Virtualization Team

While playing with VMware vCenter Server Appliance in my home lab, I have been surprised with the following error:

Error: VPXD must be stopped to perform this operation.

This error has came up while trying to change authentication to active directory authentication and kinda seen the same error when trying to change the database to an external database. For some reason the Server service stop button is shadowed as well which mean I could not stop it by the GUI interface. Although my lab setup is not ideal and it might just due to the way I set it up, though I will still document how I resolved this where the same mechanism can be used to stop and restart any other service used by the vCenter Server Appliance. Below are the steps I have followed:

Updating VMware ThinApp packages is much easier and scale with ease when compared to updating traditional software packages. In fact VMware ThinApp offer multiple ways to update ThinApp Software packages that every environment can find a mechanism that suit their needs. In this post, I will discuss the major VMware ThinApp update mechanisms and the scenario each update mechanism suit best. I have noticed many posts/articles around the web talk about how to use a certain VMware ThinApp update mechanism, but not many that explain when to use that mechanism. In this post, I will work on trying to cover both area how to use a specific VMware ThinApp update mechanism and when to use it.

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VMware ThinApp can be deployed using two main methods streaming or locally deployed. The main difference between the two methods is where the ThinApp Package will be executed from. In the streaming case the ThinApp package will reside on a shared folder, where users access it remotely. In the other hand when locally deploying ThinApp packages the ThinApp package is copied to each of the end point devices and executed locally. Each method can be deployed in few different ways, & has its pros & cons. Some companies rather streaming, some rather locally installed, where others mix and match between the two. Below is a closer look on each of the two main VMware ThinApp Deployment Scenarios.

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In a previous post( The Magic of Application Virtualization with VMware ThinApp), I have shown how to create a virtualized Mozilla FireFox using VMware ThinApp and how easy the process is. If you still not sure what ThinApp is or you just want a quick idea about how it works, then please make sure you read my previous post first( The Magic of Application Virtualization with VMware ThinApp). Though if you want to get a more optimized package then there is more guide lines to follow. In this post, I will document what you need to do to create a good machine to capture & build the ThinApp packages on. Following this article will help you build better ThinApp packages faster and give you a bit more repeatable results.

I was about to head to bed till I saw this really funny VMware video on my facebook. I thought it was too funny to pass by it and not share it with my readers. Check out how the Cavemen want efficiency too! Move beyond traditional IT management solutions with VMware. Don’t miss this video and watch it and have a great laugh.

For those of you who already know ThinApp, this article might not be of a great interest though keep checking back as I am planning to write few more advance ThinApp articles in the upcoming days. If you have not heard of ThinApp or just heard a small whisper here and there about it or about Application Virtualization then keep reading. For some time I have thought everyone has heard of ThinApp, but after visiting few customers around as well talking to my friends at different large vendors I have discovered that ThinApp & Application Virtualization are still a hidden treasure. OK so before I talk about Application Virtualization & VMware ThinApp let’s ask few questions:

I have just passed my VCP510 last Saturday upgrading my VCP4 to VCP5. As many of you know the last chance to upgrade your VCP is February 29, 2012 so not much time left. If you have not done so yet, then consider completing that asap to avoid having to being obligated again to attend a VCP course in order for you to be able to upgrade your VCP4 to VCP5. Below are what our website state as ways to obtain the VCP5 Certification.

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There are different paths to VCP5 certification based on your background. Choose your path and complete the three core validation components:

1. Attend a qualifying VMware authorized course.
   Already a VCP4? There is no course requirement until February 29, 2012.

VMware vCenter ChargeBack was released on Nov 30, 2011. It has quite few awaited enhancement and a bit of interface polishing. For those of you who did not hear of VMware vCenter Chargeback Manager or does not know why its required, I will brief you a bit before going into the details of the new releases. If you have been in the virtualization field for a while, then for sure you have heard of the VMs Sprawl(A large amount of virtual machines on your network without the proper IT management or control)  or Zombie VMs(VMs that are using resources but their role is no longer required).  For more info about Zombie VMs, you might want to check out my earlier post at: Zombie VMs.

ThinApp Isolation Modes is one of the really nice settings that not many has explored. Most people who has built a ThinApp Package using the easy VMware ThinApp GUI will really not need to worry about changing the VMware ThinApp Isolation Mode in the Package.ini as the ThinApp packager GUI ask you if you want to allow the thinapped application to write to folders and files out on the physical file system the ThinApp application run on or not allow it to. What is happening in the background is that the GUI is just changing the Isolation mode in the background.

As most bloggers when vSphere 5 arrived decided to cover the improvement on VMware HA, as it was totally revamped. I have decided to cover up the improvement on VMware VMotion in vSphere 5. VMware VMotion had as much improvement in vSphere 5 as VMware HA had, but seems to be forgotten by most bloggers. Below I will summarize some of the nice improvements VMware VMotion has gained with the release of vSphere 5.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you would have noticed a non normal pause in the past 2 months with no new articles on my blog. The reason behind this gap is my move from Dubai to Canada and all what that bring with it from finding a place to stay, buying a car, & starting to catch up with the new job hitting me all at once. I have spent a great year with the SE team in VMware Dubai. It is such a great team that I will definitely miss, though the great part I have managed to stay withing the VMware Family. I have joined VMware Canada PSO team earlier this month, & looking forward to meet with the rest of our Canadian team & customers.

If you have not heard of VMware APPBlaster yet, then its worth noting it is a technology that will enable users to access any application on any operating system as long they have a browser that support HTML 5. The usages of this technology will be limitless. Imagine running MS Visio 2010 on MAC or on Linux without having to install any client/agent or software. It will run directly into your web browser just as it was running directly on your machine. Check out the below Video of Scott Davis (VMware End User Computing CTO) presenting VMware APPBlaster at VMworld 2011 in Las Vegas.

Nonetheless the diversity of Solutions VMware is delivering today, many people still know VMware as a Virtualization Company. The efforts and solutions released by VMware over the past 2 years outside of the virtualization Arena has been as huge as the one to keep the lead of the Virtualization Solutions. Its no longer true that VMware is solely a Virtualization Company, but VMware is turning into a great overall IT Solutions Company.

The below video of Paul Maritz(VMware CEO) at VMworld 2011 Explain VMware Transformation from a Virtualization Company into IT Solutions Company.

For more VMworld 2011 Videos and the full Paul Maritz VMworld 2011 Keynotes, please check the below link:

http://www.vmworld.com/community/conference/us/learn/generalsessions

With all the enhancements and new features were announced with vSphere 5, many of you waiting patiently for vSphere 5 to be available for download. The good news that the long waited vSphere 5 has been announced available for download yesterday. You can download the vSphere 5 installers at: http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_cloud_infrastructure/vmware_vsphere/5_0

vSphere 5 has a tons of enhancements & new features, below just a summary of the major new features:

• Convergence. vSphere 5.0 is the first vSphere release built exclusively on the vSphere ESXi 5.0 hypervisor architecture as the host platform.
• VMware vSphere Auto Deploy. VMware vSphere Auto Deploy simplifies the task of managing ESXi installation and upgrade for hundreds of machines. It makes stateless ESXi possible.

In reaction to the huge demand of VMware customers after the announcement of the new vSphere 5 vRAM licensing Schema, VMware has announced the changes of its vRAM entitlements  & few other licensing items to respond to customers demands. In this article, I will be covering just that. Its important to note, I am a bit late on bringing the news here as it was announced on August 3rd. The reason on me being late to report this, I have been really busy lately covering for my two colleagues who went on vacation for the past 2 weeks. OK, so what has changed & why?