VMware

VMware release Version 1.0.3 maintenance build of VMware Server

Charles Aunger / www.eviglio.com — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:30:41 GMT

Build 44356 is a release build of VMware Server 1.0.3

Issues Resolved in VMware Server 1.0.3

This release fixes a problem with VMware Tools that caused the guest to run out of memory.
VMware Server 1.0.3 fixes a bug introduced in the VMware Server version 1.0.2 VIX API. As a result of this bug, if Vix_ReleaseHandle (vmhandle) and VixHost_Disconnect (hosthandle) are called, a crash occurs in VixHost_Disconnect(). This crash is accompanied by the following error message:
VMware Server Error: VMware Server unrecoverable error: (app) ASSERT /build/mts/release/bora-39867/pompeii2005/bora/lib/vmdb/vmdbCtx.c:487 bugNr=23952 A log file is available in "/tmp/vmware-mark/vix-3749.log". Please request support and include the contents of the log file. To collect files to submit to VMware support, run vm-support. We will respond on the basis of your support entitlement.

Security Issues Resolved in VMware Server 1.0.3

Virtual machines can be put in various states of suspension, as specified by the ACPI power management standard. When returning from a sleep state (S2) to the run state (S0), the virtual machine process (VMX) collects information about the last recorded running state for the virtual machine. Under some circumstances, VMX read state information from an incorrect memory location. This issue could be used to complete a successful Denial-of-Service attack where the virtual machine would need to be rebooted.
Thanks to Tavis Ormandy of Google for identifying this issue.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the name CVE- 2007-1337 to this issue.

Some VMware products support storing configuration information in VMware system files. Under some circumstances, a malicious user could instruct the virtual machine process (VMX) to store malformed data, causing an error. This error could enable a successful Denial-of-Service attack on guest operating systems.
Thanks to Sungard Ixsecurity for identifying this issue.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the name CVE-2007-1877 to this issue.

Some VMware products managed memory in a way that failed to gracefully handle some general protection faults (GPFs) in Windows guest operating systems. A malicious user could use this vulnerability to crash Windows virtual machines. While this vulnerability could allow an attacker to crash a virtual machine, we do not believe it was possible to escalate privileges or escape virtual containment.
Thanks to Ruben Santamarta of Reversemode for identifying this issue.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the name CVE-2007-1069 to this issue.

In a 64-bit Windows guest on a 64-bit host, debugging local programs could create system instability. Using a debugger to step into a syscall instruction may corrupt the virtual machine's register context. This corruption produces unpredictable results including corrupted stack pointers, kernel bugchecks, or vmware-vmx process failures.
Thanks to Ken Johnson for identifying this issue.
The Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures project (cve.mitre.org) assigned the name CVE-2007-1876 to this issue.

click here to download

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

ClearCube Unveils Industry's Most Powerful and Customizable Desktop Virtualization Solution with Sentral v5.5

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:23:00 GMT

ClearCube today announced ClearCube Sentral™ version 5.5, part of the industry's only solution that manages virtualized PC desktops and dynamically delivers the required level of PC resources to end users. Building on the industry's first connection broker technology, Sentral v5.5 manages mixed physical PC blades with VMware-enabled virtual machines to seamlessly incorporate virtualization technology into centralized desktop computing without sacrificing end-user performance. This flexible management software enables organizations to maximize the value of their investment in virtualization by providing corporate users with the exact computing power needed to effectively conduct their jobs.

"When considering the adoption of client-side virtualization, organizations need to consider the extent to which the chosen technology will impact the end user experience. ClearCube has designed a PC blade solution that is focused on delivering the performance of dedicated, physical PC blades, while leveraging the benefits in efficiency provided by virtualization software." says Michael Rose, associate research analyst, Enterprise Virtualization Software, IDC.

Features and Benefits
ClearCube Sentral is the industry's first software platform to offer connection broker technology for efficiently managing centralized physical and virtual computing resources from a single console. Sentral v5.5 adds a number of new features designed to enhance the end-user computing experience and reduce IT management costs, including:

Virtualization Support–In addition to support for VMware ESX3 Server and VMware Server, Sentral v5.5's virtual abstraction layer can scale for future virtualization deployments with other technologies such as those provided by Microsoft and XenSource.
Microsoft Vista Support–Sentral v5.5 offers support for Microsoft Vista, enabling organizations to manage virtual and physical machines using the new operating system.
Expanded Internationalization Support–Sentral v5.5 features support for more languages, including Spanish, Japanese, German and French.
Scalability–Sentral v5.5 is a true enterprise software product, offering support for active directory environments encompassing multiple tens of thousands of users and for very large mixed physical and virtual installations (thousands of machines and virtual machines).
User-friendly Features–Sentral v5.5 incorporates a number of new tools to make the management console easier to use, including setup and configuration wizards, a more intuitive set of workflows for common management tasks and integration of previously separate test utilities into a comprehensive console diagnostic function.

click for more information at source

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

Computer Lab International's Thin Client Products enhances products for expanded VDI use

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 13:32:00 GMT

Computer Lab International (CLI), a leading provider of thin client products, announced expanded product capabilities that build on their ability to work within virtual desktop environments.

All CLI thin clients products support VMware and Citrix environments. CLI thin clients support Microsoft RDP, which provides the basic compatibility to VMware's Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), as well as Citrix ICA, for compatibility with Citrix 's Desktop Broker for Presentation Server, a component of Citrix Dynamic Desktop Initiative (DDI).

And now, all CLI Windows CE thin client products come complete with support for the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite for more comprehensive Dynamic Desktop Deployment capabilities, enabling on-demand access to VDI-based published desktop and applications.

"Flexibility, security, manageability, accessibility and lower cost of ownership are just a few reasons that CLI thin clients work so well together with desktop virtualization," says CLI's Director of Marketing, Michael Oliva. "These are the same benefits we have always touted with our thin clients, but now with the VDI market emerging at such a pace, we are delivering more efficient and more extensive solutions to meet our customer's needs."

The powerful CLI Windows CE thin client terminals with expanded VDI capabilities include:

MT1200c: Value-Priced Mini Thin Client
MT1500g: General Purpose Mini Thin Client, With Options For Internal Smart Card Reader and Built-In Wireless
ET4500g: High-Performance Expandable Thin Client

Under a new CLI promotion designed to let customers take the first steps toward VDI, prices start as low as $249, and the products are all available immediately through CLI resellers worldwide.

Over time, CLI will be adding additional connection broker client support to their Windows CE thin client products, as well as expanding the VDI capabilities of their Linux and Windows XP Embedded thin clients.

click for source

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

Improving Scalability for Citrix Presentation Server on VMware ESX Server 3.0

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 07:58:00 GMT

VMWare has published a nice white paper a while back about the scalability and performance implications of running many Citrix Presentation Servers hosted on Virtual Machines. Since I have been doing a lot of work with VMware currently and scaling of Citrix Presentation Server on VMware I would bring the light back on it.

The white paper presents data showing the number of Citrix sessions you can sustain when running Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 inside a virtual machine, and then measures scalability with 1, 2, 4 and 8 VMs. For ESX 3, engineering improved Citrix performance in a virtual machine and we want to showcase those gains, as well as present best practices for performance.

click here to download whitepaper

Also see the : Optimizing Citrix Presentation Server with VMware ESX Server Presentation given at VMworld 2006

Presented by:

Paul Hahn - Director, Business Development - Citrix Inc.

Hemant Gaidhani - Manager, Technical Marketing - VMware

click here to view slide deck

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

How many virtual machines can I really get on a VMware ESX server

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 10:52:00 GMT

How many virtual machines can I really get on a VMware ESX server , may be 70 VM servers ? well might be able to now..

I have been a HP fan for years, but whilst spending time in the Industry and becoming almost agnostic to tin now, I have found myself in the server based computing and new world of virtualisation, were the time of large servers seems to be coming of age.

Published by InfoWorld (Dec 2006) Top five rack-mount servers http://weblog.infoworld.com/tcdaily/archives/2006/12/top_five_rackmo.html

Sun's x86 servers are red hot, and I mean that in a good way. Our list of the top five scorers among the servers reviewed in 2006 includes two from Sun, both from the Opteron-based "Galaxy" series, and they're #1 and #2. HP, Dell, and IBM, watch your backs.

Sun Fire X4600 M2 Excellent [8.9]

Sun Fire X4200 Excellent [8.7]

Dell PowerEdge 2950 Very Good [8.5]

IBM System x3550 Very Good [8.4]

HP ProLiant DL380 G4 Very Good [8.2]

I've been testing the Sun Fire X4600 M2 for the past few weeks and no word of a lie, if you are thinking of virtualisation, server based computing, Citrix , 64 bit and can meet the criteria for a Try Buy go to www.sun.co.uk or www.sun.com "GO GET ONE OR TWO". It ROCKS…

I have done performance testing at Microsoft, HP, DELL and I've not got excited about piece of kit in a long-time. (Sad I know, but way cool)

Seriously I know there are a lot of die hard HP and DELL guys and girls out there, but if you feel GEEKY have a look at these, I don't think you will be disappointed..

Next test how may Citrix Servers can you run and connect too on an x64 server.. Guess's on a post card.

check out my homepage for more information on http://charlesaunger.eknowlogy.com

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx / charles.aunger homepage

I have been doing some lab work with the Sun Sunfire x4600 and ESX 3.01. One of the tests we have been running has 35 VM's of Windows Server 2003 - 32 bit using a mix of single CPU, 2 CPU and 4 CPU SMP, running endless full server backup process on each VM, (not recommended in most VM environment due to High I/O) and the server doesn’t even break 50% load… it just keeps giving really keeps giving. Moving up to 50 VM's today and I don't expect to have any major issues. I really think the issue might come for the SAN connectivity. May be you can get 70 VM servers on a HOST...

How to get around Virtual Floppy hell in a Virtual Platform

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:17:00 GMT

A common source of pain among those who work with VMware, Virtual PC or Virtual Server is the need to copy data to a virtual floppy disk. If you're migrating from one VM platform to another and need a Ghost boot floppy, for example, then you may need to set up the virtual floppy disk twice (once for each VM format). Of course, if you have a physical floppy drive in a system, then this is not necessary since any VM can bind to the physical floppy drive.

If you need a virtual floppy drive that can be used by both Microsoft and VMware platforms, then take a look at Virtual Floppy Drive 2.1. VFD allows you to create and save virtual floppy drives on any 32-bit Windows system.

What's nice is that when you mount it, you can use this as a floppy drive on your Windows host system. Then, any VM can access the drive by connecting to the "Physical Drive" on the host. Even though VFD is a virtual drive, its emulation makes it appear as a physical drive to the host OS and both VMware and the Virtual PC/Server applications. So if you need to make a boot floppy for a VM, you can mount the VFD on your host system, create the floppy and then link it to a virtual machine.

Here's all you need to do to use VFD:

Download VFD 2.1 here.
Extract the downloaded .ZIP file to a folder on your system.
Open the folder and then double-click on the vfdwin.exe file.
You should now see the VFD Control Panel window. From here, click the Driver tab and then click the Install button.
Next, click Start.
Now click the Drive0 tab. Next to Drive Letter, click the Change button. In the Drive Letter dialog box, click the Drive Letter drop-down menu and select A if no floppy drive is installed on the system, or select B if a floppy drive already exists.
At this point, your system will show that it has a floppy drive; however, it currently does not have a disk. To add a virtual disk, under the Drive0 tab, click Open.
In the Open Virtual Floppy Image dialog box, you have two choices: have the virtual floppy live in RAM or link the virtual floppy to a file. If you need a temporary floppy disk, you can leave RAM selected as the disk type and then click Create. If you want to maintain a permanent virtual floppy disk, click Browse and enter the name of the new file. Note that it can have the .FLP or .VHD extension (among others). Next, click Create and your virtual floppy is ready to go.

At this point, any VM can access the virtual floppy by connecting to it as a physical drive on the host system. While leaving the VFD Control Panel open, you can now use Windows Explorer to navigate to the floppy drive, format it and save files to it. If you see the drive appear as a 5.25-inch drive in the Windows Explorer GUI, don't go running for your old copy of Oregon Trail. This is just a glitch and the drive will still be treated as a 1.44MB disk.

In addition to its usefulness with VMware and Virtual Server/PC, the virtual floppy can also be helpful in testing or training environments where a floppy drive is needed, but no physical drive is installed in a system. While it may not resurrect floppy disk classics like Oregon Trail, VFD can at least ease the management of virtual machine floppy disks.

Read or comment on the original, here.

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx

VMware Unveils VMware ACE 2 Enterprise Edition Public Beta

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:32:00 GMT

The second generation of VMware ACE is designed to deliver the only controlled and easily managed enterprise-class virtualization product for deploying desktops to any PC, providing a rich virtual desktop environment to end users while maintaining the control required by the governing IT organization.

"IT administrators need tighter desktop control and management because they are tasked with supporting increasing numbers of workers who use equipment over which they have no control," said Jerry Chen, director of enterprise desktop platforms and solutions at VMware. "VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition offers the best of both worlds -- IT administrators can easily manage thousands of users while effectively upholding corporate IT policies, and the end user can be productive with a desktop that has the identical look and feel of an IT-owned PC. It's like handing out a secure, controlled laptop without the cost and hassle of provisioning new hardware."

VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition public beta includes a new desktop mobility feature, Pocket ACE, which enables deployment of a full-featured desktop virtual machine to a portable media device such as a USB flash drive, portable hard drive or Apple iPod. End users can load a secure desktop onto the media device, plug it into a licensed PC or laptop and access the desktop from nearly anywhere with network connectivity.

VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition public beta benefits include:

*Streamlined enterprise desktop management. Supporting users on unmanaged hardware can require IT administrators to create, test, provision and migrate a separate desktop image for every flavor of PC hardware being supported. Administrators now can create standard desktop images using VMware Workstation 6, then deploy and manage them with the VMware ACE Management Server. This results in the ability to easily manage numerous virtual machines while reducing the number of images to create and enabling faster desktop deployments.

*Simplified policy control. A single management interface provides centralized policy management of desktop virtual machines deployed on existing PCs. The VMware ACE Management Server supports dynamic updates of IT policies and manages virtual machine expiration dates, device and network access configurations and activation or deactivation of VMware ACE clients at any time.

*Isolated environments. IT administrators can create secure and isolated VMware ACE desktop environments for use on existing PCs that are separate from the user's personal settings. This allows administrators to manage and control the VMware ACE desktop without infringing on the user's freedom to utilize PC features that might be restricted within the VMware ACE environment.

*Easy backup and recovery. IT administrators can take snapshots of stable virtual machine configurations and roll back to the previous state quickly and easily.

*Expanded operating system support. In addition to support for Windows Vista, VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition public beta offers Linux host operating system support for Mandriva, Novell, Red Hat and Ubuntu.

*Increased performance and memory support. VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition public beta leverages the latest virtualization platform from VMware, including support for USB 2.0, and supports virtual machines of up to 8 GB in size.

Pricing and Availability

VMware ACE 2 Enterprise edition is currently in public beta for Linux and Windows users and is available for download at http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/ace/ . The product is expected to be generally available in the second quarter of 2007. Pricing will be announced at the time of general availability.

click for source

Best practices for deploying Citrix on vmware ESX

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 08:39:00 GMT

Best practices for deploying Citrix on vmware ESX

If you are currently using or planning to use VMware ESX Server for a Citrix Presentation Server environment, you might want to check out Vincent Vlieghe's post on his Blog site, virtrix.blogspot.com. In it, he has compiled quite a list of helpful tips based on his own personal experience as well as the experiences of others from the VMware User Forum. You can read Vincent's post, here.

The goods:

Virtual Infrastructure 3
Windows 2003 Std (or Enterprise) Edition R2 (x86, not x64)
Citrix Presentation Server 4.0 (yes, I know, the old one ;))

The tips:

First this: it all depends on the applications used! Context switches is the key here...
Use Windows 2003, not Windows 2000
Don’t P2V your servers, but use clean templates
Make sure the correct HAL (single or multi) is installed in the virtual machine. Otherwise, your vCPU will spike.
Always assign 1vCPU. If necessary, add a 2^nd vCPU. Do not use 4 vCPUs!
Use 2 GB to start. Scale up to +-4 GB of vRAM if necessary
Use 1 .vmdk for your system partition (C:\ or other remapped drive letter) and 1 separate .vmdk for your program files.
Put the page file on the 2^nd .vmdk
Important: disconnect any .iso file in your virtual CD-Rom
Use roaming profiles and cleanup your profiles at logoff
Disable sound for your published apps
Install the UPH service (download it here)
User sessions: for me, 30 users on a VM is the sweet spot. Do not expect to get as many users on it as on a physical box!
Scale out, not up. A major advantage of VM is to clone/NewSID/sysprep existing servers and put them into your existing Citrix farm. Just stop & disable your IMA service, clean up your RMLocalDB (if you use enterprise) and NewSid the thing. Refer to this support article for more info.
Use dual core or quad core systems. This because ESX will have more CPU to schedule its vCPUs on.
Don’t ever use a 2 vCPU Citrix virtual machine in a 2 pCPU physical machine!
Do not install the memory ballooning driver while installing the VMware Tools
Do not use a complete installation Vmware tools: there is an issue with roaming profiles and the shared folders component. See my previous article for more info.
Disable COM ports, hyperthreading, visual effects & use speedscreen technology where possible.
Use snapshots when installing applications or patching your servers (yes! With VMware you can do this!). In case of disaster, you can still revert to the original working server without using backups. Make sure all snapshots are removed ASAP when finished!
Always check that there are no snapshot leftovers (f.e. the infamous _VCB-BACKUP_ when using VCB)
Don’t forget you can use DRS rules to run your Citrix servers on separate physical hosts.
Check out this vmworld 2006 presentation
And last but not least: do not forget to read ESX's (excellent) performance tuning white paper.

Thanks to David Marshall and Vincent

vmware visio stencils / shapes

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:37:00 GMT

If your creating visio diagrams etc you need stencils well have found a few for, vmware visio stencils / shapes

click on the link to download

check out my homepage for more information http://charlesaunger.eknowlogy.com

Charles Aunger
charles aunger eknowlogy / eviglio / frameworkx

EMC to IPO VMware - Some say the writing was on the wall

Charles Aunger / www.eknowlogy.com — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 08:09:00 GMT

Some say the writing was on the wall EMC to IPO Vmware

EMC announced its intention to sell approximately 10% of VMware via an initial public offering (IPO) of newly issued VMware stock. EMC will retain ownership of the remaining shares of VMware, and has no intention of spinning out or otherwise divesting this ownership interest.

click for comments from EMC CEO on the IPO of VMware

Patrick O'Rourke, Senior Product Manager of Windows Server Division, posted some provocative comments about the IPO on the official Microsoft blog

click here for Patrick's comments