Plain Virtualization

Yes you hear me right. Check out the vSphere 8.0U3e  release notes . VMware is releasing the ESXi 8.0U3e as an entry-level hypervsor.  To download, head to https://support.broadcom.com/ and create an account if you have not done so.  Follow the screenshot below: Software> VMware Cloud Foundation>My Downloads Next click on Free Software Downloads available HERE. Scroll down to VMware vSphere Hypervisor and click on it. You will be lead to it. You will be able to download it. It will be about 618Mb That is definitely a good news for those who needs it for Home lab testing. But not sure if this going to be a one off. Also to note, it is on a 60 days trial but not sure if it behaviour the same as pre-broadcom after expiry. Thanks to Joey Ware for tipping off in Facebook group.

If you are not aware, there is a new tool announced during VMworld US 2019. That is the vSphere Assessment Tool (vSAT). To access the site, you can go here . The tool can be run on any endpoint that runs Windows, Linux and Mac. Upon login, you will see the screen below. Clicking on the Download, you will see the supported binary for the endpoint of choice. You will need to set a Passcode at the site so when you can upload it with the passcode. This passcode is to ensure the data is tie back to your account. Do note that your endpoint that runs the tool, must have access to your vSphere environment to collect the information to perform the assessment. You can add one or many vCenter to the assessment tool. Once completed, you can download the JSON file from the assessment tool and upload to the portal. You can check out the file, it does not contain sensitive data related to your environment but more of vSphere component versions. Feel free to open up and check it ou...

Something got a release note today known as vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager 1.0.  What is this software about? VMware has a bundle known as vCloud Suite.  Just a breakdown what is in vCloud Suite/ vCloud Suite is a comprises of two things: vRealize Suite + vSphere Enterprise Plus. vRealize Suite (depending on Editions) will consist of some or all of the below: vRealize Automation vRealize Business vRealize Operations Manager vRealize Log Insight vSphere (depending on edition) will consist of some or all of the below: vCenter Standard (purchase separately) ESXi vSphere Replication vSphere Data Protection (last major edition) vSphere Big Data Extension Looking at the above, you start to see that installing and managing the upgrade will be a big tedious process.  Lots of planning and double and triple check the compatibility matrix. So here comes vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager.  This handles the deployment and patching...

VMware announced the release of NSX 6.2.3 with the release notes .  So what is unusual of this release you might ask.  Well other than feature and functions or bug fixes, this also something on licensing. So what on licensing you might ask other than the previous announcement on having Standard, Advanced and Enterprise editions of NSX. Finally moving forward, vCNS Manager which has always been the key function for vShield Endpoint for AV offloading function is been replaced by NSX in this release. Looking the release notes: " Change in default license & evaluation key distribution : default license upon install is "NSX for vShield Endpoint", which enables use of NSX for deploying and managing vShield Endpoint for anti-virus offload capability only. Evaluation license keys can be requested through VMware sales. " This means default installation of NSX will be enabled with vShield Endpoint function just like vCNS Manager which is ending its support soon. ...

On 25th Jun 2014, VMware has announced the availability of Horizon Mirage 5.0.  This marks another milestone to complete the full Horizon 6 release (shorting vC Ops 6 for View). Key features in my opinions: 1) The interesting features other than the support of Windows 8.1, is the cross migration between 32 bits and 64 bits OS.  A summary below: Windows XP 32 bits to Windows 7 32 bits & 64 bits Windows Vista 32 bits to Windows 7 32 bits & 64 bits Windows Vista 64 bits to Windows 7 64 bits Windows 7 32 bits to Windows 8.1 32 bits & 64 bits Windows 7 64 bits to Windows 8.1 64 bits 2) The next is one of the chore I find is the in place upgrade.  You no longer have to follow the old upgrade process by uninstalling the previous version followed by installing again as stated in the KB .  Just by clicking the Horizon 5.0 setup files, it will detect and upgrade accordingly and shutting down any services if required (prompts are provided to go ahe...

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 cop...

The announcement for Horizon Suite for the End User Computing (EUC) solution has been announced on 20th Feb 2013.  The release binary will be available in 4th March 2013.  You can read about here . I am very excited with this launch as it consists of 3 major components out of this suite.  Each with its own used cases and all combined to provide a new era of End User Computing experience.  You can see an overview video below: Horizon Suite If you remember during the VMworld 2011, there was two Projects announced with it which was part of EUC, Project Octopus and Project Appblast. With the announcement for Horizon Suite, you will know find there are this components namely Horizon Workspace, Horizon View, Horizon Mirage. To see a whole integration of Horizon Suite nicely done, take a look at the demo below by Andre Leibovici: Horizon Suite Demo Horizon Workspace incorporated two solutions which was once known as Horizon App Manager and also the Pro...