Tips

Tips

Server virtualization compliance and governance

• Meet data center compliance standards in hybrid deployments

  Data center compliance is a moving target that shifts with standards and technologies. Don't get sidetracked by the complexity -- prioritize performance while maintaining compliance.  Continue Reading

• Incorporate NIST security and virtualization recommendations

  Review NIST virtualization security recommendations with this overview of hypervisor security guidelines, including tips on VM lifecycles and hypervisor platform management.  Continue Reading

• Migrate virtual machines from development to production

  Administrators must prepare carefully before moving test or development VMs to production. Check connectivity, security, compliance and licensing before beginning a migration.  Continue Reading

• Determine the right level of data center access for administrators

  If you hand out administrative access too freely, you risk leaving your data center vulnerable to rogue IT administrators and cyberattacks.  Continue Reading

• Meeting PCI DSS requirements in a virtual environment

  PCI DSS requirements don't address virtualized environments, but if there's a data breach, you're responsible. To avoid hefty fines, secure your hosts, VMs, storage and networking.  Continue Reading

• VM snapshot backup process explained

  Although virtual machines are dynamic, they still need to be protected from hardware failures. A VM snapshot backup is one way to protect virtualized data at a point in time.  Continue Reading

• Resource pool security procedures in a virtual infrastructure

  Do you know how to secure your resource pool and tightly manage who has access to it? Learn how to identify people as they enter your virtual infrastructure.  Continue Reading

• Understanding Hyper-V's failover settings in Failover Cluster Management

  Virtual machines that are colocated onto hosts can pose compliance risks. There are workarounds, including the use of Failover Cluster Management, to secure Hyper-V environments.  Continue Reading

• Performing Windows P2V conversion with PlateSpin Migrate

  This step-by-step lesson explains how to use PlateSpin Migrate to perform physical-to-virtual conversion for Windows servers and simplify a sometimes-complex process.  Continue Reading

• Virtual systems management efficiency: Improving admin-to-VM ratios

  Increasing administrator-to-virtual machine ratios can boost IT productivity and systems management efficiency and reduce IT costs. An expert explains how to use virtual systems management tools to improve this metric.  Continue Reading

• Using Virtual Machine Manager for rapid Hyper-V deployment

  Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager in Hyper-V allows to you create a VM template easily and rapidly deploy virtual machines in your environment.  Continue Reading

• New features in Microsoft's SCVMM R2 improve Hyper-V management

  Microsoft's System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 R2 offers several features to improve Hyper-V management, such as Live Migration support, improved LUN management and network optimization.  Continue Reading

• Improving VM density ratios

  Many enterprises haven't maximized their virtual machine density per physical server, which often means poor VM density ratios and higher operating costs. An expert explains how virtual systems management tools such as Microsoft's Virtual Machine ...  Continue Reading

• Using Cluster Shared Volumes to improve virtual host resource use

  Cluster Shared Volumes, an update to Windows Failover Clustering, improves virtual host resource utilization by enabling admins to store multiple virtual machines (VMs) on one LUN without failing over each VM.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-V and PerfMon: Even more useful counters

  In addition to measuring processing power, Hyper-V's PerfMon counters can also monitor root partitions, memory use and virtual machine networking to help enhance performance management in your virtual environment. An expert highlights the features ...  Continue Reading

• Hyper-V and PerfMon: Not your usual processor counters

  If you want to monitor virtual machine performance on a Hyper-V platform, you'll need to learn about the differences of Hyper-V's PerfMon counters. An expert explains their distinguishing features in this tip.  Continue Reading

• Windows P2V conversions with PlateSpin PowerConvert

  PlateSpin's PowerConvert program allows you to convert physical machines to virtual ones across different platforms. In this tip, an expert explains how to convert a Windows Server 2003 physical machine to a XenServer virtual one.  Continue Reading

• Open Virtual Machine Format to benefit users

  Virtualization vendors plan to adopt the Open Virtual Machine Format (OVF) to facilitate virtual appliance deployment. An expert discusses how VMware users can benefit from the new format.  Continue Reading

• Taking Snapshots with Hyper-V

  Point-in-time archives are a snap in Hyper-V with the new snapshot tool. Learn how to use the easy-to-use feature in the Management Console to create hierarchies of VM configuration changes.  Continue Reading

• Managing virtual machines with Microsoft System Center

  Microsoft System Center is a strong asset in Microsoft's growing family of virtualization products that automates many administration tasks. But while the Windows Server management tool streamlines VM management, there is still room for improvement ...  Continue Reading

• Tracking virtual machine properties with Active Directory

  Changing a virtual server's name can be troublesome to the servers' locally installed applications and services. In this tip, Chris Wolf explains how to track and manage your virtual machines using Active Directory's description attribute.  Continue Reading

• Customizing Active Directory attributes to identify virtual machines

  In parts one and two of this series, Chris Wolf described a method of identifying physical and virtual computers by using the computer object Description attribute in Active Directory. In the final article, Wolf explains how to customize the Active ...  Continue Reading

• Querying Active Directory to determine virtual machine location

  In this tip, Chris Wolf describes how to query Active Directory to find computer objects that match a pre-determined Description attribute prefix.  Continue Reading