Eric Sloof - Entries from April 2013

Monday, April 29. 2013

Frank Denneman leaves VMware for PernixData

VMware’s Senior Architect Technical Marketing; Frank Denneman leaves VMware to join PernixData, a start-up founded by another ex-VMware employee Satyam Vaghani. Satyam, who’s one of the co-founders and CTO of PernixData, has spoken at TechfieldDay earlier this week, where he presented their new storage technology. A recorded video can be found here. I’ve conducted an interview with Frank this weekend about his jump to PernixData.

Eric: Hi Frank, at VMware you’re working for one of the most prestigious companies in a dream role. Why do you quit at VMware and leave your comfortable position for a relatively unknown future at a start-up?

Frank: Hi Eric, leaving such a great company was a very tough decision and especially when you consider the role I had. Working in technical marketing you are exposed to both sides of the story, meaning that you talk to both the customers and the engineers. Bringing those worlds together is a great experience. Discussing future product directions with a great group of engineers and working alongside with some of the brightest minds in the virtualization community made my job absolutely awesome.

Frank: When I attended a technical preview of the Flash Virtualization Platform at Pernixdata I got excited. I think just as excited as when I saw my first vMotion. Not only am I thrilled about the current benefits the platform offers, but also the strategic value the platform provides. It decouples the performance element from the capacity element of the storage architecture, allowing them to be separately managed. By turning the storage stack into a modular model it essentially changes the way virtualization infrastructures will be designed. And think about the potential of such a platform inside the hypervisor layer. I think addressing latency of storage I/O to accelerate the application is only a fraction of the possibilities of FVP. As you notice I really get excited when discussing the solution, and this by itself made me realize that I wanted to become a part of this success story.

Eric: That sounds very exciting indeed, talking about great minds. You will be working with Satyam Vaghani who is the inventor of techniques like VMFS, VAAI and vVols. Those techniques are really the big game changers in the IT industry. Do you think storage optimization will still be the next big thing? And why not networking, VMware is also about to launch NSX. If you look at a regular datacenter, what takes the most floor space after computing?

Frank: I think storage optimisation can exists next to the initiative of network virtualization. Both are game changers in the datacenter that helps to abstract, pool and automate resources. NSX on the network layer, FVP on the storage layer. Both solutions break the traditional datacenter design and both are necessary to move the datacenter forward into the 21st century. With storage optimalisation we do not remove the need of centralized storage but it contributes to keep the datacenter footprint as small as possible. Typically a lot of spindles are necessary to offer the performance required by the application. Spindles equals footprint. By decoupling the performance capacity from the storage capacity you can return to a design model where the storage array is primarily focusing on providing storage capacity. This can slow down the need for more datacenter floorspace. By solving the storage performance and scaling problems on an infrastructure level at the server side it changes the resource demand to your existing storage arrays. This can delay your next storage acquisition and implementation project and avoid the typical changes to datacenter configuration and offered data services.

Eric: Awesome, so in your previous role, you've written and contributed to some amazing technical white papers. I'm also a big fan of your website. Can we continue to enjoy your contributions to the community in the future and what is going to be your daily work in your new role at PernixData?

Frank: Thanks for the compliment Eric, always great to hear people appreciate your output. As the soon to be Tech Evangelist for PernixData I will be responsible for helping the virtualization community to understand FVP and any other subsequent offerings. Although you will see an increase of articles about FVP it does not take away my love for producing articles covering compute and storage resource management in virtual infrastructures. Besides by Tech Evangelist role I will be responsible for building out the EMEA organization.

Eric: Great Frank, many thanks for the interview. Good luck with your new job at PernixData.

Frank can be reached on twitter at @FrankDenneman. The address of his blog site is: FrankDenneman.nl

Embarking on a new adventure – Joining PernixData as Tech Evangelist

Friday, April 26. 2013

New Training Course - VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design

This training course focuses on the advanced capabilities of VMware vCenter Operations Manager 5.6, such as adapters, customization and management topics. You will learn how to use adapters, define custom super metrics, customize dashboards, and use the Custom user interface. The course is based on vCenter Operations Manager 5.6, and integration with VMware vSphere 5.1, VMware vCloud Director 5.1, and VMware vFabric Hyperic.

Identify the capabilities of adapters, their use cases, availability, and installation.
Describe super metrics, attributes, and attribute packages as well as object tagging.
Manage user access to the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Custom UI.
Work with smart alerts and custom alert notification.
Use custom dashboards to build specific views for operations and application monitoring.

VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design [V5.x] - BETA
(Beta) Course Datasheet - VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design
Save 50% on BETA Course: VMware vCenter Operations Manager: Advanced Usage and Dashboard Design [V5.x]

Monitoring VMware View Users with Stratusphere UX Adapter for VMware vCenter Operations Manager

Stratusphere UX provides properly related KPIs for over 40 critical desktop metrics for both physical and virtual machines. These metrics can be fed by the Stratusphere UX Adapter into vCenter Operations Manager’s superior analytics engine to provide fast root-cause analysis by correlating user desktop events with other events across the virtualization layers and other supporting systems, including vSphere host and storage layers. Desktop performance can be monitored through customer dashboard in the vCenter Operations console and desktop administrators receive rapid at-a-glance alerts through custom dashboards.

Stratusphere UX provides over 40 metrics to vCenter Operations Manager from physical or virtual windows desktops, along with several unique KPI’s not available in other competing solutions including:

Login Delay
Application Load Time
Non-Responding Applications
GPU Utilization
CPU Queue Length
Disk Queue Length
Disk Read vs. Write IOPS
Network Latency
Network Failed Connections

New vCops Feeds Introduced in Stratusphere UX 5.4

Free e-learning course - VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator Fundamentals

This free e-learning course covers how to install vCenter Infrastructure Navigator as well as how to use its main features. You can use vCenter Infrastructure Navigator to leverage the application dependency context to proactively manage the virtual infrastructure.

With intelligent operations groups and vCenter Operations Manager integration users are enabled to quickly identify in-context performance and capacity issues, as well as optimization opportunities, as they relate to grouped objects either by business, or operational relevance.

The course consists of three modules:

Overview discusses the major vCenter Infrastructure Navigator functions, its architecture, resource requirements, and installation considerations.
Installing and Configuring vCenter Infrastructure Navigator discusses how to install and configure vCenter Infrastructure Navigator.
Using vCenter Infrastructure Navigator covers how to use the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator vApp and specially define a custom service.

After completing the course, you should be able to:

Recognize the main functions of vCenter Infrastructure Navigator
Describe the vCenter Operations Manager 5.0 vApp resource requirements and installation considerations.
Diagram the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance architecture.
Describe the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance resource requirements.
List the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance installation considerations.
List the tasks for deploying the vCenter Infrastructure Navigator virtual appliance.
Discuss how to apply a license for vCenter Infrastructure Navigator.
List the initial configuration tasks.
Demonstrate how to use vCenter Infrastructure Navigator.
Discuss the steps for defining a custom service.

Register for free: VMware vCenter Infrastructure Navigator Fundamentals [V2.X]

Wednesday, April 24. 2013

Coming Soon - VMware Certified Professional Network Virtualization (VCP-NV)

VMware is set to release a new network certification program at the coming VMworld 2013 which will be held San Francisco. With the VMworld Call for Papers Voting now open, the voting process is well underway and lots of people are promoting their sessions.

There was one session in particular that caught my eye. The title of this session is "Join the Network Virtualization Revolution by Becoming VMware’s Newest VCP, VCP-NV!" - It's presented by VMware's Sr. Technical Certification Developer Jon Hall. Some of you may know Jon already from a similar launch back in 2010 of the VCAP certification. The abstract of this upcoming VCP-NV session is very revealing:

Network Virtualization is revolutionizing the data center. VMware NSX is enabling rapid deployment of networking and security by decoupling network services from physical network hardware. The demand for IT professionals that have proven skills with this technology is strong, and now you can be one of the first IT professionals to earn VMware’s newest certification, VCP-NV (Network Virtualization).

As a VCP-NV, you will demonstrate your mastery of network virtualization implementation and administration skills. And the VCP-NV certification is just one component of VMware's Network Virtualization Certification Track. This track provides a proven means of conveying your mastery of these skills to employees, partners and the virtualization community. Begin your path by becoming a VCP-NV, the foundation of this new program.

As your skills grow, Advanced Professional certifications can be achieved in the areas of Network Virtualization Infrastructure Administration and Network Virtualization Infrastructure Design, culminating in the opportunity to become a leading expert in this field by achieving the VMware Certified Design Expert – Network Virtualization certification. This session will provide details of each certification, including the steps to achieve the certification, tools and resources available, structure of the advanced certifications and more. Come join us and join the Network Virtualization Revolution!

So if you want to know more about VMware's future network virtuliztion track, vote for 4729 Join the Network Virtualization Revolution by Becoming VMware’s Newest VCP, VCP-NV! Also check-out this new training course which aligns well with the new certification: Upcoming Training Course - VMware vCloud Networking and Security for vSphere Professionals.

Update: Please keep in mind that VMware Education Services hasn’t officially released the new titles yet. They will be making an announcement soon regarding the new certification plans, and of course provide more detail around the program and its implications.

Friday, April 19. 2013

VCAP5-DCD been there done that – but only 3 seconds left

Here’s a short write-up regarding my VCAP5-DCD exam experience. The training course I was scheduled for this week was cancelled, so I decided to give the VCAP5-DCD exam another try. I already failed for the beta and my first attempt for the regular one but VMware was so kind to provide me with a voucher, which would expire soon.

So besides some household tasks, I’ve used this week for some serious prepping. One of the most important sources for my study was the lecture guide of the VMware vSphere design Workshop. I’ve delivered this training course several times and it has some great content. Especially the first chapters where the different types of design stages like logical and conceptual are well explained. They definitely need some extra attention. You have to know what happens at each specific stage.

Also take a very good look at this diagram, which explains abbreviations like RTO, RPO and MTPOD. Source (http://www.goh-moh-heng.com/wp-content/uploads/defining-RTO.png)

I’ve seen some posts about exam timing. Yes it’s essential for passing the exam but don’t get to hung-up on it (don’t stare at the clock every single minute). When you start the exam, the first page will present the amount of design labs and the total amount of questions. It also shows the average time you should spend on the design questions. The number of design questions is reduced a bit compared to earlier versions of the DCD exam, so with only 5 or 6 questions you should be able to complete them all.

Before starting at a design question write down the number 1,2,3,4 or 5 and the time you’ve started designing. Don’t jump into Visio-mode, I nearly blew one by connecting the connectors to the wrong objects. Read the assignment well enough to be able to complete the lab. It is a myth that the design questions don’t count for your final score. They are responsible for a significant part of your end score, so take them serious.

The drag and drop questions are sometimes a bit lengthy, but don’t skim the text. There are very important details hidden in it so read it fully. The other “multiple choice” and “choose all that apply” questions are not that hard. It’s the knowledge that you already posses that will get you through. Just think straight but don’t answer too fast and click next, because you can’t go back.

I finished the exam with only 3 seconds on the clock left. My end score was 338. I must admit, I had the feeling I did a bit better and would end-up near 400 points, but a pass is a pass. Good luck with your VCAP-DCD.

New Technical White Paper - Virtualized Hadoop Performance with VMware vSphere 5.1

Apache Hadoop provides a platform for building distributed systems for massive data storage and analysis using a large cluster of standard x86-based servers. It uses data replication across hosts and racks of hosts to protect against individual disk, host, and even rack failures. A job scheduler can be used to run multiple jobs of different sizes simultaneously, which helps to maintain a high level of resource utilization. Given the built-in reliability and workload consolidation features of Hadoop it might appear there is little need to virtualize it.

However, there are several use-cases that make virtualization of this workload compelling:

Enhanced availability with capabilities like VMware High Availability and Fault Tolerance. The performance implications of protecting the Hadoop master daemons with FT were examined in a previous paper.
Easier deployment with vSphere tools or Serengeti, leading to easier and faster datacenter management.
Sharing resources with other Hadoop clusters or completely different applications, for better datacenter utilization.

In addition, virtualization enables new ways of integrating Hadoop workloads into the datacenter:

Elasticity enables the ability to quickly grow a cluster as needs warrant, and to shrink it just as quickly in order to release resources to other applications.
Multi-tenancy allows multiple virtual clusters to share a physical cluster while maintaining the highest levels of isolation between them.
Greater security within each cluster as well as elasticity (the ability to quickly resize a cluster) require the separation of the computational (TaskTracker) and data (DataNode) parts of Hadoop into separate machines. However, data locality (and thus performance) requires them to be on the same physical host, leading to the use of virtual machines.

A detailed discussion of these points is beyond the scope of this paper, but can be found elsewhere. As great as the current and potential future benefits of virtualization are for Hadoop, they are unlikely to be realized if the performance costs are too high. The focus of this paper is to quantify these costs and to try to achieve an understanding of the implications of alternative virtual configurations.

This is done through the use of a set of well-understood and high-throughput benchmarks (the TeraSort suite). While these applications are not generally representative of production clusters running many jobs of different sizes and priorities, they are at the high end of infrastructure resource usage (CPU, memory, network and storage bandwidth) of typical production jobs. As such, they are good tools for stressing the virtualization layer.

The ultimate goal is for a Hadoop administrator to be able to create a cluster specification that enables all the above advantages while achieving the best performance possible.

Performance Study - Virtualized Hadoop Performance with VMware vSphere 5.1

Wednesday, April 17. 2013

Beste Practices Guide - VMware Site Recovery Manager and Nimble Storage

Nimble Storage fully integrates with VMware SRM to automate DR protection, test and recovery for the storage layer. Major points of integration between VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager and the Nimble Storage Arrays are done via a “Storage Replication Adapater” (SRA) written by Nimble to the specifications provided by VMware. The SRA allows for a number of storage interaction workflows to be initiated from Site Recovery Manager, such as: Discovery; Test Failover; Cleanup; Planned Migration; Disaster Recovery; Reprotect.

The SRA helps SRM discover Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) datastores that are configured with cross-site replication. Arrays are pre-configured with replicated devices or consistency groups, which are then presented to the vSphere clusters. In the SRM server the SRA must be installed to allow visibility to these replicated devices. After the SRA is installed and configured, replicated devices are represented within SRM, available for use in workflows.

Beste Practices Guide - VMware Site Recovery Manager and Nimble Storage

Tuesday, April 16. 2013

Upcoming Training Course - VMware vCloud Networking and Security for vSphere Professionals

VMware Education is about to release a new training course called "VMware vCloud Networking and Security for vSphere Professionals". This intensive training course focuses on installing, configuring, and managing VMware vCloud Networking and Security for the VMware vSphere professional. vCloud Networking and Security is a suite of security virtual appliances built for VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESXi integration.

vCloud Networking and Security is a critical security component for protecting virtualized datacenters from attacks and helping you achieve your compliance-mandated goals. The course is based on ESXi 5.1 and vCenter Server 5.1.

By the end of the course, you should be able to meet the following objectives:

Identify common use cases for vCloud Networking and Security components
Install VMware vCloud Networking and Security Manager and configure it to work with vCenter Server
Create and manage VXLAN virtual wires
Identify environments that benefit from deploying VMware vCloud Networking and Security Edge and install and configure it
Identify environments that benefit from VMware® vCloud
Networking and Security App™ and install and configure it in a cluster
Describe the enterprise requirements for compliance analysis and how VMware vCloud Networking and Security Data Security can provide a solution

The duration of this training course is three days, led by an instructor (50% lecture, 50% hands-on lab). Get a copy of the course datasheet here: VMware vCloud Networking and Security for vSphere Professionals [V5.1].

Trending statistics and data for virtualized environments at vOpenData Dashboard

vOpenData is an open community project that grew from the question "What is the average VMDK size for deployed virtual machines?" Ben Thomas and William Lam wanted to create an open community database that is purely driven by users submitting their virtual infrastructure configurations. Leveraging the powerful virtualization community and applying simple analytics, the vOpenData Dashboard is able to provide various trending statistics and data for virtualized environments. This is 100% community driven and the results will be available for everyone to view and hopefully you will contribute to the overall dataset!

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