If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to take a look at Deploying VMware Infrastructure. You can buy it online at one of my favorite online bookstores - DigitalGuru (there are other choices besides that other “big online bookstore”).

SolarWinds free VM Monitor makes it easy to quickly check the health of your VMware ESX server by monitoring CPU, memory utilization, virtual machine status. The Petri IT Knowledgebase has recently made this tool available to all site visitors. To download your free VM Monitor tool, just visit: Monitor VMware ESX Server Performance for free - VM Monitor

From the show, TechTarget’s SearchServerVirtualization.com has put together a ton of videos including videos from myself and a number of the other expert judges. To view these videos, just click on the video graphic below (yes, that is me):

While you wouldn’t run ESX in Workstation for a production server, running ESX in Workstation is an excellent way to test and demonstrate ESX Server (and the entire VMware Virtual Infrastructure suite) on a single PC. Think about it - what if you had a single PC with 2 ESX Servers, an iSCSI virtual SAN, and a Windows Server running Virtual Center. With that, you would have “VMware Infrastructure in a box” and be able to run powerful features like VMotion, SVMotion, VMHA, and Update Manager, all on a single PC.

Special thank you to Xtravirt.com for their “VI in a box” whitepaper that shows how to run ESX Server in VMware Workstation.

As you can see in the diagram above, VMware’s new product line is broken down as:

• Application vServices guarantee the appropriate levels of availability, security and scalability to all applications independent of hardware and location.
• Infrastructure vServices subtract, aggregate and allocate on-premise servers, storage and network for maximum infrastructure efficiency.
• Cloud vServices federate the on-premise infrastructure with third party cloud infrastructure.
• Management vServices allow you to proactively manage the virtual datacenter OS and the applications running on it.

A huge piece of this is the new Virtual Data Center OS, or VDC-OS, expected to be released in 2009. The real power of the VDC-OS concept is that it will allow IT Managers to easily and quickly allow applications and end user devices to “tap into the power of the virtual infrastructure”. They call this new virtual resource the “vCloud”.

You can watch a testimonial video about how companies like eBay have already been using the beta version of VMware’s new products (and have found them favorable) and you can read more about the new VDC-OS at VMware’s VDC-OS page.

Additionally, other articles about the new VDC-OS have been posted at:

• Scott Lowe - VDC-OS
• ComputerWorld - VDC-OS
• PCWorld - VDC-OS
• Gabe’s Virtual World - VDC-OS

———————

Stay tuned to VMwareVideos.com for complete VMworld 2008 Coverage including video content that you won’t find elsewhere! Also, get immediate VMworld Twitter updates at my Twitter Feed.

So, does your company produce a VMware-related software application, hardware device, or widget? If so, you need to make sure that you register your product to be judged at the Best of VMworld Awards.

To be considered, your nomination must be received by August 22, 2008. Register here.

The winners of the Best of VMworld Awards will be announced on September 22, 2008 at VMworld and later announced at Search Server Virtualization.com

VMware VI Toolkit Training Video

The new VMware VI Toolkit 1.0 for Windows is a toolkit that works with Microsoft Powershell to allow you to write powershell scripts that can configure and administer VMware ESX Server. VMware has released a free webinar/training video that shows you what the new VI Toolkit can do for you and how it works. To watch this video, click the video window on the left. And for more VMware training videos, visit the VMware recorded webcast site.

Train Signal VMware ESX Server Video Training Course

This just in - Train Signal Computer Training - the global leader in computer training for IT Pros - will announce an updated VMware ESX Server 3.5 training course available just in time for VMworld 2008 (middle of September). The new course will offer updated videos covering the latest and greatest features of VMware ESX Server 3.5 and the updated Virtual Infrastructure Suite.

This 15+ hour ESX Server training course is the best way to learn ESX Server because you can learn at your own pace and learn at for about 10% the cost of classroom training.

To learn more about the ESX Server video training course, visit www.TrainSignal.com

Who is this “new guy”? Let’s find out by looking at his bio-

Paul Maritz, President and CEO
Paul Maritz is President and CEO of VMware, Inc. Prior to joining VMware, Maritz was President, Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division at EMC Corporation. He joined EMC in February 2008 when EMC acquired Pi Corporation, where he was the founder and CEO.

Maritz is an IT veteran and visionary who spent 14 years working at Microsoft, where he served as a member of the five-person Executive Committee that managed the overall company. He oversaw the development and marketing of System Software Products (including Windows 95, Windows NT, and Windows 2000), Development Tools (Visual Studio) and Database Products (SQL Server), and the complete Office and Exchange Product Lines. Prior to joining Microsoft, he spent five years working at Intel Corporation.

Maritz is a graduate in Mathematics and Computer Science of the Universities of Cape Town and Natal in South Africa. Currently, he serves on the board of several privately-held software companies and also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Grameen Foundation, which supports microfinance around the world. He has an active interest in the use of technology in developing countries and in wildlife issues.

A Microsoft guy huh? Perhaps he knows how to crush Hyper-V with ESX Server? Let’s hope so

Even better than reading about him, let’s watch him on video!

For the official announcement, see: VMware Announces Change in Executive Leadership

What do you think this change will bring to VMware? Post your comments here!

Here is what they are looking for:

You will be responsible for architecture, design & implementation of automation frameworks for Virtual Operating system & virtualization runtime components. An ideal candidate will have very solid background in C/C++, a relentless passion for quality, a deep insight into building automation and a desire to break systems programmatically. The candidate will also be expected to drive product security and performance requirements, perform in-depth product design reviews and also inspect development code by participating in code reviews etc. In addition, the candidate will also be expected to help the development team out with fixing bugs and designing features from time to time.

So, is anyone out there qualified? Or do you know someone who is? If so, please contact: Brad Fuellenbach via email at bfuellenbach (at) VMware.com

You can download a free beta demo of the software and watch a free 1 hour video covering how it works at: VMware Thinstall Video.

• What is Storage VMotion (SVMotion) and How do you perform a SVMotion using the VI Plugin?
• Overview of VMware ESX / VMware Infrastructure Advanced Features
• Configuring a Virtual Machine Using VMware
• Virtualization FAQ

I hope you will sign up for their Virtualization Newsletter and/or their RSS Feed.

Recently, a recruiter friend of mine approached me with an interesting part-time VMware Admin job at a company in Dallas. It is a 20-30 hour per week job on a 6+ month contract perform server consolidations with VMware. The job pays very well.  You can checkout all the details of this Part-time VMware Admin job in Dallas, Texas as it is posted over in the VMware DFW Users’ Group Forum.

The second question that my recruiter friend asked me was “what are the best job sites to find VMware Admins?”. Other than the big 3 (Dice, Monster, and Careerbuilder), I had trouble thinking of any. So, my question to you, readers of VMwareVideos.com and the VMware Planet v12n - what are the best websites to look for and post VMware-related jobs? Now I am not talking about only jobs at VMware. While these could be jobs at VMware, more than likely, they are jobs working at any company that uses VMware software.

Please post your comments!

And, because this is VMwareVideos.com, I have for your two videos covering VDI.

The first video is like one of those old time “silent movies” with some music but no explanation. Still, I liked the video because it shows you what VMware’s VDM looks like from “here’s the server” to “this is what it looks like when you connect with a desktop”.

While also a silent movie, the second video appears to be a official VMware VDI/VDM promo video that explains what it can do for you. Also, worthwhile.

Enjoy!

-David

It is really amazing what you can do with Fusion! VMware Rocks!

Recently, interviewed David Davis, a VCP, author of Train Signal’s VMware Server & VMware ESX Server video training products, and owner of VMwareVideos.com.

I hope you will take a moment to check out Tarry’s interview with David Davis and see what Tarry’s website has to offer.

I downloaded the, roughly, 50MB ZIP file and was impressed when I ran the autorun at the quality of the video presentation. Here is what it looked like:

I think that it is great that VMware is offering this free and quality video training for VMware Server 1.0. I hope that they can soon offer similar training for the new VMware Server 2.0 (no pressure Jason).

While the videos are a great introduction to VMware Server, if you are looking for a much more in depth video training course covering VMware Server & Workstation, I hope you will checkout my 13+ hour VMware Server & Workstation video training series. You can watch a free demo at that link.

I want to offer special thanks to Jason Eden for pointing this free VMware Server training out to me!

After reading the magazine, I wish that there were actually more sponsors (I am sure they do too) so that I could get a better idea of the 3rd party products that are out there. I wish that they had more how-to and more product reviews as well. As they say that they will cover all virtualization products, I would be concerned whether or not they can stay “impartial” as their other major publication is strictly a Microsoft-oriented magazine. I wonder how fair of a shake they will give to VMware… Time will tell.

• VMware Official YouTube E-Learning channel 
• VMware Official Blip.TC E-Learning Site

These videos have some good tips in them. There are about 13 videos at the YouTube site and at least that many over on Blip.tv. While these videos aren’t like a VMware ESX Server training course, theyI applaud VMware for posting these free videos and I hope to see more!