Eric Sloof

This site makes it quick and easy for you to order all your VMware promotional items and business gifts. By visiting the different categories on the left side on your screen, you can browse the list of selected VMware items. If you are looking for something additional, you can also search the database of more than `45.000 products or contact Keiretsu Europe (VMware's online shop provider) directly.

The past week two fellow members (brugh and PeterB) of the Dutch VMware User Group played around with the Site Recovery Manager and a HP EVA 4000. They created a video of their findings.

Damian Murdoch   over at the Australia and New Zealand's Premier Virtualization Community already reported about some enhancements in Virtual center 2.5 Update 2, but wasn’t sure of the release date.

It appears that the VirtualCentre 2.5 Update 2 release will be happening very soon. The current information suggests a tentative release date of July 10th, but it is only tentative. Detail on feature inclusions are sketchy, but there have been a number of resolutions to unreleased bugs like the DRS algorithm problem in VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 1 with debug logging. This problem causes the vpxd process to sit at 100 Percent CPU usage and dump huge numbers of debug logs to disk. Incidentally this is resolved by adding the DumpSpace = 0 parameter to the DRS settings at cluster level. This disables debug logging which actually has no impact on anything else than debugging information.

Among some other errors like the Vmomi.Fault.NoPermission, this issue is now resolved in Virtual Center 2.5 Update 2 due for GA release at the end of July 2008.

AutoIt v3 is a freeware BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI.  It uses a combination of simulated keystrokes, mouse movement and window/control manipulation in order to automate tasks in a way not possible or reliable with other languages. AutoItX is a DLL version of AutoIt v3 that provides a subset of the features of AutoIt via an ActiveX/COM and DLL interface. This means that you can add AutoIt-like features to your VMware PowerShell script.

Invoke-Item c:\windows\notepad.exe
Get-VIServer esx35.ntpro.local -User root -Password vmware
$autoitx=new-object -com autoitx3.control
$MyHost = Get-VMHost esx35.ntpro.local
$HostView = Get-View $MyHost.ID
$NetworkSystem = get-view $HostView.ConfigManager.NetworkSystem
$AllPortGroups = $NetworkSystem.NetworkInfo.Portgroup
$autoitx.winactivate("Untitled - Notepad","")
foreach ($HostPortGroup in $AllPortGroups){$autoitx.send($HostPortGroup.Spec.Name + "`r") }

I created a PowerShell script that makes an export of all the PortGroup names and VLANID’s to a CSV file. The next step is to import these setting into another ESX server. You can make your own contribution or follow the progress at this address. LucD from Belgium, thanks for your help.

Get-VIServer vcserver.ntpro.local -User -Password

$MyHost = Get-VMHost esx35.ntpro.local 

$HostView = Get-View $MyHost.ID

$NetworkSystem = get-view $HostView.ConfigManager.NetworkSystem

$AllPortGroups = $NetworkSystem.NetworkInfo.Portgroup

Foreach ($HostPortGroup in $AllPortGroups)

{$HostPortGroup.Spec | Select-Object Name,VlanId | Out-File -filepath "C:\portgroups.txt" -append}

ESX Server hosts can use multipathing for failover. When one path from the ESX Server host to the SAN becomes unavailable, the host switches to another path. ESX Server hosts can also use multipathing for load balancing. To achieve better load balancing across paths, administrators can specify that the ESX Server host should switch paths under certain circumstances. Different settable options determine when the ESX Server host switches paths and what paths are chosen. Rob Mokkink created a load balancing PowerShel script that spreads even and odd LUN’s over different HBA cards.

Saving you time and eliminating headaches is what JumpBox is all about. If you're new to JumpBox you might want to start by learning a little about the underlying technology and its benefits. A JumpBox is a virtual appliance for an Open Source application that is focused on a single task (or single application) and is carefully crafted to capture the best practices for how the application should be implemented. It is like getting the experience of a skilled IT admin bottled in a simple to deploy package. The JumpBox Open Collection is full of JumpBoxes for the most powerful apps available.

Run Any Version of Any App on a Single OS Without Any Conflict. For enterprise desktop administrators managing physical and/or virtual desktops, VMware ThinApp application virtualization software lets you run any version of any application on a single operating system without any conflict. VMware ThinApp works without the need for client agents or backend servers, making application delivery faster, less costly and conflict-free.

• Eliminate application conflicts and reduce support costs.
• Accelerate and streamline the development and delivery process.
• Leverage and enhance existing infrastructure and management tools.
• Deploy portable applications to virtually any PC (Physical & Virtual), thin client or USB stick.
• Lock down endpoint PCs without

The ThinApp Essentials course can now be found on the Training portal in Partner Central. These courses are designed to help you better understand how to sell VMware products and solutions.

Eric Siebert over at VMware-land created 2 new top 10 lists; Top 10 blogs that VMware administrators must read and Top 10 news and information websites that VMware administrators must visit. My website NTPRO.NL is on the 6th palce in the Top 10 blogs. :-)