Evaluate

Evaluate

Weigh the pros and cons of technologies, products and projects you are considering.

• VMware vRealize Automation 7.4 adds detailed customization

  VMware recently updated vRealize Automation to include a variety of detailed customization options that enable admins to shape the product to the needs of end-users. Continue Reading

• VMware HCX makes hybrid, multi-cloud more attainable

  Organizations can use VMware's Hybrid Cloud Extension to build a multi-cloud, multisite architecture across VMware-based private and public clouds. Continue Reading

• VMware-OpenStack partnership shifts in evolving market

  VMware is aiming to make OpenStack, an open source, unwieldy cloud service, more usable with an integration that increasingly targets data centers and telcos. Continue Reading

• Make the jump from a VMware SDDC to a hybrid cloud environment

  Get a handle on hybrid basics, such as new SDDC roles and VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure, pricing and integration before taking your VMware environment to the cloud. Continue Reading

• What the history of VMware reveals about its future projects

  VMware dominated server virtualization, but was hesitant to embrace the cloud. Examine VMware's history and its approach to new technology to see where it's headed next. Continue Reading

• VMware NSX 6.4 introduces upgrade planner, HTML5 features

  VMware NSX features new to 6.4 include an upgrade planner and improved firewall functionality. Users can access these features from vSphere Client, which includes new HTML5 components.Continue Reading

• VMware partnerships to trump products at VMworld 2018

  VMware's tight relationship with Pivotal could be a harbinger of more vendor partnership announcements than product releases or upgrades at VMworld 2018.Continue Reading

• VMware's strategy includes container integration, VM management

  Containers have grown in popularity, but containers and VMs aren't an either/or proposition. VMware aims to integrate PKS with vSphere so customers can use both instance types.Continue Reading

• VMware extends NSX micro-segmentation to AppDefense

  VMware micro-segmentation technology reaches from NSX to AppDefense and points to a new future for network security that emphasizes process-level security and behavioral analysis.Continue Reading

• Consider VMware PKS alternatives

  Organizations looking to get started with Kubernetes might begin by considering VMware's Pivotal Container Service, but companies that don't use vSphere must find another option.Continue Reading

• Limit the size of VMware hosts to control VM density

  Large VMware hosts can be advantageous, but VM density can have unforeseen consequences during a system failure. Evaluate VM functionality to ensure you're ready for a disaster.Continue Reading

• VMware IoT services wield IT ties for device management

  VMware is positioning itself in the emerging IoT market with a combination of device management services and complementary features from other VMware products.Continue Reading

• VMware virtual recovery and backup best practices and tools

  Protect your VMware environments with this compilation of virtual recovery methods and backup procedures.Continue Reading

• VMware cloud-native apps hold key to company's success

  As the definition of agility evolves, IT departments and vendors must adapt. For VMware, that means embracing cloud-native applications, microservices and containers.Continue Reading

• Cloud computing with VMware evolves with products, partnerships

  VMware has stepped away from what originally made it successful to face the cloud future. Partnerships and acquisitions situate cloud computing with VMware as a competitive option.Continue Reading

• VMware Cloud on AWS pricing vs. running EC2 instances on AWS

  In this cost comparison of VMware Cloud on AWS vs. AWS EC2 instances, expert Brien Posey breaks down the pricing of each option and discusses additional purchasing considerations.Continue Reading

• Enable VMware automation with these top tools and techniques

  Virtualized infrastructures are more complex than ever before. Automation enables IT staff to do more in less time and focus on demanding projects rather than routine tasks.Continue Reading

• NSX-T 2.1 features are nearly on par with NSX for vSphere

  NSX-T 2.1 is the next step in VMware's plan to create a fully functional version of its software-defined networking product for non-vSphere infrastructures.Continue Reading

• Understand the basics of VMware container technology

  In response to the popularity of container technology in enterprise infrastructure, VMware has developed its own support services and management tools to run Docker containers.Continue Reading

• VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 adds automation, improves flexibility

  New VMware Cloud Foundation 2.3 features, such as vRealize Automation and a self-service catalog, increase flexibility and make it easier to run a hybrid cloud.Continue Reading

• Identify abnormal application behavior with VMware AppDefense

  VMware AppDefense is an endpoint security tool that relies on security automation to determine the intended state of a VM and to analyze and identify unusual application behavior.Continue Reading

• VMware-VeloCloud acquisition pushes VMware into SD-WAN territory

  VMware intends to use its recent VeloCloud acquisition to bolster its SDN products with SD-WAN technology, but the virtualization company is steering into unfamiliar territory.Continue Reading

• Top VMware NSX use cases go beyond microsegmentation

  Microsegmentation has become a popular reason for organizations to adopt VMware NSX. Emerging use cases, including multisite and multi-cloud, could broaden the SDN platform's scope.Continue Reading

• Which tools does NSX use for virtual network management?

  NSX uses VMware services, such as vRealize Operations Manager and VMware Integrated OpenStack, and integrates with third-party platforms for security and virtual network management.Continue Reading

• Which VMware NSX editions are suited for your organization's needs?

  There are four VMware NSX editions, each with its own feature set. Learn more about these features and whether they meet the needs of your infrastructure.Continue Reading

• Which VMware NSX features handle networking and security?

  The VMware NSX network virtualization platform provides a flexible software-defined networking overlay and granular security to round out the company's software-defined data center.Continue Reading

• What are the benefits of the NSX network virtualization platform?

  VMware's NSX network virtualization platform applies software-layer abstraction to networking, adds network functionality and enforces granular security policies.Continue Reading

• VMware security products create balance between front and back end

  VMware security products, such as NSX and AppDefense, eliminate some of the problems associated with other security offerings to maintain performance levels and user experience.Continue Reading

• VMware SaaS strategy bridges requirements from data center to cloud

  VMware's effort to embrace SaaS tools might seem counterintuitive, but it's a move that recognizes both the appeal of the cloud and the continued necessity of on-site data centers.Continue Reading

• Hybrid cloud, SDDC products boost quarterly VMware revenue

  According to VMware's Q3 2018 earnings report, the company received a nice boost from VMware Cloud on AWS, but NSX and vSAN remain the biggest contributors to VMware revenue.Continue Reading

• Primary use cases for VMC on AWS emerge among early adopters

  VMware Cloud on AWS has been generally well-received by early adopters, but its high price tag could be a roadblock to widespread adoption and some possible use cases.Continue Reading

• PKS complements VMware's cloud-native application portfolio

  Pivotal Container Service takes a DevOps-oriented approach to containers and improves VMware's cloud-native application strategy by adding Kubernetes support to vSphere.Continue Reading

• Choose the right VMware certification to boost your career

  With so many VMware certification levels and specialization tracks, it's easy to get in over your head. Fortunately, this expert advice can help steer you straight.Continue Reading

• Use SpoofGuard to defend against malicious activity in VMware NSX

  SpoofGuard monitors network traffic to identify malicious activity and prevent phishing attacks. Before you enable SpoofGuard in NSX, there are a few things you should know.Continue Reading

• Compare different vCenter Server editions to find what fits

  Compare and contrast vCenter Server licensing options, and choose what's best based on how much support you need and how many ESXi hosts you want to manage.Continue Reading

• VMware Integrated OpenStack features, cost, benefits and more

  VMware Integrated OpenStack features VMware support, seamless integration with the vRealize Suite and more, making it a competitive alternative to other OpenStack-based products.Continue Reading

• How do deduplication and compression compare to RAID erasure coding?

  RAID 5 and RAID 6 erasure coding, deduplication and compression are similar but distinct concepts that reduce data and maintain storage capacity in virtualized environments.Continue Reading

• Use the Rufus utility to create a bootable VMware ESXi installer

  Rufus -- short for Reliable USB Formatting Utility -- is a free Windows tool that can create a bootable VMware ESXi installer and a custom installation package in mere minutes.Continue Reading

• How does VMware secure boot protect VMs and ESXi hosts?

  New to vSphere 6.5, the secure boot feature protects VMs and ESXi hosts from viruses, malware and spyware -- and enabling it is as easy as checking off a box.Continue Reading

• What is storage I/O control in VMware vSphere 6.5?

  VMware storage I/O control helps improve the quality of storage in vSphere. VSphere 6.5 integrates storage I/O control configurations into the VM Storage Policy.Continue Reading

• What is enhanced logging and how does it boost vSphere security?

  Logs have been an integral piece of troubleshooting. New enhanced logs boosts vSphere security by providing much more detail about errors and changes.Continue Reading

• How do you change ESXi 6.5 host names and DNS configuration?

  Admins have options when it comes to changing an ESXi 6.5 host name, but only the vSphere Web Client has full functionality in the latest release.Continue Reading

• Understand how VMware HA works in your data center

  VMware HA is one of the most important tools administrators have to improve workload availability. Do you know how this essential feature works?Continue Reading

• What is the role of the message bus in VMware NSX?

  A message bus guarantees the delivery of messages to a host, even if that host is unavailable or you're unable to establish a connection. So, how do you use it in NSX?Continue Reading

• How do you recreate a missing VMDK descriptor file?

  The descriptor file plays an essential role in a virtual machine disk file, pointing to the larger data file and other VMDK information. So, what do you do when it goes missing?Continue Reading

• Use automated vSphere Update Manager for more controlled patching

  The most recent version of vSphere Update Manager helps reduce the stress of patching hosts, VMs, virtual appliances and more. Set it up in just a few simple steps.Continue Reading

• VMware's vCenter HA makes up for vCenter Server shortcomings

  VMware vCenter 6 High Availability saves administrators the time and effort of having to log in to hosts individually to track down vCenter should they forget to restrict it.Continue Reading

• How can a vSphere Distributed Switch improve your networking experience?

  Tools like the vSphere Distributed Switch help numb the pain of networking by introducing robust network features and aggregating virtual switches into a single distributed switch.Continue Reading

• How do you open a VM console and use timeouts in vSphere Web Client?

  By making small alterations and adjustments to the VM console, you can customize and optimize your vSphere 6 Web Client experience.Continue Reading

• Prepare yourself for these VMware administrator interview questions

  Before you get to your VMware interview, prepare yourself with these questions.Continue Reading

• How do vRealize Automation and vRealize Orchestrator differ?

  VMware offers two products that can help automate cloud management tasks to provide more consistency with the distribution of IT services.Continue Reading

• Can a VMware snapshot resurrect a VMDK file?

  Snapshots can be used to undo botched upgrades, but can they be used to rebuild a broken VMDK file?Continue Reading

• Is there an SDN open source alternative to NSX?

  VMware's NSX and Cisco's ACI platforms have gotten the most attention in the SDN space, but is there room for open source alternatives?Continue Reading

• How the balloon driver helps VM performance

  Using the balloon driver in VMware Tools is a better option for reclaiming RAM from a VM; otherwise there may be a bigger performance issue.Continue Reading

• How to choose the right VMware type-2 hypervisor

  This guide can help decide which of VMware's hosted hypervisors best fits the needs of your data center environment.Continue Reading

• Tracking VMware's expansion from humble beginnings

  VMware got its start by overcoming the technical hurdles of server virtualization and now faces other barriers as it expands its reach to other markets.Continue Reading

• Horizon View Direct-Connection Plugin streamlines configuration

  The Direct-Connection Plugin lets Horizon View users connect to a virtual desktop without connecting to a Connection Server first.Continue Reading

• Working with the vSphere 6.0 Web client

  Your stance on the vSphere Web Client may determine your level of happiness with VMware's latest server virtualization platform.Continue Reading

• Taming data center disturbances with vRealize Operations Manager

  As more workloads and servers are virtualized, the vSphere administrator will need some kind of tool to help keep an eye on resources and make intelligent choices.Continue Reading

• How do I address capacity issues in VMware VDP?

  A certain amount of data will need to be backed up before the advantage of deduplication in vSphere Data Protection will become apparent.Continue Reading

• Staying safe while manually modifying a VMX file

  What happens when you can't make changes to a VM in the vSphere client? There's more than one way to tweak the configuration file.Continue Reading

• What a desktop assessment can do for you

  Is every physical desktop a candidate for virtualization? A desktop assessment can help make this determination before a major VDI investment is made.Continue Reading

• Connect the dots to uncover Replication RPO violations

  When attempting to troubleshoot an RPO violation in vSphere Replication, the underlying cause is oftentimes more complex than it appears on the surface.Continue Reading

• How does VMware App Volumes differ from ThinApp?

  VMware App Volumes, formerly CloudVolumes, is the virtualization company's attempt to speed application deployments and reduce IT headaches.Continue Reading

• How are SSD garbage collection, wear leveling and TRIM different?

  While using solid-state drives in a vSphere environment can give a boost to VMs that require high performance, it's important to know how certain longevity features function in the storage hardware.Continue Reading

• Five popular VMware Flings to make your job easier

  If you're a vSphere administrator looking to save time and money in your troubleshooting endeavors, there are new utilities available for free on a routine basis at VMware's Flings site.Continue Reading

• What are some vCloud Director features for cloud management?

  In virtualization's evolution from servers to the cloud, VMware has several offerings for managing resources in virtual data centers.Continue Reading

• How does a VMware vApp compare to ThinApp, RDSH apps?

  There's a variety of options for an enterprise to deliver applications to its customers and employees, but settling on one delivery method requires weighing the pros and cons of each.Continue Reading

• How can an enterprise benefit from using a VMware vApp?

  By developing a virtual appliance technology, VMware has given businesses a way to both bundle and manage multiple VMs into a single package.Continue Reading

• Answering common VMware NSX platform questions

  VMware's network virtualization product promises both flexibility and security in one of the few areas where innovation has lagged in the data center.Continue Reading

• Is VMware Integrated OpenStack just a development tool?

  VMware is touting its OpenStack offering as a way to ease the deployment and operations in the open-source cloud environment.Continue Reading

• What licensing is required to use vCloud Air?

  Potential users of VMware's vCloud Air offering may not know what type of tools they need to manage the hybrid cloud offering.Continue Reading

• What's better? An OVF or an OVA file?

  What is an OVA file and how does it compare to an Open Virtualization Format package?Continue Reading

• Top 10 things to know about vCenter Server Appliance

  Here's how VMware's vCSA differs from its Windows-based counterpart -- and why it's the wave of the future.Continue Reading

• New VMware beta program aims to kill vSphere 2015 bugs

  The vSphere 2015 beta party is no longer invite-only. VMware pros hope the new program will reduce the amount of bugs in the next version of vSphere.Continue Reading

• Tips and tools for virtual recovery and backup

  Guard the perimeter of your VMware virtual infrastructure with this comprehensive guide.Continue Reading

• Virtualization giant extends its reach: A look at VMware acquisitions

  VMware goes beyond the virtualization arena with acquisitions to further its goal of being the one vendor that can cater to all facets of IT.Continue Reading

• How the virtualization industry giant extended its reach

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• Correcting misconfigured ESXi shared storage settings

  IT shops that started small may find they need to update their ESXi shared storage settings to prevent significant issues when a host fails.Continue Reading

• How do you choose RDM vs. VMFS formats for virtual machines?

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• Getting VMware terminology straight

  VMware terminology can be confusing: Some terms are new, some VMware acronyms mean more than one thing and some product terms are unique to VMware.Continue Reading

• Free ESXi monitoring tools

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• Free vSphere reporting tools

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• VMware Fusion vs. Workstation: Choosing an end-user virtualization tool

  VMware Fusion and Workstation are similar virtualization tools for end-user computing, and do many of the same tasks. Here's how to select a product.Continue Reading

• Top free vSphere tools of 2012: Veeam, vKernel, Xangati make the list

  It's nearly the end of 2012. Do you know what the best free VMware vSphere tools of the year are? Let's find out!Continue Reading

• Top five free tools from VMware Labs

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• VMware storage options and Storage vMotion: A guide

  VMware storage options include VMFS, thin provisioning, NFS and block-level storage. Virtualization storage features such as VMware Storage vMotion also help protect VM data.Continue Reading

• Why’s the Nexus 1000V the only third-party distributed virtual switch?

  Nearly three years after its debut, the Cisco Nexus 1000V is still the only third-party distributed virtual switch for VMware.Continue Reading

• VMware management software for the cloud: A square peg in round hole

  Originally, VMware management software was designed for virtualization. Now VMware is carrying over those principles to cloud management. But will it work or stifle cloud adoption?Continue Reading

• Why does vendor lock-in get such a bad rap?

  Most companies avoid purchasing components from a single vendor -- otherwise known as 'vendor lock-in.' But a single-vendor approach has its advantages.Continue Reading

• VMware vSphere's built-in performance monitoring tools

  VMware vSphere features several free performance monitoring tools that can help assess the health of your virtual machines and fix resource bottlenecks.Continue Reading

• Upgrading to VMware vSphere: Five pros and five cons

  Increased performance, scalability and new features top the list as to why you should upgrade to vSphere, but proven product stability, third-party product and hardware compatibility are reasons you may want to stay with VMware Infrastructure 3 for ...Continue Reading

• Virtualization benefits are worth the extra cost over physical servers alone

  Physical servers alone may cost two and a half times less, but the benefits gained by purchasing virtualization software such as VMware are more than worth it, argues the author of Virtualization Viewpoints.Continue Reading

• Storage options for virtual machines: Raw device mappings, VMFS

  Virtual Machine File System is VMware's preferred storage option for virtual machines, but raw device mapping provides similar performance and can be a better choice depending on the specific storage configuration.Continue Reading