Vizioncore

Three new free administration tools from Vizioncore

Free administration tools can really make a VMware administrator’s life easier, so when I heard that Vizioncore recently announced some free administration tools I thought I would check them out. The three tools are vConverter SC, a physical-to-virtual (P2V) and virtual-to-virtual (V2V) conversion tool; vControl, a multi-hypervisor workflow-based management console; and vOptimizer Wastefinder, a disk space and alignment reporting tool.

The first tool, vConverter SC (SC stands for server consolidation) is based on the full version of vConverter but lacks the continuous protection feature (recurring P2V replication) of the full version. VConverter SC is a powerful tool that rivals VMware Converter but has some additional features, better speed, and support for all hypervisors including Xen, Hyper-V and Virtual Iron.

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My virtualization toolbox

What comprises a VMware vExpert’s virtualization toolbox? I actually think there are several different layers of tools depending on the particular VMware virtualization administrators job role. Mine, for example, has a number of security tools that most people would not normally need, but I do. So below is a list of what comprises my virtualization toolbox.

Administration Tools

• VMware’s VI Toolkit w/Microsoft PowerShell
• VMware’s VI Perl Toolkit
• VMware’s Remote CLI
• VMware Update Manager Plug-in for VMware Infrastructure Client
• Andrew Kutz’s Storage VMotion VMware Infrastructure Client Plug-in
• Hyper9’s Search Toolbar VMware Infrastructure Client Plug-in
• Tripwire Opscheck (a must for solving VMware VMotion issues)
• PuTTY (a must for accessing host via secure shell (SSH) from Window’s systems)
• PowerGUI (GUI for PowerShell and VI Toolkit)
• Snaphunter (hunt for and destroy snapshots)
• Snapalert (find and commit snapshots with Remote CLI support)
• Adobe Acrobat (for reading VMware whitepapers, hardware compatibility lists and other documents)
• Twhirl (for Twitter access)
• Firefox for access to the VMware Communities Forums and Google Search

Performance/Monitoring Tools

• VMware Infrastructure Client for real time performance graphs
• VMware’s esxtop for details on server utilization
• vmktree
• Vizioncore’s vFoglight
• Nagios for service monitoring

Reporting

• VMware Virtual Infrastructure Client Mapping capability
• Veeam Reporter
• Alan Renouf’s (http://www.virtu-al.net) vDiagram

Backup Tools

• VMware Consolidated Backup
• VMware Converter
• If only ESX, then one of either Vizioncore vRangerPro, PHD Technologies’ esXpress, or Veeam Backup
• If only ESXi, then Veeam Backup 3.0
• VMware’s vcbMounter

P2V Tools

• VMware Capacity Planner
• VMware Converter 4.0

Security Tools

• Ultimate Boot CD for Darik’s Boot and Nuke utility (in ISO form)
• Tripwire ConfigCheck
• My own Virtual Security Management Suite (still in pre-beta with a hope to get it out soon!)
• Hardening Script from VMware Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment, available first half of 2009.
• DISA STIG for ESX SRR
• Nessus
• Nmap
• Backtrack for Penetration Testing (in ISO form)
• Helix for Forensics (in ISO form)
• Nuclues Kernel Linux for Data Recovery
• Virtual Firewall (smoothwall, IPcop, etc.)

General Tool

• Ulli Hankeln’s MOA

There you have it: the contents of my virtualization toolbox. I am sure there are many more that I have missed as I do not use them very much or have never used them. Which of these tools will prove to be the most useful in the future? I believe it will be the VI Toolkit but I will keep all these tools within the toolbox, cleaned, and ready for use.

Editor’s note: Readers, any suggestions for other helpful tools? Comment and add to the list.