Currently (as of the writting of this post) I am involved in all aspects of Technology Operations. It is cool since I get my hand in all sorts of projects. However I think I found a technology to focus on that will be a huge growth area for the forseeable future. It is obvious that virtualization is growing by huge percentages. I am not an expert in it by any means, but as companies go we have deployed allot of virtualisation to solve many problems we have had. The more I manage larger and larger virtualization projects I can get into a better position in this piece of the Technology field. I am not planning on leaving my job tomorrow, but you always have to think about tomorrow. I think I am into this technology early enough (I deployed our first GSX box 2 years ago) that I can do allot with it.
Virtualization
P2V
Since we had such good luck with a P2V (physical to virtual server conversion) a few months ago, we decided to try again with another critical server that we would all feel better if it was on different hardware. it is another of those box’s that would be a nightmare to rebuild so virtualizing makes sense. the only problem is that after two attempts we have yet to complete the conversion. The issue at first was the CD drive was busted, and we couldn’t fix it before our maintenance window ended.
The second try also was a bust since we ran out of time to let the conversion to run. We are regrouping again and will try a different tool instead of the P2V assistant from VMware. We are going to take a look at the Platespin tool. We have been using it to do V2V (virtual to another virtual server) on another project and we love the fact that it requires almost no downtime during the conversion. We are investigating the different tool this week. Hopefully news soon.
Yes, allot of writing about virtual stuff. It is on my mind recently and we are doing allot with it. it is some amazing stuff.
Technorati Tags: p2v, platespin, physical to virtual conversion, vmware
VMworld
My boss never ceases to surprise me. At the last minute Jayson suggested someone be allowed to goto VMworld, since the number of servers we operate are more and more virtual. He thought it was a good idea, and we got last minute approval. I leave on Monday, and I just got my travel arrangements done. Sean suggested I fly directly into LAX since it could be a bitch of a drive from Long beach where Jetblue flies into. Turns out I got a Delta ticket for the same amount as Jetblue would have been.
The problem with this conference is that there are too many things I want to do, and not enough time. It doesn’t help that I registered late and some of the good seminars are already booked. I ended up picking a mix of high availability and enterprise management of VM’s classes, as well as some on VDI (Vitrual Desktop Stuff). They are the two basic things we are currently working on. Hopefully I will learn a bunch of cool stuff that we can apply at work. I am also hoping to see the VMware Workstation for the Mac in action. Updates next week.
Technorati Tags: vmworld, virtual machines, vmware
VMware on a Mac?
The rumors are flying that VMware will be announcing something at Macworld this week. Rumors are rumors, but VMware has said they have been testing their product on the Intel Macs. I for one would be very happy with an announcement being a mac user who uses VMware on a daily basis at work. VMware Workstation and VMware server tools running on the mac would give me one less reason to need a windows machine. Well honestly it would really be one less linux machine since I got fed up with my windows desktop at work last week and ended up trying to reinstall windows xp 3 times before giving up and putting Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on my computer.
I will keep my fingers crossed this week!!!
Technorati Tags: mac, SLED 10, virtual machines, vmware
Remote Desktop Access
For a while now we have wanted to solve a problem regarding remote users. We have a few remote users who we want to be able to log into our DMZ and access some web sites and services on our network. The solution we came up with is to use Windows 2003 Terminal Services. We only need to accomidate maybe 5 people at a time on this system. it is not very many users, but it was an important issue to resolve. Now that we have that system up and running I think we came up with a better longer term solution.
I am eyeing using the free VMware Server to host a few Windows XP virtual machines for the same purpose. We don’t need 5 concurrent users, so I won’t need that many VM’s. I also don’t need to deal with Microsoft’s licensing model for Terminal Server (per desktop or per user). VMware is touting their Virtual Desktop Infrastructure. It may be something that fits for us. This initial project is just the first part of our needs for a solution such as this. I have 2 other projects that could require this sort of remote access. I am waiting for time to demo the solution to see how viable it will be for us.
Technorati Tags: esx server, virtual desktop, Remote Desktop, virtual machines, vmware, windows xp
Creative Problem Solving With VMware Player
Recently we had to deal with a rare request (or rare for where I work). We had a user who has a legitimate request for wanting linux on his desktop computer. The problem is for now we are a Windows XP desktop shop. Several systems staff have Linux or Mac’s but that is kind of unique since they are systems. The user in question wanted to try an odd flavor of linux as either a dual boot or a second desktop computer. This poses two issues for us. One, we have no security standard for end users to have linux. Secondly the flavor of linux he wanted to use was not what we currently use at all.
The solution for me seemed very obvious. Give the user VMware Player, and get them a pre-built Virtual Machine of Red Hat Enterprise Workstation (the linux desktop OS that we use internally). This way we don’t need to have a rouge desktop out there different than everything else we deploy to users. Also if there is a problem we can remove the VM and start from scratch quickly.
The user was not so keen on this idea since they wanted linux as their primary OS. We where solving an individual problem they had in the confines of our standards using VMware Player. So far things are working out just fine. The major issue I have is that the user is resourceful, and he may just go out to the VMNT site and download other pre-built VM’s that we have not authorized. I wonder if there is a way to limit what VM’s can run on a machines VMware Player?
Our long term intentions are to deploy all new desktop and laptop computers with the VMware Player already installed so if we need to do something like this again, we just send the user the VM and off they go. It is amazing how after a few years of using this software, we keep coming up with new ways of leveraging it in our organization. And since player is free, we didn’t even need to buy extra copies of VMware Workstation.
Technorati Tags: red hat enterprise WS, red hat, rhel, virtual machines, vmware, vmware player
Parallels Beta 3
In the week since I first wrote about it Parallels Workstation for the Mac is now on beta3. So far it is shaping up to be a great product. I can’t wait for it to be gold and have the ability to use USB devices. I will wait until a final version before I start making Virtual Machines like I did with VMware workstation, but once it does go gold I will be making a bunch of the most widely used OS’s that I use so I can have them on my Mac. Very cool.
Technorati Tags: beta, intel, mac, parallels, virtual machines
Parallels
As if they read my blog last night Parallels has released a beta of their Virtual Machine Workstation for Intel Mac’s. This is the product I have been waiting for. If it works, I will spend the money and buy it. As I write this entry I am installing Windows XP (SP-2) on my Core Duo iMac. So far the install has moved along quickly. That is a good sign, since that is how VMware installs of OS’s go when running from an ISO disk. Since VMware and Virtual PC are my only products I can compare it to I will. Virtual PC always took forever to install on a G4. I know Virtual PC was emulating, and this is a VM. I understand the differences, but I can be thankful for the speed!!!
I get to hopefully play with this once the VM is finished installing. Ironically I took the day off today to relax. Oh well, playing with a new toy or software is sort of relaxing!
Technorati Tags: beta, intel, mac, parallels, virtual machines
VMware Saves The Day
I have been talking the praises of VMware ever since I was introduced to it a few years ago. This week it moved up a peg in my book. We have been having issues with some production hardware for some time. It is a long story but lets just say that by fixing the machine we could very well destroy it since we have had bad results with similar equipment. In theory the state that the machine was in could remain stable indefinitely, but who was going to risk another drive failing (SATA RAID issue that is unnecessary to go into details about). Rebuilding the box was out of the question since it would take way too long to do so. Since it was an application that is slated to be retired in a few months, it isn’t worth putting in tons of man hours setting up a new box, but we need the app in service. Rolling the dice and hoping the machine stayed up was not a risk anyone was willing to make.
Then the solution came to us. Lets virtualize the machine. We had been testing it for a while and the results looked great. We had even taken some non production box’s and virtualized them for use on one of our new ESX servers, so it looked like a viable option. The issue was convincing our dev staff and my boss that this was what we needed. The dev staff needed some convincing. Now that the work is done they are still worried about some quirk creeping up in the system. My boss was more enthusiastic about the prospect.
The only down side that came of the whole situation was that the Physical to Virtual conversion took triple the amount of time we had hoped or planned for. Was it worth it? Yes, but we could have lived without the hours of waiting.
I am continually amazed at what this software can do.
Technorati Tags: esx server, raid, sata, virtual machines, vmware
Virtual Community
I just noticed that VMWare has a free public community of VM’s. You can build and publish VM’s of free OS’s on the VMNT. I already downloaded several to play with. They are already added to my growing collection of OS VM’s. I think this is a great idea. The first VM I want to look at is the Asterisk PBX VM. I have wanted to setup one up for a while, but haven’t had time to deal with it. This may be worth a look.