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02-26-2008 Chat Log

DELL-ToddM Feel free to post any initial questions / thoughts

 Dell-MarkO joined.
DELL-ToddM Hello Marko
Marleine what is virtualization? does it require esx?
Dell-MarkO Hello all
epinto Q1 We just purchased 2 Esx 3.0 hosts + Md3000i. Any best practices for this specific setup? Q2 Is it a good idea to connect an interface of a Esx host directly to the Internet? (To run a vm firewall)

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cmojica hello all

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DELL-ToddM Hello everybody
Dell-RogerF Afternoon
DELL-ToddM Welcome to the Tech Tuesday chat
DELL-ToddM Today we are going to focus on the virtualization resources available on Delltechcenter
DELL-ToddM And as we go we can cover any topics or question that come up about virtualization
DELL-ToddM I chatted with epinto earlier today and he has a few things that he wants to talk about

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DELL-ToddM 1) Running 2 Esx servers with an Md3000i
epinto yup
DELL-ToddM 2) Connecting a port on Esx server directly to internet for a firewall Vm
DELL-ToddM Anybody else have something specific?
DELL-ToddM Hello Kent
DELL-ToddM Well lets start by talking about the Md3000i and Esx
DELL-ToddM There are actually several things already on the site that address this combo.
epinto really?
DELL-ToddM Oh - one word of warning before I start linking things
DELL-ToddM If you click on a link in the chat window it will log you off the chat and take you to the link
DELL-ToddM so beware
epinto I'll copy/paste
epinto Thanks for the warning
DELL-ToddM There is a whitepaper on connecting iscsi to Esx located here http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/details+on+attaching+dell+iscsi+storage+to+vmware
DELL-ToddM It covers the basics of what you need to do to get an iscsi array like the Md3000i connected
epinto nice
DELL-ToddM There is also a discussion thread that was started a few weeks ago that is about connecting the Md3000i to an Esx host located here: http://www.delltechcenter.com/thread/1180750/md3000i+and+vmware
epinto Ok
DELL-ToddM In the discussion thread, there are a couple of guys who were having some problems getting it setup
DELL-ToddM They helped each other and I also piped in at the end
DELL-ToddM This highlights two of the different types of resouces that are available
epinto I'll definetely look into that thread
DELL-ToddM There are traditional whitepapers, which are great and can provide lots of detail on a specific topic or solution
epinto Sounds great Todd
DELL-ToddM Whitepapers have been around for a long time and are a very useful way to communicate technical information
DELL-ToddM The second type of resource is the discussion thread.
DELL-ToddM These can be directly associated with any page on the techcenter site.
DELL-ToddM This allows for questions and conversations that are related to a whitepaper or wiki page to live alongside
epinto Gotcha
DELL-ToddM This is one of the cool things about having an online community
DELL-ToddM So if you have a question about anything that you see on the site - you can ask a question in context
DELL-ToddM The site is monitored by myself and the other members of the Dell Techcenter team as well as various members of Dell engineering teams
epinto Sounds great, I like that about Dell
DELL-ToddM To specifically address your question about - should I plug one of my Esx network ports directly into the internet to setup a firewall Vm?
DELL-ToddM That will work fine.
DELL-ToddM I would recommend that you clearly label the virtual switch that you create for that port - so that it is clear it is an external connection
DELL-ToddM So that Vms don'
DELL-ToddM t accidentally get directly connected that shouldn't be

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epinto oops. i'm back.
epinto I'll repeat, plugging an internet connection directly to an Esx sounds scary from the security stand point. I know there are vswitches and etc... but how secure (or wise) really would that be?
DELL-ToddM It comes down to physical security / management I think
epinto Would it be a best-practice to do that? What's Vmware's position on the security concern? (and I know you can't speak for vmware, but you work closer to them than most people)
DELL-ToddM It would not be good to have that cable moved to the wrong port - but people shouldn't be moving network cables on your server without knowing what thery are doing
epinto I agree, the physical concern is minor in this case.
DELL-ToddM As a best practice, I don't think that I have seen anything on this
epinto It's in a data center with 6 levels of security, 3 of which are biometrical. No one w/o clearance touches this.
DELL-ToddM If you had multiple Esx servers, then it might be more clear to designate only one (or two for redundancy) to have the external connection
DELL-ToddM You could put them in a seperate pool in Virtual Center
DELL-ToddM But I think that you are only going to have two Esx systems
DELL-ToddM I believe that the virtual switches have shown to be just a secure a physical switch
DELL-ToddM Let me do some research after the chat and see what I can find

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DELL-ToddM I'll post it on the Virtualization Frontier blog here on Delltechcenter
DELL-ToddM (does anybody else sense a great transition?)
epinto go for it
DELL-ToddM Virtualizaiton Frontier - located at http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/virtualization+frontier
DELL-ToddM Is a blog within Delltechcenter
DELL-ToddM It has Rss feed, areas for comments, and can be tracked just like most blogs that you see
DELL-ToddM The reason for it is that we found just having whitepapers and wiki pages of infomormation doesn't have alot of personality
DELL-ToddM So by having a blog we are able to provide a little bit of commentary about what is going on on the site
DELL-ToddM And about other things that might be happening in the same topic area across the web
epinto great
cmojica it's cool to be part of a company with such a wealth of information :-)
DELL-ToddM So I use the Virtualizaiton Frontier blog to post about the new stuff that I put on the site about Virtualizaiton
DELL-ToddM I think that it's cool too
DELL-ToddM Tell your friends and family - so that everybody will realize how cool virtualization is!
cmojica already a big fan of virtualization, been on that bandwagon for sevearl years now.
DELL-ToddM Specifically I used the blog to announce some Microsoft Hyper-v performance testing results that I did a about a month ago
DELL-ToddM Hyper-v is the virtualizaiton engine that is going to be included with Windows Server 2008 - but as of now is still in beta
DELL-ToddM The wiki page for Hyper-v is here http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/windows+server+virtualization+-+hyper-v
DELL-ToddM The most recent entry on the blog is from last week, talking about a new Storage Vmotion video demo that was just added to the site
epinto I have a Q about 3i
DELL-ToddM Blog Entry about Storage Vmotion - http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/02%2f21%2f2008+-+storage+vmotion+demo+-+comments
DELL-ToddM What is the Q about 3i?
epinto I've read the marketing-speak... At the end of the day, when would an organization choose 3i over regular Esx 3.0
DELL-ToddM The key advantage to 3i is deployment time
DELL-ToddM And potentially better security due to small footprint
DELL-ToddM Classic Esx or Regular Esx has the full service console which is useful for running some stuff
DELL-ToddM Like backup agents
DELL-ToddM 3i also has a remote command line utility
DELL-ToddM This allows you to run many of the commands that would have run from the service console - remotely
DELL-ToddM The remote command line kit can be installed on Windows or Linux
DELL-ToddM It uses perl in the background to make it all work
DELL-ToddM There is also a Vm appliance that you can download that already has the Remote Command line stuff installed
epinto interesting
DELL-ToddM Performance between 3i and Classic will be the same
DELL-ToddM Have you considered using 3i or an embedded version in the future?
epinto is Is somewhat confusing... maybe it's just me
DELL-ToddM The managment of the hardware is integrated into virtual center with 3i
DELL-ToddM So you will be able to see things like fans and voltages of the server within virtual center

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DELL-ToddM This was actually demoed on stage at Vmworld Sf in Sept on a Dell server
epinto is the videocast available?
DELL-ToddM Yes - on www.vmworld.com
DELL-ToddM It is the Diane Green keynote
DELL-ToddM I had a blog entry about it here http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/10%2f24%2f2007+vmworld+2007+-+v3i+-+comments
DELL-ToddM Mark Jarvis , Dell Cmo, comes on stage and does the demo with Diane

 Dell-RogerF joined.
DELL-ToddM Speaking of which - Vmworld Europe kicked off this morning in France
DELL-ToddM The opening keynote has announcements from Dell and the other Hw partners about embedded Esx
DELL-ToddM That keynote is also available on www.vmworld.com
DELL-ToddM A final resource on Delltechcenter that I wanted to metion is one of our more popular
DELL-ToddM It is the video demos
DELL-ToddM We setup and test lots of things and decided that it was pretty easy to capture some video demos
epinto I like that
DELL-ToddM They include Vmotion, Drs, and Storage Vmotion
DELL-ToddM The wiki page is http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/virtualization+demos
DELL-ToddM The most recent one was just posted last week - on Storage Vmotion
DELL-ToddM It shows how you can use Storage Vmmotion to move a Vm from on Lun to another
DELL-ToddM while is is running
DELL-ToddM under stress
DELL-ToddM Specifically it shows a windows server 2003 Vm with Sql Server 2005
epinto gotta love vms
epinto Vms
DELL-ToddM being moderately stressed
DELL-ToddM and moved from one Lun to another
DELL-ToddM I show the perfmon during the move and there is definately an impact to performance
DELL-ToddM But I think that it is pretty cool to have no interruption to the Vm
DELL-ToddM When you combine this with a classic or regular Vmotion
DELL-ToddM You could move a Vm completely from its initial physical location - without downtime
DELL-ToddM And I thought all of the that dynamic datacenter of the future stuff was really far off
DELL-ToddM Any other questions?
DELL-ToddM We are getting close to the end of our time
DELL-ToddM Any suggestions for future virtualization web chat topics?
DELL-ToddM I can try to get guest speakers to address topics
epinto Take in real world designs and have someone talk through the design, the Why's? the Why Nots? The Best Practices... I like that practical end of things. That's my $0.02
DELL-ToddM Great idea
DELL-ToddM I think that I may be able to get somebody from Services who does solution designs come in for a session
DELL-ToddM Next week will be a Systems Managment focused chat, followed the week after that by virtualization (we are alternating weeks on major topic type)
epinto it's nice to get away from the usual "promise the moon" marketing-speak and doing real world "hey, here's how this can fix your problems"
DELL-ToddM I agree about trying to cut through the marketing stuff and focus on the technical
DELL-ToddM We do that as much as possible on the Techcenter site
epinto Thank you
DELL-ToddM Feel free to call us on it if we get to marketing or salesy
DELL-ToddM Thanks to everybody for coming today
epinto Bye for now
DELL-ToddM Special thank you to epinto for the questions and discussion
epinto heh. See you around the site.
Dell-RogerF Bye


Latest page update: made by todd_muirhead , Feb 27 2008, 11:06 AM EST (about this update About This Update todd_muirhead added hyperlinks to chat log - todd_muirhead


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