Wow, standing room only today. Every seat taken.
Lewan VMware Performance Event
Reply
Safari Based Malware (even on a Mac)
Saw this today where an end-user clicked on a safe looking site for a background picture and got infected with “browser malware”, which completely hi-jacks the browser where you cannot do anything until “accepting” their “survey”. They were using Safari v4 on a Mac.
The message stated to go take a survey from “customersurveypanels.com” and locked the browser.
I found this very helpful discussion on the Apple forums, which had the resolution:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3247346?start=0&tstart=0
Steps to Solve:
1) Force Quit Safari
2) Disconnect from network / disable WiFi
3) Start Safari
4) “Accept” prompt that comes up (ok since you are not connected to internet)
5) Page will time-out, browser should be usable again
6) Click on Safari in the upper toolbar and Select Reset Safari.
7) Click at least (I’d recommend all checkmarks) Empty Cache and Remove All Cookies. 
Click the Reset button.
9) Quit and re-launch the browser.
The above worked and resolved the issue in my situation. Hope it helps!
Maybe it’s a good time to go download FireFox and start using that browser 
VNXe Dedup and Compression…
Cisco’s Latest UC 8.6 Solution opens up infrastructure options
Processor Requirements
Servers must have Intel Xeon 5600 or 7500 series of processors. No other processor vendors or models are supported.
Total physical core count required is based on the sum of UC virtual machine core requirements and the co-residency support policy).
Minimum physical core speed required is based on what UC virtual machines will be used, and at what intended load per VM. Processors of Tested Reference Configurations are sized for full-load virtual machines. It is recommended to use processors with same or higher speeds, as Cisco UC does not test or document lower performance points.
Recall that physical CPU cores may not be over-subscribed for UC VMs at this time (one physical CPU core = one vCPU core).
Cisco TAC will not troubleshoot performance problems in deployments with insufficient physical cores.
Servers
The only supported server vendors are:
Cisco Unified Computing System
HP
IBM
Cisco UCS Express, Dell and all other server vendors are not supported at this time.
All servers used must be on the VMware Hardware Compatibility List for the version of ESXi you will be running, and must meet all other policy requirements such as required CPU.
Otherwise, any server model/generation from the above vendors that satisfies all other criteria of this policy is supported for UC.
RAM
Minimum physical RAM required is 2GB for ESXi plus the sum of UC virtual machines’ vRAM.
Recall that physical memory may not be over-subscribed for UC VMs.
Aside from total physical RAM, UC does not mandate memory module size, density, speed or quantity – follow server vendor requirements for memory hardware configuration.
Cisco TAC will not troubleshoot performance problems in deployments with insufficient physical RAM.
IO Devices
All I/O controllers and adapters used must be on the VMware Hardware Compatibility List for the version of ESXi you will be running.
Only the following I/O Devices are supported:
HBA
FC – 2Gbps or faster
InfiniBand
NIC
Ethernet – 1Gbps or faster
NFS and iSCSI are supported, but require minimum 10Gbps and dedicated NIC for network storage access
Converged Network Adapter or Cisco VIC
FCoE + Ethernet – 10Gbps or faster
RAID Controllers for DAS
SAS
SAS SATA Combo
SAS-RAID
SAS/SATA-RAID
SATA
Note that diskless servers for “boot from SAN” (FC, iSCSI, or FCoE) are only supported for UC if the UC app supports both ESXi 4.1 and the “boot from SAN” feature on the VMware Requirements page.
The customer is responsible for configuring an adequate number of I/O devices to handle the aggregate load that the virtual machines running on the server will generate.
Storage access I/O requirements for UC VMs are described in the IO Operations Per Second (IOPS) page..
LAN access I/O requirements for UC VMs are described in the UC application design guides. See also network link sizing and QoS considerations here.
The customer is also responsible for configuring redundant interfaces on the server to handle component failures (e.g. redundant NIC, CNA, HBA or VIC adapters.)
There are no UC restrictions on hardware vendors for I/O Devices other than that VMware and the server vendor/model must both support them.
Cisco TAC will not troubleshoot performance problems in a deployment designed with insufficient I/O devices or overloaded I/O devices. For example, a single 100Mbps NIC servicing eight “CUCM 7500 user OVAs” would be both insufficent and overloaded.
Storage
Each OVA provided by Cisco for running a UC application has a published IOPS and disk space requirement. It is the responsibility of the customer to provide a storage system that exceeds the disk space (see Unified Communications Virtualization Downloads (including OVA/OVF Templates) and average IOPS requirements (see IO Operations Per Second (IOPS)) of the UC virtual machines they will be running on that storage system.
If you are using NFS, iSCSI, or FCoE for storage connectivity, the networking configuration must provide Cisco Platinum Class QOS (Fiber Channel Equivalent): http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/solutions/Enterprise/Data_Center/Virtualization/securecldg.html.
See also Shared Storage Considerations here.
It is not necessary to configure the storage to handle the simultaneous maximum IOPS load of every virtual machine on the storage system, but the customer must be aware of the excess capacity of the storage system and not, for example, run multiple software upgrades on the virtual machines such that the storage system is over extended.
The kernel disk command latency must not be greater than 2-3 ms and the physical device command latency must not be greater than 15-20 ms. When either of these metrics is not met, Cisco considers the storage system inadequate to serve the UC virtual machines. Cisco will not troubleshoot performance problems in an environment where either metric is not being met.
As a guideline, Cisco has found the use of 15K rpm SAS or FC drives in a RAID 5 configuration to work well. The number of drives used in the array is 5. The recommended size of the hard drives is 300 to 450GB. Recommended LUN size is 500GB to 1.5TB, so that not more than 10 virtual machines reside on a LUN – preferably 8 or less.
This is only a guideline, it is left to the customer to configure their storage for adequate performance and for the redundancy level desired.
NetBackup 7.1 NDMP Gotcha
A new feature introduced in NetBackup 7.1 can cause NDMP backup failures. The Append-Only Mode described in this Symantec Tech Note causes the drive to prevent the overwrite of data on a cartridge unless the writing application performs a pre-authorization for the overwrite. This feature is supported on IBM LTO-5 drives with LTO-4 or LTO-5 media. The feature is enabled by default and does not normally cause any issues if all systems accessing the tape device are NetBackup 7.1 Media Servers.
In an NDMP environment, however, the storage device (filer, data mover) writes directly to the tape drives and may not be aware of the pre-authorization requirement. If these drives are shared between the NDMP device and the Netbackup Media Server, write errors occur, represented by a write protect message issued by the NDMP device. This has been observed with an EMC VNX array and EMC support was previously unaware of the Append-Mode feature.
The solution to the problem is to disable Append-Only mode by touching the <InstallPath>NetbackupdbconfigDISABLE_APPEND_MODE on the Netbackup Master Server and restarting the NetBackup Services.
Slidedeck from BriForum
It was only a 15 minute lightning session so there’s not much depth one can get in to in that time. There are other ways to delivery a Windows 7 look and feel on Windows 2008 R2, but this is quite applicable for most of the folks attending BriForum.
http://www.slideshare.net/danielbrinkmann/briforum
Microsoft Word 2010 – Make Only 1 Page in Landscape Layout While Keeping Rest in Portrait Layout
I don’t know why this was “new” for me, but it did take a google search to figure it out. Here’s a great link that explains how to make only 1 page within Microsoft Word 2010 in a landscape layout, while keeping the rest in the portrait layout.
http://superuser.com/questions/241799/how-can-i-make-just-one-page-of-a-word-document-horizontal
Copied below for reference:
Go to the last page you want to keep vertical (Portrait) then select Page Layout | Breaks | Next Page.
Now click anywhere in the page where you want to have the horizontal page (Landscape) and go toPage Layout | Orientation and select Landscape
Do the same steps for the following page, the one after the landscaped one, but this time choosePortrait. Only do this if you want to restore the Portrait orientation back to normal.
Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 Now Available
Office 2010 Service Pack 1 (SP1) has been released for download. Here’s a great blog post on Technet that has all of the download links on a single page, for your reference:
User Environment Management
Be sure to check out this User Environment Smackdown created by Ruben Spruijt. If you’re new to this space User Environment encompasses quite a few things and is an emerging market/solution not just when talking about desktop virtualization but also when it comes to managing physical PC’s and tradition OS and application delivery.
At Lewan we work extensively with AppSense and we’d be happy to chat with you about your environment and the solutions that AppSense brings to the table. Whether you’re managing physical desktops, virtual desktops, using Citrix, VMware View, etc….AppSense has a great management solution that you should definitely check out!
Lewan Managed Services Press Release
(Denver, CO – June 20, 2011) Lewan & Associates, a Xerox company, announces the rebranding of our IT Managed Services portfolio as Cloud 9 Care, a name that reinforces our commitment to managing your technology so you can manage your business and free yourself from the headaches of IT and Print Management.
Our Cloud 9 Care IT Managed Services provide comprehensive support for your technology environment and business users. By monitoring and supporting your network, print and IT infrastructure, Lewan can help your business reduce costs and mitigate risk. We provide levels of support ranging from on-call/as-needed for specific components of your infrastructure to full management of your IT environment.
We proactively monitor and identify issues before they become problems. We also provide support for maintenance, remediation, moves/adds/changes and quarterly strategic planning sessions. Our Cloud 9 Care service offerings include:
- Intensive Care—Full service management of one or many IT functions.
- Data Protection—Cloud-based backup and recovery service.
- Messaging and Collaboration—Cloud-based email, document management and collaboration services.
Complementing our Cloud 9 Care portfolio is the reliability of the same local service and support Lewan has been providing the Rocky Mountain region for almost 40 years. Scott Pelletier, VP of Lewan’s Enterprise Technology Division, explains, “In addition to Lewan’s broad scope of technology support, we provide local customer touch. Try getting that from a national provider with no local support. Our on-premise services are as important as our remote support.” Lewan’s Cloud 9 Care IT Managed Services give you a single point of contact with one account team, one management team and one support team.