The Chargeback reporting that is built into vCac is very easy to use but somewhat limited. There are just 3 reports available for Chargeback reporting. These can give you a good idea of what is going on in your VMware cloud but as you grow and mature your cloud you might require more detailed reporting. This is where I hope VMware merges the vCac reporting with the Chargeback abilities that are now included in the vC Ops Suite. With the combined power you would have a powerful tool.

The first report shown below in Image 1 is a Chargeback report grouped by reservations. This is grouped up and sorted by provisioning groups (PG). In vCac a PG is probably closest to what an Organization is in vCloud Director. The numbers in these are just something we tossed in for examples so that we can get some data back. There was not much thought placed on figuring out any real costs.

Image 1

The next report shown in Image 2 is also grouped by Provisioning Groups but shows details on each VM that was created rather than a summary for the PG as in the previous report.

Image 2

The last report is showing allocated resources that are grouped by requester. You can see from the report in Image 3 that we used a few different logins based on AD accounts to create VMs that are reflected in the report.

Image 3

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UniTrends offers backup and disaster recovery products that

Unitrends, a leader in enterprise-level data protection, offers the #1 all-in-one backup solution for virtual, physical and cloud. Building on over 20 years of industry firsts, Unitrends continues to lead the market.  Unitrends is used by IT professionals for backup of their virtual and physical servers and for performing disaster recovery to remote locations or to private or public cloud.  Unitrends not only continues to set the standard in virtual and physical server data protection, but its US-based support team boasts a 99% customer satisfaction rate, further reinforcing its reputation for quality.

Altaro offers backup for Hyper-V based virtualization. Below is a list of some of the new features in version 3.5.

• Windows Server 2012 Support, including support for VHDX files.
• Backup and restore of VMs located on network paths. (in Windows 2012)
• Volume Shadow Copies of SMB3.0 network paths. (in Windows 2012)
• CSV3.0 and scale-out CSV file shares . (in Windows 2012)
• New and improved Metro-Style User Interface.

To close I would ask that if you are looking at backup products, you take the time and research these companies with your other options to see if they might be able to meet your requirements.

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This walk through is the process a user would follow to provision a new VM from a blueprint from the portal. Nothing crazy here just a simple demo on what things would look like.

The main portal page shown below in Image 1 is what you will see when first logging into the portal. From this view the user gets a summary of the VMs they have running or powered off, along with info about VMs that are expiring and reclaim requests. To start the process I will click on the Blueprints button shown in blue below, for this demo we created a blue print with a basic Linux VM template.

Image 1

Next you are presented with the list of Blueprints available, there is just one in this example. You can see basic information about the Blueprint here. I can see the name and a daily cost estimate for this if I deploy it. The cost figure is set when the Blueprint is created by the admin. I will click on the Blueprint name to get the process started.

Image 2

When deploying a VM from a Blueprint you will first be prompted with a form like the one shown in Image 3 below. Depending on your access rights you can edit some of the settings of the VM being deployed. This is a different approach than what vCloud Director used, which was tied directly to templates that were built with fixed hardware settings. You could always go back and modify the settings of a VM in VCD once deployed. With vCac it allows these choices up front and approvals and limits can be configured to build rules around what your users are allowed to provision.

Image 3

For this example I did not modify any of the hardware settings of the VM, I just added a description and a reason for the request. The request field is there to offer some text that can be referenced if there is an approval tied to this action. The approver will see your request text so that it just wont be a request with no context around it.

Image 4

In the next couple of steps I will move through the options on the left of this request form. In Image 5 below its just showing me who will be the owner of this machine.

Image 5

On the Storage tab shown in Image 6 you can see the size of the disk that will be provisioned to this VM.  You also have the option to edit settings here.

Image 6

Here in Image 7 you can edit or add custom properties to the VM you are provisioning.

Image 7

The Cost Summary tab shown in Image 8 just shows in cleaner terms what the potential costs of this VM would be. I then clicked Submit to start the provisioning process.

Image 8

Next up in Image 9 I am looking at the My Machines view within the portal, you can reach this page from a button on the main page or the drop down option under “My Resources” at the top of the page. We can now see that my VM is being created and the status tells me what step is being executed.

Image 9

In Image 10 we can see that the process is moving forward and my new VM is now being customized.

Image 10

My new VM is now done and being powered on as shown in Image 11 below.

Image 11

Now that my VM is ready to use I have clicked on it to get a look at the Actions menu shown below in Image 12. From this area you can see what actions I can perform on the VM now that its ready to use.

Image 12

In Image 13 I click the home but to get back to the main screen. If you compare this to what we saw in the Image 1 above there is now more info being shown to me. I now have more tiles displaying information to me. From the calendar below I can see by the date in Yellow that my VM will expire on that date and the Red date shows me the date that it will be destroyed.

Image 13

Image 14 is just showing the drop down menu for My Resources. I’m going to select Expiring Machines to get a look at when the VM that I provisioned will expire.

Image 14

Now in Image 15 I can see a list of my VMs that will be expiring. I have highlighted the field that shows me the date and time.

Image 15

Up last is what it looks like when I choose to edit the properties of the VM after it was created. From here I am presented with many fields that can be edited to change size or settings of the VM.

Image 16

I hope that this walk through was helpful and you now have a better idea of what the portal and process will be like for vCac compared to vCloud Directors portal. I plan on writing up another post about the admin side portal. If there are other vCac topics you would like to read more details on drop me a comment and I will do my best to write about it.

The post How to provision a VM in VMware vCac and edit settings appeared first on VirtualizeTips.

I wanted to say thanks to all that voted for me this year. I will continue to try and write on a regular basis and find topics that are of interest to others. You can see the full list of results via the link below.

http://vsphere-land.com/news/2013-top-vmware-virtualization-blog-voting-results.html

The post Top Virtualization blog voting results are in – Thanks for your support appeared first on VirtualizeTips.

Login VSI simulates unique user workloads with realistic user behavior. The user workloads use the same applications as a typical employee such as Word, Outlook or IE and are available in a light, medium, heavy or multimedia version.

Much like VMware, Veeam and other vendors have done already, Login VSI is recognizing leaders in the fields of VMware, Microsoft and Citrix with licenses to use for their own testing. These can help them with lab testing and be used to create valuable content for the community. I have already signed up and look forward to using LoginVSI again in my lab.

The three leading virtualization vendors: Citrix, VMware and Microsoft offer their own dedicated programs for this elite group of specialists. The Login VSI VIP program builds on these programs and offers a number of special benefits to all active Citrix Technology Professionals (CTP), to all VMware vExperts, and to Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVP) for App-V, Remote Desktop Services and Virtual Machine.

What is included in the Login VSI VIP program

• A free (for non-commercial use) Login VSI Pro license (12 months, 100 user sessions)

• Your relevant blog posts featured on our website

• Login VSI goodies (like the “I love a good performance” T-shirt) when we meet in person

• Direct access to our support, product marketing and development team

To sign up for the program visit the LoginVSI signup page. 

The post LoginVSI creates a VIP program for vExpert, CTP and MVP programs appeared first on VirtualizeTips.

Some of the things that you should take into account when voting are listed below.

• Longevity - Anyone can start a blog but it requires dedication, time & effort to keep it going. Some bloggers start a blog only to have it fall to the wayside several months later. Things always come up in life but the good bloggers keep going regardless of what is happening in their life.

• Length - It’s easy to make a quick blog post without much content, nothing wrong with this as long as you have good content in the post that people will enjoy. But some bloggers post pretty long detailed posts which takes a lot of time and effort to produce. The tip of the hat goes to these guys that burn the midnight oil trying to get you some great detailed information.

• Frequency - Some bloggers post several times a week which provides readers with lots of content. This requires a lot of effort as bloggers have to come up with more content ideas to write about. Frequency ties into length, some do high frequency/low length, some do low frequency/high length, some do both. They’re all good and require a lot of time and effort on the bloggers part.

• Quality - It all comes down to whats in the blog post regardless of how often or how long the blog posts are. After reading a blog post if you come away with learning something that you did not previously know and it benefits you in some way then you know you are reading a quality post. Good quality is usually the result of original content, its easy to re-hash something previously published elsewhere, the good bloggers come up with unique content or put their own unique spin on popular topics.

Last year I was lucky enough to be listed in the Top 50 blogs, earning the #47 position. This was a huge honor for me that represented a year of hard work. I try to share things that I come across in my projects working with customers and other experts on my team. Writing helps me to retain the information myself and hopefully is able to help others in the community by sharing the details.

This year I would appreciate your vote in the following categories.

• 10 Favorite blogs voting
• Favorite VDI blog (If available)

Voting will run until 3/1 so be sure to get your votes in. All the bloggers on the list work hard on their content and will appreciate your vote.

The post Voting for Top Virtualization Blogs is now open appeared first on VirtualizeTips.

By moving to a new provider I hope to be able to provide a better performing experience for my readers. I think that all the bugs are worked out and things should be performing normal again. But if you find something that is broken or not working right, drop me a comment or email and I will get it fixed.

Thanks again to all that take the time to drop by and read my ramblings from time to time.

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I definitely recommend that all shops should look into purchasing the higher vC Ops licensing level but if you have nothing you will benefit from running Foundation product. You can view the different licensing levels for vC Ops here. So I recommend that you find out how to get access to this and get it installed and collecting data.

Below is a copy of the text from VMware’s site here.

vCenter Operations Manager Foundation

Get started with this new, entry-level edition of the vCenter Operations Management Suite. Gain deep operational insights and visibility to improve the performance and health of your vSphere environment. vCenter Operations Manager Foundation is included with every vSphere edition free of charge.

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Pricing and Availability
VMware vSphere with Operations Management is expected to be available in Q1 2013, and will be offered in three editions: Standard, Enterprise and Enterprise Plus.  Pricing starts at $1,745 per processor with no core, vRAM or number of VM limits. Go to VMware vSphere Pricing/Buy page. For a limited time, existing VMware vSphere edition customers will be able to upgrade to VMware vSphere with Operations Management editions or Acceleration Kits at 15 percent off the list price. New customers will be able to purchase VMware vSphere with Operations Management Acceleration Kits at 15 percent off the list price.

Based on the above paragraph it seems that VMware will offer three versions of vSOM. They seem to mirror the 3 upper versions of vSphere being sold. What is not clear at this point is if the version of vC Ops also follows the same pattern or will vC Ops Standard be part of each level of vSOM with only the vSphere level changing.

You can review the versions of vC Ops available and their features here.

Here is the official VMware press release:

PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 12, 2013 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today introduced two new offerings to help customers further leverage their investments in VMware vSphere - VMware vSphere with Operations Management and VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced.

“Increasingly, customers have standardized on VMware vSphere® as the core of their data centers,” said Mike Clayville, vice president, product marketing, cloud infrastructure, VMware.  “To help maximize the value of their investments in VMware vSphere, customers require purpose-built, integrated solutions to more efficiently manage, optimize and protect their virtualized environments. We’ve made it convenient for new and existing customers of VMware vSphere to enhance the core capabilities of their virtual infrastructure with vCenter™ Operations Management Suite™ and VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced™.”

Today, VMware is announcing a new VMware vSphere product line that combines the industry-leading virtualization platform with the award-winning VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite. In addition, VMware is introducing a new edition of VMware vSphere Data Protection, the backup and recovery solution first introduced as part of VMware vSphere 5.1 in August 2012. With these new offerings, customers can:

• Reduce Capex costs by up to 30 percent; (1)
• Optimize capacity, improving utilization by up to 40 percent and consolidation ratios by 37 percent; (2)
• Improve application availability and performance, cutting downtime by more than a third and reducing the time it takes to find and resolve problems by up to 26 percent; (2) and,
• Reduce backup storage capacity by up to 95 percent and backup on network traffic by up to 99 percent. (3)

New Offerings Enhance Management, Backup Capabilities of VMware vSphere

• VMware vSphere with Operations Management – Improve performance, health and utilization of virtualized environments
  VMware vSphere with Operations Management unites the leading virtualization platform for all applications, including business-critical and low-latency applications, with patented analytic capabilities to provide insight into the performance, health and efficiency of virtualized environments. By providing a simple, visual and holistic view of the entire environment, VMware vSphere with Operations Management allows customers to proactively monitor and maintain performance and improve availability while optimizing the virtual environment through integrated capacity planning. The VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite helps customers nearly double the operational savings they receive from VMware vSphere. Learn more about VMware vSphere with Operations Management
• VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced – Proven, efficient and simple backup solution built for VMware vSphere
  Developed for mid-sized VMware vSphere environments, VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced offers increased scalability and new backup and recovery capabilities for business critical applications specifically Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server. Based on EMC Avamar, VMware vSphere Data Protection delivers the most efficient backup solution with industry-leading deduplication, full support of Changed Block Tracking and single-step restores. Tight integration with VMware vSphere enables administrators to manage their virtual infrastructure, including back and recovery, from a single console. Learn more about VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced

“VMware selected EMC Avamar software to provide the underlying technology for the introduction of VMware vSphere Data Protection,” said Shane Jackson, vice president of marketing, EMC Backup Recovery Systems division.  “Customers have enthusiastically adopted this solution, and they expect that we will continue to leverage the technology collaboration between EMC and VMware to deliver enhanced backup and recovery capabilities for customers.  The introduction of VMware vSphere Data Protection Advanced does just that by incorporating EMC Avamar features that can extend the value proposition for VMware customers.  As a result, they gain an easy path to more scalability and additional support for business critical applications which are in demand in rapidly growing virtual environments.”

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Would be great to see VMware offer the ability within a suite of offering per socket licensing for these EUC products. This would allow companies to design their View deployments to scale very dense helping reduce the licensing costs. I’m sure there will be resistance to this type of licensing since many of these products lend themselves to a per user type of cost.

I have compiled a list of products below that could be offered in two different EUC Suites. The Standard Suite offering customers the ability to implement solid VDI designs with the Enterprise Suite offering customers the ability to utilize the pending full suite of VMware desktop offerings.

VMware EUC Enterprise Suite

• VMware View Premier
• vCOps for View
• Horizon Suite (Application Manager, Data and Mobile)
• Mirage

VMware EUC Standard Suite

• VMware View Premier
• vCOps for View
• Horizon Application Manager

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