Eric Siebert

Configuration Maximum document updated for vSphere

VMware publishes a great document called Configuration Maximums that details all the configuration maximums for the various components of virtual machines, hosts and vCenter servers. With the vSphere release, VMware has created a new document that has both new and modified configuration maximums...

New SiteSurvey utility from VMware checks for Fault Tolerance compatibility

While looking at the newly published VMware KnowledgeBase article on processor support for the new Fault Tolerance (FT) feature last week, I noticed a link to a new utility called SiteSurvey. While it wasn't active at the time, this week SiteSurvey is...

VMware vSphere is here at last

VMware just took a big jump from being...

VMware Fault Tolerance: What it is and how it works

Fault Tolerance (FT) is a new feature in vSphere that takes VMware's High Availability technology to the next level by providing continuous protection for a virtual machine (VM) in case of a host failure. It is based on the Record and Replay technology that was introduced with VMware...

Will VMware give away VMotion and HA for free?

Enhanced alarm reporting in VMware vCenter Server 4.0

The alarm settings in VMware vCenter Server 4.0 have been vastly improved in comparison to what's available in VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3). The new alarms let you configure many custom alarm triggers and corresponding actions. VI3 alarms are very limited; you can only configure host...

Memory usage in vCenter Server 4.0

If you are using vCenter Server and plan on upgrading to vSphere you should be aware that vCenter Server 4.0 uses much more memory than vCenter Server 2.5 does. According to the official documentation for both 2.5 and 4.0, the system requirements are very similar:

• 2.0 GHz or...

Pointers for using thin-provisioned disks

Thin-provisioned disks, or thin disks, have been getting a lot of exposure as a new feature in vSphere, but they can already be used in VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3). If not properly managed, however, you can overcommit disk space to the point where you can run out of Virtual Machine File System...

New vCenter Server features in vSphere

Although vSphere's vCenter Server offers many useful new features, there are three small ones in particular that were sorely needed in VMware Infrastructure 3 that I'm glad to see in this release. The first deals with the problem of too much data in the vCenter Server database. The majority of...

Licensing details from the vSphere launch event

Yesterday's much-anticipated vSphere launch  went off without any technical difficulties, and was exactly what VMware needed to do to build hype and excitement for vSphere. Many. however, were disappointed to find out that vSphere was not actually released, but it's not far off. It is officially...