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Couple of Interesting Features in vSphere 5.5

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Yesterday, VMware announced general availability of vSphere 5.5 besides many new things. The list of what is new in this release of ESXi is long but I want to mention two specific ESXi Hypervisor enhancements; Support for Reliable Memory Technology and Hot-Pluggable PCIe SSD Devices.

 

Support for Reliable Memory Technology

What VMware calls Reliable Memory Technology is otherwise known as Fault Resilient Memory in PowerEdge servers. Basically, the system firmware configures a region of system memory as fault resilient and communicates information about it to the OS. The ESXi Hypervisor uses this information to optimize the placement of the VMkernel and other critical components in the fault resilient region of the system memory — making the hypervisor robust against memory errors. At this time it appears that Dell PowerEdge servers are the only systems that can take advantage of this new ESXi enhancement. 

 

Hot-Pluggable PCIe SSD Devices

Dell and Micron worked closely with VMware on this feature. Now we can hot-add or hot-remove a Dell PowerEdge Express Flash PCIe SSDfrom a Dell server running vSphere ESXi 5.5, just like a SAS HDD. The PCIe layer code of ESXi is enhanced to handle surprise removals and insertions of PCIe devices. The device driver structure was also impacted to handle these events. A hot-removal leads to a permanent device loss (PDL) condition in VMware terms. PDL AutoRemove is a related enhancement also introduced in this release. PDL AutoRemove works only if there are no open handles left on the device. We still see the same storage stack restrictions in case of unplanned PDL that has been there with SAS and FC storage. VMware has multiple KB articles covering this topic of planned versus unplanned PDL.

Looking at PCIe SSDs available, in market and servers supporting them, it seems currently only Dell PowerEdge servers can take advantage of this new vSphere 5.5 enhancement. Later during day-1 of VMworld 2013, we talked about this feature in a breakout session titled: Low Latency, High Bandwidth and Now Hot-Pluggable: PCIe SSDs Are Enterprise Ready. Co-presented by Ahmad Ali of Dell and Dave Edwards of Micron.


VMworld 2013 Goes BIG, Virtual Mythbusting, Project Ophelia, Fault Resilient Memory, and Rockstars!

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If you haven't been to VMworld before, let me sum it up in one word:  BIG.  

On Tuesday, VMware's President and COO Carl Eschenbach announced that attendance at VMworld 2013 was over 22.5K, making it the largest VMworld conference to date!  On top of the sheer number of attendees, the Moscone Center is enormous - its 3 massive buildings cover approximately 900,000 sq ft of space.  

Also huge at VMworld: the number of activities you could be doing at any given moment.  Between the sessions, meetings, theater presentations, meetups, meals, hundreds of booth in the solutions exchange and after parties, there's never a dull moment (not recommended for those with FOMO, fear of missing out).

Speaking of big sessions, one of my favorites this year was the Mythbusting Goes Virtual session, which took place in front of a packed full house of around 500 attendees.  Dell's own Mattias Sundling, Dell Software Evangelist, and David M Davis examined 6 commonly held beliefs in the VMware community and examined whether or not these assertions are still valid. 

Among the busted myths: Distributed  vSwitch offers better performance than standard vSwitch, VAAI enabled arrays can run unlimited number of VMs per LUN, iSCSI offers better perforance than NFS (it's the same), reservations always increase performance, and multiple CPUs are always better than single.

Also of big interest at VMworld was a large kiosk display showing off Dell's upcoming Project Ophelia cloud client computing device, which is small - the size of a large USB stick. Jeff and I had a chance to chat with Ken Foley about exciting use cases for Project Ophelia, what makes the device Enterprise ready and more versatile than the recently announced Chromecast device.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Later, we had the opportunity to chat with Dell's Damon Earley about another of Dell's big VMworld announcements - Fault Resilient Memory, a Dell patented technology that works with VMware vSphere 5.5 to maximize available server memory while increasing protection for the hypervisor against memory faults. 

(Please visit the site to view this video)

The good news with Fault Resilient Memory is that the feature gets enabled for free on many Dell 12th Generation servers through a BIOS update expected to come later this year.

One last way we went big at VMworld 2013 these first couple of days: by eating big, juicy burgers at the Burger Bar 6 floors above Union Square with the Dell TechCenter Rockstars.  The Rockstars meetup was an awesome experience because despite the tens of thousands of people you could be hanging out with and the dozens of other things you could be doing - the biggest value I've found at VMworld is building quality relationships and friendships with good people like the Rockstars.  It's been a pleasure to see and chat with the DTC Rockstars out and about at the conference wearing Dell Rockstar shirts, sporting the backpacks, and spreading the good word about DellTechCenter.com - thank you Rockstars!

Thanks for reading, and for all of the other BIG Dell news at VMworld 2013, keep checking our Dell at VMworld 2013 wiki page and read Jeff's VMworld blog about huge announcements from Monday.

 

 

TechCenter talks Dell Software and Rockstars share thoughts on the best parts of #VMworld 2013

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We’re just about done here at VMworld 2013. There’s a ton of blogs and content from this year's event, which Peter has been tracking for you here. Continuing with the videos we've been sharing this week, we managed to get time with a few members of the Dell Software Group (known as DSG around campus.) After seeing a great presentation about application monitoring given to a standing room only crowd in our theater, we grabbed John Maxwell (@vmmaxwell) to record the followings video on Dell's Foglight solution. Foglight is application monitoring across multiple technologies (e.g. Java, .NET, virtual or physical servers, databases, networks, etc.) and capturing the experience of users interacting with those applications.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

In the next video Peter and Manoj discuss OpenManage Integration (OMI) for VMware vCenter.  OMI enables customers to streamline lifecycle management of Dell PowerEdge servers through the integration of iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller capabilities within the vCenter console. There's a blog with more information on the announcement here as well.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Look for more software videos from VMworld on TechCenter and our Youtube channel in the coming weeks.

I truly think VMware upped the bar this year.  Despite the massive attendance, it never seemed overwhelmingly crowded. The sessions were good, the people were great... and the WIFI worked even during the keynotes! I surveyed the Dell TechCenter Rockstars at the event via twitter asking what they thought was the best part of VMworld so far:

Rasmus Haslund @haslund:  "Networking with peers & seeing new tech in solutions exchange. “

Shawn Cannon @rolltidega:  “best part was learning about some new products, socializing and sharing knowledge with my peers.”

Sarah Vela @SarahVatDell:  “Getting to see friends from all over. AT&T Park was a thrill. Recording @SPEAKINGinTECH in person instead of over Skype.”

Gina Rosenthal @gminks:  "So many! Talking to people in the booth and hearing about their environments, seeing everyone…AppAssure being named a finalist in Tech Targets best of #VMworld was pretty cool too."

Michael Davis @Michael_EDavis:  "The community, finally meeting & chatting w/so many great people and learning from their experiences.  From a tech side getting to learn more about @PernixData@UnideskCorp@servicenow for future projects"

Tim Antonowicz @timantz: "Aside from my Defense, the community/networking, meeting with vendors, expo floor. "

Pete Koehler @vmpete: "Less sessions and more interaction."

Todd Muirhead @virtualTodd: "NSX announced and Hands On Labs smooth and stable from the start."

Jay Weinshenker @aus_effendi: "vFlash (vFRC whatever) and vSAN are really impressive to me. As Todd wrote, lab smoothness was extremely impress"

As you can see, there was a common theme across their responses –community, peers, networking. I couldn’t agree more. I think the most valuable (and hardest to justify sometimes) part of a conference of this nature is the relationship building.  I enjoyed running into old friends, meeting new people, growing my network, and hanging out with the Rockstars this week. Hopefully, we’ll see you all at Dell World 2013 where you can experience even more of the same as the TechCenter team is cooking up big plans for our community at this year’s event. 

Dell OpenManage Connection version 2.1 for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus ver. 7.3.1 & 7.4 is now available

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This post was written by Rupak Das of the Dell OpenManage Connections team 

Dell OpenManage Connection version 2.1 for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus 7.3.1 and 7.4 provides event monitoring capabilities for Dell PowerEdge Servers, 9th to 12th generation (including iDRAC7 for 12th generation, agent-free, out-of-band management), Dell PowerVault Storage Servers (9G-12G), Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 6 (iDRAC6), Dell Remote Access Controller 5 (DRAC5), Dell PowerEdge M1000e Chassis  (CMC), Dell PowerEdge VRTX (VRTX CMC), Dell PowerEdge 1955  Chassis (DRAC/MC), Dell EqualLogic Storage Arrays  PS Series, and Dell PowerVault MD StorageArray devices in environments managed by IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus. It also supports device specific one-to-one console launch  and Dell Tools launch (OpenManage Essentials) from Dell device alerts and polled events in OMNIbus console.

The key new features in this release are:

  • Support for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus Version 7.4.
  • Simplified installation of Dell OpenManage connection for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus.
  • Monitoring of alerts for Dell PowerVault MD Storage Arrays and Dell PowerEdge VRTX.
  • Enhanced monitoring of new OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) and OpenManage Storage Management (OMSS) (OM release 7.1 to 7.3) alerts from Dell PowerEdge and PowerVault serversAutomatic alert correlation for Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7).
  • Support for Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager (MDSM) console launch.
  • Support for Dell Connections License Manager (DCLM) console launch.

The product download links and product documentation are available on the Dell TechCenter Dell OpenManage Connection for IBM Netcool/OMNIbus wiki page. We encourage you to continue this conversation in the OpenManage Connections for 3rd Party Console Integration Forum if you have any comments or other feedback.

Dell OpenManage Connection Version 1.0 for IBM Tivoli Network Manager, IP Edition 3.9 is available

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This post was written by Hari Sharma of the Dell OpenManage Connections team 

 Dell OpenManage Connection v1.0 for IBM Tivoli Network Manager IP Edition 3.9 (ITNM) enables  datacenter customers to monitor the Dell devices in environment managed by an existing ITNM console. It helps customer to discover the Dell devices (servers, storage, chassis and remote access controllers) and then monitor the overall health of the Dell devices periodically. It supports device specific one-to-one console launch and Dell Tools launch from Dell device nodes in the ITNM console. Also, alerts generated as part of polling will be shown in the integrated OMNIbus console as well.

Here are some important features:

  • Support for IBM Tivoli Network Manager (ITNM) IP Edition 3.9 Fix Pack 2 and Fix Pack 3
  • Discovery, classification and monitoring of Dell PowerEdge (ninth to twelfth generations) and PowerVault servers using an agent-based, in-band mode via Dell Open Manage Server Administrator (OMSA). The twelfth generation systems also support an agent-free, out-of-band mode, using the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7).
  • Discovery, classification and monitoring of Dell EqualLogic Storage Arrays PS Series and Dell PowerVault MD Storage Arrays.
  • Discovery, classification and monitoring of Dell PowerEdge VRTX (VRTX Chassis Management Controller), Dell PowerEdge M1000e (Chassis Management Controller), Dell PowerEdge 1955 Chassis (Dell Remote Access Controller/Modular Chassis) and Dell Remote Access controller (DRAC) devices.
  • Dell device association (12G Server with iDRAC, EqualLogic Blade Array with CMC and Modular Server and DRAC with VRTX CMC, CMC and DRAC/MC)
  • Periodic monitoring of Dell Connections License Manager (DCLM) for license availability
  • One-to-one console launch tool support for Dell PowerEdge Servers, PowerVault Servers, EqualLogic, MD Storage Arrays, PowerEdge VRTX, PowerEdge M1000e, PowerEdge 1955 Chassis and DRAC devices.
  • One to Many Dell console launches from ITNM
    • Dell Connections License Manager (DCLM)
    • Dell OpenManage Essentials (OME)
    • Dell OpenManage Power Center (OMPC)
    • Dell device warranty information page

 The product download links and product documentation are available on the Dell TechCenter Dell OpenManage Connection for IBM Tivoli Network Manager Wiki page. We encourage you to continue this conversation in the OpenManage Connections for 3rd Party Console Integration Forum if you have any comments or other feedback.

 

Dell Open Source Ecosystem Digest #28. Issue Highlight: “DevOpsDays Barcelona 2013”

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Read about the event and register here. If you register for the event before September 2nd, using the coupon WELOVEDEVOPS you will get a 15% discount on your tickets.

DevOps

OpenStack

Hadoop

Contributors

Please find detailed information on all contributors in our Wiki section.

Contact

If you have any feedback, suggestions, ideas, or if you’d like to contribute - I’ll be happy to hear back from you.

Twitter: @RafaelKnuth

Email: rafael_knuth@dellteam.com

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Best Posts of the Week around Windows Server, Exchange, SystemCenter and more – #44

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“The Elway Gazette”

Hi Community, here is my compilation of the most interesting technical blog posts written by members of the Microsoft MVP Community. The number of MVPs is growing well, I hope you enjoy their posts. @all MVPs If you’d like me to add your blog posts to my weekly compilation, please send me an email (flo@datacenter-flo.de) or reach out to me via Twitter (@FloKlaffenbach). Thanks!

Featured Posts of the Week!

Future Proofing Storage Acquisitions Without A Crystal Ball by Didier van Hoye

HYPER-V OVER SMB: SCALE-OUT FILE SERVER AND STORAGE SPACES by Thomas Maurer

How to Build a Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Test Lab by Aidan Finn

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Integration Pack by Damian Flynn

 
 

Azure

Azure Neuerungen Vortrag bei Microsoft in German by Toni Pohl

 

Events

Future Proofing Storage Acquisitions Without A Crystal Ball by Didier van Hoye

 

Hyper-V

HYPER-V OVER SMB: SCALE-OUT FILE SERVER AND STORAGE SPACES by Thomas Maurer

Creating a NIC Team and Virtual Switch for Converged Networks by Aidan Finn

How to Build a Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Test Lab by Aidan Finn

Using WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Storage QoS by Aidan Finn

What’s New in Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration by Aidan Finn

Hyper-V Waiting to Merge by Jeffery Hicks

 

Office 

Spaß zum Wochenende: Word 5.5 für DOS kostenlos bei Microsoft in German by Nils Kaczenski

 

Office 365

Office 365 Tipp: Fehler bei dem Aufrufen der Beiträge im Blog in German by Kerstin Rachfahl

PowerShell

Friday Fun: Get Day of the Year with PowerShell by Jeffery Hicks

Creating Styling HTML Reports with PowerShell by Jeffery Hicks

An easy way to check if a variable or property has data in PowerShell by Jeff Wouters

Remove Group Policy Objects through PowerShell by Jeff Wouters

Backup Group Policy Objects through PowerShell by Jeff Wouters

Why PowerShell? by 

#PSTip Create an empty folder/file using Desired State Configuration File resource by Ravikanth Chaganti

Custom DSC resource for managing hosts file entries by Ravikanth Chaganti

 

Sharepoint 

Review: Monitoring your SharePoint Farms with SmartTrack by BinaryWave by Andrew Connell

 

System Center Orchestrator

Monitoring System Center 2012 – Orchestrator with Orchestrator Health Checker by Damian Flynn

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Integration Pack by Damian Flynn

 

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

SC2012 R2 VMM Preview verwirft Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview NVGRE Gateway NAT Einstellungen in German by Daniel Neumann

CONNECT IPAM WITH SYSTEM CENTER 2012 R2 VIRTUAL MACHINE MANAGER by Thomas Maurer

 

Windows Server

PowerShell oneliner to find empty groups in Active Directory by Jeff Wouters

Putting The Scale Into The Scale-Out File Server by Aidan Finn

Windows Server 2012 R2 Has RTMd by Aidan Finn

Storage Spaces & Scale-Out File Server Are Two Different Things by Aidan Finn

Configuring Quorum on Storage Spaces For A 2 Node WS2012 (and WS2012 R2) Cluster by Aidan Finn

Adventures In RDMA – The RoCE Path Over DCB To Windows Server 2012 R2 SMB 3.0 Glory by Didier van Hoye

Mehr zu reservierten Namen in Active Directory in German by Nils Kaczenski

Right way to configure #ISCSI #initiator in #Windows Server 2012 R2 by Robert Smit

 

Tools

Dell announced the availability of vWorkspace PowerShell module beta by Ravikanth Chaganti

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Best Posts of the Week around Windows Server, Exchange, SystemCenter and more – #43

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“The Elway Gazette”

Hi Community, here is my compilation of the most interesting technical blog posts written by members of the Microsoft MVP Community. The number of MVPs is growing well, I hope you enjoy their posts. @all MVPs If you’d like me to add your blog posts to my weekly compilation, please send me an email (Florian_klaffenbach@dell.com) or reach out to me via Twitter (@FloKlaffenbach). Thanks!

Featured Posts of the Week!

DMTF – Open Standards Based Management by Jeff Wouters

Windows Server 2012 R2 Unmap, ODX On A Dell Compellent SAN Demo by Didier van Hoye

ODX–Not All SANs Are Created Equally by Aidan Finn

Windows Server 2012 #HyperV – #SCVMM Design – Best Practices #WindowsAzure #Winserv by James van den Berg

Azure

Update System Center and Management related content #sysctr #vmm #configmgr #sco #wap #azure by Robert Smit

Building Windows Azure Pack Into Your Data Center–Part 2 by Lai Yoong Seng

Windows Azure im Überblick-Windows 8 App in German by Toni Pohl

Hyper-V

Auto Failover VM In A Cluster When Network Disconnected by Lai Yoong Seng

The Number 1 Support Call For WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Will Be … by Aidan Finn

How Vulnerable Is Your Hyper-V Server? by Lai Yoong Seng

HYPER-V OVER SMB: SMB DIRECT (RDMA) by Thomas Maurer

Starting an App-V applications asks for username and password by Jeff Wouters

Lync Server

PowerShell module for Lync Online is available by 

Office 365

Office 365–Benutzer vorzeitig auf die neue Version umstellen in German by Martina Grom

Videocast: Der neuen öffentlichen Webseite eine Domäne zu ordnen in German by Kerstin Rachfahl

PowerShell

DMTF – Open Standards Based Management by Jeff Wouters

#PSTip Tab Completion in PowerShell 3.0 by 

#PSTip Dynamically hiding a function from the debugger in PowerShell ISE by 

Sharepoint 

Deploying Workflow Manager 1.0 for SharePoint 2013 the Right Way by Andrew Connell

System Center Dataprotection Manager

Update Rollup 3 For DPM 2012 SP1 Is Fixed by Aidan Finn

System Center Orchestrator

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Tools by Damian Flynn

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Runbook Designer by Damian Flynn

Orchestrator Runbook – VHD Rename in German by Daniel Neumann

System Center Service Manager

Links zum Einstieg in die Service Management Automation in German by Daniel Neumann

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

HOW TO INSTALL A HIGHLY AVAILABLE SCVMM MANAGEMENT SERVER by Thomas Maurer

Windows Server 2012 #HyperV – #SCVMM Design – Best Practices #WindowsAzure #Winserv by James van den Berg

Windows Server Core

What Is Consistent Device Naming? by Aidan Finn

Disable the Integrity Bit of VHDs Copied to an ReFS Volume Using PowerShell by Aidan Finn

ODX–Not All SANs Are Created Equally by Aidan Finn

Reservierte Namen in Windows und Active Directory in German by Nils Kaczenski

What’s New in 2012 R2: Why is it so important for IT Pros to understand how modern applications are built  by Alessandro Cardoso

Windows Server 2012 R2 Unmap, ODX On A Dell Compellent SAN Demo by Didier van Hoye


Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Officially Reaches RTM

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Microsoft officially announced RTM (released to manufacturing) for Windows Server 2012 R2. This means that the OEM partners get access to the gold bits. General Availability for Windows Server 2012 R2& System Center 2012 R2 is set for October the 18th. In the mean time, here are a some resources you can use to explore the features that have been added or updated in Windows Server 2012 R2.

MS TechNet Resources:

What's New in Windows Server 2012 R2

What's New in Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials

What's New in System Center 2012 R2

 

You might only be interested in learning certain components within Windows Server 2012 R2. Here’s a list of topics broken down by core components to help you find the new features available:

What’s New in Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012 R2

What's New in Networking in Windows Server 2012 R2

What's New in Failover Clustering in Windows Server 2012 R2

What's New for SMB in Windows Server 2012 R2

New and changed functionality in File and Storage Services

 

To get a hands-on early look at some of the features, the Preview Release versions of Windows Server 2012 R2 and other products (System Center 2012 R2, Windows Intune, SQL Server 2014 and the Windows Azure Pack) are still available for download:

Microsoft Preview Evaluation Releases

Windows Server 2012 R2 RTM Inbox Driver Support on Dell PowerEdge Servers

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Windows Server 2012 R2 has been released to manufacturing (RTM)! With this announcement, we are happy to reveal the current state of driver support for Dell servers to help make your experience better. General Availability for Windows Server 2012 R2 is set for October the 18th.

Dell has been working with Microsoft to bring you the best possible experience on Dell hardware. As a part of this effort we’ve worked with internal teams and vendors to submit drivers to Microsoft for inclusion in the Windows media. As a result, this Microsoft release has the majorityof our device drivers in the Windows media “inbox”.

Having a driver inbox reduces the need to download drivers manually from Dell’s website saving time and making support tasks easier.

In addition to our newer 12th Generation& 11th Generation servers, This Microsoft RTM release of Windows Server 2012 R2 has been installed successfully on 9th Generation PowerEdge Servers (i.e. PE1950, PE2900, PE2950, etc.)

As always, Dell will provide updated Windows Server 2012 R2 drivers on support.dell.com as they become available, usually after our launch.

Below is a summary of the device drivers available in Windows Server 2012 R2:

Network:

  • Broadcom NetXtreme I & II Gigabit Family on Dell platforms
  • Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Fiber & Ethernet Family on Dell platforms
  • Broadcom BCM570xx NetXtreme II GigE (NDIS) Family on Dell platforms
  • Broadcom BCM577xx NetXtreme II 10 GigE (NDIS) Family on Dell platforms
  • Broadcom BCM578xx NetXtreme I & II 10 GigE SFP+ Family on Dell platforms
  • Broadcom NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit Ethernet
  • Intel LOM & Network Daughter Cards on 12G platforms
  • Intel Gigabit Family of Server Adapters on Dell platforms
  • Intel 10GbE Ethernet Family of Server Adapters on Dell platforms
  • Brocade 10GbE Ethernet Adapter on Dell platforms

Storage:

  • Dell™ PowerEdge™ RAID Controller (PERC) 5, 6, 7, 8
  • Dell™ SAS RAID 5 and 6 family
  • Dell Internal tape adapters
  • Emulex LightPulse 8GB (PCIe 2.0) /4GB (PCIe 1.0a) /2GB (PCIe 1.0) Dell adapters
  • Brocade 4G/ 8G/ 10G/ 16G Fiber Channel/FCoE series Dell adapters

 

Dell Inbox driver exceptions in Windows Server 2012 R2:

Listed below are a few device drivers which are not inbox in Windows Server 2012 R2. Dell is currently working with vendors to provide these drivers as Out-of-Box and will be posted on support.dell.com when available, usually after OS launch.

 

Exceptions:

  • Software RAID PERC S110 on the Dell Value Line of Servers
  • QLogic 82xx CNA cards (FCoE & iSCSI)
  • Qlogic 81xx CNA Adapters – NDIS & FCoE
  • QLogic 246x and 256x Fiber Channel series Dell adapters and 82xx CNA adapters (NDIS only)
  • Broadcom BCM57840 NetXtreme II 10 GigE
  • AMD & NVIDIA Add-On display driver for Dell 11G & 12G PowerEdge servers
  • Shared PERC8 RAID Controller on the PowerEdge™ VRTX
  • Matrox G200W & G200eR embedded video controllers
  • Dell PCIeSSD storage controller
  • Intel Romley Chipset Management Node Driver

 

Because Windows Server 2012 R2 media is now finalized, Dell will qualify and validate this release on our supported platforms and storage. More details on this date will be posted at a later time. Dell will only provide limited support for Windows Server 2012 R2 until validation testing has been completed and the OS has been released for sale.

__________________________________________________________________________

This article was originally written by Barun Chaudhary & Michael Schroeder

OpenManage Integration for VMWare vCenter Version 2.0 at VMWorld 2013

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This blog post was written by Matt Paul and Manoj Gujarathi

Last week at VMWorld 2013 in San Francisco, Dell announced the launch of OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter version 2.0. It is not a new product, but a new branding for our award winning product Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter. To align the product portfolio, we are bringing it into the OpenManage Systems Management products family.

OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter version 2.0 ushers in the 3rd year of shipping our integration with vCenter. This product is well matured and continues to excel in simplifying the experience of Enterprise Server Management. The key enhancement in version 2.0 brings in the integration with VMware vSphere web client. Its integration into web client provides customers seamless and embedded capabilities with vSphere web client. In addition, OpenManage Integration version 2.0 also continues to offer integration with VMware’s full vSphere client. For customers establishing plans to migrate to web client environment, it provides dual capabilities for Enterprise Server Management using both traditional and web clients.

 

(Please visit the site to view this video)

 

Along with vCenter web client integration and support for vSphere 5.5, OpenManage Integration version 2.0 brings out a slew of new capabilities and critical enablement for customers. It provides holistic cluster level data reporting including resource consumption, Dell PowerEdge server warranty retrieval and reporting through Dell cloud services. In addition, it supports cluster level Firmware update for the critical components like BIOS, RAID iDRAC, Lifecycle Controller and network cards. More important is, it offers scheduling capabilities, so that the customers can execute firmware updates at a pre-determined time. This product bridges the physical virtual gap by working with vCenter to ensure no downtime by putting hosts into and out of maintenance mode in an automated fashion.

Another key feature includes support for Fault Resilient Memory (FRM). It’s a Dell/VMware jointly developed feature available with vSphere 5.5 and ships Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers. FRM provides a protected memory zone for a hypervisor without consuming half of the total RAM like traditional memory mirroring techniques. OpenManage integration provides status of FRM-enabled systems in addition to a wide array of host, cluster, and data center details delivering a consolidated view of PowerEdge Server hardware resources.

 

Finally, with OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter 2.0, Dell will be offering simplified licensing, support for 10 vCenter servers and compatibility with VMware’s single sign-on environments. Licensing can now be attached to every server or purchased in groups of five. Licenses can also now be stacked to allow for easy upgrades and granular purchasing. SSO and ten vCenter server support enables a dynamic scale up environment.

Dell TechCenter Rockstar Spotlight - Shawn Cannon - IT Professional, vExpert & IT blogger

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Shawn Cannon is a longtime friend of the Dell TechCenter.  He has blogged on Dell TechCenter and he's written about Dell related topics on his own IT blog, vTech411.  If you've been to either Dell World or VMworld, you might have seen him enthusiastically chatting with Dell or other IT pros or interacting with others from his popular twitter handle @rolltideGA.

In addition to writing on TechCenter, Shawn is active on many different IT communities.  In fact, he is the only person that I know of, to simultaneously hold vExpert, Dell TechCenter Rockstar, and EMC Elect designations at the same time!

I recently conducted an interview with Shawn over email, where he shared his thoughts on the social media community within the IT industry, talked about challenges that he faces as an IT pro,  and told us more about himself.

Please tell us about yourself. What is your current role and where do you work?

My name is Shawn Cannon.  I live in the great state of Georgia in the metro Atlanta area.  I currently work for Gladiator Technology as Systems Administrator, Sr.  We are part of a bigger company called Jack Henry & Associates.

  

What is your IT blog about, and how did you get started?

My IT blog is still small at the moment.  It is vtech411.com.  I started it over a year ago at VMworld 2012.  I blog about anything related to virtualization in IT, which can be servers, storage, software, etc.  I will also blog about my experiences at conferences such as VMworld and Dell World.

 

How did you get involved in the IT industry?  Do you specialize in any particular IT technology?

I first got interested in computers thanks to a friend of mine way back in Elementary School.  He had a Commodore VIC 20 and we had a blast with that thing!  I was hooked from that point on.  I got my own VIC 20 and eventually the Commodore 64.  I continued to use Intel-based computers growing up. I even ran a Bulletin Board System (BBS) at home back in the day of dial-up modems!  That was a blast!  My first IT related job was at a bank in Smyrna GA.  I eventually left there to work for the company that installed the computer network at the bank back in 1996.  We used Netware back then, eventually mograting to Windows NT 4.0 and all Windows since then.

I don't really specialize in a particular IT technology as I wear many hats in my admin role.  I manage our virtual infrastructure as well as our storage and firewalls.

 

What are the biggest IT challenges that you face? 

Right now the biggest IT challenge that I face all deals with regulations that banks have to deal with.  Our systems are audited just like financial institutions so we have to have all our ducks in a row. As I am a doer (I want to do things as soon as I can to make things work) it definitely makes my life harder.  I know that does not seem like the typical IT challenge but from my perspective that is my biggest hurdle.

 

"Once I found out about Twitter and joined it, I found so many IT professionals out that willing to help with anything!"

 

What effect do you feel social media has had on the IT community and industry in recent years?

I think Twitter has had the most profound effect on the IT community and industry.  Once I found out about Twitter and joined it, I found so many IT professionals out that willing to help with anything!  That is the most amazing thing about community to me.  I don't ever remember a time when so many people were willing to help others like the past 5 years.  If you did not know someone or if you did not have a support contract you were pretty much out of luck.  Twitter changed all of that.  Blogs have been huge with information sharing as well but I know that the popularity of blogs is waning.  Vendor communities such as TechCenter, VMware communities and EMC communities are picking up a lot of steam putting a lot of personal blogs out of business.

 

You are currently a vExpert, EMC Elect, and Dell TechCenter Rockstar for 2013. Can you share your thoughts on these IT Industry advocacy programs?

The first thing I want to point out about these programs is that they are "community" in nature.  They are not technical certs at all.  They are programs that honor you for your contributions to the community.  Each program definitely has its differences.  VMware vExpert has been around the longest thus many more people know about it.  Because of that any companies including VMware give the vExperts things to honor your selection.  Those gifts are nice but not the reason to try for vExpert.  EMC Elect was brand new this year and there have been a lot of opportunities for the elect to get announcements ahead of time for new releases.  I know they had some special perks at EMC World this year but I was not able to attend.  At VMworld they had an EMC Elect lounge right above their booth in the Solutions Exchange.  That was VERY nice!  And finally there is the Dell TechCenter Rockstar program.  One of my favorite things with the Rockstar program is that you give Rockstars opportunities to go to Dell events such as Dell World and you take care of us 100 percent.  That is a very unique perk that the other 2 programs do not offer.  Overall, even though I am part of 3 community distinctions, all of them complement each other in some way.  I will continue to contribute to all of them whenever I can.

 

Do you find Dell TechCenter helpful in your role as an IT Pro?

Yes I find the TechCenter site very useful.  I know that I can find what I am looking for there even if it is just a link somewhere else on Dell.com.

 

What would you like to see on Dell TechCenter in the future?

This is a hard one as I think the TechCenter site has most of the content I expect to see.  As long as the content remains fresh and relevant then I am happy!



 

 

 

CentOS based Firmware images with OM 7.3 ( with PXE)

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NOTE: The solutions outlined below are NOT officially supported by Dell.

 The Firmware Live Images with OM 7.3 are available at om73-firmware-live.

Please check out the blog Firmware Updates on Dell Servers for details on how to use the ISO images.

Please check out the blog PXE Images for details on how to setup the PXE boot for firmware updates.

 

Some details about the images:

  • The Base OS is updated to CentOS 6.4 (64-bit)
  • Just like in the previous images, these images only carry firmware updates. They don't carry any OS driver packs.
  • The OpenManage 7.3 components are picked up from here.

NOTE: all the commands which need root privileges can be used with sudo in the image.

 

Feedback

We would very much like to hear from everyone using these images. Please leave us a note on linux-poweredge mailing list or a comment below on how you are using these images and what changes you would like to see in these images.

P.S: the root password is "linux" on the live images.

 

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Best Posts of the Week around Windows Server, Exchange, SystemCenter and more – #42

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“The Elway Gazette”

Hi Community, here is my compilation of the most interesting technical blog posts written by members of the Microsoft MVP Community. The number of MVPs is growing well, I hope you enjoy their posts. @all MVPs If you’d like me to add your blog posts to my weekly compilation, please send me an email (florian_klaffenbach@dell.com) or reach out to me via Twitter (@FloKlaffenbach). Thanks!


Featured Posts of the Week!

Building Windows Azure Pack Into Your Data Center–Part 1 by Lai Yoong Seng

Fixing A Little Quirk In Dell Compellent Replay Manager by Didier van Hoye

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Installation by Damian Flynn

PowerShell – Find disabled Group Policy Objects by Jeff Wouters


Azure

Download Free E-Book Building Hybrid Applications in the #Cloud on #WindowsAzure by James van den Berg

Microsoft Data Management Gateway for #Cloud Services #WindowsAzure by James van den Berg

Microsoft #WindowsAzure Pack for Windows Server #Winserv #sysctr #Cloud by James van den Berg

Explaining Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager by Lai Yoong Seng

Building Windows Azure Pack Into Your Data Center–Part 1 by Lai Yoong Seng

Getting started with Gallery Items in Windows Azure Pack (WAP) by Kristian Nese

Exchange

Exchange 2010 SP3 Rollup 2 released by Johan Veldhuis

Events

MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR WINDOWS 8.1, WINDOWS SERVER 2012 R2 AND SYSTEM CENTER 2012 R2 by Thomas Maurer

Hyper-V

Understanding Hyper-V Host Networking Requirements by Aidan Finn

Introducing Converged Networks by Aidan Finn

HYPER-V OVER SMB: SMB MULTICHANNEL by Thomas Maurer

Software Defined Networking (SDN) by Lai Yoong Seng

PowerShell

#PSTip Identifying DSC commands by 

#PSTip Get the fully qualified path of the system directory by 

PSharp makes PowerShell ISE better by 

Announcing PoshTools – Visual Studio extension for PowerShell Scripting by Ravikanth Chaganti

#PSTip Validate if a user exists in Active Directory by Ravikanth Chaganti

PowerShell – Find disabled Group Policy Objects by Jeff Wouters

System Center Orchestrator

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Installation by Damian Flynn

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Server Components by Damian Flynn

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Storage Discovery scope is greyed out – VMM 2012 SP1 by Kristian Nese

SQL Server

#PSTip Add a SQL login to database roles using SMO by Ravikanth Chaganti

#PSTip Validate if a SQL login exists using PowerShell by Ravikanth Chaganti

Windows Server Core

Welchen DNS-Server fragt Windows eigentlich? in German by Nils Kaczenski

Hands on with Hyper-V Clustering Maintenance Mode & Cluster Aware Updating TechNet Screencast by Didier van Hoye

Dynamische VHDs & CSV Overcommitment in German by Daniel Neumann

Tools

Fixing A Little Quirk In Dell Compellent Replay Manager by Didier van Hoye

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Best Posts of the Week around Windows Server, Exchange, SystemCenter and more – #46

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0

“The Elway Gazette”

Hi Community, here is my compilation of the most interesting technical blog posts written by members of the Microsoft MVP Community. The number of MVPs is growing well, I hope you enjoy their posts. @all MVPs If you’d like me to add your blog posts to my weekly compilation, please send me an email (flo@datacenter-flo.de) or reach out to me via Twitter (@FloKlaffenbach). Thanks!

Featured Posts of the Week!

What’s New System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager #SCVMM by James van den Berg

Microsoft Virtualisierungs Podcast Folge 32: TechNet Conference 2013 in German by Carsten Rachfahl

Observing Dynamic Memory in Linux VMs on WS2012 R2 Hyper-V by Aidan Finn

Get-PrinterDriver driver version by Jan Egil Ring

Azure

Building Windows Azure Pack Into Your Data Center–Part 4 by Lai Yoong Seng

Exchange

#PSTip How to configure storage quotas for a mailbox using PowerShell by 

#PSTip How to find which mailboxes are over quota limits by 

Using OWA and Internet Explorer 11 by Johan Veldhuis

Events

Microsoft Virtualisierungs Podcast Folge 32: TechNet Conference 2013 in German by Carsten Rachfahl

Join me for aTechNet Live Meeting: Hyper-V Storage Efficiencies & Optimizations in Windows Server 2012 R2 by Didier van Hoye

Hyper-V

The Effects Of WS2012 R2 Storage Spaces Write-Back Cache On A Hyper-V VM by Aidan Finn

Observing Dynamic Memory in Linux VMs on WS2012 R2 Hyper-V by Aidan Finn

Mini Hyper-V: Operating System by Jeffery Hicks

System Center 2012 R2 Is Required To Manage WinServ or Hyper-V 2012 R2 by Aidan Finn

HVRemote Updated To Support WS2012 R2 and Hyper-V Server 2012 R2 by Aidan Finn

HYPER-V NETWORK VIRTUALIZATION: NVGRE OFFLOADING by Thomas Maurer

Lync Server

Designing Microsoft Lync 2013 solutions by Marcelo Sinic

PowerShell

Get-PrinterDriver driver version by Jan Egil Ring

Announcing PSReadLine – A bash-inspired readline implementation for PowerShell by Ravikanth Chaganti

#PSTip How to prevent script execution for non-admin users by 

PowerShell 4.0 A First Look by Jeffery Hicks

#PSTip How to create a dynamic distribution group by 

#PSTip Preview the members of a dynamic distribution group by 

Sharepoint 

Clarification on the Current State & Future of Sandboxed Solutions by Andrew Connell

ANNOUNCING the SharePoint Browser Report – September 2013 Survey by Andrew Connell

System Center Core

Role-Based Access to System Center 2012 R2 Reporting by Hasitha Willarachchi

System Center Configuration Manager

System Center Orchestrator

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Automate Runbooks with PowerShell by Damian Flynn

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: What Is EUPSCO? by Damian Flynn

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: EUPSCO Installation by Damian Flynn

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

What’s New System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager #SCVMM by James van den Berg

Building a #SCVMM 2012 SP1 Lab with Desktops Video by MVP Damian Flynn by James van den Berg

Managing StarWind Storage Using VMM 2012 R2 by Lai Yoong Seng

SQL Server

Windows Server 2012 R2 with SQL Server 2014 Failover Clustered Instance #Step-By-Step #AlwaysOn AvailabilityGroups What can go Wrong! Part 1 by Robert Smit

Windows Server

Deploying QoS Packet Scheduler in Windows Server 2012 by Aidan Finn

Ist Active Directory in Windows Server 2012 wirklich virtualisierungsfest? in German by Nils Kaczenski

Copy Active Directory group membership from user to user by Jeff Wouters

Windows Server 2012 R2 Licensing by Aidan Finn

Implement and Enforce QoS with Data Center Bridging Hardware (DCB) by Aidan Finn

Whitepaper – Hybrid Cloud with NVGRE (WSSC 2012 R2) in German by Daniel Neumann


Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Best Posts of the Week around Windows Server, Exchange, SystemCenter and more – #45

0
0

“The Elway Gazette”

Hi Community, here is my compilation of the most interesting technical blog posts written by members of the Microsoft MVP Community. The number of MVPs is growing well, I hope you enjoy their posts. @all MVPs If you’d like me to add your blog posts to my weekly compilation, please send me an email (flo@datacenter-flo.de) or reach out to me via Twitter (@FloKlaffenbach). Thanks!

Featured Posts of the Week!

EXPORT AND IMPORT VIRTUAL MACHINE MANAGER TEMPLATES by Thomas Maurer

Building Windows Azure Pack Into Your Data Center–Part 3 by Lai Yoong Seng

Comparing TCPIP, Compressed, and SMB WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration Speeds by Aidan Finn

Preventing Live Migration Over SMB Starving CSV Traffic in Windows Server 2012 R2 with Set-SmbBandwidthLimit by Didier van Hoye

 

Azure

Building Windows Azure Pack Into Your Data Center–Part 3 by Lai Yoong Seng

 

Hyper-V

Comparing TCPIP, Compressed, and SMB WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Live Migration Speeds by Aidan Finn

WS2012 R2 Hyper-V Virtual Receive Side Scaling (vRSS) In Action by Aidan Finn

 

Lync Server

#Microsoft Lync 2013 Workload Architecture Poster #Lync #Office365 #Cloud by James van den Berg

 

Office 365

Implement Office 365 easy ? #Unattended Install #O365 with Group Policy #windows7 #windows12R2 by Robert Smit

 

PowerShell

Wake On Lan through PowerShell by Jeff Wouters

PowerShell function to get time server NTP settings from clients by Jeff Wouters

PowerShell – Error when you query Active Directory for the OperatingSystem attribute by Jeff Wouters

Copying PowerShell modules and custom DSC resources using DSC by Ravikanth Chaganti

 

Sharepoint 

Einstellen der SEO-Eigenschaften für ihre öffentliche Webseite in German by Kerstin Rachfahl

Great SharePoint Apps & Security Post Resources by Andrew Connell

My Favorite SharePoint Development Utility: Postman (Chrome Extension) by Andrew Connell

 

System Center Configuration Manager

Creating Custom Reports for Configuration Manager (SCCM) by Damian Flynn

 

System Center Orchestrator

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Exporting and Importing Runbooks by Damian Flynn

 

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

EXPORT AND IMPORT VIRTUAL MACHINE MANAGER TEMPLATES by Thomas Maurer

CONNECT MICROSOFT HYPER-V NETWORK VIRTUALIZATION GATEWAY IN SYSTEM CENTER VIRTUAL MACHINE MANAGER by Thomas Maurer

SQL Server

Specifications for SQL Server failover cluster instance #FCI #SQL #Server #winServ #CSV by Robert Smit

#Microsoft System Center Management Pack for #SQL Server #sysctr #SCOM by James van den Berg

 

Windows Client

Windows 8: Startseiten-Layout sichern in German by Nils Kaczenski

 

Windows Server

The Effects Of WS2012 R2 Storage Spaces Write-Back Cache by Aidan Finn

Configuring Quality of Service (QoS) Rules in Windows Server 2012 by Aidan Finn

Preventing Live Migration Over SMB Starving CSV Traffic in Windows Server 2012 R2 with Set-SmbBandwidthLimit by Didier van Hoye

 

Tools

Neue Version von inMon sFlow für Windows Server 2012 R2 & SC2012 R2 VMM verfügbar in German by Daniel Neumann

An Ocean of Tablets: Helping your Customers Set Sail with the Dell IT Consultant Network

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If you are an IT consultant, you no doubt have customers who are using tablets of a variety of types and operating systems.  As the “trusted advisor”, your customers rely on your expertise to help them chart the course through the ever-changing sea of tablet options.   Dell's approach to the tablet market has been to embrace Microsoft's Windows 8 and RT, and produce tablets that leverage those operating systems.  Dell boasts a diverse offering of tablet form factors to meet your customers’ needs. 

Depending on your customers’ specific needs for mobile computing, there's a Latitude 10 that should fit the bill.  The Latitude 10 is the latest flagship tablet product, with a 10.1 inch screen and loads of features that promote this device to laptop add-on, if not full replacement when paired with the right peripherals.   If you have customers who are already using Windows 8, using the Latitude 10 is easy and becomes second nature; novices that are used to other touch devices will pick it up in a flash. There are three versions of the tablet: Essentials, Standard, and Secure, with each successive version's features building on the prior one. One added bonus unique to Dell is the removable 2- and 4-cell batteries (not available for the Essentials version) - no other tablet manufacturer offers this feature.

The XPS 10 is a similar tablet in form if not function to the Latitude 10. It also boasts a 10.1 inch screen, and it is the only tablet that runs Windows RT, an operating system which only allows loading of programs from the Windows Store. Despite this perceived limitation, the XPS 10 is an excellent multimedia device with long battery life (10+ hours), and an optional keyboard dock that provides a second equivalent battery and connectivity ports like mini-HDMI and USB 2.0. The battery in the dock depletes before the one in the tablet, once connected.

The XPS 12 is a unique device due to its dual form factor nature - it is both an Ultrabook laptop and a 12.5 inch tablet. Using a screen that flips 180 degrees inside the bezel, the XPS 12 transforms from tablet to laptop quickly, with no disruption in function. Using Windows 8 with this device allow users to see how the OS works with input devices like a finger or stylus, and also the more traditional keyboard and mouse. The XPS 12 also boasts a well thought out design using aluminum and carbon fiber, rounded edges, and a balanced weighted feel.

The XPS 18 is truly a go-big device - a five pound, thin 18 inch display screen with an optional stand that transforms it into an all-in-one device! You can enjoy the benefits of a large touch screen device that can be used as a traditional desktop simply by seating the tablet in its dock - a small footprint holder using magnets and "pogo pins" to connect to the tablet for charging.

Customers have begun to embrace devices in different ways, by creating usage cases that empower mobility, replacing larger, heavier devices, and finding new ways to do things. There has not been such a drastic change in the computing environment since the introduction of the personal computer in 1981, then the laptop in 1986. Many steadfast computer users are having to "un-learn" old habits to, ahem, ”reset the sails” by adopting tablets in their use environments. 

Later this year, as the desire and need for tablets increases, Dell will be introducing new devices that will feature:

  •         Windows 8.1 – update to the current OS that incorporates new and requested features
  •         Newer iCore offerings in the 10.8 inch display space
  •         An 8 inch HD display form factor
  •         Near Field Communication (NFC)
  •         Miracast and Intel WiDi (wireless audio/video (A/V) connection to supported displays)
  •         Quad-core Intel Atom processors (faster and support better A/V)
  •         Keyboard docks similar to those of the XPS 10 and XPS 18 (pogo-pin and magnetic)
  •         Multiple peripherals (cases, docks, cases, etc.)

Many independent sources see that the tide of tablets is not abating, and Dell will continue to ride the wave of change through innovation, services, and support of these.  To learn more about our newest tablet offerings and how they can benefit your customers, contact your DCN sales rep.  Members of DCN enjoy benefits which include:

  • Dedicated sales reps
  • Dell rewards gift cards
  • Discounted training through Dell Education Services

Visit the DCN website to join or learn more. 

 

Four Weeks, Four Webinars: A Deep Dive into the Dell SUSE Cloud Solution, Powered by OpenStack

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Starting on September 26th, Dell and SUSE will host a series of four webinars targeting system administrators, DevOps engineers and solution architects, to provide a step-by-step walkthrough of the joint Dell and SUSE OpenStack-based private cloud solution, including:

  • OpenStack: the underlying open source software for building clouds
  • Dell SUSE Cloud Solution, Powered by OpenStack: private cloud solution that includes a Reference Architecture, its components and feature set
  • Cloud building: using Dell PowerEdge servers and Force10 switches
  • Deployment best practices: key considerations in architecting, implementing, and managing an OpenStack-based cloud

What is the Dell SUSE Cloud Solution?

The Dell SUSE Cloud Solution is an end-to-end private cloud solution. Its core components include:

  • SUSE Cloud 2.0: SUSE’s enterprise-ready OpenStack distribution, with an integrated installation framework based on the Dell-initiated Crowbar open source project, enabling organizations to rapidly deploy and easily manage Infrastructure-as-a-Service private clouds.
  • SUSE Studio: The award-winning SUSE image building solution enables enterprises to rapidly adapt and deploy applications into the SUSE Cloud image repository or public clouds.
  • SUSE Manager: Manages Linux workloads Enables the efficient management, maintenance and monitoring of Linux workloads across physical, virtual, and public or private cloud environments.
  • Dell platforms and reference architecture: TheDell SUSE Cloud Solution includes a validated and certified Reference Architecture based on PowerEdge server systems and Force10 networking infrastructure
  • Professional services, support and training: Enterprise services for complete assessment, design, deployment and ongoing support, provided through a cooperative support model leveraging the combined capabilities of Dell and SUSE

Click here to register: www.suse.com/dellcloudwebinars

Make sure to install Citrix GoToWebinar prior to our sessions (we recommend joining on the link 10 minutes before the start time in order to avoid technical issues on your side).

September 26th– 11:00-12:00 EST
Week 1: Introduction to OpenStack and the Dell SUSE Cloud Solution

We’ll present an OpenStack overview and how Dell and SUSE have come together to provide a complete end-to-end enterprise solution.
Click here to register

October 3rd - 11:00-12:00 EST
Week 2: Using Crowbar to Deploy and Configure the Dell SUSE Cloud, Powered by OpenStack

Learn how Crowbar incorporates DevOps principles to facilitate the deployment, ongoing management and growth of the OpenStack environment. 
Click here to register

October 10th - 11:00-12:00 EST
Week 3: Simplifying OpenStack Administration and DevOps with the Dell SUSE Cloud

Learn how to assemble, build, deploy, monitor and track applications within SUSE Cloud, and how  SUSE Studio and SUSE Manager are integrated to provide enterprise lifecycle and workflow management.
Click here to register

October 17th - 11:00-12:00 EST
Week 4: Architecting the Dell SUSE Cloud Solution for Real World Deployment

In this session, we’ll cover the Dell SUSE Cloud Solution, Powered by OpenStack Reference Architecture and review best practices for enterprise deployment, scalability and growth.
Click here to register

Looking forward to seeing you there! If you have any questions, feel free to contact us:

Rafael Knuth (Dell)
rafael_knuth@dellteam.com
@RafaelKnuth

P.S. In the event that you are unable to attend a webinar, note that all the webcasts will be recorded for future replay, but please register so that we can make sure to send you the link! 

Dell Networking W-Series 802.11ac Competitive Face Off

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This blog authored by Terry Myers.

Summary:

  1. The Dell W-AP225 dominates on 802.11n performance. You read that right – 11n. We outperform the Cisco 3602 by ~80% on average across varying ranges and by over 20-times at a distance of 120ft!
  2. The W-AP225 easily beats Cisco on 802.11ac performance. In fact we beat them by an average of over 50% when measuring downstream speed on both 3-stream 11ac laptops and single-stream 11ac smartphones.
  3. The W-AP225 is less than half the cost-per-Mbps for both 802.11n and 802.11ac. Even if you just measure the two APs on 11n performance and never spend the extra money on the Cisco 11ac module, we still crush Cisco on 11n-only value. Our relative value improves more when you also consider 802.11ac.

Upgrades to 802.11ac access points are happening way faster than anyone expected.

Why, you ask? Well, a few big factors…Wi-Fi Alliance certification, an abundance of 802.11ac devices hitting the market, and up to 300% better performance compared to 802.11n!! These three reasons alone make a compelling case for the upgrade.

1    Modular APs

The only example in this case is Cisco’s AP 3602i. Here you get an 802.11n AP with the option to add 802.11ac with a clip-on module.

2    Purpose-built APs

The second approach is a purpose-built 802.11ac AP, designed from the ground-up, like Dell’s W-AP220 series. You get the fastest 802.11n capabilities from Dell’s entire AP lineup, plus 802.11ac built-in.

So which one’s better? Well, we’ve done some testing and the results will surprise you. For this test we used a Dell W-AP225 with Controller Software 6.3.0 and a Cisco 3602i upgraded with the 802.11ac module and code version 7.5.102. These were simple tests looking mainly at TCP throughput. No tomfoolery was used in the making of these test cases! In fact, we encourage you to try it yourself!

Test No. 1: 802.11n rate vs. range

Wait. 802.11n? If you thought this was an 802.11ac test, it is. But one of the biggest advantages of new 802.11ac APs is what they can do for 802.11n clients. Having the latest antenna and RF components along with updated processors and memory make a huge difference across a mix of clients. When it comes to the internals of the AP, the newer hardware with updated components have a big advantage here and you would expect this to play out in performance numbers. We tested this by taking a 802.11n laptop and measuring TCP downstream speeds at different distances from each AP. Here are the results:

 

 

The results were dramatic. The Dell AP averaged 79% faster download speeds. And when the laptop moved beyond 100ft, the Cisco AP barely kept a connection going.

Test No. 2: 802.11ac baseline speed

This is the simplest test to do. We took one three-stream laptop, put it close to the AP and see how fast it goes. In this case we used a Dell laptop five feet from each AP.

In every case, the purpose-built AP showed a marked improvement. 

Test No. 3: Three-stream 802.11ac rate vs. range

This is the key test for understanding real-world speeds of 802.11ac and how the different AP architectures compare. We took a Dell 802.11ac laptop and measured TCP downstream speeds at different distances from each AP. Here are the results:

 

The result is that the Dell W-Series AP averaged 52% faster download for the laptop. 

Test No. 4: Single-stream 802.11ac rate vs. range

This is another important test, considering the number of new smartphones shipping with 802.11ac. The HTC One, Samsung GALAXY S4 and lots of new smartphones from Motorola come to mind. 

In this test, we did the same thing as for the laptop. We took a GALAXY S4 and measured TCP downstream speeds at different distances from each AP. Here are the results:

The result is that the Dell W-Series AP averaged 55% faster downloads for the Samsung smartphone. 

 

Test setup

In these tests, we used the recommended code and configuration for Dell and Cisco. The RF environment and test methodology was consistent for both vendors during the test. Traffic was generated using an Ixia Chariot server. Here’s the network topology:

Price

With such a significant performance advantage going to the Dell W-Series purpose-built AP, you might expect a price premium. To start with, let’s look at the list price of each AP: 

  • Dell W-AP225: $1,295 USD
  • Cisco AP-3602i (802.11n only): $1,495 USD
  • Cisco AP-3602i with 802.11ac module: $1,995 USD

So the Dell AP is actually much less expensive. In fact, the Cisco AP with the clip-on 802.11ac module is 50% more expensive than Dell.

 

To make things more interesting, let’s look at a more meaningful calculation of value – price per Mbps. This basically gives us a value for each metric of performance from the AP:

Not only is the Dell AP-225 the clear bang-for-your-buck winner as an 802.11ac AP, it’s also an incredible bargain even if you just use it for 802.11n.

 


Conclusion

It’s abundantly clear from testing that the practice of retrofitting an 802.11n AP for 802.11ac duty is a recipe for disaster. It consistently underperformed Dell’s purpose-built 802.11ac on every test. 

What was really surprising was the performance impact that Dell’s W-AP225 had on 802.11n clients. This makes the Dell W-AP225 the top performer of Dell’s 802.11n offering and it’s already future-proofed for 802.11ac gigabit Wi-Fi.

 

Learn More atDell.com/Wireless

Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) – Best Posts of the Week around Windows Server, Exchange, SystemCenter and more – #47

0
0

"The Elway Gazette"

Hi Community, here is my compilation of the most interesting technical blog posts written by members of the Microsoft MVP Community. The number of MVPs is growing well, I hope you enjoy their posts. @all MVPs If you'd like me to add your blog posts to my weekly compilation, please send me an email (florian_klaffenbach@dell.com) or reach out to me via Twitter (@FloKlaffenbach). Thanks!

Featured Posts of the Week!

How to publish your Exchange environment correctly for Lync Mobile 2013 by Johan Veldhuis

Option To Select Physical GPU Is Unavailable In Hyper-V Settings by Aidan Finn

Getting Started with PowerCLI: Setup and Configuration by Jeffery Hicks

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Sample Runbook Publishing by Damian Flynn  

Exchange 

How to publish your Exchange environment correctly for Lync Mobile 2013 by Johan Veldhuis

Events

Complaints About Bad Microsoft Patches Goes Mainstream by Aidan Finn

Hyper-V

Was die Prozessorkompatibilität in Hyper-V wirklich tut in German by Nils Kaczenski

Option To Select Physical GPU Is Unavailable In Hyper-V Settings by Aidan Finn

Creating Converged Networks Using Virtual NICs by Aidan Finn

PowerShell 

Getting Started with PowerCLI: Setup and Configuration by Jeffery Hicks

Friday Fun Color My Web by Jeffery Hicks

A Better PowerShell Get Scheduled Job Results by Jeffery Hicks

Sharepoint  

Misguiding MSDN documentation on SharePoint’s REST interface by Thorsten Hans

System Center Orchestrator

System Center 2012 SP1 – Orchestrator: Sample Runbook Publishing by Damian Flynn

System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Virtual Machine Manager und Baseboard Management Controller by Daniel Neumann

Windows Client

Windows 8.1 Availability For Business by Aidan Finn

First Impressions – Windows 8.1 RTM by Aidan Finn

Windows Server 

Mind the UNMAP Impact On Performance In Certain Scenarios by Didier van Hoye

Lizenzierung für Windows Server 2012 R2 in German by Nils Kaczenski

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