Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between
My ramblings on the stuff that holds it all together
VMWare Fast Track VCP Course – Lights Out Edition
Posted by on April 9, 2008
I have been on a VMWare fast track course this week to complete my VCP cert; annoyingly the VCP is one of those vendor certifications where you need to prove you’ve sat the course as well as doing the exam to qualify as a “proper” VCP.
I’ve been doing it at QA-IQ in central London, and whilst I know most of the content its good for filling in the gaps and detail for the areas where my knowledge is high-level.
Unfortunately the building lost all power 1/2 way through yesterday and we had to finish the remaining theory for the day without PC’s or projectors etc. – full credit to the instructor who didn’t break a sweat doing so, I’d probably have sworn a lot more.
When I arrived this morning they still haven’t got power back on so the day has been cancelled, waiting for a call from our account manager to work out what to do next. it’s already a compressed version of 2 training courses and my schedule is pretty tight so wonder what’s going to happen.
EDF the electricity supplier are bringing in generators – so someone must have really broken it!
Opening a URL in Internet Explorer when Firefox is your default Web Browser
Posted by on April 3, 2008
I use Firefox for 99% of my Internet activities, however there are still some web sites and applications that won’t work fully (or at all) within Firefox.
Normally I use the IETab extension to render particular tabs within Firefox using the IE render engine.. this allows all my browsing to stay within one tabbed Window and is easy to use.
However we have an SSL based VPN for corporate access and I occasionally directly access some HP iLO’s Neither work well with Firefox; I like to spawn them both in a separate IE window to keep them separate from my normal browsing.
If I create a shortcut to these URLs from the desktop etc the default URL handler is Firefox.
So a quick cheat is to create a shortcut to IE then adjust the shortcut properties (right click, properties) and append the URL you want to open in IE under the ‘target’ entry.
VMWare Workstation 6.5 Beta Open Now
Posted by on April 2, 2008
As of 1st April (not an April fools joke!) you can register for, and download the VM Worksation 6.5 beta programme here..
Main new features are;
- Use Unity to integrate your guest apps with your host
- More Powerful VM Record and Replay
- Support for Smart Cards & Smart Card Readers
- Enhanced ACE Authoring
- Link State Propagation Networking
- Improved 3D graphics Support
I’m most looking forward to being able to use Unity… very cool, have used it on the Mac with Fusion and Parallels equivalent, maybe now I will be able to run 2 instances of full-fat Outlook 2007 side by side, plugged into different Exchange mailboxes and orgs (maybe a bit overkill – but I have my reasons!)
New Microsoft Data Centre is Container Based
Posted by on April 2, 2008
Article here, it’s coming people!
Some interesting discussions on how you can measure the productivity of a container and come up with some common metrics to compare and contrast and handle charge-back.
Installed Windows Vista SP1 and Have No Sound?
Posted by on April 2, 2008
There are probably a number of reasons for this, but I’ve come across a number of people recently that have installed Vista Service Pack 1 from the Microsoft Web site (note: not via Windows Update) following articles on the web about its availability (like mine) and have since had problems with sound or other devices not working.
If you read this KB article you’ll note that cause 5 says if you have some particular devices you will not be offered SP1 by Windows Update as there are not yet SP1 compatible drivers.
I don’t know for certain as I don’t have any of these devices on my laptop by I would think even if you downloaded it manually the SP1 installer would warn of this; so maybe those people just chose to ignore it – none of them could remember 🙂
To be fair to Microsoft I think this is a good idea, previously there would have been no check mechanism for known incompatible drivers, this is definitely a step in the right direction to protect people from themselves 🙂
Pasted from the KB article… some of the problematic devices are listed below;
To help ensure a positive update experience, Windows Update will temporarily not offer Windows Vista SP1 to systems that have the following device drivers. In some cases, these device drivers are problematic on Windows Vista-based computers when you update to Windows Vista SP1. By installing updated device drivers, you will resolve the issue and enable Windows Update to offer Windows Vista SP1.
Audio drivers
Realtek AC’97•For x86-based computers: Alcxwdm.sys – version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier
•For x64-based computers: Alcwdm64.sys – version 6.0.1.6242 or earlier
SigmaTel
•For x86-based computers: Sthda.sys – version 5.10.5762.0 or earlier
•For x64-based computers: Sthda64.sys – version 5.10.5762.0 or earlier
SigmaTel
•For x86-based computers: Stwrt.sys – version 6.10.5511.0 or earlier
•For x64-based computers: Stwrt64.sys – version 6.10.5511.0 or earlier
Creative Audigy
•For x86-based and x64-based computers: Ctaud2k.sys – version 6.0.1.1242 or earlier
•For x86-based computers: P17.sys – all versions (This was originally a Windows XP-based driver.)
Conexant HD Audio
•For x86-based computers: Chdart.sys – version 4.32.0.0 or earlier
•For x64-based computers: Chdart64.sys – version 4.32.0.0 or earlier
Biometric (Fingerprint) Sensors
•AuthenTec Fingerprint Sensor with the Atswpdrv.sys driver file – version 7.7.1.7 or earlier
•UPEK Fingerprint Sensor with the Tcusb.sys driver file – version 1.9.2.99 or earlier
Display drivers
Intel Display•For x86-based computers: Igdkmd32.sys – versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403
•For x64-based computers: Igdkmd64.sys – versions between and including driver 7.14.10.1322 and 7.14.10.1403
Other drivers
Texas Instruments Smart Card Controller with the GTIPCI21.sys driver file – version 1.0.1.19 or earlier
Sierra Wireless AirCard 580 with the Watcher.exe application – version 3.4.0.9 or earlier (This application is located in the AirCard 580 Program Files folder.)
Symantec software driver for Symantec Endpoint Protection and for Symantec Network Access Control clients•For x86-based computers: Wgx.sys – versions 11.0.1000.1091 or earlier
•For x64-based computers: Wgx64.sys – versions 11.0.1000.1091 or earlier
Useful OneNote Information
Posted by on March 27, 2008
Eileen also has another post with some some useful linkage for getting more out of OneNote (my favourite MS application!)
I really must set some time aside to review my working practices and try to get some more out of these types of useful applications (Groove, OneNote etc.)
Groove Templates
Posted by on March 27, 2008
Eileen Brown has a post here with some links to new Groove templates here.
I really like Groove and but I think I could do a lot more with it once I figure out what all the different bits work!
Liking the idea of the RFP/RFI tracker – its so hard to manage that stuff with lots of people involved and Sharepoint just doesn’t cut it for me.
How to Monitor VMWare ESX Servers from Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 (SCOM)
Posted by on March 26, 2008
How to Overlay Multiple Calendars in Outlook 2007
Posted by on March 25, 2008
This is a really useful feature; I didn’t realise you could do this (until I had a need to do so, thanks Google!); makes it much easier to look and manage multiple calendars (or people’s shared calendars).
Linky here
Shame the UI for this isn’t particularly obvious, or at least maybe I’m blind but the button is quite small 🙂
Virtualization, Cloud, Infrastructure and all that stuff in-between 