VMware have just released the public technology preview for VMware Workstation 2012.
The VMware Workstation Team is providing public access to the VMware Workstation Technology Preview 2012 to gather real-world feedback from our users.
This VMware Workstation Technology Preview does not contain major new features, but it does include significant changes to our core virtualization technology. We would appreciate your feedback in the following areas :-
Last week Microsoft launched the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, rather than installing the preview onto any of my existing hardware I decided to give it a go on VMware Workstation 8 before trusting it to a dedicated machine.
As this is pre-release software Microsoft advise that there may well be bugs and application compatibility issues (another reason to give it a go on a VM) but generally speaking and after experiencing the Windows 7 preview when that released I am sure that this will be fairly straight forward (the Customer Preview can generally be viewed as a RC with this being close to what the RTM release would look like (unless there are some very serious bugs discovered during testing of this release)).
The recommended specs for running the Windows 8 Customer Preview are :-
1 GHz or faster processor
1 GB RAM for the 32-bit release or 2 GB RAM for the 64-bit release
16 GB available hard disk space for 32-bit or 20 GB for the 64-bit
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver
The Windows 8 Consumer Preview can be downloaded free from http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/consumer-preview or via your Technet or MSDN subscriptions.
Follow the step by step process below to successfully install the Windows 8 customer preview on VMware Workstation 8.
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.
In this post I am going to document the installation process for VMware vCenter Server 5.0. Keeping inline with the rest of my lab environment I am using Windows 2008 R2 64bit as the OS for my installation.
Ensure you meet the following hardware and software requirements. The vCenter Server 5.0 installation can be either a physical or a virtual server.
Minimum Hardware Requirements
Recommended Hardware Requirements
Depending on the amount of hosts and powered on VM’s you also have the following recommended configurations.
For up to 50 hosts and up to 500 powered on VM’s
For up to 300 hosts and up to 3000 powered on VM’s
For up to 1000 hosts and up to 10000 powered on VM’s
vCenter Server 5.0 requires a 64-bit operating system and cannot be installed on a 32-bit operating system, that means you either need to upgrade your existing infrastructure to a 64bit OS’s or you’re going to have to look at the vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) instead, word of warning where the Appliance is concerned is that it doesn’t support Microsoft SQL as a db. solution so you’re either going to need to be running Oracle or using the embedded DB2 db..
Supported Operating Systems are :-
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter SP2 64bit
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter R2 SP2 64bit
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter SP2 64bit
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter R2 SP2 64bit
Supported Databases are:-
IBM DB2 Express C 9.7.2 -64-bit
IBM DB2 Express 9.7.2 -64-bit
IBM DB2 Workgroup 9.7.2 -64-bit
IBM DB2 Enterprise 9.7.2 -64-bit
IBM DB2 Express C 9.7.2 – 32-bit
IBM DB2 Workgroup 9.7.2 -32-bit
IBM DB2 Enterpirse 9.7.2 -32-bit
IBM DB2 Express C 9.5 – 32-bit
IBM DB2 Express 9.5 – 32-bit
IBM DB2 Workgroup 9.5 -32-bit
IBM DB2 Enterprise 9.5 -32-bit
IBM DB2 Enterprise 9
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (R2) – 64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise (R2) – 32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard (R2) – 64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard (R2) – 32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express (R2) – 64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Datacenter Edition (SP2) -64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Datacenter Edition (SP2) -32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (SP2) -64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (SP2) -32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition (SP2) -64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition (SP2) -32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Datacenter Edition (SP4) -64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Datacenter Edition (SP4) -32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition (SP4) -64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition (SP4) -32-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (SP4) -64-bit
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (SP4) -32-bit
Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Release 2 [11.2.0.1] – 64 bit
Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Release 2 [11.2.0.1] – 32 bit
Oracle 11g Standard Edition, Release 2 [11.2.0.1] – 64 bit
Oracle 11g Standard Edition, Release 2 [11.2.0.1] – 32 bit
Oracle 11g Standard ONE Edition, Release 2 [11.2.0.1] – 64 bit
Oracle 11g Standard ONE Edition, Release 2 [11.2.0.1] – 32 bit
Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Release 1 [11.1.0.7.0] 64-bit
Oracle 11g Enterprise Edition, Release 1 [11.1.0.7.0] – 32-bit
Oracle 11g Standard Edition , Release 1 [11.1.0.7.0] 64-bit
Oracle 11g Standard Edition , Release 1 [11.1.0.7.0] – 32-bit
Oracle 10g Enterprise Edition, Release 2 [10.2.0.4] – 64 bit
Oracle 10g Enterprise Edition, Release 2 [10.2.0.4] – 32 bit
Oracle 10g Standard Edition, Release 2 [10.2.0.4] – 64 bit
Oracle 10g Standard Edition, Release 2 [10.2.0.4] – 32 bit
Oracle 10g Standard ONE Edition, Release 2 [10.2.0.4] – 64 bit
Oracle 10g Standard ONE Edition, Release 2 [10.2.0.4] – 32 bit
Setting up the vCenter 5.0 database
During the installation of vCenter 5.0 you have the choice of installing a new installation of SQL Server 2008 R2 Express or using an existing db. in my case I am connecting to an existing SQL Server 2008 R2 installation, because of that we need to create the DB and ODBC connection. (more…)
It’s only a couple of days before the first #LonVMUG of 2012 and I thought I would post up the agenda for it.
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
Last year I built up a Windows XP VM to allow me to do some performance testing in my vSphere 4.1 lab, the VM used the Flexible type Network card (as that’s the default card type) and worked without issue over a number of ESXi demo installations.
Since passing my VCP on vSphere 4 I have been slowly migrating my lab environment across to ESXi 5.0 and yesterday it was the turn on my XP machine, I still keep an XP machine around for various testing purposes (used for my Iometer testing last year). Upgrading the Virtual Machine Hardware version went smoothly when I imported the VM into my ESXi environment, starting the VM I managed to get an IP address and started the Windows Update process (it’s been a couple of months since this box was online). After the updates were installed and the machine rebooted I started the upgrade process for VMware Tools, it’s at this point that I started having problems.
When the VM rebooted I tried to hit Windows Update again (you know how it goes, update after update, but when I tried to access that or any other site I wasn’t getting any kind of response.
Pulling up a command prompt I was getting the initial DHCP allocated IP address but when trying to ping anything it wouldn’t find anything. Doing an ipconfig /renew timed out as well.
I then carried out the following to see if there was anything not working in my environment.
Whilst Device Manager has an option to show hidden devices it doesn’t show disconnected devices, that’s where the set command above comes into play. As you can see in the screen shots above we see the original Device Manager and then the Device Manager with the Show NonPresent Devices setting enabled.
After going through the above steps I was able to start browsing the network and Windows Updates started working again.
I can tell you that I haven’t been able to replicate this behaviour in my lab (I have tried a couple of XP builds and they all upgraded VMware Tools successfully using the Flexible vNIC) but in case you experience the same type of issue you have some things to try.
As I have stated in the past I have been studying for my VCP for a while, I managed to take the ICM course last year and probably spent a good four months afterwards studying to make sure I passed with ease. Disaster struck when work suddenly went crazy and my study opportunities disappeared. It was only in December that I remembered that I had received a discount voucher from VMware for a 70% discount on the cost of the exam (which for anyone who has sat the exam knows, it’s not cheap at £145).
The reason for this post is that whilst I was lucky and received this email through the post the other day
It was actually very close to being a “Sorry You Failed, please try harder next time” message, why you ask?
I booked the exam on the 21st of December, I was scheduled to sit it on the 23rd of December, I hadn’t studied for the exam in over two months and I hadn’t been playing with my lab at home because of time constraints (I spend 14+ hours of the day out of the house either at work or travelling to work, I have a wife and son who also want to see me and spend time with me so really, there wasn’t a lot of time to spare) but I knew that if I wanted to get my VCP instead of procrastinating about it I would have to give myself a reason to actually do it and that’s why I booked it when I did for when I did, I stood to lose the cost of the exam (in this case £52.20 which is what I paid for the exam after the 70% discount 
). I then spent 2.5 days travelling to and from work (6 hours a day) as well as my lunch hour, studying for the VCP exam. Now luckily for me I have an Apple iPad 2 with the Kindle App installed, I also have a large number of VMware based books purchased from the Amazon store as well as the PDF’s mentioned in my previous post (VMware VCP 4 – Additional Study Material) so I knew I could go over the material I wasn’t sure about.
This is where I learnt my lesson, 2.5 days is not enough time to cram for an exam, not after a hiatus of 2 months from study. My advice is definitely take more time to study but also make sure you give yourself a deadline to have the exam booked by.
Reminding myself of the goals I had set for 2011 I discovered that I have accomplished the majority of my goals for 2011.
To recap my goals for 2011 were.
* Sit and pass my VCP vSphere 4 Exam Sat and passed my exam on the 23rd of December
* Improve my VMware product knowledge (VMware View in particular) Having installed VMware View in my homelab and played with ThinApp my knowledge of both has greatly improved.
* Produce more technical content for this site (as well as my-homelab.com) I had produced more content including a couple of videos but those were done for my-techvideos.com instead.
* Move more into the VMware Virtualisation platform market and less of the Microsoft one. I took a position with a major online gambling company in their Windows Team 
* Become a recognised VMware blogger (I want my vExpert). Obviously not in the same league as other bloggers but with 22k unique visitors to my blog in 2011 I am happy with that.
* Continue to improve my home lab environment. Yes on this one, I have continued to play with various technologies including various SAN\NAS providers as well as other technologies
As you can see the goals I set in 2011 were pretty wellWhat that’s meant for me is that my goals for 2011 were both realistic and in the main, achievable. It also means that I have to improve my goals for 2012 which could be difficult.
My goals for 2012 are.
* Sit and pass my VCP vSphere 5 Exam
* Sit and pass my VCA-DT 4 Exam
* Continue to produce technical content for both this site and my-techvideos.com
* Continue to grow my VMware blogger status (I still want my vExpert), this includes attending more VMUG’s as well as VMworld 2012 this year.
* Continue to build up my home lab environment and experiment with various technologies.
After the earlier success of the VMware View Bootcamp back in July this year, VMware are releasing a new Bootcamp based on VMware ThinApp, this Bootcamp will be covering the use, deployment, and optimisation of VMware ThinApp.
Topics covered over the 6 days are :-
Day 1 – ThinApp Design Best Practices
Day 2 – ThinApp Implementation Best Practices
Day 3 – ThinApp Performance Enhancing Techniques
Day 4 – Scripting within ThinApp
Day 5 – Isolation Modes Explained
In my work I deal with our System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (Config Mgr) environment and ensure that it’s configured and running correctly, part of that is working on the Operating System Deployment (OSD) functionality, for the last couple of weeks I have been creating Windows 2008 R2 images and doing lots of testing in my VMware vSphere environment. With the 2008 R2 builds all working correctly the next step was working on the 2003 R2 builds, so using vSphere I have been building up 4 different flavours of Windows 2003 (Standard and Enterprise x64 and x86 architecture). Using the New Virtual Machine wizard I have created the machines with the correct OS types and built and patched the servers up to the latest patch levels, I also installed the Config Mgr client and placed the contents of the deploy.cab file into the C:\Sysprep folder. When I was ready I inserted my OSDCapture ISO file and let the autorun program launch, this was created on the Config Mgr console and in my case uses the x64 WIN-PE boot media (the majority of my environment is 64bit).
All was fine with capture process until the server rebooted, it reboots after Sysprep has run to actually capture the image (either locally to an additional disk or to a network location) but as soon as I rebooted I was presented with the following screen.
A little search around and I found out that the reason for this is due to the WIN-PE image being used is different from the original Win 2003 OS, one is 32bit whilst the other is 64bit, shutting down the OS and changing the OS version Architecture type from 32 to 64bit and rebooting allowed the capture process to continue.
If you encounter this error in the future make sure that you change your hardware profile to reflect the change in OS architecture type.