Veeam SureBackup

Veeam SureBackup is just around the corner, if you’ve been impressed with Veeam so far, you wont be surprised of what they came up with next. I have yet to test Veeam SureBackup, but since 90% of my clients use Veeam already I’ll definitely be upgrading to this as soon as possible.

SureBackup introduces a new patent-pending technology that allows IT professionals to
run a virtual machine directly from a compressed backup file.

By publishing the content of backup files directly to ESX hosts, you can:

Eliminate the need to extract backup files
Test and verify EVERY backup in a matter of minutes, without affecting backup windows
Perform recoverability testing without additional hardware or staff
The same technology also allows for item-level restore for any virtualized application, on
any OS (patent-pending).

How it works

Using new patent-pending technology, Veeam publishes the contents of the backup file as a datastore that an ESX host can connect to. During recovery verification, we automatically create VMs in an isolated environment and run them directly from the backup. We start each VM, boot the OS, and confirm that everything is running normally. You can even verify that applications are functioning properly and data is intact.

If you want to be one of the first to try out Veeam SureBackup go here and register. You can also find more documentation and a video.

New StarWind High Availability iSCSI SAN Software Free for Any VMware vExpert, VCP or VCI

Straight from StarWindsoftware.com, mind you this is a little late, but I am sure not many people were aware, is if you are a VCP or MCP(apparently), and email vmware@starwind.com, you can get a key to activate the software. I have included an insert from the website below.

With StarWind, VMware certified professionals will get a scalable storage platform for VMware vSphere environments with advanced features at absolutely no cost. By creating networked storage with StarWind SAN software, VMware administrators get a scalable, highly cost-effective and easy-to-use iSCSI SAN that fully protects their VMware virtual machines in the event of failure. StarWind’s true active-active high availability storage architecture provides continuous and non-disruptive access to storage in the event of failure by synchronously mirroring data between two active storage appliances, or nodes, in real time with automatic failover and failback. If a disk, power or even an entire storage node fails, the redundant storage node will take over and will continue actively operating without any disruption, ensuring that storage is available and accessible on the network.

Go here to download the application, submit an email to the above email address and you will be good to go!

-NS

Rogers makes free data tethering permanent

Who needs a Wi-Fi cafe anymore, as long as you are a customer of Rogers and have a 1GB Data plan, you get unlimited data tethering!

Rogers today revealed that its free data tethering promo is becoming a permanent fixture of its plans. The move gives anyone with a Canadian 1GB or larger data plan the option of using an iPhone or other tethering-capable smartphone as a 3G Internet connection for a computer without having to incur a separate charge. Any data used for tethering is simply taken out of the existing monthly transfer allowance, Rogers said.

This is great news for technicians out in the feild who would need access to corporate information, as long as you  have a signal you have internet access, mind you a 3G device would fair much better than an EDGE device. If you are using a blackberry device and do not see the option to teather, just upgrade you Blackberry Desktop Manager.

Enjoy,

NS

VMware Brings Enterprise-Class Virtualization to SMBs at Half the Price

VMware announced that as of March 18th vSphere Essentials can be acquired for less than $500 USD. Finally VMware is looking more seriously at the SMB space, not just enterprise, this will allow many more companies to take advantage of this great technology.

“VMware vSphere allows SMBs to do more with less,” said Timothy Stephan, senior director, product marketing, VMware. “We’ve helped thousands of SMB customers more effectively utilize their storage, network and computing resources to control costs and respond more quickly to business demand.  With this promotion, we are happy to make the benefits of virtualization more affordable for offices of all sizes.”

Customers can purchase vSphere Essentials for the promotional price online or with a VMware partner at http://www.vmware.com/go/affordable. Prices are in effect through June 15th, 2010.

-NS

Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft’s new iteration of browser is on the horizon, while the beta embraces HTML 5, it has marginal speed gains(up to 9 times) while rendering pages.

In the very first report of browsers’ scalability compared to IE7 in Vista SP2, the IE9 tech preview in Windows 7 scored a 6.57 compared to IE8′s score of 1.13. That means, we believe IE9′s new “Chakra” interpreter offers 581.4 percent greater efficiency than IE8 at speeding up when workloads increase.

While not just anyone can have access to the test build, Microsoft is seeking to engage web developers to test out the core functionality. Microsoft plans to release a new build every 8 weeks.

Ill try to keep everyone in the loop as development progresses.

-NS

Configure an Alarm in vCenter Server to alert you if a Virtual Machine is running on a snapshot.

Ever check on your VMs and they have been running on a snapshot for the last couple months? Committing a couple months worth of snapshots can take 1 to many hours depending on the hardware and disks present, well VMware has posted a video on how to create an alarm to alert you when virtual machines are running on snapshots.  Enjoy.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/gl0VmmKNhYk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-NS

Top 5 Certifications by Salary

Would you like to fast track your way into a job interview? While Certifications alone won’t get you the job, it can definitely open doors, and get you an interview. Once you pass the interview you could be starting your dream job with that dream salary.

Here are the top 5 certifications based on average salary.

1. $99,928 – CISSP (Cert. Info. Sys. Security Professional)
2. $93,953 – CCDA (Cisco Certified Design Associate)
3. $91,271 – VMware Certified Professional
4. $89,864 – CCNP (Cisco Certified Network Professional)
5. $86,454 – MCSE (MS Certified Systems Engineer)

If you would like to see the full list of 20 certifications based on salary, check out the PDF over at ZDNET, if you do not have an account, sign up, the you can view the PDF. Here is a quick insert from the parent website.

Overview: In conjunction with Global Knowledge, TechRepublic presents this year’s IT skills and salary report. Find out about IT employment trends, areas of growth and decline, skills that are in demand, highest-paying job roles, highest-paying certifications, and salary ranges broken down by region, job title, and industry.

Enjoy and start studying!

-NS

Silverlight 4

Silverlight 4 gets released next month, but if your a developer and want to get started right away, then check out this link. I have included an insert below for quick review.

This latest version of Silverlight delivers hundreds of features and controls that, when combined with the continued innovation in Microsoft’s world-class tools for designers and developers — Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend – present the leading edge in rapid, powerful application development. With printing support, rich reporting and charting, and integration with back-end systems and server products including Microsoft SharePoint, Silverlight is ready for business.

Remember that this is a developer only release, there is no “go-live” licensing available as the end-user runtime version is not available till next month.

-NS

Alienware M11x

Ever wanted a netbook that could truly do it all? Well now you can own such a beast, or should I say Alien…

Meet the Alienware M11x. Now you wont have to lug a bulky computer around to LAN parties, this little guy will fit into your backpack. With the ability to play Crysis and Call of Duty “World at War” on its 720p screen for 2 straight hours(on battery), or using it as a productivity tool for 6.5hours(on battery) (nvidia gpu disabled), what more could you want? See the full specs below, and if you want to purchase one for yourself, head on over to Dell’s Alienware Site.

General

    * Type: Ultraportable
    * Bundled OS: Windows (7)

Display

    * Screen size: 11.6 inches
    * Screen resolution: (1366 x 768)
    * Aspect ratio: 16:9
    * Screen type: LCD (Color, Backlit)
    * Screen surface: Glossy

Processor

    * Processor make: Intel
    * CPU family: Core2 Duo (mobile)
    * CPU model: SU7300
    * Processor speed: 1.3 GHz
    * Number of cores: Dual-core
    * Cache size: 3 MB L2 cache

Networking

    * WiFi: 802.11 a, b, g, n
    * Mobile broadband (3G): Yes

Video

    * Graphics adapter: Discrete + integrated
    * Graphics (discrete): NVIDIA (GeForce)
    * GPU model: GT335M
    * Video RAM: 1 GB
    * Graphics (integrated): Intel (GMA)
    * Memory type: Shared
    * Video outputs: DisplayPort, HDMI, VGA

Memory details

    * RAM bus / speed:  DDR3 (1066)
    * RAM slots: 2 slots (total)  2 slots (occupied)
    * Maximum RAM: 8 GB (system) 4 GB (per module)

Storage details

    * Storage interface: SATA
    * Drive bays: 2.5 inches 1 bays (total)  1 bays (occupied)

System

    * Chipset: Intel
    * Chipset model: SU7300
    * System bus speed: 800 MHz

Environmental

    * System cooling: Fan-cooled

Other features

    * Integrated webcam: Yes
    * Security lock slot: Yes
    * Case lighting: External

Memory and storage (basic)

    * System RAM: 2 GB
    * Hard drive(s): 160 GB (total)

Battery

    * Maximum battery life: Up to 6.5 hours
    * Battery type: Li-polymer
    * Battery access: Built-in

Input

    * Keyboard: Backlit
    * Pointing device: Trackpad

Connections

    * USB: 2.0 (3 ports)
    * FireWire / 1394: Yes

Size and weight

    * Dimensions: 1.29 inches (h) 11.25 inches (w) 9.19 inches (d)
    * Weight:  4.39 pounds

Audio

    * Audio inputs: 3.5mm
    * Audio outputs: 3.5mm
    * Built-in microphone:  Yes
    * Speakers: Stereo

Memory card reader

    * Memory card reader: Yes
    * Memory card support: SD (SDHC)

Product info

    * Available colors (each model): Black and Silver

-NS

New Portable App – Team Viewer

I have yet to use this app, but apparently it works well, from what I heard.

TeamViewer Portable 5.0.7904 has been released. TeamViewer is a remote PC support/control and screen-sharing tool. You can remote control a partner’s desktop to give online assistance, or you can show your screen to a customer without worrying about firewalls, IP addresses and NAT. This release updates TeamViewer to the latest version and adds multilingual support. It’s packaged as a portable app so you can work on the go and it’s in PortableApps.com Format so it can easily integrate with the PortableApps.com Suite. It’s released as freeware for personal, education and non-profit use (business use requires a license).

I have listed some features below.

- Support, administration and screen-sharing in one package
- Remote administration of unattended servers
- File transfer
- Key exchange and AES (256 Bit) session encoding
- Remote support without installation
- Remote presentation of products, solutions and services
- Works behind firewalls

So if you want to help your parents out with an issue, this is the application to try.

-NS