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VCP5 BETA Exam Code VCP511
I received an e-mail from VMware today on July 13th, at 11:25AM informing me that I have been identified as a qualified candidate for the VCP5 BETA Exam. I mentioned the date and time because the...
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HP Proliant MicroServer series vSphere 5 ESXi Compatability
If you have been considering building a home lab to prepare for the VCP5 exam, HP has an inexpensive solution that will give you the hands-on experience you need. As of this writing the HP Proliant...
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VCP5 vs VCP4 Comparing Exam Blueprints
Damian Karlson has created an excellent comparison of the VCP Exam Blueprints in his post VCP5 vs VCP4: Comparing exam blueprints
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HP Proliant ML110 G6 Server series vSphere 5 ESXi Compatability
The ever versitile HP Proliant ML110 G6 Sever series has been my choice for the Home Lab enviornment. In the summer of 2010 I purchased two Intel® Xeon® X3430 (4 core, 2.40 GHz, 8 MB L3, 95W) models...
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EMC VNX Storage Processor (SP) Cache Configuration
One of the most commonly mis-configured parameters on the VNX is the Storage Processor (SP) Cache Configuration. The allocation of read and write cache memory on the VNX is typically mis-configured...
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Resizing Thin and Thick Virtual Machine Disk VMDK Files
I was recently working for a government customer who was running out of disk space in the VMFS datastores that were hosted on their EMC VNX storage array. The customer informed me that they had...
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Creating VMware Virtual Machine Templates for Microsoft Operating Systems
On a recent VMware implementation, I was tasked with creating several virtual machine templates for an enterprise customer. During the initial phase of the implementation the customer would be running...
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VMware VCP Exam Discount for VCAP, VCP5-DV, VCP-Cloud, VCP5-DT, & IaaS
Today there are several ways that you can receive a discount on your next VMware Certified Professional exam. The VMware User Group (VMUG) – is offering a FREE VCP Certification Exam Voucher (a $225...
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The Ultimate Cup of Coffee My 10-minute Break
If there is one thing I can’t do without it’s coffee. Over the past two years I have been brewing my coffee using a French Press (a.k.a. Press Pot) and I wanted to share my experience to help you brew...
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Dual Dell U2412M Monitor DisplayPort 640×480 Resolution Woes
I purchased a pair of Dell UltraSharp U2412M 24-in Widescreen Flat Panel monitors and a Ergotron DS100 Dual-monitor stand for my desk recently. I connected both monitors to my Lenovo ThinkCentre m92p...
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Performing a Clean Windows 7 Installation on the Lenovo X1 Carbon
I recently replaced my Apple MacBook Air with a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch. The model I ordered had a preinstalled SanDisk (SD5SG2256G1052E) 256GB Solid State Drive. Once formatted the usable...
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Building a VMware vCloud Director (vCD) 5.1 Nested Lab: Part 1 – Hardware
I was recently contracted by Pearson to edit a VMware Press book on vCloud. I thought it would be a great opportunity to update my lab at home, see my bLOG Article Comparing VMware Home Lab Solutions:...
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Building a VMware vCloud Director (vCD) 5.1 Nested Lab: Part 2 – Software
To build your VMware vCloud Director lab you will need the following VMware software which can be obtained from the VMware vCloud Director Product Evaluation Center. VMware vCenter Server 5.1 VMware...
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Installing a hard drive in the Apple Mac Mini (Late 2012)
I recently purchased two Apple Mac mini 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 computers for my home lab. Apple offers a 256GB Solid State Drive [Add $300] which is manufactured by Toshiba. Samsung was...
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Comparing VMware Home Lab Solutions: HP’s Microserver, Intel’s NUC, and...
In preparation for the release of a new book I wanted to setup a local lab environment that I could use to capture screenshots and Adobe Captivate videos from. I had set the following goals for my new...
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Windows 7 Excessive Shutdown Delays
After installing Windows 7 Professional SP1 on my Lenovo X1 Carbon I noticed that the shutdown time was excessively long (approximately 8 minutes). I wanted to find out specifically what was causing...
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QNAP TS-239 Pro II VMware Performance – NFS vs iSCSI
I recently purchased a QNAP TS-239 PRO II+ 2-bay NAS and wanted to establish a performance baseline for future troubleshooting. I was surprised to find that in almost every test NFS outperformed...
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Upgrading a stand-alone ESXi host to vSphere ESXi 5.1 Update 1 without Update...
I have several ESXi hosts in a home lab. Recently I began using the vCenter Virtual Appliance which does not include vCenter Update Manager (VUM). Instead of installing a Windows virtual machine...
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The LenovoEMC™ px2-300d Network Storage
jr.com recently offered the Iomega StorCenter px2-300d 2-Bay Network Storage for $199.99 + free S/H. At 60% of list, this offer was too good to pass up so I purchased one for my Home Lab. SlashGear’s...
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You do not have access rights to logical disk manager
I recently downloaded the Windows XP Service Pack 3 Deployment tools which contains the updated version of the System Preparation tool (Sysprep.exe) for Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3. I...
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