07 Feb 2016
By Yendis Lambert

VMware vExpert 2016

VMware,
The vExpert 2016 Announcement has been made by VMware and I’m honoured and pleased to say I have been awarded the accolade for the fourth year running. I would like the thank Cory (@vCommunityGuy) and the team at VMware for all their hard work vetting the individuals that apply. Looking forward to working with many vExperts and attending the many VMware events throughout 2016.
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19 Dec 2015
By Yendis Lambert

Installing ESXi Using PXE – VMware vSphere 6.0

VMware,
You can use the preboot execution environment (PXE) to boot a host. Starting with vSphere 6.0, you can PXE boot the ESXi installer from a network interface on hosts with legacy BIOS or using UEFI. ESXi is distributed in an ISO format that is designed to install to flash memory or to a local hard drive. You can extract the files and boot by using PXE. PXE uses Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) to boot an operating system over a network. PXE booting requires some network infrastructure and a machine with a PXE-capable network…
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17 Dec 2015
By Yendis Lambert

Implementation Considerations for VMware App Volumes in a Citrix XenDesktop Environment

Citrix, VMware,
App Volumes works well with both Citrix XenDesktop and Citrix XenApp, either individually or in a combined XenDesktop and XenApp implementation. The same AppStacks that attach to XenDesktop virtual desktops to deliver applications to users can also attach to XenApp servers to deliver applications. To learn more about using App Volumes in a XenApp environment, read Implementation Considerations for VMware App Volumes in a Citrix XenApp Environment. This paper focuses only on App Volumes in a XenDesktop environment
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16 Dec 2015
By Yendis Lambert

Oracle Real Application Clusters on VMware Virtual SAN

VMware, ,
This solution addresses the common business challenges discussed in the previous section that CIOs face today in an online transaction processing (OLTP) environment that requires availability, reliability, scalability, predictability and cost-effective storage, which helps customers design and implement optimal configurations specifically for Oracle RAC Database on Virtual SAN. Key Results The following highlights validate that Virtual SAN is an enterprise-class storage solution suitable for Oracle RAC Database: Predictable and highly available Oracle RAC OLTP performance on Virtual SAN Simple design methodology that eliminates operational and maintenance complexity of traditional SAN Sustainable solution for enterprise Tier-1 Database Management System (DBMS) application…
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15 Nov 2015
By Yendis Lambert

VMware Virtual SAN 6.1 Stretched Cluster Bandwidth Sizing Guidance

VMware
The purpose of this document is to explain how to size bandwidth requirements for Virtual SAN in Stretched Cluster configurations. This document only covers the Virtual SAN network bandwidth requirements. In Stretched Cluster configurations, two data fault domains have one or more hosts, and the third fault domain contains a witness host or witness appliance. In this document each data fault domain will be referred to as a site.Virtual SAN Stretched Cluster configurations can be spread across distances, provided bandwidth and latency requirements are met. The bandwidth requirement between the main sites is highly dependant on the workload to be run…
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13 Nov 2015
By Yendis Lambert

Virtualizing PerformanceCritical Database Applications in VMware vSphere 6.0

VMware, ,
The performance parity between bare-metal and virtualised servers is an accepted fact today. But what about the most demanding applications, such as monster virtual machines running databases and transaction processing applications? Experiments in this paper demonstrate that VMware vSphere 6.0 virtual machines run out of the box at 90% of the performance of native systems even for the most demanding workloads at the highest throughput levels. Download the Performance Study Technical Whitepaper
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12 Oct 2015
By Yendis Lambert

Microsoft Azure Security

Microsoft, ,
As we all know in this day and age our workloads are more likely to migrate to the cloud which I'm sure you all know has it's benefits and it's inherent downsides.  One discussion point on everyone's mind is always security (so it should be), just how secure is the cloud. One thing to bear in mind is that your time and approach to defining security principles should be no different to that of on-premises.  Having worked with Azure for a number years I just wanted to share some pertinent information around the security model specifically with Azure. The following…
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05 Sep 2015
By Yendis Lambert

20 VMware VMworld 2015 Sessions now available

VMware,
As you know one of my favourite vendor conferences took place in San Francisco this week which was VMware VMworld 2015, if you were unfortunate not to attend then Eric Sloof has created the below list of 20 sessions now available on Youtube.  My other favourite is Citrix Synergy 2015 which will be in Orlando :-) EUC5404 Deliver High Performance Desktops with VMware Horizon and NVIDIA GRID vGPU EUC5020 The “Snappy” Virtual Desktop User Experience EUC6807 The Future of End User Computing HBC4849 vCloud Air 2015 - Getting Started with Hybrid Cloud HBC6629 No App is an Island INF4528 vCenter Server…
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05 Sep 2015
By Yendis Lambert

What’s New in VMware Site Recovery Manager 6.1

VMware, , ,
Site Recovery Manager provides unique capabilities to create, maintain, and non-disruptively test disaster recovery plans without the need for manual runbooks. The ability to automate the disaster recovery planning, maintenance, and testing process enables significant operational efficiencies. VMware has expanded the capabilities of Site Recovery Manager with the new version 6.1 release, which delivers unprecedented levels of protection and functionality as well as new use cases through the addition of capabilities such as storage policy based protection groups, support for stretched storage with orchestrated vMotion, and enhanced integration with VMware NSX. This paper will provide an overview of the new…
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22 Aug 2015
By Yendis Lambert

Microsoft Azure Backup Certificate Not Available

Microsoft, , ,
If you are running your server backups using Microsoft Azure Backup you may now receive the following error message in Azure Backup since 21st August:- Following error occurred during Microsoft Azure Backup SnapIn Operation. Error Details: A server registration certificate was not available to authenticate this server with the backup service. Ensure that you signed in with an administrator account and try again. If the issue persists, register the server again. The reason for this issue is Microsoft have recently released a new Azure Backup agent which is a mandatory update. Download the Azure Backup agent update now The version…
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