Erik Scholten is the founder of VMGuru.nl and works for Imtech ICT as a Solution Architect creating the most ingenious virtual infrastructures. He has over 15 years experience as a system engineer and consultant and now he specializes in virtualization. His current job includes selling, presenting, designing and developing virtual infrastructures for some major companies in the Netherlands.
In 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 VMware awarded him the vExpert award for his virtualization community efforts.
During the last few years we published several Enterprise Hypervisor comparisons and we got very positive comments and feedback on it. With the release of vSphere 5, XenServer 6 and a service pack for Hyper-V it was time for an update.
It very interesting to see how some of the products have improved over the years and how the three major manufacturers look at each other and copy features. But you can’t trust all manufacturers by just a simple green checkbox. Some claimed features need third party add-ons, aren’t suitable for production workloads or are only supported on a limited set of operating systems. You have to investigate further and I hope I’ve done most of that work for you with this new enterprise hypervisor comparison.
Just 15 minutes ago I heard the ‘news’ that, last Wednesday, VKernel was acquired by Quest Software.
VKernel will continue to operate as an independent subsidiary of Quest, building, selling and marketing the same performance and capacity management solutions. So, it will be business as usual for VKernel, except the new VKernel will be turbo-charged with the backing of Quest.
For the current customers, nothing changes. The same team that has built, sold, and supported your products is still here. The main difference is that VKernel now has the financial backing and support of Quest Software.
Last Wednesday, November 16th, VMware announced the availability of ThinApp 4.7 and Horizon App Manager 1.2. The combination of the two products enables cloud-based deployment of ThinApp packages with VMware Horizon Application Manager.
ThinApp 4.7 includes the following features:
The ThinApp Setup Capture wizard includes an option to manage with Horizon Application Manager. When the checkbox is selected, ThinApp checks if the Horizon agent is installed natively on the client and is running. If the Horizon agent is found, the ThinApp package reports to the Horizon agent so that it can be controlled by Horizon Application Manager.
Horizon Application Manager entitlement allows the delivery of ThinApp packaged applications to specified users and groups. The Horizon agent authorizes a ThinApp package to open, based on entitlements.
ThinApp packages are registered by Horizon Application Manager and delivered to end points.
The administrator can track usage of ThinApp packages by using Horizon Application Manager monitoring and reporting.
The administrator can configure an Organizational URL for end points missing the Horizon agent.
Over the years there have been a lot of outcries in the VMware Community to re-instate the VMware Technology Network (VMTN).
The VMTN started in 2005 and is much like Microsoft MSDN or TechNet, for a reduced yearly fee you could use the VMware software and run it for 1 year. Unfortunately VMware canceled the VMTN program in 2007, reportedly because they didn’t want developers to use it for competitive products.
Right now many developers and techies with home labs use evaluation versions which expire after 60-days.
So, according to VMware CTO, Steve Herrod, VMware is now considering the return of the VMware Technology Network and I think it’s a good initiative. Why?
Today VMware released a new client for the iPad and Android devices. Version 1.2 is optimized for VMware View 5, has support for iOS 5 including AirPlay and contains presentation mode for use with external displays and AirPlay.
VMware View Client for Android makes it easy to access your Windows virtual desktop from your Android with the best possible user experience on the Local Area Network or across a Wide Area Network.
It requires at least VMware View 4.6 and only has PCoIP only connectivity for excellent interactive performance.
The VMware View client for Android can be found on the Android Market.
The VMware View client for the iPad can be found in the iTunes Store.
One of the announcements I missed at VMworld Europe 2011 in Copenhagen was the announcement of VMware and Nvidia delivering 3D graphics to VMware View. VMware announced that they are in a partnership with NVIDIA to deliver high-end virtual workstations with 3D graphics support in VMware View.
We’ve have the ability to deliver 3D graphics from workstations in the datacenter for years by using physical blade workstations. But now VMware is trying to deliver true 3D performance from the datacenter by using virtual workstation in VMware View by partnering with Nvidia. Nvidia is solving that with the release of their ‘Quadro Virtual Graphics Platform’, something they announced in August 2011.
Yesterday was the last day of VMworld Europe 2011 in Copenhagen and I was wandering around at the VMware booth at the Solution Exchange. After a demo of VMware View with Unified Communications, I was introduced to Hanna Phan and according to the VMware employee, Hanna was the most famous person within VMware at the moment. Not Paul Maritz, Steve Herrod or Mauricio Carl but Hanna Phan.
The cool thing is, she only works for VMware for 3 weeks now. So how does someone become so famous, so fast?
Yesterday the was some disturbance at VMworld Europe 2011 in Copenhagen. A massive fight broke out between the one-on-one rooms and the lounge area. Research shows that it was a reckoning of the dutch vMafia. Eye witnesses told us that six to eight mobsters beat the crap out of the Monster VM and we’ve managed to get hold of some video footage showing just that.
Today I attended session VSP1682 ‘VMware vSphere clustering Q&A‘ hosted by Frank Denneman, Duncan Epping and Chris Colotti.
After a short introduction the Q&A started and below you will find my top 10 questions.
Q1. Are the old, vSphere 4, constraints in vSphere 5 still current?
Until vSphere 5 the best practice is a maximum of 8 hosts in a cluster, because of linked clones in VMware View and the primary/secondary ESX(i) hosts setup in an HA cluster. In vSphere 5, VMware changed this to a master/slave setup. When the master ESXi host goes offline a new master is elected within 15 sec. So, the cluster boundary limits VMware vSphere had in the past are gone. This is a huge advantage of vSphere 5.0.
Normally I don’t like to edit and publish full sessions but yesterday I attended a great session regarding ‘Designing vSphere Platforms for Maximum Tier 1 Application Performance‘ (BCA2817).
I know it’s a long video but Mark Achtemichuk, Performance Specialist SE at VMware had some really good tips on how to squeeze the last percents of performance out of your vSphere environment. He addresses all relevant components of both hosts and virtual machines, compute, memory, network and storage, and has some really good tips on all of them. Check out sessions BCA2817.
In the week of VMworld, Monday is traditionally Partner day and Partner day always starts with the Partner keynote.
This years keynote was presented by Andy Hunt, VMware’s VP Channel, Alliances and SMB. 1800 partners registered for VMworld Partner day and tomorrow another 7000 visitors are expected which is 15% more than last year.
After a brief introduction on stage Carl Eschenbach, co-president VMware Customer Operations. Carl thanks all the partners for making VMware successful. Despite hard economic times VMware and Partners showed a strong growth in revenue (37%) and 85% of all revenue is done through partners.
Today VMware will publish the Q3 results after markets close in the US, and it looks to be very promising.
Next topic is the ecosystem for cloud computing. Moving from mainframe, to PC/Client-Server, Web to Cloud. These platonic shifts only happen every 10 to 20 years. The cloud is such a platonic shift and will drastically shift the way we deliver IT services. According to Gartner ‘Virtualization is a modernization catalyst and unlocks cloud computing‘.
Today at VMworld Europe 2011 Partner day, VMware released a new version of their vSphere client for the iPad. Just in time for the real start of VMworld Europe 2011 in Copenhagen.
New in version 1.2 of the vSphere client for the iPad is:
vMotion. The feature is available via Host & VM action menus. Virtual machines can also be two-finger flicked/dragged from the Host detail view to enter vMotion mode;
Ability to email vMotion validation error details to others;
View task progress reporting on VM cards;
Ability to refresh vCenter host list;
Support for ESX 3.5;
Support for VMware vSphere 5.0.
Of course the vSphere client for iPad requires iOS 4.0 and vCMA, also version 1.2 in this case.
After last years success of our vRoadtrip to VMworld Copenhagen it is time for v2.0. Watch our journey to Copenhagen to enjoy VMworld Europe 2011. The madness starts when we leave home.
At this years VMworld in Las Vegas, VMware introduced project AppBlast. AppBlast enables you to use remote applications of any type and platform and deliver them to any HTML5 browser or device. It doesn’t matter if you’re using Mac, Windows, Linux, ChromeOS. You don’t need to install any client, it’s all pure HTML5.
AppBlast will provide the universal delivery of any application, including Windows-based applications, to any off-the-shelf browser or device supporting HTML 5, enabling instant remote access to non-HTML based applications. It enables you to utilize multiple types of applications from your client devices in a transparent and cross-platform manner, which is vital to the post-PC era we are entering.
It’s a release party at VMware today. After VMware Workstation 8 and Fusion 4, VMware now released VMware View 5.
VMware View 5 will deliver better PCoIP performance, more supported client devices and integrated persona management.
The biggest differences are the media services, integrated persona management, several PCoIP enhancements and extended client support.
View Media Services for 3D Graphics
This enables basic 3D applications in View desktops without like Aero, Office 2010 or those requiring OpenGL or DirectX without the need for specialized graphics cards or client devices.
View Media Services for Integrated Unified Communications
Which enables and integrated VOIP and View desktop experience for the end-user with an architecture to provide optimized performance for both the desktop and unified communication.
This week we already reported on Project Octopus but at the same time VMware announced the the long anticipated web based HTML5 application delivery tool called AppBlast, which will be available soon.
I don’t know where VMware gets it’s project names. With Project Octopus I picture IT meets James Bond and Project AppBlast sounds like IT meets Battlestar Galactica. But again, like Project Otocpus, it’s very cool.
For those that don’t know about AppBlast, it is a web based delivery model for delivering ThinApp applications to any end user device compatible with HTML5 and Java. App Blast integrates with VMware Horizon App Manager and will allow IT organizations to entitle users to access ThinApp applications directly from the web to any device such as Apple’s iPad or Android based devices.
As I said yesterday, VMworld is always the time and place for VMware to announce new products and technologies.
Today was not any different.
VMware announced the next version of their virtual desktop solution, VMware View 5 which will become available in the coming weeks.
VMware View 5 will deliver better PCoIP performance, more supported client devices and integrated persona management. Also, VMware’s Horizon App Manager application broker will get a mobile version with ThinApp and View integration.
Persona management
VMware finally integrated the Virtual Profiles management tool which they acquired from RTO Software last year. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support XP to Windows 7 profile compatibility. Probably because of the RTO Virtual Profile problems VMware encountered with Windows 7 compatibility.
But the integrated View Persona Management feature does provide a basic way to manage user data and settings, application data and Windows registry settings. By doing so, the user profile is now independent of the virtual desktop, so the end user can log into any View desktop and see his profile.
During the last few years we published several Enterprise Hypervisor comparisons and we got very positive comments and feedback on it. With the release of vSphere 5, XenServer 6 and a service pack for Hyper-V it was time for an update.
Just 15 minutes ago I heard the ‘news’ that, last Wednesday, 
Have you ever wondered how I rolled into the IT business, when I got involved with VMware, why I started VMGuru.nl and was rewarded vExpert 2009-2011?
Over the years there have been a lot of outcries in the VMware Community to re-instate the VMware Technology Network (VMTN).
