Everything-Virtual

Category: Blogging

  • VMware Certification Offerings

    I was recently asked to list the current VMware certification offerings over on the Certforums website and decided that it can’t hurt to have them listed over here as well.

    VMware have a number of different exam \ certification paths open to individuals now, however initially they only offered a single certification and that was the VCP (VMware Certified Professional), over the years the certification offerings from VMware have grown to where we are currently.
    The following certifications are currently or will be shortly available from VMware, some of these courses have strict class requirements whereas some of them don’t.

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  • Desktop Operating Systems – I moved away from Windows to Ubuntu 12.04

    In my last post I mentioned that I had looked at alternatives to Windows as I wasn’t happy with the direction that Microsoft have taken with Windows 8, don’t get me wrong I really like Windows 7 and think that it’s a great OS but Windows 8 left a lot to be desired where laptop\desktop OS’s were concerned. The last blog post highlighted some issues I was having with the installation of Ubuntu 12.04 taking way too much time and leaving me with a black screen at boot up.

    Move forward a couple of weeks and I have now been running Ubuntu 12.04 in a stable environment with the same hardware as before, this time however what’s changed is that NVidia had released a new driver which made my system way more stable and for the last two weeks I have been happily using Ubuntu as my main OS of choice, sure there are things I miss from my Windows days (SnagIt and Camtasia Studio as well as not being able to play Battlefield 3) but as a whole the experience hasn’t been as bad as it could have been. In addition to the now working NVidia driver my installation times have also drastically reduced down from the many hours I experienced for the first couple of days to about 15 minutes (thank you 50mb cable connection Smile).

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  • Desktop Operating Systems – A move away from Windows??

    I have been a Windows guy from a very early age (actually I was a DOS guy before becoming a Windows guy) and it’s with surprise that I find myself in my current predicament. I recently had a go of the Microsoft Windows 8 Consumer Preview and unfortunately found myself really disliking it, don’t get me wrong I think from a tablet point of view it will work wonders but when I sit and watch videos like this you just know that Microsoft have goofed and it’s not just me who has this view on the new Microsoft OS.

    Now I understand that Microsoft haven’t released the final product yet and that things ‘could’ change but tbh I don’t think that Microsoft plan on changing it too much. With this in mind I started looking around at different Operating Systems to use at home, I have a number of different machines around the house doing all sorts and I won’t be changing all of them away from the Microsoft platform. I currently have a Mac Mini that works as my iTunes library for the families iPhones\iPads and a dedicated Management PC for my blogging and VMware lab which will all be staying as they are, that just leaves my gaming rig and my wife’s small Shuttle PC (which she uses for the household budget (YNAB) and gaming (WoW)).

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  • OCZ Technologies – SSD Hardware Failures

    Over the last couple of years OCZ Technologies have gone down the pan where quality control comes in, I have used OCZ products on and off over the years (RAM, CPU Coolers etc) but to date the worst experience I have had with OCZ Technologies has been with their SSD units.

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  • Restoring the IX4 – Firmware and Bootstrap issues

    I was recently sent a request to re-upload my IX4 Acronis image again, this image can be used to image replacement disks to put into an IX4 (as Iomega don’t officially support non Iomega purchased disks). As I no longer had the original TIB file I decided to load up my old 500gb drives (they sit on my shelf gathering dust) and once I was happy that the IX4 didn’t have any fixed IP addresses was going to take an image of the drive and provide it again.

    This is where things started to go wrong, placing the disks into the IX4 they would stick at 95% and wouldn’t go beyond that, in-fact even loading a single drive prompted the same results. It was then that I had an idea, I already figured out that the bootstrap for the IX4 doesn’t actually only reside on the disk (it was the initial assumption when people tried putting blank disks into the IX4), instead the bootstrap is loaded into NVR and then looks at the makeup of the disk and continues to load the disk up if it matches what it expects to see. (more…)

  • vExpert 2012 and beyond

    I recently discovered (accidentily I should add via Twitter) that VMware have awarded me the vExpert title for 2012, this award is based on my previous years contribution to the world of everthing-virtual 🙂 and  is awarded to people who have contributed to the VMware community either through forum posts, VMUG presenting or blogging. I look forward to receiving the email from VMware in the not too distant future 🙂

    I started my blog back in 2010 with the intention of expanding my experience and exposure to the virtualisation market and can honestly say that getting the vExpert was definitely something I was aiming for (admittedly I didn’t think I would get it this year but the blogging and various forums I post to helped my site rankings earlier this year so I had hoped that it would help my chances).

    Having recognition for my contributions to the community is part of the reward I get from blogging and posting on forums and the vExpert to me is the thing that tells me I am doing the right thing.

    I try and put a lot of effort into blogging and whilst I may not be the most prolific of bloggers I hope that what I do contribute help those who need it.

    To ensure that I am not a one hit wonder where the vExpert is concerned I know I need to keep up with what I have been doing so these are some of the things I have planned for the rest of the year.

    • Regular posts on www.Everything-Virtual.com
    • More content on www.My-TechVideos.com
    • Update my VCP and VCA-DT guides to cover more of the exam material
    • Carry on attending the #LONVMUG and #UKVMUG’s and networking with my peers
    • Continuing to post on forums such as www.certforums.com and www.tek-tips.com as well as the VMTN forums and Twitter

  • Iomega IX4 – Non Cloud to Cloud Upgrades are not a good idea

    Questions have been asked whether this was possible and for a short period of time Iomega even published instructions on their site on how to do it (but quickly pulled them, more on that later).

    The differences between the non – cloud and cloud edition Iomega IX4’s seem pretty non-existent (I actually couldn’t find any difference apart from the version of EMC LifeLine running between the two devices), so in theory it should have been possible to upgrade the older IX4 to the newer version of the OS.

    When Iomega released the new version of the IX4 software to fix the issues with the OSX Time Machine not running correctly if you had updated to Lion I decided to have a look at the feasibility of upgrading to the cloud edition on one of my test devices.

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  • Thanks for your Votes 🙂

    Eric Siebert over at vsphere-land.com has finished counting all the votes and put together the Top Blog 2012 results and I am really pleased to say that Everything-Virtual.com finished in a respectable 88th (out of a total of 187 entries) in the “Top VMware Bloggers 2012” category.

    TopBloggers

    I just want to say a big thanks to all the people who voted for me and congratulations go out to all the other bloggers.

  • VMware vExpert 2012 nominations are open

    It’s that time of the year where applications for the vExpert 2012 designation are open.

    The annual VMware vExpert title is given to individuals who have significantly contributed to the community of VMware users over the past calendar year. The title is awarded to individuals (not employers of VMware) for their commitment to sharing their knowledge and passion for VMware technology above and beyond their job requirements. The program invited the most active VMware users \ bloggers to become vExperts and help spread knowledge and expertise about VMware technology.

    This year however there is a change to how you become a vExpert, VMware have now provided three paths to gaining the vExpert although there is still only a single vExpert designation (so no vExpert EP, CP or VPN).

    • Evangelist Path – The Evangelist Path includes book authors, bloggers, tool builders, public speakers, and other IT professionals who share their knowledge and passion with others with the leverage of a personal public platform to reach many people. Employees of VMware can now also apply via the Evangelist path.

    • Customer Path – The Customer Path is for internal evangelists and community leaders from VMware customer organizations. They have contributed to success stories, customer references, or public interviews and talks, or were active community contributors, such as VMUG leaders.

    • VPN (VMware Partner Network) Path – The VPN Path is for employees of our partner companies who lead with passion and by example, who are committed to continuous learning and to making their technical knowledge and expertise available to many. This can take shape of event participation, video, IP generation, as well as public speaking engagements

    VMware vExpert Benefits include:

    • Public recognition of the vExpert award with a certificate, gift, permission to display a logo, and inclusion in any public vExpert listing

    • Access to a private vExpert community of your peers

    • Free subscription to conference session materials on VMworld.com

    • Access to exclusive events, beta programs, software licenses, and other exclusive opportunities to participate in activities with VMware. vExperts do not represent VMware and are not required to participate in any activities

    Use the vExpert 2012 form to submit your application, and the invitation form to encourage your peers to apply.

  • It’s #LonVMUG Time Again

    It’s only a couple of days before the first #LonVMUG of 2012 and I thought I would post up the agenda for it.

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    The #LonVMUG is being held on Thursday 26th of January from 10:00 – 17:15 at The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 33 Queen Street, London, EC4R 1AP

    If you haven’t managed to attend any VMUG’s I would definitely recommend that you do because it’s a great way to network with like minded peers and attend some very well delivered presentations.

    If you’re coming to the #LonVMUG on Thursday pop over and say hello