VMWare is Cool, or maybe “VMware is Hot”!

September 11th, 2009

I have done some more studying of VMware and its product line and they certainly seem to have it together in their product offering. It should be noted here that virtualization technology predates VMware and that they have competition in Microsoft Hyper-V, Xensource, Red Hat, etc., but I am going to focus on VMware for now. The basic premise of the technology, for the uninitiated, is virtualization of servers (and desktops, but more on that later) on physical machines. A server running an application on a physical machine is “virtualized”  - that is the software, data, network interface card, RAM, cpu, storage, bios, etc. are all turned into code elements and run as a “virtual machine” on another server that can then hold a number of these virtual machines. The initial driving force of this technology was server consolidation. It is typical to be able to average reducing 15 existing servers to 1 after virtualization. There are obvious hardware savings to doing this as well as energy, maintenance and rack space savings.

Thanks to the wonderful world of competition the basic software tool that allows the virtualization of a server is available for free from both (and not by coincidence) VMware and Microsoft.   This tool is called a hypervisor and the latest VMware hypervisor is ESXi – again,  freely available.

The VMware world has moved way beyond the hypervisor itself – although that technology remains at the core. The main thrust of data center offerings by VMware is around central  management of servers for reliability, energy savings and efficiency of operations. This is where some of the the way cool stuff happens – once you get jaded with 15 or 20 servers running on one box!

The main VMware product is Vsphere which provides centralized management of the virtual servers, running ESXi  or ESX, under its control.  Aside from really efficient central management and control, some of the impressive features available include Vmotion which allows you to migrate a server from one host machine to another on the fly -while the server is running – with no loss of accesibility!  Other modules can monitor the load on a pool of servers and shift operating load so that some servers can be idle while others are fully utilized.  Those servers that are not needed can also be powered down and restarted when needed.

I mentioned virtual desktops earlier and this I think is really exciting technology. “Exciting? ” you might say.  While I am not excited by the average new technical gizmo, major shifts in how we provide computing capabilites to users, huge new markets and technical challenges are at the least very interesting. Running around and maintaining desktop PCs all through a big office is a huge waste of time and the whole PC interaction with its software and other devices is a a mess that as an engineer I have always felt was designed for kids, by kids!  The “VMware View” approach to enterprise desktops, to reduce desktops to virtual machines – basically files on a central server that can be copied, saved, recreated, provisoned for new setups, etc. all in minutes,  is a very powerful paradigm shift.  That the approach is already migrating to smaller environments as well is a given.  Big changes ahead and the change has great promise!

Posted in Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery, Desktop Issues, Hyper V, Virtual Desktops, Virtual Servers -VMware | Comments Off

Desktop Virtualization, VDI and Client-Hosted

August 21st, 2009

Another acronym – just what the IT world needs, but VDI is with us now. VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is one type of desktop virtualization. It refers to hosting client virtual machines on a central server and deploying that virtual machine to any appropriate device –a PC, a thin client, a netbook on the road, etc. The other category of desktop virtualization is client-hosted. That model involves having two or more separate environments –as separate virtual machines on one client machine.
VDI is the more generally applicable model for business computing needs. This approach offers at first blush a lot of advantages. Your friendly, all setup as you like it office computing environment can be accessible to you anywhere from a lot of different devices.
Setting up a new desktop would take potentially minutes. Management, maintenance, updating of all of a business’s “desktops” is done centrally and probably more quickly than for separate desktop machine. The whole concept of a desktop PC goes away to some degree.

Cost, time and security advantages make the technology certainly intriguing. One disadvantage is the effort to get setup –without ending up with double the hardware investment. That is you could end up with bigger, more powerful servers and more of them plus be using desktops. A from scratch implementation with thin clients in place of desktops would make more sense.
The big players seems to be VWware and Microsoft. We will be deploying a pilot environment here at EBS and I will report back on our experiences.

Posted in Desktop Issues, Desktop OS, Security, Virtual Servers -VMware | Comments Off

Windows 7 – Looking Good!

August 18th, 2009

Microsoft is getting close to release of Windows 7 – the plan is in October of this year. After the many concerns and issues with Vista there is some hesitancy to jump on the bandwagon for Windows 7, but it looks good! It apparently builds on the best parts of Vista and adds speed and reduces memory usage. It reduces laptop power consumption. It has improved internal search, faster online access, touch screen options and new “jump screens” that seem to add functionality. One of our techs has used it for several weeks now and his comments are very postive:
“My initial impressions of Windows 7 have been overwhelmingly positive. It is amazingly stable and intuitive. The user interface has not changed drastically from Vista, but it resolves all of the complaints I had with its predecessor. After a clean installation, it went out and downloaded every single driver I needed, even drivers only available from third party websites, and automatically notifies me when new drivers become available from the manufacturer. I attempted to install two products that were never functional in Vista x64 for me, and when they failed in Win7, I received prompts recommending that I run them in WinXP compatibility mode. A quick click of accept and both are running flawlessly.

Windows 7 also includes a utility called Windows XP Mode, based off of Microsoft’s Virtual PC, that allows you to run an XP virtual machine from within Win7 in the event of a software compatibility issue, which I have not found to be necessary due to the compatibility adjustments. I was skeptical that the Virtual PC offering could be as useful as its VMWare opposite number, but was pleasantly surprised again. It’s as smooth as I’ve ever seen a virtual machine, and all of the host’s hardware, including anything attached by USB or Bluetooth, is automatically available in the virtual environment.

In short, Win7 provides multiple, redundant solutions to the major issues raised in Vista. I can perform most actions faster, with less clicks, than I ever could with Vista Ultimate. With several weeks of business and personal use and not a single crash or lock up, I am very optimistic about the newest version of Windows.”

Other reviews that I have read also have been very positive such as, “…upgrade without trepidation, people. With excitement even.”[1] and “essentially a faster Vista, the Vista that should have been”.[2]

Windows 7 is looking good!

[1]Windows 7 Review: You Can Quit Complaining Now
By Matt Buchanan,

http://gizmodo.com/5330609/windows-7-review-you-can-quit-complaining-now

[2]Business Insider, Eric Krangel, http://www.businessinsider.com/2009/1/windows-7-review-consensus-its-a-faster-vista-msft
“Windows 7 Review Consensus: It’s A Faster Vista”

Posted in Desktop Issues, Desktop OS | Comments Off

Instant On PCs, Laptops, Notebooks

August 11th, 2009

It takes what, 2-3 minutes to boot your PC? Drives us all crazy when we have to boot up so we tend to leave PCs on all the time – burning electricity, heating components, not clearing out the machine RAM, etc.
Microsoft has said that load times of less than 30 seconds is the near term goal, but there is a lot of activity in this area and alternatives are springing up.

Probably the most market advanced option to get a fast boot is offered by DeviceVM. They make a product called Splashtop (http://www.splashtop.com) that gives a really fast start -in seconds. This product and others like it, use a Linux kernel to quickly bring up email and Internet access. These fast boots are being offered as supplements to Windows. You hit the F4 etc. and boot quickly while Windows is loading, or just to browse or check email and you do not start Windows. This operating system for now comes built-in to new machines -mainly laptops/notebooks -from Lenovo, Asus and Acer and others.

Google Chrome -the new operating system Google is working on (to be, or not to be confused with the Google Chrome browser already released!) has a fast/instant boot as a promised major feature.

Dell has announced an “instant on” offering – they call it ‘Latitude ON”. Right now they seem to have little to say about when its coming, but they have an oar in the water.

Of course Microsoft is not sitting by idly -they are also promising faster boot times to come – as mentioned.

Less power use, instant access to information – it sounds great.

Posted in Desktop Issues | Comments Off

Virtual Servers

August 4th, 2009

OK, I resisted virtual servers a bit even early last year. It seemed as though technicians wanted to virtualize every client’s server no matter how small the operation or what the issue to be addressed! I am suspicious of hype and of those who get carried away with technology just because it is new or dubbed “hot”. I have to admit now that virtual servers do have many and deep applications in the small and mid-sized business space.
Simply put a “virtual server” is just a sort of sub-server which is run on a very real plain old standard hardware server box. The magic is that the virtual server -meaning it’s very real standard old operating system software and what ever applications and data that server has, is run by a special piece of software on the real hardware server -the host. The special software that does this becomes the operating system for the real hardware server -the core or host server if you will. This special software is relatively simple and yet complex. It is simple in that this special software takes care of few basic functions -just the operation of the virtual servers and ways to backup, and troubleshoot, etc. those virtual machines. It does not have active directory or print drivers, or all the myriad functions of a regular operating system.

Now one of the beauties of this system is that this “special software” can run more than one “virtual” machine. Most simply you could have two virtual servers on the one hardware box. One could be an Exchange server and the other a domain /file server for example. these “servers” would be completely separate each with their own operating system and applications and data in regular old windows file folders, etc.
What is the magic “special software” that runs the virtual servers on a host server box? VMware and Microsoft’s Hyper-V are the two most well known applications that do this job, although there are others.

How can you suddenly run more servers on one box when it seems the technical folks have been constantly nagging to get bigger and bigger boxes – how many time shave we heard, “to do that you need more RAM, more processor capacity, etc.” ? Now that is a good question and one that you need to watch for good answers to. Sometimes the technical folks in smaller deployments do not take into account the full demands on the box that is suddenly running 2 or more servers. However, there are real technical reasons for some of this new found power. One reason is the processors we now have -Dual core, Quad core etc. -the processors of today have some serious power and have moved beyond the needs of average computing requirements. This excess power can be put to good use with virtual servers. Virtualization is way into mainstream and provides serious benefits. No need to resist the force.

Posted in Hyper V, Virtual Servers -VMware | Comments Off

Social Networking and Security

August 3rd, 2009

A recent Houston Chronicle [7/29/08] article pointed out that social networks are increasingly popular with “geezers” like me -and that “60% of Americans 43 to 63 are hanging out on social networking Web sites”. Of course your younger workers are also big players in this area, but the “older” user statistic helps show how pervasive such use is. This has strong implications for marketing, brand awareness, product reputations and of interest here – network security.

One security risk is social networks being a platform for “the thoughtless disclosure of confidential business information” per the June, 2009 Insiders Guide to SMB ["Cybercrime Countermeasures, Rich Freeman]. Especially if your employees are using social media -Facebook, Twtter, etc. while at work it would seem they could easily blab on about matters they should not be publishing to the world. At the least, you should caution employees about the need for discretion and confidentiality especially when online.

With layoffs up, the possibility of client or prospect lists, proposals or other confidential data being stolen by laid off or threatened employees is higher as well. A termination policy that includes a checklist for locking down systems and locking out ex-employees is a key for data and systems security.

Posted in Security, Web and Browsers | Comments Off

How to reduce IT costs

July 27th, 2009

An enterprise VAR survey is quoted in the July 2009 INFOSTORE magazine issue on the “biggest opportunities” for customer to “reduce IT costs”. By far the biggest option was “Virtualization” with 49% of respondent mentioning it. The second choice was a surprising one – “data deduplication” – with 18% of respondents listing it. The #3 choice – way down at 4% was the not very innovative, “delay purchases”!
Data deduplication if you haven’t heard about it is an innovative way to reduce storage requirements. At a simple level if you store a 15MB email attachment on your network –there may be 10 or many more copies of that attachment in various mail boxes -all taking up storage space. Data deduplication would mean retaining just one copy with a pointer to that copy where the other copies would be. This concept can be carried down to the data block or bit level. An algorithm can assign a hash number to each string of data and store one data copy and the indexed hash numbers. In this way, your data storage requirement can be greatly reduced. So far, the main application for data deduplication has been in backup software. Note that there are risks –as with any data compression method – so care should be taken in selecting tools to do this job. Big firms with huge data storage requirements are obviously the first targets for the technology.
Virtualization – choice number 1 in this survey – is a money saver even for, and perhaps especially for, firms that are quite small. I say especially for small firms because you can get the first step copy of VMware or Microsoft’s HyperV at no cost. Now if you have one or two servers, virtualization is of no real utility, but when a special application, separate Exchange server, etc. comes along beyond that, virtualization can save costs and add powerful disaster recovery options. Of course the savings really grow as you get into more and more servers.

Posted in Backup / Archive, Business Continuity / Disaster Recovery, Hyper V, Virtual Servers -VMware | Comments Off

Dated Browser Versions

July 23rd, 2009

An article in the Houston Chronicle (“Dig a hole and shovel IE6 into it”, Dwight Silverman 7/20/09) has highlighted the problem of using dated browsers. While IE6 is 8 years old it is still in wide use – despite the fact that newer, much more secure versions of Internet Explorer  have been released. Check your browser version and get updated or nudge your IT responsible person. For security,  ease of use and features it is time to make the switch.

You can download IE8 at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/resultsForCategory.aspx?displaylang=en&categoryid=6

IE8 is per Microsoft, “faster, more secure, more reliable” than older IE versions and has accelerator and web slice features -more to come on those. I have just upgraded to IE 8 myself and I am running it and Google Chrome and comparing. The download/upgrade process is very easy. Note that IE is, at least, a bigger target for malicious attacks – if not a softer target, as discussed earlier. Take the step of upgrading to the most recent version if you use IE.

Posted in Security, Web and Browsers | Comments Off

Internet Explorer and Google Chrome

July 17th, 2009

Thanks to the recent security threats to Internet Exporer we have recommended that our clients move from IE to another browser. For a tech this is easy to say, for most of us users it is harder to do.  I have installed Google Chrome as my default browser and I am learning as I go.  I was able to import my IE favorites list, which was a relief.  Just click on the little wrench icon on the far right (wrench for “Tools”).

Chrome keeps “tabs” along the top of its display area and the “+” tab lets you see thumbnails of pages you have visited lately – I like that feature. It is much easier to select a recent page that you want when you look right at it graphically.  If you need help installing a new browser, etc. just let us know –  we have the experts.

Posted in Web and Browsers | Comments Off

Technology Bytes – Online

July 8th, 2009

Welcome to the new EBS IT Technology blog. We will use this blog to discuss IT technology, security, IT support and services and other related topics. As many blogs do it will surely meander and hopefully find a niche of usefulness to our EBS clients and those seeking IT answers and insights. This will not be a release point for cutting edge technology or research. It will be more of an attempt to be an interface to common concerns and questions about technology and a place to post comments / questions about IT systems and technology.

We have started a blog on our web site in part as a demonstration of Web 2.0 technology. To this extent, the world may not need another technology blog, but it can demonstrate to our clients some of the uses of a blog. We have also started the blog as a promotional tool for our ebsit.com web site. A blog is one of the many many elements in the web site marketing tool bag to build traffic – through it’s own value and also through the keywords and IT services content that makes up the blog. To this extent, this use demonstrates to clients and prospects a web site marketing feature that we can help with on their websites.

Finally, the blog will be an interface between technology and users. Many technology concepts that seem simple to technical folks are not at all simple or clear to those who need to purchase, implement or use the technology. As we go along, I hope this blog can help interpret and clarify some IT functionality, use of technology, etc. Please comment if there are topics you would like to see covered or questions you have.

Posted in Intranets / SharePoint Portal, Web Promotion SEO | Comments Off

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