Virtualization

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VMware Lab setup - A virtualized lab for testing HA and DRS

by Sean Duffy | 12 April 2011 |

5 comments |

VMWare VSphere is a virtualisation technology that is best learned by setting up, on a single PC, a VSphere cluster as a virtualisation lab. Once you have it, it will then be a useful tool in many ways. This doesn't need to be an expensive exercise, but can be... Read more...

Dynamic Memory in Windows 2008 R2 SP1

by Jaap Wesselius | 11 April 2011 |

1 comment |

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 has introduced what Microsoft calls ‘Dynamic Memory’.The start-up RAM VM memory assigned to guest virtual machines can be allowed to vary according to demand based on the workload of applications running inside. Fine, but it requires... Read more...

Setting up your own free Virtualized test environment

by Sean Duffy | 26 August 2010 |

2 comments |

If you need to test new software, configurations, or operating systems, a virtual machine saves time, risk and hardware. You can set up a virtual Test environment for free with some products such as VMware Server 2. All you need is a simple set of instructions about... Read more...

Hyper-V R2 Live Migration on Server Core - Part I

by Jaap Wesselius | 06 July 2010 |

1 comment |

If you’re working with Hyper-V, it’s recommended that you use Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core for your root partition, as its stripped-down nature makes it a more secure option than it’s more full-bodied sibling. But it can also be painful to work with. Jaap... Read more...

10 Steps to Kick-Start Your VMware Automation with PowerCLI

by Jonathan Medd | 02 June 2010 |

1 comment |

Virtualization is a powerful technology, but it comes with its own host of monotonous and time-consuming tasks, no matter how big or small your organization is. Eliminating these mind-numbing tasks (and the potential for error which they bring with them) is a goal... Read more...

Virtual Machine Storage Provisioning and Best Practises

by Sean Duffy | 14 May 2010 |

3 comments |

If you're using virtualization technology, then at some point you'll have run out of (or will run out of) virtual disk space, leading to the provisioning of extra storage; are you confident that you know how to do that? Sean Duffy makes sure you're doing it right,... Read more...

Hyper-V R2 Live Migration

by Jaap Wesselius | 10 February 2010 |

2 comments |

Reliability is one of the great payoffs to virtualization, and failover clustering has got a whole lot better with Windows Server 2008 and Hyper-V. Now, you get failover without any downtime for the virtual machine. Jaap tells you how to implement it. Read more...

Using VMware vCenter Update Manager to keep your vSphere Hosts Up-To-Date with Patching

by Jonathan Medd | 09 February 2010 |

The chore of patching operating systems and applications is taking an increasing proportion of the time of a system administrator, so it is a a relief that at least VMware is keen to make the task easier. VMware provide a tool in vCenter Update Manager to assist in... Read more...

Regional Office Virtualization - Less Can Be More

by Ben Lye | 14 January 2010 |

1 comment |

The dream of an 'office in a box' has been around for years, but the increasing sophistication of virtualization software has turned the dream into reality. Ben Lye explains the problems and benefits of reducing the amount of physical hardware that were deployed in... Read more...

Microsoft Hyper-V Networking and Configuration - Part 1

by Nirmal Sharma | 11 December 2009 |

In the first of a series of articles on Hyper-V Networking, Nirmal explains Hyper-V networking and VLAN tagging, and shows how to set up a Virtual Network switch. Once this is done, the Hyper-V Virtual Network Switches can be used to connect unlimited no. of... Read more...

Increasing the Availability of Virtualised Applications and Services

by Nirmal Sharma | 22 October 2009 |

By using a virtualized clustering computing environment with failover, you can improve server availability without using as many physical computers. A group of independent computers can work together to increase the availability of virtualised applications and... Read more...

A Beginner's Guide to Virtualizing Exchange Server, Part 2

by Brien Posey | 10 June 2009 |

1 comment |

It isn't easy to measure the consumption of physical resources by servers in virtual machines, since each partition has its' own virtualised view of system resources. Not only that, but there is a subtle difference between virtual processors and physical processors.... Read more...

Windows Server Virtualisation: Hyper-V, an Introduction

by Jaap Wesselius | 01 June 2009 |

7 comments |

For SQL Server and Exchange Server, Windows Server Virtualization is going to be increasingly important as a way for the administrator to allocate hardware resources in the most efficient way, to offer more robust services, and for deploying services. Jaap... Read more...

A Beginner's Guide to Virtualizing Exchange Server, Part 1

by Brien Posey | 05 May 2009 |

1 comment |

The advantage of virtualizing your servers is that it helps you make better use of your hardware resources, and reduces some of your licensing costs, However, there are disadvantages: With Exchange server, it isn't always obvious as to which server roles are... Read more...

Build Your Own Virtualized Test Lab

by Desmond Lee | 05 January 2009 |

Desmond explains the fundamentals of building a test lab for Windows servers and Enterprise applications from scratch using Hyper-V on a supported x64 machine. He even suggest tips and tricks to help make the journey smoother. Read more...

Virtualizing Exchange: points for discussion

by Nathan Winters | 20 November 2008 |

1 comment |

With the increasing acceptance of the use of Virtualization as a means of providing server infrastructure, this technology is being applied to production Exchange servers. This is a solution that is not just limited to the small shop, Nathan Winters discusses the... Read more...

Virtual Exchange Servers

by Jaap Wesselius | 20 November 2008 |

6 comments |

Microsoft now supports running Exchange Server 2007 in server virtualization environments, not just on Hyper-V, but on any virtualizing solution that is validated in the Server Virtualization Validation Program. Before virtualizing Exchange Server, you will need to... Read more...