This series of posts will show you how to configure SQL 2012 on VMware using a Microsoft failover cluster. Now that VMware vSphere 5.5 is out, I'm excited that VMware finally got on board with officially supporting clustering the vCenter database. However, their only official clustering option they support is what...
So it seems to be fashionable to blog about one's VCAP exam experiences, so I'll jump on that bandwagon too. If you follow me on twitter, you might know I took the VCAP5-DCA exam today. While it's still fresh in my mind (no, not disclosing any NDA information), I wanted...
 Hot off the press is VMware Workstation 10. Even if you are a full blow VMware ESXi lab like I do, I still like running Workstation on my primary PC for various purposes. It's also great for web surfing in a stateless VM, if you are worried about malware. I'm...
For a few years I've been occasionally posting home ESXi "server " builds. The last one I did was for SandyBridge. I have two such hosts, and they've been working really well. But after attending VMworld this year in San Francisco and hearing about all the VSAN goodness, I'm going...
This was a great "put your architecture cap on" session by two well known VCDX's, Wade Holmes and Rawlinson Rivera. Software defined <insert virtualization food group here> is all the rage these days. Be it SDN (networking), SDS (storage), SDDC (datacenter) or software defined people. Well maybe not quite at the people stage but...
Twitter #VAPP5932; Presenter:Â Scott Salyer (VMware) This session was focused on the various Microsoft SQL server high availability options and how they mesh with vSphere and its HA options. Unlike Exchange 2013, SQL 2012 has several HA architectures to choose from. Some applications may only support one or two SQL HA...
Twitter: #VAPP5613, Alex Fontana (VMware) This session was skillfully presented and was jam packed with Exchange on VMware best practices for architects and Exchange administrators. Can you use Exchange VMDKs on NFS storage? Can you use vSphere HA and DRS? How can you avoid DAG failover with vMotion? What's the number one cause...
Twitter: #VSVC4699, Jason Nash (Varrow) Jason Nash is always a good speaker, and keeps the presentations interesting with live demos instead of death by PowerPoint. This was a repeat session from last year, with a few new vSphere 5.5 networking enhancements sprinkled in. vSphere 5.5 does not have any major...
Twitter: #vsvc5436; Ammet Jani (VMware), Justin King (VMware) This was a great session by Justin King where he conveyed a logical and compelling story why users should migrate to the web client for managing their vSphere infrastructure. Yes, vSphere 5.5 is REALLY the last version to have a Windows C#...
Today is the second full day of VMworld 2013, and the second keynote of the week. To start off the 0900 keynote Carl Eschenbach took the stage. A few minutes into the presentation they bring out Kit Colbert, a VMware engineer. Background Business relies on IT Focus on innovation Increasing...
Twitter: #STO5545, Eric Siebert (HP) This was the best session of the day, and highly informative. Eric Siebert is a fast talker, and his slides were packed to the gills with details (and I didn't even capture 25% of the content). This is the first session that I grabbed a...
Twitter: #VSVC5005; Kyle Gleed, VMware; Cormac Hogan, VMware This session was a bit of a bust. The first 20 minutes storage wasn't even mention; it was a recap of vSphere 5.5 platform features. The next 20 minutes was a super high level storage feature overview, and the session ended 20...