Tag xenserver

You know who you are, you’re the Xen-o-phile who backs Citrix to the utmost degree.   You are committed not only to the solution but taking things to the next level.  Certification.

Well, I’ll be the first to tell you – the value of certification is what you get out of them, and that’s often compounded by what you PUT into it.   But you can’t get value until you understand what lay before you.  Citrix has a number of tracks and strategies to address this with the Administrator (CCA), Engineer (CCEE) and Architect (CCIA) roles.

Administrator (Falls into two tracks, Enterprise and Platinum)

As you can see, the Enterprise exam is a good start in your path to being a Citrix Xen Master, and then it builds upon that with skills of the Platinum track to becoming an Engineer.

Engineer

As you can see there is an extended amount of effort and testing required in order to be seen as a Citrix Engineer, only to be rivaled by stepping up to the Architect level!

Architect

With the tracks above, and your own desire to make yourself more credible, tangible and experienced – You should be set to be your own personal Admin, Engineer or Architect of the future of Virtualization!   There are many paths to pursue in the realm of Virtualization and they all tend to overlap one way or another which will bode infinitely useful when it comes to your experience.

Good luck out there, Get trained, Get Certified and Get Virtual!

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!

Microsoft Virtualization launch

Attend the Microsoft® Virtualization Readiness Launch and Take Home the Latest Software*

Get hands-on with virtualization—on us.
Attend the event that lets you touch, talk about, and experience Microsoft® virtualization solutions. Hear from Microsoft virtualization experts on how Microsoft uses virtualization in its own data centers. Dive into robust hands-on labs and gain a technical understanding of the Microsoft virtualization strategy. Then, take home a valuable set of free products and readiness-focused giveaways to help get you started:*

• A one-year evaluation copy of Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008
• A copy of Understanding Microsoft Virtualization from the Desktop to the Data Center, by Mitch Tulloch**
• Vouchers for Microsoft Server Virtualization Certification exam (70-652) and preparation course (a $316 value)

Find out all about Microsoft virtualization.
Spend a day learning how a well-designed virtualization strategy can help you control costs, improve service levels, and drive business agility. See solutions built on the Windows Server® 2008 operating system with Hyper-V™ technology, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, and Microsoft Desktop and Application Virtualization. And learn how you can leverage end-to-end virtualization to unlock benefits from the data center to the desktop.
The day’s agenda is simple.

• Begin your day with 300-level technical seminars:
  • Session I: Server Virtualization and Management
  • Session II: How Microsoft Builds Dynamic Data Centers
  • Session III: Understanding Virtualization at the Desktop Level
• Spend the afternoon with experts and technology partners in our Solutions Pavilion, and experience Microsoft virtualization via hands-on labs.
• Go home with the knowledge and products you need to start putting Microsoft virtualization into place in your organization.*

*Free Microsoft evaluation software for all event attendees! You’ll take home an evaluation kit with versions of the latest virtualization products. The Microsoft Virtualization Evaluation Kit is available only for attendees of 2008 Microsoft Virtualization Launch event.
**Registered attendees must be an IT Professional or IT Decision Maker and 18 years old by September 8, 2008 to attend this event. Limit one kit per person. All kits must be claimed at the event. This offer is non-transferrable and expires on December 31, 2008 while supplies last. Offer is not redeemable for cash. Taxes, if any, are the sole responsibility of the recipient.

And ofcourse, the fair Platinum Sponsors of the event! Oh, look there’s NetApp and Citrix! :)

So, today I read this Whitepaper published in May of this year – omg! Cool is what I say!

Discounting factors aside (And it makes for a great read) the excellent XenApp Citrix’s replacement for Presentation Server steps into the Virtualization Space on fire!

While physical does get some presentation value, the fact that the Virtual instance running on XenServer vs a Physical is able to perform with an 8% penalty is amazing.

Citrix has been a player in this space (Well, really the only player) who is able to produce clear, consistent and reliable results.   And this just takes the cake to a new level.

I encourage anyone interested in Application, Presentation and OS Virtualization to this out.

Optimizing XenApp Performance with XenServer 4.1.0 Enterprise Edition

For a Whitepaper, it is a good, short and non-boring read.

This is only the beginning of a whole new Citrix and XenServer revolution, especially with their NetApp Integration, Partnership and NetApp Adapter

The heat is on – oh uh oh oh! :)

So, this is often a debated question – Is my machine capable of doing Hyper-V?

Well, let the doubt be cast to the wayside a bit.

AMD Processor Utility to Check compatibility
Intel Checker (by GRC) to check compatibility
As seen in this screen shot as well

This alone will not dictate whether you can support Hyper-V as a lot of it falls upon your BIOS and whether the features exist there to enable. However, just to get past that initial conversation of “Is my processor supported” we have the following link and table.

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor Specification

As you can likely tell, all things being equal – All things are NOT equal!

From a validation perspective, all of the rules which apply to Microsoft’s Hyper-V should also apply to Citrix XenServer.

More on this later…