Varrow Blog

A blog about Virtualization, Storage, Disaster Recovery and Technology in general.

Category Archives: vsphere

vSphere 5.1 VMware Tools Upgrade on XenDesktop Streamed VM (PVS 6.1) – Part I

IntroPart of my job as Lab Manager is something that Sysadmins across the world have to deal with - routine maintenance. It's been a while since we rolled out vSphere 5.1 in the lab and we just upgraded our hosts to Build 1021289 so I figured...
Also posted in Citrix, Provisioning Server, VMware, XenDesktop | Comments closed

vSphere 5.1 Distributed Switch Health Check and Cisco UCS

I was doing some testing of the new vSphere 5.1 features and came across something odd with the new Distributed Switch Health Check feature with Cisco UCS. In my lab I have 4 ESXi 5.1 hosts running on older B200 M1s with VIC M81KR adaptors. On my ESXi ...
Also posted in Cisco UCS, UCS, VMware | Comments closed

Cyber Monday : Free VCP 5 Study Guide

It has been a while since I have posted anything (expect more soon) but in the tradition of Cyber Monday where everyone is trying to sell things, I have decided to give something away for free. A copy of Brian Atkinson's VCP 5 Study Guide. This is a so...
Also posted in 5, 5.1, book, Brian Atkinson, Study Guide, VCP5, VMware | Comments closed

Speaking at the Charleston, SC VMUG on 11/14

Just a quick note that I’ll be speaking at the Charleston, SC VMUG this Wednesday the 14th on the USS Yorktown!  I can’t wait to see the Yorktown again…great location.  My presentation will be the same highly rated session that I did at VMworld 2012, which is a Deep Dive on the vSphere Distributed Switch. [...]
Also posted in distributed, networking, switch, vmug, VMworld | Comments closed

Synology Releases new DSM 4.1 – Fixes vSphere 5.1 issues! YAY!

First, big thank you to Kendrick Coleman for his work on keeping everyone informed of the Synology problems with the new release of vSphere 5.1.  Great work Kendrick…very much appreciated. But just a note since I have a lot of Synology users that read my blog.  It looks like Synology is rolling out updated DSM [...]
Also posted in Synology | Comments closed

VMware Fling : VIB Author – Custom ESXi installs

VMware has announced another fling which I always enjoy trying. This fling will allow users to make a customized vSphere Installation Bundle (VIB). Previously this was only available to VMware partners such as Cisco, Dell etc to make customized install...
Also posted in ESXi, Flings, lab, VMware | Comments closed

New Course from TrainSignal: Cisco Nexus 1000v Implementation Training

Very proud to announce that I have another course released by TrainSignal.  This course focuses on Cisco’s Nexus 1000v distributed virtual switch.  I’ve been a big fan of this product since it was released and have spoken about it at several VMUGs and VMworld conferences.  The problem with the 1000v is that it’s not the [...]
Also posted in 1000v, cisco, networking, Nexus, Security, trainsignal, vds, VMware | Comments closed

VMware vSphere 5.1 Known Issues : Updated 9/17/2012

VMware released vSphere 5.1 at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco and with any new product release there are usually bumps on the road, compatibility issues and things that just don't work. VMware vSphere 5.1 is no exception. I have been part of many beta ...
Also posted in cisco, Cisco UCS, DSM 4.1, EMC, Powerpath V/E, Synology, vmax, VMware, VMware KB, VMware View, vSphere 5.1 | Comments closed

Home Lab – a great resource

I have been looking at building a lab for quite some time, years actually. Well I finally pulled the trigger, which I couldn't do without the support of my company Varrow and my wife. Check out Jason Nash's blog post on "In Support of the Home Lab" on how Varrow really takes it to the next level for supporting home labs and I think other companies should step up and help their employees too as
Also posted in Autolab, Citrix, Hyper-V, lab, VMware, XenServer | Comments closed

VMworld 2012 – Day 1 – Good Day.

Big day today!  For me it was the first day of the conference, though some things happened yesterday.  The first thing I had to do was get to registration and get my badge and conference bag (which I gave away as usual). Registrations went VERY quickly.  I was surprised that I only spent maybe 5 [...]
Also posted in keynote, varrow, VMware, VMworld | Comments closed

Synology DS3611xs/DS3612xs Review

It’s time to take it up a notch!  Readers of my blog, and those that ask me for advice on home lab and small office environments, know that I’m a Synology fan.  My lab has been running off of a DS1010+ for a while now and I also use a DS1511+ for my home media [...]
Also posted in dsm, iscsi, NAS, nfs, ssd, Storage, Synology, vaai | Comments closed

Varrow’s Sessions at VMworld 2012

My apologies as I wanted to get this post up about two weeks ago but never did it.  We (Varrow) are hugely honored to be presenting at three different sessions at VMworld 2012 in San Francisco.  For a regional partner like us this is a big, big deal.  I have had several people ask about [...]
Also posted in networking, Storage, varrow, vds, Virtualization, VMware, VMworld | Comments closed

Wow! Synology Released DSM 4.1 Beta w/ vSphere VAAI Support!

Yesterday Synology released the beta for DSM (DiskStation Manager) 4.1.  You can see the announcement with a nice overview of features here.  But, as usual, some of the best new stuff in a DSM beta doesn’t make the big announcements page but is instead hidden in the change log.  For example: VMware vSphere 5.0 VAAI [...]
Also posted in Home Lab, iscsi, Synology, vaai, VMware, xs | Comments closed

VCDX5 Attained…VCAP5-DCD Done!

Last Friday I took the final VCAP5-DCD exam and passed (<archer>yeaaahhhh</archer>.  I was invited to take the beta, but honestly I’m not a fan of beta exams.  My attention span is pretty short and during even regular non-beta exams I get bored….a beta exam with a ton of questions just isn’t fun for me.  So [...]
Also posted in dcd, design, vcap, vcap5-dcd, vcdx, VMware | Comments closed
  • Archives

  • RSS Varrow Youtube