VM Install

VMware for Beginners & Virtualization Basics

ITSM for VirtualizationWhat’s the difference between deploying a service versus installing a software technology?

A lot!

For example think about what you expect from companies that provide you with water, electricity, and telephone services (now you’re getting close).

What’s ITSM for Virtualization?

As an infrastructure manager, over the years I’ve had virtualization admins and engineers tell me how quickly they can install a new technology such as VMware View…

… and for the most part they were telling the truth.  Heck, even I can follow the instructions to set up VMware View.

But that’s not delivering a quality service, its installing software.

And the difference between service delivery and software installation is huge!

Here’s what I mean…

Using our example of VMware View, delivering a VDI service goes well beyond installing a couple of packages on a server and then deploying a few virtual desktops.

Moreover, it’s about assessing the scope and use cases that may require various tweaks and alterations for each business unit (or department).

It’s about matching the look and feel of the existing physical desktops so users are not confused.

And it’s about testing and validating the application stack to ensure all the applications will still work once they are running on a VDI instance verses physical hardware with dedicated memory, CPU, hard drive and a network adapter.

No! A service is much more than installing cool software.

Consider our VDI example again.

In a proper service delivery project, a network traffic… Continue reading

Virtualization, a Beginners Guide

About Virtualization, A Beginner’s Guide

I came across an interesting book today, Virtualization, A Beginner’s Guide,  that seems like an interesting read for those new to the virtualization topic and are investigating which solution is best for their business or IT needs.

Here’s what authors Daniel Ruest & Nelson Ruest have to say about their book:

Transform your IT infrastructure into a leaner, greener datacenter with expert guidance from a pair of industry professionals.

5 Step Deployment Plan

Through clear explanations, examples, and a five-step deployment plan, Virtualization: A Beginner’s Guide shows you how to maximize the latest technologies from Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware.

Consolidate your servers, set up virtual machines and applications, and manage virtual desktop environments.

You’ll also learn how to implement reliable security, monitoring, and backup procedures.

Migrate to a dynamic, on-demand data delivery platform!

“If you’re looking to hit the ground running with any virtualization project, large or small, this book is going to give you the start you need, and along the way will offer you some cautionary tales that will even take some seasoned virtualization veterans by surprise.” –From the foreword by Chris Wolf, Senior Analyst, Burton Group

Key Takeaways:

  •  Select a virtualization platform and develop roll out plans
  • Perform pre-deployment network and workstation tests
  • Configure virtual machines, storage devices, and workloads
  • Set up and secure a fully virtualized and highly available server environment
  • Manage a centralized, on-demand application delivery framework
  • Handle volatile and… Continue reading

vsphere daily monitoring checksManaging and supporting various vSphere environments over the years has given me a binoculars view of what vSphere monitoring checks are best for keeping ESXi hosts healthy and VMs at peak performance.

And, now that most IT departments have realized that cramming as many VMs as possible onto a host is not a good or best practice, it’s easier to justify health and performance over virtual machine density relative to return on investment.

Think of your vSphere as a STACK

From the bottom up, you have (physical stack):

  • network switches, VLANs, interfaces and connections
  • storage units, LUNs, and spindles
  • server hardware, memory, CPUs, hard drives
  • ESXi
  • vCenter & client
  • databases
  • monitoring tools

Then there’s virtual resources such as (virtual stack):

  • vSwitches
  • datastore
  • clusters
  • virtual hardware
  • resource pools
  • vCloud Director

And finally on top of that are (platform stack):

  • VMs
  • OS
  • Middleware
  •  vApps and Apps.

Most health and performance problems normally originate at the physical stack (in networking, storage, or server hardware) and affect the virtual stack.

For example:

Poor network performance on all the VMs sharing a vSwitch that is connected via a NIC to an oversubscribed network switch.

or

Poor performance on all the VMs that share the same oversubscribed storage LUN.

or

Poor performance on all the VMs that share the same oversubscribed server hardware.

7 vSphere Monitoring Recommendations

  1. Monitoring networking to ensure there are no switches or ports that are oversubscribed due to too many… Continue reading

virtualization basics on VMinstallAs a part 2 follow up for my recent blog post VMware for Beginners, this post is a collection of tips (and views) I’ve written for the broader virtualization audience.

What’s the difference you might ask?

The difference is virtualization basics focuses on the big picture (design, tools, management, etc).

In this collection, I share what’s important for infrastructure managers as well as give advice on related topics that might come into play as a vSphere virtual environment grows in size, functionality and complexity.

There’s also a list of useful tools I’ve reviewed.

Let’s dig in….

Virtualization Basics is NOT for Dummies!

why virtualization fails - virtualization basics1. Why Virtualization Fails: 3 Non-Technical Culprits – In this article I’ve shared 3 non-technical problems that contribute to the difficulties faced in managing virtualization. These culprits are: Cowboys, Free-for-Alls (chaos), and Unrealistic Expectations.

2. vSphere Operations Management Tasks: What to Expect – Operations Management doesn’t get any clearer than this. I’ve listed 20 duties related to supporting and maintaining a health vSphere environment.

3. Server Consolidation: Biting Off Too Much Is Risky – In this post I offer 11 tips for project managers leading server consolation projects. A must read if you are just kicking off a server consolidation project.

4. Busting Virtualization Myths: Saves Money, Hardware, Resources, Time, Its Free and Easy – All joking aside, I think this was one of my best articles. It’s definitely a must read for beginners who haven’t already made the… Continue reading

VMware Engineer Duties spread too thin

Too Many VMware Engineer Duties

Recently in an interview for a job, I was asked the question by a panel member why I had written a book on hiring VMware Engineers and Administrators.

The answer is because many traditional IT managers don’t know what to look for when doing talent searches…

…but of course that is not what I told the interviewer, however; it is why I wrote the book!

TOO Many VMware Engineer Duties…

Don’t take my word for it, here’s the job listing for VMware Engineer Jobs to check for yourself.

While watching the job market, I’m amazed when I read job descriptions for VMware Engineers that go on, and on, and never seems to focus on the primary duties of what someone with the title should actually do.

Based on my own experience,  most job descriptions that are posted were written by the manager.

These managers want storage, network, hardware, antivirus, backup, active directory, Citrix XenApp, VDI and 100 other things that are an expertise of their own.

That’s why I wrote the VCP for Hire book, to provide managers with VMware Engineer and Administrator job roles, job descriptions, and list out qualifications for what they should look for depending on the size of their environment.

Good Grief!

vSphere is a cloud service that needs to be properly managed unless you want performance problems or outages.

Managing vSphere includes, but is not limited to: upgrades, updates, tunings, testing, evaluating,… Continue reading

Instant Chef Starter by John Ewart

Instant Chef Starter by John Ewart

Get Started Now!

“Instant Chef Starter” is a hands-on guide to managing your infrastructure.

You will learn the benefits of using Chef as well as how to install, configure, and use the set of tools provided.

The book will also cover developing recipes for use with Chef to install software and maintain configurations so managing dozens of servers is no more difficult than managing one.

About Instant Chef Starter

This book covers installing your own Chef server to manage your infrastructure and software configurations.

Discover where you can find existing templates for managing software packages and operating systems and then learn to write your own.

After you have done that, learn how to apply operations, execute scripts, and manage configurations across an entire network with only one command.

A practical guide to getting started with Chef, an indispensable tool for provisioning and managing your system’s infrastructure
Learn something new in an Instant! A short, fast, focused guide delivering immediate results.

Chef for Beginners

As any systems administrator will tell you, managing one server can be challenging, let alone a dozen or more.

With Chef, you can make managing dozens or even hundreds of servers manageable and learn how to configure and deploy new servers.

Learn how Chef fits into your infrastructure, install the software, build your own recipes, and provision servers with ease.

Build your own custom recipes

Get to grips with a new technology, understand what it is… Continue reading