What's New in Horizon Mirage 4.3

Having to release a newer version of Horizon Mirage from 4.2 to 4.3, there are some new features and with some limitations as well.

Here is the release note for Horizon Mirage 4.3.

You can see that in the What's New section, Horizon Mirage can now manage Persistent desktop from Horizon View.  This was not support for any virtual desktop previously as the dedup functions uses up all the CPU cycle and resulted a over demand on the ESX server.  In this release it is now only supporting full clone desktops.  You will see new upload policy setting as show below:

You can see that you can also disable client end throttling and choose that end point for this policy is optimize for LAN environment.

The next big feature is apply app layer during Windows 7 migration from Windows XP.  Previously only a base layer can be applied for migration and subsequently any new app layer/s need to be applied separately and this result some disruption to the user.  With this after migration, the app layer will also be applied when selected.

From Horizon Mirage 4.2, we were first introduced with the Web Management component just on the Web Help Manager role.  In 4.3 release, we now have a new Web Protection Manager role.  This role allows the administrator who is assigned to be able to monitor all CVD activities and finding any errors were present during synchronization.  You can refer to my previous post on the Web Help Manager.  Here I have provided how the Web Protection Manager screen would look like.

On clicking on the CVD Centralized you get to see events in the of all the CVD in this case I only have one.

Under polices, you get to see all the created policies. You can edit, delete, upgrade or even add new policy of your own.

For Volumes, you can actually block it from use.

Under Reports, it contains any report of issue here.

Clicking on it will show you the details of the report.

You can also search for a device and see all the event activities.

Limitations or not?
We know that there is a File Portal feature for the user in case their endpoint is not available and they would like to access their files.

Upon logging into the File Portal with the user credential, you will see only the standard folders in the user profile typically found e.g. Documents, Music, Pictures, etc.  You will not be able to see any other data from other drives or folder unless you have create a link in these fixed folders.

Here you will understand what I mean.  I have a E: drive which contain data but it cannot be found in the fixed folders in the File Portal.

The reason for this is simple.  If an endpoint is usable by more than one person, ACL is applied only to their respective user's folders however all users will be able to access the E: drive.  So only ACL folders can be found in the File Portal.

Hope this explains.  For those who is interested to try out Horizon Mirage you may download the trial here.

VCDX Attempts and Fallen

For some of you, you might know I have attempted VCDX defences couple of times and none was a success and after my last attempt recently I have decided to stop doing it.  The reason was not I given up hope, perhaps I have lost more touch toward post sales consulting where I used to do it and feel different from to what I am doing as a Presales.  As all my attempts were submitted with vSphere 4 design which has retired since the last defense, I have no confident in doing a brand new frictional design based on vSphere 5.  Also I can feel the way I perform during defense versus how I face customer were completely difference.  I just cannot bring myself to be the same in a defense environment and felt the different when I did it with real customers perhaps the environment was just different.

The purpose of this article would to share all my 3 attempts and the experience I have gained and each time I always feel I could do better and, Yes I can really do better but it's already over if you know what I meant.  I have improved my design with many iterations each time comments were given what I was weak in.

This is purely my own personal experience and it will differ for different individual.

I submitted 4 times of defenses as early as 2011.  Back then I just moved from IBM to British Telcom and I just tried my luck with one of my design document for defense in Germany with a payment of USD300.  Well of course I was rejected with comments provided on my proposal content.  Indeed these comments were good.  I went through my document bit by bit and improved on it.

The first time I submitted and got through the technical document assessment was for the defense in Canada in 2012.  I was excited at least my document got accepted this time.  Meaning it has some quality else I won't be invited to the defense panel.  15 hours different from where I come from was not in advantage to me.  I arrived few days earlier to adapt to the hours different.  This was my first time in a defense and was not really sure what to expect.  Was grill deep into Networking and mind went blank.  First section after, I can physically feel my brain in my head.  I did a post of this.  Of course I didn't went through.  I was caught off guard on questions outside vSphere.

Second attempt was during VMworld 2012, same as usual after receiving the comments on why I didn't do well in my panel, I improved further on my presentation and as well as my document.  This time it was 13 hours different.  To be frank, the time was affecting me this time round.  I really couldn't perform as well.  And this time I was deeply questioned on Storage which was my weakest spot.  And attempt was also a failure.

I decided to attempt my last when it appears in Singapore this time round where the last time it was here was in 2009.  This time, I am already losing lots of touch with post sales and mind went blank and I also couldn't remember some of my content of my proposal.  This was all my own fault been bad at memorizing and having to do my daily update of the latest version of vSphere to my customers really messed up my brain.

The overall experience in every attempt got me to think deeper.  Honestly I learn more every time it helps in my work during my presales engagement technically but perhaps not as applicable as a post sale consultant.

The forums and the blueprint that are sent to all the candidates when you register for the defense are a must to read.  The videos from certification here is also very good reference.  It helps me to redo my presentation style.

Be very prepared!  Know your document inside out.  You must be able to iterate what you have submitted.  Ask if you do not understand any questions been asked.  Think clearly before answering.  I did twice the mistake in my 2 attempts giving a wrong answer after giving it to realize my mistake.  Rather take sometime to think in your head to answer correctly then to give a wrong one and be penalized.  Lastly, know everything you have put into the design not just vSphere.  You need to know well all aspects that you have place in be it servers, storage and network.  You can be tested by everything here.  Even to the deepest technical questions on why this settings and not the other.  You need to know the details.

You will get deep dive questions if there ain't any more questions the panel have on your design.  That was what I felt I encountered even though I attended the bootcamp hearing that there won't be deep dive questions but more on design.

I personally feel that having no deep dive questions would not be possible.  A cynical cycle might appear just like the army for all Singaporean have to go through as as a trainee.  Your instructor plays hard on you, when you become an instructor you might inherit that and play hard on your trainee.

How your panelist behave is subjective.  The facilitator is just to watch the rules.  He/she is not technical and will not be be aware if the panelist is been "nasty" to you.

In summary, I felt I didn't do well in any of my attempts and I lack the technical knowledge in many aspect like storage and networking.  Also my design could be graded as too simple but comments would never tell you that and I have still submitted the same for all attempts.

Nevertheless, I encourage those who are familiar with vSphere to give an attempt.  Especially post sales consultant who experience it day in day out.  Do not be discourage by it. Even if you have no intention to achieve the certification, an experience of this sort is hard to come by.  If you are doing other roles you might just need more preparation work definitely.

Wishing all future participants all the best.

VMware Horizon View Persona Management Gotcha!

Remember back in the release of VMware View 5.0 (yes the name Horizon wasn't there then), I wrote an article on Deploy Persona Management Overview.  I also helped to answer one question in details here on Persona Management in the communities which now when I read it, I seems to know a lot I have forgotten already (am I aging).

While doing a POC I gotten some difficulty in getting Persona Management to work even though policy was applied via Active Directory as well as even tried on the "master" VM used for creating the desktop pool.  Here is a KB on it.

This is a screenshot on my customer environment apparently they have a global police in place to use only Local User Profiles so your persona will not work even settings it at domain policy or at local image policy.  I log into one of the View Desktop and run rsop.msc (you would need administrator rights), to see what policy is applied in the domain.  Some domain might take a bit of time up to 10mins to see the policy applied due to the number of policies they have in the domain.

Now before start any VDI solution, do note that not all policy are applicable to VDI desktop.  Yes some might be helpful still e.g. Folder redirection instead of using from Persona Management, others like the one above would hinder you to have a floating profile setup.

Keep in mind to have it excluded on the VDI desktops and the easiest we would place these VDI desktop in a separate OU.

One of our consultant, Jason Yeo  told me about Volume Shadow Service (VSS) requirement for Persona Management.  Persona Management uses VSS to capture the changes of your profile and update the repository every x period (default 10mins).  So make sure VSS service is not disable via policy in the domain or locally.  It has to be in Manual status.

I did not find any KB stating this however I found this on the Windows 7 optimization guide so if you refer to page 21, Persona management require VSS as stated.

It always good to learn something new.  Seems to find out more of Horizon View than before every time I touches it.

vSphere Network Health Check Saves The Day!

Was doing a Proof of Concept for Horizon View at one customer with a partner.  The infrastructure was setup and network trunked on the uplinks.

We started out deploying all the components leveraging on customer's Active Directory, DHCP server and as well as Database.

All was well and setup but two things was encountered:
Every Desktop pools will always have some desktops not getting IP address.
Horizon View client receive connection error after choosing a desktop or while using a desktop.

Spend a bit of time troubleshooting by the partner.  Things like using a Windows DHCP instead of Linux (customer's was linux DHCP) and putting Horizon View Connection Server in the same subnet as the Desktops.

I took over to see what have gone wrong since my partner has already done so many work.  Did some tests with my colleague, Wei Chiang who is strong in networking.  We managed to isolate the issue and even set static IP on those Desktops that does not have IP however they still have intermittent problems.  Wei Chiang then suggest to use the vSphere Network Health Check and we did.

By default the Network Health Check is not enabled.  So you have to enable it from here.

Next we did a check on the vmnics connecting to each ESX servers.

I have to masked out the VLANs set and the IPs as these are not to be revealed.

Did you see what we see?  Yes the network was either configured wrongly or the wrong vmnics was used.

A quick check with the customer's team and one of the vmnic was not correct.  So after amending the correct vmnics to be used, there are still one server vmnic trunked wrongly.

A feature we hardly use but become very useful when you really need it saves you all the time and headache.  I am starting to appreciate and love vSphere Network Health Check now.  Do note this can only be done in vSphere 5.1 and only on Virtual Distributed switch and accessible only via the vSphere Web Client.  So you are using Horizon View, you would have vSphere for Desktop that carries Enterprise Plus features.  If you are on vSphere, then you would need Enterprise Plus.

Yet another issue resolved.  This will be very useful for VMware guys where they maintain en environment and doing any changes to network or scaling out their infrastructure.  It is also very useful for implementation or consultants to make sure the network is properly configured before starting any work as not to waste unnecessary time.

Hope this is useful for those having such problem.

VMware Certifications Promotion 2013

After the big event, VMworld 2013 at San Francisco and the coming Bacelona, there will be various events to carry on the information that was announced at the APAC regional vForum or VMware Solutions Symposium at individual APAC countries.

Other than the announcements and launches of new version and products, there is also promotion for certifications announced here.

I am going to take Singapore for example here where vForum 2013 will be held on 24th Oct where information of all the events are shown here.

For Singapore, you will be able to take the certification exams like the new associates exams with 50% off the price and as well as VCP and VCAP exams at 75% off the price as shown here.  One thing as a reminder, if you are taking exams that need authorization, you will still need to go through this process which I posted here.

The information on this page is rather confusing so here I am going to make a summary for easy understanding.

Exams can be taken from 11th Nov 2013 to 15th Nov 2013 at any test centers in Singapore and the discount code will NOT work if it is outside these dates.  You can also take the exam at VMware Singapore office on the vForum date if you choose the location as Suntec Tower 4 location and this ONLY possible on 24th Oct 2013 and not any dates outside with this location selected.

Here are the screenshots:

Choosing VMware Singapore office, it can only be done on 24th Oct 2013.

Using discount code outside 11th-15th Nov 2013 time frame received the below error.











Select dates within 11th-15th Nov 2013 with any exam center in Singapore will be successful applied with 50% discount.

Hope we will have more VCPs and VCAPs.  You will have a month to prepare so start the engine!


Update 7th Nov 2013
Apparently I have feedback on the booking system and now you can really take in VMware office now on those dates.
I didn't check back on the system so just to update if you choose VMware Singapore office as your test center, you will be offered 11th Nov to 15th Nov as the available dates. 

 

What's New vSphere 5.5 in a summary

With the announcement from VMWorld 2013, vSphere 5.5 was launched.  In case you have forgotten or need to review a summary what vSphere 4.1 and 5.0 and 5.1 has, you can refer to my previous post here and here.

VMware has also release a whitepaper on the platform here.  There is also a blog post from VMware as well with a quick reference guide and a summary post here.

I will not mention again what is already mentioned above in post referred to.  But I will just briefly goes through some of the things I find it worth mentioning.

SSO installation and setup is now a breeze of the past.  It has been greatly improved.  I will do my best to do a video on upgrading and as well as installing for new field once I gather some time and you can see my current video on installing SSO in vSphere 5.1 to do that comparison.

Web Client now support MAC OS X for virtual machine console viewing.  I needed this as I am always on a Mac.

For environment that want hassle free setup of vCenter and saving from Microsoft Server license, now you can with the new VCSA.  It can now support up to 500 hosts and 5000 VMs with embedded database.

The biggest look forward was the VDMK file size which I am looking for.  This removed the requirement of multiple 2TB-512MB limitation since VMs are now getting bigger and this seems to be a show stopper.

The support for FCoE and iSCSI for MSCS really took a big leap.  With this supported, now even SME with IP storage can leverage on MSCS instead of relying just on FC.

Also High Availability (HA) is now DRS Anti-Affinity aware!  For those doing Metro-Cluster will love this since no longer you need to wait for the next DRS invocation.

There is a new feature adding on to the existing High Availability, that is Application HA (AppHA).  However this is still a 1.0 release so the number of supported applications do have a limitation and believe there will be extending this list either via the future release or via future updates.  Whichever the case here is the list of supported applications which AppHA support in this release which can also be found in the user guide.

• Apache Tomcat 6.0
• Apache Tomcat 7.0
• Apache Web Server (httpd)
• IIS 6.x
• IIS 7.x
• IIS 8.x
• SQL Server 2005
• SQL Server 2008
• SQL server 2008 R2
• SQL Server 2012
• SharePoint 2007
• SharePoint 2010
• vFabric tc Server 6.0
• vFabric tc Server 7.0

Here is a summary of for vCPU between vSphere 5.0 and 5.1.  Also the Free ESXi Hypervisor has no more hard limit of 32GB physical memory.

Number of vCPU per VM

vSphere 5.5 and Prior Edition	vCPU Entitlement	vRAM Entitlement
Free ESXi	8	Unlimited
Essential	Unlimited (8 for vSphere 5.1)	Unlimited
Essential Plus	Unlimited (8 for vSphere 5.1)	Unlimited
Standard	Unlimited  (8 for vSphere 5.1)	Unlimited
Standard with Operation Management Suite Advanced	Unlimited (8 for vSphere 5.1)	Unlimited
Enterprise	Unlimited (32 for vSphere 5.1) (8 for vSphere 5.0)	Unlimited
Enterprise Plus	Unlimited (64 for vSphere 5.1) (32 for vSphere 5.0)	Unlimited

I will update this post when more information is release.  Do check this back.

VMware Solutions Walkthrough

So its after the VMworld 2013 in US.  Many of us might be curious of some of the new features and solutions that was announced.

Hearing them why not seeing it and know how each feature or function can or configured for technical guys like myself.

So here is a gimpse of it and this have not been possible from the technical guys in VMware.  Lots of effort been put through to get this simple to understand.

vSOM (vSphere with Operations Management)
From setting up ESXi servers all the way to doing some advanced setting as well as the vC Ops Standard vApp.  Not forgeting vSphere replication as well.

vCloud Suite 5.5
Here you will see VMware Data Protection 5.5, the new AppHA, the flash cache feature and of course not forgetting vCloud Director itself. 

vSAN
The Virtual SAN product.  This is what many are looking into especially for the storage guys.  This is release a Public Beta Release which means its not available for purchase or download.  However interested parties can register for the public beta here.  Do note that, once the public beta expires, you would need to update with a proper license else your vSAN will fail.

Hope this will help many partners and end users the simplicity of setting up some of the components.  Do note that a proper implementation should be considered getting professional services from your vendors or from VMware is still advisable to build your infrastructure foundation proper.

New VMware Associate Level Certification

During VMworld 2013, other than the announcement of solutions, there was also a new certification announcement.  That is a new entry certification also known as Associate which was mentioned here.

For Data Center virtualization, we will have VCA_DV, for Cloud, VCA-Cloud and lastly for EUC, VCA-WM (a new term Workforce Mobility, which I think might replace the current name DT).

For a start, VMware has a promotion code for a 50% discount stated here.  The advantage of having an Associate certification, allows professional to have a easy head start without any prerequisites to take their first step towards VMware certification.  The cost of the exam is roughly about USD130 (SGD160 for me).  From now to end of the year 2013, when you book the associate exam, you will automatically receive 50% discount.

Some may not require to attend a course due to their scope of work but a recognition of their understanding of the technology.  With this, not only one does not have to spend on a course like VCP-DV requirement, but able to decide later if they really want to pursue the particular track of specialty later on (though VCP-DV is a foundation which need to be completed).

I have not taken this of yet so I cannot share any experience for this.  Believe those who are at VMworld perhaps they are able to do that.  Though I have completed all of the associate exams, I must say even with experience on all three tracks, the Cloud track is still a tough nut to crack.  I even failed on my first attempt and end up having to go through the blueprint and fundalmental video course in order to pass the it on my 2nd time (trying to act smart and not going through the blueprint was the main reason of failing).  By the way for those who are not aware, this is done at any computer of choice at any place of your choice (even at the comfort of your home), there is no need to go to an exam center.

You can view the respective blueprints from the certification site choosing the respective certification.

Hope to see more VMware certified professional practitioners down the road irregardless associate, professional or advanced professional.

 Here is some of the screenshot you will see:

After approval of the associate exam, you will them available in your Pearsonvue account.

The associate exams are online via your browser so you will see the typical exam page running off your computer.

On passing you will see this familiar screen. (Forgot to take the failed screen)

Update 29th Aug
Apparently some have take the associate exams and shared that this is a web based exam and no visit to the test center is required.

Update 7th Sept
Added in the experience and screenshots.

26th Sept 2013
Someone asked in the comments whether the questions are the same on retaking.  Even retaking the exam, you will still get brand new questions.  You might have some repeats but those are real minimal.  Anyhow you are still doing on your own computer so there is no way you cannot browse the training while doing at the same time.

1st Dec 2013
I have received comments and email on the VCA for dumbs and answer.  This is a exam to test your fundamental knowledge of VMware virtualization, mobility and cloud.  If you cannot pass, watch the video carefully.  There will be no dumbs or even answer that someone would make such an effort since your effort is to watch the video!

VMware Certification can be verified, Now you cannot lie!

With the recent revamped of VMware Certification site which I mentioned in my prior post, you may also see there are other enhancements in individual certification transcript.

Thanks to Choon Kok who brought this up in the VMware User Group - ASEAN.

By logging into the certification site, and choosing myTranscript to view all your certificates.

You will then see all your certifications that you hold to date.

For each certification, you will also see View and Share.

View - Let's you download a PDF of your certification.  The link is the same link as the provided in the Share popup window (Weird.  Either one of this link become redundant.  I do not see the need to provide a certificate to other if they can verify you from Share).

Share - Provide a link to others who need to make sure you are claimed who you are whether you hold a valid certification.  In here there are two options, one which is as above like View but the link has been copied down for you.  Secondary, is to provide a Authentication page, where you can provide to a anyone who need to verified your real certification status.  You can either provide the authentication site and provide the authentication code separately or you can place everything in one link.

The popup window when clicking on Share

Authentication Form site

Authenticate user will see your certification validity.

This is a nicely done piece at least now we can keep a soft copy of our certification.

Finally a system to verified a professional who claimed who he is can be verified from VMware directly by requesting from the individual to share the authentication site with customer, employer or even recruitiers!

Since everything is new there are more refinement that can be done.  At least we are seeing a big improvement since this site has make many changes!

VMware Certification Exam System Revamped

If you have been doing your booking for VMware exams, you would know you can do it over at Pearson Vue website.  However if you have now try to do the same you might find yourself seeing the below page after login and unable to make any registration.

VMware Education has recently revamped the way you make your exam booking.  Instead of viewing the information at VMware website and decide to schedule an exam and head to Pearsonvue, what VMware Education has done is let you do everything via VMware Certification site.

Head on to VMware Certification site to choose a certification you are preparing for.  Here I am going to use VCP5-DV for example.

You will find all the information for VCP5-DV including the course listing that is eligible to be certified.  At time of writing, only vSphere 5.1: Install Configure and Manager and vSphere5.1: Optimize and Scale are the only two courses (I am not here to explain how to be certified but to address the change).

To register just click on Register For The Exam.

You will see the below screen to fill in your details.

Once confirmed, an email will be sent to you just like the one below and you can head to Pearson Vue to schedule the exam.

Once you login to Pearson Vue, you will see the exam you have requested as show here.  Do note you will have to switch between normal certificate and Advanced view.  To carry on schedule the exam, just click the exam item and proceed as per normal instructions.  There is an improvement in the speed in changing exam location and time.

If you want to switch between VMware normal certification (VMware, Inc) and VMware Advanced certification, you have to click on testing program as above screenshot and check VMware Advanced and click Next on the next screen as show below:

If it is a certification that require prerequisites, you will need to request for authorization as show below.  You will receive an email once it is approved and will find it available schedule.

Next, if you have request for a registration and yet to receive a confirmation email for it and try to register another exam, you will see this error.  Apparently it seems that only one request can be done at any one time.

What if I have passed an exam before and try to register it again perhaps by mistake? You will not be able to proceed as show below.

In summary, I find there are some good improvements as well as some which can be further improve on.

The Good

• From just one page, we can now schedule an exam without having to go to multiple site.
• Prevent you from booking an exam that already passed.
• After receiving the confirmation email, the booking interface is now much faster than before.

The Bad

• Unable to remove passed exams after been added to the exam page view.
• Only can make one exam request at one any one time.
• Booking process though streamline but time to start booking is only possible after receiving the confirmation email.

Hope this post help this having trouble making an attempt to book an exam easier.

VMware Horizon Mirage Performance Catcha

It has been some time since my last post.  Have been really busy however I always make a point to at least do a meaningful post a month.  Since VMworld is also round the corner, there will be many updates from all other bloggers around the world.

Recently was doing a Proof of Concept (POC) for Horizon Mirage and was questioned on the time to centralize an end device was too long.

Here's what happen:
A simple centralize of endpoint took as long as 140mins in one setup and 52mins in another which could not have been shorter since the endpoint is plain OS image about 40GB in size.

Setup 1

First setup that took 140mins where the Horizon Mirage Server is a VM on a standalone ESXi server with local disk with two 500GB 7.2RPM SATA disks extended into one datastore.

Setup 2

The Horizon Mirage server was installed on a physical server with 500GB 7.2RPM SATA Disks on Raid 1.  This took 52mins.

Separately, my colleague did a test as well in our office network which is connected via switches and the time taken was never more than 52mins.  This got us into question.
We did a meet up with the customer this time round and find out how the was Mirage Server and the end device connect to the network.  Here is what happen.  The customer has the end device connected on a switch which is daisy chained from a core switch which Horizon Mirage Server is connected on in both setup physical and virtual Horizon Mirage server.

This was applied to both setup.  The results difference was140mins and 52mins between virtual and physical Horizon Mirage server respectively.  Do note in a virtual environment local disk was used.  I have not test if this may be faster in a SAN environment.

From setup 1 and 2, we can see that physical Mirage server seems to be performing much better than a virtual machine.

From the above diagram, you can see that the 1GE core switch bandwidth is shared among 4 x 48 ports switches.  This limit the bandwidth even though Horizon Mirage does duplication and compression, the transfer speed would be greatly affected.  The total time in this setup took 52mins to centralize one device on a physical Mirage server.

Taking Setup 2, we connect the end device directly to the core switch where Horizon Mirage server is connected to and the time to centralize was brought down from 52mins to 44mins.

From the above two setup, duplication in Horizon Mirage is performed making use of CPU cycle and writing to disk may also be affected if the Horizon Mirage server is a VM as there is a hypervisor layer.  This could have added to the longer time from 52mins to 140mins.

There is another portion which was overlooked by many.

Remember during the installation of the Horizon Mirage Server as show below from my previous post on Horizon Mirage Installation:

The path of the network cache folder, which by default points to your Horizon Mirage installation path.  However if this is located on a separate disk e.g. SSD, the performance can greatly improved.  As common data heavily read from this cache.

This works just like a front-end cache on a storage before data is destage to the disk.  For network cache to work, it would be good to centralize a couple of end devices with the same image so that most common blocks will be located in the Network cache drive.

At a later stage when centralizing a end device with similar OS type you would see greater performance improvement since uncommon blocks will only be send and the response of the disk will also be much faster comparing to a shared disk.

Hope this give you a better in sight on the things to look out for when planning for Horizon Mirage setup.