Release: VMware vShield 4.1.0 Update 1

 Desktop Virtualization, Software Releases, VMware News  Comments Off
Oct 252010
 

vShield 4.1.0 Update 1 has been released (why not call it 4.1.1?).  You can download the updated release here.  I’ve also copied the What’s New section from the release notes:

vShield 4.1.0 Update 1 adds the following features.

  • SpoofGuard: SpoofGuard allows you to authorize or alter the IP addresses of your virtual machines as reported by VMware Tools. Operating separately from the App Firewall rules, you can use SpoofGuard to block traffic determined to be from a spoofed IP address. You must upgrade your vShield App instances to vShield 1.0.0 Update 1 before enabling SpoofGuard.
  • vShield Edge Upgrade: You can upgrade vShield Edge software from the vSphere Client or via REST API.

My take on it: SpoofGuard sounds like a nice little feature to have.  I’ll do a little testing in the lab and report back on that one.  Even if the name of the feature sounds like something to prevent you from spilling water on the floor.

Separating the Windows Page File for Site Recovery Manager replication

 Administration, Disaster Recovery, Storage  5 Responses »
Oct 112010
 

I had a very interesting discussion with a customer about optimizing their storage replication for use with Site Recovery Manager.  We discussed the best practice of separating the VMware ESX VM swap files as per The SRM Best Practices Guide.  He was aware of that design suggestion and had already taken the initial steps to implement it.  He then went on to ask me if it would be beneficial to seperate out the Windows Page File onto a non-replicated datastore.  I had never heard of that suggestion before.  It seemed logical to do so.  If we shouldn’t replicate the VM swap file, why replicate the Windows Paging file?  They both perform similar functions at different layers of the software stack.  I powered up my web browser and headed over to Google for some searching.

I found a few references here and there.  Most customers keep the paging file inside the standard VM disks to avoid making the environment too complex.  I was about to give up and suggest he not separate the paging file, until I came across this discussion in the VMware communities.   Continue reading »