virt 101 - Day Two: Virtualization and x86 CPU Architecture

Welcome to day two of the virtualization 101 series. We will explore how server virtualization works, and the basics of x86 CPU architecture.
How does server virtualization work?

In a virtual machine,  computations are performed using a physical CPU, memory, and disk storage – although in some cases the amount  of resources presented to the virtual machine does not really exist. There are various techniques used to optimize actual physical resource utilization.

has it been five months already?

Yes, it has been five months now since I began this journey as a newbie blogger with my site empiricvirtualization.com - wow, how the time has flown by! I chose the word empiric because it aptly describes my mission to share some of my hands-on knowledge and experiences. I’ve had the privilege to share some fairly unique posts with you (i.e. the hunt for the elusive dvSwitch config, and my virtualized OpenVPN server), and also become more active in the virtualization and tech communities.

I’d like to say a big THANK YOU to my readers and followers; because, it really is you that motivates me to keep blogging, even though the time required can be rather elusive. It is my intention to continue to deliver unique and educational content, and to start new conversations.

Have you enjoyed these posts? Is there a topic that you would like me to write about? I’d love to hear your feedback.

Here is a sneak peak at some upcoming posts:

• vCenter 5.5 Gotchas
  • This post will cover some of my experiences deploying vCenter and Site Recovery Manager 5.5, some of the issues I encountered, and how I successfully overcame them.
• Deploying an OpenVPN Server on my Raspberri Pi
  • This is the fourth installment in the DIY home VPN experiment series. This post will discuss my OpenVPN deployment using my Raspberri Pi running Pidora.

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Keep on virtualizing!

how to log-in to a fresh install of vCenter Server 5.5 using domain credentials (updated)

Updated: January 24, 2014.

I have read a few posts within the community lately [1][2] about an issue being encountered after a fresh install of vCenter 5.5. Basically, what happens is the only user that can log-in to the vCenter server is the SSO administrator (Administrator@vsphere.local). This may seem like unexpected behaviour, especially considering that even the account (perhaps an AD service account) that was used to perform the install is also unable to log-in and see the vCenter Server.

In contrast to the long title for this post, the solution that I would like to share is short and straight forward. I hope that this solution will save you from some post-install headaches.

the DIY home VPN experiment (part one - intro)

Part One: Introduction

It’s been a while since my last blog entry, and I’ve decided to catch you up on some of the projects that I’ve been working on in my home lab. This next series of posts is going to revolve around the do-it-yourself home VPN.

What is a VPN, or virtual private network?