Varrow Blogs

Avamar RAIN configurations are composed of at least 5 individual nodes all connected together to create a single array with a single point of management.  These arrays are linked together with what EMC calls a “cube switch” which is simply an IP switch/hub like you would find in any data closet.  Typically when you purchase [...]

Just a short post today as I’m busy preparing for a class starting tomorrow bright and early, but still an important one nonetheless.  While working on a project with a customer recently in which we were trying to determine how to best reuse existing disks and DAE’s in a new Clariion array, I stumbled upon the [...]

I’m wrapping up a week of training on Data Center Unified Computing Implementation, covering implementing the Cisco UCS. My employer, Varrow, sent me here because we’re selling UCS’s like hot cakes. My exposure to the UCS platform prior to this training had been minimal, but I knew that there must be something about UCS to [...]

Here is another video blog on Cisco UCS. In this video I walk through the implementation of VMware VN-Link in hardware on the Cisco UCS VIC (Palo) adapter. http://www.screencast.com/t/YWU3ZGVmYzAt Command line output of the ESX configuration esxupdate query —-Bulletin ID—- —–Installed—– ————Summary————- ESX400-Update01     2010-03-25T22:03:33 VMware ESX 4.0 Complete Update 1 VEM400-200912272-BG 2010-03-25T22:35:03 Cisco Nexus 1000V  [...]

My first attempt at a video blog demonstrating the UCSM Equipment tab. I hope to do more of these and get better as I go. Click the following link to view the Screencast video UCSM Equipment Tab Walkthrough Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: UCS

I recently have been reading up on Exchange 2010 and I have come across quite a few new features that I find quite helpful and interesting. Microsoft has also polished up some features added with Exchange 2007 as well as unloaded some long overdue extra baggage. First things first, you can say goodbye to several [...]

If you’re using XenApp prep and working with Provisioning Server or virtual machine templates, it’s a good idea to delete the service and rerun the initialization command when modifying your image.  I usually create a batch script that can be executed before shutting down the server after all changes are made.  The commands to execute

I finally got the latest and greatest version of Rainfinity VE installed in our lab.  I’ve been messing around with the freeware/demo version of this for a few weeks and have been pretty impressed with its ease of use and ease of installation.  I put together a brief 10 minute demo of what the product [...]

In case you haven’t heard yet, Microsoft showed signs of budging on VECD licensing this past Thursday, 03/18/10. The VECD, or Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop, license is a requirement for running a Windows workstation operating system in a virtual desktop infrastructure. Ever since VDI came to fruition, Microsoft has been requiring customers to pay $110 [...]

NetApp performance test engineers rock!  Yes, I said it and meant it.  You see, I am the CEO and Co-Founder of an EMC partner and EMC is the only storage platform we work with. I believe in proving out a solution from an engineering perspective to ensure that what we are selling will deliver the [...]

In one of my earlier blog posts, I touched on how the Nexus 1000v serves as the access switch in the Core, Distribution, Access Layer model of networking. Prior to the 1000v, the vSwitch on the ESX hosts served as the access switch, creating an additional access layer and removing visibility for the network engineers. [...]

When you create a vNIC in UCSM with Cisco UCS you have the option to pin that vNIC to Fabric A or Fabric B and an option to Enable Failover. Most of the servers we deploy on UCS blades are ESX 4 and with ESX we always create two vNICs, one on Fabric A and [...]

I can hear it now, “Its best practice”. In the last second, that single statement has been yammered throughout data centers all over the world. How many of you have ever used this saying when questioned about certain design aspects of an environment? Everybody raise their hand? Certainly not unexpected. Its almost hypnotic, like a tractor beam of righteousness. We as engineers, consultants, administrators have to zero in on something as we design, implement, and manage. From a VAR perspective…

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I recently encountered a situation where I needed to change the ODBC connection to an SRM database.  The ODBC had originally been setup to use Windows Authentication and I wanted to use SQL Authentication.  I originally attempted to modify the existing DSN which was unsuccessful.  This error kept appearing in the SRM Logs. [2010-03-08 13:40:07.845

I was in the process of writing a short blog about “Renaming an ESX Hosts”, but I did a quick search on VMware’s site and already found the steps outlined in a VMware Knowledge Base article.  Bummer…  See below. However, I did learn something from the KB article in the process. In step 6, the [...]