Server virtualization management tools and practices

While virtual systems management tools and best practices can improve virtual machine (VM) performance, ease virtual management burdens, and help administrators plan for system ... More about Server virtualization management tools and practices

Recent Definitions

• transparent page sharing

  - Transparent page sharing (TPS) is a memory management technology in virtualization.

• virtual machine lifecycle management (VMLM)

  - Virtual machine lifecycle management is a set of processes designed to help administrators oversee the implement...

• virtual server farm

  - A virtual server farm is a networking environment that employs multiple application and infrastructure servers running on two or more physical serve...

Highlights

• Five tips for building a VMware virtual infrastructure

• Use your PowerShell prowess to add VHD files to a Hyper-V VM

• Working with the limitations of SAN-based backups and backup tools

More Server virtualization management tools and practices Topics

• Virtual machine performance management

• Capacity planning for virtualization

• Virtual machine provisioning and configuration

• Virtual machine monitoring, troubleshooting and alerting

• P2V, V2V and V2P migration

Server virtualization security management and compliance policies

For virtualization administrators, virtual machine security has become an increasing concern. How do you monitor VMs for potential security risks and breaches? How do you preven... More about Server virtualization security management and compliance policies

Recent Definitions

• VM stall

  - VM stall is the point where it becomes just as cost-effective to deploy a physical server as it is to deploy a virtual server.

• virtual switch

  - A virtual switch is a software program that allows one virtual machine (VM) to communicate with another.

• virtual networking

  - Virtual networking is a technology that facilitates the control of one or more remotely located computers or servers over the Internet... (Continued)

Highlights

• Dry advisories leave many unsatisfied with VMware security updates

• VM lifecycle management: Beware the immortal VM

• CloudPhysics' resource management tool studies virtual infrastructures

More Server virtualization security management and compliance policies Topics

• Server virtualization risks and monitoring

• Server virtualization compliance and governance

Server virtualization hypervisors and management

VMware, Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization and Citrix Systems' XenServer present pros and cons in terms of your virtualization architecture and strategy. Whether you use a singl... More about Server virtualization hypervisors and management

Recent Definitions

• Red Hat Storage (RHS)

  - Red Hat Storage is a new distributed file system based on the Gluster file system.

• differencing disk

  - A differencing disk is a virtual hard disk (VHD) that stores changes made to another VHD or to the guest operating system.

• software-defined data center (SDDC)

  - A software-defined data center (SDDC) is a data storage facility in which all elements of the infrastructure -- networking, ...

Highlights

• Drawing up an effective VMware vSphere design from scratch

• VMware's vCenter Certificate Automation Tool is too little, too late

• How do RHEV features stack up to vSphere and Hyper-V?

More Server virtualization hypervisors and management Topics

• VMware virtualization

• VMware management tools

• VMware conference coverage

• Microsoft Hyper-V and Virtual Server

• VMware administration and how-tos

• Microsoft Hyper-V management

• Citrix XenServer

• Open source virtualization

• Oracle VM and other virtualization technologies

• Virtualization vendor comparisons

Server virtualization infrastructure and architecture

How you build your virtualization infrastructure and architecture is one of the most major decisions you make, and your choices will dictate whether your virtualized environment... More about Server virtualization infrastructure and architecture

Recent Definitions

• server hardware degradation

  - Server hardware degradation is the gradual breakdown of the physical parts of a server.

• STONITH (Shoot The Other Node In The Head)

  - STONITH (Shoot The Other Node In The Head) is a technique for NodeFencing used by high availability clusters that ...

• Cluster Labs Pacemaker

  - Pacemaker is an open source high-availability cluster software developed from a collaboration between Red Hat and Novell.

Highlights

• Networking blogs: Owning data center monitoring, push for OpenStack

• Drawing up an effective VMware vSphere design from scratch

• Five tips for building a VMware virtual infrastructure

More Server virtualization infrastructure and architecture Topics

• Server hardware and virtualization

• Network virtualization

• Virtualized clusters and high-performance computing

• Cloud computing architecture

• Cloud computing infrastructure

• Application virtualization

• Using virtual machine appliances

• Introduction to virtualization and how-tos

• Networking for Server Virtualization

Virtualization backup and disaster recovery strategies

With server virtualization for disaster recovery, you can develop a business continuity strategy that includes backup and recovery techniques with virtualized servers rather tha... More about Virtualization backup and disaster recovery strategies

Recent Definitions

• Cluster Labs Pacemaker

  - Pacemaker is an open source high-availability cluster software developed from a collaboration between Red Hat and Novell.

• Red Hat Storage (RHS)

  - Red Hat Storage is a new distributed file system based on the Gluster file system.

• memory mirroring

  - Memory mirroring is the division of memory on a server into two channels. The first channel is mirrored to the second channel, creating a redundant copy ...

Highlights

• Is there a rule of thumb for how often to create a snapshot?

• Important considerations for security and protection of VM data

• Working with the limitations of SAN-based backups and backup tools

More Virtualization backup and disaster recovery strategies Topics

• Disaster recovery, failover and high availability for virtual servers

• Virtual server backup and storage

Server virtualization staffing, careers and budget

Server virtualization has enabled companies to reduce IT budgets by cutting server hardware costs, reducing data center footprint and space needs, improving IT operational effic... More about Server virtualization staffing, careers and budget

Recent Definitions

• MCSE Private Cloud (Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert Private Cloud)

  - Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) Private Cloud is a new Mic...

• CompTIA Cloud Essentials

  - CompTIA Cloud Essentials is an entry-level, vendor-neutral cloud certification.

Highlights

• Don't fear an automation tool--it may be your best bet at job security

• IT budget planning in the face of an eventual cloud migration

• Microsoft's MCSE Private Cloud and new virtualization certifications

Server virtualization strategies and use cases

There are several ways to use virtualization, from setting up test and development environments to consolidating physical servers and, thus, reducing hardware costs to equipping... More about Server virtualization strategies and use cases

Recent Definitions

• virtual server farm

  - A virtual server farm is a networking environment that employs multiple application and infrastructure servers running on two or more physical serve...

• RHCVA (Red Hat Certified Virtualization Administrator)

  - The Red Hat Certified Virtualization Administrator (RHCVA) is a certification exam from Red Hat,...

• Hyper-V Replica

  - Hyper-V Replica is a free disaster recovery tool in Hyper-V 3.0 that creates and maintains copies of virtual machines (VMs ). In the event of a catastroph...

Highlights

• Are you up to speed on VMware EUC technology?

• DevOps quiz: What IT admins need to know

• Hypervisors offer built-in disaster recovery management features

More Server virtualization strategies and use cases Topics

• Desktop virtualization

• Virtualized test and development environments

• Cloud computing and virtualization strategies

• Server consolidation with virtualization

• Disaster recovery strategies, business continuity and virtualization

Benefits of server virtualization

Server virtualization brings clear benefits, including server consolidation and improved resource utilization, reduced power consumption and greater IT efficiency, reduced costs... More about Benefits of server virtualization

Recent Definitions

• transparent page sharing

  - Transparent page sharing (TPS) is a memory management technology in virtualization.

• IT showback

  - An IT showback system tracks the data center utilization rates of an organization’s business units or end users. IT showback is similar to IT chargeback, but th...

• virtual machine (VM)

  - A virtual machine (VM) is an environment, usually a program or operating system, which does not physically exist but is created within another envi...

Highlights

• Don't fear an automation tool--it may be your best bet at job security

• Three ways to boost server efficiency and avoid hypervisor contention

• How to calculate proper Windows Server 2012 virtualization licensing

More Benefits of server virtualization Topics

• Server consolidation and improved resource utilization

• Green data center: Reducing power consumption with virtualization

• Reducing IT costs with server virtualization

• Improving server management with virtualization

Challenges of server virtualization

Despite the clear benefits of server virtualization, there are obvious challenges to successful server virtualization deployment, including server virtualization management hurd... More about Challenges of server virtualization

Recent Definitions

• IT showback

  - An IT showback system tracks the data center utilization rates of an organization’s business units or end users. IT showback is similar to IT chargeback, but th...

• virtual machine (VM)

  - A virtual machine (VM) is an environment, usually a program or operating system, which does not physically exist but is created within another envi...

• infrastructure management (IM)

  - For an organization's information technology, infrastructure management (IM) is the management of essential operation components, su...

Highlights

• IT budget planning in the face of an eventual cloud migration

• VMware pricing under fire from Hyper-V, cloud

• Three ways to boost server efficiency and avoid hypervisor contention

More Challenges of server virtualization Topics

• Virtualization costs, licensing and support issues

• Virtualization security and patch management

• Downtime and data loss in virtualized environments

• Preventing virtual machine sprawl