VMworld 2013

I sure there are a lot of these posts going up, but here's the highlights I managed to learn about.

NSX - it's a big deal.  Think 1000v without the Cisco IOS.  Think parity bits and raid 5 "controllers" instead of VSM pair in "Raid 1" (this is the new virtual networking "plane").  I wonder what the cost associated with this new hotness.

vSphere 5.5 = much better SSO setup.  SSO has never been my favorite thing or even idea in 5.1. 5.5 is a great step forward even though I still don't like how its been forced on us.  I have a background somewhat different than what I suppose a lot of the world deals with I suppose.

VCHS = VMware "hybrid" cloud (competition for amazon.. But much easier to get in and more importantly.. Back out of.). Will be interesting how well this cloud is or isn't accepted in the world.

Lots more caching options with SSD.. Too many actually... Do we need all of these options?  I suppose, but I doubt anyone will actually use all of them in 1 environment.

Puppet = it's like seadoo apparently. "Everybody's doin it"

vCenter Server Appliance (V5)

This appliance is new to me.  I heard there was an instance of vcenter appliance rather than server dating back as far as 2.5.  I have never seen it until this version 5 though.  It's built on SUSE linux 11 SP1 "for VMware".  First thing I want to note is root did work as a login for the web interface (https://yourapplianceIP:5480) with a password of vmware.  I couldn't find it documented anywhere for this beta copy.. so it was just a lucky guess.  Once I logged onto the webinterface once I was able to logon to the consol with the same root/vmware.
I chose to use "embedded" as the database option.  I had stood up a sql2008 instance for this, but oddly that selection was missing from the drop down menu.  Only embedded and oracle.  I wonder what the embedded DB really is.. MySQL?  I heard a rumor that vmware was working on their own DB.. could this be it already?  the "db2" folder under /opt would eluded to a db2 instance.. but I find that rather odd.  it says version 9.7.2 if you're curious.  I asked more about this and hear it will move to postgres at sometime in the future, but for now it is in fact db2 and only oracle being the other alternative.
On the upside, they embedded the vi client back into the home page instead of linking out to the vmware site.  I understood vmware's thinking to have it on thier home site to ensure a more current version is proliferated, but for isolated environments (like my lab) it sure is convenient to have at least some version of the client readily available.. thanks vmware for the new vCenter Appliance!

ESXi5

In my previous post I talked about the upgrade of vcenter to vsphere 5 (this is beta code, so if you're reading this and the release is out.. well go find an updated blog post too!..lol).  The upgrade for my ESXi hosts was done from VUM.  I uploaded the iso for the installable ESXi5 to VUM and "pushed" the upgrade to the hosts.  Not much to report other than screens looked a little different.. I had to increase the ram on each host from 2 gig's to 2.5 gig's for the upgrade to proceed.  Also, it complained of "3rd part" packages that weren't going to be compatible.  These hosts were actually VM's that I didn't fo much with.  There were 2 different sub rev's of 4.1, but both upgraded fine.  So I mounted up some NFS storage off a 2008R2 (in my lab.. it was also the domain controller) server.  Now I thought I'd roll out a new VM.  I noticed there is more options for choosing your network setting during creation as well as a grayed out option for "Thick Provision Lazy Zeroed","Thick Provision Eager Zeroed", and "Thin Provision".  I'm assuming mine was grayed out because this is NFS storage.  Still it's good to see the "Zeroing out" has bubbled up to the GUI.  Although it was grayed out.. it did have the radio button for "thin" selected for my nfs VM.  Good thing since I don't have a lot of space to play with.
Sure enough, I created a new vm on local storage and all the options were available for thick/thin.  So, let's talk about this "Zeroing out" of VM's.  What does it mean?  What is the difference between a lazy zero and a eager one?..lol oh the words techies use..
Rather than repeat techie jargon.. have a look at this thread on the vmware community if you want more background on zero's:
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/263289
This is where my lab has become so slow.. I don't want to go on living.  Ok, that's a bit much.. but again.. you get the idea.  Come on money bags company o'mine.. give us at least some shared time on some horse power hardware!

First look at vShpere5

vSpere 5 must be right around the corner since VMworld is coming up and we've read/heard about some "leaks" about it.  I got my hands on a beta copy of vSphere 5 yesterday.  So, to the lab I went... and by lab, I mean vm's inside my laptop.  I'm probably in some "Non-Disclosure Agreement" with vmware with this software, so I'll be generic in my information.. sorry.. I like my job.  I would have liked to include screen shots.. but like I said... I like my job and there's an NDA of some sort I'm sure.
First thing to note: there is an in place upgrade for vCenter.  There's lots of talk about a vcenter appliance, and apparently there has always been an appliance out since vcenter 2.5.  The only limitation I'm aware of so far is the new appliance doesn't support linked mode vcenter appliances.  Something about needing windows to tie into AD for replication services.  Back to the upgrade..
So.. in place upgrade.. local sql express (hey this is in my laptop.. what do you expect!..lol) so upgrade the DB as well.  It warns about VUM being an old version and it'll probably break until it's upgraded as well./
vCenter Agent Upgrade?
This option is an automatic upgrade for all the host's vcenter agent.  This doesn't upgrade the host to esxi5.. just an update to the agent that vcenter uses to talk to the host.
I got an error regarding my FQDN, but I'm in a domain... I tried a host entry, but no luck.. pushing forward regardless..
There's a new (to me) option to increase the number of ephemeral ports right at the end of the install.  Probably put there due to large vmware view installations.  It talks of more than 2000 vm's to check the box.  I don't know how many ports it would have set if checked.
There's a new vCenter Inventory Service.. what's that do?  Sounds like it inventories stuff.. and if you ever worked retail.. you'd thank god if there was a service you could hire to do it for you.. I digress.
So, post install.. fire up the 4.1 client.  Prompts to run the installer for a new version.. sweet.
After we get in, we'll hop back out and upgrade VUM too.. then my 2 esxi hosts.. then I'll make lunch.. perhaps I'm noting too many activities without any substance.. Did I mention there's an NDA at play here?
Drats.. my hosts are in a disconnected state complaining about the host agent upgrade.  My laptop isn't exactly the fastest hardware, so maybe it'll just take some time.  It's complaining about not having enough space and pointing me to KB1016262 which is for 4.1, but much to my dismay.. I now realise my hosts were not running a very current version of software... not even update 1.  Don't be like Jason folks.. update your hosts to the latest version of 4.1 before attempting an upgrade to 5.
Woo hoo.. that wasn't as bad as I thought.  Somewhere around the 4.1 update 1 time frame the syslog would fill up the scratch area.  I just set the syslog in the "advanced settings" to the local datastore..maintenance mode.. reboot.. and wala.. it connected and updated the vcenter host agent.  As it turns out.. I had 2 different versions of esx4.1 on my hosts.. again.. don't be like Jason. but setting the syslocal to local datastore did fix the agent issue on both versions... or was it just the reboot cleared up enough space for a few minuets to get the agent on?  I tried to enable HA but not that agent is failing due to disk space as well.. ugg.
On to upgrading VUM (5.0.0.8039 btw) and I'll fix the hosts later.. or never.
Woo.. new things afoot here.  No more is there even an option to patch VM's.  I had heard a rumor of this.. and most places don't use these feature anyway, but if you are one of those shops.. you'll need a new patching tool if you upgrade to vSphere5.  Also, all hosts need to have some version of 4.x since 3.x upgrades are not supported either.
This is enough gibberish for one post.. I'll start another for the host upgrades and note the list of other tools now available on the install screen for vcenter.

Data centers in a box?

So I've become aware of a growing trend of "Datacenter-in-a-box". Some call them integrated stacks, cloud computing in a block, etc...
Long story short, corporations struggle with different silos within their organization all coming to agreement on products to buy. Some of these DIB's (just coined that acronym.. Use it at free will but make me famous.. I'm narsasitic like that) are able to bring a proven packages from PO to fully integrated in 30 days. We all know of some corporations that get so wrapped up in themselves that it can take 6-9 months to get a new system fully up and running. So let's say you were in upper management and wanted to entertain the idea of one of these solutions. Which one should you pick? Are they all pretty similar or are there vast differences besides just what vendors are involved? I've only researched a few and already pretty lost myself. Generalizations are pretty easy to make, but what really matters is what you are going to be happy with? If you're biased to a particular vendor, the decision is pretty easy as most only offer 1 DIB, with different models depending on how much power you for see needing. These things are very powerfully and somewhat expensive. Keep your big picture in mind and they generally are very cost effective though.
Jason

From Exchange 2003 to Exchange 2010, what do you mean I can't install 2007 now?!

Exchange 2010 is out!  What?  It's been out for a while now?  I was planning a cross country move and .. ok that's not a good excuse.  Truth be told, I've been in government contracting world where they still run exchange 2003.  Come on.. how much longer can anyone really run Ex2003?  Even the government has hopped on the vmware band wagon with ESXi 3.5 and even 4.1 now.  Yet, still plugging along with a mail server almost a decade old.  I'm sure there is an upgrade of massive proportion on the horizon.. will it be to Ex2007 or the "new" Exchange 2010?  Did you know that if you stand up a Exchange 2010 server in your domain, you can no longer stand up an Exchange 2007 server?!  I can't take credit for this little tid bit of info.  Eva Soohoo of Convergent Computing was kind enough to school me on this little, but very important detail.  A little about Eva.. it's become apparent to me that Eva really brings things together for cco.com.  Convergent is known for their "unleashed" series of books such as Exchange 2010 "unleashed", SQL 2008 "unleashed", etc.. (you can go see for yourself at http://www.cco.com/Publications/tabid/61/Default.aspx)

CCO is just one of the things that Rand Morimoto does and generally gets all the press for things, but Eva deserves a lot of credit.  (oh.. and since I didn't clear any of this text with Rand or CCO.. Eva is most likely the one that'll be contacting me to take this down or they'll be suing me for something or other..lol)

Anyway.. back to the point.  If you're in a 2003 exchange environment like I know there are still a lot of... and thinking you'll skip 2007 and just go straight to 2010... you might want to stand up a 2007 box before that first 2010 box, just in case plans change.

Where I.T. all began, Silicon Valley

If you had to pack all your belongings into a pickup truck, what would you take?  To most people this is a hypothetical question that is fun to talk about over a drink.  To others (like myself), this is a reality that will come to fruition tomorrow.  I'm off to move cross country from Florida to California.  I only know 2 people in California on a personal basis, but they love it there.  My exploratory nature requires me to move from time to time and luckily the IT field allows for that sort of behavior.  I chose the San Francisco bay area because, well that's the only place I've visited in California. (technically I've been to places from santa cruz to sacramento)
I did pick up one of those fancy new iPhone 4's since this will be the first job in a long time that won't be issuing me a cell.. one of these days I'll work at a place that issues cool stuff like iphones instead of blackberries.. but no time soon I imagine.  I'll be flying out, but my truck will arrive with the culmination of my life's belongings a couple of weeks later.