February 2014

• February 28, 2014 28 Feb'14

  Do the benefits of hybrid cloud computing live up to the hype?

  With all of the hype, it’s important to weigh caveats and benefits of hybrid cloud to determine if it’s the right fit for your company.  Continue Reading

• February 27, 2014 27 Feb'14

  Solving problems and taking names: Automated scripting keeps you ahead

  IT admins can use automated scripting and other tools to avoid repetition, reduce human error and generate better documentation.  Continue Reading

• February 26, 2014 26 Feb'14

  Elastic computing is the future: Don't let Amazon take your job

  Elastic computing is transforming businesses just as virtualization did. But this time, in-house IT has competition from cloud providers like Amazon.  Continue Reading

• February 24, 2014 24 Feb'14

  How well do you know new Windows Server storage features?

  Windows Server 2012 R2 included many important storage changes for virtualization. Take this quiz and see if you know what they are.  Continue Reading

• February 24, 2014 24 Feb'14

  Better IOPS in a flash: Why now is the time to start using SSD storage

  Using SSD storage is one of the fastest ways to improve IOPS and VM performance. Find out why our experts say now is the time to invest.  Continue Reading

• February 20, 2014 20 Feb'14

  Choose storage that's smart enough for virtual environments

  Virtualization solves a lot of problems, but it also presents new challenges, especially related to storage. Do you need new tools that address virtual servers' specific challenges? And when is it helpful to virtualize storage? Virtualization-aware ...  Continue Reading

• February 20, 2014 20 Feb'14

  An introduction to SDN can help server admins reach across silo lines

  At a time when the software-defined data center promises to blur the lines of IT silos, it's important for server admins get an introduction to SDN.  Continue Reading

• February 18, 2014 18 Feb'14

  Reducing CPU ready time will get your hungry VMs a seat at the table

  Throwing vCPUs at a slow VM is not the answer to better performance when CPU ready time is high.  Continue Reading

• February 17, 2014 17 Feb'14

  What virtualization admins need to know about flash storage

  A new generation of solid-state flash storage can add speed to virtual environments. With prices dropping and writes improving, flash could shine.  Continue Reading

• February 17, 2014 17 Feb'14

  Don't stop that VM: WS 2012 R2 can resize your replica disk on the fly

  Windows Sever 2012 R2 allows Hyper-V Replica to replicate virtual machines from one server to another while running.  Continue Reading

• February 13, 2014 13 Feb'14

  Pinpointing application performance problems in a virtual data center

  Hardware performance is relatively easy to monitor, but acceptable hardware metrics do not always translate to smooth application performance in a virtual environment.  Continue Reading

• February 13, 2014 13 Feb'14

  Creating Linux container compute constrictions with cgroups

  Use cgroups to limit the resources a virtual container can consume to prevent oversubscription and contention.  Continue Reading

• February 13, 2014 13 Feb'14

  Windows Server storage changes and new features in 2012 R2

  Windows Server storage was a hot topic in the new release, which unveiled changes and new features that will help improve performance and efficiency.  Continue Reading

• February 12, 2014 12 Feb'14

  Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager

  Windows Azure Hyper-V Recovery Manager is a cloud-based service that automates the backup and recovery of Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs).  Continue Reading

• February 06, 2014 06 Feb'14

  How to stay relevant in an automated world

  Automation isn't new, but as virtualized environments become more complex, admins are seeing a bigger need for features that help them manage their virtual data centers. We'll continue to see improved built-in automation features. Microsoft's ...  Continue Reading

• February 06, 2014 06 Feb'14

  VMM eases the burden of running both Hyper-V and VMware

  If you're planning to run both VMware and Hyper-V, Microsoft's Virtual Machine Manager allows you to do so with mostly all of VMware's features.  Continue Reading

• February 05, 2014 05 Feb'14

  Virtualization isn't perfect, but SLAT minimizes hypervisor overhead

  Processor technology improvements, such as Second Level Address Translation, have improved virtualization performance by reducing hypervisor overhead.  Continue Reading

• February 04, 2014 04 Feb'14

  Network conflict resolution: Changing a virtual machine MAC address

  A virtual machine MAC address is randomly generated, but that doesn't guarantee you won't have duplicates. Find out how to change a VM's MAC address.  Continue Reading

• February 03, 2014 03 Feb'14

  Breaking the taboo of mixing test and production environments

  Server admins have been segregating test and production environments for years, and for good reason. But, it may be time to rethink traditional norms.  Continue Reading

• February 03, 2014 03 Feb'14

  Using libguestfs for easy and convenient VM access

  Even if your virtual machine won't power on, libguestfs has tools that can access the VM files to modify and even rescue them.  Continue Reading