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vReference card for vSphere 4.1

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 13 July 2010

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that vSphere 4.1 arrived last week.  To be honest, I had presumed we wouldn’t see its appearance until VMworld this year.

Normally by now I would be in overdrive, feverishly squeezing out every little change I could find to blog about.  However, unlike my productive blogging comrades I’m extremely busy with a couple of other projects, which is eating up all my spare time.  And its going to be like this for a few months.

I’d like to update my vReference Card for vSphere 4.1 as soon as possible, but with the extra workload I probably won’t have the time for a few weeks (don’t worry, I definitely will be doing this – its only a short interlude).  Fortunately, as Simon Long discovered, the VCP is going to based on vSphere 4.0 for the foreseeable future so no panics yet.

In the meantime, if you’d like to lend a hand and help get the updated vReference card our the door as soon as possible, I’d love the support.  Just leave a note in the comments below, with the section title and the update.  Or if its a new feature, try to summarize it in as short and pithy a way as possible.

I let you know about one of my extra curricular projects as soon as I’m comfortable sharing, but trust me its a doozey and one that I hope you agree will benefit the VMware community :)

Oh, and for those always looking for some new bit of information, I couldn’t help myself.  I haven’t see this 4.1 addition mentioned anywhere else:

Failed Boot Recovery in Boot Options on VM’s settings.

Design factors

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 16 June 2010

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the basic process we go through when designing an infrastructure solution, the choices we make, and why we make them.

These processes may be carefully structured within well-formed and trusted architectural frameworks, or they may be the sort of inherent thoughts that whiz through your mind when someone asks for your opinion on a pressing matter.

Regardless of the depth and scope of the project in front of you, I think the design questions you ask are often the same.

I have been reading what some VMware experts (along with other non-VMware related sources) have to say to this, and have tried to collate a list for myself.  I looked to identify what it is we consider, without overloading it so it stays nibble, but documented nonetheless to clarify each step.  As I said, these are scraped and cross-referenced from many people and sources (unfortunately too many to remember now), so I make no assertion that this all came to me in a glorious epiphany.

Here is what I have come up with so far. When looking at each decision within the design, these are the factors I would like myself to think through:

  • what is the feature/component/technology and what is its place in the overarching solution
  • options within the feature – why you need to make a decision
  • assumptions
  • requirements to use it (prerequisites)
  • constraints when you do use it
  • what is considered best practice (even though it may not be the right choice in this particular circumstance)
  • impact of using (ramifications/consequence) – cost/availability/performance (including impact on other areas)
    • positive (benefits) – justified?
    • negative (drawbacks) – how to mitigate (if possible) – risks
  • impact of not using (ramifications/consequence) – cost/availability/performance (including impact on other areas)
    • positive (benefits) – justified?
    • negative (drawbacks) – how to mitigate (if possible) – risks

What do you think? These are not the pieces to create a whole design, just the considerations for each and every decision.  I’d love to hear your comments and suggestions for improving this.

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vExpert 2010

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 8 June 2010

I can proudly proclaim that I have just been awarded VMware’s luminary award, the vExpert designation.  Yipee.  What an honour to be associated with such a fine bunch of individuals.  Thank you to all involved.

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vSphere card 2.2 now in poster size

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 1 June 2010

Mr Dudley Smith is on a roll today.  I passed on a request from Jason Boig for my updated vSphere 4 reference card (version 2.2) to be blown up to poster size.

Less than one hour later Dudley emailed it back to me.  Help yourself.  Thanks Dudley.

Update: and the Desktop Card as a poster as well.

Firewall diagram – version 6

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 1 June 2010

Dudley Smith has just release an updated version of his great Firewall Diagram, formatted for poster-size printing (2′ x3′):

ConnectionsPorts-v6.pdf

Grab it while it’s fresh.

Update: Dudley has just updated it to correct this issue.


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Hello Planet V12n – again :)

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 31 May 2010
It seems that my blog fell off Planet V12n a month or two ago.  I just want to let all the Planet readers know that during my hiatus I posted some new resources to vReference that I thought everyone might be interested in:

A new vReference card – View & ThinApp

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 6 May 2010

I have finished condensing, consolidating, compacting, compressing and thoroughly concentrating the rest of the Desktop Notes I made available last month.  Here is a first release for my new vReference card.

This card is created for VMware’s enterprise level Desktop Virtualization products, namely VMware View 4.0 and VMware ThinApp 4.5.  Thankfully there are is still a small amount of space left on the card, so if you feel that there are some area’s which I haven’t done enough justice to, then please let me know.  This whole area is a rapidly evolving one, so I can imagine new versions and products filling any white space before I know it.

A lot of work has gone into this card over the last few months, so I hope its helpful.  Its been interesting learning about these two products, but I’m always happy to learn more.  So if you have any suggestions for improving this resource for everyone, then let us know in the comments.

Go and grab it.

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Updated vSphere and esxtop PDFs

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 20 April 2010

Just to let you all know I’ve updated both my vSphere 4 card and my esxtop precis to versions 2.2 and 1.2 respectively.  I realized that both were long overdue an update.

The vSphere 4 card just has a few small corrections that the readers have spotted and some updated links. Its been about 6 months since I uploaded the current version, so I can’t remember all changes, but there nothing too drastic.

The esxtop precis has had the slightly more noticeable changes.  I’ve updated a couple of the thresholds to keep it in line with Duncan’s sage advice.  I also added in the great tip of the keypad numbers 2, 4, 6 & 8 (see the card for what they do), as these are both useful and nice and easy to remember (so I might actually use them).

So no big changes, but if your about to print yourself off a new card, make sure its one of these new shiny ones :)

Free Desktop Virtualization (ThinApp/View) Notes now available

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 16 April 2010

Here are some new notes for VMware’s desktop virtualization products, both ThinApp 4.5 and View 4.0.  It’s in the same style as my popular vSphere 4 notes, and you can download them now.

If like me, you know your way around the more mainstream VMware datacenter products, but need to find out what all this Desktop kerfuffle is about, then hopefully this will get you up to speed in double-quick time. All this free goodness comes just squeezed into around 20 pages of terse, non-nonsense facts.

Grab them here.

I’m in the process of creating a special desktop reference card, covering just View and ThinApp, and wanted to share my notes along the way. I’ve already completed the View sections and have just started condensing, consolidating, compacting, compressing and thoroughly concentrating the ThinApp section. So remember these notes are really just a byproduct, but hopefully some of you might find them useful. The real prize is coming soon so keep checking back frequently.

The notes cover the following official VMware documents:

VMware View 4.0.0

  • View Architecture Planning Guide
  • View Upgrade Guide
  • View Manager Administration Guide
  • Getting Started with VMware View
  • Command-Line Tool for View Manager
  • Extending Virtual Machine Deletion with Scripts
  • View Manager 4.0.1 Release Notes

VMware ThinApp 4.5

  • ThinApp User’s Guide
  • ThinApp Virtual Registry

Grab the Desktop notes here.

Spanish vSphere book

By
Forbes Guthrie
 – 16 April 2010

A while ago I mentioned that my friend Jose Maria Gonzalez had released a new vSphere 4 book in Spanish.  Well, he was kind enough to send me a copy of this and I thought I would let everyone know a little more about it.

The book is loosely divided into 12 chapters (although chapter 4 was incognito on my copy – perhaps that’s secret 102), covering a full range of vSphere topics:

    1. VCP4 certification
    2. Installation
    3. Networking
    5. Storage
    6. vCenter Server
    7. Virtual Machines
    8. Permissions
    9. Resource Management
    10. Monitoring and Performance
    11. High Availability
    12. Miscellaneous

This compact guide is further broken down to exactly 101 topics across the chapters.  It provides a good introduction to anyone new to vSphere, easy enough for novices to pickup and get stuck in.  It concentrates on the GUI, with lots of appropriate screenshots and diagrams to supplement the text.

There are a smattering of handy little tips, spread throughout which will give the more seasoned VMware type a reason to read on.  However this book is definitely focused at newcomers.

So, if you know any Spanish speaking IT professionals looking to venture into the vSphere world, this is a great introduction.

101 Secrets in VMware vSphere is available in both electronic and printed book format.

There’s never been a better time to brush up on your Spanish!

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