Learning ESX, Part One

Lately I've been doing a lot of research on virtualization in the data center. My specific research deals with the innards of VMware VI. We are in the midst of going virtual whole hog and I'm giving myself a crash course on the proper way to do, well, everything. Yes, we've been using virtualization tools for about three or four years now, but we are changing to moving our production servers to this platform, which requires a different approach than the ad hoc test/dev/desktop use we've seen.

Along the way I've picked up a few tips I thought might be useful for others out there that are either contemplating it or in the midst of setting up their first ESX server ( Or VI infrastructure). Because VMware has a lot of moving parts it seems it can be easy to get a little lost. Planning is key to implementation success (isn't it for everything?). Speaking of planning, I found this great thread on Ars Technica about the Biggest Mistake You've Made with a Virtualization Deployment. Very interesting, and it mentions many of the items I have been reading about.

So for starters, what is the best method of deploying an ESX server? Many folks in the communities believe that a scripted install is the best way to do it. Why scripted, even for just a few hosts? Well one good reason is you'll install it the same way on all your hosts. Second good reason, it'll force you to learn how ESX installs, what the defaults are, and how those defaults can be improved upon. For example, disk partitioning. If you just accept the defaults you might outgrow your space. There are several posts on the subject, here's one at VM /ETC on ESX host partitions. It's also worth noting that if you use the Ultimate Deployment Appliance (UDA) to deploy ESX, Mike Laverick has set default partitions that expand on the default and use many of these recommendations. Read His instructions if you want to use UDA as a PXE server to deploy ESX using a script. Using a PXE server from a virtual appliance is not too difficult and it takes the script theory one better, by giving you a repeatable deployment method that requires no media in the drive!

OK, so there is one issue with disk alignment and partitions. The UDA will create a VMFS partition for you, however it won't be aligned. Read the Recommendations for
Aligning VMFS Partitions from VMware to understand the issue and what to do about it. If you create a VMFS parition using the VI client, it will be automatically aligned. So that is my recommendation, use VI client to create VMFS partitions on the ESX host if needed, don't script the install of those type of partitions. In the UDA appliance I deleted the section of the script that created a VMFS partition during install.

That completes our first two tips, script your installs (possibly by using the UDA) and align your VMFS partitions!

Next post I will talk about networking. I've been following Ken Cline's multiple post article The Geat vSwitch Debate and in his next installment he will conclude with his recommendations. I'm not going to bother trying to explain virtual switching, just read Ken's articles!

Outlook 2007 Cumulative Update (2/2009)

OK, if you use Outlook 2007 either at home or at work, you really should get this update. I don't ordinarily post this type of stuff, but Outlook 2007 has some performance issues, and if you use it in Cached Exchange Mode, it can get really bad. I'm happy to report that it is much snappier with the update. Yes, SP2 is coming, but this is still worth the effort.

ITIL v3 Foundations Certification

This past December I attended ITIL v3 Foundations training at NetDesk and passed the certification exam. The course was three days long, with a one-hour test at the end of the third day. It was a lot of material to cover, luckily the teacher was good and was a certified ITIL Expert. You can get ITIL certified through self study, but if you have the opportunity to take the training with the financial help of your employer, I would recommend it.

Why would you want to get ITIL certified, anyway? It helps if you know what ITIL is, and truthfully, before my training I knew little about it. From the official ITIL site, here is the answer to the question, What is ITIL?

What is ITIL?

ITIL is best practice in IT Service Management, developed by OGC and supported by publications, qualifications and an international user group. ITIL is intended to assist organisations to develop a framework for IT Service Management. Worldwide, ITIL is the most widely used best practice for IT Service Management.

So there you have it. ITIL is best practice for service management, and if you work in an IT shop, you are providing IT service (not everyone seems to understand this concept). Delivering those services effectively is what ITIL is all about. Have you ever wanted to improve your helpdesk? Manage change in your environment better? Get a firm grasp on what services your IT group provides, and how you can improve? ITIL can help you with these processes.

Of course, there are detractors that remain skeptical about ITIL . A little skepticism can be healthy when undertaking any new initiative. There are also ITIL zealots that try to force it on the organization. I prefer a more balanced view. Learn about ITIL and take what you can from it to improve your service management, but don't think it can magically fix every problem. And don't try to force it on your organization. My instructor gave our class some good advice about ITIL. First, start with a vision of what ITIL could do in your organization, then get people to buy into that vision. Don't start by showing up at a staff meeting and saying "We're gonna do ITIL!" If the staff aren't in agreement that service managment and continual service improvment are necessary they will probably throw up road blocks and generally resist change. But if you get everyone together behind the idea, then you might successfully use ITIL to improve your IT service management. Delivering good service cost effectively should be on the mind of every IT manager.

More reading: How Microsoft Moves ITIL v3 from Concept to Practice.

Windows 7 Really Does Seem To Improve on Vista

I had a funny conversation the other night. A couple I know have Vista installed on their laptop, as well as Office 2007. They don't use it much, preferring to work on their Windows XP desktop with Office 2003. They said they heard Vista crashed a lot; That Vista had a lot of problems, that no one was using it. Then they complained that they didn't like the toolbar changes and couldn't find their files.

I'm wondering, will Windows 7 make converts out of these folks? I was just reading a long blog post by Tim Sneath on the Bumper List of Windows 7 Secrets. I have to say I'm impressed with the usability features they are adding. But will it be enough to make a billion people happy?

Download Windows 7 Beta and try it for yourself. I have little doubt it will make most techies happy. It'll be interesting to see how everyone else likes it.

A note about the download. I used Firefox with the java Download Manager. I tried pausing the DL then resuming this morning. No dice, I had to start from scratch, and on my DSL, that meant about five hours wasted. The error said the file size didn't match, would you like to retry (to no avail)? Why didn't they use Bittorrent? uTorrent can pause and resume fat downloads all day long with no issues whatsoever. In this day and age, the problem of downloading big files should be solved. Come on Microsoft!

Qwest DSL: Now With More Fiber

Qwest is rolling out fiber optic internet service. It is not fiber to the premises, just to the neighborhood terminal. The speeds are relatively good, but at this time, I can't get the service at my house. After I saw the Qwest commercial advertising the new fiber service, I called the number on the screen, and the person I reached didn't really seem to know what I was talking about. I went looking for more information and found this list of Zip codes with service in Oregon. There is also a phone number listed...so I called it, and was connected to a friendly customer service rep, and he was able to tell me that my Zip should have service between May and August 2009. I suppose I can wait that long.

At this time, I will not use the local cable company for my ISP. There are some companies I would rather not do business with if I can help it (my cable TV was just repaired, after a wind and snow storm left the cable dangling in my yard for the last 11 days). If this Qwest service doesn't work out, there is also WiMAX coming to town. But the prices are higher, and the speeds lower, at least for now.

Update: Here is the list of major investors in the Clearwire WiMAX service. The list includes the two major cable companies.

Connect to Mac OS X with UltraVNC

This works for me but your mileage may vary. Download UltraVNC 1.05 and install at least the viewer portion. 1.05 works well with Vista and Server 2008.

Click the UltraVNC icon to start it up. In the connection screen, click Options.




On the Options page, for the encoding select Hextile, then click OK.










Back on the main screen click Connect. Enter your Username and Password. After you have connected, to can save this connection as a shortcut. Press CTRL-ALT-F5 to save the connection.




Of course to do all this VNC should be enabled in Mac OS X first!

The NEW Java Install

Sun has shipped Java 6 update 11, (and you can download the full installer here) and has fixed many of the gripes I had with the prior versions. Finally Java installs into a single folder, and you don't have to manually remove the prior versions, it just updates the current install to the new version. This behavior actually started in version 10, but I didn't notice. What I did notice about 10 was the new drag-an-applet-to-your-Desktop feature, also known as JavaFX. You can view a JavaFX demo and I tried the MP3 player, but when I dragged it to my Desktop I was unable to close it. Oh well, guess there are a few more bugs to work out.

At any rate the new install behavior is a welcome change for enterprise installs. Read more about update 11 in the readme file.

Powershell Problem with XP SP3

There is a KB on Powershell that is a bit vague. The title is "You cannot upgrade a Windows-based operating system when you have Windows PowerShell 1.0 installed". What this means is, if you have Powershell installed and try to install Windows XP service pack 3, it might fail. The cure is to remove Powershell before upgrading. This bug seems to affect 2003 and Vista as well.

I've been updating my VMware templates for Windows XP, using the volume license version of XP with SP3 built-in. Typically I use the CMDLINES.TXT file to install Powershell and some other apps. But now that function is broken. I'll have to add it after the OS is fully installed. Unfortunately, there are multiple machines in our domain that have Powershell installed, and now I'll have to automate the removal to upgrade them all. Great!

On a side note, if you install IE7 as part of your build process, you may have had problems with that as well. To fix that, download the latest build from Microsoft which was posted in May. Another problem I've encountered is with Windows Update after SP3 is installed. It seems you can download the latest version, then install it with the /wuforce switch to fix it, as described in KB943144. I found that tip on the TechNet forums.

So far SP3 has been a pain. Not nearly as bad as SP2, so I guess I *should* be happy about that.

Symantec Fix for WinXP SP3 and Vista SP1 Problem

As noted on ComputerWorld, Symantec has released a fix for the trouble some people are having after installing Windows XP SP3 or Vista SP1.

If you are having problems like not seeing devices in Device Manager or having your network connections deleted after the upgrade, get the tool. For those that have not installed SP3 or SP1 yet, the latest LiveUpdate for your Norton product should fix the issue.

I have Vista SP1 and Symantec NIS 2008 installed, and I had no issues. Haven't tried SP3 on my WinXP machines yet, as I was waiting for this to be fixed first.

Bandwidth Consumption

All the latest news about metered bandwidth from the cable companies made me think about how much I actually use. So I've decided to find out. The first thing I did was look around for a light-weight program I could use to show my consumption, by the day, week, month, something FREE, something that worked. I found NetMeter. It does just what I need it to do. It even imports and exports using CSV files. Pretty slick! (The red line around the screenshot is courtesy of the Vista snipping tool).