Virtualization on Anything About IT

ReadTip: Making Applications Compatible with Windows 7 in a Virtualized Environment

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:14:13 +0000

Often people think that App-V is is an Application Compatibility Solution, it’s not. Chris Jackson has written an excellent article where he explains this in detail. Read the entire article here

ViewTip: Application Virtualization (App-V) Video Series

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:15:12 +0000

Learn how to configure App-V; create, publish, and update virtual applications; and create and manage policies for virtual applicationss. The videos can be downloaded from here

Architectural blueprint for Desktop Virtualization

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:10:17 +0000

In this video Daniel Feller shares some best practices on how to design a Desktop Virtualization solution.

**Additional Resources
**Consulting Whitepapers for XenDesktop 3.0
Ask the Architect: Next-Generation Desktop

ToolTip: Microsoft® Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:06:44 +0000

Windows Virtual PC requires that your hardware supports hardware-assisted virtualization. There are a number of third party utilities around already, but now Microsoft released one as well. It’s called the Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool and can be downloaded from here

If you launch the tool manually it will tell you if your system meets the requirements for running Windows Virtual PC or not, quite similar as the Securable utility I wrote about in the Detect XP Mode Support article.

Virtual Hard Disk Getting Started Guide

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:55:08 +0000

Microsoft recently published the “Virtual Hard Disk Getting Started Guide”. This paper provides you with all the information you need around VHD.

Download the Guide here

Updated Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Compare Matrix Whitepaper

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:29:06 +0000

Ruben Spruijt has released an update of the Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Compare matrix whitepaper. Read more

Windows Virtual PC – first experiences

Tue, 05 May 2009 00:08:53 +0000

With the release of the Windows7 RC0 build, Microsoft also published a first Beta for Windows Virtual PC that provides the underlying technology for XP Mode feature. Windows Virtual PC cannot only run Windows XP but does also allow running virtualized Windows Vista and Windows 7 clients.

After having installed a Windows Vista guest, it’s important to install both the integration features as well as the rail_qfe_beta_for_vista_sp1_x86_343758.msu. If you don’t install the last, you won’t be able to publish applications installed in Vista to your Windows 7 Start Menu.

Intel Virtualization introduction

Mon, 04 May 2009 21:48:01 +0000

With the launch of Windows Virtual PC for Windows7, there is a lot of talk about the Virtualization Technology again. I found this introduction video from Intel that provides an overview on VT.

[videofile]http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/24/59/245966_245966.swf[/videofile]

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization v1.0 Beta Demo Kit

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:11:57 +0000

Microsoft has made available a Demo Kit for their Enterprise Desktop Virtualization Beta aka MED-V. For more details read my earlier blog post “Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization aka MED-V”.

The Demo Kit contains everything you need to get first hands-on experience. The Demo Kit can be downloaded from here.

2008 Virtualization review

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:32:03 +0000

Brian and Gabe review the big events, trends, and themes of the desktop and application virtualization space from 2008.

Watch Brian Madden TV Episode 1 - 2008 year in review

Virtualization Industry Radar

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:03:45 +0000

Just came across this nice “Virtualization Industry Radar” page. The page provides a nice overview of the key players within the virtualization industry.

Free Virtualization ebook from Microsoft

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 22:34:08 +0000

Confused about all the different solutions around Virtualization ? then get the “Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions” eBook. The document gives you all the information you need to better understand the various Virtualization offerings Microsoft has available today and will release in the near future.

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization aka MED-V

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 17:04:00 +0000

Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization (MED-V) is Microsoft’s new product offering for so-called local virtualization or client based virtualization. The solution itself originates from Kidaro that was acquired by Microsoft last year.

With local desktop virtualization a complete OS is executed on top of the operating system that is installed on the users physical device. Using a client based virtualization solution such as MED-V can help with application compatibility issues when migrating to a new operating system. With MED-V you can continue providing applications to your users in a seamless way without having the user notice that that application runs on another virtualized OS.

SCVMM 2008 - After 48 hours

Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:15:49 +0000

It’s about 48 hours ago , that i started with setting up a System Center Virtual Machine Manager environment, No worries, i have been doinng otherthings in between, although today , uhm yesterday I spend most of the time with it. Also the hardware I have available , isn’t realy that powerfull, so it all takes a bit time, but that’s okay, while waiting I’ve just continued reading.

So for all those that plan to give SCVMM a try as well but don’t have big powerfull servers available let me encourage you, my setup is as following:

Application Virtualization Overview

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 20:21:06 +0000

For all those of you who want to get an overview on today’s Application Virtualization solutions and technologies, i recommend reading “Application Virtualization Solutions Overview and Feature Compare Matrix” published by Ruben Spruijt and Jurjen van Leeuwen.

System Center - Virtual Machine Manager Demo

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 16:07:32 +0000

Just recently Microsoft launched the System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Watch a demo here. For those that have a subscription to the Windows IT Pro Magazine, read the article “What You Need to Know About Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008”.

Installing ESXi in VMWare Workstation 6.5

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:28:38 +0000

Finally after several attempts, i’ve been able to install VMWare ESXi into VMware Workstation 6.5. The intend of doing this is purely to get familiar with the product. To get this done, i have been mainly following the instructions provided by xtravirt.com

Once installed i had some challenges with transfering files through the Virtual Infrastructure Client datastore browser where i received I/O errors. After some troubleshooting it appears to be related to the network , switch configuration which i haven’t solved yet. The workaround i used for the time being is to configure the ESXi vmware network setting to “host” only instead of “Bridged”.

Another great site around Virtualization

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:51:10 +0000

In continuing my journey in Virtualization, I’ve come across another great site called VirtualizationAdmin.com

the site has a great collection of tutorials, blogs, white papers, software and more, definitely worth visiting it.

VMWare 6.5 available

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:17:15 +0000

I must have missed this somehow :-) VMWare finally released VMWare Workstation 6.5. For those that didn’t notice it too, here’s the release notes. It does note make sense here to list any of the highlights as there are just too many of them, all described within the release notes. Well…. for those that like automation, have a look at vmrun.

And of course there is also the VMWare Player 2.5.

Understanding machine virtualization

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 15:04:16 +0000

If you have a general interest in virtualization technology, have a look at this video from Channel 9. I’ve liked the video especially because Simon Crosby is not just talking about a product but does bring up a couple of interesting thoughts and concepts on the use of virtualization technology today and tomorrow.

Citrix - Understanding Machine Virtualization

New site dedicated to Microsoft Hyper-V

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:26:00 +0000

Steven Bink owner of the famous Bink.nu web site has launched a new site dedicated to Microsoft Hyper-V and related technologies called Hypervoria

BIOS Boot delay on VMWARE

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:56:00 +0000

Ever had that issue that you wanted to enter the VMWARE BIOS, but you simply don’t made it because the VMWARE session boots too fast ?

Add the following line to your *.vmx file.

bios.bootDelay = "3000"

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-1201¨

VMWARE Webcasts

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:13:00 +0000

There is a lot going on around Virtualization, so it’s important to keep up to date. Like other vendors, WMAWRE also provides Webcasts and Podcasts.

Recorded sessions can be found here: http://www.vmware.com/a/webcasts/recorded/

Podcasts here: http://www.vmware.com/resources/podcasts/audio.html

and upcomming events are listed here: http://www.vmware.com/a/webcasts/index/

Grow vmware size

Sat, 10 May 2008 09:38:00 +0000

Today i ran out of diskspace on one of my systems that runs within a vmware session. The system disk only had 10 GB and I needed to add another 10 GB.

This is what i did:

Extend the disk in offline mode by running the following command: C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Workstation>vmware-vdiskmanager -x 20GB “C:\Users\Alex\Documents\Virtual Machines\Server 2003 - sysmanage\Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition-cl1.vmdk” It then takes a while until the disk is expanded.