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8 months ago
Answered a question: What are the top VMware virtual machine backup mistakes you've encountered or heard of, and what strategies do you recommend to avoid them?
Ensure when doing backups that the VMs don't have several snapshots already on them as it can hinder the snapshot process from a backup application and also when removing the snapshot with long stun times. Even using Veeam this can happen as I have seen it first hand…
Over 1 year ago
Replied to Evgeny Belenky Community Spotlight #19
@Evgeny Belenky my pleasure always great to give back to the community.
Over 1 year ago
Answered a question: What were your main pain points during the Backup and Recovery solution purchase process?
@Martin Mash sums things up quite nicely.
It all comes down to what you are trying to achieve for your SLA and RTO/RPO when determining the best solution for your company.
The vendor is all subjective as they offer different options within their applications, and most do…
About 2 years ago
Answered a question: What is your primary use case for Zerto?
We offer Zerto as a DRaaS service to our customers. We have it installed at almost all of our data centers within Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia.
Over 2 years ago
Answered a question: Which virtualization platform would you recommend to a healthcare company with 1000-5000 employees?
As most have mentioned already, this will depend on various things like workloads, requirements, budget, etc.
Of the list mentioned above, VMware will be the most recommended due to how advanced they are compared to the other vendors in the virtualization world…
Almost 3 years ago
Answered a question: Can Continuous Data Protection (CDP) replace traditional backup?
CDP should not replace traditional backup but complement it. You can have your typical backups and then use CDP for mission-critical workloads to ensure the lowest RPO/RTO for them. As noted also CDP does not help with Ransomware protection whereas traditional backups…
About 3 years ago
Answered a question: What is the best next generation backup tool?
If you are looking for a solution for a hybrid environment that covers the solutions mentioned then Veeam is the way to go. They cover both Hyper-V and VMware as well as all the cloud platforms with their appliances
Yes there are other solutions and as mentioned ensure you…
Almost 4 years ago
Answered a question: Should I get a third-party backup solution for Office 365?
As others have stated about the shared model, you need a backup solution. I would recommend Veeam Backup for O365 as it is one of the best products out there. I work at an MSP, and I am the Veeam Architect, so I have set this up many times. Our clients love the solution…
Over 4 years ago
Commented on IT Central Station "Experts" - Introductions!
Hi, my name is Chris and I have been in the IT field for over 25 years. I currently work as a Senior Engineer - Backup & Replication for an MSP named ThinkOn
I have been on IT Central station for over 5 years and was one of the first in the Elite Squad back in the day…
Over 4 years ago
Commented on Has kept our business running with very little downtime and our clusters balanced with DRS/HA
Great review on vSphere.
Almost 5 years ago
Commented on A reliable product that has been 100 percent up
Great review. Nimble is definitely a solid product and great to use. Easy also.
Almost 6 years ago
Answered a question: What's the best way to trial all-flash solutions?
The best way is to determine the following -
1. What will the AFA be used for - workload type, application, etc.
2. What is the workload required as noted previously as evaluating a rocket ship over a car is a big difference in pricing, IOPS, etc.
3. Test multiple vendors -…
Almost 6 years ago
Commented on Monthly reporting is more detailed now and we can see where improvements can be made within the environment
Nice review. We too use Turbonomic in our environment for automation machine moves mainly. I also use it extensively for the Planning module when projects come up requiring more VM additions to the environment. It let's me see a report in minutes versus days with the old…
Almost 6 years ago
Answered a question: Is Cohesity Better Than Rubrik?
I have never used either of these solutions but have heard both positive and negatives on each. The choice is subjective as one will do something the other doesn't and vice versa which will sway a decision. I would need to get hands on with both to offer a valid choice but…
Almost 6 years ago
You do get what you pay for and Nimble is worth it just for InfoSight alone as it is invaluable. We have 9 arrays and I use it daily to see space usage, trends, etc. The reports you can generate are also great for Management to show them trending stats.
Almost 6 years ago
Nice review and great suggestions. I would like sorting in the job settings as well but when adding a server you can see what VMs are already there unless you are referring to the main Job screen? They have come a long way and architecting the solution is the key…
About 6 years ago
Commented on IT Central Station Elite Squad
Hi Russell,
I commented on that post over on Spiceworks about IT Central Station. Hopefully that helps drive some people over here.
Chris
Over 6 years ago
You should be able to backup up the 1000+ VMs with Version 9 definitely and with Update 3 coming that will improve things including Agent Management. If architected correctly I can see Veeam being able to back up 1000+ VMs. Just depends on placement of servers, proxies…
Over 6 years ago
Commented on Patch release and support are efficient and it doesn't take ages for most issues to be resolved.
Veeam has improved much since your review with storage integration, Veeam Agent for physical backups, etc. Great product as we use the Nimble Integration and the Agents for our Exchange environment.
Over 6 years ago
Contributed a review of VMware vSphere: Has kept our business running with very little downtime and our clusters balanced with DRS/HA
Over 6 years ago
Commented on HPE ProLiant DL Servers vs IBM Power Systems
Very interesting comparison from each vendor as well as review scores.
Over 6 years ago
Nice review. Veeam is a great product for sure.
Over 6 years ago
Nice review. We are a Nimble shop with 9 of them and use the NCM for VMware as well as Veeam Ent+ for integration of backups. Great product.
Over 6 years ago
Contributed a review of HPE Nimble Storage: It has allowed us to upgrade our DMS to the latest version
Over 6 years ago
Commented on Beautiful interface with full visibility into and management of my complete virtual infrastructure
Nice review. Good to hear about Nutanix from users.
Over 6 years ago
Commented on All-Flash Solutions - Real Users Weigh In
Great article to help users decide on flash arrays.
Over 6 years ago
Commented on The SQL table-level restore helps the customer to restore a single table instead of the entire database.
From what I have done scheduling is good in the new version at the Windows Agent. Also SQL and Exchange restores leverage the Veeam Explorers so you can restore a database or table even single emails.
Over 6 years ago
Nice review. Veeam is a great product and when upgrading to the ENT+ license allows more features. We use Nimble integration mainly. I will have to check the WAN acceleration to see how this can help us too.
Over 6 years ago
It is always interesting what you need to look at when purchasing. Another good suggestion when looking is that if there are specific workload requirements for an application be sure to also look at that. As well look at the big picture like switches, cables, etc.
Over 6 years ago
Nice review. It will be interesting to see where things go with Hyper-V for sure.
Over 6 years ago
Commented on The valuable features include encryption of data, hybrid performance, and firmware updates
Nice review. Although they release software frequently they do so to fix bugs typically. Upgrading is a breeze through.
Almost 7 years ago
Nice review. Veeam is a great product for backup.
Almost 7 years ago
Not sure if you are on vSphere 6.5 but the improvements to snapshot removal with Veeam and Direct SAN integration is greatly improved. We always had a VM that threw alerts during backup and those disappeared when moving to 6.5. We now use Nimble Integration which is even…
Almost 7 years ago
The plan piece is very good as we use it when implementing new projects requiring new servers. Was a main selling point to.
Almost 7 years ago
Nice review. The HTML 5 interface is quite nice once you are used to it. The solution is worked very well for us.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on Now we can bring up brand new servers with a couple of mouse clicks when it used to take a couple of days.
Nice review. Features are a plenty in VMware.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on I let the product move machines to new hosts and change datastores as needed for best overall performance.
Nice review. We use Turbonomic as well and have vMotions automated. We cannot automate storage due to SLAs and performance metrics. Also there are many 1:1 VM to datastore ratios which I am slowly changing.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on Creates backups from storage snapshots. The heavy client is still needed to perform advanced tasks.
Yeah I was at VeeamON 2017 this year so that is what my comment was about. Saw the cool new stuff coming which should be great.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on The SQL table-level restore helps the customer to restore a single table instead of the entire database.
Veeam agent for Windows 2.0 expands to physical now and we have moved from Symantec to all things Veeam.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on Creates backups from storage snapshots. The heavy client is still needed to perform advanced tasks.
Veeam is still one of the best. Be interesting to see how Version 10 improves the web interface to add some of those advanced tasks.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on It has improved the responsiveness of our servers and adds snapshots to help with our DR.
Great review. I hope the one to many comes soon also as it would help us. I believe that Version 4 of the OS is when it is targeted for but not sure. Will be interesting to see where they go now being HPE.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on Gives us hybrid storage at an affordable cost.
Nice review. Nimble has improved with All Flash arrays and we just implemented an AF5000. Great device and fast. Dedupe is also excellent.
Almost 7 years ago
Very interesting comparison. Nutanix seems to be one of the better choices.
Almost 7 years ago
Nice to see Veeam at the top. Still one of the best out there.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on The ability to offload backup snapshots to the SAN helps with reducing the backup durations.
Nice review. Definitely love the snapshot integration for backup as we are a Nimble shop and it speeds backups up compared to previous.
Almost 7 years ago
Commented on Ability to verify backups of critical servers means I can sleep at night. Backup of physical servers could be better.
Just an update on the Veeam agent. With Update 2 for 9.5 and the GA of Agent 2.0 the backups of Exchange are awesome. Love using the Veeam Explorer for Exchange instead of the Symantec interface for restores. Works really well and seeing the agent in the console is great…
Almost 7 years ago
Nice review. An appliance would be awesome but not sure if that is a direction they will go. Version 10 which was announced at VeeamON listed NAS backups as a new feature as I was there.
Almost 7 years ago
Nice review. We use Veeam as well and upgraded to the Enterprise Plus license to get Nimble integration. Has helped tremendously with backup times nearly half what they were.
About 7 years ago
Nice review. You cannot beat the InfoSight portal and proactive support with the arrays. Some days I have a drive show up and haven't really noticed anything. :)
About 7 years ago
Great review. We are Nimble customers as well and using InfoSight is invaluable. Also the upgrades to the OS with no downtime saves me allot of time now with management.
About 7 years ago
Answered a question: When evaluating Enterprise Flash Array Storage, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
Further to all the great suggestions above another thing to look at is - what sets the vendor apart from all other vendors? What makes them unique or different versus being similar to all others. An example of this would be an analytic website or a unique dashboard.
About 7 years ago
Great review. Nice to see Rubrik picking up as we are hoping to implement later this year.
About 7 years ago
Commented on You can set up policies by resource pools, clusters, and folders. The array can support high workloads.
Great review. We are pursuing Rubrik hopefully later this year to implement it possibly for a new retention policy. Love how it works and have seen it many times.
About 7 years ago
Answered a question: When evaluating Virtualization Management Tools, what aspect do you think is the most important to look for?
Software Criteria
When choosing a management tool there are many things to consider based on your virtual environment. What hypervisor are you running, what storage is being used, etc.? The best way to choose the right tool for the job is through evaluation and the more…
About 7 years ago
Commented on You can deploy the OVA/QCOW2 file to multiple hypervisor platforms or use a RHEL distribution.
Great review. Been a user for over two years and recommend the product highly as it is valuable especially the planning module. The automation is great too.
About 7 years ago
Great review. We are looking at them as well to start our Dev/Test environment first then move to Production.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Creating custom dashboards is easy and gives quick visibility into a specific groups of systems or metrics.
Here is an older VMware 5.5 but still applies usually to newer versions -…
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Creating custom dashboards is easy and gives quick visibility into a specific groups of systems or metrics.
Great review. Turbonomic is just that easy to deploy and use with useful information available in about 30 minutes or less.
Over 7 years ago
Great review. I am looking forward to upgrading to 3.x for the OS and getting some of the newer features like AD Integration.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on vSphere 6.2 is better then v 5, so better upgrade
Not sure what features I would like to see but cannot wait to evaluate the 6.5 features soon.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. v9.5 has come even further than v8 from your review with multiple enhancements and updates including Nimble Storage integration. Also Update 1 has vSphere 6.5 support which is very welcomed.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Veeam launches like a rocket and delves into the feature list of VMware. It's been an overall improvement.
Excellent review. Veeam is top notch for backup and recovery that is for sure. 9.5 Update 1 is also very nice for vSphere 6.5 compatibility.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. Being able to allow Turbonomic to conduct VM moves for us has been great to keep the cluster balanced. Help updates would be good I agree and we will see what happens when they come out with the HTML5 client next year.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. We are a Nimble shop as well with 8 arrays. The management aspect of these is really great and almost a set it and forget it scenario. They are great with Support calls and InfoSight is the most valuable tool there is out there with improvements all the time…
Over 7 years ago
Commented on IT Central Station Elite Squad
Question - when Elite Squad members post comments is there a way to have them auto approved? I have noticed lately when on the main page making comments it states that it will be visible once approved. Just figured this group would have auto approvals. :)
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Balances my VMware clusters across all my hosts.
Nice review. We use Turbonomic as well and have been the past 2 years. Great product including the Support. Works great to keep my Clusters balanced and reporting is excellent. Also the Planning module saves me 5 days of work and let's me complete it in 15 minutes! The…
Over 7 years ago
I know for us it predicted that we could shut off a host in most cases for new servers we add. We have started to get up there and I don't think it predicts that any more but it is a great tool in this regard.
Over 7 years ago
Great review. Haven't worked with this software in years and it is good they are improving it. Not sure about Quest taking it over as I believe they took over vRanger which to me tanked. Here is hoping AppAssure doesn't.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Features include: Global (Google Like) Search, Instant Mount, Replication and Cloud Archive.
I think those that still have physical servers would appreciate the support by the devices which is coming. Take for example our environment we have on-premise Exchange still and that environment is physical server no virtualization. So currently we use Symantec BUE but…
Over 7 years ago
Excellent review. All the features make it worth the investment especially the VDS switches. It will be interesting to see how Nutanix AHV takes off though.
Over 7 years ago
Agree that it is worth what you spend. We have used it about 2 years and seen a return on investment and that being not requiring any new hardware just yet.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on It has automated move and workload placement.
Nice review. We have been a customer for about 2 years and I find the tool has vastly improved since I started using it. There are improvements coming especially the move to HTML 5 for the interface which I can't wait for.
Over 7 years ago
Completely agree with the planning tools ability to help you. We used spreadsheets and it took a week to get stuff right and with this tool it takes me 15-20 minutes. Now that is how it should be done.
Over 7 years ago
It truly is that easy to deploy for sure and has stats within 10-20 minutes.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Features include: Global (Google Like) Search, Instant Mount, Replication and Cloud Archive.
Great review. We are evaluating moving to Rubrik as well for our Backup & DR strategy including Cloud Integration. Can't wait to get my hands on it. :)
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. Interesting to see the comparison to Turbonomic and differences. We went with Turbonomic as I found vROps too cumbersome but sounds like they have worked out things in new versions.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. They are updating the UI and working on an HTML5 interface. If you have one of the more updated versions of Turbonomic you can check out the new interface using the link in the bottom left corner. Yes the current interface is clunky but works. I am looking…
Over 7 years ago
Commented on We have automated our virtualization management and are providing performance to our Apps when they needs it.
It is a great product for sure. I use it for vMotion automation but everything else is just recommend due to our stringent change rules to Production servers which require a Change Request to be filed and approved.
Over 7 years ago
Interesting article. AHV appears to be picking up steam with Nutanix and for some businesses eliminating costly licensing may be the option to go with. We are looking at Nutanix now to see how it fits in our future plans and infrastructure.
Over 7 years ago
Excellent reading material and helps with evaluation process.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on It delivers full visibility down to a single virtual disk and every hardware component.
Nice review. We are in the processing of evaluating Nutanix for our organization. Looks like a really great product and has the ability to save us on many costs.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on It offers per-VM queuing, QoS, and most importantly was designed specifically for virtualization.
Well our backups are a mess and we need something that will take care of everything. We use Symantec and Veeam together at the moment. I love Veeam but hate Symantec which does our Exchange environment. Also we use a Data Domain for our storage which does not restore the…
Over 7 years ago
Commented on It offers per-VM queuing, QoS, and most importantly was designed specifically for virtualization.
I myself haven't used Tintri. We use Nimble Storage at our company as primary devices. We have a Data Domain but that is for backup. Looking really hard at Rubrik right now as a new solution.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on It offers per-VM queuing, QoS, and most importantly was designed specifically for virtualization.
Very nice review as it gives a good perspective on another vendor to look at.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. Interesting to read about other flash arrays people use.
Over 7 years ago
Very nice review. I found this product like you said a little cumbersome to set up and it takes allot of time to configure right. I also found that you need to drill down a little too much to find answers. Hopefully the product has improv d since I evaluated it but in the…
Over 7 years ago
Commented on The 3-2-1 backup rule is good -- it has three copies of data, two different medias, with one off-site copy.
Physical server backup is coming in 9.5 and works very well. Beta testing right now with this and Nimble integration. Also Veeam does back up individual files like databases and OS. Not sure why you would not see this.
Over 7 years ago
Commented on With this product we were able to restore the Hyper-V Infrastructure to our 2nd Data Center and 20 Hospitals.
I like that idea of backing up from Azure since you can restore to it why not back it up. Hopefully this is a suggestion they look to implement. Also wish too logging was easier to read and determine causes of failures but then we would put support out of jobs. :)
Over 7 years ago
Commented on Features I like include Integrated WAN Acceleration, Instant VM Recovery and SureBackup.
Like your review. I can't wait for 9.5 with the physical server agent and Nimble Snapshot integration. Going to get even better.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. Looking to eliminate tape for our organization so will look in to this.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. We use Turbonomic and have been since November 2015. Great product and helps me with keeping the environment sound. Also love the planning tool as I can now tell the Enterprise Architecture team if we can support the configuration of servers they are thinking…
Over 7 years ago
Commented on The premium version blocks websites which has greatly reduced viruses with less educated users.
Nice review. Good to see AV products as we use SEP but are going to switch next year and will keep this in mind.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. Good comparison to Nagios as we use that now and are looking to switch but may go to Solarwinds.
Over 7 years ago
Great review. Been a while since I used Labtech from my Consultant days but it was a great tool. As stated a bit hard at first but when you get the hang of it very powerful.
Over 7 years ago
Nice review. The product sounds very interesting but until they have the integration to restore to AD or Exchange it would be something to keep in the back of mind.
Almost 8 years ago
Answered a question: Which Helpdesk software is best for replacing BMC Service Desk Express?
Have never used BMC before but you may want to look in to TrackIt as this is what we use. Not a huge product but pretty easy to set up and use.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on The best VM hypervisor
As stated by others always update firmware and patch VMware prior to going in to Production. It will save on issues like you had.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on Putting some VMware ESX storage tips together
Another great tip - if you use Nimble Storage install the Nimble Connection Manager software on your hosts for the pathing management. It works very well with these devices for connectivity.
Almost 8 years ago
Also depending on protocol you will use can determine storage requirements also - like FC, iSCSI, FCoE, etc. Also using 10GB helps tremendously which we have in our environment for iSCSI and VMs.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on Good product and good technical support
Nice review. If you have speed issues depending on your environment look to deploying a Proxy server or two as they help to speed backups. We have a physical backup server but I have 5 proxy servers deployed one per host to assist with SAN based backups.
Almost 8 years ago
Nice review and this is one of the best virtual backups out there. Looking forward to 9.5 and Nimble integration with snapshots.
Almost 8 years ago
I have to agree the Support could be much better but if you have an SE on your account they are a good resource too. Product is good but don't recommend it for a primary backup device but rather a secondary one.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on Only Monitoring Tool You will Need
Wow very nice write up and detail. We are debating to switch off Nagios over to Solarwinds at the moment but I might have Management check this review.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on Putting some VMware ESX storage tips together
This is a great thing for the community for resources. Also helps with exam preparation too! :)
Almost 8 years ago
I agree about the physical servers and if they can come up with something that would sell many people even more on their solution. Using Endpoint Backup to me is a workaround as it is not fully supported like the product with "Best Case" support via email only but the…
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on Reliability of backup process are valuable as this is used as a failover migration tool.
It would be nice if Veeam went in to the physical backup realm but they are mainly virtual so it is hard to say whether it will be in the future. I like Endpoint Backup but being a free product with "Best Support" does not reassure my organization to use it on Tier1 systems…
Almost 8 years ago
Looking forward to the Nimble integration myself to be able to do what you do with NetApp for snapshot restores, etc. Should improve backups and overall efficiency.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on Includes useful features for a virtualized environment such as those based on VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V.
Veeam is always improving the tape support but whether they go the Physical server route that is to still be seen. They do have the Endpoint backup software which does work very well as I use that on my physical backup servers for Veeam.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on By using an adequate number of backup proxies, more jobs can be executed simultaneously.
Great review. I liked hearing about your Exchange backups and restores as we are in the process of virtualizing our Exchange to get away from Symantec. Also using Proxies is great and helps with backup times. I am especially looking forward to 9.5 with the Nimble…
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on I like the ability to drag a VM to an additional monitor and utilize VMs on separate windows.
Good to hear that performance has increased but don't forget that this is a Type 2 hypervisor and will never see the same performance as a Type 1 hypervisor like ESXi. Workstation is great though for travel and demos.
Almost 8 years ago
Nice review. It will definitely be nice if they incorporate the Endpoint Backup in the full product but who knows. I heard a rumour that physical server support is coming possibly this year but we will have to wait and see. The best part is that Nimble Storage support is…
Almost 8 years ago
Nice review. I have been having challenges with Samantha lately and hope to move completely to Veeam in the near future.
Almost 8 years ago
Commented on I'm able to optimize my clients' recovery procedures in less time with the Instant VM Recovery feature.
Great review. Have you tried the Endpoint Backup software for your physical boxes? It works very well since they will never go this route with the main software as they focus on virtual.
Almost 8 years ago
Nice review and I have to agree that Nimble is a great product. We use 8 of their arrays and typically don't have any performance issues at all. Mind you most are older models which we are looking to replace potentially with some all flash.
Almost 8 years ago
Nice review. I think complexity depends on many factors like what hypervisor you are coming from, current server configurations, etc. VMWARE once set up though is solid and version 6 has come a long way.
Almost 8 years ago
Nice review as we have Nagios and it good to see other comparisons. We are possibly moving to Solarwinds to replace it though.
About 8 years ago
Nice review. I really like that suggestion about Parallel Processing option within a job as you mentioned. It makes sense to have this for jobs that contain multiple servers for an Application. Hopefully Veeam implements this in a future version.
About 8 years ago
Answered a question: VMware ESXi or VMware Workstation?
If you are looking at just the "Performance" aspect of it then you will want to go with ESXi since it is a Type 1 hypervisor and is built for the performance aspect, whereas Workstation as mentioned sits on top of Windows/Linux and is not optimized the same way
I have done…
About 8 years ago
Answered a question: VMware vs. Hyper-V - Which do you prefer?
As most have said there are a variety of different things you need to consider when choosing a hypervisor. Both VMware and Hyper-V have their strengths and weaknesses as well they have matured significantly over the past 3-5 years. Hyper-V is catching up to VMware in many…
About 8 years ago
Commented on We like the ease of configuration for monitoring of new hosts/services, worker redundancy and load balancing.
Nice review. We use Nagios and Solarwinds now but I am going to Trial this to see how it is and hopefully replace at least Nagios which I hate.
About 8 years ago
VMware is working on an HTML5 Web Client and currently has it as a Fling to try - https://labs.vmware.com/flings/vsphere-html5-web-client
It is by far complete but from what I have seen using it the speed is much greater than the Web Client in Version 6 and this was an…
About 8 years ago
Commented on It’s interesting to note that the NimlbeOS remains exactly the same for both hybrid and AFA systems.
Great review. We are Nimble customers and I may now start looking in to the AFAs for future projects.
About 8 years ago
You may want to look at the newer versions 5.5 and 6.0 to see if that contains the features you are looking for. 4.1 is fairly old and has been enhanced in later versions with V6 Update 2 being the latest.
About 8 years ago
Excellent review. Would be very interesting to see a debug tool like that. Version 6 is much improved over previous versions and I hear in Update 2 just released there is an HTML 5 client from the fling some time back.
About 8 years ago
Commented on It's agile and provides us with the ability to make changes within the environment seamlessly.
Great review. The user interface has much improved over the years and with Version 6 I think it is pretty much where it needs to be. Yes there are refinements needed but overall it is darn good.
About 8 years ago
Nice review. Always good to see the Workstation side for VMware.
About 8 years ago
Commented on It provides flexibility and manageability by abstracting the physical dependencies from the physical hardware.
Great review. If you haven't tried the Version 6 Web Client I suggest you consider it. It is much improved over the previous versions and on par with the fat client. Also with Update 1 they put all of the Update Manager tools in so really the fat client is no longer needed.
About 8 years ago
Answered a question: Cisco UCS or HP hardware for VMware SRM?
@Paul - I have to disagree with needing a consulting company to set up SRM. I have deployed SRM in our environment with Nimble Storage and it works perfectly. I completed the entire setup and configuration myself so if you know VMware and your Storage well you can complete…
About 8 years ago
Commented on IT Central Station Elite Squad
My next review will be vSphere and Veeam 9.
About 8 years ago
Commented on IT Central Station Elite Squad
Hello
My name is Chris and I have been working in IT for over 20 years. I am a Technical Specialist in Storage, Virtualization & Backup at my current employer.
1. I use VMware, VMTurbo, Veeam, Nimble Storage, Windows 2008/2012, Exchange 2010, Windows 10 and a variety of…
About 8 years ago
Commented on The High Availability, and flexibility are what we've found to be important for us It's made us a lot more agile.
Ops Manager is a good product but also requires Orchestrator for automation. Be sure to check out other vendors for this type of thing if you are looking for this. Very well written review of vSphere.
About 8 years ago
Just so you are aware in Version 6 it supports 4 vCPU for FT now which we use to protect our VC servers. Also there is a fling out right now that can convert Windows to Appliance and I have heard this option is possibly coming in 6.5.
About 8 years ago
Really great review nice to see other perspectives from users and consultants.
About 8 years ago
You can switch but you need to conduct a stepped upgrade of the hosts from 3 to 4, 4 to 5 and then 5 to 6. You cannot go directly to Version 6 from 3.0 as it is not supported. See this link for further details -…
About 8 years ago
Commented on It's served my purpose of just needing to virtualize our environment and manage it effectively.
If you have not already tried Version 6 you may want to as the Web Client is much improved in all aspects and now has Update Manager within it for full management. Also if you want HTML5 there is a Fling from VMWARE that loads directly on the host for Web Access but is…
About 8 years ago
Commented on Cross vCenter vMotion allows us to perform vMotion from one vCenter to another without the need for shared storage.
Having vMotion independent of SSO would be a great thing but more than like would take some code rewrite. Love that idea though. I see a bit of lag in the Web Interface but not nearly as much as previous versions. Not sure what web browser you are using but I find Opera…
About 8 years ago
The FAT client and Web Client are both in Version with the Web Client being able to do all the things the FAT client does and more. Including Update Manager now. Yes it is not quite as quick as the FAT client but they are pretty darn close.
Over 8 years ago
Commented on Top Enterprise Flash Array Storage - 2016 Edition
Interesting article when gauging options for storage since there are so many vendors now. I would think Nimble Storage would be higher on the list, but it was interesting to see where they ranked.
Over 8 years ago
Commented on It is very easy to get things working and it is more difficult to get things working smoothly
This is a great article and as stated know your stuff when implementing to save time in the long run and configuration nightmares.
Over 8 years ago
The web client has definitely come a long way since it's inception but still needs some work I agree. There is a VMWARE fling out there with an HTML5 client that you install on the host. It is scaled down but might do what you need. Something to check out.
Over 8 years ago
Commented on It cuts the cost of maintaining high availability, which is very expensive with physical servers.
I believe for Version 6 the minimum key requirement for CA signed SSL certificates is 2048 not 1024. Nice review.
Over 8 years ago
Actually in the end we did go with VMTURBO and implemented it back at the end of November. It has been great since.
Over 8 years ago
That is very true as well. I guess it all depends on customer requirements and build. It is a very good product though and I am sure there are alternatives out there.
Over 8 years ago
Veeam is a great product as we use it and I am looking forward to V9 for the enhancements. I don't think natively it will back up physical servers and you still need the Endpoint product for this but can use a Veeam server repository.
Over 8 years ago
I have to agree about the planning tool as that is what helped me sell the solution to our Management in November. We are now using it and planning VM additions takes all but 5-10 minutes versus the manual spreadsheet method of 4-5 days.
Over 8 years ago
If you need to keep history and other things when deploying because of issues there is a URL that will allow you to create a Full Backup of the appliance which includes this data and then you can restore it also after deployment. Go to - http://appliance name or…
Over 8 years ago
If you want physical backup you can always try the Endpoint Backup product as it does physical servers. We use it on our Veeam servers which are physical and I am testing on Exchange servers too. Great product and can use Veeam repositories too.
Over 6 years ago
Contributed a review of IBM Turbonomic: Monthly reporting is more detailed now and we can see where improvements can be made within the environment
Over 8 years ago
If you get it paired with a storage vendor that is supported the SAN level replication with the failover is really good. We have it paired with Nimble arrays and it works very well.
Over 8 years ago
If you have not tried the Web Client in Version 6 you should. This one is more on par with the fat client in navigation and speed. The more I use it the more I like it. Also it allows more editing features when you update the HW version of the VMs.
Over 8 years ago
Commented on vMotion is a valuable feature and it's not hardware-dependent, but the web client could be better.
Even though the web client is flash based it is still much improved in Version 6 and I am using it more often. Have access from any other device would be a great idea, I agree.
Over 8 years ago
Commented on The solution allows organizations to have a solid business continuity plan but some research needed for configuration
I found implementation very straightforward and configuration as well. This is a great product and has helped us to further our DR strategy. Array based replication is great with our Nimbles.
Over 8 years ago
The web client is different yes but once you get used to it you will find it just as good as the fat client. Took a bit for me but I love it and in version 6 it is the only way to see the linked Virtual Centers in one place.
Over 8 years ago
Have you tried using the Backup Enterprise Manager for reporting or Veeam One? I think the latter would give you more.
Over 8 years ago
Scheduling twice a day would be a good option. As a workaround you could create a second job which is a copy of the first to get around this until such time a new scheduling engine is created. That is if they go that route.
Over 8 years ago
If you are interested in testing Windows 10 be sure to update to Workstation 12 Pro which is out now and has even more enhancements. There are many enhancements - http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/workstation/12pro/workstation-12-release-notes.html
Over 8 years ago
Answered a question: Windows 10 - what are your main concerns about upgrading?
I have upgraded my company laptop which was on Windows 8.1 without an issue. There was one software program I had to remove due to incompatibility but it is compatible now. We have all our office on Windows 7 and it will take a bit to move to Windows 10 due to complexities…
Over 8 years ago
Answered a question: Can anyone share their real-life deduplication ratios using Data Domain?
I guess it also depends on the model of appliance you are using. We upgraded from a DD670 to a DD2500 and are seeing at least the quoted ratio or higher. Sometimes we get 10:1 but it is also dependent on what data you are sending to the array as well since some data…
Over 8 years ago
I agree that 5.1 is a mess and 5.5 is much better. Update 1 is out now for vSphere 6.0 which we are planning to migrate to now. The Web Client is much improved in this version and includes all Update Manager options now.
Over 8 years ago
Commented on Performance of the replica when booting during an emergency could be better. Veeam is an excellent option.
Definitely when using a Dedupe appliance performance is lacking as we have this issue with a Data Domain prior to upgrading it. It is still slow but manageable. As noted always research options.
Over 8 years ago
If you are looking for physical server backup try the Endpoint Backup product. It can integrate with Veeam repositories and works very well. I have it on my Veeam servers which are physical and it sends backups to a Veeam Repository. Also the ability to create recovery media…
Over 8 years ago
Commented on After implementation and turning on the VMTurbo DRS in automated mode we recognized better and balanced performance.
We are in the process of setting up an evaluation and I cannot wait. Going to use the Planning module to forecast some new VMs. Want to test the DRS capabilities also. Green Circle is a great community and source for information.
Over 8 years ago
We get a compression ratio of approximately 90.4%. Within the last 24 hours we have gotten 95.8%. Pretty darn good on the new DD2500 we have.
Over 8 years ago
Veeam is meant for Virtual environment but with the new Endpoint Backup solution you should be able to back up those physical servers.
Almost 9 years ago
Commented on We are able to restore VM very fast, with 0 downtime. Could have more APIs with storage from different vendors.
Veeam is working on storage snapshot integration and version 9 has some coming. Hopefully Nimble one day.
Almost 9 years ago
Commented on I retired Backup Exec, and added Veeam in place of it. This increased the backup scope and reduced tape usage.
Not sure why your backups fail with the Proxies but I have never had that issue. We have a physical Veeam server and 1 Proxy per host which works great for SAN based backups. Check with Support on that.
Almost 9 years ago
Great point about scalability and you need to ensure you do separate components. Especially for using say SAN based backups Proxy servers play a big role. Nice article.
Almost 9 years ago
This is definitely one of the better products out there. We have symantec still but only for Exchange which I hope to change with Endpoint Backup now.
Almost 9 years ago
Yes it can. Veeam however only does backup of physical with the Endpoint product but it works well. I have yet to test Exchange restores. If you want faster backups connect the physical box to the SANs with FC or iSCSI for direct SAN backup.
Almost 9 years ago
Contributed a review of HPE Nimble Storage: When we had issues due to a bad Postgres database, Nimble was very helpful and even replaced the array with a brand new one for our troubles
Almost 9 years ago
Contributed a review of Veeam Backup & Replication: By moving the Veeam server to a physical server and creating a Proxy server on each of the hosts, we are able to leverage SAN based backup which is very fast.
Almost 9 years ago
Commented on Ability to verify backups of critical servers means I can sleep at night. Backup of physical servers could be better.
Note that with Veeam 8 Patch 2 they have integrated the Veeam Endpoint Backup solution to use a Veeam Server repository so this can work for physical machines. The Endpoint software is typically for desktops/laptops but will work on servers as I use it for the Veeam servers…
Almost 9 years ago
Commented on Problem free and effective AV
Just ensure that you have the current release. We had a nasty crypto virus which encrypted a network share because of being outdated. When kept current the program works as it should. Would I choose it - probably not but to each his own.
Almost 9 years ago
Commented on Say goodbye to those sneaky broken and invalid snapshots hiding in your VMware environment.
This is a great product as we use it in our environment with opvizor as well. Saves you time and space by removing snapshots. Even fixes broken and invalid ones as noted. Also the new version now allows snapshot exclusions so you are not bothered by say a XenApp server which…
About 9 years ago
This sounds very interesting and I will be watching how VMWARE develops this technology further.
About 9 years ago
About 9 years ago
Just a note regarding restores when using Veeam as it reads in a single stream so the restore process of large servers (1TB or greater) can take some time. Check in to VDPA or Avamar if you have large servers and restore often.
About 9 years ago
Commented on The Deduplication storage Array for backups. Data Domain can acts as VTL, NAS/CIFS shares or DDBoost devices.
CIFS is good on the Data Domain but I find the DDBoost to be better for backups via Symantec or Veeam. As mentioned throughput goes up due to the technology.
Projects
Over 9 years ago
VMware Infrastructure Upgrade from 5.0 to 5.5Completed upgrade of entire VMware infrastructure from Version 5.0 to 5.5. Implemented VMware Site Recovery Manager and vCenter Operations Manager.
Almost 9 years ago
Data Domain Upgrade to DD 2500Data Domain Upgrade to DD 2500Completed an upgrade from a Data Domain DD670 to a DD2500 array to boost back performance and capacity for a new Accounting system implementation.Data was moved across arrays to keep existing backups for Veeam & Symantec. New array was…
Almost 9 years ago
Implementation of New Nimble Storage ArraysImplementation of new Nimble Storage arraysImplementation of new CS300 series Nimble Storage array to replace and existing CS260G.We had a problem array and after two failed upgrades which required Support to help fix we replaced the array with a new CS300 series array.
Almost 9 years ago
VMware SRM Implementation with Nimble CS300 arraysVMware SRM Implementation with Nimble CS300 arrays in both our Toronto & Vancouver offices. New Nimble arrays were implemented with VMware SRM for VM replication and disaster recovery of the 3E Financial system.
Over 8 years ago
VMware Upgrade 5.5 to 6.0 U1Completed upgrade of entire VMware infrastructure from Version 5.5 to 6.0 Update 1. Upgraded VMware Site Recovery Manager to Version 6.1.
Over 8 years ago
VMTurbo ImplementationImplemented VMTurbo Operations Manager for helping with the virtualization environment to get it in the right state and for reporting on health of environment. Deployed VMTurbo to manage 2 high available clusters in Toronto & Vancouver. Customized many policies that…
About 8 years ago
Veeam Upgrade to V9Completed upgrading Veeam Backup & Replication from Version 8 to Version 9 including Backup Enterprise Manager. The upgrade went extremely smooth and without issues. All repositories were changed to the Per-VM backup model and then a PowerShell script used to run Full…
Over 7 years ago
Datacenter Co-LocationDatacenter Co-LocationMoved our on-premise datacenter to a Datacenter located in Markham with Bell Canada. All storage, hosts, backup devices, switches, etc. were moved. New switches were added along with additional internet services through Bell.
About 7 years ago
Toronto Datacenter MoveToronto Datacenter Move from on-site to Bell Datacenter for all networking gear. Completed move early and on budget.
About 7 years ago
VMware Upgrade to 6.5VMware Upgrade to 6.5Completed an upgrade of our existing environment to VMware 6.5. Upgraded the Windows PSC to a PSC Appliance and also the 2 Windows Virtual Centers to VCSA. Had some minor issues with one of the VCs not wanting to upgrade and required creating a new one…
Almost 7 years ago
Nimble AFA (AF5000) ImplementationImplemented a Nimble AF5000 array for our Document Management System (DMS) upgrade to iManage 10. Implementation went very smoothly and array was configured then added to VMware hosts. Provisioned storage for testing and IOPs are 4x more than current Nimble arrays we have…
Over 6 years ago
Move Tape backup to VeeamMove Tape backup to Veeam from Veritas. Completed the transition to Veeam as the one solution for both disk and tape backup.
Over 6 years ago
Document Management System UpgradeDocument Management System Upgrade - upgrade of the iManage Work from 8.5 to 10.0. To prepare for our Desktop of the Future upgrades to Windows 10 we conducted an upgrade of our document management system from V8.5 to V10 on the backend.
About 6 years ago
IBM Bluemix Cloud MigrationIBM Bluemix Cloud Migration for DEV workloads. Completed migration of our DEV workloads to the Cloud to retire our on-site datacenter due to floor renovations.
Almost 6 years ago
vCenter Migration to New DomainvCenter Migration to New DomainWe implemented a new domain in order to move away from the current one which has an underscore in the name which is not best practice.We deployed new VCSA 6.5 U2 appliances with embedded PSC in Enhanced Linked Mode. We then exported and…
Over 5 years ago
Office Renovation with Printer RefreshOffice renovation with Printer Refresh - we completed renovating our office floors which included a replacement of all printers and scanners with new Lexmark MX812 model MFP devices. During each phase a new batch of printers were rolled out for users to allow better…
About 4 years ago
Veeam 9.5 Update 4bVeeam 9.5 Update 4b - completed an upgrade to all of our Datacenters where we host both VBR, VCC and VCR backups for all of our clients.
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Over 6 years ago
VMware vSphere
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IBM Turbonomic
Almost 9 years ago
HPE Nimble Storage
Almost 9 years ago
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Almost 8 years ago
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Almost 8 years ago
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Almost 8 years ago
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Server Virtualization Software
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Cloud Migration
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Over 8 years ago
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Almost 9 years ago
Backup and Recovery
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Backup and Recovery
Almost 9 years ago
Backup and Recovery
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Backup and Recovery
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Virtualization Management Tools
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Server Virtualization Software
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Deduplication Software
About 9 years ago
Deduplication Software
About me
Information Technology professional with 25+ years of experience in Network/Systems Architecture, Network & Systems Administration and Technical Support.
Veeam Certified Architect - VMCA2022
Veeam Vanguard
Veeam Legend
vExpert
VMCE 2021: Veeam Certified Engineer
VCAP-DCA: VMware Certified Advanced Professional 5.5 Data Center Virtualization
VCP6 - DCV: VMware Certified Professional 6.0 Data Center Virtualization
VCP55 - DCV: VMware Certified Professional 5.5 Data Center Virtualization
VCP5 - DCV: VMware Certified Professional 5 Data Center Virtualization
VMware Certified Associate - Data Center Virtualization
VMware Certified Associate - Cloud
VMware Certified Associate - Workforce Mobility
VMware Certified Technical Sales Professional – Server Virtualization 5 (VTSP-SV)
Veeam - Backup Academy Certified Professional
Nimble Technical Sales Professional (NTSP)
Certified MCSA: Windows 2008 Server
Certified MCITP: EA - Enterprise Administrator
Certified MCITP: VA - Virtualization Administrator
Certified MCITP: SA - Server Administrator
Certified MCSA Windows 2003 Server
Certified MCSA Windows 2003 Server: Messaging
Specialties: VMWare Virtual Infrastructure, VMWare ESXi 6.7/7.0, VMware vCloud 9.x/10.x, Nimble Storage, EMC Data Domain, Exchange 2016/2019/O365, Active Directory, Network/Systems Architecture, Veeam, Windows Server 2016/2019, SQL 2017/2019, VMTurbo, Zerto, Pure Storage, Cohesity
Interesting Projects and Accomplishments
Over 9 years ago
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