OK so I am a bit late but I have been away on holiday so please forgive me. Whilst I was away the much anticipated VMware View 4 was released with the PCoIP remote display protocol. The PCoIP technology has been developed by Teradici and integrated into View by VMware, the result is an enhanced experience for the end user with progressive image building and streaming video support inside a VM.

Below is a quick video of BBC iPlayer inside a View 4 Desktop

Please note I have choose not to record the audio with this clip

VMware View Manager 4.0 includes the following new features:

• VMware View with PCoIP – PCoIP provides an optimized desktop experience for the delivery of the entire desktop environment including applications, images, audio, and video content for a wide range of users on the LAN or across the WAN. PCoIP can compensate for an increase in latency or a reduction in bandwidth, to ensure that end users can remain productive regardless of network conditions.
• PCoIP includes VMware View Display with support for up to four monitors and the ability to deliver the optimal resolution and pivot orientation to each monitor independently.
• VMware vSphere Support – VMware vSphere 4 support enables improved virtual machine scalability, performance, and management, with continued support for VMware Infrastructure 3.x.
• Enhanced single sign-on – The Log in as current user feature is integrated with Active Directory and smart cards to help simplify the process of logging in to a VMware View desktop.
• Restricted entitlements – Administrators can control user access to virtual desktops based on the View Connection Server being used for authentication.
• Smart card policies – Administrators can set group policies to force desktop disconnection and require reconnection when users remove smart cards.
• Domain filtering – You can use vdmadmin.exe to control the accessibility of domains and traverse trust relationships more quickly.
• You can cleanly delete View desktops using scripts.
• You can log in to View desktops using user principal names (UPN).
• You can explicitly configure IP addresses to override those supplied by the View Agent when accessing a desktop.
• Mixed Active Directory and Kerberos authentication is supported

It is definatly worth reading through the release notes below is some of the limitations of PCoIP in the current release, the full release notes can be found here http://www.vmware.com/support/view40/doc/releasenotes_viewmanager40.html

View Client supports connections to View desktops using PCoIP. The following are known limitations when using PCoIP:

• View clients that use PCoIP can connect to View security servers, but PCoIP sessions with the desktop ignore the security server. PCoIP uses UDP for streaming audio and video. Security servers support only TCP.
• Smart cards are not supported.
• Virtual Printing is not supported.
• Audio input works with USB devices only.
• View Portal does not support PCoIP connections.

I have completed the upgrade in our demo environment I did run into a few issues but will blog about these separately. 

Of course with the release of View 4, ThinApp 4 has also been released but I will also leave this for another blog post. I am currently investigating PCoIP capable thin clients and the Wyse P20 seems to be the current favourite with people in the industry at the moment, it is due for immanent release and features a hardware PCoIP chip for enhanced graphic performance. As soon as I get my hands on one I will let you know what I think.

After many rumours that update 1 for vSphere would be released on the 19th of November we were all sorely disappointed, with new rumours it would be Monday 23rd. Much to my surprise this morning it has been released.

The biggest new features are View 4 support, Windows 7 vSphere client support and Windows 7 and Windows 2008R2 as a guest VM. There has also been an update to the configuration maximums as follows HA Cluster Configuration Maximum — HA clusters can now support 160 virtual machines per host in HA Cluster of 8 hosts or less. The maximum number of virtual machines per host in cluster sizes of 9 hosts and above is still 40, allowing a maximum of 1280 Virtual Machines per HA cluster.

This following comment in the release notes is very interesting so looks like VMware are making moves to making vCenter a 64bit application.

Future releases of VMware vCenter Server might not support installation on 32-bit Windows operating systems. VMware recommends installing vCenter Server on a 64-bit Windows operating system.

Here is a copy of what’s new from the release notes which can be found here >> http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esx40_u1_rel_notes.html 

What’s New in ESX

The following information provides highlights of some of the enhancements available in this release of VMware ESX:

VMware View 4.0 support – This release adds support for VMware View 4.0, a solution built specifically for delivering desktops as a managed service from the protocol to the platform.

Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 support –This release adds support for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 as well as 64-bit Windows 2008 R2 as guest OS platforms. In addition, the vSphere Client is now supported and can be installed on a Windows 7 platform. For a complete list of supported guest operating systems with this release, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Enhanced Clustering Support for Microsoft Windows – Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) for Windows 2000 and 2003 and Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering is now supported on an VMware High Availability (HA) and Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS) cluster in a limited configuration. HA and DRS functionality can be effectively disabled for individual MSCS virtual machines as opposed to disabling HA and DRS on the entire ESX/ESXi host. Refer to the Setup for Failover Clustering and Microsoft Cluster Service guide for additional configuration guidelines.

Enhanced VMware Paravirtualized SCSI Support – Support for boot disk devices attached to a Paravirtualized SCSI ( PVSCSI) adapter has been added for Windows 2003 and 2008 guest operating systems. Floppy disk images are also available containing the driver for use during the Windows installation by selecting F6 to install additional drivers during setup. Floppy images can be found in the /vmimages/floppies/ folder.

Improved vNetwork Distributed Switch Performance – Several performance and usability issues have been resolved resulting in the following:

• Improved performance when making configuration changes to a vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) instance when the ESX/ESXi host is under a heavy load
• Improved performance when adding or removing an ESX/ESXi host to or from a vDS instance

Increase in vCPU per Core Limit – The limit on vCPUs per core has been increased from 20 to 25. This change raises the supported limit only. It does not include any additional performance optimizations. Raising the limit allows users more flexibility to configure systems based on specific workloads and to get the most advantage from increasingly faster processors. The achievable number of vCPUs per core depends on the workload and specifics of the hardware. For more information see the Performance Best Practices for VMware vSphere 4.0 guide.

Enablement of Intel Xeon Processor 3400 Series – Support for the Xeon processor 3400 series has been added. For a complete list of supported third party hardware and devices, see the VMware Compatibility Guide.

Resolved Issues – In addition, this release delivers a number of bug fixes that have been documented in the Resolved Issues section.

What’s New in vCenter

This update release of VMware vCenter Server 4.0 Update 1 offers the following improvements:

• IBM DB2 Database Support for vCenter Server — This release adds support for IBM DB2 9.5 as the backend database platform for VMware vCenter Server 4.0. The following editions of IBM DB2 are supported:
  • IBM DB2 Enterprise 9.5
  • IBM DB2 Workgroup 9.5
  • IBM DB2 Express 9.5
  • IBM DB2 Express-C 9.5
• VMware View 4.0 support — This release adds support for VMware View 4.0, a solution built specifically for delivering desktops as a managed service from the protocol to the platform.
• Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 support — This release adds support for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 as well as 64-bit Windows 2008 R2 as guest operating system platforms. In addition, the vSphere Client is now supported and can be installed on a Windows 7 platform.
• Pre-Upgrade Checker Tool — A standalone pre-upgrade checker tool is now available as part of the vCenter Server installation media that proactively checks ESX hosts for any potential issues that you might encounter while upgrading vCenter agents on these hosts as part of the vCenter Server upgrade process. You can run this tool independently prior to upgrading an existing vCenter Server instance. The tool can help identify any configuration, networking, disk space or other ESX host-related issues that could prevent ESX hosts from being managed by vCenter Server after a successful vCenter Server upgrade.
• HA Cluster Configuration Maximum — HA clusters can now support 160 virtual machines per host in HA Cluster of 8 hosts or less. The maximum number of virtual machines per host in cluster sizes of 9 hosts and above is still 40, allowing a maximum of 1280 Virtual Machines per HA cluster.
• Bug fixes described in Resolved Issues.

More information and the download can be found on VMware’s website here >>

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vsphere_4/4

A CPU of the host is incompatible error appears and VMotion stops working after upgrading to vSphere 4.0

Just experienced this issue and found the resolution on VMware’s Kb 1011294 >> http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011294 posted here for reference and if anyone else runs into the problem.

Symptoms
VMotion fails after upgrading from ESX 3.x to ESX 4.0
You receive an error similar to:

Unable to migrate from to : The CPU of the host is incompatible with the CPU feature requirements of the virtual machine; problem detected at CPUID level.

or

Host CPU is incompatible with the virtual machine’s requirements at cupid level 0×1 register’ecx’
Host bits: 0000:0100:0000:1000:0010:0010:0000:0001
Required: 1000:0100:0000:100x:xxx0:0×1x:xxx0:x001
Mismatch detected for these features:
*General incompatibilities; refer to KB article 1993 for possible solutions.

This issue occurs after upgrading the virtual hardware in the virtual machines
A new virtual machine created on vSphere 4.0 migrates successfully
Resolution
The upgraded virtual machines may have some CPU masks applied which are causing the migration difficulties.

To ensure that VMotion is successful:
Power down the virtual machine.
Click the link to Edit Settings of the virtual machine.
Click the Options tab.
Select CPUID Mask under Advanced.
Click Advanced.
Click Reset All to Default.
Click OK.
Click OK again.
Power on the virtual machine and migrate.
Note: If the issue still exists after trying the steps in this article, file a support request with VMware Support and note this KB article ID in the problem description. For more information, see How to submit a Support Request. For further contact options, see www.vmware.com/support/contacts/.

The long awaited VMware View 4 was announced yesterday along side a newly refreshed VMware website. The biggest features for most are the PCoIP technology that VMware have teamed up with Teradici to enhance the user experience, allow streaming video and enhanced graphics and progressive build up of images so even on a slow connection you are still able to make the most of your view environment. The other feature is of course the introduction of vSphere support, for many this now means a vSphere upgrade can now be completed.

The full list of new features is as follows

• PCoIP – A display protocol specifically developed for virtual desktop
  delivery. PCoIP is able to dynamically detect and adapt to the end users
  network connection providing each user with the best desktop experience
  regardless of location or task. VMware View with PCoIP is delivered with
  support for software end points, which include the View Client and a
  VMware View virtual desktop. In addition to software support, the VMware
  View solution also supports PCoIP enabled end points to address the
  requirements of even the highest end users
• vSphere Support – Provides the foundation for VMware View and helps
  to extend the power of the datacenter to the desktop environment by
  delivering powerful business continuity and disaster recovery features
  such as VMotion, High Availability, Dynamic Resource Scheduler (DRS)
  and Consolidated Back Up. Optimized specifically for VMware View
  desktop workloads, VMware vSphere is able to scale to support 1000s of
  desktops to meet the requirements of even the largest organizations. In
  addition vCenter helps organizations to manage more than 1,000 hosts
  and up to 10,000 Virtual Machines from a single console providing a
  common platform to manage both servers and desktops from the
  datacenter to the cloud with unparalleled levels of scale, control and
  automation.
• Simplified Sign On – Addresses the need for a seamless end user
  experience when logging into a VMware View virtual desktop from a
  physical thin client or workstation. With Simplified Sign On user
  credentials entered into the local client can be reused to authenticate the
  user as they log into their virtual desktop. This makes the login process
  simple and efficient.
• Restricted Entitlements – Enables to ability to restrict user access to
  desktop pools based on the connection server being used for access.
  With connection servers being deployed across different networks, IT
  organizations can enforce access based on the user’s location.
  Depending on how the connection server is configured a group of users
  can be either permitted or denied access to their virtual desktop according
  to the connection server being used for access.

I was also presently surprised to see the VMware website has had a refresh, I was pleased to see that nearly every page now has a related video which I think helps hold the customers attention and help them get the information they need. Information now seems simpler to find with better navigation and I am pleased that this has also spread through to the partner site for those that are VMware partners.

I haven’t seen any GA date yet but from what I have heard I believe this should be some time next week, also from rumours this sounds like update 1 for vSphere maybe coming out around the same time.

As I have mentioned numerous times I am a big fan of The VESI and Alan Renouf’s powershell blog, well now Alan has released his powerpack for The VESI which means every VMware admin can have the power of Alan Renouf in their toolkit. Alan has taken his scripts and incorporated them in the VESI powerpack which means they can now be ran simply through the VESI GUI, saving you even more time. Due to current work commitments I haven’t had a lot of time to have a play with the powerpack yet but from the little I have seen it’s fantastic!

More information on The VESI can be found here

http://www.thevesi.org

and Alan’s powerpack can be found here

http://www.virtu-al.net/2009/11/02/virtu-al-vesi-powergui-powerpack/

If you like what you see and it starts saving you time consider a donation to Alan’s home test environment that will help us all in the long run!

http://www.virtu-al.net/likemyscripts/

Wow quite a surprise I have been shortlisted for the Computerweekly.com IT Blog Awards 2009: Individual IT Professional Male.

Head on over to http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/09/20/237824/it-blog-awards-2009-individual-it-professional-male.htm to cast your votes!

When conducting a vSphere upgrade using either the Host Update utility or Update Manager you get the following error appear on the host console. 

It is first worth checking that you do have enough free space using the vdf –h command and it is worth noting that this error message does not appear on update manager or host update utility and is not visible in any logs only on the console screen.

To resolve this issue download the vSphere Client and Host Update package from vmware.com and reinstall. You should now be able to conduct your upgrade from the host update utility. I haven’t tried using update manager again.

Many thanks to novakk_AH on the VMware community forum for assisting me with this http://communities.vmware.com/message/1407914

I always look forward to updates from Veeam their ability to deliver products that are a joy to use and do what they say on the tin is fantastic. Snippets about version 4 have been released practically since version 3’s release and for me seeing version 4 in action at IPExpo proved that Veeam had done it again with the vStorage API integration and the Enterprise Management Console amongst numerous other enhancements.

Veeam are the first 3rd party provider to make use of the vStorage API’s in its backup product and what this effectively means is your backups can now be completed up to 10x faster than previously using ESX4 changed block tracking and native thin-provisioned disk support.

The Enterprise Management Console means you can now manage multiple Veeam installations across your enterprise with a single view, this also means that you no longer need to connect into your backup server to view your backups, this can be done from your desktop by pointing at the Enterprise Management Console website.

I look forward to upgrading customers to version 4 and seeing what performance increase they receive from this upgrade alone, the backup window is often the biggest challenge in the backup solution.

Veeam News Release >> http://www.veeam.com/news/veeam-backup-is10-times-faster.html

Veeam Backup 4 Product Page >> http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-backup.html#fragment-1

5 Ways VMware vSphere Improves Backup and Recovery White Paper by Eric Siebert >> http://www.veeam.com/go/vmware-vsphere-backup-wp?ad=veeam_backup

A few pictures from Veeam’s Website

 

 

On with the vSphere blogging competition, the winner of round 2 was announced on Friday and I was extremely surprised to see it was me! All the details can be found here http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2009/10/winning-post-from-cycle-2-distributed-switch.html I would also like to point you in the direction of Hany Michael’s entry on his blog which as per usual was a fantastic source of information http://www.hypervizor.com/2009/10/vsphere-40-vnetwork-distributed-switch-vds-video-demonstration-architecture-diagram/

Onto the third round of the vSphere blogging contest VMware Data Recovery

The Problem

Often when working with SMB’s a key factor in any project is the cost, with lots of companies understanding the benefits of virtualisation the project soon gets of the ground but often is restricted by budget. This often leads to the core system being impletmeneted and features that are seen as nice to have are left until further funding can be allocated. With many companies already having licences for backup products the traditional style of backup (agent inside each VM) is left in place and the added benefits that virtualisation can bring to backup are missed.

The Solution

In steps VMware Data Recovery,

Whilst there are already many excellent backup products on the market for virtualisation, these all mean an additional cost when the budget has already been spent, Data Recovery is included with VMware vSphere Essentials Plus and from VMware vSphere advanced and up.

VMware Data Recovery works on the basis of a virtual appliance that you deploy from the packaged ovf and a plug-in that you install within your vSphere client to manage and administer the backups. Setup and configuration of your first backup jobs can easily be configured within 30 minutes. VMware Data Recovery can backup a maximum of 100 VM’s and these can be written to a maximum of two datastores at once. Your data will be de-duplicated whilst it is being backed up ultimately saving you space and Data Recovery also makes use of the changed block tracking within vSphere so only has to backup the changed blocks since the last backup, a feature that we are only just seeing introduced in some of the leading products now.

Installation

Now prior to writing this blog post VMware Data Recovery was not a product I had ever used, I am pleased to report that VMware have done a fantastic job making the installation as pain free as possible.

You will first need to download Data Recovery from the download page on VMware’s website.

Steps

You need to deploy the OVF file that is on the Data Recovery ISO to your datacenter, this is done easily with vSphere using the Deploy OVF template option from the file menu.

Once you have deployed the OVF, you can add a hard disk to it to act as a datastore for your backup or skip this step until later, alternatively you are able to use a CIFS share or RDM as your datastore.

You will now need to boot up the Data Recovery appliance and configure the networking.

Once this is complete all is left is to install the Data Recovery plug-in to your vSphere client and configure the plug-in to see your appliance, before you start configuring your backups.

Below is a short video to show you through these steps if you need a little more assistance. Please excuse the poor quality as this is the first video like this I have made, also please excuse my West Country accent! It maybe easier to watch the video straight from Vimeo here >> http://www.vimeo.com/7126178

more about “A beginners guide to VMware Data Recovery“, posted with vodpod

Things to be Aware of

Be aware of where you are storing your backups, there is little point to storing them on the same storage device as the VM’s you are backing up. For this reason a CIFs share on a physical server or NAS maybe a good idea. Data Recovery has no ability to be able to backup your VM’s to tape.

Network Destinations Must Be specified Using IP Addresses – Using DNS-resolved names to specify network destinations is not supported with Data Recovery. When adding network destinations using Configure > Destinations, enter an IP address. For example, use \\192.0.2.12\share rather than \\example\share. It has also been reported that by typing your username like There is a file level recovery option but this is only experimental, as such you should not be counting on this in a production enviroment.

Must Read Documents

All the documents relating to Data Recovery can be found at the link here >> http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vdr_pubs.html I highly recommend reading all the release notes and admin guide before undertaking and installation of Data Recovery.

I have spent quite a lot of time this week reading up and sitting in on webinars regarding VMware’s soon to be released View 4.0 with the inclusion of the software version of PCoIP. I have been really impressed with the demonstration’s and what is being promised and can’t wait to get my hands on it to take a look. I wanted to point out a couple of resources regarding view 4. The first is a blog post by Scott Davis, VMware View Chief Technology Officer and can be found here >> http://blogs.vmware.com/view-point/2009/10/why-pcoip-is-the-best-protocol-for-virtual-desktops.html This post discusses the workings of PCoIP and why and how it works.

The second is a video that was released last week demonstrating VMware View 4.0’s ability to stream video to a thin client and handle multi monitors using of the PCoIP technology. For many of our customers and especially schools, the ability to watch streaming media on a view desktop will mean they can now start looking seriously at desktop virtualisation on a large scale instead of just small scale deployments. 

View 4 PCoIP demo