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           -Where Virtualization is a Reality!

UPDATED AGAIN! October 2: As luck would have it, there were some bugs in the version 2 build including the lack of zaptel support which also broke MeetMe conferencing. Then there was the missing database for the 611 Weather System. And there were a few other rough edges. In any case, we've fixed them all and the fixed version is available at the links below.

This is just a short post to let you know about the newest version of the TrixBox virtual machine. Ward at nerdvittles.com has complied all the newest features available in the latest version of TrixBox... and some of his own goodies... without the problems that are built into the newest official release of TrixBox for VMware users.

To recap - because that may have been too long-winded: The newest release of TrixBox does not work well under VMware. Ward at nerdvittles.com has built another special version with all the updates and goodies, and none of the vmware problems.

It is available from his website via a t o r r e n t here.

And here from BubbaPCguy's Mirror.

and here from this website.

The file is 658MB in size.

Enjoy!

The folks over at VM Back have come out with this handy little prograam for viewing, editing, creating floppy drive images. Virtual Floppy Drive is an essential part of a virtualization toolkit. Granted, it is not a required part, but it sure makes the job easier. Prior to learning about VFD, I used to have a virtual machine dedicated to floppy image creation. All I can say about this is - what a relief.

Screen Shot Follows:

Now I know there were other ways to do this before, but I really like this kind of program where you can run it, use it and make it go away without having to wonder hat happened to your system. This one stop short of being a portable app, but only because it really isn't possible to get this close to hardware while remaining completely portable. Anyway, enjoy!

Thanks to an anonymouse commenter for this addition to the virtualization toolkit!

So, you're new to this whole virtualization thing... Pretty cool, huh? Oh the possibilities! They're endless. I can test this, I can prove that. We can make better use of our hardware. My server reboot time is screemingly fast. I can learn a new OS without hosing my PC - or buying a new one. And the list goes on and on...

But this darned virtual machine. It does this silly thing... or that annoying thing. Must be because it's virtual, right?

Wrong. 99% of the problems that people have with virtual machines are the same problems people have with old fashioned physical ones. But 99% of the problem is not that there are problems, it is that most people, including me at times, forget their tried and true troubleshooting skills when they're playing with any new technology... not just virtualization.

That's not to say that there are not problems with virtualization. There are. But before pointing fingers at the new guy, sit back, breathe, relax and then troubleshoot.

There, my rant is over. Feel free to comment if you think I'm off base.

It is that time of year again and VMware is putting on another impressive event. Last year was just plain AWESOME! The information collected, the networking, the energy - All well worth it if you're doing virtualization for a living.

This year I've been invited to come as a "Certified Blogger." During the show I'll be writing some posts about all the activities and posting some pictures of all the buzz. Hopefully I'll be able to interview a few people and get some insight on where this flying umbrella is headed.

If you have specific questions that you want answered from the folks at VMware or if you have ideas for what to talk about in an interview, drop me an email: jim <at> vmwarez . com.

If you're going to be there, I'd like to hear from you too. Leave a comment below - where're you comin' from? First time? Who do you work for? What do you look forward to the most? Or just a "hi."

I've updated my IPCop Test Rig to the latest release of IPCop(1.4.11) and also the following add-ons:

• AdvProxy to 2.0 Beta 4
• URLFilter to 1.7.1
• Calamaris to 2.1.0
• BlockOutTraffic to 2.3.1 Build 2

Links:

• Download the IPCop Virtual Machine. (see original IPCop Test Rig post for config details)


• Download VMWare Player


• Download VMWare Server


• Download VMWare Workstation

Veeam has released a new product that helps you tune your Non-Linux/Non-ESX VM hosts... it is free for personal use if used with VMware Workstation. If you want to use it at work or on VMware Server, it'll cost ya: $30 for use with Workstation and $200 for use with Server. Considering what it can do for you, its a pretty good deal.


Click to Enlarge

Here's Veeam's description of their product:

Windows Task Manager like monitor. Veeam Monitor has a very similar interface and essentially the same purpose. It is designed to facilitate the monitoring of your virtual machines’ performance on the VMware Server or VMware Workstation. Its functions provide you with an easy way to view general resource usage per machine and to compare them. You also can see the specific usage of the subsystems such as the CPU, Memory, the Disk, and Pagefile. Veeam Monitor is in effect a Task Manager created and customized for VMware.

I downloaded the trial and played with it. It is nice stuff and I could see buying it if I ran Server in production or if I were a developer using Workstation very heavily. So, go download the Veeam Monitor for VMware and give it a try yourself.

Vizioncore Inc. Releases First Enterprise-Class Hot Backup and Recovery Solution for VMware Infrastructure 3

New esxRanger Professional 2.0 offers new features that enable both image and file-level restore capabilities for virtualized environments

Buffalo Grove, Illinois—September 12, 2006—Vizioncore Inc., a leader in backup, restoration, and disaster recovery tools for VMware® ESX Server, today announced the release of esxRanger Professional 2.0, the first and only software solution currently on the market that provides enterprise-class robust functionality for image-level and file-level recovery for VMware Infrastructure 3.

In addition to providing hot backups of the entire image of virtual machines, esxRangerProfessional 2.0 features a differential backup engine that identifies and stores only the sections of the virtual machine that have changed from the preceding full backup. Smaller differential files can travel over LANs and WANs faster to remote locations and require less storage space. Administrators can perform backups more frequently and to offsite locations to support disaster recovery.

The esxRanger Professional 2.0 interface can also mount and present the entire disk image or differential disk image of a particular virtual machine, permitting users to select individual files to restore. This file-level recovery function allows companies to decrease, or eliminate, the need to install agent software on each virtual machine for file-level backups, thus cutting significant cost out of the backup process.

To keep the number of backups from proliferating to unmanageable levels, esxRanger Professional 2.0 also provides an intelligent “Archive Retention Policy” function, which automatically sweeps files on set parameters, removing outdated backups to provide storage for new backups. esxRanger Professional 2.0 offers an expanded interface for a comprehensive, detailed view of backups for greater ease of management. The interface also enables administrators to easily restore multiple virtual machines simultaneously through a single window. As the only full image hot backup and recovery solution on the market today that supports VMware Infrastructure 3, esxRanger Professional 2.0 also supports the full quiescing capabilities delivered with the new platform.

“VI3 offers companies true enterprise-class virtualization to keep their applications up 24/7/365. Any new product that supports VI3 needs to provide the same level robust functionality, and esxRanger Professional 2.0 was designed for the enterprise user,” said Azeem Mohamed, senior director of marketing and products at Vizioncore Inc. “esxRanger Professional 2.0 provides solid features that equip companies to put sophisticated backup and recovery strategies in place, and more cost-effectively than ever before.”

Pricing & Availability

esxRanger Professional 2.0 is available as a software download at www.vizioncore.com. Pricing starts at $499 per CPU socket. Enterprise licensing is also available. For more information about all Vizioncore products, please visit www.vizioncore.com.

Paul Buergey
Western US Territory Manager
Vizioncore

Office: 866-260-2483 x:134
Fax: 847-279-1868
pbuergey@vizioncore.com
www.vizioncore.com

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Download our products: http://www.vizioncore.com/download.html
For support issues please email support@vizioncore.com or call 847-603-7619 x: 3