virt 101 - Day Three: Methods of Virtualizing the x86 Platform

Day two of this series introduced x86 CPU architecture and the concept of four levels of privilege.

Keeping in mind that the operating system expects to be running at the most privileged level (0) and have complete control over the CPU, 
     what happens when a hypervisor is introduced?

Day three will explore the following methods of virtualizing the x86 Platform:

• Binary Translation
• Paravirtualization
• Hardware Assisted Virtualization

Binary Translation

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.

virt 101 - Day One: Introduction

Welcome to my virtualization 101 series of blog posts. This will introduce x86 server virtualization at a high level, and dig deeper into specific concepts. I will be posting regular updates in this series, and feedback is welcome.

Here are some of the concepts and terms that will be considered:

• Server Virtualization vs. Cloud Computing vs. Emulation
• When was virtualization introduced?
• How does virtualization work?
• x86 CPU Architecture
• Binary Translation
• Paravirtualization
• Hardware Assisted Virtualization
• Virtualized Memory Management
• Extended Page Tables or Nested Page Tables
• Virtualized I/O and Devices
• Benefits and Challenges of Virtualization

four issues I encountered deploying vCenter and SRM 5.5 in a Windows environment

My Experience Deploying vCenter and Site Recovery Manager 5.5

Knowledge is like money: to be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value. - Louis L’Amour

The virtualization community, like many others, exibits a very generous spirit of giving. The knowledge that we each possess, perhaps acquired through our own experiences, evolves as we circulate it with others.

After being virtually off the social grid for the past month, I decided to resume my activity by sharing some installation ‘gotchas’ that I encountered while deploying vCenter and Site Recovery Manager 5.5.

Please note: these solutions are all based on VMware KBs (noted below) and were tested against vCenter Server and Site Recovery Manager 5.5 running on Windows Server 2012, with SQL Server 2012 SP1 supporting databases.

Although relatively minor issues, I hope that you may found this useful and may avoid some of the same headaches that I encountered.

new vCheck plugin: Orphaned VMDK File (v0.1)

What is an orphaned VMDK file?

I believe that it really depends on your perspective, or in this case the vCenter Server's. I would suggest that a file is orphaned (at least from the perception of a given vCenter) when it (the vCenter) is not aware of what purpose the VMDK file serves; or, to which virtual machine it belongs. This does not always hold true, but that's my general explanation.

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.

If you enjoy this content, or other virtualization blogs, please consider voting in VSphere-Land's 2014 Top VMware & Virtualization Blogs  and support the #vCommunity. 

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.

Welcome

Let me begin by welcoming you to my first attempt at blogging.

The word empiric refers to the acquisition of knowledge through the senses or by experience. I felt this word was appropriate as it highlights the type of knowledge that I anticipate you will find herein.

It is my intention to share some of my experiences with the community, stimulate engaging conversations, and learn from the feedback that I receive.

I’m currently preparing my first article which will be posted here soon. Please use the links above to follow my RSS feed or Twitter account to be notified when it has been posted.

Regards,

Joel Gibson
empiric virtualization