VMware vSphere users should always remember that when you allocate a VM the amount of space it will consume on disk includes a swap file equal to the size of the VM’s allocated RAM. So if you have 96 GB of VMs running you will use 96 GB of your disk as swap, even if those VMs are only actively using 2 GB of RAM. Yet another argument against overcommitment, in my opinion. If you right-size your VMs you not only save RAM, but storage as well.
The Wisconsin DMV sent me my gift a day early: And it was a present — I needed replacement plates but hadn’t ordered them yet. I’m glad I didn’t! I often joke that I haven’t come up with an original solution to anything in years, thanks to all the other sysadmins out there who share their solutions, knowledge, and time in order to make the world better. Thank you all for everything you do!
Chris's Wiki :: Why sysadmins almost never replace distribution packages Chris Siebenmann continues to have cogent blog entries about system administration. I have to agree with him — replacing a distribution package with your own is a very complex operation. I usually encourage app admins to just build from source if they can't use a distribution's software, because "./configure –prefix=/app/dir" is a heck of a lot easier than building a package. NSTX (IP-over-DNS) HOWTO Jeremy Zawodny (jeremy.zawodny.com) linked to this — I am definitely going to try this. Freakin' airport "$14.95 for one hour of service" portals suck. On the other hand, I'm making sure my own wireless networks aren't susceptible to this… How to get rid of the plus …
In the last month I’ve added quite a few blogs to my reading list. One new one is “Movin’ Meat,” written by an ER doctor out of the Pacific Northwest. Besides just being interesting, some of his blog posts support my theory that IT folks can often learn things from people in other fields. The post from June 25, 2010, part four of his “Advice for Interns,” is one of these cases. When you read it (link is at the end because I want to get to my actual point before you leave to read it), I think substituting “customer/system” for “patient” in his list works nicely. My real point is this: one thing in his list really stood out …
Gestalt IT Newsletter Contest! – Gestalt IT "On August 6, we will give away your choice of one of the following Microsoft software packages… To enter, just subscribe to our newsletter! We will send the entry URL and contest password in the next newsletter, to be mailed on July 29th!" Gestalt IT is the parent of the Tech Field Day series, and Stephen and crew are worthy of your attention, in my opinion. Sign up, and maybe win a prize! Workplace Safety Advisory System: (N)SFW Defined | WildAmmo.com Ah yes, the NSFW4 "Goatse" class trauma. Marco.org – Emails "But occasionally I get the best kind of email, and it makes it all worth it:"
Beth Pariseau from SearchServerVirtualization.com has a new piece up about the change in VMware licensing for some products, from per-socket to per-VM. First off, and slightly off-topic, I’m quoted in the article, and it’s always interesting to see what reporters choose for quotes from me. This isn’t a criticism, as anybody who has talked to me in real life knows I talk like that. Beth didn’t edit anything, which I really appreciate. However, I now can cross “use the word ‘cram’ in an interview” off my list of life goals. 🙂 Second, and back on-topic, per-VM licensing makes a lot of sense for things like AppSpeed, as well as some of the other management tools. There are a lot of …
Fibre Channel Over Token Ring FCoTR FTW again #TechFieldDay Fibre Channel over Token Ring: In-Depth Analysis – Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat FCoTR FTW! #techfieldday
Apple iPad: $670 Wyse PocketCloud RDP/View Client: $14.99 One flight worth of GoGoWireless: $12.95 Posting on my blog via an RDP connection to my work desktop across a VPN from 30,000 feet: priceless. I’m on my way to Gestalt IT’s Seattle Tech Field Day. I’m excited, for a lot of reasons. It’s an honor to be invited, nominated by some of the other delegates. I’ve spent little time in Seattle, and while I won’t have a lot of extra free time this trip it’ll be better than last time I was there. I’ll get to hang out at a bunch of high-tech places, and best yet, do so with a bunch of high-tech folks that, frankly, I’ve only read about. …
Once again we find ourselves staring at a major release of VMware infrastructure software: vSphere 4.1. It’s been a bit over a year since 4.0 dropped, with two big bugfix releases since. vSphere 4.1 adds over 150 new features and improvements, including some features that were previewed at VMworld 2009 to much applause. Here are some of the highlights, twists, and turns. Storage I/O Control: This is a global, cluster-wide I/O scheduler, working to throttle I/O to ensure that a single VM cannot monopolize a single datastore’s capabilities. If you consider that a datastore’s backend storage can only sustain a certain numbers of IOPS it’s possible, and likely, that a single VM will consume a disproportionate amount of those IOPS. …
Spitefuls: [Disaster Dioramas!] Awesome. Hat tip to jwz for this one. High Scalability – High Scalability – So, Why is Twitter Really Not Using Cassandra to Store Tweets? The flow chart for decision making, while NSFW for language, is a classic.
