Just say “NO” to OS Level Virtualization

Microsoft Patch 955020 This patch will ensure that Friendster and Obama are added to your dictionary on Vista and 2008 Server. No big deal right? This brings up a few questions for me: Why does my server have a GUI? Why does this patch require a reboot? Who is typing the words Friendster or Obama on their 2008 Server? At the root of the issue is that I will never deploy Hyper-V for enviroments I admin. I understand patching for core issues and security but this is stupid. If this server was in fact running my virtual server farm I would now be rebooting for Friendster and Obama. Yikes!

July 12, 2008 · 1 min · Nick

VMware Server Beta 2 Review

The Good: Bringing it up to level of workstation/fusion virtual machine compatibility? Vix if you are into the innards of virtualization. The Bad: Wow I mean where do you start? Let me walk you through my install process. I upgraded from the original vmware server to beta on an Ubuntu Gutsy box. The install process was smooth as butter and worked like a champ. I expect the smoothness because VMware is the benchmark for easy installs on Linux (only behind Google for using the Loki Installer) and has always shown that. What I never expected was the actual usage of the software. Gone is your GUI console. Hold on to that for a minute. It is gone, totally non-existstent. The GUI was replaced by a Web interface using AJAX. It all feels very Web 2.0 which is great for when I log into Digg or Facebook (Ooohh Shinny!) but this is enterprise software. What makes the web interface unbearable is the speed. Has anyone used Yahoo! Mail beta AJAX interface? It has brought this quad-processor 4GiB RAM machine to its knees. That is how the VMware Web console feels. VMware! WAKE UP! Web interfaces are great and when you make it optional like you always have with WebUI packages. Optional, it only adds to the flexibility your company has given admins and architects everywhere. I understand the reasoning, web runs everywhere and gives you a lot of options for using thin clients and PDA’s. ...

November 15, 2007 · 2 min · Nick

VMWare Server + Gutsy Gibbon = Houston its a-go

Just make sure to download the latest vmware-any-any patches to deal with the new 2.6.22 and all should be well: http://platan.vc.cvut.cz/ftp/pub/vmware/ 

July 25, 2007 · 1 min · Nick