VMware Videos - Virtualization News and How-To » Uncategorized

VIDEO: VMware’s Super-Cool vSphere CLI and Power CLI 5 Posters (Thanks!)

David Davis — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:31:55 +0000

I just received in the mail from VMware a package with two brand-new super-cool posters inside. They sent me the new PowerCLI 5.0 poster and (one I have never seen before) the VMware ESXi 5 Reference poster. I created the video below to show you what they look like and say thanks to great people like @jtroyer and @heyitspablo.

I did find that you can download the new PowerCLI 5.0 poster and the VMware ESXi 5 Reference posters, here, at their respective links.

Video Interview with Mike Laverick and David Davis from VMworld 2011 (@mike_laverick @davidmdavis)

David Davis — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 18:36:06 +0000

Mister RTFM, Mike Laverick, does some excellent video interviews he calls “chinwags”. At VMworld 2011, Mike did some smaller interviews he called “mini-wags”. I was honored to be on one of this cool interviews with Mike. In the video, we talk about what we saw and did at VMworld including vendors we liked, new VMware technologies, Mike’s new SRM 5 book, and more. Here you go…

Additionally, Mike has got more great VMworld 2011 mini-wags at his blog – www.RTFM-ed.co.uk.

Happy Birthday John Troyer! (#vTHNX @jtroyer)

David Davis — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:10:00 +0000

July 24 is a special day on your virtualization calendar, it’s John Troyer’s birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN!

As part of a special project dreamed up (very smartly) by Christopher Kusek (aka @CXI on Twitter), I created this short video below (along with many others on the DrJohnRocks YouTube channel):

I remember when I first met John back at VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas. He said to meet him by the podcasting table. I walked up and he was sitting down behind a mixing board and wearing some headphones. He stood up to shake my hand and I recall being amazed (and a bit intimidated) by how very tall he was (something I couldn’t see when I first walked up when he was sitting down). After spending a little time with him, I quickly realized what a kind, thoughtful, well-spoken, intelligent guy John was.

John has done so many things to help me in my career over the years, the list is too long to cover in a short blog post. The biggest thing that John has done over the years, for me and everyone in the community, is being a consistent role model who shows us what a virtualization evangelist, blogger, podcaster, and social networker should be. By the way, did you know that John Mark Troyer has a doctorate in Pharmaceutical Chemistry? Dr John is a genius, and all around nice guy (a rare combination). THANK YOU JOHN FOR ALL THAT YOU DO !

I hope that you will please join the vExperts in wishing John Troyer a very happy birthday and send thanks for all he does, there is a twitter hashtag specially for today #vTHNX and John can be found on twitter as @JTroyer

Here’s one of my favorite pictures of John

VIDEO: Interview of Justin Lauer from Tintri (@Justin_Lauer @TintriInc)

David Davis — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:50:07 +0000

In a recent interview at the Chicago vForum, I interviewed vExpert (and former vSpecialist), Justin Lauer (@Justin_Lauer) about his new company, Tintri (www.Tintri.com). In the video, Justin explains how Tintri offers SAN storage that is dedicated to VMware vSphere. Even better, Tintri storage actually UNDERSTANDS vSphere, virtual machines, VMDK files, VMX files, and virtual machine swap files. It is the first purpose-built storage for vSphere and it easily managed from the vSphere Client using a plug-in. Just says that Tintri can show you vSphere VM storage performance stats that have never been this easy to view and because the array works by using both SSD and traditional disk, it offers HUGE performance for vSphere VMs.

Learn more by watching the video and also checkout www.Tintri.com and even Duncan’s post about Tintri – the virtual machine-aware storage.

vChat – Episode 18 – Simon Uses Twitter at Mt Everest and Iomega PX4

David Davis — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:34:07 +0000

In vChat #18, Simon, Eric, and David discuss Simon using Twitter at Mt Everest basecamp, the new Iomega PX4, HP Discover, HP TouchPad, Uber EMC VNX VSA, the Denver VMUG, the VMware Cloud Infrastructure Launch Event (July 12), VMware vExpert program, VMworld 2011, and new TrainSignal VCA-DT and Security products.

vChat is a regular virtualization video chat covering VMware vSphere, Cloud Computing, Virtualization News, and maybe some geeky humor. Regular contributors are 3 vExperts – Simon Seagrave (TechHead.co.uk), Eric Siebert (vSphere-Land.com), and David Davis (VMwareVideos.com).

Sponsored by VMware vSphere Video Training from Train Signal.com

You can now SUBSCRIBE TO VCHAT on iTunes!

Show Notes / Links Discussed-

VIDEO: Solarwinds Virtualization Manager Overview by @davidmdavis

David Davis — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:28:16 +0000

I was granted access to Solarwinds demo system to play around with the latest version of Solarwinds Virtualization Manager – version 4.0. This is actually a new version of Hyper9 Manager as Solarwinds recently acquired them.

I had looked at this tool in the past and was impressed with what the new version now offers. Besides the “Google-like search function” for your vSphere infrastructure, Virtualization Manager offers capacity planning, performance monitoring, VM Sprawl, configuration management, & chargeback/showback. I like that it can offers real-world practical info such as finding performance bottlenecks and telling you how much capacity you have remaining.

You can access the same demo environment I used, download a free trial, and learn more about what it can do at Solarwind’s -Virtualization Homepage.

Virtualization manager is deployed as a virtual appliance and the starting price of $2995 supports up to 50 powered on virtual machines.

Tech Field Day Videos & Live Streaming from “vTechFieldDay”

David Davis — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 14:01:49 +0000

Tech Field Day #6 is in Boston this week and they have been posting some amazing recorded videos and their live streaming has been phenomenal. In these videos, you’ll see TFD leader Stephen Foskett, John Troyer and the following delegates:

Ed Czerwin vSoup/vNinja @ECzerwin
Chris Dearden J.F.V.I./Vsoup @ChrisDearden
Edward Haletky The Virtualization Practice @Texiwill
Tom Howarth PlanetVM @Tom_Howarth
Mike Laverick RTFM Education/SearchServerVirt @Mike_Laverick
Christian Mohn vNinja.net/Vsoup @h0bbel
Shannon Snowden Virtualization Information @ShannonSnowden
Todd Scalzott Don’t Call Me Scott @TScalzott
Gabrie van Zanten Gabe’s Virtual World @GabVirtualWorld
Chris Wells vSamurai @wygtya

Here is the live streaming presentation schedule:

Thursday, June 9

08:00-10:00 – VKernel
13:30-15:30 – VMware
16:00-18:00 – SolarWinds

Friday, June 10

08:00-10:00 – Stealth company (stream off-air for now…)
10:30-12:30 – Symantec
13:30-15:30 – Embotics
16:00-18:00 – NetApp

Watch today’s events LIVE at www.TechFieldDay.com and if you missed any of these events, I bet that they will soon be posted on that site.

VIDEO: VMware App Manager Announced in Interview by Scoble (aka Proejct Horizon)

David Davis — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:26:20 +0000

Today, VMware’s Project Horizon has officially been renamed to VMware App Manager and it has been released! All of this was made public on VMware’s website in their App Manager press release and in this excellent interview by Robert Scoble of Building43.com. In the interview, Scoble interviews VMware’s Noah Wasmer, Director of Product Management and Advanced Development.

Find out what App Manager is and how it can help you in the video interview below…

For more information…

Live Streaming of Virtualization Event – Charlotte VMUG

David Davis — Thu, 05 May 2011 17:15:19 +0000

As I type this, we are live streaming the NetApp keynote of the Charlotte Regional VMware User Group (VMUG).

At 245 pm eastern today (5/5/11) we will be live streaming the virtualization expert panel discussion with VMware’s Senior Cloud Architect Mike DiPetrillo, Varrow’s Senior Architect Jason Nash (a VCDX), and EMC’s Guru Scott Lowe (VCDX), and Virtualization Evangelist Mike Laverick. The panel will be moderated by Veeam’s Rich Brambley of (VMetc.com)

If you miss any of these live events – subscribe to my newsletter or RSS feed because I will be posting 8+ hours of sessions recorded at this event over the next few weeks.

Free video streaming by Ustream

20 Free Recorded Webinars from Veeam

David Davis — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:19:37 +0000

I just happened across 20 free recorded webinars from Veeam. They include well known virtualization experts like Rick Vanover, Doug Hazelman, Sean Clark, Eric Siebert, Greg Sheilds, and Cameron Fuller.

I’ve included an example of one of these webinars below, from Rick Vanover (@RickVanover), entitled 5 Key Ways to Protect Multiple vSphere VMs. You can watch all 20 of these webinars over at Veeam’s Video Webinar homepage (free registration required).

Don’t Get Caught Not Knowing Your vSphere Requirements

David Davis — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:00:14 +0000

You’re exempt from reading the manual, right? I am too, but sometimes the consequences can hurt. Recently I was trying to build as compact of a vSphere lab as I could build and, after some frustration, discovered I was attempting to violate the vSphere requirements.

Learn the two types of vSphere requirements and learn what I was doing when I violated them by reading the full article at: Virtualization Review.com – Don’t Get Caught Not Knowing Your vSphere Requirements

Best Videos of VMworld 2010 SF

David Davis — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:02:12 +0000

As you all know, I love videos, VMware, and VMworld so there is no better topic for a post than the best videos of VMware’s VMworld 2010 in San Francisco… Here are all the best videos I have found, in no particular order… enjoy!

VMworld TV – Wrap Up Day 1

VMworld TV – Wrap Up Day 2

Keynote “Cloud” Opening (funny! I love the reference to “azure skies”)

Highlights from the keynote with Dr Steven Herrod

VMworld TV – Wrap Up Day 3

VMware’s upcoming iPad Management Application

VMworld 2010 Labs Update – how they did it

VMworld 2010 Labs – Steven Herrod and Dan Anderson – the “lab cloud”

VMworld 2010 Summary Video

INXS played at the VMworld 2010 Party – Here they are doing “New Sensation”

Here is Doug Hazelman (@VMDoug) talking about their big “best of show” win for Veeam Backup 5.0 in the Best of VMworld awards

And don’t forget Veeam’s Day 4 wrap up video with words from Veeam CEO Ratmir Timashev about the Best of VMworld awards that Veeam won and mention of the Train Signal Veeam training videos (that I created) which were give away at the Veeam booth

In this video, Eddie Dinel of VMware explains what the new VMware vCloud Director is and how it can help you

Demo of upcoming VMware View iPad Client / App

Nice “Rock video” covering VMworld 2010 – well done

You MUST watch the “vSpecialist’s Delight” Video, masterminded by Nick Weaver (@Lynxbat) – it totally rocks!!

And finally, if you haven’t already seen it, checkout the live vChat that Eric Siebert, Simon Seagrave, and myself (David Davis) taped at VMworld (which can be viewed here or downloaded in iTunes)

Free Live Webinar with David Davis and Solarwind’s Josh Stephens about VMworld

David Davis — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 19:21:08 +0000

On Thursday, September 9, 2010 I will be participating in a LIVE Webinar (who talked me into this “live” thing?) with Solarwind’s “head geek” Josh Stephens. All kidding aside, we will be talking about some very serious and interesting topics, primarily Virtualization Trends, Virtualization Best Practices, and what was new at VMworld 2010. Also, we’ll be covering…

How organizations are managing virtual infrastructure capacity planning & forecasting
Tools for managing VMware® environments and how they’ve evolved
Best practices and recommended training for managing virtual environments

Don’t miss this opportunity to talk LIVE with myself and Josh (known as “the geeks” for this webinar). Attendees will get a copy of SolarWinds’ latest FREE TOOL, VM Console. (registration link below)

Here is who you’ll be talking with…

Josh Stephens is Vice President of Technology – a.k.a. the Head Geek – at SolarWinds where he plays an integral part in the development and delivery of award-winning IT management products. When he’s not busy lending a hand in the development aspect of the business, he can be found twittering, blogging, hosting the Geek Speak webcast series on IT management best practices, discussing the latest technologies with SolarWinds partners, or providing helpful network troubleshooting and monitoring tips.

Guest Geek: David Davis CCIE #9369, vExpert, VCP, CISSP, MCSE

David Davis is a VMware Evangelist and vSphere Video Training Author at TrainSignal.com. He has achieved CCIE, VCP,CISSP, and vExpert level status over his 15+ years in the IT industry. David has authored hundreds of articles on the Internet and 9 different video training courses for TrainSignal.com including the very popular vSphere video training package. Learn more about David at his blog VMwareVideos or on Twitter.com at davidmdavis and checkout a sample of his VMware vSphere video training course from TrainSignal.com!

REGISTER HERE to watch the live video discussion!

VIDEO: Listen to Team Veeam Rappin’ the Beat about vPower (with MC bRaMbLeY)

David Davis — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:30:22 +0000

In this video, Doug Hazelman (@vmdoug), Rich Brambley (@rbrambley of vmetc.com & Virtumania), and Dave Siles (@dsiles) of Veeam cover the new vPower offering from Veeam that will be announced at VMworld. I knew that Rich always had a way with words but listen to Rich rappin’ the beat about Veeam’s vPower – too funny ! (and actually pretty good)

VOTE for the Top Free vSphere Tools of 2010

David Davis — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:00:33 +0000

THE SURVEY WAS CLOSED on 10/29/10

SURVEY RESULTS ARE IN vChat #11 – CLICK HERE TO VIEW

At VMworld 2010 in San Francisco and Europe, I will be speaking at a session about the top free vSphere tools of 2010. I love free vSphere tools, use them myself, and have written about them since I published a top 10 list on free vSphere tools in 2008.

However, everyone’s virtual infrastructure is different and different people will receive different value out of vSphere tools. SO, while I may have an opinion on what the top vSphere tools are, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Please VOTE for the top free vSphere tools below! I will calculate the results and announce those rankings in video form – before the end of 2010.

Note: If you want to try out these tools for yourself, links to those tools can be found below the survey.
Note #2: Vendors, don’t vote for your own tools as I am tracking IP addresses but please encourage your customers who use your free tools to do so.

Vote for the Next Train Signal VMware Video Training Course!

David Davis — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:12:37 +0000

So far, at Train Signal, our current VMware training package has over 100 hours of video training covering VMware virtualization. VMware virtualization is HOT and new products and features come out every day (likely, there will be something new announced at VMworld 2010, just around the corner). With so many topics out there and with a limited amount of time to create training, we only want to produce the best training on the most desired VMware topics. So what do we choose next? You decide!

Will it be vSphere Design, Troubleshooting, Cloud Computing, Security, Performance, ESXi Migration, or something else?

Vote in our 2010 Train Signal VMware Video Training Survey! (click here)

VIDEO: Solving vSphere Performance Issues with Veeam Monitor Free Edition

David Davis — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:04:10 +0000

I just added the new vSphere Pro Vol 2, 21 hour training course to my vSphere video training package from Train Signal. In the new Volume 2 is 4+ hours on Veeam’s Management Suite (including Backup, Monitor, and Reporter). I really like Veeam Monitor for performance reporting and, fortunately, for those who don’t have thousands to spend, Veeam Monitor is available in a free edition.

While the integrated vSphere performance tools are good, I recommend that every VMware Admin have an third-party performance monitoring and alerting application. In the video below, I cover how to solve vSphere performance issues with Veeam Monitor Free Edition – Enjoy!

VIDEO: 5 Minute Guide to Backing up VMs with Veeam Backup

David Davis — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:49:49 +0000

In my new Train Signal vSphere Pro Vol 2 video, I cover using Veeam Backup in -depth. While I spent over 45 minutes just on backing up VMs with Veeam Backup in that series, I wanted to show VMware Admins out there that Veeam Backup isn’t complicated. While it is powerful and has lots of options, you can backup your vSphere VMs with Veeam Backup in a matter of minutes. To see how, watch my video below covering How to Backup VMs with Veeam Backup in under 5 minutes.

VIDEO: Using the Free Veeam FastSCP to Transfer VMs and ISOs to vSphere

David Davis — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:29:59 +0000

Getting the ISO files used to install operating systems or the existing VMs you may have onto an ESX / vSphere host can be baffling to new VMware Admins who don’t have the right tool. The “right tool” is a SCP (secure copy protocol) file transfer application. There are a number of free options out there but the “tried and true” SCP program when using vSphere is Veeam’s FastSCP. It has been around the longest and is, by far, the easiest to use.

As part of my new vSphere Pro Vol 2 video training course, I covered the Veeam Management Suite. FastSCP is a free and could be considered a “junior version” of Veeam Backup. In this video, I show you what Veeam FastSCP offers you, why you need SCP with vSphere, how to download and install FastSCP, how to transfer VMs and ISOs to vSphere, and how to schedule file copies between ESX hosts. Enjoy!

Feel free to embed this video in your blog! Get the embed code by clicking the EMBED button on the video while it is playing.

VIDEO: New vSphere 4.1 ESXi Tech Support Mode

David Davis — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:08:19 +0000

With the new vSphere 4.1, the ESXi “hidden” tech support mode is no longer hidden. You can enable access the ESXi command line on the console and remotely via SSH easily in the new ESXi Tech Support Mode features, inside the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI). In the past, you had to press ALT+F1, type unsupported, and type the root password (all without any echo/response on the screen).

Now, to access the ESXi console locally or via SSH, just press F2, go to Troubleshooting Options, and enable local and/or remote tech support mode. From there, you can login just like an ESX server by pressing ALT+F1 and logging in as root.

Watch the video to see how it works, step by step:

VIDEO: New vSphere 4.1 Windows Active Directory Authentication

David Davis — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:51:16 +0000

With the VMware vSphere 4.1 release there are lots of new features to talk about! One of those features that caught my eye is the ability for ESX/ESXi servers to “join” a Windows Active Directory (AD) domain. That’s right, an ESX server can be a member server in AD. That means that you can then login to that ESX host using your Winodws AD username and password. This applies when connecting to the server using the vSphere Client, going to the console, or connecting via SSH. This is also a nice security function because instead of logging on locally as “root”, now each user can login as themselves (and that entry will be made in the associated security logs).

Here’s a new video I created on how to configure this cool new vSphere 4.1 feature – Windows Active Directory Authentication.

VIDEO: Connecting VMware vSphere to Iomega iSCSI Storage

David Davis — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 16:00:27 +0000

I recently bought an Iomega Ix4-200D disk storage array with the intent on both using it for my centralized office (it’s just me) data store AND as shared storage in my vSphere lab using iSCSI. So far, I’ve been very satisfied with the product, considering the high load that I put on the storage array. For example, I have moved a running VM from one VMFS data store to another with both datastrores being on this array. I have run VMware Data Recovery and Veeam Backups of VMs with the source being the VMFS datastores and the destination being a network file share, both on this array. While I know that these kind of crazy lab exercises put a ton of load on the array, it has handle it well. So well, I thought I would make a video covering this nice line of storage products and how to use it with vSphere…

Here is what you’ll learn in this video:

Overview of the Iomega NAS/SAN Product Line
How to enable iSCSI in the Iomega StorCenter
How to enable iSCSI in vSphere and connect to the SAN
How to format the new iSCSI disk with VMFS
How to migrate a running VM to the Iomega SAN with SVMotion

VIDEO: VMworld 2010 Backpack Demo by John Troyer and Luke Kilpatrick

David Davis — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:25:00 +0000

How cool is this? We get to see what the VMworld 2010 backpack will look like BEFORE we get to VMworld! In this video, John Troyer and Luke Kilpatrick walk us through what the VMworld 2010 backpack will look like. I am definately going now (just kidding, I was going anyway). I like how it has “room for pencils and floppy disks” – too funny John! See you at VMworld!

VMware VCP, VCAP, & VCDX Certification Guide from Train Signal

David Davis — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 17:14:07 +0000

Today Train Signal posted a new VMware VCP, VCAP, & VCDX Certification Guide by VMware & Linux Admin Veronica Henry. I thought that it was worth linking to because it was a quality overview of what is required for every level of VMware certification – from VCP, through the new VCAP, to the VCDX. I also like how she referenced that VCPs are very in demand with pay rates on average of $100K+. For those who aren’t certified, I hope that this guide gives you a simple roadmap to follow as well as the incentive to get there. Enjoy!

Read the full VMware Certification Guide at VMware VCP, VCAP, & VCDX Certification Guide from Train Signal

VIDEO: @VMDoug demos automated verification in next version of Veeam Backup

David Davis — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:07:47 +0000

In this new video, posted today, Doug Hazelman (@VMDoug) of Veeam Software demo’s the new automated verification features of the next version of Veeam Backup – 5.0. These new features are called “SureBackup” (maybe you have heard of that). In the video, Doug shows us how with these features, the backup software can actually move a backed’up VM into the virtual infrastructure, power it on, make sure that it boots into the OS, and even ping the network interface. From here, you can do things like application-level recovery and, for example, perform an exmerge on an Exchange server to pull out mail from a user’s mailbox. Really amazing stuff from a backup application! Watch the video to see for yourself…

By the way, to receive an email alert when the new version of Veeam Backup is released, visit the SureBackup website.

VIDEO: Interview with David Davis covering Selecting the Right Hardware for Virtualization

David Davis — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:57:04 +0000

Here’s a video interview I (David Davis) did with Colin Steele of SearchServerVirtualization.com about how to select the right hardware for virtualization. Enjoy!

VIDEO: VMware Storage IO Control (SIOC)

David Davis — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:24:39 +0000

Duncan Epping of Yellow-Bricks.com, Scott Drummonds of EMC, and Eric Sloof of NTPro.nl recently posted some super-cool articles about an upcoming VMware vSphere feature (VMware makes no promises) called Storage IO Control. They explain, better than I will try to do, over at their respective blogs what Storage IO Control (SIOC) is and how it will help you (including some very cool graphics on Duncan’s site). Here are the blog posts and “Storage IO the movie” follows… Exciting stuff to look forward to!

Disclaimer:
This article is based on the above sources and contains product features that are currently under development. This article about the new technology represents no commitment from VMware to deliver these features in any generally available product. Features are subject to change, and must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery. Pricing and packaging for any new technologies or features discussed or presented have not been determined.

VIDEO: vExpert Panel Discussion at Charlotte VMUG with EMC and NetApp

David Davis — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 20:31:46 +0000

The best session of the Charlotte VMUG was the vExpert Panel discussion, chaired by Rich Brambley of VMetc.com (@rbrambley). The panel of experts was Chad Sakac of EMC (@sakacc), Vaugh Stewart of NetApp (@vstewed), Scott Lowe of EMC (@scott_lowe), and Mike Laverick of RTFM-Ed.co.uk (@Mike_Laverick).

In the video, you will see that the conversation eventually goes to the new vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) where the experts really share some amazing new features of how the new line of storage will be assisting the virtualization platform such as being able to perform VMotion in the storage HW. Also, the experts discuss what vBlock is and we get the opinion of Vaugh’s NetApp on why they don’t feel that they need to come up with a “nBlock” (or whatever you would call it).

Exciting stuff! I can’t wait until VMworld!

(Feel free to embed this video on your website by clicking the embed button)

VIDEO: Mike DiPetrillo speaking on VMware vCloud

David Davis — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:03:14 +0000

On June 11 I attended the Charlotte Regional VMware user group (VMUG) meeting where lots of “vCelebs” spoke about VMware and the future of virtualization. One of sessions that I made sure to attend (and record) was Mike DiPetrillo of VMware (his blog is at mikedipetrillo.com). Mike has been with VMware 8+ years and is a Principle SE there where he is a vCloud evangelist.

One of the most controversial parts of Mike’s presentation is when he says that vCloud is really sold to the CIO and the message to the IT group is that you will have to change in order to keep your job. In other words, “the cloud” will assimilate the infrastructure as we know it and IT people will have to adapt to that, improving their skill set, in order to move to different roles in the IT organization where they can accomplish the more important IT projects with real ROI (not just maintaining the SAN LUNs, or whatever they do). Watch the video to hear the vCloud message for yourself… Note: Mike doesn’t show a “Project Redwood” demo – sorry.

(FEEL FREE TO EMBED THIS VIDEO IN YOUR WEBSITE – just click on the embed link once the video plays)

Download Mike’s Presentation “All About (v)Cloud” here

VIDEO: Scott Davis, VMware Desktop CTO Speaks at Charlotte Regional VMUG

David Davis — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 20:05:01 +0000

On June 11 I was at the super-sized VMware Regional User Group in Charlotte, NC where I took a number of videos. This is the first of the videos that I have posted. In this video, VMware’s Desktop CTO Scott Davis talks about Desktop and Application Virtualization with View and ThinApp, giving us hints at what will be in the next version of VMware View.
I hope that you enjoy the video and feel free to embed it on your website (click the embed button on the video while playing to get the embed code).

VIDEO: VMware Certification Overview – VCP, VCDX, and vABC

David Davis — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 16:30:51 +0000

Here is a VMware Certification overview video I created covering what it takes to obtain your VCP or VCDX. I also cover what the vExpert award is and how it isn’t a certification at all. Just recently, VMware has announced the new VMware Certified Advanced Professional Certification (VCAP) and I have a new article on it as well at – How to Earn the VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP).

In this video, I cover:
* What are your VMware Certification options?
* What does it take to get a VCP?
* What are the benefits of becoming a VCP?
* How to upgrade your VCP certification?
* How to prepare for the VCP exam?
* What does it take to get a VCDX?
* What is a vExpert?

Virtumania episode 14 covering virtual networking with David Davis

David Davis — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:16:45 +0000

I hope that you will make sure to checkout Virtumania espisode 14 where I (@davidmdavis) was a special guest along with Rich Brambley of VMetc.com (@rbrambley), Marc Farley of 3PAR (@3parfarley), Rick Vanover of RickVanover.com (@rickvanover), and Greg Shulz of StorageIOblog.com (@storageio).

This week’s episode covers the important but often overlooked network architecture needed for successful virtual infrastructure. Our discussion eventually compares the data center battle for control, management, and monitoring of virtual machine traffic to rival gangs dancing for superiority in the Michael Jackson music video “Bad”.

Believe me, you don’t want to miss it!

Listen to the podcast with the embedded player or subscribe to get a weekly copy so you can listen when convenient.

OR, Subscribe on iTunes

How to Earn Your VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP)

David Davis — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:51:37 +0000

Here is an article I posted over at Train Signal Training’s Blog about the new VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP). Just released, VMware has posted the blueprints for the VCAP certifications.

You can read my full article at- How to Earn Your VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP)

vExpert 2010 & Virtualization Review’s How To Guy

David Davis — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:22:45 +0000

Two big accomplishments that I just can’t keep to myself… vExpert 2010 and my new Virtualization Review article!

Honored to be a vExpert 2010

Last week I found out that I was awarded the 2010 edition of the VMware vExpert award. This is a HUGE honor and even more so because this award only goes to a few hundred people in the world. VMware’s King of Social Media (and vExpert creator) wrote an excellent post on the topic at VMware VMTN Blogs – vExpert Awards 2010. The vExpert 2009 award that I received for my work in 2008 helped me tremendously – both professional and personally. I applaud John (and fellow judges) for the hard work they must have put in to analyze all the applications to select the best candidates – keeping the program strong and respected. During 2010, I plan to continue to contribute to the VMware community by blogging here at VMwareVideos.com, at VirtualizationAdmin.com, by creating VMware training for Train Signal (we have more Pro series courses on the way!), and by contributing however I can at conferences like VMworld 2010 and local VMUGs.

Did you see my new Virtualization Review article?

And, another great achievement in my book is that I received the latest edition of Virtualization Review Magazine and found my first ever printed magazine column, as you see below. In this column, I covered the VMware Labs website and their “Flings”. More specifically, I covered the VMware Guest Console (which I have a video on if you click on that hyperlink).

As my new column is called “The How To Guy” I will be covering, you guessed it, “How To” do something related to virtualization, primarily, what virtualization Admins need to know to get their job done – “How to configure XYZ”. So, I hope that you will stay tuned to Virtualization Review (a great magazine), read their bi-monthly edition, and look for “The How To Guy” (yes, that kind of looks like me but it’s not tremendously flattering)….

VIDEO: VMware Go- The On Ramp to Virtualization

David Davis — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 20:10:35 +0000

VMware has released a new version of VMware Go, adding many new improvements to the user interface, vastly reducing the number of plugins required for your web browser, and adding the ability to download a virtual appliance, directly from the VMware appliance marketplace. I was able to get a sneak preview of this new version of Go, just before it went live and I was impressed with the improvements.

The new version of VMware Go is NOW AVAILABLE and I have created a 20 minute training video on how to use it. I hope you enjoy it and learn a lot!

Feel free to embed this video on your website by clicking the embed button above and getting the embed code!

VIDEO: Using Sun VirtualBox

David Davis — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:06:33 +0000

In this new video by David Davis, he shows you how to download, install, and get started with Sun VirtualBox – a free client-side hypervisor.

(Click on the graphic below to watch the video)

VIDEO: Using VMware Site Survey to see if you can enable Fault Tolerance

David Davis — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:00:37 +0000

In this new video, I show you how to use VMware’s Site Survey tool to see if your servers are going to be compatible with Fault Tolerance (FT) and if they will be compatible with each other. Watch the video by clicking on the video window below.

VIDEO: Backup and Restore VM Guests with VM Data Recovery

David Davis — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 21:30:51 +0000

In this video, I show you how easy it is to backup and restore VMware vSphere guest virtual machines uing VMware Data Recovery (vDR). Watch the full free video by clicking on the video window below….

http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/player.asp?AYHWlRYC

Why VMware should release VMware vCenter “Express”

David Davis — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:58:37 +0000

In my latest article, I cover why, in my opinion, VMware should release a version of vCenter for the small business. While VMware has vCenter Essentials for SMBs with 20 or fewer physical ESX hosts, I believe that a version of vCenter is needed for the “even-smaller” business with, say, 5 or fewer ESX hosts. In my article, I also compare what I am suggesting to Microsoft’s System Center Virtual Machine Manager Workgroup edition.

Read the full article at: Why VMware should release VMware vCenter Express

Comments are welcome!

Dallas VMUG Video of David Davis and Links Discussed

David Davis — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 06:38:43 +0000

On March 31, 2010 I spoke at the Dallas VMware User Group (VMUG) meeting. The meeting was sponsored by Vizioncore and Train Signal and happened in a new location located in Plano, Texas. We had a great turnout of over 100 VMware enthusiasts.

The meeting started off with VMUG President Tony Gradig making announcements and then Vizioncore started their presentation. Michael Arnold of Vizionore spoke about vFoglight, used for performance monitoring and management of your virtul infrastructure. After the break, Vizioncore continued speaking by covering the Virtualization EcoShell Initiative (VESI), a free tool to manage PowerShell-based virtualization management scripts.

After a great pizza lunch, I began my presentation covering what Train Signal has to offer in our lineup of video training products. We cover the full lineup of Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA, Office 2007, Wireless, and, of course, VMware. I talked about the Train Signal vSphere training course and our new vSphere Pro, more advanced, option. From there, I covered some exciting new developments in the world of virtualization including new podcasts/webcasts, the VMware Guest Console, and how I stay up to date on virtualization using my Twitter virtualization list and VMware’s Planet v12n. I gave away a number of Train Signal vSphere videos and offered a special VMUG discount.

In the end, it was a great VMUG and I appreciate Tony Gradig, our VMUG president, letting me speak and sponsor.

Below, you’ll find a video of me speaking, the links that I referred to in my presentation, and the actual presentation I made. Enjoy!

Download the full Powerpoint presentation here

VIDEO: Using the VMware Guest Console (VGC)

David Davis — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:07:30 +0000

You can download the VMware Guest Console (VGC) at the VMware Labs website.

VIDEO: Learn how VMware vSphere vApps Can Help You

David Davis — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:00:19 +0000

VIDEO: Using the free vSphere Mini-Monitor

David Davis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:32:29 +0000

Nick from Nickapedia.com (or @lynxbat on Twiter) created an awesome free tool called the vSphere Mini-Monitor. This tool runs in your Windows tray and alerts you, in a variety of ways, about events that happen in your virtual infrastructure. Alert methods are a tray popup, via Twitter, via email, or through an RSS feed (that’s right, a Twitter tweet can be posted when an event happens in your vSphere infrastructure). Don’t worry, you can control what you get alerts for so that you aren’t barraged wth alerts. This tool is great for multi-admin environments where you have multiple VMware admins working on the infrastucture at the same time. Download the free vSphere Mini-Monitor here!

Note: make sure that you run the vSphere Mini-Monitor as administrator, as I demonstrate in the video.

VIDEO: What is Tek-Tools Virtual Profiler (vProfiler)?

David Davis — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:24:21 +0000

I was recently contacted by Tek-Tools and asked to checkout their Virtual Profiler management software for VMware vSphere. I admit, I hadn’t heard of Tek-Tools before but found out that they were owned by Solarwinds, an Austin, Texas company (my home state) so I thought that I would take a extra minute to check them out. As it turns out, their Virtual Profiler (vProfiler) application is part of a larger package of Profiler apps that manage and monitor things like storage, applications, physical servers, and backups. Still, you can use vProfiler on its own. I downloaded the 30 day trial of vProfiler and found it very easy to install. In the video below, I show you what vProfiler manages, monitors, and alerts on and how it can help you to manage your virtual infrastructure.

To try out vProfiler for yourself, visit the Tek-Tools vProfiler 30 day eval webpage.

VIDEO: vStorage APIs for Data Protection and Avamar 5

David Davis — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:08:56 +0000

Chad Sakac of EMC posted a very detailed post over at his blog covering EMC’s Avamar 5 and how it uses the VMware vStorage APIs for Data Protection. I love the detail of his post and the video is great too.

I have embedded the video below and I encourage you to read the full blog post over at: Virtual Geek — vStorage APIs for Data Protection and Avamar 5

VIDEO: Using VMware ESX Performance Charts

David Davis — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:05:48 +0000

Here is my new video blog post over at VirtualizationAdmin.com covering how to use VMware ESX Server Performance charting…

VOTE NOW on who has the best VMware Training Product!

David Davis — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:36:34 +0000

There are lots of training and certification options out there but who has the “BEST” training product covering VMware and virtualization?

In my opinion, Train Signal has the best solution because they provide what the training that you need, for a price you can afford, and you can watch it at your own pace on just about any device.

Well, Train Signal has been nominated for the Windows IT Pro 2009 Community Choice Awards and now they need your help to WIN!

Hopefully you have enjoyed some of my Train Signal VMware video training courses.

If so, Vote for Train Signal in category #30: Best Training & Certification Product or Service.

Click here to place your vote now!

Voting is easy — you just select your favorite IT companies — and you can have a chance to win a $250 cash gift card or a Windows IT Pro t-shirt — from Windows IT Pro.

Cisco Nexus 1000V Videos

David Davis — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:58:57 +0000

Here are 3 great videos from Cisco covering the Cisco Nexus 1000V. Video 1 is “N1KV in Depth”, Video 2 shows you how to install an eval license, and Video 3 shows you how to install a purchased license. Enjoy!