Category Virtualization

Every now and then the discussion comes up “Where do I find ‘x’ people on twitter?”  I usually resort to random google searches, sometimes finding what I’m looking for, sometimes not quite so much!  So here is my repository for you, me and my cat to find people easier.

NetApp Folks are Twittering!

Storage Folks Are Twittering

Virtual Twits including a script which will auto-add them for you!

PowerShell Twitterers, including a script which will auto-add them for you!

C Level Tweeters

December: Newspapers that use Twitter (Thousands of accts on Twitter!)

60 New York Times profiles on Twitter

UK journalists on Twitter

USGovernment on Twitter

Hunger Twitterers

And that’s all I have for a repository right now – if you have a list which should be added here, or you think I should include some specific grouping, make it known :)

So, here is a breakdown of the NetApp folks on Twitter!

	Name + Blog	Twitter ID!
	Christopher Kusek	@cxi
	Michael Moeschler	@moesch
	Eric Pederson	@onStorage
	Kostadis Roussos	@kostadis_netapp
	Jeff Bearer	@jeffbearer
	Val Bercovici	@valb00
	NetApp	@NetApp
	NetAppUK	@NetAppUK
	Jeremy Merrill	@JeremyMerrill
	David A. Chapa	@davidchapa
	Samantha Moulton	@SamMoulton
	Mike Riley	@MSR11
	Kaitlyn Dierkes	@kdierkes

And a specific mention for the NetApp+Virtualization folks! ;)

	Name + Blog	Twitter ID!
	Chris Gebhardt	@chrisgeb
	Abhinav Joshi	@Abhinav_Joshi
	Brian Gracely	@bgracely
	Jack Mcleod	@VirtuallyNetApp
	Keith Aasen	@keith_aasen
	Vaughn Stewart	@Vaughn_Stewart

If you feel you should be added to this list, let me know and I’ll be sure to add you accordingly!

Sweet! Yea, you heard me, sweet!

The VMware ESX Host Utility Kit v5.0R1 was just released! Hooray!

And one of the coolest parts of it – mbrscan!

mbrscan – interrogates a disk file and reports on the primary partitions’ alignment

For those of you who haven’t used mbrscan, you can use it to check the alignment of your vm’s in order to determine if they’re properly aligned on disk.  I’ve done it on countless vm’s with great success.

The even greater success will come about when you use mrbalign which I hope to see get approved and added to the HUK sometime in the near future! (Though if you want/need access to mbralign, which actually –aligns- your vm’s for you – contact your local Sales/PS org :))

No, that wasn’t a pitch, that was merely a factual statement, it’s a sweet tool though! I used that to align my VM’s I run on VMware fusion :)

You ever ask the question “Wow, I wish there were a consolidated place to find everything* there is to find about NetApp and Virtualization?”

I ask that question all the time.  The following is a release of my internal notes I’d forward to people when they say “NetApp + Citrix?” “NetApp + VMware” or “NetApp + Hyper-V”

This way, both you AND I have a single place to go look and I don’t have to reinvent my wheel!

Everything you wanted to know about NetApp and Virtualization but were afraid to ask.

 NetApp Virtualization Team Blog – Great resource of information and the definitive source on updates of new documents, TR’s, etc – It is where I’ll update new links like those above from.

VMware and NetApp

• TR3428 – NetApp and VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 Storage Best Practices
• TR3562 – Best Practices for VMware ESX Server 3.0 Backup on NetApp
• TR3606 – HIGH AVAILABILITY AND DISASTER RECOVERY FOR VMWARE USING NETAPP SNAPMIRROR AND METROCLUSTER
• TR3646 – RAPID DEPLOYMENT OF ORACLE® DATABASE 11G USING VMWARE® INFRASTRUCTURE AND NETAPP FLEXCLONE®
• TR3671 – VMware Site Recovery Manager in a NetApp Environment
• TR3675 – Fast and Easy SnapManager SharePoint Server 2007 Deployments Using VMware Virtualization and NetApp Storage
• TR3683 – Microsoft Exchange 2007 on VMware Infrastructure 3 and NetApp iSCSI Storage
• TR3697 – Multiprotocol Performance Test of VMware® ESX 3.5 on NetApp Storage Systems
• TR3704 – NetApp SAN Solutions for VMware
• TR3705 – NetApp and VMware VDI Best Practices
• TR3724 – VMware VDI on NetApp Storage Systems 1,000-seat Deployment Guide Using NFS
• TR3725 – VMware VDI on NetApp Storage Systems 4,000-seat Deployment Guide Using NFS
• TR3734 – SAP on Windows and Microsoft SQL Server with NetApp Storage and VMware
• TR3737 – SnapManager 1.0 for Virtual Infrastructure Best Practices
• TR3770 – 2,000-Seat VMware View on NetApp Deployment Guide Using NFS – A Scalable Solution Architecture on a Cisco Nexus Infrastructure

Microsoft and NetApp

• TR3701 – NetApp and Microsoft Virtualization: Making Integrated Server and Storage Virtualization a Reality
• TR3702 – NetApp and Microsoft Virtualization Storage Best Practices
• TR3733 – Microsoft Hyper-V on NetApp Deployment Guide

Citrix and NetApp

• TR3694 – NetApp and Citrix XenServer 4.1- Building a Virtual Infrastructure from Server to Storage
• TR3711 – Citrix XenDesktop 2.0 with NetApp Storage – Pilot Deployment Overview
• TR3731 – NetApp Virtualization Solutions for Citrix XenApp Environments
• TR3732 – Citrix XenServer V5.0 and NetApp Storage Best Practices
• TR3748 – NetApp and Citrix VDI Best Practices
• TR3755 – Verification Test with MetroCluster in a Xen Environment

Oracle and NetApp

• TR3712 – Oracle VM and NetApp Storage – Best Practices Guide

And some definite –must- reads!

• TR3505 – NetApp Deduplication for FAS Deployment and Implementation Guide
• TR3747 – Best Practices for File System Alignment in Virtual Environments
• VDI infrastructure considerations: Choices that dramatically influence user experience and cost outcomes (VMWorld)
• Capacity Savings and Storage Utilization Guarantees: What’s Included, and Are They Worth Considering?
• Total Cost Comparison: IT Decision-Maker Perspectives on EMC®, HP® and NetApp™ Storage Solutions in Enterprise VMware Environments
• NetApp Storage Efficiency Calculator

NetApp 50% Virtualization Guarantee* (Effective until December 31, 2009)

• FAQ – 50% Virtualization Guarantee* Program
• WP7053 – The 50% Virtualization Guarantee* Program Technical Guide

Top Must Read Knowledge Base Articles (Virt-KB!)

• Recommended Settings for VMware ESXi 3.5 Update 2\Update 3 when connected to NetApp Storage Systems
• VMware LUN Alignment in ESX 3.x
• VMware ESX Guest OS I/O Timeout Settings for NetApp Storage Systems
• VMFS volume resignaturing in a NetApp environment
• SnapDrive licensing for VMware servers with multiple virtual systems on them
• Adding more than 8 NFS datastores on a VMware ESX host (As seen in TR3428)
• VMWare ESX Virtual Machine Storage troubleshooting
• Virtual machines that are accessed through NFS datastores appear to be inaccessible
• Flexclones: VMware volumes and LUNs
• Disk Alignment on Linux with NetApp LUNs for VMware

NetApp Virtualization and Twitter!

Yes! I was able to track down the folks at NetApp who are on Twitter, so follow them here!

• @chrisgeb (Chris Gebhardt)
• @Abhinav_Joshi (Abhinav Joshi)
• @bgracely (Brian Gracely)
• @VirtuallyNetApp (Jack Mcleod)
• @Vaughn_Stewart (Vaughn Stewart)

NetApp Virtualization and YouTube!

• NetAppTV (Customer Success Stories and other cool videos)
• NetAppTube (Demos from VMWorld and more!)
• NTriantos (SMVI, VDI, OSSV and more!) 

NetApp Tools for Virtualization!

• VMware ESX Host Utilities 5.0R1 (Includes MBRScan)
• MBRAlign (To align VMDK’s)
• Rapid Cloning Utility (ToolChest)
• SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure 1.01

And last but not least!

 Vaughn Stewart – Virtual Storage Evangelist and all around great VM Guy!

So, hopefully these resources will be useful to you, I know they’re pretty useful for me and I reference them often.   Definitely read the Must Reads, regardless of Virt Solution!

Yay! More Free books, what a good way to start off the new year!

It’s unknown when this expires, so I’d definitely suggest downloading sooner than later!

Understanding Microsoft Virtualization Solutions (From the Desktop to the Datacenter)
by Mitch Tulloch with the Microsoft Virtualization Team

Look forward to another Virtualization focused post in a few days, or a few cycles, grin.