Pro can help start your virtualization journey and better manage patching? Visit us here for more information on how we can help you better manage your IT infrastructure and a 30 day free trial of VMware Go Pro.

Weekly Links – January 28, 2013

Good Monday to all of you – and just a reminder that summer is a mere five months away! That may be hard to stomach at the moment, with temperatures in a lot of the U.S. in single digits at the moment. But take heart, soon enough we’ll be complaining about the brutal humidity – and how much it costs to cool down server rooms – instead of this bitter, bitter cold.

And for those of you who were wondering out there, yes, our New Year’s resolution was to be more positive. How are we doing so far?

Why application development is better in the cloud (InfoWorld)

‘The Quantum Age of IT Excerpt’ (IT Business Edge)

Why Your Data Center Costs Will Drop (InformationWeek)

Can you spot the 10 security mistakes in this workspace? (IT World)

Twitter releases data on government info requests from second half of 2012 (GigaOM)

This week’s apropos of nothing image is just that – absolutely apropos of nothing. But really cool, none the less—especially for you history geeks out there! This is what the sky above London looked like after a massive air battle between British and German pilots in September 1940:

You can read our previous links round-ups here. And be sure to visit us here for a 30 day free trial of VMware Go Pro.

This Week in Patching – 1/25/2013

By: Jason Miller, Manager of Research and Development at VMware

After an eventful past couple of weeks in patch management, this week was relatively quiet. Here is a quick recap in the happenings of patch management this week.

On Monday, a new version of Audacity was released. Audacity 2.0.3 is a non-security update fixing numerous issues.

On Tuesday, Google released new security updates for their Chrome and Chrome Frame browsers. Google Chrome / Chrome Frame version 24.0.1312.56 fixes three high, and two medium vulnerabilities.

On Wednesday, Core FTP released a new version with version 2.2. This version was originally released on January 17th, but the details were provided on Wednesday. This new version is a non-security update.

Last up for this week are new versions of MozyHome and MozyPro released today. MozyHome and MozyPro version 2.18.3.247 are both non-security updates.

Happy Patching!

– Jason Miller

Interested in a free 30 day trial of VMware Go Pro for patch management, IT management, virtualization and more? Click here.

Install ESXi through VMware Go

This blog is a repost from Jonathan Frappier’s Blog. To view the original blog post, click here.

Since the folks over at the VMware Go team liked my first post so much, I figured I’d oblige and write up an article about how to install ESXi through VMware Go since they tweeted about it before I actually wrote it

VMware Go, for those that missed the last post, is a cloud based service for small businesses and new VMware admins to help manage and setup their VMware environment. There are “two” ways to install ESXi from VMware go – by converting an existing Windows server/machine or downloading the ISO and installing manually. The later isn’t really installing “through” VMware Go but certainly a viable path, and then you can simply add the host once your install is finished.

Once logged into VMware Go, click on the Virtual tab and select Install an ESXi Hypervisor from the drop down menu.

Click the Get Started button on the next screen and provide the IP address of the Windows server you wish to convert and click the Next button.

VMware Go will connect to the IP address of the computer to determine if it is compatible, when prompted enter the username and password for that server. The machine I tried to install on failed the compatibility check as you can see here:

Thankfully I am doing this in a VM so one second while I go reconfigure that machine…and we are back and the machine passed the test this time as you can see:

I popped in my hostname and opted for DHCP config. Make sure you pay attention to the warning – Windows will be gone! Make sure you backed up your data, settings etc… if you need anything from this server and click next. You will see a summary of the actions to be taken. If you are ready to take the plunge, click the Start ESXi Hypervisor Installation!

After confirming you will blow away your Windows install, you will be prompted for the ESXi password you wish to set, and then need to enter the Windows credentials again. You can see the task/download/install progress at the top of the screen:

Queue on hold music in your head….daaa na na naa naa na. Less than 20 minutes and a few reboots later I had an ESXi screen where my Windows login screen once appeared and can see the task completed in VMware Go.

VMware Go was even nice enough to add it to its inventory for me! So thats it, without ever touching an ISO I nuked my Windows server and turned it into a functional ESXi server!.

Thank you to Jonathan Frappier for allowing us to re-post this helpful blog. Feel free to check out his blog here and follow him on Twitter (@jfrappier)!

Want to learn about how VMware Go Pro can help start your virtualization journey and better manage patching? Ready to begin your trial? Click here to enjoy 30 days of VMware Go Pro for free!

Breaking Through the (Virtualized) Barrier – Why the Time is Now for SMBs to Embrace Virtualization

Recently, it was reported that over 65% of enterprise applications are now virtualized. That’s an impressive sum on its own, but staggering when you consider that only 25% of enterprise applications were virtualized five years earlier, in 2008.

The big allure for virtualization – like all major IT innovations – ultimately boils down to cutting cost and complexity in the data center. Smaller and mid-sized organizations (those with 500 or fewer employees), though, have not been able to embrace virtualization as quickly as larger enterprises. Since they have more modest resources than their larger counterparts, the upfront complexity in terms of onboarding to virtualization can be a bit more daunting.

Among other areas, some of the most commonly cited virtualization hurdles for smaller and mid-sized organizations are:

Security
Lack of knowledge / proper training
Technical complexity
Cost of hardware
Cost of consulting services
Legal and regulatory compliance

As virtualization has emerged as an IT best practice, though, things have started to change. For its part, VMware has developed VMware Go Pro – a cloud-based management tool that’s specifically geared for IT admins with limited resources that want to start the virtualization process. It allows those with next to no knowledge of VMware or virtualization to get vSphere up and running in less than 30 minutes via a step-by-step wizard that walks you through the onboarding process. It also includes an IT advisor that provides proactive recommendations for a given network and automates patch management for Microsoft and third-party patches alike.

Interested individuals can learn more about reducing the complexity of virtualization for SMBs in this whitepaper from VMware: http://vmwarego.com/files/VMW-WP-G0-PRO-REDUCE-CMPLX-VIRTUAL-SMBs.pdf

Learn More!

Want to learn about how VMware Go Pro can help start your virtualization journey and better manage patching? Ready to begin your trial? Click here to enjoy 30 days of VMware Go Pro for free!

Weekly Links – January 15, 2013

Hello there, IT admins! Looks like most of the country is dealing with the same frigid weather front—even right here in the Bay Area (some of us could even seen our own breaths this morning—a huge deal for weather-sensitive Northern Californians, mind you).

Here are this week’s links to accompany your hot chocolate this morning:

Your New Guide to Higher Education IT (InformationWeek)

In IT, downtime chooses you (InfoWorld)

Massive espionage malware targeting governments undetected for 5 years (Ars Technica)

15 great IT telecommuting jobs (IT World)

Embrace the Inevitable Change that Comes with IT (IT Business Edge)

This week’s apropos of nothing image is an undated photo from the Upper East Side in New York City, circa 1909.

You can read our previous links round-ups here. And be sure to visit us here for more information on how we can help you better manage your IT infrastructure and for a 30 day free trial to VMware Go Pro.

This Week in Patching – 1/7/2013

By: Jason Miller, Manager of Research and Development at VMware

Patching came to a quiet end in 2012 and 2013 is starting off with a bang. Here is a quick recap of the happenings in patch management this week:

On Wednesday, a new version of CDBurnerXP was released with version 4.5.0.3717. This new version is a non-security update. On Friday, Google released a non-security update for their Picasa program with version 3.9.136.120.

Microsoft announced their January 2013 Patch Tuesday Advance Notification. You can read my write up here on the upcoming Patch Tuesday. In addition to the seven Microsoft security bulletins being released next Tuesday, there are quite a few non-Microsoft patches being released on Patch Tuesday.

Adobe announced they will be releasing updates for their Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat programs (versions 9/10/11). These updates are rated as critical and are part of their quarterly update for Adobe Acrobat and Reader.

In addition, Mozilla is lining up to release updates as well for their products. You can expect updates for their Mozilla Firefox, Firefox ESR, Thunderbird, Thunderbird ESR and SeaMonkey products.

On Microsoft’s preannouncement page for upcoming non-security updates, they have listed Adobe Flash Player for Internet Explorer 10. With this in mind, expect updates from Adobe for Adobe Flash Player and Google Chrome on Patch Tuesday. With every Adobe Flash Player release, Microsoft and Google update their browsers to supply the latest version of the Flash Player program.

On the Microsoft Security Advisory front, Microsoft released a new security advisory on Thursday. Microsoft Security Advisory 2798897 addresses issues with fraudulent digital certificates. This security advisory places the offending certificates in the untrusted certificate store on systems. In June 2012, Microsoft released a tool that will run on systems and quickly moves revoked certificates to the untrusted certificate stores. This tool aids administrators that want an easy and quick way to update certificate issues Microsoft finds. This tool can be downloaded here. For those that do not want to use the tool, Microsoft has provided patches for this certificate issue that can be applied to systems.

Until Patch Tuesday, Happy Patching!

– Jason Miller

Interested in a free 30 day trial of VMware Go Pro for patch management, IT management, virtualization and more? Click here.

Weekly Links – January 4, 2013

Another year has come and gone – here’s to a great 2013 for all of the readers of this blog!

Things we want to see in 2013:

More SMBs virtualizing their infrastructure, of course!
A follow up to this movie
The permanent inclusion of the McRib on McDonalds’ menu
A more pragmatic, less interventionist approach from incoming Secretary of State John Kerry

Things that we don’t want to see in 2013:

Clunky, on-premise IT management software
A follow-up to this song
Ben Stiller. Time to give things a rest, pal…
A global pandemic (best not to let our guard down even after surviving 12/21/12)

Enough ballyhooing, on to your links!

Amazon’s EC2 Outage: A Closer Look (InformationWeek)

A Lighter Look at Life in IT (IT Business Edge)

Chinese Dad Hires Virtual Assassins to Harass Game-Obsessed Son (The Next Web)

Why Windows To Go is perfect for BYOD (ITWorld)

Steve Jobs biopic hits theatres in April. Will you see it? (Ars Technica)

This week’s apropos of nothing image serves as a stark reminder as to why you should never work at a hospital in Alaska or northern Canada.

You can read our previous links round-ups here. Interested in a free 30 day trial of VMware Go Pro for patch management, IT management, virtualization and more? Click here.

Hoboken Consulting Group Virtualizes with VMware Go Pro, Saves Time and Money with Streamlined IT Management

Today, we want to share an interesting customer use case. Hoboken Consulting Group (HCG), a New Jersey-based management consulting firm, recently used VMware Go Pro to virtualize their physical infrastructure – a process that saved them a considerable amount of money and allowed them reduce their operating costs by over 80%.

They had previously been hampered by the cost and complexity of managing their physical infrastructure; as a smaller organization, they weren’t able to negotiate advantageous vendor terms with big tech companies (we won’t name names here…), nor did they have the requisite manpower needed to deploy and manage a physical infrastructure.

The Problem
Like many organizations in a similar position, they were interested in virtualizing their infrastructure to save time and money – but they lacked the necessary know-how – as well as a dedicated IT department – to do so quickly and efficiently.

In the meantime, HCG was struggling; they were losing bids to competitors. Just to gear up to submit a proposal, HCG often had to purchase and provision physical servers – incurring cost and risk with no guarantee of winning the bid. Proposals had to factor in the cost of business process management software, needed hardware and technicians’ to to travel and install the solution. Because of these factors, HCG bids typically took a month to prepare, and came in at a relatively high cost.

“We just couldn’t compete with the big consulting firms,” said Marlon Edwards, an IT architect at HCG. “We were investing in hardware and in consultants’ time, but we’d lose the bid to faster and cheaper competitors. We struggled to stay in business.”

The Solution
HCG saw virtualization as a way to break free of the backbreaking costs that they were incurring as a result of their physical IT infrastructure. After evaluating a number of virtualization solutions, they identified VMware as the best fit for their environment. Included with their purchase of VMware vSphere was a free trial for VMware Go, which Edwards decided to test out.

Edwards enjoyed the ease with which he could operate VMware Go Pro and cited its virtualization onboarding and ensuing management process as extremely helpful in getting HCG’s virtualized infrastructure up and running—and doing so quickly. According to Edwards, virtualizing with VMware has allowed HCG to reduce customer costs up to 80 percent.

“VMware kept us in business,” said Edwards. “We don’t have to buy physical servers anymore. That’s the bottom line; that’s what made us competitive. You just log on to VMware Go Pro and spin up images based on a template. It’s all automated. This allows people to start businesses a lot cheaper and faster, with better resources.”

Learn More!
Want to learn about how VMware Go Pro can help start your virtualization journey and better manage patching? Click here for a free 30 day trial.

Happy Holidays, From Andy the Angry IT Guy

By: Andy the Angry IT Guy

Editor’s note: This is the thirteenth in a series of posts we’ll be running from “Andy,” an anonymous IT administrator working for a mid-sized organization located somewhere in the American Midwest. Today, Andy flexes his creative muscles and shares his experience dealing with a server going offline earlier this week – shamelessly set to the tune of an old Christmas standard…

Twas the week before Christmas, when our main server went down

“This is really going to suck,” I said, sporting a great frown

I went to the server room, to check the root cause

Feeling my colleagues’ wrath as I walked past – it was unceasing, without pause

I was nearly to my destination, when who should jump out?

But Jack, the new sales guy — an insufferable lout

“Hey Andy,” he sneered, his voice dripping with scorn

“Why’d our computers all break? What, were you watching porn?”

“Why are you even here? Shouldn’t you be bro-fisting and pounding Jaegermeister all day?”

… Would’ve been a great counter-insult; it’s what I wanted to say

Instead I just shrugged, and brushed right on by

To the data center I went, to have a private cry (It’s not easy, after all, being the IT guy!)

As I wiped at my eyes, I surveyed the scene

It looked bad, really bad… a long night loomed ahead, filled with lots of caffeine

The server was fried; the router was shot

I thought about just quitting right then and there, leaving that stupid server to rot

Exchange was on there, so were Adobe and SQL

Without these apps running, there would be lots of angry people

It was amidst this despair that I suddenly proclaimed, “Whoa!”

“I can just migrate these VMs with VMware Go!”

My problem was soon solved, with laughable ease

Setting up a new VM and migrating the apps was a total breeze

The process took minutes – not an hour, not a week

My holiday was saved, I was too happy to speak

Now, you may be wondering, did my colleagues express gratitude?

Of course they didn’t! Like always, they were aloof and quite rude

But I couldn’t have cared less, that’s right I said it

I can now spend Christmas week at home, with Xbox and Reddit

With that, I’ll sign off and wish you all farewell

As I finish this lament about the job from hell

Happy holidays to all of you, from Palo Alto to Prague

And please do keep reading my rants on this blog!

See you all in 2013!

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