Virtualization Information

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Pano Logic Thin Client Integration With The VMware Virtual Desktop Manager

INTRODUCTION     

 This post details results via our comprehensive testing (October-November 2008), which was executed for a Healthcare client’s VDI implementation project.  The IT engineers and managers selected the VMware Virtual Desktop Manager as its Desktop Broker.  And at project completion, the client should have at least 2,000 Desktops running as virtual machines using 48 ESX Servers (HP Blades).  Completing the architecture is Cisco Networking Gear and EMC Celerra Storage, using iSCSI as the transport protocol to provide the underlying infrastructure framework.   Per our client’s request we have evaluated the Pano Logic solution and we are sharing the results here.

PANO LOGIC POSITIVE ASPECTS

 Pano boasts an ultramodern, innovative design that is appealing to the eye.  

Read More…

VMWare Workstation 6.5 with Unity on Ubuntu Linux

I recently upgraded VMWare Workstation 6.5 on my Ubuntu Linux notebook.  A few things I’ve noticed so far:

• Ease of installation/upgrades: The Workstation version for Linux is really getting polished. It used to be a bit of a command line chore to install and upgrade. Now, it’s a bundled script that you download. Upon launching the script,  up pops up a nice GUI installer and handles first time installations and upgrades as well. It upgraded the beta version I had by first uninstalling the old one and performing a nice clean installation of the production ready version. It found my existing VM’s that were in my favorites and made them favorites in the new version. 
• Unity is working much better: As I expected it probably would when I first started testing it in beta. Now the applications don’t seem as confused by the compiz eye candy
• VM Configuration Ease: Things like the USB pass-through to the VM and networking configuration are as easy as the Windows version now. 

So far, so good. If things change, I’ll be sure to post updates.

ESX 3.5 U3 Scripted Install Improvement

For those of us that prefer to script our installs instead of creating hand crafted environments, you’ll be thrilled to see that VMware has addressed a pretty annoying bug that has existed in 3.5 regarding vSwitch creation. No more jumping through hoops to make vmnics active. From the release notes :

Network adapters lose bonding during scripted installation
The esxcfg-vswitch -L command now works as expected and with the same functionality as in 3.0.x.

During a scripted installation, the following two commands did not result in a bonded pair of active network adapters on virtual switch VS_VM1. Instead, vmnic3 became the active adapter and vmnic4 became the standby adapter.
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic3 VS_VM1
esxcfg-vswitch -L vmnic4 VS_VM1

Green IT and Virtualization Real Numbers

I did a twitter post the other day talking about a “small 50 server virtualization project” that I’m in the assessment/design phase with a client right now.  A fellow twitterer, @jasonboche sent me a tweet reminding me that every server that is virtualized has a positive environmental impact.  So, I decided to run some numbers on one of our largest server virtualization projects this year and the results really are a great reminder that what we are doing is important. 

We have one client that we have virtualized about 1,000 servers this year alone. Using VMware’s Green Calculator, check out the results. 

• Energy Savings: We saved over 6.6 million kWh of energy and cooling costs for the servers
• Server Hardware: We saved over $5.2 million in hardware costs
• Energy Costs: We saved over $660,000 in power costs

Now, for the Environmental Impact: The project has the equivalent of planting 20,000 trees, taking 1,500 cars off the highway and nearly 8.9 million pounds of carbon emissions. 

For those of us who focus on virtualization consulting and have been around awhile, we sometimes do forget that our efforts go beyond data center and organizational efficiency and have bigger positive impact than just technology and business.

Why Virtualize?