Virtualization

Learn how to manage and secure virtual environments, stay current on virtualization news, and discover best practices for getting the most out of desktop and server virtualization.

Question

What's the best mobile app for managing VMware environments?

Posted April 16, 2012 - 3:27 pm

I need a mobile app for management of VMware environments. Normally, I would just use vSphere client, but I'm rocking a new Galaxy Note, and vSphere wont run on it. What is the best choice for an Android compatible app for managing VMware?
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Question

How can I access host maintenance mode for Hyper-V?

Posted March 21, 2012 - 11:16 am

I was asked this morning how to perform host maintenance on Hyper-V and my less than brillinat answer was, "Hmmm, I'm not sure." Does anyone know how to go about host maintenance using Hyper-V Manager?
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Question

How much of a challenge is it to upgrade VMFS datastores from VMFS-3 to VMFS-5?

Posted February 8, 2012 - 1:54 pm

Does anyone know how difficult it is to upgrade VMFS-3 partitions when updating to VMFS-5?
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Question

How do you monitor performance and capacity in a virtual environment?

Posted January 26, 2012 - 12:31 pm

How do you monitor performance and capacity in a virtual environment? I don't want to make educated guesses, and need to be able to demonstrate what we are getting for our virtualization investment in a comprehensive manner. What tools are available to make this task easier?
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Question

How does a business evaluate whether virtualization will benefit your company?

Posted January 20, 2012 - 3:50 pm

Virtualization is no longer an exotic term to most business, but neither has it been universally implemented, at least not by the majority of small business owners according to my informal survey at the Chamber of Commerce meeting yesterday.
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Question

What is the best method for virtual environment capacity planning?

Posted December 9, 2011 - 3:19 pm

The shared infrastucture of a virtual environment makes it a lot harder for me to plan capacity for than it is with a traditional server environment. The idea of virtualization is to efficiently use all of your resources, and this central concept is defeated if resources are unbalanced on a host.
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Question

What special steps do you take to ensure network security in a virtual environment?

Posted November 30, 2011 - 12:14 pm

Virtualization makes some things easier in life, but introduces new security issues as well. VMs can be in any location, and out of sight can mean out of control. It was easier when you could walk across an office and lay hands on an individual stationary machine.
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Question

How can I best mitigate performance degradation when a peak in storage I/O happens?

Posted November 17, 2011 - 5:40 pm

When sudden peak storage I/O happens, usually when we are at the end of a billing cycle, the performance of VMs goes down the tubes. Short of building a faster storage infrastructure, what can be done to mitigate this issue?
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Question

What tangible cost benefits has virtualization really provided for your business?

Posted November 10, 2011 - 12:56 pm

Implementing virtualization has not gone as I expected. Frankly it has been a serious drain of time and resources as we move forward with it. I hope the virtualized environment that will eventually be fully in place will be well worth the effort.
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Question

Is it time and cost effective to use virtualization to test functionality over different OSs?

Posted November 2, 2011 - 3:53 pm

We have one guy assigned to check the function of a new application when it is accessed by users on different operating systems.
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Question

Is there a cost effective way to use virtualization to test functionality over different OS?

Posted November 1, 2011 - 1:35 pm

We have one guy assigned to check the function/reliability of new applications when accessed by users on different operating systems. I would like for him to use one machine to do the testing, don't want to spend significant money, and want the testing to be done fairly quickly.
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Question

Is it safer to run Windows XP in a Citrix-style virtual desktop environment than just to run it normally on a PC?

Posted October 11, 2011 - 4:39 pm

There are many benefits to running Windows XP in a virtual desktop environment. For one, it makes deploying new images much easier and faster than having to update every desktop. Also it helps to control license usage.
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Question

Are there tools that can help us to virtualize databases without generating the additional cost of duplicate storage?

Posted September 26, 2011 - 5:02 pm

Virtualization is great for traditional application servers, since if a cpu is idle for one application, then others can utilize the available power. But what about database servers? We have to maintain similar storage for development, QA/testing, and production.
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Question

How to connect 2 servers via Virtual PC?

Posted September 8, 2011 - 3:06 pm

Is there anything special I need to do to get two virtual servers to speak to each other? I'm running Hyper-V and the servers are running Server 2008 R2.
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Question

Will Oracle keep VirtualBox? Is it safe to deploy for critical business functions?

Posted September 6, 2011 - 3:54 pm

How committed is Oracle to keeping VirtualBox running? Does it fit into their long-term strategies?
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Question

Is it better to dual-boot or run virtualized systems?

Posted August 26, 2011 - 11:12 am

I'm getting a new computer for running Windows 7 64-bit - YAY ME - and was wondering if there's a benefit to reformatting the drive into 2 partitions, and setting up one for Win7-64 and the other for Windows XP 32-bit. I have a couple of legacy apps I'm not ready to give up yet. Will XP run fine on a 64-bit machine?
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Question

Do I need to install Antivirus on every virtual instance?

Posted August 23, 2011 - 10:29 am

If I'm running a bunch of virtual servers off a virtual host, does each instance need to have antivirus installed, or can I get by with only installing the antivirus on the host server?
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Question

Is virtualization risky?

Posted August 18, 2011 - 4:37 pm

� A former IT staffer pleaded guilty to using a secret vSphere console to wipe out 15 VMware hosts running� multiple servers each.
http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/194445/fired-techie-created...
�
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Question

What is thin provisioning, and is it good or bad for our virtualization plans?

Posted August 17, 2011 - 11:53 am

Should virtual servers over-provision �storage, or is this a slippery slope to adding instabilities that could threaten our Hyper-V installation?
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Question

What's the benefit to using Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization over VMWare vSphere?

Posted August 17, 2011 - 10:28 am

Most of my experience with virtual servers has been with VMware, who are considered the market leaders for virtualization. I've been told to seek out some alternatives to compare since VMware recently changed their licensing agreements which will cost us a bunch more money. Are there any benefits to RHEV besides cost? Are there any problems?
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Question

Anyone have experience with third-party solutions for virtual infrastructure change auditing?

Posted August 16, 2011 - 2:40 pm

Basically, I need to know any time someone makes a change to ESX servers, folders, virtual machines, etc. for compliance purposes. I heard NetWrix Vmware Change Reporter and Quest Foglight are the best available—does anyone have any feedback on these solutions? This question was sent in by Lorenzo0o0
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Question

Can snapshots be used in place of backups?

Posted August 16, 2011 - 12:09 pm

My buddy at work says that we can save time running backups of our VM's by just running snapshots. I say that's not exactly the case. Who's right?
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Question

Which virtual disk format is best?

Posted August 8, 2011 - 9:47 am
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Question

Is Licensing easier for Microsoft virtualization than for VMWare?

Posted July 27, 2011 - 2:06 pm

Does anyone have any stories to share regarding VMware or Microsoft licensing for their respective virtualization products? My experience in this area is limited, although my company has licensed software from Microsoft for many years.
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Question

Can I virtualize Snow Leopard on Lion?

Posted July 26, 2011 - 10:20 am

Intuit Quicken won't run on Lion (OSX 10.7). Is it possible to run Snow Leopard (OSX 10.6) in a virtual window to run this software?
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VirtualizationWhite Papers & Webcasts

White Paper

vRanger Helps Cut Replication Time by Almost 70%

There's a reason why more than 38,000 customers trust vRanger to protect their critical virtual data! In this Quest Software case study, see how vRanger helped Cornerstone Bancshares, Inc. cut replication time from days to minutes - and how this translated to real time and money savings.

White Paper

ESG: Product Brief: Quest vRanger 5.3 brings enterprise-class VMware protection to SMB's

Free paper: how virtualization impacts SMBs, and strategies for enterprise-class VMware protection

White Paper

Converged Storage: Utility Storage - The Ideal Platform for Virtual and Cloud Computing

Server virtualization has transformed corporate IT -- companies have enjoyed major cost savings and have gained flexibility and efficiency. But this has also led to a proliferation of virtual machines and servers that threaten to overwhelm data movement and storage technologies. In this IDG Tech Dossier, learn how utility storage makes for massive consolidation, flexibility and scalability, so IT departments can reduce storage infrastructure and lower costs while improving their ability to respond to fast-changing needs of business units.Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

White Paper

Virtualizing the Client - The HP Way

HP VirtualSystem delivers best-in-class virtualization, with integrated software, services, infrastructure, and management - all delivered as one proven solution.Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

Webcast On Demand

Making Information Matter

Join us in the upcoming Hitachi virtual Forum on Wednesday, June 6th, at 8:30am PT / 11:30am ET and gain meaningful insights on how to maximize efficiency and reduce expenses. At the virtual forum you will learn about key solution strategies in our featured live video sessions from top leaders at Hitachi, like Miki Sandorfi, Chief Strategy Officer and industry experts, such as Ben Woo, VP WW Storage Systems at IDC.

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