Plain Virtualization

It has been sometimes that I last setup my Horizon View Transfer server back when it was in version 5.0. Today as I need to setup in a Horizon View 5.2, I have to start creating.  So my setup was pretty simple, I have a share drive on the Transfer Server (this can be anywhere), and the binary installation was smooth. I couldn't find any much details of the restriction from the installation guide, but I did remember version 5.2 support Hardware version 9 which was previously not supported.  Also PVSCI was also supported for the virtual SCSI controller for the disk. After logging into Horizon View Administrator portal, I added the Transfer Server.  It was then rebooted with configuration to add in 4 virtual SCSI controllers. Now come the exciting part.  I could not add in the respository and keey getting error: " Error: 59 - Problem verifying information for an image repository" I was stuck!  D oing a G oogle returns me the closest KB but with a di ff...

With the release of vSphere 5.1 Update 1, all components that has a dependency with vCenter would be updated.  That would include vCenter Heartbeat, Site Recovery Manager, vCenter Orchestrator, vSphere Storage Appliance, vCloud Director, vSphere Data Protection and not forgeting VMware Converter Standalone. As we all know that VMware Converter Standalone is free comparing with other Converter products which are chargeable by per system/VM.  But the reason that most of us would go to other solutions because we have systems with GPT disks or UEFI firmware interface. With the release of VMware Converter Standalone 5.1, it now has new features with the support of UEFI source machines as well as GPT support and many other which you can refer to the Release Notes .  Of course with the new release it will also support the latest OS like Windows 8 and Windows 2012 and file format EXT4. Though this support came a little bit late, but at least now we are able to save a littl...

I have many people asking me how to share or what can I share to a user on Horizon Workspace.  So Here I am going to share with you some screenshot and understand what can or cannot be done. We will be able to have a preview of normal office documents, pictures as well as PDF files in Horizon Workspace.  However if its a unknown format or files that cannot be display per se e.g. zip files, it will not be display. Now let's talk about sharing of files and folder. First of all, you are able to share file or folder to outside external parties from your domain.  This enable users to share file with third parties outside the domain.  External party will not be able to install the Horizon Workspace client as his account are not connected to the internal Horizon Workspace server. Below is a screenshot on the context menu you will see when you click to share a Folder or a File. Sharing a Folder Sharing a File When you share a File you will be provided w...

As stated in my previous post ,  there was a bug in the Vmware Data Protection (VDP) which was release with vSphere 5.1 in backing up Windows 2008 R2 OS VM. As of today, a new release of VDP 5.1.10 is been release as stated here .  There are also some added enhancement which you can read about.  You may refer to the release notes here . With this release, the VDR to VDP migration utility is now make available.  I would like to stress this again, the migration only migrate the data and restore points and NO backup jobs are migrated.  Backup jobs need to be recreated in VDP.  There is no migration utility in VDP Advanced.  The correct way is to migrate from VDR to VDP then to VDP Advance.

From the announcement of vSphere 5.1 in Aug 2012 to it's GA in October, it been a short period of time that VMware has managed to release in merely 6 months. Here is the vSphere 5.1 Hardening Guide .  In case you are looking for the rest of the hardening guides for the other versions, you can locate them here .

References: VMware Compatiblity Guide VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes Business Applications on VMware Platform I have been asked many times if this hardware will support that hardware or does this solution support the other solution?  What are the databases supported?  Which storage support VMware Site Recovery Manager? It's pretty easy to find this out but if you do not know how to you might end up goggling and find yourself with lots of links but not very closed to your expected results.  Reason is these are all based on search engines so unless someone posted that on the internet else it would be hard to come by. Below is a video on how you can easily navigate on VMware website to look for the compatibility matrix that you are looking for.  Do not that as not all hardware are send in for certification, the newest and greatest might not be listed in the database.  For that, you will need to check back with the respective hardware vendor. ...

Today I encounter a problem with my Home lab.  As you know I have set up Horizon Workspace with Horizon View integration completed.  Horizon View with Feature Pack 1.  Everything was working fine I was able to access via PCoIP via the Horizon View client as well as via HTML5 via the Blast protocol. However yesterday, I did a re-installation of my Horizon View Security Server.  Today when I was trying to access my desktop via HTML5 or via Horizon Workspace through HTML it all fail. I receive timeout on connecting to the desktop.  So I tested with Horizon View Client and it works.  So I have isolate this to be Blast connection related only. Here you see on my browser I enabled Firebug to trace the connection and realize it stop there with a blank screen of the Blast. After few seconds later, I get a connection time out. I decide to recall what has changed in my environment and notice what I did yesterday.  So what connect back to my Horizo...

Below is an video on how you can install and setup a VMware Horizon Mirage server.  Do note that this video was done using Mirage 3.6 SP1.  The installation does not change however the installation interface but differ just a little bit. You may refer to the Administration Guide for the installation guide found here . Please note that you can configure the server after all are installed instead of what I did in the video to have license imported before carrying on the installation of Mirage Server. Make sure your Mirage Server do have enough space for storing the images and cache.  I have to do that in the middle of the video as I forgot about it. The installation order should be as follows: Mirage Management Server Mirage Management Console Mirage Server Mirage Web Access (optional) For SQL database, if you are using the default instance name, you do not have to fill in the sql instance name else you would hit an error. If you are doing Windows upgrad...

On my previous post on VMware Horizon Suite, in it I provided some of the articles and one of them is a Reviewer's Guide . Going through the guide you might hit some hiccups.  Here I have show some of the resolution to get around it. Before we start, I assume you would have done your VMware Horizon View 5.2 if you are keen to integrate with Horizon Workspace. An overview before configuring the vApp. Make sure you do have the resources stated to run the Horizon Workspace vApp.  Do not downsize the resources as this will results in unexpected errors. Prior to setup, make sure you have create all entry for Forward and Reverse DNS and as well as SMTP server. Create IP Pool under vSphere Client under Datacenter. On Page 30, for Base DN,m its best to put the domain that you are going to work with entitling the user.  If you use a Group, the user can only below within that group. On Page 31, include all the groups and OU where the users will be located.  Tha...