Avastu Blog: Sustainable Global Clouds

Upgrading ESX Server involved upgrading the related applications in the VMware Infrastructure Suite at the same time. Single VMware ESX Server upgrades minus VMware Infrastructure Suite applications require users to upgrade the ESX Server OS to 3.5, followed by a VMware Infrastructure client to version 2.5 upgrade. However, most of us don't have such a simple configuration. Real VMware ESX Server production environments may consist of any number of ESX Servers, a VMware VirtualCenter Server, a VirtualCenter database, VMware License Server, VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB), VMware Tools in the Guest VMs, and the VI Clients. Though upgrading a single ESX Server from 3.x to 3.5 is relatively straightforward, having so many different pieces across the entire VMware Infrastructure Suite installation adds complexity to upgrades. For that reason, the pitfalls I list out below have to do with not only upgrading VMware ESX Server but also the entire VMware Infrastructure Suite. A particular...

Organizations of all sizes struggle with the daily challenge of recovering and optimizing critical workloads – either associated with the operational recovery of individual files or servers, or even at the point of a catastrophic disaster. Because Double-Take Software has specifically designed useful recovery tools to run on the VMware platform, IT professionals are able to leverage the feature-rich VMware virtual machine platform in conjunction with Double-Take to ensure cost-effective and seamless disaster recovery. This webinar will focus on the following topics: Physical to virtual disaster recovery Virtual to virtual disaster recovery Virtual machine provisioning and automated creation Full server protection and failover Migration and consolidation Link

In a virtual datacenter where numerous departments utilize shared resources many organizations are facing the challenge of figuring out what rate to charge users for memory, CPU, storage and network. Also challenging is how to recover costs for other expenses such as administrative fees, software licensing and cooling costs. While most organizations agree that utility based chargeback is the way to go help is desperately needed. VKernel has "cracked the code" and created a chargeback calculator and methodology to solve the chargeback challenge. The chargeback calculator takes into consideration many variables including; ESX hosts, storage and network devices, all associated costs, number of user departments/cost centers, who is using the resource, profit margins (if needed) and cost recovery timeframe. Automatically, the calculator outputs the rates an organization should be charging per day for memory, CPU, storage and network. The calculator is designed to be used on an ong...

Quoting Symantec: Core Facts * Inadequate Disaster Recovery Planning and Testing - Symantec today announced the findings of an international study indicating that while 91 percent of IT organisations carry out full scenario testing of their disaster recovery plans incorporating relevant people, processes and technologies, nearly 50 percent of those tests fail. This means that one in two UK organisations is not equipped to handle events, such as natural disasters, computer system failures and external computer threats. * Nearly Half Executed Disaster Recovery Plan – Nearly half of IT organisations surveyed have had to execute their company’s disaster recovery plans. The research findings show that 48 percent of organisations have had to execute disaster recovery plans and 44 percent surveyed without a disaster recovery plan experienced one problem or disaster, while 26 percent experience two or more, and 11 percent experienced three or more. Go to Symantec's site.