David’s Cisco Networking Blog » Virtualization

Virtumania Podcast Rocks!

David Davis — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 06:15:30 +0000

Rich Brambley (@RBrambley) and crew from the new Virtuamania podcast are both educational and entertaining! This new podcast covers everything that you need to know about virtualization, storage, and servers. Rich has a real talent for making this stuff COOL and FUN, all at the same time (something not easy to do).

Listen to the Virtumania Podcast here!

VIDEO: My home VMware vSphere Lab

David Davis — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:06:39 +0000

I created new video that details my home VMware vSphere lab including servers and storage. Watch the video here (click the video graphic to launch):

VIDEO: Using VMware GO by David Davis

David Davis — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 18:46:35 +0000

Checkout my new video from Train Signal where I cover how to use VMware GO to install VMware ESXi, perform P2V conversions, and manage your ESXi virtual infrastructure.

VIDEO: Installing the vSphere Client in Windows 7

David Davis — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:52:57 +0000

While the vSphere Client does install fine in Windows 7, it is when you attempt to connect to your vCenter Server that you discover there is a problem. VMware doesn’t officially support the vSphere Client under Windows 7 but there is a workaround to make it work.

In this video, I cover how to get the vSphere Client working in Windows 7, step by step.

You can download the special system.dll file that is needed here.

How To Install VMware vSphere Client in Windows 7 from Train Signal. Your leader in Computer Training

Special thanks to those who have posted on this topic before me as I couldn’t have created this video without your help!

5Nine P2V Planner, Migrator, and Optimizer

David Davis — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:21:46 +0000

The P2V Planner automatically collects all your hardware information and its utilization so you can make more sysync decisions regarding your business.

5Nine is unique because they are the only product out there to provide the financial calculations necessary to decide between Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere, including TCO and ROI numbers. Once you decide on your virtualization platform and have a plan, 5Nine’s migrator can actually migrate your physical servers to virtual servers for you. Then, once the P2V migration is done, 5Nine’s Optimizer can monitor your virtual infrastructure and advise you about statistics you need to be aware of. There are so many features and benefits to this product and oh yes, it’s simplicity of use is an extra bonus. View my Train Signal Video and white paper on these facinating new products.

You can also access 5Nine directly.

How to verify if your processor is virtualization compatible

David Davis — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:49:07 +0000

Before you install VMware Workstation, vSphere, or even Microsoft Hyper-V, you first need to verify if your processor can utilize virtualization. Over at Train Signal’s Windows Server Blog, they have a great article by “Coach” covering how to tell if your CPU is virtualization compatible. To read the full article, checkout-

How to verify if your processor is virtualization compatible

Installing ESXi / vSphere version 4 and more

David Davis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:31:16 +0000

Tom Finnis, Technical Operations Manager for Help4IT, has recently written some excellent articles on VMware vSphere and ESX over at the Petri IT Knowledgebase.

Here are some of the VMware-related articles that he wrote:

Also, check out the VMware vSphere Training from Train Signal! This new course covers VMware ESX Server and the replacement for the VMware Virtual Infrastructure Suite – vSphere.

Also, did you know that VMware ESXi is FREE? You can register at VMware.com to obtain a FREE ESXi 4.0 download and license key for as many hosts as you would like.

Top 5 Pitfalls of Virtualization

David Davis — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:27:28 +0000

According to Sue Ellen Schaming of Xangati, I’ve listed the top 5 pitfalls that you might encounter regarding virtualization:

Pitfall 1. Assuming application resources will optimize themselves.
Self-Optimization: Yes, virtualization can increase up to 70% by putting many applications on a single VMS server but realize that it also requires a continuous review of what resources are really being used and what impact is realized by it. In this way, you will not have to be concerned about unused applications taking up resources or applications looping endlessly.

Pitfall 2. Turning a blind eye to the interaction between virtual and physical realms.
Managing Physical and Virtual Interaction: It’s there and now it’s gone! Trying to keep the physical and virtual environments managed can be a daunting if not impossible task at times. Xangati suggests that Virtualization can create a visibility of both domains to quickly isolate preditable or on-going problems.

Pitfall 3. Creating a visibility blind spot with vSwitches.
Xangati expounds on the need for vSwitches that include NetFlow which can help you see those blind spots transversing your applications. Additionally, beware that some vSwitches do not support NetFlow. Cisco has a version that supports NetFlow called Nexus 1000V.

Pitfall 4. Losing track of virtual IP storage.
Moving your storage for maintenance or disaster reasons can result in massive data integrity issues among other problems. Clearly, there is a extreme need for visibility tools to assist in this area.

Pitfall 5. Ignoring the end-user experience.
No matter how cost-efficient the VM deployment is, there is incredible significance when your end-users can efficiently user the applications. Partnering with them to isolate production problems can be a very useful tool to quickly resolve issues while measuring the performance of your resources.

Check out the full article on Xangati’s web site.

Interviewed by J. Peter Bruzzese about vSphere

David Davis — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:42:33 +0000

I was recently interviewed by InfoWorld author and Microsoft guru J. Peter Bruzzese (aka @JPBruzzese on Twitter) about vSphere. The hypervisor battle is a hot topic and I tried to cut through some of the marketing fluff to provide the “real deal” on the difference between Hyper-V and vSphere.

I hope you will checkout the interview at:

The hypervisor wars: Is vSphere compelling for Microsoft admins?

Cisco Nexus 1000V – 3 free videos

David Davis — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:31:56 +0000

Have you seen my 3 free videos on how to download, install, and use the Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switch? I was one of the judges that selected this as the the best new technology of VMworld in 2008. If you aren’t familiar with the Nexus 1000V (or N1KV), it is a software switch that integrates into your VMware vSphere virtual infrastructure.

To watch the 3 free videos, checkout: VMwareVideos.com – Cisco Nexus 1000V Videos