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P2v quick reference guide

I was speaking with a colleague about some work I’d been doing with a colleague about p2v (converting their physical servers to virtual machines).  In this case it was a mixture of Compaq and IBM servers running Windows 2003/2008 which they needed to migrate to virtual machines to reclaim data center space whilst the project to upgrade to Windows 2008/2012 was initiated. He asked how I approached the p2v process and I’ve made some notes below. Check ILO/IMM works ok and that you know the local administrator password – for post conversion/roll back Verify server health (nothing is alerting that might potentially stop the server from booting) Delete temporary files if possible – c:\windows\temp and c:\temp also IIS logs/middleware logs Defrag the hard drives beforehand – you don’t have too but it’s nice to do and shouldn’t take long Set the hardware management agents and non essential services to manual ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt – Captures networking information to a text file. Download pspcleaner referenced here. At this point some fundamentals of approach.  I always wanted to do the conversion in as few reboots as possible, so at a high level it’s the following: Before P2V steps: Disable server monitoring including hardware monitors/backups Log on as local administrator (verifying password) Verify accessiblility of IMM/ILO (use online tools to reset password if required) Install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Set HP/IBM hardware agents to manual Clear down space – log files/temporary files etc Using command prompt: ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfigbfc.txt Defrag server – defrag c: -a -v defrag d: -a -v Set the flag (converter-worker.xml) to ssl value = false Restart VMware services Run conversion Conversion steps Remove networks – we will add network cards later Advanced Options – Select power on destination machine Advanced Options – Select install Vmware Tools on the destination virtual machine On completion of the P2V shut down the physical server and start a ping against primary network card Post conversion steps Log in to the server locally using administrator account Say no to the message apply settings and reboot In vSphere system settings add network card(s) and remove audio/usb Select edit settings and options, click VMware tools now click enable ‘Check and upgrade VMtools during power cycle’ Click ok and shut down the virtual machines Power on the server – if VMware tools is out of date...

Red Hat Summit is coming soon!

Red Hat Summit is June 23rd to 26th and is set to be a great event, you can register for the event here: I will be watching the coverage online, what I’ll be looking out for is announcements on the journey towards innovation in OpenStack, DevOps and empowering both business and IT to bring together the right combination of technology and technology services to deliver an end to end solution for transformation and enhancement. Do check out the agenda here and the available training or certifications that are on offer and consider that attending these events is not only an investment in technical aspect of your career, it’s the people you meet, the connections you make and the ability I always find to ask questions which I might not feel comfortable asking directly of my colleagues/service provider.  The ability to grab someone and say, I’m having this problem have you seen it before? The official coverage lives here: Red Hat Summit blog: http://summitblog.redhat.com/ Red Hat Blog: http://www.redhat.com/en/about/blog I’ll be watching both online and re-tweeting content so follow me on twitter:...

A HP MicroServer as a cloud caching device...

I continue to think about the HP MicroServer Gen8 as an excellent opportunity to bridge the gap between the physical and cloud/virtual world, as my cloud offline local cache. The vehicle for Cloud services to be hosted and streamed through whether its for email, analytics or collaboration. I tell you what I mean.  This is what I want as a reseller, a fix IT guy, a nonsense removal device for all those SMB’s where they have their own Exchange server, their own file server, their own everything in a box when they have five employees on site and a few people working remotely on their own pc. They’re not sure quite why they have that, but that’s what the nice independent server sales man said they needed. I want a Cloud in a box like the WEDG but with the backing of enterprise grade applications and possibilities to hook into market standard Cloud applications and service providers. I want to switch on a HP MicroServer or similar device. Then a wizard appear. Click next (to define any network specific values) then it say right you want to setup a cloud caching device it then talks me through: Using an existing account and downloading all the settings and caching any pre-subscribed services, establishing the backup and maintenance jobs etc. This enables me to move to another server seamlessly. Or just set me up a new existence a new domain name, a new online platform and identity A new existence means, I choose the domain name, I choose the services I want with a tick box and then enter my credit card and purchase information then it creates everything for me: My email My internal SharePoint/collaborative calendars and working environments My web presence a page with company name that I can then mess around with will do – a wordpress as a service would be ideal Create two local shares Apps – for streaming or installing apps which are cloud based Data – with cloud and offline, cloud stores cloud replicated data, offline is local storage only Then it needs to: Set up the backups and then offers – cloud backup services if I want them Set up the maintenance schedule – the maintnenace, the security patching and firewall/virus scan settings Register with the cloud for management – power off, rebuild...

Win a ticket to VMworld Europe 2014!

http://vmwareemeablog.com/uk/competition-time-for-our-fast-lane-racer/ Hopefully you will have been practicing, because things are getting serious! Today we’re launching our Fast Lane Racer competition, which means you could win some great prizes. All you need to do is complete tracks 1, 2 and 3 in under 45 seconds each, and you’ll be in with a chance to win an Audi R8 remote control car! On top of this, this is the first in a series of competitions we’ll be running up until the 30th of September. Anybody entering any of these will be in with a chance to win a ticket to VMworld Europe 2014, worth over £1000! See terms and conditions here. Do check this out, they’re offering a free ticket to VMworld Europe which is well worth entry and is by all accounts a great event. Check out the post for more information or click...

Servergy Joins the OpenPOWER Foundation

 http://servergy.com/servergy-joins-the-openpower-foundation/ DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cleantech IT innovations company Servergy, Inc., announced today the company has joined IBM, Google, Mellanox, NVIDIA, Samsung Electronics, Tyan and Suzhou PowerCore Technology Company in the OpenPOWER Foundation – an open development alliance that makes IBM’s POWER microprocessor architecture available under license. Servergy will collaborate within the Foundation on opportunities leveraging Servergy’s clean and green technology on Power architecture with scale-up and scale-out capability for Big Data, caching, streaming, cloud workload, and distributed storage application in data centers. “We are proud to be an IBM Business Partner and to join the OpenPOWER Foundation” Servergy joins the OpenPOWER Foundation to help drive industry advancement of high-performance, clean and green Power Architecture in the data center. The company intends to extend its product line by developing future OpenPOWER-compliant systems based on IBM’s POWER microprocessors, allowing new levels of performance and capability in Servergy’s Cleantech Server class of clean and green Linux on Power System server products. I’m genuinely excited to see Servergy joining the OpenPOWER Foundation, that future offerings might include an OpenPOWER offering is great news for existing POWER customers in terms of choice and drives further innovation to the POWER...

Tegile Systems Ships 1,000th Zebi Array in Only Two Years...

  http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tegile-systems-ships-1000th-zebi-array-in-only-two-years-250768381.html Newark, Calif. – March 18, 2014 – Tegile Systems, the leading provider of flash-driven storage arrays for virtualized server and virtual desktop environments, today announced that it has shipped its 1,000th Zebi™ storage array since making the solution generally available two years ago.  The award-winning line of solutions, which balance high performance, high capacity, features and price, has been deployed by companies across a wide range of industries to help them overcome storage challenges associated with VDI, server virtualization, database hosting, file services and more. Zebi storage arrays leverage the performance of SSD and low cost per TB of high capacity disk drives, delivering as much as seven times the performance and up to 75 percent less capacity required than legacy arrays.  This unique approach has seen marked adoption rates among companies that need faster performance than HDD-based arrays but with less expense than SSD-based arrays. “Customers looking to make the most of their flash investments are buying solutions like Tegile’s whose architectures have been specifically optimized for the use of flash,” said Eric Burgener, research director for IDC’s storage practice. “Their ability to hit the 1,000 unit mark within two years of release shows that their offering is well matched to the requirements of this rapidly growing market, which IDC expects will reach $12.3B in 2016.” It’s great to see Tegile System reach their 1000 unit mark, their continued success is not only great news for Tegile Systems and their customers, but is good news for the industry and end user community alike.  The more choices there are for the consumer, the better chances there are that I can find the right solution to achieve my business outcomes, very...

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