Virtualization and IT Musings - ShawnTooley.Com

Commonwealth of PA Intergovernmental Technology Conference

2012-03-27T11:07:09Z

I will be speaking at Commonwealth of PA Intergovernmental Technology Conference on April 2, 2012 (Second Day) on Desktop Virtualization. If you are affiliated with Commonwealth of PA Intergovernmental Technology and are in Harrisburg, PA that day--would love to see you there. Here is a short snippet for audience attendees:

ITC works closely with top government officials, educational communities, and industry leaders to insure that the ITC East Conference reflects cutting edge technology solutions. Our next conference will feature not only an exhibit floor but additionally over thirty IT educational sessions all approved by the ITC Advisory Board.

I am scheduled to speak in Room D from 10:15-11:00. The session is titled Desktop Virtualization.

General Availability of VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 1 Patch

2012-03-18T12:24:51Z

VMware released ESXi 5.0 Update 1 Patch on 3/15/2012.

Detailed information regarding resolved and known issues and enhancements can be found in the ESXi 5.0 Update 1 Release Notes.

VMware ESXi 5.0 Update 1 Patch is available for download at
http://www.vmware.com/patch/download/.

Apple iOS 5.1 Software Update

2012-03-11T14:05:22Z

Apple has released iOS 5.1 this past week. I downloaded and installed from the my iPhone 4--the download was 167MB and took about 20 minutes to install. I have noticed that I have got better battery performance and better quicker response with LogMeIn. The best way to apply the update is to go into the Settings-->General-->Software Update to begin the update on the phone. You can read about the update here, but the improvements and bug fixes include:

Japanese language support for Siri (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
Photos can now be deleted from Photo Stream
Camera shortcut now always visible on Lock Screen for iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
Camera face detection now highlights all detected faces
Redesigned Camera app for iPad
Genius Mixes and Genius playlists for iTunes Match subscribers
Audio for TV shows and movies on iPad optimized to sound louder and clearer
Podcast controls for playback speed and a 30 second rewind for iPad
Updated AT&T network indicator
Addresses bugs affecting battery life
Fixes an issue that occasionally caused audio to drop for outgoing calls

PCoIP Log Viewer

2012-03-10T10:45:26Z

One of the toughest jobs working with VMware View 5 is troubleshooting. Andre Leibovici (@andreleibovici) has developed an awesome tool over at his website http://mindfluxinc.net. The PCoIP Log Viewer provides capabilities to visualize and analyze PCoIP performance metrics collected from PCoIP server log files and real-time WMI counters. This is all done in real time and makes latency determination a breeze. The graphics it produces are amazing and all in real time. Below are two screenshots of the tool:

Features include:

Parsing and graphical display of PCoIP performance metrics from PCoIP server log files (View 4.x, 5.0)

Agentless, real-time display of PCoIP WMI counters (View 5.0)

Ability to store WMI sessions for later review

WMI-Rewind™ for DVR-like capability to move forward and back through time while viewing (or reviewing) a WMI session

Tabbed interface to display multiple concurrent WMI sessions and/or log files

Drag-and-Drop display of multiple (parsed) log files for easy/rapid opening when troubleshooting

Export of saved WMI sessions to XLSX format for custom analysis and graphing

To see a demonstration of the PCoIP Log Viewer, see the video below:

As you can see, this is a very powerful tool! To learn more about the PCoIP Log Viewer and download this free utility, visit MindFluxInc at this link!

Also, Andre is staying busy at VMware. With the luckiest of us already using View 5.1 Beta--he has begun posting changes to PCoIP Log Viewer to accommodate View 5.1 Beta. Andre also has some other cool tools on his site that are worth checking out. Definitely, check out PCoIP Configuration Utility.

Blog Update

2012-03-06T08:53:16Z

Hope everyone is well...

Just wanted to update everyone to what has been going on currently. I am still working with IBM as a Senior Virtualization Cloud Architect and Subject Matter Expert in VMware, Citrix and Microsoft practice. Also, I am working as a Technical Reviewer for a forth coming VMware View 5 book that promises to be an awesome View 5 reference guide for architects.

Recently, I have decided to start posting to my blog daily with news and updates for Virtualization. Writing and community is important to me in the industry--and my blog will server as my primary outlet.

Of course, you can access my blog through traditional ways, as you do now, but I have also decided to publish it through Amazon Kindle Blogs for person's who prefer their Kindle to read articles (as I do). You can link to my blog to your Kindle here.

Thanks for following the blog and if you have any topics or ideas--please forward them to me.

Citrix Receiver for the Amazon Kindle

2011-10-08T13:39:29Z

For those of you looking at the new Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet, Citrix is actively looking for feedback below or at their Synergy event in Barcelona next month, on whether you plan on using it to help them drive additional Receiver development for the device.

Future War Stories!

2011-09-04T14:03:56Z

Funny cartoon sent to me by my Project Manager!

Future IBMer...

2011-08-27T08:44:21Z

Future IBMer at the Beach!

VMware vSphere 5

2011-06-05T11:05:10Z

Got an early preview of VMware vSphere 5 Friday. A lot of cool new features and surprises--unfortunately, I can't discuss in detail due to NDA.

I will post more as it becomes publicly available...

Citrix Virtualization Community Toolbar

2011-05-19T07:31:42Z

Very cool browser toolbar that keeps you clicks away from your favorite Citrix Virtualization Resources! Give it a try here...

Citrix XenDesktop 5 Service Pack 1

2011-05-15T14:26:01Z

Just wanted to let everyone know that Citrix Released XenDesktop 5 Service Pack 1 on 5/13/2011.

The two main features added include:

Provisioning Services XenDesktop Setup Wizard
Migration Tool for XenDesktop 5 (the main feature is the availability to add Catalogs to XenDesktop 4 Desktop Groups)

Other improvements include:

Licensing enhancements. Version 11.9 of the License Server supports user/device licensing, manages license checkout information, and provides information that enables you to check out the least number of licenses. For further details, including any changes to system requirements, see Licensing Your Product. You can use Desktop Studio to track and manage license usage and license models, and also to access the License Administration Console; for further details see Managing Licensing.
Support for XenServer 5.6 Service Pack 2. This includes support for IntelliCache. For further details see Using IntelliCache with XenDesktop.
Blade power management. Support is provided for third party plug-ins for blade servers. You can add machines to an Existing catalog by using the Import List option to specify a .csv file in which machines are specified by unique ID instead of by name. The set of power management options available in Desktop Studio is based on the capabilities reported by the plug-in.
Support for Microsoft SCVMM R2 Service Pack 1 and Hyper-V 2008 R2 Service Pack 1.
Support for VMware VSphere 4.1 Update 1.
Fixes for the XenDesktop 5 issues listed at http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX124164.

Network Fiber Connection Types

2011-05-14T13:49:16Z

Working in data centers with Blade Centers and Cisco switches--you almost always will be dealing with some type of fiber connection. Honestly, I always need to go back and refer to some chart defining fiber cable types--so I thought I would post a quick guide to fiber types and pictures of the numerous connectors. Click on the connection picture or name for more information. I hope you find this useful:

                                      TOSLINK Connecter                                       FC Connector



                                     MIC (FDDI) Connector                         LC Connector (Duplex Version)



                                      LuxCis Connector                                      MT-RJ Connector



                                       SC Connector (Duplex Version)                     ST Connector

Add Hosts to VMware vSphere with PowerCLI and Excel

2011-05-07T10:50:50Z

Found this really cool Microsoft Excel worksheet that uses Microsoft PowerShell along with VMware PowerCLI (group of Microsoft PowerShell cmdlet's provided by VMware) written by Carter Shanklin of VMware. This worksheet along with PowerShell allows you to prepopulate a spreadsheet with ESXi hosts then join them to a vSphere datacenter. Very time saving when working with server blades. Check out the video below for a demonstration.

Attaching lots of VMware ESX hosts to VMware VirtualCenter. from Carter Shanklin on Vimeo.

VMware Releases View Client for iPad

2011-03-23T06:32:28Z

From the VMware View Blog on March 9, 2011:

Today we keep the excitement coming with the launch of the View Client for iPad. This release is one small step for VMware and one giant leap for personal devices in the enterprise. Now all of us iPad aficionados can use our iPads to access our desktops and get an awesome user experience without giving IT a heart attack about security. It's the best of both worlds.

Our focus with this release is really around simplicity and we set out to make sure that the user experience from the iPad is seamless. This means that access is a snap and interaction with the desktop is easy and efficient.

The iPad client is fully supported over WiFi or 3G connections and with PCoIP at the core you'll be sure to get a great user experience. Tight integration with View 4.6 means that logging into your View desktop from the iPad is easy and reconnection to the desktop is also simple with the ability to select from a list of previously connected desktops.

iPad users will feel right at home interacting with their View desktop using the gestures we've implemented making it easy to do things like click, select, drag and invoke the soft keyboard. We've also included support for Bluetooth or dock connected keyboards for those prefer to type on a physical keyboard. In addition to keyboards we've also added support for the iPad VGA connector which will let you connect your View desktop to an external monitor or projector. If you wanted to, you could realistically go iPad full time!

This release is just the start of our support for the iPad and you'll be seeing a lot more from us in the months to come as we continue to make improvements and add capabilities.

The new VMware View Client for iPad is available for free in the Apple App Store.

Vintage IBM Shirt

2011-02-02T17:40:43Z

I love vintage shirts and hats... Was just looking at the E-Logo site for IBM employees and found this shirt! This is pretty awesome! It is crazy that we are 100 years old this year--no other technology company has those bragging rights! The people here are awesome and the most talented I have ever meet!