The VMguy

Updated tonight, View 4.0.1 was released and can be downloaded here.  The What’s New from the release notes describes bug fixes but there are a few minor additions:

Localization of VMware View

The View Client and online help for View Client are now available in Japanese, French, German, and simplified Chinese. The View Manager Administration Guide, View Manager Release Notes, Getting Started with VMware View document, View Upgrade Guide, and View Architecture Planning Guide are also available in these languages.

VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6 and ESX 3.5 Update 5 Support

View Manager 4.0.1 includes support for VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6 and ESX 3.5 Update 5.

Enhancements to the PCoIP Display Protocol

PCoIP now supports the following features:

Virtual Printing, which allows end users to use local or network printers from a View desktop without requiring that additional print drivers be installed in the View desktop.
Single sign-on support for third party providers such as Sentillion and Imprivata.
View Client supports international keyboards when using PCoIP.
For PCoIP-related bug fixes, see the View Client Resolved Issues section.

By now, most of you know how Site Recovery Manager works.  SRM requires a SRA (Storage Replication Adapter) which is basically a translator to allow SRM talk directly to the storage arrays.  6 of the SRAs were updated on VMware’s download site for SRM in January.  They were:

Dell EqualLogics, Version 1.0.2, Released 01/20/2010

EMC Celerra, Version 4.0.17, Released 01/29/2010

Fujitsu ETERNUS SF AdvancedCopy Manager, Version 1.3| Released 01/29/2010

IBM DS4000/5000, Version 01.01.35.05, Released 01/15/2010

IBM N-series SAN Adapter, Version 1.4.2, Released 01/07/2010

LSI, Version 1.01.30.05, Released 01/21/2010

You can find the updated SRAs on the SRM download site here.  As always, please check to make sure these updates are necessary for your environment.  I would have included the release notes but unfortunately the vendors are not keep track of them.  Upgrade at your own risk, and if you do, please test your recovery plans out fully with the new adapters.

ok, I’m either blind or this snuck under the radar.  I swear when I checked the download site this morning, this was not there.  However the release date says 2010/01/18.  This is apparently a patch fix for Update manager for those running the Cisco Nexus 1000v.  You can download the updated release here.

Here’s the notes from the patch:

The VMware vCenter Update Manager 4.0 Update 1 Patch 1 adds fixes to issues with the Cisco VSM module. If you do not use this module, you will not need this patch. For details regarding the issues fixed, please see the patch release notes.

The release notes link was not working for me on the download page.

For future reference, VMware releases always seem to come in bunches.  Update 6 for vCenter 2.5 has been released and can be downloaded here.

The update mostly includes guest operating system custimization enhancements.

Here’s the what’s new section from the release notes:

Guest Operating Systems Customization Improvements

Customization support for the following guest operating systems has been added in this release:
For more complete information about supported guests included in this release, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Windows 7 Enterprise (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows 7 Ultimate (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows 7 Professional (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit and 64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter Edition (64-bit)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Web Server (64-bit)
Support for Firefox 3.x Browsers with VirtualCenter Web  Access

This release adds support for Firefox 3.x browsers with VirtualCenter Web Access. Firefox 3.x is not a supported browser for ESX Server 3.5 Update 5 Web Access with this release.

Update: Some readers are reporting issues with the links on this page.  At 10:54 EST this Sunday morning it appears that the technical section of VMware’s web site is offline.  I’ll check it back in a couple hours to see if they have come back and update the article accordingly.

Update: It appears the links are back.  Be aware they may be flaky if VMware is working on the site today.

Anti-Virus Deployment for VMware View – Great article on what to consider when deploying an anti-virus solution for your View desktops.  Great reading on how to best protect your desktop VMs.  My favorite part is the detailed exclusion list for the anti-virus scanners – very helpful.

Analysis of IBM System x3850 M2 Performance and Scalability with VMware vSphere 4 and SAP Solutions – a very specific read but has some very nice scailibility charts in it for the IBM x3850.  There’s also a nice listing of the optimized IBM BIOS settings on the server.

ESRI ArcGIS Server 9.3 for VMware Infrastructure – a good read if you are deploying the ESRI ArcGIS mapping software in your environment.  Very specifics on configuration of that software on ESX 3.5.

VMware View 4 & VMware ThinApp Integration Guide – A very nice paper on how to integrate ThinApp packages into pools of desktops in View.  It has a lot of items to consider when deploying apps this way.  I’m personally hoping for some native VMware integration coming in the future.

Application Registration with VMware ThinApp – Here’s the question: how can I associate a specific file type with a ThinApp’ed application so when I click the file, it opens in the ThinApp’ed App?  Bingo, the doc goes through how to set this up in your environment on virtual or physical desktops.