The VMguy

ESX 4.0 build: 164009

vCenter 4.0 build: 162902

The wait is over!  vSphere is out and available!  Go get it here !

Sorry, missed this one from a week ago.  VMware released a technical white paper on all of the performance enhancements in vSphere 4.0.  Things like 8-way SMP VMs or 64 NFS mounts per cluster as well as many more.  Some good reading if you like the technology and to see what has been enhanced and added.

You can read all of the details in the white paper here .

When I have been talking to customers about all of the upcoming benefits of vSphere, Linked Mode sticks out in my mind.  Linked mode allows for multiple vCenter servers to share information between them.  This could be very helpful in managing multiple vCenter servers at different locations or branch offices.  It could also be helpful in setting up a vCenter server in a DR site to be managed with a single vSphere client.

vCenter 4.0 (vCenter is now 4.0 to be on par with ESX) includes linked mode in the standard edition of vCenter.  Those users who have current support on vCenter standard edition will receive linked mode as part of their included subscription.  Linked mode is not included in the foundation edition of vCenter or in the vSphere essentials editions .  Linked mode uses a ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode) database to replicate it’s configuration between multiple vCenter servers.  Some of the things stored in the ADAM database include: Read the rest of this entry »

I have to tell you what a crazy week it has been.  In the first 48 hours since the vSphere announcements I have presented vSphere 5 times!  (1 customer, 2 partners, 2 events)  The conversation and interest is awesome.  I’m constantly taking a poll on what pieces of functionality gain the most approval or applause from the room.  This is the winner so far:  In vSphere 4.0, VMware has changed their licensing method for activation.  In previous generations (3.5 and before) you had to do the following steps (get some Advil, some of you may have flashbacks from this):

1. Receive activation code in email
2. Go to license portal
3. Generate a new license file
4. Choose server or host based file
5. Select license quantities to activate
6. Download or email license file
7. Install license server if needed
8. Upload license file to license server
9. Re-read license file to server
10. Configure licensing in VC/ESX UI
11. Product activated.

The great news is that this has been drastically simplified in vSphere 4.0.  Licenses are now delivered as 25-character keys.  The procedure now looks like this:

1. Receive license keys in email
2. Enter license key into vSphere Client GUI
3. Assign licenses to ESX hosts
4. Product activated.

Here’s a shot of what the new licensing config looks like in the new vSphere client:

This definitely got the biggest "Thank You" from the audience.  The license server will still be available in vSphere 4.0 so that you have backward compatibility.  For instance, if you wanted to run some ESX 3.5 and some 4.0 together.  vCenter 4.0 will be required to manage both versions of ESX together (vCenter 2.5 cannot manage ESX 4.0 hosts however vCenter 4.0 is backward compatible).

Not a ground-breaking feature by any means, but one solving some pain that customers have felt for a long time.  Enjoy, reports about more of the new features coming soon.  Next up: vCenter Linked Mode

We’ll I woke up at 5:30am this morning and could not sleep so I grabbed breakfast early and got a front row seat for today’s keynotes.  The keynotes today started with Dr. Stephen Herrod (pictured below), SVP of R&D and CTO, VMware.
Read the rest of this entry »