Dugie’s Pensieve

This isn’t a virtualization post ‘per se’, but rather an informal update with my project.  After a  lot of work, today we are starting the rebuild of our test lab environment, and we’re installing Windows 2008 w/ Hyper-V

The end goal of the project is create a self provisioned Virtual Sandbox for a ‘few hundred developers’ they can access from the web.  But before we can start to build that virtual lab [called the sandpit], we need to build another virtual lab [boring enough called test lab] to "test the changes".  The sandpit lab is essentially development domain that developers could manage and to a certain extent administer themselves if needed.

Sounds easy huh?  Well it’s been frustrating at times, because of ‘hole in the bucket syndrome‘.  We had this vicious circle of dependencies, and it was only going to get worse before it got better.  So we decided to take a step back, and start with user accounts and mailboxes.  If we had to give users another credential, attaching an Exchange mailbox with Outlook anywhere seemed good incentive …and this set of credentials will remove 3 others, so it’s win/win :)  

But, like I said it’s been a challenge.  To get this far we’ve had to deal with issues such as:

• 7 domains, with no trusts an no direct IP connectivity
• No common or unified messaging system
• No unified or common directory
• No mobile email
• The TCO on user account management and provisioning was pretty high
• A HUGE investment in Lotus Notes - Bleeech

So now most of the plumbing is done.  The domains are being flattened and consolidated.  Users are being migrated to the new Exchange 2007 enabled domain, the servers will follow soon.  We rolled out our first fleet of HTC touch devices with direct push.  We’ve had to add a whole bunch of capacity on the VI3 farm for the new DC, SQL, Sharepoint, Exchange and other misc roles.  Overall the experience and feedback has been good.

…and the sexiest bit:  As users are created into Navision their user accounts are provisioned, and then "topped up" with the missing info from assorted Notes databases.  All sorts of trivial things like home directories based on branch, and the site they are working from this month :)  Phwaar, I told you it was sexy!

But today is "the sweet dessert after the bitter herbs".  Today we crack open 3x new servers and rebuild build our infrastructure test labs on Hyper-V. 

Now this hardware is just the ‘Infrastructure test lab’, once we’ve tested the new changes, we’ll roll them out to production — and then, it’s time to test the automation for the developer sandpit.   "Test the test lab" so to speak.  Pretty cool huh? :)

Back soon, I’ve got new hardware and a Windows 2008 DVD, I’m not afraid to use ‘em!

First of all, a warm welcome to all my new blog readers who are exclusively for the content on the Arcade Cabinet - I’m glad that you are enjoying the show  :) 

The cabinet is complete, with only the 6ft decals on each side to be done - it looks so *naked* without them.  The silly part is, I’m having a tough time deciding what I should use.  So until then, Optimus Prime takes the first watch.

Even without installing Home Server just yet, I’m really happy with the result.  Currently I’m running heavily modified version of XP Media Centre.

UPDATE:  Home server is installed and working sweet.  It feels sooooo good to have everything backed up. 

It allows me to play arcade games (using MAME), and watch TV and Movies whilst sitting (and drinking scotch) on the deck.  There is something quite enjoyable about watching classic movies on an arcade machine!  I even use the arcade machine as a juke box. 

I think BBQs these holidays are going to be a lot of fun.  So far I’ve spent ~$478 of my [self imposed] $500 AUD budget, and the build has taken about 16 hours.   This excludes waiting for the paint to dry and the 4+ hours I spend playing arcade games and watching tv/movies.  =)

The cabinet is ‘finished*‘.  Now that’s just the cabinet, not the project. …I say “*” because I’m sure it will never be truly finished, I’ll always find “just one more thing” that needs to be made better.  Only this morning, I was thinking I should change the layout of the keyboard draw. :)

Anyway, the cabinet is painted (and looking good).  The false floor is in.  Tonight, I pick up the UPS, HDD cage mounts, and spare Cat 5e sockets.  Although there are still a couple of cosmetic fixes, everything is very functional.

…so functional I spent a couple of hours testing some old favorites last night.  I was warned that might happen :)

For this photo, I took the front panels off, so you could see inside.

Once the UPS and drives cages are in, I’ll take a photo of the finished product both with and without front panels.

Ahhh, it feels good.  The mounting bracket for the monitor is in, and the last of the panels are done.  I’d forgotten just how heavy those old 21″ monitors are!

Next is wiring up the cabinet with ethernet cables, some logitech speakers, keyoard, power boards and stuff.  Once that is done, I’ll have to rip it all out again, so I can paint it.  I’m still deciding if I want to paint it “Windows Ultimate Black” or “Windows Home Server Blue”

But, it’s raining here is Brisbane again, so I’m not sure if I’ll get a chance to paint it today.  On a side note, why does it only ever rain when I want to paint!?  Great weather all week, and rain on the weekend.

I must keep going, hopefully I’ll have another update tomorrow.

Microsoft have released a 39 page guide for Planning a Virtual Machine Manager Deployment. The guide covers each of the SCVMM components, how they interop with each other - and of course considerations for your environment.

It took about 20 minutes to read.  You can download the Planning a Virtual Machine Manager 2007 Deployment guide, and I found the following snippets interesting:

• The maximum number of hosts and virtual machines tested with and supported by VMM on the highest recommended hardware configuration is 400 hosts and 8,000 virtual machines
• VMM cannot be installed in a disjointed DNS namespace (to be perfectly honest, I’ve never tried - just assumed)

I missed this in all the excitement.  Microsoft updated their Virtual Server Support KB articles earlier this month, on November 2.

• KB897613 - Microsoft Virtual Server support policy, last updated ~April 07
• KB867572 Supported operating systems in Virtual Server 2005 R2

For VMware or XEN users, KB 897615, Support policy for Microsoft software running in non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software has not been updated, and is still at version 2.0, July 2007.

I spent an hour this afternoon putting a few more panels on my arcade machine.  Tomorrow afternoon I’ll fit the monitor bracket, slide rails for hardware, and most of the cabling.

I’m planning Saturday to fit the last of the panels, and paint the cabinet with undercoat.  Depending on the weather, and a bit of luck I might even get a chance to put on the final coat of paint.

So far I’ve spent ~$410 of my $500 AUD budget:

+ $247.95 on the pre-made arcade controls
+ $105.80 on timber
+ $58 on assorted finishing bits for the cabinet

I’ve got ~$90 left, which should be enough to finish things nicely.

Once the cabinet is together and painted, I’ll start the install of Home Server.  When that’s underway, I’ll post a full breakdown of costs and all the item that I bought.

It’s taken me about 9 hours to get this far.  That includes, all the setting up, cutting, etc, and 2x trips to Bunnings.  One to buy all the timer, and another to buy replacement drills for the one I broke =)

I’ll post more on the weekend.

There has been some great announcements this week from the Microsoft IT Forum in Barcelona.  If some how you missed them, check out the press release =)

Microsoft have also released some of the video casts for download.  I recommend checking out Michael Manos’s clip.  Michael presented a session on Green data centers last week in Seattle , and there is some amazing work that Microsoft are doing in this space.

Anyway, a snippet of the Virtualization clips that interested me are below:

System Center Technology Announcements
Brad Anderson, General Manager, Management & Solutions Divisions, discusses Systems Centre Virtual Machine (SCVMM) and DPM - 32.6mb Length: 07:11

Windows Server & Virtualization Announcements
Zane Adam, Senior Director Product Management, Windows Server Division, discusses key core technologies around virtualization, Microsoft Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server.  - 9.6mb Length: 01:57

Microsoft’s Virtualization Strategy
Larry Orecklin, General Manager, System Centre & Virtualization, discusses what customers should be thinking of today to get their infrastructure virtualized. -   22.5mb Length: 04.08

 

The Promise of Virtualization
David Greschler, Director, Integrated Virtualization Strategy, discusses Microsoft’s strategy with virtualization and what the future holds - 15.3mb Length: 03:49

 

Data Center Strategy and Challenges
Michael Manos, Senior Director, Datacentre Services, discusses how Microsoft decides what data centers to build and where -  in a sustainable manner that are strategically located and designed to be greener. - 43.9mb Length: 07:37

Q: Why does VMRCplus give the error: "The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000135). Click on OK to terminate the application."

A: VMRCplus is a winforms application.  It requires the .NET framework. to be installed.

The following links should get you started:

• Download .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x86)
• Download .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package (x64)
• Download Virtual Machine Remote Control Client Plus (VMRCplus) v 1.6.0
• Matthijs ten Seldam’s blog on VMRCplus

Just saw over on Kleefy’s blog that Avanade Australia are using Hyper-V in customer proof of concepts.  A snippet from Michael’s post is below:

Greg Howard from Avanade Australia has been doing some work with Windows Server 2008 RC0 recently. He’s been doing some proof of concept projects for some of Australia’s biggest businesses on the use of Windows Server virtualization. In newly released news the name was officially released as Hyper-V at TechEd IT Forum in Barcelona.

In his words “…Windows Server virtualization now supports 64 bit guests, we have found it to be stable for a beta product and seems to be more responsive than Virtual Server R2. All of these things makes it well worth a look.…”

It’s great to see some fellow Aussies out there leading, as early adopters.