On time, pre Xmas i have just passed the VCP5 !
Tough exam. Each question felt ambiguous at first but made sense on the 3rd or 4th read through…

Proper post on this to follow.

Remember – stick to a handful of sweeties and avoid the lovely beers!

So its been a while since i have updated the blog

My excuses are threefold:-

• New baby
• VCAP-DCA study
• Work

They’re lame excuses but i stick by them.

In respect to the VCAP-DCA I am currently waiting on the results to hit my inbox – its working day 6 since the exam. I hope to get a positive result later in the week.

This exam is challenging and rewarding in equal measure. Much like others notable bloggers opinions i found the most challenging aspects of the VCAP-DCA were the vast breadth of material to cover and the time constraints. I could have happily worked for another two hours (probably without finishing).

I studied for the exam like no other exam. 6 months of evening work on and off, including the gradual lab build up from a pc to a dual ML110 G6 with software ISCSI target.

The blueprint became etched on the back of my eyes. It is fair to say that you must be comfortable in applying aspects of all blueprint material in one way or another.

Also i found the VMware knowledgebase to be my friend. For instance article gems discussing VMware H.A. issues with a mixed ESX / ESXi environment were extremely useful.

I would suggest that as a VCAP-DCA candidate you need to consider the exam scenario and apply your study appropriately. It is going to be difficult in an controlled testing environment to get the candidate to perform certain blueprint steps and easy to test others….

Hands on time is essential. The ability to perform a task in 5 minutes or move on is key.

So hopefully my VCAP-DCA results will land in the next week and i will be able to update that i’m moving onto the DCD!

Resources that I found immensely useful include:

Sean Crookson resources http://www.seancrookston.com/vcap-dca/

Trainsignal VMware Training Videos http://www.trainsignal.com/VMware-Training.aspx

Simon Long Blog http://www.simonlong.co.uk/blog/vcap4-study-notes/

vExperienced (Ed Grigson) http://www.vexperienced.co.uk/vcap-dca/

Saffa Geek http://thesaffageek.co.uk/vcap-dca-dcd/

Chris Dadswell Mindmap http://www.chrisdadswell.co.uk/vmware/vcap-dca-v2-xmind-mindmap-download/

Cody Bunch’ Brown Bags http://professionalvmware.com/brownbags/

Kendrick Colemans Exam Page http://kendrickcoleman.com/index.php?/Tech-Blog/vcap-datacenter-administration-exam-landing-page-vdca410.html

The ones that caught my eye were

1. The new vCloud Saas single sign on project which allows cloud app delivery across devices

2. The vSphere and View clients for IPAD

3. Hush hush chat about the release of VAAI v2 as Chad Sakac put it with more array based optimisation for common storage IO tasks

More to follow

Configuring VMs with Fault Tolerance across data centres isn’t a new concept and i’m sure its been discussed at length elsewhere.

However it seems to be getting closer to reality given the summary in the F.T technical paper http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10134 released in July.

It states, and i quote:

“Overall, the performance of fault-tolerant VMs under VMware FT on commodity hardware
is excellent, and shows less than 10% overhead for some typical applications. Most
of performance cost of VMware FT comes from the overhead of using VMware deterministic
replay to keep the primary and backup VMs in sync.

The low overhead of VMware FT therefore derives from the efficiency of VMware deterministic replay. In addition, the logging
bandwidth required to keep the primary and backup in sync is typically quite small, often
less than 100 Mbit/s. Because the logging bandwidth is quite small in most cases, it seems
feasible to implement configurations where the primary and backup VMs are separated by
long distances (1-100 kilometers).

In the future, we are interested in investigating the performance characteristics of the
long-distance FT configurations mentioned above.”

Imagine the sales potential in a Geo FT solution with relatively simple ongoing administration when compared to application geo clustering. I know they are apples and oranges, but this sounds like a great differentiator.

Also the discussion on the F.T, enhancement to detect and manage partial hardware failure sounds great in providing additional service availability…

The technical paper is only 27 pages long – definately worth a read on the train for a techical curiosity point of view if nothing else.

Damian

Bitlocker fail = scary!

This post may just save your bacon

http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/08/04/issues-resulting-in-bitlocker-recovery-mode-and-their-resolution.aspx

As I have been looking at new business laptops recently i have noticed that the Intel I5 Processors are a good price / performance fit.

I’ve noticed however that VT-D features are not included in the I5-430 processors but are included in the I5-520.

Not sure exactly how much difference this will make on a laptop configuration – perhaps it will in the future wonderland filled with client hypervisors…

Anyway more on VT-D here

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-virtualization-technology-for-directed-io-vt-d-enhancing-intel-platforms-for-efficient-virtualization-of-io-devices/

http://www.intel.com/technology/itj/2006/v10i3/2-io/1-abstract.htm

My employer, Silversands Ltd are looking for an experienced messaging consultant. Ideally you will be able to offer

• Architect level skills in Exchange (03, 07, 10)
• Experience in OCS
• Understanding of BPOS deployment
• Real world experience of large and small messaging deployments
• Good appreciation of Microsoft product ranges with ability to offer advice on crossover technologies

In return Silversands are able to offer an excellent working environment with an established gold partner in the south.

Please bear in mind that experience is equally valued as are qualifications, however Silversands are more than happy to assist with progression.

Please contact me using the email damian.davis@silversands.co.uk