Eric Sloof

When you’re a PowerShell fanatic you probably installed the latest PowerShell update and you’re running your scripts on Windows PowerShell V2 Community Technology Preview 2 (CTP2). This version contains two shell’s, besides the PowerShell.exe your can also use the (Graphical PowerShell) GPowerShell.exe. Working with the standard shell is great but there are a lot of tools out there which can enrich your life as a scripter. At the 12th of December I’ll present the “Managing VMware VI3 with PowerShell” session at the Dutch VMUG event in Nieuwegein. This presentation contains some live demos of the following tools.

Here’s my PowerShell top five, hope to see you next week.

1.    PowerGUI
2.    PrimalForms 
3.    PowerGadgets 
4.    AdminScriptEditor 
5.    PowerShellPlus

With VMware View 3 you automatically benefit from the core functionality of ThinPrint like, avoid having to use printer drivers on virtual desktops and thus simplify your system administration. Lower the bandwidth requirements and increase the stability of your network by means of Advanced Adaptive Compression. Increase the speed of your printing and save on connection costs thanks to the reduction of print data down to just 2 percent of its original size Use your "old" 32 bit printer in 64 bit environments.

Patrick Schneider created a new version of the PowerShell Remote Connector which can be used to call the VMware Remote Console (VMware VMRC). The user interface is a bit challenging especially when you’re running a lot of virtual machines. If you can think of any improvements or you have a few tips for Patrick your can reach him at s.patrick1982(nospam)@gmail.com. The new VMware Remote Console (VMware VMRC) allows accessing the virtual machine consoles independent of the Web-based management interface. In order to access VMware virtual machines, install VMware the VMRC application from VMware Virtual Server web interface or download VMware VMRC application for Windows from the Minicom web site.

You can download Patrick’s PowerShell script here, verbinden is German for Connect ;-)

VKernel today released version 2 of SearchMyVM, the free “Google-like” search utility that quickly helps you find information within your rapidly expanding VMware ESX environments.  This new version includes the #1 feature you asked for -- the ability to export searches to CSV format reports that you can print, email, and use to quickly document your infrastructure.
SearchMyVM instantly deploys exactly like each one of VKernel’s virtual appliances.  With a “Google-like” search interface, you can quickly run queries to find the info you are looking for.

You can download the latest version of SearchMyVM and give it a try.  What do you have to lose?  It’s free and you’ll quickly see its value. 

The VMworld Team posted a lot of new documents in the Ask the Expert Session community on VMworld.com.

Double-Take Replication in the VMware Environment
Virtualization Technologies and Their Impact on Disaster Recovery Planning
Migrating to Virtual Machines with the Double-Take Virtual Recovery Assistant
Forrester Consulting study on going to disk based data protection
NetApp and VMware Storage Best Practices document
White Paper: Data Deduplication Solutions

JeffHicks caught my attention with a twit about PrimalScript 2009 which contains a new feature. The new object browser in PrimalScript 2009 gives you access to the most commonly used type of objects; COM, PowerShell Cmdlets, WMI and the .NET framework. Each of these nodes shows the underlying objects in an organized, easy to understand way.



You can read all about it at Sapien’s blog.

Writing scripts to automate administrative tasks can be challenging. Not only do you need to master the particular scripting language you intend to use, you also need to find the right object and technology for the task at hand. PrimalScript 2009 makes the development cycle of Discovery - Experimentation - Implementation that most script authors use much more efficient.

Effective from today, VMware changed the names of their leading VDI products, parallel to the introduction of VMware View. Writing this article I ‘m thinking back to the good old days were we watched the science fiction “V”, I even bought (and still have) the VHS tapes :-).

VMware Product Name Changes (announced Sept 2008)

• Objective of this document: Summarize changes to existing product names.
• Audience: All
• Note that VMware product/technology names not in this document are unchanged. Also unless otherwise mentioned, changed names of existing products will be updated in various collateral/on the web by December 2, 2008.

NameChangeSummary.pdf

Replicate Technologies had tremendous response to their initial release of RDA.  Based on the great feedback from users, they've quickly rolled out a new release addressing the top requests and concerns. RDA 1.1 includes over 20 new features and enhancements, including:

• Easy wizard based setup - get up and running even faster!
• Larger scale support - RDA now supports much larger deployments.
• Highly detailed diagnostic analysis, helping you find and fix problems more quickly.
• Full support for ESXi

Members of this group have gained the in-depth skills and industry-recognized certification on VMware technology. The VMware Certified Professional Program is designed for everyone who wants to demonstrate their expertise in virtual infrastructure and increase his potential for career advancement. If you are a VCP you can join this group.

Eric Sloof created three LinkedIn Groups and would like to invite you to join them. If you don’t know what a LinkedIn group is, here is a short explanation : Many professionals advance their careers and business goals by counting on industry and professional groups, alumni organizations, industry conferences and corporate alumni groups to help them make vital new business contacts. The VMware LinkedIn Groups offers extra features stay in touch with one another and discover powerful new business contacts within their groups and beyond.

Today I attended the VMware View Train The Trainer, hosted by Andy Cary. I must say, this new bundle of products is impressive. VMware View will be publicly available starting tomorrow. VMware is launching its newly-announced end-to-end enterprise desktop solution, VMware View which includes VMware VDI, ThinApp, and View Composer on December 2, 2008. Earlier at the VMworld in Las Vegas VMware announced new technologies to be introduced in 2009 – VMware View Composer, VMware Offline Desktop and Client Virtualization to build upon our leadership in virtual desktop infrastructure(VDI). Each technology provides additional functionality to make the universal client a reality – an end-to-end desktop solution that is easy-to-manage and cost effective, with the best end user experience, the strongest security, and the most efficient way to manage all of your desktops and applications.

This picture is (C) Viktor van den Berg.