I love making appliances. What I do is making a correct setup in VirtualBox, image it with G4L and restore/deploy it on other machines.
The drawback is that the size of my image is not always the same as the size of my new disk. The unallocated space must be made part of the partition.

Here is how I do it.

Step 1: Install the image on the new server.

Just restore image with G4L.

Step 2: Resize LVM partition

2.1 Create a new partition on the allocated space

* From command prompt -> parted
* (parted) print
This will display the partition information you need. Mind the begin/end values (IN MB)
* (parted) mkpartfs
This will create a new partition (primary/ext2). Make sure you allocate the unallocated space
* Exit parted by entering ‘quit’
* From command prompt -> fdisk
Write down the /dev/hdxx

2.2 Resize the LVM Partition

* From prompt -> vgscan
Write down the logical volume name you need to extend.
* From prompt -> pvcreate /dev/hdxx
* From prompt -> vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/hdxx
* From prompt -> lvextend -L+xxG /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
This will extend the volume by xx Gigabyte
* From prompt -> resize2fs /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
* You are all done

You can change the vdi format to vmdk with a tool provided by virtualbox.

Just use the command VBoxManage like this:

VBoxManage clonehd /path/old.vdi /path/new.vmdk -format VMDK

This vmdk-file can now be used in VMware.

This belgian rock band from Brugge formed in 1998 but became famous in 2005 when they provided the songs for a tv serie.

Enjoy ‘Stay with Me’ from Lemon (long intro of approx. 29 sec before clip starts !)

Current economical reality dictates us to cut costs in all areas of our business, so also in IT.

When cutting cost keep in mind following objectives:

- Reduce costs as much as possible without negatively impacting essential services.
- Cut waste permanently, this will require process and procedure changes.
- Consider charging for all new services, if you want it …you show me the money!
- Cost savings opportunities come in small, medium and large.. go after all of these!
- Cost reduction plan must include some quick hits for visibility!
- Organize a cost reduction program, and keep it alive!

With the objectives being clear, where do we start. How do we define the areas where we can seek cost savings?
You don’t have to invent the wheel here again. Following table represents the 25 common IT cost containment areas.

You have to see this table like a menu. Identify the areas where your organization can improve (and as a result save money), create a plan, and execute it.

We are in business for the long term, right? So this implies that often a cost cut means that an initial investment needs to be made.
Saving money equals investing in the future. Freezing budgets will mock up the figures over the short term but will cripple your business in a long term perspective as you will lose your competitive advantage !!

To conclude, take this advice:

- If you’re serious about IT cost savings, then have a plan and dare to invest.
- Make sure you don’t negativaly impact your essential services by just looking at less cost.
- Don’t look for only 1 area for cost savings opportunities but use the IT cost containment framework.
- Long-term, sustained cost containment is a program, not a project !

Converting a physical windows server to a virtual one is easy by using the correct tools. For Linux boxes it is a bit complicated as tools often don’t support the Linux platform.

Here is the basic procedure I use to convert Linux from physical to virtual.

The first step is to make an image of the source machine. I recommend g4l, Ghost for Linux. There are some detailed instructions on g4l available, but the basics are:

* Download the g4l bootable ISO and put it on a CD.
* Boot it on the source machine.
* Select the latest version from the resulting menu and start it up (you have to type g4l at the prompt).
* Select raw transfered over network and configure the IP address and the username/password for the FTP server you want the image
transfered to.
* Give the new image a name.
* Select “backup” and sit back and watch it work.

Once the image is created, just perform a restore by using again g4l on the virtual machine.

* Boot with the g4l image on the target machine
* Enter all information necessary to select the correct image
* Run the restore, sit back and watch it work.

Today, customers are fairly in control of their servers but when it comes to the desktop environment, they are faced with five major challenges.

1. Management

You need to support the desktop environment on a day-to-day basis.

2. Security

Major topic and often overlooked. Desktop infrastructure is more than just the workstations on desks. You also have portables, and we all know the stories of users losing their laptop with the complete customer database stored on it. How do you handles this today?

3. Compliance

Same story. You probably use policies or provisioning software (for eg virus updates). All great for static workstations that are always connected to the network..but what about the laptops. Do they receive the correct virus pattern files in time, ….?

4. Flexibility towards the workforce

Our workplace is not limited to the office desk anymore. IT needs to provide an “anytime, anywhere” experience.

5. Disaster recovery / Business continuity.

Backup of workstations is a complete mess. Most of the companies I know don’t have workstation backups at all or just partial backups.
Again, the main issue is with mobile users. What if their laptop gets stolen? Can you recover ALL of the data?

So how can we tackle these issues? The answer is Server Based Computing.
The key is to pull the workstation away from the desk and bring it into a controllable, manageable environment. That environment is the data center.

Bringing the desktop into the datacenter creates benefits.

1. By using a virtual standard images for all, it will eliminate the testing of multiple configurations.
2. A desktop can be provided in no time!
3. It will improve security, and especially data security.
4. As you work with virtual desktops, you will improve system stability, reliability and manageability
5. By centralizing the desktops, you create the opportunity to centrally backup (and recover) your desktop environment.

But let us be honest, desktop virtualization (through VDI or TS), is not a silver bullet!
Don’t underestimate following points:

1. Make sure you have sufficient network connectivity.
2. If server load or bandwith is lacking, the user experience will suffer. This means you need to scale your servers correctly.
3. In a previous post I’ve already touched the money part. Depending on the virtualization solution you choose, VDI or plain Terminal Services, you will have a different price tag in your hands.

According to some leading experts it does!

Quote from the Open Solutions Alliance

The present economic downturn will lead to an increase in adoption of open solutions due to their flexibility, scalability and value.

Quote from Mr. Scott McNealy, a co-founder of Sun Microsystems

It’s intuitively obvious open source is more cost effective and productive than proprietary software.

Quote from Mr. Tiemann, VP of Red Hat

A move to open source will lower costs and increase capability.

Today I see a gradual acceptance that using open source can be an competitive advantage. And it is not only because of license costs, it’s also because the open source products are (sometimes) better (in terms of usage) and more flexible (in terms of integration).

The real momentum for open source implementations must be created by the customer. Ask your solution provider for alternatives (whether open source or not), challenge the presented solution and compare it to a similar offer based on open source alternatives,
what I call the “get more for less”-offer

In my view, companies that claim to be price-sensitive should also look at open source alternatives allowing them to “get more for less”.

Just got back from VMworld 2009 in Cannes (France), where the present and future technology solutions on virtualization were presented.
The conference was awesome, with lots of interesting sessions, great speakers and fine location.

My main interest was oriented towards virtual client computing and application virtualization and honestly, I was a bit disappointed.

Although the idea and technology looks promising, solutions become of interest, at least from a solutions provider perspective, when they can be sold. Let’s talk in this post about Virtual Desktop Infrastructure or VDI.

In today’s economical reality, cost savings become a more crucial decision item when choosing a technology. Making a business case for VDI is not that easy when comparing to the other form of server based computing: Terminal Services. No, there is nothing wrong with your eyes…VDI is indeed just another way of server based computing. And as we all know, server based computing IS a cost saver. This brings me to the main question of each customer.

VDI, a cost saver?

I would be a happy man when I just could answer the question with a simple “yes” or “no”. But as you could guess, the answer is more than that.
TS is having the benefits here. It is proven technology, with great support through documentation and forums, …. BUT also has its limitations.

There are use cases where VDI is the better solution. Let’s think about the nerdy developer who need admin rights on his workstation or you have business application that do not have TS support. So even when you go for a server based computing environment, you could end up with 2 or more infrastructures increasing the complexity in administration. (VDI and physical pc). Same issue for with TS but at least it’s cheaper.

As we talk about server based computing, we automatically talk about the datacenter. Implementing VDI means actually you are bringing the workstation of the user into the data center to be managed centrally. Ok…that make sense…..but have you thought about the increase of storage capacity you need (which is by far larger compared to TS)? Storage on pc cost peanuts. Storage in a data center costs a great deal more.

And what about redundancy. Don’t think you can get away with just one data center. You cannot afford losing connectivity to ALL of your desktops!

These are just 3 things that I picked up.

From a solutions provider point of view, we must be able to sell a technology and services. From a customers point of view, they need a firm solution that can generate cost savings and increase productivity.

Today I cannot see a benefit for both provider as well as customer.

Can you benefit from server based computing?

The answer is yes…but not by implementing VDI.
I still prefer Terminal Service above VDI today. And let me be clear on the “today”. Things that are an obstical today are not necessarily obsticals tomorrow.

Disclaimer : this post contains the point of view of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of the company were he currently works.

Most people think that when they copy a .vdi file and import it, they have an actual clone of the virtual machine.
Although it is partially true, the virtual machine will not work because VirtualBox assigns a unique identity number (UUID) to each disk image, which also stored inside the image. VirtualBox will refuse to work with two image that use the same number

This is the proper way to backup/clone your VirtualBox Machine:

VBoxManage clonevdi source destination

Example:
“C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox\VBoxManage.exe” clonehd “e:\Virtual Machines\Virtualbox_VMs\thinserver01.vdi” /
“E:\Virtual Machines\Virtualbox_Vms\fedora10base.vdi”

Output that follows:

VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.2
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

0%…10%…20%…30%…40%…50%…60%…70%…80%…90%…100%
Clone hard disk created in format ‘VDI’. UUID: 7139da2a-8c06-4305-84d5-3fe81fbae7f2

It may take a while depending on the size of your .vdi file (or how much space you allocated towards your virtual machine).

Now you need to add this newly cloned disk image through VirtualBox “Virtual Media Manager” by creating a new guest profile as old system, and point the primary harddisk to your newly cloned disk image.

The Vyatta Community Edition (VC) is award-winning, Linux-based, open source software providing routing, firewalling, VPN, intrusion prevention, and WAN load balancing services, among others, for your network. When you run Vyatta on a standard x86 hardware system, you’ll create a powerful network appliance that can run circles around proprietary systems. Vyatta also runs virtualized in VMware, Xen, Hyper-V, and other hypervisors, providing networking and security services to virtual machines.

The networking market continues to grow and creates a lot of business opportunities, but Vyatta faces a challenge because Cisco and others like Juniper has such a strong brand name, and companies are reluctant to gamble with networks because they are so critical to operations.

So how can you tackle these objections?

Here’s a suggestion: remind CIOs/CFOs that the world’s most demanding network (aka “The Internet”) runs open source, and that even Cisco is boosting its network product line with open source-powered routers. If it’s good enough for the Web, and good enough for the top network equipment vendor powering that Web, maybe Vyatta isn’t such a risk, after all?

With over 20,000 downloads per month, a number that is dramatically higher than Vyatta was seeing in early 2008, Vyatta seems poised to do well through the financial downturn.

The ironic thing is that as Cisco pushes more of its products to Linux, it may actually end up seeding the market…for Vyatta.

Based on an article by Matt Asay