michaelcolson.com » virtualcenter http://www.michaelcolson.com Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:54:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 New Features in ESX 3.1 and VirtualCenter 2.1 http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/08/09/new-features-esx-31-virtualcenter-21/ http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/08/09/new-features-esx-31-virtualcenter-21/#comments Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:04:54 +0000 michael http://www.michaelcolson.com/?p=62 There are some new features on the horizon for the VMware Virtual Infrastructure in the latest releases of ESX 3.1 and VirtualCenter 2.1.  Although we haven’t officially seen anything on these releases the buzz is that we can expect to see some if not all of the following.

Solid State Drive (SSD) boot . . . → Read More: New Features in ESX 3.1 and VirtualCenter 2.1]]> There are some new features on the horizon for the VMware Virtual Infrastructure in the latest releases of ESX 3.1 and VirtualCenter 2.1.  Although we haven’t officially seen anything on these releases the buzz is that we can expect to see some if not all of the following.

  • Solid State Drive (SSD) boot support  As initially discovered last month, VMware will make available a special version of ESX Server (mentioned with terms like ESX Lite and Embedded ESX) for OEM vendors, to be installed into bootable Solid State storage devices (flash drives, etc.). This option will allow creation of ESX Server hardware appliances for easy jumpstart, granting smaller form-factors and improved reliability.  Dell, IBM and possibly other vendors will offer this option at announcement time in Q3 2007.
  • DMotion  Unofficially introduced with ESX Server 3.0.1, in its first version DMotion is a special VMotion operation only capable of moving running virtual machines from an ESX Server 2.5.x host to a new ESX Server 3.x., without shared SAN LUN mandatory requirement.  In ESX Server 3.1 this capability will be extended, allowing hot migration of running virtual machines between ESX 3.1 hosts through the Ethernet cable.
  • Patch management system for host and virtual machines (UpdateManager)  ESX Server 3.1 will finally introduce an automated patch management system called UpdateManager. This solution will be able to update both host itself and virtual machines (both Microsoft Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux).  UpdateManager will feature security backup before patching and automated rollback if something goes wrong.
  • VMware Consolidate Backup (VCB) and VMware Converter integration  VirtualCenter 2.1 will now allow restoring VCB images with an integrated version of VMware Converter.
  • Server consolidation advisor  VirtualCenter 2.1 will expose a server consolidation assistant able to analyze which physical machines should be converted in virtual ones, and where to move existing VMs among available hosts.  (note that with this feature VMware is further extending competition with PlateSpin, covering both features with PowerRecon and PowerConvert)
  • Guest OS disaster recovery capability  VirtualCenter 2.1 will be able to recognize a failure inside a virtual machine and restart it through VMware HA module.
  • Power saving capability (Distributed Power Management)  VirtualCenter 2.1 will introduce a new resources utilization analysis feature, able to verify when a physical host can be powered off, VMotion-ing its virtual machines on other hosts without impacting performances.
  • Support for Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)  VirtualCenter 2.1 will be able to recognize and use CDP to discover physical and virtual network topologies.  It stays unconfirmed if ESX Server 3.1 will already expose new virtual network architecture, allowing 3rd party virtual switches, as it will be announced by Cisco CEO at VMworld 2007.
  • Support for 10Gbit Ethernet network cards
  • Support for TCP/IP Offload Engine (TOE) network cards
  • Support for network load balancing algorithms
  • Support for 200 hosts and 2000 virtual machines
  • Support for 128GB RAM per host and for 64GB RAM per virtual machine
  • Support for SATA storage devices
  • Support for N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)
  • Support for VCB over iSCSI SANs
  • Support for IPv6 in virtual networking
]]> http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/08/09/new-features-esx-31-virtualcenter-21/feed/ 0 VirtualCenter 2 with SQL Server 2005 http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/07/30/virtualcenter-2-sql-2005/ http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/07/30/virtualcenter-2-sql-2005/#comments Mon, 30 Jul 2007 12:52:35 +0000 michael http://www.michaelcolson.com/?p=61 VMware now officially supports running the VirtualCenter database on SQL Server 2005.  As you may have expected there are a few caveats and a handful of configuration items you need to take into consideration.  However, for the most part this is great news and will allow you to *finally* get rid of those SQL . . . → Read More: VirtualCenter 2 with SQL Server 2005]]> VMware now officially supports running the VirtualCenter database on SQL Server 2005.  As you may have expected there are a few caveats and a handful of configuration items you need to take into consideration.  However, for the most part this is great news and will allow you to *finally* get rid of those SQL Server 2000 servers.

  • The account used by VC to access the database must be set as the owner of the database and must also have the db_owner rights to the database.
  • The only supported ODBC driver is the older “SQL Server” driver, the newer “SQL Native Client” is not yet supported by VMware.

For a new installation of VirtualCenter with a SQL Server 2005 back end follow these basic steps:

  1. Launch the SQL Management Studio and connect to the desired server and instance.
  2. Create a new login (vclogin) for VirtualCenter to use.
  3. Create a new database (VCDB) and remember to set the owner to vclogin.
    • This action should have mapped vclogin to the dbo on the VCDB database.
  4. Modify the vclogin settings and change the default database to VCDB.
  5. Install VirtualCenter.
]]> http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/07/30/virtualcenter-2-sql-2005/feed/ 0 Running VirtualCenter in a Virtual Machine http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/05/03/running-virtualcenter-in-a-virtual-machine/ http://www.michaelcolson.com/2007/05/03/running-virtualcenter-in-a-virtual-machine/#comments Thu, 03 May 2007 13:30:56 +0000 michael http://mcolson.wordpress.com/?p=53 Running VirtualCenter in a virtual machine is fully supported by VMware to the same degree as if it were installed on a physical server. There are several reasons why deploying VirtualCenter in a virtual machine would be advantageous:

Server Consolidation: instead of dedicating an entire physical server to VirtualCenter, you can run it . . . → Read More: Running VirtualCenter in a Virtual Machine]]> Running VirtualCenter in a virtual machine is fully supported by VMware to the same degree as if it were installed on a physical server. There are several reasons why deploying VirtualCenter in a virtual machine would be advantageous:

  • Server Consolidation: instead of dedicating an entire physical server to VirtualCenter, you can run it in a virtual machine along with others on the same ESX Server host.
  • Mobility: by encapsulating the VirtualCenter server in a virtual machine, you can transfer it from one host to another, enabling maintenance and other activities.
  • Snapshots: A snapshot of the VirtualCenter virtual machine can be used for backup, archiving, and other similar purposes.
  • Availability: using VMware HA, you can provide high availability for the VirtualCenter server
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