VMware - 4

VMware Workstation 8 provides a seamless way to access all of the virtual machines you need, regardless of where they are running.   Connect to Server enables remote connections to virtual machines running on VMware Workstation, VMware vSphere, and VMware vCenter.  Now you can work with local and server hosted virtual machines side by side within the same interface.  You are no longer constrained by the power of your PC to run multiple virtual machines at the same time.In this video you will see how easy you can add another instance of Workstation 8 but also the vCenter server to your inventory.


After you connect to a remote server, the remote host and remote virtual machines appear in the library. If the remote server is running vCenter Server, datacenters and folders appear in the library. To interact with a remote host, you select it in the library. The tasks that you can perform on a remote host appear on the tab for the remote host. For example, you might be able to restart, shut down, or suspend the remote host and create virtual machines.

To interact with a remote virtual machine, you select it in the library. You interact with remote virtual machines in the same way that you interact with local virtual machines, but some features and devices are not supported. Features that you cannot use with remote virtual machines include Unity mode, shared folders, AutoProtect snapshots, drag-and-drop, and copy and paste. Your permissions determine the actions that you can perform on remote hosts and remote virtual machines. When a feature is not supported, or when you do not have permission to use it, the associated menu item is unavailable.

VMware has announced the availability of VMware Workstation 8 -- offering the easiest way to build, share and upload virtual machines (VMs) to VMware vSphere. With more than 50 new features, VMware Workstation 8 advances the way technical professionals can work with multiple virtual machines from their PCs or on enterprise private clouds.

"The users of VMware Workstation pioneer the adoption of virtual environments and private clouds," said Christopher Young, vice president and general manager, End-User Computing, VMware. "Our team recognizes the needs of these users and has made significant enhancements to VMware Workstation 8, making it even easier for them to move beyond the virtual box."

Key VMware Workstation 8 features include:

• Remote Connections - VMware Workstation 8 provides a seamless way to establish remote connections to hosts running in Workstation, VMware vSphere, and VMware vCenter™.
• "Share" VMs - New in Workstation 8, users can share VMs so they can be accessed by teammates providing a quick way to test applications in a more production-like environment. 
• Upload to vSphere - Workstation 8 enables users to drag and drop a VM from a user's desktop to VMware vSphere. This feature allows users to deploy a complete application environment from a PC to a server for further testing, demoing, and analysis. 
• New User Interface - The VMware Workstation 8 user interface has been revamped with simplified menus, live thumbnails, improved preferences screens, and a new virtual machine library with enhanced searching. Users can now search and access a large library of virtual machines that can reside on your desktop, a server, or on another PC running VMware Workstation. 
• Improved Virtual Machine Capabilities - With support for HD audio with 7.1 surround sound, USB 3 and Bluetooth devices, Workstation 8 delivers new levels of virtual machine performance. In addition, improvements to virtual SMP, 3D graphics performance and new support for 64-GB RAM allows users to run the most demanding applications in a virtual machine. 

Download a free trial here.

VMware has filed an intresting IETF internet draft.This document describes Virtual eXtensible Local Area Network (VXLAN), which is used to address the need for overlay networks within virtualized data centers accommodating multiple tenants. The scheme and the related protocols can be used in cloud service provider and enterprise data center networks.

VXLAN: A Framework for Overlaying Virtualized Layer 2 Networks over Layer 3 Networks.

http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mahalingam-dutt-dcops-vxlan-00

 

Raising the Bar, Part V

Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Time: 9:00 AM (PT) | 12:00 PM (ET) | 18:00 Amsterdam 

Please join VMware executives Paul Maritz, CEO and Steve Herrod, CTO for the unveiling of the next major step forward in Cloud infrastructure. Paul & Steve’s 45 minute live webcast will be followed by additional online sessions where you can learn more about the industry’s most trusted virtualization and cloud infrastructure products and services. Join VMware and experience how the virtualization journey is helping transform IT and ushering in the era of Cloud Computing.

To register, please go to: http://bit.ly/ihnk4P

VMware Compatibility Guide 2.0 Preview is now available, including the enhanced user interface and navigation with additional features and enhancements.

Rick Blythe over at VMwarewolf reports:

VMware has rolled out a new and improved compatibility web page. It is hoped this makes it easy to find compatible systems, I/O devices, storage and guest operating systems.   The 2.0 guide offers an enhanced look & feel, improved performance and new program information. The final preview is available now at this link.

http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/search.php

Simon Long and Simon Seagrave have launched a new website today. The website is called vBeers and was created to provide an opportunity for virtualization enthusiasts and professionals to meet and enjoy discussing all things virtualization and anything else in the world of tech.



Simon Long:

vBeers was created as a non-commercial event and is intended as something for the virtualization community by the community.  Despite the reference to beer in the name vBeers isn’t about just drinking beer but in fact encompasses all beverages alcoholic or non-alcoholic, it really doesn’t matter as the focus of vBeers is all about the socializing, meeting others and having a good conversation or two in a pleasant social setting.

vBeers meet ups are in no way intended to be exclusive to a particular virtualization hypervisor vendor and as such is open to everyone, so whether you are a VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer user/fan or none of the above it really doesn’t matter as “it’s all about the virtualization”.



vBeers.org is the place where vGeeks arrange their own worldwide vBeers meet-ups.

Today I attended the Dutch edition of this year’s Partner Exchange event where VMware was sharing their strategic direction and discussed about how they are already taking customers on the journey to the cloud. The VMware Partner Exchange events provide tailored educational tracks for business owners, sales, technical and marketing professionals within their partner community. I’ve recorded some video footage and took some pictures.

 

Here’s a little write-up regarding my experiences with creating a WebApp and uploading it to the CloudFoundry.com website. The first step is to go to the website and sign-up for an account, after signing up, you will receive an email within one business day containing a user ID and a password. Besides the username and password, the email contains some additional information including a link to the getting stared guide on the CloudFoundry.com website.

To start using CloudFoundry.com you should first download the vmc command line tool and change your password. To learn how to download and use this tool please follow the instructions here:
http://support.cloudfoundry.com/entries/20012337-getting-started-guide-command-line-vmc-users

gem install vmc
gem install Sinatra

c:\Ruby192\hello>vmc services

============== System Services ==============

+---------+---------+-------------------------------+
| Service | Version | Description                   |
+---------+---------+-------------------------------+
| mysql   | 5.1     | MySQL database service        |
| redis   | 2.2     | Redis key-value store service |
| mongodb | 1.8     | MongoDB NoSQL store           |
+---------+---------+-------------------------------+

Put this in your pipe (taken from http://www.sinatrarb.com/)

require 'sinatra'
get '/hi' do
  "Hello World! (Eric Sloof-NTPRO.NL)"
end

c:\Ruby192\hello>hello
== Sinatra/1.2.2 has taken the stage on 4567 for development with backup from WEBrick
[2011-04-13 13:10:47] INFO  WEBrick 1.3.1
[2011-04-13 13:10:47] INFO  ruby 1.9.2 (2011-02-18) [i386-mingw32]
[2011-04-13 13:10:47] INFO  WEBrick::HTTPServer#start: pid=4676 port=4567
127.0.0.1 - - [13/Apr/2011 13:11:43] "GET /hi HTTP/1.1" 200 34 0.0068
EricSloof-PC - - [13/Apr/2011:13:11:43 W. Europe Daylight Time] "GET /hi HTTP/1.1" 200 34
- -> /hi
127.0.0.1 - - [13/Apr/2011 13:11:43] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 441 0.0010
EricSloof-PC - - [13/Apr/2011:13:11:43 W. Europe Daylight Time] "GET /favicon.ico HTTP/1.1" 404 441
- -> /favicon.ico

http://127.0.0.1:4567/hi
Hello World! (Eric Sloof-NTPRO.NL)

Now let’s push this WebApp to the cloud with c:\Ruby192\hello>vmc push hello and see what happens.

http://ntpro.cloudfoundry.com/hi
Hello World! (Eric Sloof-NTPRO.NL)

Continue reading "Running WebApps at CloudFoundry.com" »

VMware Forum 2011 is the place to learn how VMware, the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, and our partners are building on virtualization to deliver cloud infrastructure and management solutions that significantly reduce IT complexity, improve security and accelerate how applications are being built, deployed and run.

Check out this page for the upcoming worldwide events because this is your chance to catch up with top speakers from both VMware and its partners. Over the course of just one day, they will deliver actionable information that will ensure you can get started on optimizing your infrastructure immediately. They will show you what steps to take in building an innovative IT department that adds value and leads the company towards growth and success.

 

VMware is happy to announce an updated version of VMware Labs. As you know VMware has launched flings a few months back and their goal has been to make VMware Labs a home for collaboration by sharing information and ideas. As part of this they have now expanded their offerings to include:

• Flings: You can now view those cool flings sorted by Top Rated and Most Commented plus addition of latest fling - XVP Manager and Converter

• Publications: Listing of academic and technical papers authored by VMware engineers.

• Academic: Find details on our collaborative work with academic institutues or review the request for proposals for research projects.

• Conference: Want to meet a VMware engineer? Find a listing of conferences sponsored by VMware where engineers are usually giving a talk or presenting a paper.

VMware Labs contains a wide range of information and we want to provide you with a centralized place to go for unique, cool and useful content. VMware's engineers are constantly coming up with new and interesting flings, papers, and other material. They encourage you to browse through, check out our flings and give them your feedback.