Vmware Infrastructure 3

I have just recently returned from Vmware Infrastructure 3 training in Denver, I'm seriously considering spending a little time studying for the VCP exam.

Then again, I've lately been viewing certification as an exercise in running a study/test treadmill. (It's a single test though, and doesn't ever expire.)

Although our shop has been using Vmware since 1.5 and I've been heavily involved with it since 2.5, this was the first official training class for Vmware I've attended. The class was one of the better training classes I've ever attended. It's pretty refreshing to have a class where all the product labs "just work".

DRS and HA were unique features, representing the ability for Vmware to automatically load balance across multiple ESX hosts and failover VM's when one or more ESX hosts fail. Some of the things I learned that I never knew where that Virtual Center automatically imports members of the local administrators group on the Host running Virtual Center into the Virtual Center Administrators group. (Which is something I confirmed in class. We had no Active Directory or I would test for nested groups, but I suspect they don't import.) Another item is that performance of Raw Device mappings, is supposedly slightly worse than using a vmdk file. The official position is that RDM's should only really be used if software needs raw access to a SAN (such as SAN management software) or if you are doing clustering between vm's or between vm and a physical server.

One point that made me smile, was that neither the instructor or any other students thought it was possible to extend a system disk (such as the C: drive) on a Windows server. Something one of my former colleagues had come up with long ago, by attaching the vmdk to another "helper" vm and using it to extend the disk.

Some of the useful information I found that wasn't part of the course ware material included:

List of Maximums in Vmware

Memory overhead associated with running a Virtual Machine (Page 129.)

If pursuing the VCP, the Blueprint covers the test objectives. (Although attendance in a Vmware class is required for the VCP, no one class covers all the material.)

Passed XP 70-270 Test! Now an MCSA!!

I just recently took and passed the Windows XP 70-270 exam. I had previously taken the following exams (in chronological order) beginning with 70-297, 70-290, 70-294, 70-284 and 70-291.

Even though I waited this long to take the XP 70-270 exam, I was a little surprised to find that I had a perfect (1000) score on this particular test.

Anyway, this completes my requirements for MCSA and leaves me one test short of MCSE. (I plan to start studying for the 70-293 after Vacation. I think I probably should have taken it right after 70-291.)

My study recommendations for the 70-270 are to be thoroughly versed in Share/NTFS permissions, Windows XP install situations and knowledgeable of IE security settings (especially if you don't encounter settings different from the defaults in your day to day activities).

I used an older copy of Exam cram 2, but since it was a pre sp2 for XP version I found it lacking. What benefited the most was hands on experience, and second was Microsoft's own Self Study book. I also used Self Test software, but be sure to understand the explanations and do not just try to memorize the answers.

Understanding the Exchange DST tool in KB930879

For any of those who are actively working to prepare an Exchange 2003 environment for the 2007 Daylight Saving changes are probably looking at the Microsoft KB article 930879

If you are anyone like me, you might find this KB article a little vague and confusing at points.

Some of the issues I hit were:

• Exchange tools (Exchange System Manager) were installed on my admin workstations, and had to be uninstalled. (Which also had it's issues, as I found I had to run the setup from the Exchange CD to remove all components from Add/Remove programs. Going to Add/Remove to uninstall would remove the tools, but leave the Exchange server parent entry and prevent the install of the CDO tools.)
• I missed the mentioning of needing .Net 2 Framework installed, and it took a bit of searching on Google to determine the issue.
• Lastly, it was not very clear how to format the Server DN name when running MSEXTMZCFG.exe. I stumbled across the correct formatting after examining the MSEXTMZ.ini file. (Silly me, I was using LDAP formatting.)
• The registry key for Outlook (in my case) needed to be changed to the 11.0 hive from the 12.0 hive.
  

The Exchange Team blog has a much better walkthrough on this than the KB article.

Unfortunately, it also brought to my attention the issue with these tools and the Auto Accept Agent for resource mailboxes. The current solution is to painfully unregister each mailbox before running the tool, but at least on Exchange team member says they want be able to come up with another solution.

Good luck!

Daylight Saving Time (DST) 2007 Changes

Earlier in the month I started work on getting a jump on patching systems for the 2007 Daylight Saving Time changes.

(As of March 2007, DST begins on the second Sunday in March and ends on the first Sunday in November. For more information, see Sec.110 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.)

A short summation of what I found was:

Microsoft has a patch for 2003 and XP with sp2.

For other versions, you should be able to change the settings with registry keys.

Exchange 2003 gets a little complicated in that you need a CDO patch in addition to the Windows OS patch, but your appointments made by clients with the XP patch may be off an hour or more without the CDO update tools for Outlook 2003 that they have yet to release. I'm still trying to determine if one should also hold off on the Exchange 2003 server patch until the Outlook tool is release.

Also, apparently there is an update for Entourage for Mac users.

Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 also has a patch. (WSS 2.0 is a part of Project 2003 server and SharePoint Portal Services 2003 in our environment.)

Sun has a time zone updater for Java builds 1.4 and greater.

Novell has a utility to change the DST start and stop values, but you can change them manually.

Blackberry for Exchange needs the Windows OS DST patch and the CDO Exchange patch, and is planning on releasing a patch/CDO update for Blackberry devices in early February.