How to install VMWare Hypervisor 5.0 on HP proliant ML110 G7

On the ML110 G7 you get the purple screen of death when you try to install Vm 5.0. The ML110 G7 is not on the VM supported hardware list but itcan be easily installed. You just need to make a simple change on the BIOS to allow the install to work successfully.

Enter BIOS

HP Power Profile: Custom
HP Power Regulator: OS Control Mode
Advanced Power Management Options \ Minimum Processor Idle Power State: C6 States

Just changing the No C-States to the C6 States will allow you to install and run ESXi 5.0 on the HP ML110 G7.

Any problems let me know!!

Imagine WiMax review

I have purchased Imagine WiMax 4g wireless broadband here in ireland. Here is a review of the service and product.

I ordered the 8mb down 512kb up package including home phone porting and free local and national calls it is very competitivly priced at €45pm including VAT with installation of €99

Installation:
Installers were quick to arrive on site and gave prior notice of arrival. Unfortunately it is Imagines policy that they must drill a new hole in the wall for access to the inside of the house. This is a big downside in my opinion, i understand why they would want to have a new clean install but i already have access for satelite and analogue dishes so now i have a third hole in my wall. Having said that the installers were quick and efficient and cleaned up when they completed the install

Usage:

I do get the full 8mb down and get 290kb up and they connection is consistant

The phone works well through the VOIP system but is expensive for calls to mobiles

Imagine telephone support is quick and helpful

Ping time is worse than fixed line broadband averaging 120ms with multiple users online at once this causes issues and also cause issues for online gaming

Imagine will not give you access to their router that is installed onsite, this means you have to call imagine for any port forwarding that is needed.

Imagine say they don't throttle torrents but i have heard differing opinions

I have installed it on a customers site for business usage and imagine seem to have throttled the connection speed i assume they monitor the amount of IP connections. To resolve the problem of slow speed i am running the network through a WAN router connected to the WiMax router as this fools Wimax into believing there is a single IP connected, this has resolved the speed issue.

Overall I find the service ok but am not happy with the lack of control of the router or the throttling when multiple IP's are connected

If i come accroos any other issues i'll let you know

Best Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware software

These days you dont have to pay for good quality AV and Malware protection. Some of the best free products that i use are:

Microsoft Security Essentials (Anti-Virus)
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/products/security-essentials

Malwarebytes (Anti Malware )
www.malwarebytes.org

and diagnostics for finding what is running on your computer:

HiJackthis
http://www.trendmicro.co.uk/products/free-tools-and-services/

Adding external email addresses to an exchange Distribution Group

You need to create the external email addresses as Contacts in Active Directory. To do this, you'll need to leave the SBS wizards and use Active Directory Users and Computers.

1.) Open ADUC from Administrative Tools
2.)  Navigate to MyBusiness, right click and choose New -> Organizational Unit to create a new OU, and call it Contacts
3.)  Right Click on the new OU and select New -> Contact
4.)  Fill in the details for the contact, selecting an SMTP address - the SMTP address will be their external email address.
5.)  Now, you can add them to your distribution group(s)

Note: when you're adding them to the Distribution Group, you will need to explicitly include contact objects in the AD dialog box in the field "Select this object type".

Vmware 4.1 on a HP ML110G6

Just a quick note on this as you need to tweek the standard install (The ML110 is not on the Vmware supported hardware list). Vmware won't install on the system using the onboard SATA DVD drive, you need to use an external drive to run setup successfuly.

The reason it doesn't install is due to the way HP have setup the SATA controller. Unfortunately there is no other way around this as far as i know!

Microsoft Hyper V

While Microsoft continue to play catch up to VMware in the virtualisation market they seem to be lagging behind quite significantly in terms of the quality of their product. Judging by various well respected forums and my own experience of installation & rollout into a production enviroment there are quite a few problems of which i'll list out the 4 prevalant ones :

1. Slow Network Response.

This seems to be the number one issue with Hyper V, it can be resolve 90% of the time by disabling the tcpv4 Large offload stack on the Host NIC and the Virtual Server NIC, There does seem to be hardware issues in the remaining 10% of cases which can be resolved generally by changing the Physical NIC to one confirmed as supported by Hyper V

2. Long installation time.

Apparantly when Microsoft changed/upgraded from Virtual Server to Hyper V there was some legacy issues brought accross without resolution one of these legacy issues was the slowness of emulation of drivers during install which can lead to a very laborious install.

3. Network redundancy.

You are unable to link more than one NIC to a virtual switch

4. The Host operating system is also windows.

This doesnt sound like too much of an issue but it does turn out to be, It means that every time i have to run windows updates on the host system i have to shut down the Virtual servers. If an update fails or corrupts the Host operating system then i lose the virtual servers and lastly the host is susceptible to Virus's and security loopholes.


Most of the problems with Hyper V Microsoft say they are working on fixes for them but for my money i'm sticking with VMware purely and simply because it makes my live easier...