For more information, read these stories about the enhanced partnership between VMware and Cisco:

• TCPMag.com – Cisco to by $13M Stake in VMware
• NetworkWorld.com – Cisco Ups its stake in VMware
• TheStreet.com – Intel sheds its stake in VMware

Running VMware ESXi 4 / vSphere in VMware Workstation – VIDEO

In my new video, I demonstrate, step by step, how you can run VMware ESX Server 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 inside VMware Workstation 6.5. This is also shown in my Train Signal VMware ESX Server video training course.

While you wouldn’t run ESX in Workstation for a production server, running ESX in Workstation is an excellent way to test and demonstrate ESX Server (and the entire VMware Virtual Infrastructure suite) on a single PC. Think about it – what if you had a single PC with 2 ESX Servers, an iSCSI virtual SAN, and a Windows Server running Virtual Center. With that, you would have “VMware Infrastructure in a box” and be able to run powerful features like VMotion, SVMotion, VMHA, and Update Manager, all on a single PC.

Special thank you to Xtravirt.com for their “VI in a box” whitepaper that shows how to run ESX Server in VMware Workstation.

To learn about virtualization, I suggest our VMware Server, Microsoft Virtual Server, or VMware ESX Server video training. Just released is my new VMware ESX Server video. It covers VMware ESX Server, Virtual Center, and all the components that make up Virtual Infrastructure.

I am excited to say that my VMware ESX Server video training course is officially available! After creating the popular Microsoft Virtualization and VMware Server & Workstation video series, I have just finished VMware ESX Server. ESX Server is VMware’s Enterprise grade, high-end virtualization product and it is in use by so many companies today.

To create this video training, I spent 3 months researching VMware ESX Server and the Virtual Infrastructure Suite. I made every effort cover the VMware ESX Server applications from all aspects including designing, installing, creating virtual machines, virtual networks, SAN storage, VCB backups, and performance tuning.

• 15+ Hours of instructor led Video training covering VMware ESX Server that you can watch over and over again.
• Master VMware ESX Server and save yourself time and your company money!
• Coverage includes VMware ESX Server configuration, VMware Virtual Infrastructure, VMware Virtual Center, and so much more

Visit the Train Signal website using the link below to see the demo!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW A FREE DEMO!

Running VMware ESXi 4 / vSphere in VMware Workstation – VIDEO

VMware recently released their new VMware ESX Server 3i Beta at the VMworld conference. This is a very cool, high performance, virtualization operating system that runs directly on the hardware. Now, you can learn how to virtualize it for testing and demo purposes by running VMware ESX Server 3i Beta on your existing PC OS, inside VMware Workstation! Take a look!

How to run VMware ESX Server 3i Beta inside VMware Workstation

Requirements – VMware ESX Server 3i Beta, VMware Workstation, and an Intel VT CPU

Also available in alternate formats:

Podcast & Windows Media

When VMware ESX Server 3i Beta was released at the VMworld conference, it was offered only on a USB Flash drive key. It was intended to be booted directly on a hardware server. To make it more convenient to test and demo, you can actually run VMware ESX Server 3i Beta inside VMware Workstation. Watch the video to find out how. To download the WORKING VMX file used in this video, click here.

Please watch these other videos by David Davis & offered at HappyRouter.com:

VMware ESX Server www.happyrouter.com/esxvideo

VMware Workstation & Server www.happyrouter.com/vmwarevideo

COMMENTS

(3) Purple Screen of Death

2007-10-03 10:48:52

Humm, it starts out OK but after awaile it gives me the PSD. IBM T60 with VT enabled and Workstation 6.01. Any idees?

//TTCO

Written by TTCO (Unregistered)

(4) Purple Screen of Death

2007-10-03 11:10:27

Hi TTCO
I assume you are talking about getting the PSD during the boot process, right?
Try pressing F1 as soon as it starts booting ESX and see if it will go over to the text log of the boot process, this may tell you where it died and give you a clue as to what the issue is.
You can post screen shots over in the HappyRouter.com Forums at
http://www.happyrouter.com/forum
Let me know.
-David

Written by David Davis (Publisher)

(5) Virtualiation System Engineer
2007-10-08 15:44:48

I too am having the bomb during post..errors state:
no USB 2 controller found
failed to find usb boot partition
panic..failed to find usb boot partition.

Written by Jay Rogers (Unregistered)

(6) Untitled
2007-10-08 15:49:49

Did you enter the
nousbboot

boot option?

Written by David Davis (Publisher)

(7) Untitled
2007-10-09 14:59:09

Hi,

Interesting video. Do you know if that will run on AMD-V processors? Or is it Intel specific?

Also, does it require VMWare Workstation as opposed to just VMWare Server?

Thanks

Written by Jared (Unregistered)

(8) ESX 3i Beta in Vmware Workstation VIDEO
2007-10-09 15:03:12

Hi,
Thanks for the comments!
Yes, it should run fine on an AMD-V processor.
I believe it does require workstation as I don’t think that Server has the ESX compatible virtual machine option but I haven’t tested that.
To get around it, you may be able to create a machine in Workstation and move it to server – but I haven’t tried that either.
Please tell your friends about this video and HappyRouter.com!
-David

Written by David Davis (Publisher)

(9) Problem-free
2007-10-10 06:14:33

Nice video David, thanks. Just to let you know that following your instructions it all worked fine on my VT-enabled machine here.

Written by Manek (Unregistered)

(10) Thanks Manek!
2007-10-10 06:22:08

Hi Manek!
Thanks for your comments! I am glad to hear that!
Please tell your friends about the video and the HappyRouter.com website!
-David

Written by David Davis (Publisher)

(11) it was very helpfull
2007-11-27 08:15:19

Please do let us know the release date of ESX video file

Pradeep

Written by Pradeep S (Unregistered)

(12) Upcoming VMware ESX Video
2007-11-27 09:55:30

Hi Pradeep,
I will absolutely let you know about the new VMware ESX video series if you will fill out the quick form above with your name & email address.
Thanks!
-David

Written by David Davis (Unregistered)

(13) Untitled
2007-11-28 15:34:06

Please help!

I can’t find the ESX3i beta to download.
Thanks Alesandro.

Written by Alesandro (Unregistered)

(14) Download of VMware ESX 3i Beta
2007-11-28 15:40:43

Hi Alesandro,

I do not offer ESX 3i Beta for download.

ESX 3i was only offered at the VMworld trade show and to some list of private beta customers. They have strict rules and threaten lawsuits to anyone who distributes it. For that reason, I cannot distribute my copy. I did see someone selling their official copy they received at the trade show, over on ebay.

There is a long discussion on the VMware Community about how VMware should distribute 3i not only to VMworld attendees but to other potential users in an open Beta – http://communities.vmware.com/thread/102356?tstart=0&start=90

However, anyone who is a current ESX 3 use with software maintenance through VMware should be able to download a copy of ESX 3i sometime in December. VMware has said that ESX 3.5 and 3i will be released at the same time “in December”.

Thanks – David

Written by David Davis (Publisher)

(15) enter advanced option
2008-02-02 05:46:18

Hi David,
I have followed your guide but i can’t enter the advanced option.
Is there a way to automatically enter the advanced option?
Many Thanks.

Written by Paul (Unregistered)

(16) Untitled
2008-02-02 19:54:09

Are you talking about the advanced options in the console once 3i boots? are you able to login to the 3i console?
feel free to post questions in our virtualization forum! You can add screenshots and we can have a real conversation there.
Thanks for visiting!

Written by David Davis (Publisher)

(17) Procedure hangs with final 3i release…
2008-03-03 10:02:18

Hi,

Great stuff you published here, but I tested your procedure with the final version of ESX 3i (build-65301) received on an USB key at VMworld Europe 2008 and it hangs at boot at ‘Running wsmand start’. Any idea ?

Regards.

Written by Adam (Unregistered)

(18) Final 3i release
2008-03-03 10:24:58

OK… Found my answer… Memory requirements for the final release are higher, 1Gb of RAM! I updated my VMX file and ESX 3i started like a charm… Actually with 896Mb.

Regards.

Written by Adam (Unregistered)

(19) Untitled
2008-03-20 08:00:44

Hi David,

This is cool. I really appreciate your time used for this. Keep up the good work and I’ll definitely will return to your web site to learn more about it and will include your site as a recommended one in my blog.
Cheers
Susantha

Written by Susantha Silva (Unregistered)

After creating the popular Microsoft Virtualization video series, I moved on to VMware virtualization. Because VMware has the lion share of the virtualization market, I believe that this new video will be even more popular than the Microsoft video!

To create this video training, I spent 3 months researching VMware Workstation & Server. I made every effort cover the VMware products from all aspects including designing, installing, creating virtual machines, virtual networks, storage, backups, and performance tuning. Once we covered Server & Workstation, we moved on to our VMware ESX Server overview and our bonus video, VMware ACE.

To view the free 7 minute training video demo covering VMware Player, just click here to go to Train Signal’s website.

I must say that I was highly impressed by all that they must have spent and prepared for this event. There were 100s of people there and it was at one of the finest hotels in town, the Gaylord Texas Resort.

I have authored training videos on both Microsoft Virtual Server and VMware Server & recently obtained my VMware Certified Professional (VCP) certification so I felt very confident in the current state of my virtualization
knowledge. Because of this, I wasnt sure that I would learn a lot from the event. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to learn so much about the future of VMwares virtualization line-up. I took copious notes. When I got backto the office, I rearranged and cleaned up these notes.

I post these notes here so that all the HappyRouter.com members can benefit from the latest virtualization what I learned at the VMware Symposia.

** Note that most of the notes below are notes I took while viewing VMware slides. For that reason, many of the notes contain VMware marketing terms or VMware opinions (not always my opinions or statistics from my personal experience). **

Take advantage of server hardware

By using Virtualization, your goal is to take advantage of server hardware. In doing this, you will move CPU utilization from 5-10% up to 50-60%.

By having these pools for CPU, ram, disk, & network you are able to “deliver the always on, on demand data center”.

Automated Resource Assurance

VMware provides “Automated Resource Assurance” with VMotion. VMotion provides:

• Dynamic balancing

• Continuous optimization

• Increased availability

• Automated and works across applications

• On demand capacity

Plug and play virtual data center

VMware allows you to create the “plug and play data center”. With the PnP Virtual data enter, you have non-disruptive scaling, flexibility, & reconfigurability.

The PnP virtual data center is made possible by:

• Hypervisor – allows you to partition & provides the virtualization layer

• Distributed virtualization – resource management, availability, & mobility

• Management & automation – infrastructure optimization, bus continuity, desktop management

Drivers for Virtualization

The drivers for this trend toward virtualization are:

• Infrastructure Optimization – more than just server consolidation – contain growth and continually optimize resources

• Reduce costs

• Business Continuity

• reduce planned and unplanned downtime

• simplify DR

• Desktop management

• enterprise and end users

• Improve security and mobility

• Software lifecycle automation

• rapidly provision machines

• improve software quality

VMware’s Virtualization Offerings

VMware said that VMware’s Virtualization suite offers:

• Functionality

• Ability to run on multiple OS — because 65 percent of customers run multiple OS

• Proven in production -3rd generator product and MANY customers using in production

• High performance

• Easy to manage – only virtualization infrastructure suite

Gartner group says that virtualization will be the most impactful trend in infrastructure and operations through 2010.

Electric companies even offering rebates to companies that will virtualize their servers. For example – California PG&E.

• 87% of VMware Infrastructure customers use it in a production environment
• 63% of companies will virtualize their datacenters in the next 3 years Virtualization is main stream today.

There is a strong ecosystem of support behind vmware.

What is the Road Ahead for Virtualization?

• Multi-core CPUs drive virtualization – 8 CPU CORE or even 16 CPU CORE by 2011.

• 3rd gen virtualization hardware assist that will reduce overhead so you can virtualize any application

• Hardware assisted virtualization. Made up of: Private instruction virtualization, Memory virtualization, and Device & I/O Virtualization

Virtualization is the killer app for multicore systems designed to scale-up!

ESX can use cores that aren’t needed to:

• Shut down cores to save power

• Accelerate I/O in the backend

• Service console could use for backups or security

VMware ACE will provide the mobility needed to run offline.

Virtualization transforms the IT landscape & VMware is undisputed market leader. VMware is the only safe and proven choice.

IT Managers today have a difficult job. They are told to manage or reduce costs, do more with less, improve satisfaction and offerings, & provide competitive advantage. Technology plays more and more an important role in getting that job done.

In the past, the hold up on a new application might be that the IT department has to order and install a new server. With VMware virtualization, you could deliver that server in 15 minutes. What you now need to do is to hold back and say it will take you a few days so that you don’t set their expectations too high.

Statistic from IDC – $ .50 is spent to power and cool every server for every dollar spent on the server. This will increase to $.70 cents by 2010. Data center construction costs are $2,400 per server.

What are the goals for virtualization?

• Increase service levels

• Operational savings

• Bus flexibility / time to market

Look at it from a holistic perspective

Virtual machine to server administrator ratio is 200 to 1 but don’t expect staff reduction.

Operational savings are $25K to $35K per year for each host virtualized (personal note: that is amazing, almost too good to be true!!?)

If so, you will need some help because the exam is challenging!

HappyRouter.com member, Rob Schmidt has prepared some great study questions!

Believe it or not, there are over 310 questions in flashcard format!

And yes, Rob has been generous enough to offer all these questions to us for FREE.

If you have questions on VMware and Virtualization, please see our HappyRouter VMware Virtualization Forum.

Click Here to Download these questions

If you like these questions please email Rob to thank him.

I was pleased to see that the speaker for the Virtualization sessions was Alessandro Perilli, who runs the www.virtualization.info tell us about the Virtualization features in Windows Longhorn server.

He talked about the different types of Virtualization and defined them as:

• Server Virtualization – like we do with VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server
• Presentation or Session Virtualization – like we do with terminal services
• Application Virtualization – something new that I will talk about in a minute

Server virtualization has become more and more common in production environments today with the use of Microsoft Virtual Server, VMware Server, VMware ESX, and Xen.

Presentation or Session virtualization is really just “terminal services” or “Citrix Server” renamed and
thought of differently.

What is a new concept is “application virtualization”. With application virtualization, the applications
can be abstracted from the OS. By doing this, you can have a “standalone application”, regardless of the operating system, registry, or other underlying applications that are normally required. What that means is that there is no installation for an application and you can “stream the application”. As soon as your computer is able to access part of the application, you can start using the application.

Compare this to listening to streaming music or streaming video over the Internet. This is based on ideas already in use with Softricity’s SoftGrid, a company & product bought by Microsoft.

Alessandro went on to talk about how there are four core applications for virtualization:

• Production server consolidation – used to control server sprawl
• Business continuity management and security – disaster recovery and firewall security
• Test & development
• In the future, the “Dynamic Data Center”

What is new in this list is the concept of the dynamic data center. The dynamic data center is a term
for a server/network infrastructure system where by:

• You obtain maximum hardware utilization – no hardware resources are wasted
• The infrastructure is flexible and efficient enough to completely support your company’s business
• processes
• The complexities today of provisioning and scaling servers, hardware, and applications are removed or reduced
• Server & network infrastructure automatically adapts to the needs of the applications &
• workload

Does that sound too good to be true? This sounds like something IBM has been preaching since 2001 called “Autonomic Computingg”.

This also sounds like what VMware is trying to create with their Virtual Infrastructure system (VI).
That system includes VMware ESX, VMotion, VM High Availability, and VMware’s DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler). With VI, you are getting close to the concept of the “dynamic data center”.

While VMware has a great thing going with their Virtual Infrastructure (and it is clearly the market
leader), Microsoft is going to be challenging them for the top spot in the virtualization market. With the release of Windows Longhorn Server, Microsoft will also release a major new virtualization solution. This will be called Windows Virtualization Server, codenamed Veridian.