Posted on February 3rd, 2012
by Bill Kleyman |
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Having clear visibility into a virtualized datacenter can mean the difference between wasted resources and effective workload management. The challenge for IT administrators is to manage and to utilize computing resources that span the entire environment, often including physical, virtual and cloud resources.
Almost all of today’s data center environments have or will have some form of virtualization deployed. This demands additional considerations when deploying a virtualized physical platform. In this article, I discuss resource planning and issue mitigation as means of optimizing resource use.
**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**
Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies
*As seen on TechTarget.com*
Posted in Virtualization |
Tags: Tags: Citrix, Datacenter Management, performance monitor, Virtualization, Windows, XenServer
Posted on January 30th, 2012
by Bill Kleyman |
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As I’ve mentioned before — an intelligent infrastructure is a flexible one. That sometimes means the successful coexistence of rival technologies. Still, in today’s modern datacenter, running virtualization platforms such as XenApp 6.5 and XenDesktop 5.5 are very much possibilities. Not only that, there are best practices written around the deployment.
Each of these Citrix tools can help administrators consolidate hardware, improve flexibility and manage their environment better. Running XenApp or XenDesktop on VMware vSphere can help you boost performance and implement desktop or application virtualization in your infrastructure. Some tools are easier to combine with vSphere than others, and Citrix’s supported products are a good place to start.
**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**
Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies
*As seen on TechTarget.com*
Posted in Virtualization |
Tags: Tags: Virtualization, VMware, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer
Posted on November 17th, 2011
by Bill Kleyman |
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In today’s evolving virtualized state, there are only a small number of vendors who are able to deliver an entire cloud-ready solution. Citrix’s cloud products allow enterprises to build out a flexible and scalable infrastructure in the cloud and deliver it to the end user.
Utilizing Citrix’s entire product stack – everything from the hypervisor (XenServer) to the desktop delivery controller (XenDesktop) – IT administrators can manage and deliver a powerful solution down to the end-user. Best yet, is that all of the components can be virtual.
**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**
Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies
*As seen on TechTarget.com*
Posted in Virtualization |
Tags: Tags: Citrix, Cloud, NetScaler, XenApp, XenDesktop, XenServer
Posted on October 6th, 2011
by Bill Kleyman |
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It’s no longer a question of whether or not to virtualize, but rather a question of how much and when. Access this expert podcast to learn about important tips to managing your virtual environment, and what tools and metrics to use to maximize your virtual performance, including:
- Existing platform tools
- Sprawl control
- Long-term monitoring
- And more
Listen to the webcast here: Business Week Podcast – Overcoming performance-monitoring challenges in virtual infrastructures
Speaker:
Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies
Posted in Virtualization |
Tags: Tags: Server Sprawl, UCS, VDI, Virtualization, XenServer
Posted on September 19th, 2011
by Bill Kleyman |
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Virtual machines (VMs) and their corresponding hypervisors have come a long way in development and ease of use: VM creation is now done in five to six mouse clicks. Today, it’s easier than ever for each hypervisor to create a “stock” VM with an operating system. A user operating VMware, XenServer, Hyper-V or any other hypervisor can click on New Virtual Machine and follow the wizard provided by the manufacturer.
However, with such simplicity comes the uncertainty of whether a VM can handle the workload. It’s possible to over-allocate many computing resources to a VM. Administrators must set metrics and understand what’s running on a VM for effective workload management. Simply clicking the Next button may not result in the most efficient workloads.
**Read more by clicking on the TechTarget link below!**
Bill Kleyman
Virtualization Solutions Architect
MTM Technologies
*As seen on TechTarget.com*
Posted in Virtualization |
Tags: Tags: Resource Management, Sizing, Virtualization, XenServer
Posted on December 29th, 2009
by admin |
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This post comes to us from two of our own experts, Rich Brumpton (of The Generation V) and Duane Bradley (of MSTerminalServices.org) – both MTM Technologies employees. In order to directly import VHDs into a XenServer store, you need to import it into an NFS or EXT3 volume.
Rich Brumpton gives us those easy steps here:
1. Copy VHD to NFS or EXT3 storage
2. Rename to UUID.vhd (pick a unique UUID, I usually just index up by 1 off of an existing one)
3. Run xe sr-scan uuid=sr-uuid (you can use xe sr-list name-label=sr-name
4. Set a Name Label using xe vdi-param-set uuid=disk-uuid name-label=disk-name
5. Attach the imported disk to a VM
Easy enough. But what if you don’t have an NFS share or extra local disk handy to firnat as EXT3? That’s where Duane Bradley comes to the rescue:
1. We need to remove the LVM storage repository first. (Note:If you have VMs on your existing local LVM backed SR make sure you backup or export them and then delete them from the SR before continuing.) To do this, log into the XenCenter command line console and follow these steps:
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At the console, type cat /etc/xensource-inventory to display the basic server inventory information. Find the DEFAULT_SR_PHYSDEVS= line in the displayed file and make a note of its current setting. In a single disk system this should be something like /dev/sda3.
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First, we need to determine the UUID for your default SR by issuing the xe sr-list command to display information about it. Make a note of the default UUID.
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Next, we’ll determine the UUIDof your default SRs PBD by issuing the xe pbd-list sr-uuid=<your SR UUID> command to display the PBD information of your default SR. Make a note of the PBD UUID.
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Now we’ll disconnect the default SR by issuing the xe pbd-unplug uuid=<your PBD UUID> command to disconnect your default SR.
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Finally, we need to remove the default SR by issuing the xe sr-destroy uuid=<your SR UUID> to delete the default SR.
2. Now we can create and configure a new default VHD backed Storage Repository using EXT3. Still at tge console, follow these steps:
- At the console, type xe sr-create content-type=”Local SR” host-uuid=(hit tab since you have a single host) device-config-device=<YOUR DEVICE> shared=false name-label=”Local EXT-3 SR” (Note: This command may take a few minutes to complete and will return a UUID for your newly created SR once it is finished.)
- For example: # xe sr-create content-type=”local SR” host-uuid=5d189b7a-cd5e-4029-9940-d4daaa34633d device-config-device=/dev/sda3 shared=false name-label=”Local EXT-3 SR”)
- Make a note of the UUID returned after executing the sr-create command, then set your new SR to be the default SR and default suspend SR by typing the following commands.
- To set your SR as the default SR on the system type the command xe pool-param-set default-SR=<YOUR NEW SR UUID> uuid=(hit tab since you have a single pool) - For Example: # xe pool-param-set default-SR=a803b8d2-1252-14a2-cbc9-c530c7b398c4 uuid=2e95c9dd-14f7-52bd-89f91ab9217cbdc
- To set the default suspend SR, issue the following command: xe pool-param-set suspend-image-SR=<YOUR NEW SR UUID> uuid=(Hit tab since you have a single pool) - For Example:# xe pool-param-set uuid=2e95c9dd-14f7-52bd-89f9-91ab9217cbdc suspend-image-SR=a803b8d2-1252-14a2-cbc9-c530c7b398c4
Now you’re ready to go. Happy Virtualizing!
Posted in Virtualization |
Tags: Tags: How To, XenServer
