February 2007 - Posts

• Going Vista

  So what is the story with Vista?  You've read the hype, you've seen the reviews but I bet not many have messed around with it.  I will take challenge and not only install, but upgrade my current Windows XP virtual machine running in Parallels to Ultimate Vista. Basically I am doing this because I do not want to install Vista on a clean image and have to reinstall all the software that would require re-configuration.  What I have on my VM that I hope does not break in Vista is the following: Live Writer Visual Studio 2005 Office 2004 Visual Source Safe Not to bad huh?  I will keep posting my progress made when moving to the new OS by Microsoft. As of now, I have just upgraded to the latest Parallels version which should let me upgrade to Vista...launch the installer and TADA: One click after I get my first obstacle: Turning off VM and increasing memory...BBL Posted Feb 20 2007, 02:13 PM by Csaborio with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Vista

• Virtual Server being accessed by a 32-bit or 64-bit binary

  Yesterday, one of the attendees from the Virtualization events asked this question which I though would be worthwhile to share: For a simple .NET application like this, would we need different applications when running on 64 vs. 32 bit hosts? Before answering, please allow me to elaborate more on where the question is going.  Virtual Server has a COM API that allows it to be managed by applications and scripts.  Virtual Server R2 SP1 Beta 2 (phew) comes in two flavors: 32-bit and 64-bit.  The owner of the question wondered if you could manipulate a 64-bit instance of Virtual Server using a 32-bit application (or vice-versa). Ok, now that the question is (hopefully) a bit clearer, the answer to the question is no, you do not need to have a different version for accessing Virtual Server from an application regardless of its bit-architecture.  Why?  Virtual Server's COM API is accessed by an out-of-process COM library, which means that everything is done by means of RPC.  When two applications are communicating with each other by means of RPC, the 1st commandment of 64-bit is not broken (thou shall not run 32-bit and 64-bit code within the same process space).  Posted Feb 08 2007, 12:07 PM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: 64-bit Related, Virtualization

• Windows Server Virtualization Calculator

  Riddle me this: How many licenses of Windows Server Enterprise Edition would you need if you are planning on running 20 Virtual machines inside a server that has 2 processors?  Very, easy, you would need only 5 licenses.  Too tough?  How about this one...what would be the price difference if you were running 50 machines running Windows Server 2003 on a virtualization server with 2 processors if you chose to run the host machine with Windows Server Enterprise Edition vs. Windows Server Datacenter Edition?  Very easy...running Datacenter edition would be $25,580 cheaper. It definitely is tempting to say that I can pull this info right off the top of my head, but that would be a big big lie. The secret lies in the sweet web application Microsoft has published.  It is called the Windows Server Virtualization Calculator, and without a doubt, it will clear a lot of doubts and will show you the best way to go (in terms of licensing) when consolidating your data center, enjoy! Posted Feb 08 2007, 11:57 AM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Virtualization

• Exit Row Cheat

  Have you ever seen the Exit rows in an airplane?  They longer leg space than coach, and after business or first, they are the best seats in the place.  The bad news is that these seats are not reserved for anyone, or at least not in American Airlines.  These seats are reserved for those travelers who have some kind of status such as Platinum or Gold.  This means that if you do not have a status, you cannot choose them on-line (the seats will show up as unavailable), but fear not - I have found a workaround in some cases. Say that you have no status at all in American Airlines, but you are traveling with a colleague or friend that does have this status.  Before purchasing the ticket, you must tell your travel agent to place both tickets within the same record locator.  The person with the high status will be able to select these exit rows for you and you will be able to fly a lot comfortable without having to have a high status. Be warned that if 2 or more people are on the same American itinerary, and one of them selects an Upgrade to business, everyone in the itinerary will have a request to first.  If they do not have enough upgrade stickers, the consequences can be quite bad - such as losing the exit row that was pre-selected and having to fly (if lucky) on the worst seat in the plane :S Posted Feb 08 2007, 11:35 AM by Csaborio with no comments Filed under: Travel Advice