VM /ETC

Archive for the ‘cloud computing’ Category

So, we should all know what VCE stands for by now, right? Let’s say it together: “VMware, Cisco, EMC.” Using a bad analogy of Adam Lambert, a contestant on American Idol last season, the three companies “came out of the data center” today and publicly announced what we already knew; they’ve been working together to build the most integrated cross technology cloud infrastructure solution known to mankind. They are so integrated they’ve cross trained each other’s support staff so that anyone of the three partners can be a single “choke point” for those customers that implement vBlock Architecture. They call their union a “Computing Environment Coalition.” At the same time, EMC is promising that VMware can continue to “play the field” with technology partners that want to hook up. Hey, if you love somebody let them go. if they come back then it was meant to be!

Confused? Me too. Time will clear the fog and, as promised, reveal the vBlock based Cloud.

VCE vBlock is big, bad, and designed for scale like VMworld 2009 Infrastructure (without being told as much, my bet is that what we saw at the bottom of the stairs in the Moscone Center was a vBlock test drive). Apparently, VMworld’s spotlight on vCloud Express provider Terremark was another hidden VCE vBlock showcase from Vmworld. It all was happening in plain sight. If we only knew then what we know now. 

My thoughts (or this rant) can best be described as “now what!?”. I’ve spent the last 5 years figuring out how to design customized, application specific, performance optimized, and product feature specific virtual infrastructure designs for the enterprise data center. This is because I’ve listened to everybody explain that a “cookie cutter” infrastructure is not adequate for their solutions. Change this setting for feature A, provision these LUNs for feature B, add these VLANs for feature C, etc., etc. Now, VMware, Cisco, and EMC have figured out all the tough stuff and come up with a “connect the dots” data center reference architecture to make it easy to move to the Cloud? Really? I mean, I know we’ve been told this had to happen in order for the Cloud to work, but REALLY?!! Oh well, the only constant is change.

Ok, I feel a little better. Anybody else care to vent?

Here’s some more random links and quoted information to help others with similar change anxiety issues as me. Read the rest of this entry »

When vCloud Express was announced along with the vCloud API at VMworld 2009 in September I decided to sign up and try building VMware virtual machines (VMs) in the Cloud for myself. Being able to provision infrastructure as a service (Iaas) virtually with only a credit card has a certain useful appeal to me, and I wanted to see firsthand exactly what can be done and how much it costs.

This post summarizes my experience and touches on Terremark’s various options for building VMware Cloud VMs. I also quickly describe/illustrate the difference in charges for Linux versus Windows Cloud servers. This post contains a lot of screen shots, and at the end I’ll offer some opinions on the usefulness of vCloud Express and where this service might make sense for IT shops.

Getting started

Creating an account is simple. Just go to http://vcloudexpress.terremark.com/ and register for an account. Read the rest of this entry »

There was a lot of excitement when Google announced it’s intent to develop the Chrome operating system (Chrome OS). Almost immediately journalists, analysts, and bloggers began speculating if Google’s future OS offering could pose a threat to Microsoft’s dominance on the desktop. VMware quickly added clout to Google’s plans by promising to support Google OS. VMware also expressed interest in the Chrome OS being used to develop specialized applications as virtual appliances. However, the most compelling question and use for the new Linux based OS to me would be if the Chrome OS could become relevant in connecting to VDI solutions. I feel that Google’s immediate traction and ultimate success with an OS relies on it’s ability to install VDI clients – not as a Microsoft desktop replacement, whether physical or virtual.

VDI has gained momentum. VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft all boast about the availability of an enterprise ready virtual desktop management solution. Storage technologies such as thin provisioning, deduplication, and rapid cloning are being perfected and optimized and will lower the total cost of ownership for VDI. 64 bit Hardware with virtualization assist technologies on host servers has enabled record setting ratios of supported users. It seems that OS licensing models formerly based on physical hardware are slowly morphing to support virtualized environments. But, in my opinion, there is still a major hurdle to the enterprise’s wide spread acceptance of VDI on a platform other than Windows.

Is enterprise business really ready to migrate the majority of their user applications and data to Linux, the web, or even the Cloud? For Chrome OS to challenge Microsoft for seats in the enterprise Read the rest of this entry »

Citrix has opened the Citrix Synergy 2009 Conference in Las Vegas, NV this week with a flurry of press releases announcing new products that provide innovative methods for delivering corporate published applications. Adopting a model similar to satellite TV providers, Citrix Receiver, Dazzle, and Merchandising Server provide end users the ability to choose their own applications, and then those applications are available not only on the desktop but from any device, anywhere.

This model offers the potential to lift a huge burden from the IT department when provisioning both physical and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). At the same time, on demand self service applications also introduce software as a service provided by a company store delivery concept. For example, the IT department can build a standard desktop image or template virtual machine (VM) that consists of just the operating system and basic enterprise applications like anti virus and asset monitoring software. Then, based on familiar and easy to use TV programing -like subscription options, the end user has the control to choose which applications are delivered to their desktop via the combination of Citrix Reciever and Dazzle. These same applications or virtual desktops are also made available from the home PC or the iPhone without compromising administrative centralized security and control. New application choices and version updates are continuously provided via the “company store.”

Apparently, all of these new Citrix products are free. Reciever and Merchandising Server are available today. According to the Citrix press releases “both Receiver and Merchandising Server require infrastructure products from the Citrix Delivery Center product family to complete their operations.”

The following is a summary of links to the official Citrix announcements with some key quotes from each.
Read the rest of this entry »

Just like with VMworld Europe 2009, I am again having to try to figure out the best ways to keep up with a virtualization event I can not attend in person.  Even though the simulcast will be live the chances of me getting to sit and watch it look slim. So, here are my ideas on how I plan to to follow the April 21 VMware Launch Event from afar while I work my way through the day.

Read the rest of this entry »

VM /ETC is probably the last virtualization blog to talk about VMware’s April 21 live via Simulcast web event. Nevertheless, there might be a few that have not heard about it yet. I’ve already registered, and I recommend all vmetc.com readers do the same.

Quickly, here is my speed read keywords from the verbiage on the official event web page:

• bringing cloud computing to businesses of all sizes.
• Transform your IT infrastructure into a private cloud
• dramatically reducing capital and operating costs and maximizing IT efficiency—with the freedom to choose any application, OS, or hardware.
• unveil the next generation of virtualization technology from VMware.
• one of the most groundbreaking events this year.
• Register Now >>

The virtualization community has exploded with theories and hype about what this announcement and event is really about. I’ll admit, it is exciting, but I have my doubts that this unveiling is really anything I have not heard already. I’m expecting to hear the same message I heard at VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas back in September, then again during VMworld Europe 2009 in February. I feel this is a “Microsoft” style web event that is designed to reach the masses that have not attended a VMworld conference recently. I have my fingers crossed that we’ll get an official name and a release date on VI 4 (next version), but I fear that is best case scenario. Maybe we’ll have a public beta?

Here’s what VMware employees are saying (or understandably being told to say) on their blogs to promote this event: Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weekends ago an email discussion started among the authors at GestaltIT.com about cloud computing. As I remember it (yes, I am too lazy to check for the actual first email) we started on Friday and replied back and forth until Sunday night. The results of those replies are slowly forming as posts about real world, enterprise infrastructure concerns and opinions about implementing and migrating to Infrastructure As A Service (Iaas). Governance And Peaks In The Cloud written by Joerg, Martin, and Stephen is the first post to be published from this dialogue.

“As large organizations begin to look towards cloud computing, many find themselves questioning the suitability of the infrastructure for their business needs. As consumer-focused services like Carbonite lose data and startup-focused systems like Amazon EC2 and Microsoft Azure suffer outages, the image of the cloud has darkened. How are providers protecting the data? What RTO and RPO is offered? Are these sufficient for the types of applications being considered for the cloud?”

Read the entire post, and check out GestaltIT for much more about Cloud Computing infrastructure – both in posts already published and in the posts yet to come!