VMware Newsletter 5.27

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FROM THE EDITORS VIRTUAL DESK

Hi Everyone so all of the best laid plans and all of that I have spent much less time than I wanted on my new Horizon lab. I did manage to get through some of Horizon Workspace and configure many of the components but without the required time to spend on this I am still a bit behind.

I am sure some of you have noticed the few changes now in the newsletter to try and make it easier for you to obtain and read. I have also added a few new bloggers and will continue to do this and would appreciate it if you could give a shout out for your favourites so I can make sure they are on my list.

Enjoy the newsletter.

Kind Regards

Jillian Rayner

Partner Business Manager

Neil Isserow

VMware Senior Technical Account Manager and Newsletter Editor

TRAINING SCHEDULE

Tinyurl.com/au7z3cr

- VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design [V5.x] 21-23 Aug

- VMware vSphere: Troubleshooting Workshop [V5.1] 02-06 Sept

VMWARE BLOGGERS

VMware Virtualization Management Blog: vCenter Operations Management Tech Tips: Tip #5 – Building a Dashboard for an Application Owner (https://blogs.vmware.com/management/?p=1343)Hi folks, Here is tech tip #5 in our vCenter Operations Management Tech Tips series! In the first 3 tips, we gave you the tools to make better use of your vCenter Operations Manager. By following the steps in the first three videos (check out Tips #1 , #2 , and #3 ) you will be able to build business applications, better label your resources through tag groups and apply your key performance indicators to better meet your SLAs. Last week, in tech tip #4 , we used the data extracted from vCenter Server to…

VMware for Small-Medium Business Blog: Keep it Simple: The Next Step in Virtualization. Join VMware and HP for 7/31 #vSMBChat! (http://blogs.vmware.com/smb/?p=1890)Virtualization is the single most effective way for businesses of all sizes to reduce IT expenses while boosting efficiency and agility. If you’ve been considering virtualization for your business, but have been unsure of where to get started – or if you’ve already benefitted from some virtualization and want to expand your adoption – be sure to attend our next #vSMBChat, “ Keep it Simple: The Next Step in Virtualization ,” co-hosted by HP on Wednesday, July 31 st at 11am PT ! Our co-hosts for…

VMware Virtualization Management Blog: Register For a Free Webinar and a Chance to Win a iPad! (http://blogs.vmware.com/management/?p=1340)If you’re struggling to keep up with IP addresses and DNS records in your virtual environment, attend this 60-minute webinar and learn how Infoblox Trinzic® DDI plus VMware vCloud Automation Center can help you: Scale services in real time Reduce time to value Support your next-generation virtual data center Use IT resources more efficiently During the webinar you’ll see how to use vCloud Automation Center with Trinzic DDI to automatically provision and deprovision virtual-machine IP addresses in…

VMware Accelerate: Aligning Priorities to Drive Growth (http://blogs.vmware.com/accelerate/?p=859)CIOs are under greater pressure than ever to deliver results tied to three primary business priorities: Driving and managing business growth, Managing IT and operational costs, and Building competitive differentiation for the organization. Security, governance, and compliance initiatives, like much of IT, are often seen as cost centers, rather than providing significant business benefits to the company. This infographic illustrates that by working closely with other C-level teams and aligning to…

VMware End User Computing: Are you Prepared for Your Next Test? (http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/?p=3427)by Geoffrey Murase, Solutions Marketing, VMware The push to move from paper and pencil to online testing for state assessments hit a bump in the road earlier this year when the Indiana Statewide Testing for Educational Progress Plus or “ISTEP+” state assessment program encountered some problems. Below is an excerpt from an NPR article that summarizes the incident: “On Monday, April 29, 2013, Indiana students in Grades 3-8 began taking online portions of the state’s standardized test, the ISTEP+.…

VMware vCloud Blog: In Case You Missed It: vCloud Hybrid Service Technical Deep-Dive Recap (http://blogs.vmware.com/vcloud/?p=2611)After our Google+ Hangout where we provided a technical deep-dive into the new vCloud Hybrid Service on July 16th, we hope that everyone is more familiar with our new hybrid cloud offering. Hosted by Mathew Lodge, Vice President of Cloud Services at VMware and joined by co-panelists Jerry Sanchez, Vice President of Hosting Operations at Planview, Greg Herzog, Architect of Cloud Hybrid Solutions and Rob Engle Systems Engineer of Cloud Hybrid Solutions, we took viewers into the minds of both creators and…

VMware Education & Certification Blog: Order your copy of The Official VCP5-DT Cert Guide today! (http://blogs.vmware.com/education/?p=1482)Pass your VCP-DT exam the first time! This is the first and only official guide to VMware’s new VMware Certified Professional – Desktop (VCP-DT) exam covering VMware and the fast-growing topic of desktop virtualization. Organized to follow VMware’s exam blueprint it’s complete with illustrations, tables, figures, screenshots, and realistic sample test questions – all designed to help you learn more, learn faster, and remember more of what you learned. Order your copy today: …

VMware Hands On Labs Blog: How to get access to Hands on Labs – New Self Registration Feature….. (http://blogs.vmware.com/hol/?p=222)Friends, Just wanted to let you know that we enabled the a new feature to allow users to Self Register. This feature is still under testing but we feel it is solid enough to release as experimental. A huge thanks to Mike D and Curtis P for putting this together for us. This will make life so much easier for all of us. Step 1. Go tohttp://www.projectnee.com/HOL Step 2. Enter your email, first name, last name. Step 3 . Verify your account. Please note: Notifications times will vary due to…

VMware Virtualization Management Blog: Being a CIO Isn’t Fair (http://blogs.vmware.com/management/?p=1335)In the latest installation of the Innovation series on the ReThink IT blog, Ramin Sayar, SVP of Products & Strategy and General Manager at VMware, talks with several CIOs who are moving from defense to offense and transforming their IT roles in order to better align with the business and drive change. What’s the common thread here? The infrastructure – the stage on which the business performs. These savvy CIOs understand the needs of their business. They understand how to link technologies such as…

VMworld Blog: Twitter and Hashtags for VMworld 2013 (http://www.vmworld.com/blogs/vmworld/2013/07/24/twitter-and-hashtags-for-vmworld-2013)Twitter takes center stage once again at VMworld 2013. With global audiences tuning into VMworld, Twitter can provide realtime information for announcements, show highlights, trending conversations and insights. Be aware of how to connect with VMworld information on Twitter for quick access to knowledge, resources and networking with other Twitter users. Conference Hashtags #vmworld > add to your tweets for maximum reach #vmworld3word > add to creative 3-word tweets Session & Lab Hashtags This…

VMware vCloud Blog: VMworld 2013 Predictions and Must-See Events – Join Us For Our Next #cloudtalk! (http://blogs.vmware.com/vcloud/?p=2601)For the past 10 years, VMworld has grown into one of the largest virtualization and cloud computing events in the world. With an expected attendance of 21,000, VMworld 2013 looks to be no different. Attendees from all over the world come to VMworld to gain the tools they need to transform conventional remedies into seamless, agile solutions, which can dramatically simplify their operations and provide unmatched business advantages. Are you ready for VMworld? During our next #cloudtalk on Tuesday, July 30…

VMware Network Virtualization Blog: Network Virtualization In Action: Phoenix NAP (http://blogs.vmware.com/networkvirtualization/?p=207)Phoenix NAP ® is a full service data center and primary network access point (NAP) offering cloud services, dedicated server hosting, colocation, and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). William Bell, vice president of product development, cloud and enterprise services at Phoenix NAP, tells us that the company has implemented VMware network virtualization as a business-critical component of their new Virtual Private Data Center (VPDC). “Network virtualization forms the foundation of everything else…

VMware Cloud Ops Blog: Automated Development and Test in Private Cloud: Join VMUG CloudOps SIG Webinar 7/25 (http://blogs.vmware.com/cloudops/?p=397)Are you an IT practitioner considering private cloud? Hear from VMware IT leadership about what they learned using VMware products to build a private cloud on SDDC architecture. They will discuss how they transformed people, process, organization, structure, governance and financial model to make VMware’s private cloud IaaS successful. This Thursday, join Venkat Gopalakrishnan, Director of the Software Defined Data Center (SDDC) and IT Transformation Initiatives, and Kurt Milne, Director of the VMware…

VMware Virtualization Management Blog: Cloud Automation ROI – The Cost of Unauthorized Usage (http://blogs.vmware.com/management/?p=1329)Unauthorized usage sounds like a security breach or something illegal. However, I’m not talking about anything that malicious. In fact, resources intended for one purpose can easily be consumed by others simply because they are available and not being used. Consumption of IT resources should not be governed by “first come, first served” principles . Unfortunately, virtualization alone makes the process of unintended consumption even easier than before. Companies we work with often tell us 5-10%…

vSphere PowerCLI Blog: Managing VDS with PowerCLI (https://blogs.vmware.com/vipowershell/?p=1477)With the release of vSphere 5.0 and 5.1 I have seen people become more confident with using the vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS), this is probably due to some of the great new features that make the switch not only easier to manage but also less error prone when configuring, more manageable from the backup/restore point of view and top this off with some great new features and I can see why people are moving to the VDS from other existing visualized switching configurations. Some great examples of these…

VMware Education & Certification Blog: Question of the Week: VCP5-DCV (http://blogs.vmware.com/education/?p=1666)This week’s “Question of the Week” comes from the VMware Certified Professional 5-Data Center Virtualization (VCP5-DCV) Official Study Guide . Which of following is provided by VMware as a last resort to troubleshoot issues that cannot be resolved through more normal means? a. vCLI b. vSphere Client c. TSM d. PowerCLI See below for the answer Not sure of the answer? You can learn more about this topic in our VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage course. Answer: c. TSM

VMware Consulting Blog: Are You Ready To Get The Most Out Of VMworld? (http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/?p=663)Since the sessions for VMware 2013 were announced, we’ve been highlighting a few favorites from our Professional Services Consultants and Service Architects each week. The planner will be launching soon, and with 350+ sessions this year, we imagine you’ll be carefully laying out your schedule in the coming weeks. This week we recommend you check in with David Hill about building a hybrid cloud and Wade Holmes about software-defined storage. And don’t miss our earlier recommendations in the …

VMware Security Blog: VMware CP&C releases NERC Unix Compliance toolkit in VCM! (http://blogs.vmware.com/security/?p=753)The VMware Center for Policy & Compliance (CP&C) is pleased to announce the availability of The North American Electric Reliability Corporation ( NERC ) UNIX compliance toolkit in VMware vCenter Configuration Manager ( VCM ), a key component in the VMware vCenter Operations Suite. ( vC Ops ). The toolkit is aligned with CIP version 4 for Cyber Security. Rules mapped to CIP section nos. for easy traceability Rules for AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, RHEL 5 and RHEL 6 4 collection filter sets containing 92…

Office of the CTO Blogs: The Mobile Workforce Era (http://cto.vmware.com/?p=2085)I recently had the pleasure of hosting and moderating an engaging panel on the Mobile Workforce Era at MobileBeat 2013 conference in San Francisco. MobileBeat is VentureBeat’s flagship conference on Mobile computing and how these technologies are evolving in both the consumer and business spaces. We had a diverse panel made up of Raj Singh (CEO, Tempo AI), Chris Hazelton (analyst from the451 Research), and Suzan Pickett (manager systems engineering at Columbia Sportswear). We discussed mobile computing…

VMwareTV: Business Transformation: Mid-Market Customers (tag:youtube.com,2008:video:AVcvu9UMOvk)Business Transformation: Mid-Market Customers Discover how Mid-Market organizations have transformed their Business Operations by implementing VMware solutions. "We needed another way to get there becaus... From: vmwaretv Views: 19 0 ratings Time: 02:51 More in Science & Technology

VMwareTV: Helping Planview Grow New Business Opportunities in the Cloud (tag:youtube.com,2008:video:9M92LSCBlhI)Helping Planview Grow New Business Opportunities in the Cloud Planview is looking at VMware vCloud Hybrid Service to offload backup and infrastructure management so they can focus on developing their SaaS products. From: vmwaretv Views: 46 0 ratings Time: 02:47 More in Science & Technology

VMwareTV: MobileBeat 2013 - Mobile Workforce Era Panel (tag:youtube.com,2008:video:Ri3IJkZcqjk)MobileBeat 2013 - Mobile Workforce Era Panel Mobile Workforce Era panel discussion at MobileBeat 2013 conference in San Francisco, focusing on mobile computing and particularly the impact mobility is ha... From: vmwaretv Views: 0 0 ratings Time: 48:24 More in Science & Technology

vCO Team: How to run a PERL Script from a vCenter Orchestrator Workflow (http://www.vcoteam.info/learn-vco/how-to-run-a-perl-script-from-a-vcenter-orchestrator-workflow.html)The goal of this tutorial is to create a simple workflow with a single string input that will be passed to a locally hosted PERL script for execution. The results of the script will be returned to vCO and stored in the workflow output. This could come in handy if you have existing systems that already have PERL based management scripts and you wish to incorporate their automation into your Orchestration policies. Concepts Covered In this tutorial The following concepts will be covered: Enabling Local…

VMwareTV: Part 3- Building the Workforce of the Future (tag:youtube.com,2008:video:A56asnkyRF8)Part 3- Building the Workforce of the Future Learn more about VMware's IT transformation journey in this three-part interview with VMware VP of IT Paul Chapman and Accelerate strategist Mark Sarago. From: vmwaretv Views: 9 0 ratings Time: 03:25 More in Science & Technology

VMwareTV: Part 2- The Foundation of the Software-Defined Data Center (tag:youtube.com,2008:video:5uRH3TWpOBQ)Part 2- The Foundation of the Software-Defined Data Center Learn more about VMware's IT transformation journey in this three-part interview with VMware VP of IT Paul Chapman and Accelerate strategist Mark Sarago. From: vmwaretv Views: 22 0 ratings Time: 06:02 More in Science & Technology

EXTERNAL BLOGGERS

vSAN vs. ScaleIO – fight! (http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2013/07/vsan-vs-scaleio-fight.html)[updated July 25th, 2013, 2:00pm ET – edits/corrections] I guess I’m not immune to the temptation for the inflammatory blog post title :-) Over the last week, I’ve gotten a lot of “vSAN and ScaleIO seem similar – I don’t...

Psst. Secret info now available. (http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2013/07/psst-secret-info-now-available.html)EMC SEs in my team get a quarterly training package which is about 6-10 hours of content. It’s structured to inform our field BEFORE things arrive. This is one of three major parts how we continually train and hone skills...

Updating from ESXi 5.1 to ESXi 5.1 Update1 with PowerCLI (http://www.virtu-al.net/?p=2883)Recently I was asked by someone how they could do rolling automated updates from ESXi 5.1 to ESX 5.1 Update 1 in their environment using PowerCLI, obviously there are a number of ways to achieve this and William Lam did a great job of showing these in this blog including a piece of sample PowerCLI [...] Updating from ESXi 5.1 to ESXi 5.1 Update1 with PowerCLI is a post from: Virtu-Al . Virtu-Al is one of the authors of VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference: Automating vSphere Administration" Buy it now…

Disabling Netflow with PowerCLI (http://www.virtu-al.net/?p=2876)Today I was asked if there was a script to disable Netflow on a VDPortgroup, the below was a couple of quick and dirty scripts to first of all list all VDPortgroups and if they have Netflow enabled, the second was to disable Netflow for a VDPortgroup or a number of VDPortgroups. This may help [...] Disabling Netflow with PowerCLI is a post from: Virtu-Al . Virtu-Al is one of the authors of VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference: Automating vSphere Administration" Buy it now from: Amazon USA Amazon UK Sybex…

vCenter Operations and the Quest for the Missing Metrics (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2403-guid.html)

Sample configuration of EtherChannel / Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) with ESXi/ESX and Cisco/HP switches (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2402-guid.html)

Cool Mac Tool - ClamXav (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2401-guid.html)

VMware Knowledge Base (KB) - Linux 2.6 kernel-based virtual machines experience slow disk I/O performance (2011861) (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2400-guid.html)

Video - Snapshot Best Practices (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2399-guid.html)

Cool Mac Tool - muCommander (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2398-guid.html)

Cool App - Prowl: Growl Client (http://www.ntpro.nl/blog/archives/2397-guid.html)

Hardening recommendation to set limits on VMs or Resource Pools? (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/?p=13136)I received this question last week about a recommendation which was in the vSphere 5.1 Hardening Guide. The recommendation in the vSphere 5.1 Hardening Guide is the following: By default, all virtual machines on an ESXi host share the resources equally. By using the resource management capabilities of ESXi, such as shares and limits, you … … Continue reading → " Hardening recommendation to set limits on VMs or Resource Pools? " originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com . Follow me on twitter…

ESXi 5.x not recognizing larger than 2TB volumes? (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/?p=13132)Just a short article, as it is something that is still coming up. Today someone asked me why his ESXi 5.x host wasn’t showing this local 4TB volume. It took me a couple seconds before I realized what the issue was, but the problem they were hitting was the fact that the driver used for … … Continue reading → " ESXi 5.x not recognizing larger than 2TB volumes? " originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com . Follow me on twitter - @DuncanYB. Looking for a VMware Training ? Sign up for a Free 3…

VMworld Expert Program, get with it! (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/?p=13123)For the last couple of years we had an Expert Program at VMworld. I was designated as an “knowledge expert” in 2012 and 2011 and as part of the expert program I delivered various “Group Discussion” sessions and did 1:1′s with customers. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, this program is typically opened up for scheduling after … … Continue reading → " VMworld Expert Program, get with it! " originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com . Follow me on twitter - @DuncanYB. Looking for a…

Guess the VMworld band aka #VMworldBand (http://www.yellow-bricks.com/?p=13107)It is that time of the year again, guess the VMworld band! So lets join the fun, the “first” correct guess will be rewarded with the opportunity to meet the band that you choose before the VMworld party on Wednesday August 28th at AT&T Park aka home of the Giants! Founded in a previous VMworld … … Continue reading → " Guess the VMworld band aka #VMworldBand " originally appeared on Yellow-Bricks.com . Follow me on twitter - @DuncanYB. Looking for a VMware Training ? Sign up for a…

Top 5 Tips for monitoring applications in a Virtual Environment (http://vsphere-land.com/?p=3982)The focus on applications often gets lost in the shuffle when implementing virtualization which is unfortunate because if you look at any server environment its sole purpose is really to serve applications. No matter what hardware, hypervisor or operating system is used, ultimately it all comes down to being able to run applications that serve [...]

Technology Short Take #34 (http://blog.scottlowe.org/?p=3227)This is Technology Short Take #34, my latest collection of links and articles on core data center technologies. Here's hoping you find something useful! This article was originally posted on blog.scottlowe.org . Visit the site for more information on virtualization, servers, storage, and other enterprise technologies. Technology Short Take #34

Reducing the Friction: Processing E-Mail, Part 2 (http://blog.scottlowe.org/?p=3225)My "Reducing the Friction" series continues after a short hiatus with another look at processing e-mail. This article was originally posted on blog.scottlowe.org . Visit the site for more information on virtualization, servers, storage, and other enterprise technologies. Reducing the Friction: Processing E-Mail, Part 2

Have Your BCP and DR Plans Tested Before the Earth Moves (http://longwhiteclouds.com/?p=2195)The earthquakes yesterday in Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand, brings back vivid memories of the devastating earthquakes of Christchurch and Japan a couple of years ago, which both countries are still recovering from. The earthquakes in Wellington were quite severe, with the biggest quake recorded at 6.5 with others of 5.7, 5.8 and [...]

The Secret to Success when Virtualizing Business Critical Apps (http://longwhiteclouds.com/?p=2182)My main mission in my work and in my blog is to help customers successfully virtualize business critical apps without compromising SLA’s, while reducing risk, and gaining the economic and operational benefits of virtualization. I very often see customers attempting to virtualize their business critical apps and taking the exact same approach as they did [...]

KB DIGEST ARTICLES

VMware ESXi
ESXi 5.x user privileges do not take effect (2036068)
Date Published: 7/16/2013
ESXi/ESX host boot halts with the error: Error panic:cannot open b.z (2044512)
Date Published: 7/17/2013
Enabling FTP and configuring a passthrough networking device with a subsequent reboot of the host might result in failure of ESXi hosts with a purple screen (2054859)
Date Published: 7/18/2013
ESX 5.1 attempts to use VAAI when copying between two LUNs on different storage arrays (2055623)
Date Published: 7/19/2013
vSwitch Failback and Failover Order settings do not persist when applying a host profile (2055633)
Date Published: 7/17/2013
VMXNET3 resets frequently when RSS is enabled in a multi vCPU Windows virtual machine (2055853)
Date Published: 7/17/2013
Implementing vSphere Metro Storage Cluster using HP 3PAR StoreServ Peer Persistence (2055904)
Date Published: 7/17/2013
Shutting down a Windows guest OS displays a message in the event log: vmx returned Autoupgrade is not supported for guest.initiateUpgradeAtShutdown (2044176)
Date Published: 7/18/2013
Enabling or disabling CsumOffload,TcpSegmentation and ZeroCopyXmit in a vSwitch (2055689)
Date Published: 7/18/2013
Missing realtime data in datastore Performance Charts when the datastore cluster has more than 10 datastores (2055279)
Date Published: 7/15/2013
Setting a device passthrough to the virtual machine fails with the error: Device 4:0.1 is already in use (2055550)
Date Published: 7/18/2013