I recently read and enjoyed the “quick read” book Oops by Aubrey Daniels. The book is interesting as it focuses on human behavior and discusses management practices, policies and processes that motivate and de-motivate employees. The essence of the book is that business managers need to focus on frequent positive reinforcement of behavior and that motivating through discipline and fear is not effective for long term success. Mr. Daniels makes the analogy of games that we play and how we are constantly getting positive reinforcement when we make that great shot or move as we play. Managers need to reinforce positive behavior regularly and often as well. One practice he points out that does not work is the employee of the month because the metrics are usually not clear and it creates a negative feeling from everyone except that one person. Mr. Daniels suggests a better practice would be to create clear metrics and then recognize everyone who meets or exceeds the threshold. Do this more often – daily if possible!
I think that the book is worth reading. Motivating and driving desired employee behavior is extremely important and there are not many books that focus entirely on this.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Interoperability in the Data Center
Microsoft submitted source code yesterday to be included in the Linux Kernal. This move has been seen by many as another step by Microsoft in embracing Linux, Open Source and interoperability. The code will allow Linux to run on Windows 2008 and Hyper-V. This is also seen as necessary to compete and put pressure on VMWare.
“By allowing greater ability to run Linux on the Hyper-V virtualization platform, Microsoft is making a compelling case that it could be the virtualization vendor of choice for consolidation of Windows and Linux applications” says Gartner analyst George Weiss from PC World article:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/168759/microsoft_linux_move_puts_pressure_on_vmware.html
In either case, Microsoft’s realease of source code to Linux community is another step toward interoperability in the data center where companies have historically continued to compete on standards and not just products. Businesses have a choice to push to add to the bottom line or spend on interoperability. Until interoperating drives to bottom line, it doesn’t happen. In the world of virtualization, interoperability is driving profits so we are seeing this change in behavior. Ultimately the user will benefit from the interoperability and this is one more way the shift to virtualization is helping the industry!
“By allowing greater ability to run Linux on the Hyper-V virtualization platform, Microsoft is making a compelling case that it could be the virtualization vendor of choice for consolidation of Windows and Linux applications” says Gartner analyst George Weiss from PC World article:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/168759/microsoft_linux_move_puts_pressure_on_vmware.html
In either case, Microsoft’s realease of source code to Linux community is another step toward interoperability in the data center where companies have historically continued to compete on standards and not just products. Businesses have a choice to push to add to the bottom line or spend on interoperability. Until interoperating drives to bottom line, it doesn’t happen. In the world of virtualization, interoperability is driving profits so we are seeing this change in behavior. Ultimately the user will benefit from the interoperability and this is one more way the shift to virtualization is helping the industry!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
The future of Technology
Bill Buxton, Principal Researcher at Microsoft spoke yesterday at Microsoft World Partner Conference #WPC09. Mr. Buxton primarily presented on multi-touch screen technology and this technology is very cool. He also talked about the future of technology and how technology will work in the future. He spoke of how monitors in general will be everywhere and I think computers in general will be everywhere. You can now purchase a notebook computer at Best Buy on clearance for $350!
Mr. Buxton talked about how 10 years ago he purposed the question “What if broadband internet were essentially free” and today it is essentially free! He then said this is essentially what is happening with monitors and I would argue computers – in the near future they will be essentially free. How will this impact our lives?
Mr. Buxton said that figuring out how technology will impact us in the future is the challenge. He said “nothing we know about technology today, we did not know 10 years ago.” How we use the technology to benefit our lives? It is how we interact with technology with our brain - incidentally our brain is “90% water.”
Mr. Buxton finished with a quote by French Novelist, Marcel Prost:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Mr. Buxton talked about how 10 years ago he purposed the question “What if broadband internet were essentially free” and today it is essentially free! He then said this is essentially what is happening with monitors and I would argue computers – in the near future they will be essentially free. How will this impact our lives?
Mr. Buxton said that figuring out how technology will impact us in the future is the challenge. He said “nothing we know about technology today, we did not know 10 years ago.” How we use the technology to benefit our lives? It is how we interact with technology with our brain - incidentally our brain is “90% water.”
Mr. Buxton finished with a quote by French Novelist, Marcel Prost:
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Steve Ballmer's Presentation at Microsoft World Partner Conference
I am in New Orleans at the Microsoft World Partner Conference 2009 #WPC09 and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO gave his presentation this morning. Mr. Ballmer was very energetic as always and appeared very excited about Bing and the launch of so many products: Windows 7, IE 8, Silverlight 3.0, Office 2010, Windows 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 R2, Windows Mobile 6.5.
Mr. Ballmer talked about the leaps in technology we are seeing and how Microsoft is on the edge of technology that can understand human language meaning and not just keyword search. He also mentioned the new visual recognition technology developed in the gaming group.
Mr. Ballmer talked about the difficult economy but encouraged everyone to power through this economy and think long term. He said “We can’t fix the economy, but we can innovate and help customers.” He went on to explain that Microsoft will invest 9.5 Billion dollars in R&D in these 8 areas: Windows and IE, Windows Mobile, Communications, Server, Enterprise Infrastructure, Search, Entertainment, and ERP. Mr. Ballmer said “long term, long term, long term! Is Microsoft going to go home? We don’t go home!”
Mr. Ballmer talked about the leaps in technology we are seeing and how Microsoft is on the edge of technology that can understand human language meaning and not just keyword search. He also mentioned the new visual recognition technology developed in the gaming group.
Mr. Ballmer talked about the difficult economy but encouraged everyone to power through this economy and think long term. He said “We can’t fix the economy, but we can innovate and help customers.” He went on to explain that Microsoft will invest 9.5 Billion dollars in R&D in these 8 areas: Windows and IE, Windows Mobile, Communications, Server, Enterprise Infrastructure, Search, Entertainment, and ERP. Mr. Ballmer said “long term, long term, long term! Is Microsoft going to go home? We don’t go home!”
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Billion Dollar Lessons the Why and How
I am just finishing up Billion Dollar Lessons by Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui. The book at the end discusses why we make strategic business mistakes and how to avoid them. The why part is related to another rule I heard recently in regard to technology - The rule is that people value technology they have or use by a factor of 3 more than they are actual worth and discount technology that they don’t know or have by a factor of 3. The result is a factor of about 10 between technology we have and don’t have. This explains passionate differences people have between Macs and PCs or Linux and Windows! The book discusses how we are swayed to decisions based on what we already have, peers and leaders. We as humans have a really difficult time looking at anything objectively as we always have contextual bias. They discuss many ways to try to combat this and I break this down to four things to strive for in management and strategic decision making:
1. Conflict is good – Meetings need conflict otherwise you have false consensus, bad decisions and boring meetings!
2. If necessary, assign someone on the team to be the “devil’s advocate” and postpone the decision until some contrary points are found. Mine for conflict – seek it!
3. Create diverse teams so that you have many perspectives
4. Leadership is important however, be wary of over powerful leadership that squashes anyone who challenges their ideas –Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were great leaders!
I recommend reading the book if you have the time it is entertaining, easy to read and great information.
Here is my previous post on June 1, 2009 if you would like to look at it:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009/06/billion-dollar-lesson-by-paul-carroll.html
1. Conflict is good – Meetings need conflict otherwise you have false consensus, bad decisions and boring meetings!
2. If necessary, assign someone on the team to be the “devil’s advocate” and postpone the decision until some contrary points are found. Mine for conflict – seek it!
3. Create diverse teams so that you have many perspectives
4. Leadership is important however, be wary of over powerful leadership that squashes anyone who challenges their ideas –Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were great leaders!
I recommend reading the book if you have the time it is entertaining, easy to read and great information.
Here is my previous post on June 1, 2009 if you would like to look at it:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009/06/billion-dollar-lesson-by-paul-carroll.html
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
New book: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-652): Configuring Windows Server Virtualization
Microsoft Press - New Book:
Server virtualization is one of the hottest technologies today, despite a very tough economy. According to a recent IDC study, spending on virtualization is expected to approach $15 billion worldwide this year. The study estimates that over three-quarters of all companies with more than 500 employees are deploying virtual servers.
A strong growth in virtualization means more and better IT jobs for those skilled in the technology. And getting certified is a great way to validate those skills to your current and prospective employers.
To help you on the path to certification, we’re introducing the newest Microsoft Press Training Kit: MCTS Study Guide (Exam 70-652): Configuring Windows Server Virtualization (Microsoft Press, 2009; ISBN: 9780735626799; 656 pages), authored by Nelson Ruest and Danielle Ruest.
Danielle and Nelson were kind enough to send a few words on the book and their thoughts on Virtualization. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!
From Danielle and Nelson Ruest:
Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we toured the U.S. to deliver a series of presentations on virtualization and its impact in the modern datacenter, as well as its impact on server sprawl. We visited over 30 cities and talked to thousands of people in all stages of implementation.
One thing we discovered was that in each and every case, people wanted to know how to move to virtualization—what to do first, how to prepare their infrastructure, how to migrate their physical machines, how to administer hosts and virtual machines, and how to make the most of virtualization in general. This is what we wrote about in the 70-652 Training Kit, beyond providing solid support for passing the exam.
From our discussions with conference attendees, we knew that there are three starting points for organizations moving to Hyper-V virtual infrastructures:
Organizations that are not using virtualization at all
Organizations that are using software virtualization tools such as Microsoft Virtual Server
Organizations that are using a hypervisor other than Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V
The book begins by outlining each of these three potential positions and then moves on to provide a structured step-by-step approach to implementing Hyper-V based on your own starting point. It covers the creation of the host server infrastructure, the preparation of your administrative framework for the infrastructure, the migration of server operating systems—whether physical or virtual—to Hyper-V virtual machines, the implementation of high availability strategies for your VMs, the automation of Hyper-V operations through Windows PowerShell, the implementation of a secure Hyper-V infrastructure and more.
Like all of our other books, this guide takes you through the various stages of deployment and then provides guidance on how to administer the infrastructure once it is in place. This is also the approach we used in MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-238): Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. In both cases, the guides let you learn all you need to know to pass the exam, but also provide everyday guidance on how to use the product.
In addition, the 70-652 Training Kit provides deep content for studying and passing exam 70-403, Configuring System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 as well as providing updates on Hyper-V R2 features and functionalities. Two chapters have been made available for free: Chapter 6, Migrate to Hyper-V and Chapter 8, Securing Hosts and Virtual Machines. Find them here and get your first taste of what a Hyper-V deployment can and should be like. Good luck with the exam! Danielle and Nelson
Server virtualization is one of the hottest technologies today, despite a very tough economy. According to a recent IDC study, spending on virtualization is expected to approach $15 billion worldwide this year. The study estimates that over three-quarters of all companies with more than 500 employees are deploying virtual servers.
A strong growth in virtualization means more and better IT jobs for those skilled in the technology. And getting certified is a great way to validate those skills to your current and prospective employers.
To help you on the path to certification, we’re introducing the newest Microsoft Press Training Kit: MCTS Study Guide (Exam 70-652): Configuring Windows Server Virtualization (Microsoft Press, 2009; ISBN: 9780735626799; 656 pages), authored by Nelson Ruest and Danielle Ruest.
Danielle and Nelson were kind enough to send a few words on the book and their thoughts on Virtualization. Merci beaucoup, mes amis!
From Danielle and Nelson Ruest:
Over the course of 2007 and 2008, we toured the U.S. to deliver a series of presentations on virtualization and its impact in the modern datacenter, as well as its impact on server sprawl. We visited over 30 cities and talked to thousands of people in all stages of implementation.
One thing we discovered was that in each and every case, people wanted to know how to move to virtualization—what to do first, how to prepare their infrastructure, how to migrate their physical machines, how to administer hosts and virtual machines, and how to make the most of virtualization in general. This is what we wrote about in the 70-652 Training Kit, beyond providing solid support for passing the exam.
From our discussions with conference attendees, we knew that there are three starting points for organizations moving to Hyper-V virtual infrastructures:
Organizations that are not using virtualization at all
Organizations that are using software virtualization tools such as Microsoft Virtual Server
Organizations that are using a hypervisor other than Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V
The book begins by outlining each of these three potential positions and then moves on to provide a structured step-by-step approach to implementing Hyper-V based on your own starting point. It covers the creation of the host server infrastructure, the preparation of your administrative framework for the infrastructure, the migration of server operating systems—whether physical or virtual—to Hyper-V virtual machines, the implementation of high availability strategies for your VMs, the automation of Hyper-V operations through Windows PowerShell, the implementation of a secure Hyper-V infrastructure and more.
Like all of our other books, this guide takes you through the various stages of deployment and then provides guidance on how to administer the infrastructure once it is in place. This is also the approach we used in MCITP Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-238): Deploying Messaging Solutions with Microsoft® Exchange Server 2007. In both cases, the guides let you learn all you need to know to pass the exam, but also provide everyday guidance on how to use the product.
In addition, the 70-652 Training Kit provides deep content for studying and passing exam 70-403, Configuring System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 as well as providing updates on Hyper-V R2 features and functionalities. Two chapters have been made available for free: Chapter 6, Migrate to Hyper-V and Chapter 8, Securing Hosts and Virtual Machines. Find them here and get your first taste of what a Hyper-V deployment can and should be like. Good luck with the exam! Danielle and Nelson
Monday, June 29, 2009
Virtualizing Exchange
I am on vacation these two weeks so here is a guest Blog Post:
Tom Raisbeck
VP Professional Service
Nortec
I often get asked about virtualizing Exchange on Hyper-V or VMware? Some people think it is a bad idea to virtualize Exchange under all circumstances - this is not true! You get many advantages from virtualizing Exchange if you spec it out right. However, no matter if you spec it out perfectly or not, there is the question of whether Microsofft will support your build. Here are some tips to keep Microsoft support:
1. Exchange 2007 is supported on 64-bit hypervisors or kernels only. 32-bit is not supported. VMware 3.x is 32-bit and although Microsoft has not said they will not support this it does seem they moved the goal posts.
2. Dynamic disks are not supported.
3. Differencing disks are not supported.
4. Snapshots are not supported.
5. Exchange 2007 SP1 or better is supported on Hyper-V.
6. Exchange 2003 SP2 or better is only supported on Windows Virtual Server 2005 R2.
7. More than two virtual processors per physical core is not supported
8. Unified Messaging role is not supported
9. Storage must be fixed, pass-through SCSI, or iSCSI. Set up all advanced packet management at the host level.
10. Hardware-based VSS or VDS not supported
11. 2040GB limit for the VHD file.
Tom Raisbeck
VP Professional Service
Nortec
I often get asked about virtualizing Exchange on Hyper-V or VMware? Some people think it is a bad idea to virtualize Exchange under all circumstances - this is not true! You get many advantages from virtualizing Exchange if you spec it out right. However, no matter if you spec it out perfectly or not, there is the question of whether Microsofft will support your build. Here are some tips to keep Microsoft support:
1. Exchange 2007 is supported on 64-bit hypervisors or kernels only. 32-bit is not supported. VMware 3.x is 32-bit and although Microsoft has not said they will not support this it does seem they moved the goal posts.
2. Dynamic disks are not supported.
3. Differencing disks are not supported.
4. Snapshots are not supported.
5. Exchange 2007 SP1 or better is supported on Hyper-V.
6. Exchange 2003 SP2 or better is only supported on Windows Virtual Server 2005 R2.
7. More than two virtual processors per physical core is not supported
8. Unified Messaging role is not supported
9. Storage must be fixed, pass-through SCSI, or iSCSI. Set up all advanced packet management at the host level.
10. Hardware-based VSS or VDS not supported
11. 2040GB limit for the VHD file.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Quote from IT Savvy by R. Weil and J. W. Ross
I am reading IT Savvy and so far it is pretty good! I came across a quote I liked regarding typical solutions when management is not pleased with their technology:
Fire the the CIO. If the firm just needs someone to blame, management may be inclined to bring in a new face. As with any senior management position, it's possible that a firm has an ineffective CIO, but it's often the case that the rest of the management team hasn't embraced its responsibilities to define and implement effective business processes. Blaming the CIO may simply be one way for business leaders to abdicate accountability for IT.
- Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross
The entire management team needs to share in the responsibility of having technology integrated with business processes. This concept reinforces the need for communication, alignment and having an IT Plan!
Fire the the CIO. If the firm just needs someone to blame, management may be inclined to bring in a new face. As with any senior management position, it's possible that a firm has an ineffective CIO, but it's often the case that the rest of the management team hasn't embraced its responsibilities to define and implement effective business processes. Blaming the CIO may simply be one way for business leaders to abdicate accountability for IT.
- Peter Weill and Jeanne W. Ross
The entire management team needs to share in the responsibility of having technology integrated with business processes. This concept reinforces the need for communication, alignment and having an IT Plan!
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
What is a business looking for from information Technology?
I read many articles on alignment of information technology (IT) and priorities so it made me think about what a business is looking for from IT. The answer of course is that it depends on the kind of business so I will focus here on the professional information worker business with half mobile professionals and half in office staff roles.
Here is my List of 6 High Priority Business IT Needs:
1. Most important the technology systems must be stable and up 99.999% or something close to that – Really 101 stuff here!
2. Today more than ever the systems must accommodate mobility of the work force on the road and the transition in and out of the office.
3. Employees need to have freedom to use technology – Old school restrictive strategies are just that. The lines blurred between work time and personal time so the employee needs access to business and personal technical resources.
3. Resourcefulness – IT Budgets are being cut so must do more with less!
4. Security of information
5. Information library and collaboration tools
6. Everything paperless – No paper forums to fill out.
Of course businesses also need the key aplications like office suite, email and ERP/accounting system.
Here is my List of 6 High Priority Business IT Needs:
1. Most important the technology systems must be stable and up 99.999% or something close to that – Really 101 stuff here!
2. Today more than ever the systems must accommodate mobility of the work force on the road and the transition in and out of the office.
3. Employees need to have freedom to use technology – Old school restrictive strategies are just that. The lines blurred between work time and personal time so the employee needs access to business and personal technical resources.
3. Resourcefulness – IT Budgets are being cut so must do more with less!
4. Security of information
5. Information library and collaboration tools
6. Everything paperless – No paper forums to fill out.
Of course businesses also need the key aplications like office suite, email and ERP/accounting system.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Virtualization Mistakes to Avoid
1. Do not cowboy virtualization – Capacity planning and architecture is extremely important when implementing a virtual infrastructure
2. Do not put VM or Virtualization anywhere in the name of your virtual machines.
3. Keep people from launching too many virtual servers – When you can deploy a virtual server in 10 minutes it is easy to get out of control – Chasing a monster!
4. Do not try to use old methods of disaster recovery in virtualized infrastructure - create a fresh architecture for your virtualized infrastructure.
5. When planning disaster recovery solution think broad overall solution and not point solutions – DR solutions are almost always too narrow!
6. Think about fail over and also fail back – Plan how you will restore to your original system and make it a manual process.
Also see previous virtualization mistakes to avoid in post on May 27:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
2. Do not put VM or Virtualization anywhere in the name of your virtual machines.
3. Keep people from launching too many virtual servers – When you can deploy a virtual server in 10 minutes it is easy to get out of control – Chasing a monster!
4. Do not try to use old methods of disaster recovery in virtualized infrastructure - create a fresh architecture for your virtualized infrastructure.
5. When planning disaster recovery solution think broad overall solution and not point solutions – DR solutions are almost always too narrow!
6. Think about fail over and also fail back – Plan how you will restore to your original system and make it a manual process.
Also see previous virtualization mistakes to avoid in post on May 27:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
Friday, June 12, 2009
“Do You Think Strategically about Technology?” - Jim Balsillie
I have been working with our Senior Consultants to work on providing Information Technology (IT) Strategic Plans for our clients. This is a challenge for two reasons:
1. Strategic plan sounds really grandiose, complex, time consuming and expensive.
2. IT is very broad so individuals gravitate to their area of expertise and the plan becomes narrow and tactical.
I was on a Global Conference call yesterday with guest speaker Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM) the developer of the Blackberry and he reinforced this need and asked “Do you think strategically about technology?” Jim believes that it is rare that a CEO thinks strategically about technology and that absent a strategic mandate from senior leadership nothing really happens – the result is we go in and cut IT spending 5% or something like that!
So make the decision that you need an IT Strategic Plan, keep it broad without getting to deep into the weeds of what exact technology you will use and keep it short. The IT Plan may just be two or three pages. What do you want technology to do for your business and what will it look like when you are done in two or three years. Finally if the word strategic gives you too much hartburn just call it your IT Plan!
Here is the article I wrote on April 29 on writing an IT Strategic Plan:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
1. Strategic plan sounds really grandiose, complex, time consuming and expensive.
2. IT is very broad so individuals gravitate to their area of expertise and the plan becomes narrow and tactical.
I was on a Global Conference call yesterday with guest speaker Jim Balsillie, Co-CEO of Research in Motion (RIM) the developer of the Blackberry and he reinforced this need and asked “Do you think strategically about technology?” Jim believes that it is rare that a CEO thinks strategically about technology and that absent a strategic mandate from senior leadership nothing really happens – the result is we go in and cut IT spending 5% or something like that!
So make the decision that you need an IT Strategic Plan, keep it broad without getting to deep into the weeds of what exact technology you will use and keep it short. The IT Plan may just be two or three pages. What do you want technology to do for your business and what will it look like when you are done in two or three years. Finally if the word strategic gives you too much hartburn just call it your IT Plan!
Here is the article I wrote on April 29 on writing an IT Strategic Plan:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
SCVMM 2008 R2 RC Public Release Available Now
Microsoft released System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) R2 and is now available for public testing:
http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm/archive/2009/06/06/scvmm-2008-r2-rc-public-release-available-now.aspx
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM) is a comprehensive management solution for the virtualized data center, enabling increased physical server utilization, centralized management of virtual machine infrastructure, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator, delegated administrator, and authorized end users. VMM 2008 can manage hosts that are running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, and VMware ESX through VirtualCenter Server.
Recently, Windows Server 2008 released an R2 version that included significant feature improvements to Hyper-V. VMM 2008 R2 leverages these new platform enhancements and extends the feature set of VMM 2008. This topic provides an overview of the new features that are included in VMM 2008 R2.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Host Management
With VMM 2008 R2, you can create and manage virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V hosts. When you add a host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and that does not have Hyper-V enabled, VMM 2008 R2 automatically enables the Hyper-V role on the host.
VMM 2008 R2 supports the following new features of Windows Server 2008 R2:
Live migration between Windows Server 2008 R2 clustered hosts. With live migration, you can migrate a virtual machine from one node of a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to another node in the same cluster without any downtime. Because the virtual machine does not experience any downtime, the move is completely transparent to the users that are connected to the virtual machine.
Network optimization detection during virtual machine placement. VMM 2008 R2 supports both Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ) and TCP Chimney, which are Windows Server 2008 R2 features that improve network performance for virtual machines.
Network adapters that support the VMQ feature are able to create a unique network queue for each virtual network adapter and then connect that queue directly to the virtual machine’s memory. This connection routes packets directly from the hypervisor to the virtual machine, bypassing much of the processing in the virtualization stack.
Network adapters that support the TCP Chimney feature are able to offload the processing of network traffic from the networking stack. Both of these features increase network performance and reduce CPU utilization.
Hot addition and removal of virtual hard disks (VHDs). In Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V allows users to add and remove VHDs from a virtual machine while it is running.
Enhanced Support for Shared Storage and SAN Transfers
VMM 2008 R2 provides the following enhancements:
Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) Support
VMM 2008 R2 supports the Windows Server 2008 R2 clustered shared volume (CSV) feature. CSV enables all hosts on a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to concurrently access virtual machine files on a single shared logical unit number (LUN). Because all nodes on the cluster can access a single shared LUN, virtual machines have complete transparency with respect to which nodes actually own a LUN. This enables live migration of virtual machines within the cluster because all nodes in the cluster can access any LUN.
Support for Sanbolic Clustered File System
VMM 2008 R2 supports the Sanbolic Clustered File System (CFS), a third-party shared volume solution for quick migration on hosts running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, and live migration on hosts running Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V.
Support for Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows
VMM 2008 R2 supports Veritas Storage Foundation 5.1 for Windows (SFW), an online storage management solution for creating virtual storage devices from physical disks and arrays. Volumes created as part of a cluster resource group by using SFW are detected by VMM 2008 R2 and can be selected during virtual machine placement or migration. An SFW volume is limited to one virtual machine.
SAN Migration into and out of Clustered Hosts
VMM 2008 R2 supports the use of SAN transfers to migrate virtual machines and highly available virtual machines into and out of a cluster. When you migrate a virtual machine into a cluster by using a SAN transfer, VMM checks all nodes in the cluster to ensure that each node can see the LUN and automatically creates a cluster disk resource for the LUN. Even though VMM automatically configures the cluster disk resource, it does not validate it. You must use the Validate a Configuration Wizard in Failover Cluster Management to validate the newly created cluster disk resource. To migrate a virtual machine out of a cluster, the virtual machine must be on a dedicated LUN that is not using CSV.
Expanded Support for iSCSI SANs
VMM 2008 supports SAN transfers of virtual machines that use initiator-based iSCSI target connections, which requires one iSCSI target for every LUN. VMM 2008 R2 adds support for LUN masking, which allows multiple LUNs per iSCSI target and expands VMM support for iSCSI SAN vendors.
Quick Storage Migration
For a Windows Server 2008 R2 host or a Storage VMotion-capable host, you can migrate a running virtual machine’s files to a different storage location on the same host with minimal or no service outage. If you use a wizard to migrate a virtual machine to a host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and you use a network transfer, VMM 2008 R2 now gives you the option to specify separate storage locations for each virtual hard disk (.vhd) file for the virtual machine.
Maintenance Mode for Hosts
In VMM 2008 R2, you can start maintenance mode for a Windows-based host anytime you need to perform maintenance tasks on the host, such as applying updates or replacing a physical component.
When you start maintenance mode on a host in a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster with highly available virtual machines, you can do one of the following:
If the option is available, use live migration to evacuate all virtual machines to other hosts on the same cluster. If the migration fails for any virtual machine on the host, maintenance mode is not started on that host and VMM does not migrate back the virtual machines that have already migrated.
Place all virtual machines on the host into a saved state.
When you start maintenance mode on a stand-alone Windows-based host, on a host in a Windows Server 2008 cluster, or on a Windows Server 2008 R2 host that has any non-highly available virtual machines, VMM automatically places all virtual machines into a saved state.
Important
When VMM places virtual machines into a saved state, any users of the virtual machines will experience a loss of service.
When you start maintenance mode on any host, VMM automatically does the following:
Blocks virtual machine creation operations on the host.
Excludes the host from the host ratings during placement.
Displays a host status of In Maintenance Mode in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console.
When you stop maintenance mode on a host, VMM allows virtual machine creation operations on the host, includes the host in the host ratings during placement, and displays a host status of OK in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console. However, VMM does not automatically do a live migration to move highly available virtual machines back onto the host in a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster, and it does not restart any of the virtual machines on the host.
To start or stop maintenance mode, in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console, right-click a host, and then click the appropriate command.
Support for VMware Port Groups for Virtual Switches
VMM uses the network location and tag specified for the virtual network adapter in the hardware configuration to determine the network availability of a virtual machine on a host. In VMM 2008 R2, if you are deploying the virtual machine to a VMware ESX Server host, you can select from the VMware port groups that are available for virtual switches.
Support for Virtual Machine Permissions Assigned in Hyper-V
In VMM 2008 R2, VMM preserves changes made to role definitions or role memberships in the root scope of the Hyper-V authorization store. All changes to any other scope are overwritten every half hour by the VMM user role refresher. This differs from user role processing in VMM 2008. In VMM 2008, VMM determines access to virtual machines, hosts, and resources based solely on the rights and permissions associated with VMM user roles. VMM 2008 does not make any changes to Hyper-V role definitions and role memberships; it simply ignores the Hyper-V authorization store while the hosts and virtual machines are under its management.
For more information about user roles and scopes, see Role-Based Security in VMM (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119337).
http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm/archive/2009/06/06/scvmm-2008-r2-rc-public-release-available-now.aspx
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM) is a comprehensive management solution for the virtualized data center, enabling increased physical server utilization, centralized management of virtual machine infrastructure, and rapid provisioning of new virtual machines by the administrator, delegated administrator, and authorized end users. VMM 2008 can manage hosts that are running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, Virtual Server 2005 R2, and VMware ESX through VirtualCenter Server.
Recently, Windows Server 2008 released an R2 version that included significant feature improvements to Hyper-V. VMM 2008 R2 leverages these new platform enhancements and extends the feature set of VMM 2008. This topic provides an overview of the new features that are included in VMM 2008 R2.
Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V Host Management
With VMM 2008 R2, you can create and manage virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V hosts. When you add a host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and that does not have Hyper-V enabled, VMM 2008 R2 automatically enables the Hyper-V role on the host.
VMM 2008 R2 supports the following new features of Windows Server 2008 R2:
Live migration between Windows Server 2008 R2 clustered hosts. With live migration, you can migrate a virtual machine from one node of a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to another node in the same cluster without any downtime. Because the virtual machine does not experience any downtime, the move is completely transparent to the users that are connected to the virtual machine.
Network optimization detection during virtual machine placement. VMM 2008 R2 supports both Virtual Machine Queue (VMQ) and TCP Chimney, which are Windows Server 2008 R2 features that improve network performance for virtual machines.
Network adapters that support the VMQ feature are able to create a unique network queue for each virtual network adapter and then connect that queue directly to the virtual machine’s memory. This connection routes packets directly from the hypervisor to the virtual machine, bypassing much of the processing in the virtualization stack.
Network adapters that support the TCP Chimney feature are able to offload the processing of network traffic from the networking stack. Both of these features increase network performance and reduce CPU utilization.
Hot addition and removal of virtual hard disks (VHDs). In Windows Server 2008 R2, Hyper-V allows users to add and remove VHDs from a virtual machine while it is running.
Enhanced Support for Shared Storage and SAN Transfers
VMM 2008 R2 provides the following enhancements:
Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) Support
VMM 2008 R2 supports the Windows Server 2008 R2 clustered shared volume (CSV) feature. CSV enables all hosts on a Windows Server 2008 R2 failover cluster to concurrently access virtual machine files on a single shared logical unit number (LUN). Because all nodes on the cluster can access a single shared LUN, virtual machines have complete transparency with respect to which nodes actually own a LUN. This enables live migration of virtual machines within the cluster because all nodes in the cluster can access any LUN.
Support for Sanbolic Clustered File System
VMM 2008 R2 supports the Sanbolic Clustered File System (CFS), a third-party shared volume solution for quick migration on hosts running Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V, and live migration on hosts running Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V.
Support for Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows
VMM 2008 R2 supports Veritas Storage Foundation 5.1 for Windows (SFW), an online storage management solution for creating virtual storage devices from physical disks and arrays. Volumes created as part of a cluster resource group by using SFW are detected by VMM 2008 R2 and can be selected during virtual machine placement or migration. An SFW volume is limited to one virtual machine.
SAN Migration into and out of Clustered Hosts
VMM 2008 R2 supports the use of SAN transfers to migrate virtual machines and highly available virtual machines into and out of a cluster. When you migrate a virtual machine into a cluster by using a SAN transfer, VMM checks all nodes in the cluster to ensure that each node can see the LUN and automatically creates a cluster disk resource for the LUN. Even though VMM automatically configures the cluster disk resource, it does not validate it. You must use the Validate a Configuration Wizard in Failover Cluster Management to validate the newly created cluster disk resource. To migrate a virtual machine out of a cluster, the virtual machine must be on a dedicated LUN that is not using CSV.
Expanded Support for iSCSI SANs
VMM 2008 supports SAN transfers of virtual machines that use initiator-based iSCSI target connections, which requires one iSCSI target for every LUN. VMM 2008 R2 adds support for LUN masking, which allows multiple LUNs per iSCSI target and expands VMM support for iSCSI SAN vendors.
Quick Storage Migration
For a Windows Server 2008 R2 host or a Storage VMotion-capable host, you can migrate a running virtual machine’s files to a different storage location on the same host with minimal or no service outage. If you use a wizard to migrate a virtual machine to a host that is running Windows Server 2008 R2 and you use a network transfer, VMM 2008 R2 now gives you the option to specify separate storage locations for each virtual hard disk (.vhd) file for the virtual machine.
Maintenance Mode for Hosts
In VMM 2008 R2, you can start maintenance mode for a Windows-based host anytime you need to perform maintenance tasks on the host, such as applying updates or replacing a physical component.
When you start maintenance mode on a host in a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster with highly available virtual machines, you can do one of the following:
If the option is available, use live migration to evacuate all virtual machines to other hosts on the same cluster. If the migration fails for any virtual machine on the host, maintenance mode is not started on that host and VMM does not migrate back the virtual machines that have already migrated.
Place all virtual machines on the host into a saved state.
When you start maintenance mode on a stand-alone Windows-based host, on a host in a Windows Server 2008 cluster, or on a Windows Server 2008 R2 host that has any non-highly available virtual machines, VMM automatically places all virtual machines into a saved state.
Important
When VMM places virtual machines into a saved state, any users of the virtual machines will experience a loss of service.
When you start maintenance mode on any host, VMM automatically does the following:
Blocks virtual machine creation operations on the host.
Excludes the host from the host ratings during placement.
Displays a host status of In Maintenance Mode in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console.
When you stop maintenance mode on a host, VMM allows virtual machine creation operations on the host, includes the host in the host ratings during placement, and displays a host status of OK in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console. However, VMM does not automatically do a live migration to move highly available virtual machines back onto the host in a Windows Server 2008 R2 cluster, and it does not restart any of the virtual machines on the host.
To start or stop maintenance mode, in Host view of the VMM Administrator Console, right-click a host, and then click the appropriate command.
Support for VMware Port Groups for Virtual Switches
VMM uses the network location and tag specified for the virtual network adapter in the hardware configuration to determine the network availability of a virtual machine on a host. In VMM 2008 R2, if you are deploying the virtual machine to a VMware ESX Server host, you can select from the VMware port groups that are available for virtual switches.
Support for Virtual Machine Permissions Assigned in Hyper-V
In VMM 2008 R2, VMM preserves changes made to role definitions or role memberships in the root scope of the Hyper-V authorization store. All changes to any other scope are overwritten every half hour by the VMM user role refresher. This differs from user role processing in VMM 2008. In VMM 2008, VMM determines access to virtual machines, hosts, and resources based solely on the rights and permissions associated with VMM user roles. VMM 2008 does not make any changes to Hyper-V role definitions and role memberships; it simply ignores the Hyper-V authorization store while the hosts and virtual machines are under its management.
For more information about user roles and scopes, see Role-Based Security in VMM (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119337).
Source: Microsoft
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Microsoft Sets Date for Windows 7: October 22
Microsoft set the date for general public release of Windows 7 today - October 22, 2009. Microsoft will offer an upgrade plan for individuals purchasing computers before the release – details will be coming soon.
“Our milestone-to-milestone approach for Windows 7 is built on a great deal of feedback from customers and testers. This has been pivotal to the development of Windows 7. Since then, we’ve made enough progress to feel really good about announcing today that Windows 7 will be in stores beginning 22 October.”
- Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft Windows 7 Team
Windows 7 looks good from the reviews I have read – here are key features:
Faster, more responsive performance
Improved taskbar and full-screen previews
Jump Lists
New ways to work with Windows
For more details on Windows 7 see my earlier Blog Post on May 1st:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
“Our milestone-to-milestone approach for Windows 7 is built on a great deal of feedback from customers and testers. This has been pivotal to the development of Windows 7. Since then, we’ve made enough progress to feel really good about announcing today that Windows 7 will be in stores beginning 22 October.”
- Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft Windows 7 Team
Windows 7 looks good from the reviews I have read – here are key features:
Faster, more responsive performance
Improved taskbar and full-screen previews
Jump Lists
New ways to work with Windows
For more details on Windows 7 see my earlier Blog Post on May 1st:
http://andrewgrose.blogspot.com/2009_05_01_archive.html
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Microsoft Windows New Threat
Time to update your Windows XP, Windows 2003 Server and older Windows versions - Here is the Security bullitin from Microsoft:
Microsoft Security Advisory (971778)
Vulnerability in Microsoft DirectShow Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published: May 28, 2009
Version: 1.0
Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a new vulnerability in Microsoft DirectX. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if user opened a specially crafted QuickTime media file. Microsoft is aware of limited, active attacks that use this exploit code. While our investigation is ongoing, our investigation so far has shown that Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 are vulnerable; all versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are not vulnerable. Microsoft has activated its Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP) and is continuing to investigate this issue.
Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to help protect our customers. This may include providing a security update through our monthly release process or providing an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.
We are actively working with partners in our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) and our Microsoft Security Response Alliance (MSRA) program to provide information that they can use to provide broader protections to customers.
Mitigating Factors:
In a Web-based attack scenario, an attacker would have to host a Web site that contains a Web page that is used to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit a malicious Web site. Instead, an attacker would have to convince them to visit the Web site, typically by getting them to click a link that takes them to the attacker's Web site. After they click the link, they would be prompted to perform several actions. An attack could only occur after they performed these actions.
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
All versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are not affected by this issue.
Link to fix issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971778
Microsoft Security Advisory (971778)
Vulnerability in Microsoft DirectShow Could Allow Remote Code Execution
Published: May 28, 2009
Version: 1.0
Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a new vulnerability in Microsoft DirectX. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if user opened a specially crafted QuickTime media file. Microsoft is aware of limited, active attacks that use this exploit code. While our investigation is ongoing, our investigation so far has shown that Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 are vulnerable; all versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are not vulnerable. Microsoft has activated its Software Security Incident Response Process (SSIRP) and is continuing to investigate this issue.
Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to help protect our customers. This may include providing a security update through our monthly release process or providing an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.
We are actively working with partners in our Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) and our Microsoft Security Response Alliance (MSRA) program to provide information that they can use to provide broader protections to customers.
Mitigating Factors:
In a Web-based attack scenario, an attacker would have to host a Web site that contains a Web page that is used to exploit this vulnerability. An attacker would have no way to force users to visit a malicious Web site. Instead, an attacker would have to convince them to visit the Web site, typically by getting them to click a link that takes them to the attacker's Web site. After they click the link, they would be prompted to perform several actions. An attack could only occur after they performed these actions.
An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the local user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights.
All versions of Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 are not affected by this issue.
Link to fix issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971778
Monday, June 01, 2009
Billion Dollar Lesson by Paul Carroll and Chunka Mui
I have been reading Billion Dollar Lessons and it is a great book! It is interesting to read the details of so many companies that make what appear in many cases very obvious blunders. It is also surprising just how many companies with deep resources have failed. So what key concepts can be gained by reading about these failures? Here are the four concepts that resonated with me:
1. Wayne Gretsky Rule: Go where the puck is going not where it is. Invest today for where the business and technology will be next year or three years from now. This is extremely important in technology because by the time a solution or practice is developed the market place will have changed so much. Examples of this are video, cameras and cellular business.
2. Constantly be revisiting your strategic business plan. In just about every case of business failure it is the plan! No matter how well the management executes on the plan the business will fail if the plan is severely flawed.
3. When your business is declining because of a shift in the marketplace, it is very difficult to change your entire business. When deciding what new business to invest in be clear on what the true experience and skills of your organization are and how you can leverage those in the new market that you plan to pursue.
4. Acquisition and consolidation strategies are very difficult to execute on for five main reasons:
a. The acquired business culture is usually very different and therefore the employees do not assimilate and actually, in some cases, employees have gone as far as doing harm to the new organization.
b. Economies of scale rarely materialize
c. When companies suddenly increase by 50% - 100% their systems and process usually are not able to scale fast enough and often lead to massive losses
d. Usually an acquisition leads businesses into new markets that the current management team does not have the necessary experience
e. Acquiring businesses usually requires more leverage and this puts the business at a greater risk
These are the key concepts I gained and at the end of the day the book reminded me how fragile businesses big and small are and how important it is to have a solid business plan.
1. Wayne Gretsky Rule: Go where the puck is going not where it is. Invest today for where the business and technology will be next year or three years from now. This is extremely important in technology because by the time a solution or practice is developed the market place will have changed so much. Examples of this are video, cameras and cellular business.
2. Constantly be revisiting your strategic business plan. In just about every case of business failure it is the plan! No matter how well the management executes on the plan the business will fail if the plan is severely flawed.
3. When your business is declining because of a shift in the marketplace, it is very difficult to change your entire business. When deciding what new business to invest in be clear on what the true experience and skills of your organization are and how you can leverage those in the new market that you plan to pursue.
4. Acquisition and consolidation strategies are very difficult to execute on for five main reasons:
a. The acquired business culture is usually very different and therefore the employees do not assimilate and actually, in some cases, employees have gone as far as doing harm to the new organization.
b. Economies of scale rarely materialize
c. When companies suddenly increase by 50% - 100% their systems and process usually are not able to scale fast enough and often lead to massive losses
d. Usually an acquisition leads businesses into new markets that the current management team does not have the necessary experience
e. Acquiring businesses usually requires more leverage and this puts the business at a greater risk
These are the key concepts I gained and at the end of the day the book reminded me how fragile businesses big and small are and how important it is to have a solid business plan.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Managing Your Virtual Infrastructure
I was at Interop last week and although attendance appeared to me to be lower than in the past I thought the presentations were much better and I believe this is a result of the major shift in technology to virtualization and cloud computing combined with the soft economy. Challenging times bring out the best in many people!
One common theme at Interop was the challenge around bringing different technical groups together: storage, server, networking, applications. Virtualization requires considering the complete system so communicating between silos is necessary. I am an east coast person but it looks like what the IT team really needs is a non-technical west coast style tech team off-site somewhere in Orange County to work on communications and various team building exercises.
Once you have the entire technical staff working as a team here are the challenges you will need to address:
1. Visibility – Where is the application and where is the problem?
2. How do you prove source of problem to the component owner?
3. Where will the next constraint or problem arise?
4. Planning for the next expansion
5. Dealing with applications resource contention
6. Over use of VMotion – simultaneous moves in same LUN can cause poor performance
Virtualization creates the most dynamic data center that IT management has seen and this is great but it means there is a more significant challenge - The mantra becomes “constant monitoring, modeling and planning.” Depending on the size and complexity of your virtualized infrastructure the technical management team should at least once a quarter and maybe as often as weekly do a capacity planning style exercise based on current utilization and planned expansion.
Here are the virtualization mistakes to avoid:
1. Racing to deploy and failing to plan completely
2. Configuration mistakes – check before using default settings
3. Not enough storage IOPs
4. Resource contention – not all applications work well together
5. CPU access – underestimate demands
6. Not understanding work loads
7. Not taking complete system into consideration
8. Lack of awareness of the dependencies
9. Lack of awareness of workload curves
Here are a few companies that make tools you may want to consider to help you manage your dynamic virtual infrastructure: Akorri, Ixia, Blue Stripe, vKernal, Visioncore and CA.
Virtualization is one of the most exciting things that has happened in the information technology industry in many years so embrace it and enjoy it – “Virtualize your infrastructure with passion.”
One common theme at Interop was the challenge around bringing different technical groups together: storage, server, networking, applications. Virtualization requires considering the complete system so communicating between silos is necessary. I am an east coast person but it looks like what the IT team really needs is a non-technical west coast style tech team off-site somewhere in Orange County to work on communications and various team building exercises.
Once you have the entire technical staff working as a team here are the challenges you will need to address:
1. Visibility – Where is the application and where is the problem?
2. How do you prove source of problem to the component owner?
3. Where will the next constraint or problem arise?
4. Planning for the next expansion
5. Dealing with applications resource contention
6. Over use of VMotion – simultaneous moves in same LUN can cause poor performance
Virtualization creates the most dynamic data center that IT management has seen and this is great but it means there is a more significant challenge - The mantra becomes “constant monitoring, modeling and planning.” Depending on the size and complexity of your virtualized infrastructure the technical management team should at least once a quarter and maybe as often as weekly do a capacity planning style exercise based on current utilization and planned expansion.
Here are the virtualization mistakes to avoid:
1. Racing to deploy and failing to plan completely
2. Configuration mistakes – check before using default settings
3. Not enough storage IOPs
4. Resource contention – not all applications work well together
5. CPU access – underestimate demands
6. Not understanding work loads
7. Not taking complete system into consideration
8. Lack of awareness of the dependencies
9. Lack of awareness of workload curves
Here are a few companies that make tools you may want to consider to help you manage your dynamic virtual infrastructure: Akorri, Ixia, Blue Stripe, vKernal, Visioncore and CA.
Virtualization is one of the most exciting things that has happened in the information technology industry in many years so embrace it and enjoy it – “Virtualize your infrastructure with passion.”
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
State of Virtualization
Latest data on the state of virtualization from presentation today by Barb Goldworm, President and Chief Analyst of Focus:
Drivers – Why are businesses implementing virtualization?
1. Disaster recovery
2. Consolidation
3. Increase Server Utilization
4. Reduce space and power
5. Increase availability
6. Improve IT
7. Improve Management
The recent change to disaster recovery as primary driver is a result of small businesses that before could not justify the cost. In enterprise space consolidation is still the primary driver.
Actual businesses benefits reported:
1. Increase utilization
2. Reduce space and power
3. Reduce total cost of ownership
4. Increase return on investment
5. Improved agility
In either case businesses do realize the benefit and are moving to a virtual environment rapidly.
80% of companies have adopted virtualization to some degree
95% of companies have either adopted or are planning or implementing
How much of the server environment is virtualized:
1/3 Less than 20%
1/3 between 20% - 40%
1/3 40 – 100%
Only 9% have virtualized more than 80% of their Servers.
Barriers to Virtualization:
1. Budget
2. Applications don’t support virtualization
3. Performance concerns
4. Applications are hard to virtualize
5. Storage issues
6. Skill set to implement and support
7. Security
Next I will post on virtualization management and then the direction of the industry.
Source: Focus – http://www.focusonsystems.com/
Drivers – Why are businesses implementing virtualization?
1. Disaster recovery
2. Consolidation
3. Increase Server Utilization
4. Reduce space and power
5. Increase availability
6. Improve IT
7. Improve Management
The recent change to disaster recovery as primary driver is a result of small businesses that before could not justify the cost. In enterprise space consolidation is still the primary driver.
Actual businesses benefits reported:
1. Increase utilization
2. Reduce space and power
3. Reduce total cost of ownership
4. Increase return on investment
5. Improved agility
In either case businesses do realize the benefit and are moving to a virtual environment rapidly.
80% of companies have adopted virtualization to some degree
95% of companies have either adopted or are planning or implementing
How much of the server environment is virtualized:
1/3 Less than 20%
1/3 between 20% - 40%
1/3 40 – 100%
Only 9% have virtualized more than 80% of their Servers.
Barriers to Virtualization:
1. Budget
2. Applications don’t support virtualization
3. Performance concerns
4. Applications are hard to virtualize
5. Storage issues
6. Skill set to implement and support
7. Security
Next I will post on virtualization management and then the direction of the industry.
Source: Focus – http://www.focusonsystems.com/
Friday, May 15, 2009
7 Rules for a great PowerPoint Presentation!
I was at a technical event the other day and sat wondering – “Why is it that…. everyone knows not to put word documents in PowerPoint but does it anyway?” This particular PowerPoint presentation was brutal – the material was dull to begin with and the font size was so small only the front row could read it if they squinted. The scary part is that this is not the exception - it is in fact the rule in the technology industry. Here is the quote you will hear “This slide is a bit of an eye chart” – So why do presenters do this? I shamefully admit I to have done this - but why? I am afraid the only explanation is that the presenter is not putting enough time into preparation and feels they need all the information up there so they have something to present! I have actually seen presenters admit while fumbling through a presentation that they were not their slides and that they had not gone through them before! This just screams to their audience “I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU!”
I participated in a presentation skills course a few years ago and the instructor said the most effective way to use PowerPoint is one slide one thought or concept. I tried this once myself and it worked but comes across a little odd as there is a “PowerPoint Culture” (I just coined that term and I think I like it) that clearly has more than one idea per slide.
So what do you do…………
Guy Kawasaki has his 10-20-30 rule for effective PowerPoint presentation for venture capitalists. The rules are no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes and no less than 30 size fonts. I really like his presentation it is less than 2 minutes here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liQLdRk0Ziw
I came up with my 7 rules for creating a compelling PowerPoint presentation in the technology industry:
1. Start with an attention getter – Jump in!
2. Know the 3 -5 points you want the listener to "take away"
3. Be sure to put a diagram or picture on just about every slide
4. Keep your presentation less than 40 slides and less than an hour
5. Use font size of 30 or greater
6. Tell 3 - 5 stories that ties in to each of your points
7. Rehearse the presentation 3 – 5 times
PowerPoint Presenter Oath “I will always be well prepared for my presentation and never read any of the slides” and now the most important part, “and this time, I mean it!”
I participated in a presentation skills course a few years ago and the instructor said the most effective way to use PowerPoint is one slide one thought or concept. I tried this once myself and it worked but comes across a little odd as there is a “PowerPoint Culture” (I just coined that term and I think I like it) that clearly has more than one idea per slide.
So what do you do…………
Guy Kawasaki has his 10-20-30 rule for effective PowerPoint presentation for venture capitalists. The rules are no more than 10 slides, no more than 20 minutes and no less than 30 size fonts. I really like his presentation it is less than 2 minutes here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liQLdRk0Ziw
I came up with my 7 rules for creating a compelling PowerPoint presentation in the technology industry:
1. Start with an attention getter – Jump in!
2. Know the 3 -5 points you want the listener to "take away"
3. Be sure to put a diagram or picture on just about every slide
4. Keep your presentation less than 40 slides and less than an hour
5. Use font size of 30 or greater
6. Tell 3 - 5 stories that ties in to each of your points
7. Rehearse the presentation 3 – 5 times
PowerPoint Presenter Oath “I will always be well prepared for my presentation and never read any of the slides” and now the most important part, “and this time, I mean it!”
Monday, May 11, 2009
Information Technology major changes in the next 5 – 10 years – How do we prepare?
The fact that all the major U.S. auto companies are facing major financial pressures and two out of three are facing government bailout and bankruptcy should be a wake-up call to everyone! Businesses and people in general need to consider what is happening in industries, markets, and technology. The challenge of course is that when you watch the news and discuss what is happening it is very hard for most people, including me and probably you, to know what is really going on! This confusion is caused by the complexity combined with the political and economic agendas of the media, politicians, and business leaders discussing the situation.
The business leaders with the most to loose seem to have a blind spot right where they need visibility the most – just look at Kodak, GM and Chrysler. Kodak new for more than 30 years that the digital camera was coming but somehow did not really believe it would completely replace film in the consumer market until it was too late. Kodak’s stock was $65.95 on Oct 2 1972 ($335 inflation adjusted) and is now under $3 with losses of $2.46 per share last year. That is more than a 99% drop in share price adjusted for inflation! If you invested in GM and Chrysler your shares will likely be worthless.
The key is looking at a shift and really analyzing the long term implications. Is your main product going away completely like traditional camera film? Is your business becoming non-competitive with the rest of the world like the U.S. auto industry? In both these cases the answer is yes! The individuals in the industry need to create a long term strategy to prosper in that change.
In the case of IT the question is two fold: 1. Is there a shift in IT to cloud based computing? 2. Is there a shift to outsourcing tasks to lower cost countries (off-shore)? The answer to both of these questions is yes! So the next step is to start understanding the implications of this and creating a strategy so that your business can thrive in this environment or you, as a technology professional, can take advantage of this shift. The worst thing you can do is stick your head in the sand and say, "oh it is years away." It is years away, but these shifts usually happen faster than we think - if you wait until it is upon you, it will be too late!!
To go deeper into this IT shift you need to look at what parts of technology are shifting to the cloud and off-shore first. The obvious business shift is software development off-shore and managed IT services to the cloud and off-shore. Simple broad based applications such as email, and CRM will move to the cloud fast.
Plan to benefit from the technology shift to cloud computing and off-shore and you will prosper!
The business leaders with the most to loose seem to have a blind spot right where they need visibility the most – just look at Kodak, GM and Chrysler. Kodak new for more than 30 years that the digital camera was coming but somehow did not really believe it would completely replace film in the consumer market until it was too late. Kodak’s stock was $65.95 on Oct 2 1972 ($335 inflation adjusted) and is now under $3 with losses of $2.46 per share last year. That is more than a 99% drop in share price adjusted for inflation! If you invested in GM and Chrysler your shares will likely be worthless.
The key is looking at a shift and really analyzing the long term implications. Is your main product going away completely like traditional camera film? Is your business becoming non-competitive with the rest of the world like the U.S. auto industry? In both these cases the answer is yes! The individuals in the industry need to create a long term strategy to prosper in that change.
In the case of IT the question is two fold: 1. Is there a shift in IT to cloud based computing? 2. Is there a shift to outsourcing tasks to lower cost countries (off-shore)? The answer to both of these questions is yes! So the next step is to start understanding the implications of this and creating a strategy so that your business can thrive in this environment or you, as a technology professional, can take advantage of this shift. The worst thing you can do is stick your head in the sand and say, "oh it is years away." It is years away, but these shifts usually happen faster than we think - if you wait until it is upon you, it will be too late!!
To go deeper into this IT shift you need to look at what parts of technology are shifting to the cloud and off-shore first. The obvious business shift is software development off-shore and managed IT services to the cloud and off-shore. Simple broad based applications such as email, and CRM will move to the cloud fast.
Plan to benefit from the technology shift to cloud computing and off-shore and you will prosper!
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) – Should you use ITIL and become certified?
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of policies and procedures for best practice management of information technology (IT) infrastructure. Here is the official description from the governing body:
ITIL is best practice in IT Service Management, developed by OGC and supported by publications, qualifications and an international user group. ITIL is intended to assist organisations to develop a framework for IT Service Management. Worldwide, ITIL is the most widely used best practice for IT Service Management.
ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world, with world class practices supported by quality services from a wide range of service providers, accredited training agencies, consultancies and professional qualifications. Users of ITIL are supported by exam and user group organizations that can support training and adoption of the methodology. The best-practice processes promoted in ITIL both support and are supported by the British Standards Institution’s Standard for IT Service Management (BS15000) and later ISO 20,000.
ITIL has become the industry standard for IT infrastructure best practices. ITIL does make sense to learn and become certified if you are an IT professional. The standards are what other project methodologies such as Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) is based on so you may already have some familiarity. It just makes sense that when you are implementing process and procedures for IT infrastructure to use existing best practice standards instead of re-inventing the wheel. What are the best practices for media management? By becoming certified, this establishes you as a knowledgeable expert and raises your value to your organization. If you can become certified - I think it makes sense.
ITIL links:
http://www.itil-officialsite.com/home/home.asp
http://www.apmg-us.com/ITIL/ITILIntro.asp
http://www.itsmf.org/
ITIL is best practice in IT Service Management, developed by OGC and supported by publications, qualifications and an international user group. ITIL is intended to assist organisations to develop a framework for IT Service Management. Worldwide, ITIL is the most widely used best practice for IT Service Management.
ITIL is the most widely accepted approach to IT service management in the world, with world class practices supported by quality services from a wide range of service providers, accredited training agencies, consultancies and professional qualifications. Users of ITIL are supported by exam and user group organizations that can support training and adoption of the methodology. The best-practice processes promoted in ITIL both support and are supported by the British Standards Institution’s Standard for IT Service Management (BS15000) and later ISO 20,000.
ITIL has become the industry standard for IT infrastructure best practices. ITIL does make sense to learn and become certified if you are an IT professional. The standards are what other project methodologies such as Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) is based on so you may already have some familiarity. It just makes sense that when you are implementing process and procedures for IT infrastructure to use existing best practice standards instead of re-inventing the wheel. What are the best practices for media management? By becoming certified, this establishes you as a knowledgeable expert and raises your value to your organization. If you can become certified - I think it makes sense.
ITIL links:
http://www.itil-officialsite.com/home/home.asp
http://www.apmg-us.com/ITIL/ITILIntro.asp
http://www.itsmf.org/
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