VMGuru.nl – I choose (a virtual) life!

Today, at VMworld 2010 in San Francisco, VMware announced the launch of VMware View 4.5.

VMware View 4.5 is packed with loads of new features which increases VMware View use cases and definitively narrows the gap with Citrix XenDesktop.

In fact, Chris Wolf from Gartner has declared View 4.5 as an enterprise ready desktop virtualization solution.

I’ve attended the View 4.5 beta program and I can honestly say that View 4.5 is a huge improvement. In the past, we had to deploy XenDesktop for VDI deployments with specific customer demands but with the release of View 4.5 these scenarios have decreased significantly.

General availability for VMware View 4.5 is set for early September.

Here are some of the improvements/features in View 4.5:

(more…)

A few minutes ago VMware has released the new version of VMware vSphere, version 4.1.

This new vSphere version contains 150 new features and has improved scalability, memory management, DRS, etc.

Besides all the new features the greatest news is that vSphere 4.1 is the last version which will have an ESX version (with service console). As of the next version there will only be two versions, ESXi embedded and installable.

Below you will find a detailed list of features that are include with the vSphere 4.1 release:

• Scalable vMotion;
• Wide VM NUMA;
• Storage I/O can be shaped by I/O shares and limits through the new Storage I/O Control quality of service (QoS) feature;
• Network I/O can be partitioned through a new QoS engine that distinguish between virtual machines, vMotion, Fault Tolerance (FT) and IP storage traffic;
• Memory compression will allow to compress RAM pages instead of swapping on disk, improving virtual machines performance;
• Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS) now can follow affinity rules defining a subset of hosts where a virtual machine can be placed;
• Virtual sockets can now have multiple virtual CPUs. Each virtual CPU will appear as a single core in the guest operating system;
• Support vCenter on 64 bit operating systems only;

(more…)

Yesterday VMware has released the new version of their application virtualization product, ThinApp 4.5

ThinApp 4.5 includes the following new features to improve usability, performance, and updates:

• Support for Windows Server 2008 R2, 32-bit Windows 7, and 64-bit Windows 7 operating systems.
• ThinApp version updates to incorporate the latest features or support enhancements without rebuilding packages. The relink.exe utility updates existing packages.
• Compression of MSI packages that uses the MSICompressionType parameter to improve the ThinApp SDK performance.
• Reduced memory consumption and page file usage to improve startup performance. The OptimizeFor parameter works with the CompressionType parameter to customize memory performance and startup time.
• Anonymous collection of statistics to expand the support for applications. You can use the Setup Capture wizard or the QualityReportingEnabled parameter to help VMware build support for applications and help you migrate more native applications to a virtual environment.
• Loading of DLL files as virtual DLL files without using API functions. The ForcedVirtualLoadPaths parameter loads external system DLL files that depend on DLL files inside the package.
• Product interface updates to improve usability and link to video and documentation information. German and Japanese versions of the ThinApp User’s Guide are available.

You can find more information here, here or in the release notes. You can download ThinApp 4.5 here.

Yesterday VMware released it’s new version of its VDI solution, VMware View 4.

VMware View 4 includes the following new features and improvements:

• VMware View with PCoIP – PCoIP provides an optimized desktop experience for the delivery of the entire desktop environment including applications, images, audio, and video content for a wide range of users on the LAN or across the WAN. PCoIP can compensate for an increase in latency or a reduction in bandwidth, to ensure that end users can remain productive regardless of network conditions.
• PCoIP includes VMware View Display with support for up to four monitors and the ability to deliver the optimal resolution and pivot orientation to each monitor independently.
• VMware vSphere Support – VMware vSphere 4 support enables improved virtual machine scalability, performance, and management, with continued support for VMware Infrastructure 3.x.
• Enhanced single sign-on – The Log in as current user feature is integrated with Active Directory and smart cards to help simplify the process of logging in to a VMware View desktop.
• Restricted entitlements – Administrators can control user access to virtual desktops based on the View Connection Server being used for authentication.
• Smart card policies – Administrators can set group policies to force desktop disconnection and require reconnection when users remove smart cards.
• Domain filtering – You can use vdmadmin.exe to control the accessibility of domains and traverse trust relationships more quickly.
• You can cleanly delete View desktops using scripts.
• You can log in to View desktops using user principal names (UPN).
• You can explicitly configure IP addresses to override those supplied by the View Agent when accessing a desktop.
• Mixed Active Directory and Kerberos authentication is supported.

The VMware View 4 release can be found here.

Last night VMware has released Update 1 for ESXi 4, ESX 4, and vCenter server 4.

According to the release notes Update 1 includes the following improvements:

• Support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2;
• Support for View 4;
• Support for 160 VMs per host in a HA cluster with 8 hosts or less;
• Increased vCPUs per core limit from 20 to 25;
• Paravirtualized SCSI support has been extended to Windows 2003 and 2008 boot drives;
• vDS performance improvements;
• Support for DB2 database;
• Improved support for Microsoft Clustering.

Besides this vCenter server now includes a pre-upgrade checker tool which enables you to proactively check ESX hosts for any potential issues that you might encounter while upgrading vCenter agents on these hosts as part of the vCenter Server upgrade process. You can run this tool independently prior to upgrading an existing vCenter Server instance. The tool can help identify any configuration, networking, disk space or other ESX host-related issues that could prevent ESX hosts from being managed by vCenter Server after a successful vCenter Server upgrade.

The release note can be found here.

vSphere 4 Update 1 can be downloaded here.

Today I received an invitation for a ‘What’s new in VMware View 4′ training.

According to this invitation the release of VMware’s new version of View including the long awaited PCoIP will be release November 16th.
That is a week later then the date mentioned in earlier VMware View release chatter.

After a few phone calls I’m a bit wiser now. The release will probably be November 9th and the general availability will be a week later, November 16th.

So another 2 weeks till we can experience PCoIP first hand.

Yesterday Citrix announced HDX 3D which is an enhancement to the ICA protocol which, according to Citrix, delivers 3D applications by only using one-tenth of the bandwidth.

This is fierce competition for VMware’s PCoIP which they developed with Teradici and which VMware will demo at VMworld 2009 this week.

I have only seen the HDX 3D demo video, which can be found here, and I’m anxiously waiting for footage of the PCoIP demo at VMworld 2009 this week. I’ve seen the demo at VMworld Europe 2009 and I must say I was very impressed . On the other hand I found the Citrix videos to be very shaky/flashy/blinky. I hope (and to be honest, I think) that this is not representative of real life performance (I’m in a pro Citrix mood today ).

If you want to know what HDX 3D is and how it works please visit BrianMadden.com. He can explain this much better than I can but you will have to see past the Citrix minded VMware skepticism ‘If VMware can actually come out with a decent implementation of PC-over-IP’-like comments.

Last week Iomega  announced a new NAS appliance called the Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d. It is based on  EMC storage technologies and contains four SATA-300 drivebays. With a storage capacity of 2, 4 and 8 TB it is the ideal NAS appliance for small businesses, distributed offices and home office networks that require advanced data storage and protection features without the need for a dedicated IT staff.

By default the Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d is configured as a RAID 5 array but RAID 10 or JBOD is also possible. Free disk space can be monitored on the front LCD display.

The Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d is equipped with two gigabit ethernet ports which support link aggregation, network failover and subnetting. It also supports various protocols like iSCSI, NFS, DLNA, uPnP, Bonjour, SNMP, FTP, HTTP and Samba so it can be used with Mac-, Windows- or Linux hosts.

(more…)

As you all have seen on VMGuru.nl we’re very busy implementing VMware View solutions. These solutions were based on VMware View 3.0.1 but yesterday evening VMware released the new version of their VDI solution VMware View 3.1.

So what’s new in VMware View 3.1?

• Performance Improvements – Login times are significantly improved and server utilization is reduced.
• Automated LDAP Data and View Composer Database Backup – You can now configure automated backup of LDAP data and View Composer databases in View Administrator, enabling disaster recovery.
• Client Information – Information about the client device that the end user is connecting from is now provided for the desktop session as registry settings. This enables customers to use third party tools or create custom scripts to map local printers to devices. The information available includes the device name, IP address, and MAC address.

(more…)

This morning a message from John Troyer popped up on my TwitterFox telling me that on April 20th VMware  announced the general availability of their new flagship product, VMware vSphere 4. Finally after all our time beta testing and filling out reviews vSphere is coming!

PALO ALTO, CA, April 21, 2009 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, today announced VMware vSphere™ 4, the industry’s first operating system for building the internal cloud, enabling the delivery of efficient, flexible and reliable IT as a service. With a wide range of groundbreaking new capabilities, VMware vSphere 4 brings cloud computing to enterprises in an evolutionary, non-disruptive way – delivering uncompromising control with greater efficiency while preserving customer choice.

As the complexity of IT environments has continued to increase over time, customers’ share of IT budgets are increasingly spent on simply trying to “keep the lights on.” With the promise of cloud computing, customers are eager to achieve the benefits, but struggle to see the path to getting there.  Leveraging VMware vSphere 4, customers can take pragmatic steps to achieve cloud computing within their own IT environments.  With these “internal” clouds, IT departments can dramatically simplify how computing is delivered in order to help decrease its cost and increase its flexibility, enabling IT to respond more rapidly to changing business requirements.

(more…)

Yesterday I was browsing the VMware site when I stumbled upon a product announcement for new product in 2009. These new products include:

• VMware Fault Tolerance
• VMware VMSafe
• VMware vNetwork Distributed Switch
• VMware vCenter CapacityIQ
• VMware vCenter Data Recovery
• VMware vCenter ConfigControl
• VMware vCenter Orchestrator
• VMware vCenter Chargeback
• VMware vCenter AppSpeed

(more…)

Several blogs have already reported on this issue, the new version of VMware’s ESX product line will not be called VI4 or ESX(i)4 but VMware vSphere. When I read this I thought which idiot came up with that name? vSphere? What’s that? What is the link with ESX and virtualization? Are we going to run virtual machines in spheres in the future because the term ‘isolation’ was not clear enough? Does VMware need to join the buzzword-hype, like ‘bubble’ and ‘cloud’?

Apparently VMware employees where able to vote for a name for the new product and vSphere was the winner in this competition.
(more…)

Yesterday VMware released Update 1 of their killer product vCenter Site Recovery Manager 1.0.
So what’s new in Update 1:

• New permissions required to run a recovery plan
• Full support for RDM devices
• Batch IP property customization
• Limits checking and enforcement
• Improved support for virtual machine that span multiple datastores
• Single action to reconfigure protection for multiple virtual machines
• Simplified log collection
• Improved acceptance of non-ASCII characters

It lacks the long awaited NFS support as requested in many communities but I don’t care so much as I rarely use NFS. The support for RDM is something I do like as I am a big RDM user/implementer.

For more information on the new features in this release read (more…)

As of today VMware View 3.0 is released and available for download. We had the privilege of beta testing the new VMware VDI solution formerly known as VDM and now it is publicly available. The evolution of VDM, VMware View is a great product with a lot of very handy and cool features. I personally like the linked clones and offline desktop feature.

VMware View 3 is available in two editions, Premier and Enterprise. The Enterprise version costs 150 USD and when you spend 100 USD more you get the Premier version which includes VMware Composer, Offline Desktop and VMware ThinApp. (more…)

Last night I was reading some virtualization blogs (vblogs ) and an article on boche.net caught my eye.
This article stated that a VMware employee, Richard Garsthagen,  revealed that after a very long period of waiting VMware decided that it’s going to support Distributed Power Management (DPM) in the next release.

[Crowd is going wild]

It’s not clear what this means exactly. The next release? Is this Update 4 or VI4?

(more…)

VMware announced the Mobile Virtualization Platform. WIth it it should be possible to run multiple operating systems next to eachother on a smartphone.

MVP is built on technology acquired from Trango Virtual Processors in October 2008. MVP will help handset vendors reduce development time and get mobile phones with value-added services to market faster. End users will also benefit by being able to run multiple profiles – for example, one for personal use and one for work use – on the same phone.

(more…)

Today VMware has released ESX/ESXi 3.5 Update 3.

In the release notes I found the following changes:

• Increased number of vCPUs per core limit (from 8 to 20);
• New supported servers, NICs and storage I/O controllers;
• New supported Guest Operating Systems.

Besides that there are many improvements and bug fixes.

(more…)

This week VMware released VMware Infrastructure Management Assistant 1.0 (VIMA). VIMA is a free virtual machine on which VMware administrators can execute scripts and install agents that they would normally try to run on the console operating system (COS) like UPS agents, etc.

The VMware Infrastructure Management Assistant (VIMA) allows administrators and developers to run scripts and agents to manage ESX and ESXi systems.

(more…)