Terminal Services News

PowerCLI is a PowerShell snap-in that allows you to perform advanced scripting against either vCenter or individual vSphere hosts.  Let’s assume that you have Microsoft PowerShell installed on a Windows system and you have downloaded and installed the latest version of VMware’s PowerCLI snap-in for PowerShell.  That will be our starting point. more...

TrainSignal has released a new VMware View 5 training course!  Called VMware View 5 Essentials Training, “This course teaches a virtualization starter how to use VMware View 5.0 to set up a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Virtualization experts Brian Knudtson and Lane Leverett guide you from VDI basics, through app virtualization and more. more...

A recent post in the vSphere forums asked what seems to be a simple question: How can I measure how long it takes to boot a virtual machine? I believe that the poster was attempting to find out if there is a performance stat that can be used for this purpose.  However, it brings up a bigger ques. more...

There are two critical steps to complete before you get started. Make sure you configure PowerShell to allow remote script execution. set-executionpolicyremotesigned Connect to your vCenter server or to an individual ESX/ESXi host. more...

As you may know, Hyper-V 3 includes a lot of new networking capabilities.  Here, I’m going to discuss a few of the new features you’ll find in virtual machine configurations in Hyper-V 3. more...

There’s always been some confusion around how Microsoft licenses Windows Server for use in a virtual environment.  Believe it or not, Microsoft has an outstanding licensing program for Windows Servers, even if you’re not using Hyper-V as your hypervisor.  Here’s how it works: If you buy a Windows Server Enterprise license (sold on a per instance basis), you are allowed to run up to 4 virtual machines with that license. more...

In perusing the Microsoft Hyper-V forums this weekend, I ran across Hyper-V/domain controller questions from users that had a variety of answer… not all correct.  The original question was whether or not the Hyper-V role could or should be installed on a domain controller.  In general, i. more...

Big news out of Microsoft today! Microsoft released a massive wave in the form of release candidate software for System Center 2012. One of the more interesting items announced is the Unified Installer.  Once I’m able to put it through its paces, I’ll report back on that. more...

In order to be able to make full use of your VMware implementation, whether it’s a vSphere install Workstation or Fusion, you really need to install VMware Tools inside each virtual machine that you create.  At times, you may receive an error that starts with “Error 1316.  A network error occurred while attempting to read from the file…”  There are a couple of causes for this issue and regardless of cause, the end result is that VMware Tools isn’t available. more...

Like many out there, I’ve been using the Windows Server 8 Developer Preview as a way to test the new features coming in Windows Server 8, including Hyper-V.  When I first started using the new OS, though, I was immediately struck by the lack of a Shutdown option on the new Metro-style Start m. more...

This is a few months old, but it’s a really nice presentation about what’s coming down the line for some of Microsoft enterprise-level products, including Hyper-V, Windows Server and Exchange. The short take: Windows 8 will be here in late 2012. Windows Server 2012/Hyper-VS Server 2012 will be here in late 2012/early 2013. Office 2013 will arrive in 2013. Exchange 2013 will arrive in late 2012/early 2013. SharePoint 2013 will arrive in 2013 or later. more...

When you add a new network adapter to Hyper-V, you’ll notice (see the Figure below) that you have two options from which to choose: “Network Adapter” and “Legacy Network Adapter”. How do you know when to choose one or the other Here’s a simple rule of thumb: If the virtual machine needs to boot using a Pre-eXecution Environment (PXE) or if your operating system requires access to the network before you’re able to install the Hyper-V Integration Services. more...

I need your feedback!  As we quickly approach 2012, I want to ask my readers what kind of content you’d like to see in the coming months?  Is VDI your big need in 2012?  Is a move to Hyper-V in your future?  Let me know!  Although I will continue to write on general virtualization topics, I’ll periodically focus on those areas of interest to my readers, so please… take a few minutes and let me know what you’d like to see in 2012.. more...

I remain firmly convinced that virtual desktops and the Bring Your Own Device phenomenon are inextricably linked and, with the rise of BYOD, organizations will find it more and more important to deploy virtual desktops.  By doing so, companies will make it possible for users to use whatever dev. more...

It’s well known that, with a Windows Server 2008 R2 installation, you can simply add the Hyper-V role to your server, as long as your hardware supports the role.  Once the Hyper-V role is added, you can host virtual machines n the server.  However, you still have the full installation of Windows running from which you launched the role addition.  This is overhead. more...

There are acronyms for everything, but even for the pros, it’s getting really crazy, especially when it comes to considering hosts with newer processors for virtualization scenarios.  Unlike in other use cases, processor features are really important to understand when it comes to providing specifications for a new virtual host.  Without the right features, you may not be able to run the workloads that you want. more...

In 2012, I intend to continue and expand my virtualization horizons and that will mean expanding my lab.  My lab currently consists of a Dell PowerEdge 2950, an EMC VNXe SAN (generously provided by EMC!) and a couple of desktops that run VMware Workstation 8.  My current lab server – the. more...

Just in time for the holidays, our friends at Veeam and making available to certain groups of people free Veeam Backup and Replication V6 licenses for lab use!  These free not-for-resale licenses are intended for evaluation and demonstration and are available to VMware vExperts, VMware Certified Professionals, VMware Certified Instructors, VMUG members, Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, and Microsoft Certified Professionals. more...

If you’re currently running vSphere on ESX and are planning to jump to vSphere 5, it’s time to move to ESXi.  However, there can be different compatibility requirements between ESX and ESXi and there may have been modifications made to the service console.  A new VMware Fling called th. more...

I recently had the need to upgrade my MacBook Air to a newer model.  Because I made such heavy use of VMware Fusion on my Mac, I struggled with whether or not I should simply buy a MacBook air with a quad core processor and 8 GB of RAM, but my wallet and need to travel lightly won out and I purchas. more...