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

Lotus Notes, click here for what others have had to saySo 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!