Virtualization on myvirtualcloud.net

Roundtable: How to Bring Enterprise-Grade Security Capabilities to SMBs

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 12:28:58 +0000

Every day hundreds of organizations are breached in an attempt to steal corporate secrets and personally identifiable data. The most prolific attacks end up on the mainstream media. Still, countless data breaches go unnoticed by the media or even by the organizations themselves. I had the opportunity to be part of a roundtable on How to Bring Enterprise-Grade Security Capabilities to SMBs. SMBs also can have enterprise-grade security, Zero Trust, automation, and more without breaking the bank.

The end of zero-day VPN attacks with zero trust

Mon, 01 Feb 2021 15:31:19 +0000

Most organizations are still using VPN to provide access to internal applications and networks. Unfortunately, VPNs open the organization's doors to the entire kingdom (internal network). Even when ACLs, Rules, and VLANs segmentation is implemented, the chances of a bad actor executing a lateral movement attack are high, especially if there is a VPN config mistake.

How I automated my CI/CD pipeline with Google Cloud Run, Cloud Build and GitHub.

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 21:52:48 +0000

In case you are not aware, I develop and host a free widely used tool for sizing VDI deployments and also a few other tools. I have been developing for many years. Still, recently after migrating to Google Cloud, GoLang, and Docker containers, I have achieved what I consider to be a very automated and streamlined CI/CD pipeline that is extremely simple for anyone to implement for their projects.

Feature Spotlight: Citrix Secure Workspace Access – Part 3

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 23:06:47 +0000

In Part 1 of our series on Citrix Secure Workspace Access, we looked at why organizations need to embrace modern, consumer-modeled, user-friendly, and cloud-based working models, allowing choice and flexibility for BYO and modern SaaS applications. But at the same time, they need to ensure a safe and secure experience for external and hosted applications and data.

Feature Spotlight: Citrix Secure Workspace Access – Part 2

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 18:32:02 +0000

Cha-ching! My First Citrix blog post is now Live.

Tue, 03 Nov 2020 12:10:27 +0000

It has been one month since joining Citrix, and I am now getting into the rhythm.

When joining, I knew I would be responsible for Product Marketing for the Secure Workspace Access. Since then, I have also inherited the Identity portion of Citrix Workspace.

New VDI Calculator (HTML) debuts today!

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 05:30:36 +0000

Over the years, the VDI Calculator has been used thousands of times by architects and infrastructure teams to size VDI deployments. Just in 2020 alone, the tool has been used over 3,000 times, with the USA and Russia leading the charts.

macOS “Must Have” Apps (Business & Geek) - 2020 Edition

Mon, 10 Aug 2020 11:44:18 +0000

In 2017 I released the list of my top apps for Mac users working in tech (not strictly). This is an updated version with a couple of additions and removals.

How VMware intends to Leverage Datrium DRaaS

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 14:05:14 +0000

VMware Announces Intent to Acquire Datrium to Provide Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service for Hybrid Cloud Environments https://lnkd.in/gREXsSD.

This video covers how VMware intends to leverage Datrium Disaster-Recovery-as-a-Service with VMware Cloud.

1 minute and 18 sec ... to DR a 13 Terabyte Microsoft SQL Server to VMware Cloud with Datrium

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 13:41:43 +0000

Yesterday I published Microsoft SQL Server Performance, Consistency at Peak, and The Art of Possible demonstrating Microsoft SQL Server with HammerDB TPC-C workload running on Datrium.

I thought that if I can run MSSQL so fast and consistently what would happen if my datacenter was suddenly gone and I used Datrium DR-as-a-Service with VMware Cloud. How long would it take for my 13 TB VM to come up online and be ready for my applications? (see my previous articles for additional information on VM and HammerDB)

Microsoft SQL Server Performance, Consistency at Peak, and The Art of Possible with Datrium

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 14:17:11 +0000

HammerDB is a free database load testing and benchmarking tool for databases. For this HammerDB test, I have chosen the TPC-C schema to build a roughly 500 GB database (to start with) of 200 warehouses and used 100 concurrent users to drive the database transactions with no think-time enabled.

Ransomware Gone in 1 minute with VMware Cloud

Sun, 10 May 2020 21:33:02 +0000

I hope you are all having a great day and a happy Mother’s day! Here is how I used the VMware Cloud on AWS to recover from a Ransomware infection in .... 1 minute ....! Some things must be seen to be believed!

Disaster! I moved my Citrix Farm to VMware Cloud in 8 minutes

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 16:13:36 +0000

I hope you are all having a great day at home. I recently posted on Twitter that I have executed DR from on-prem to the VMware Cloud on AWS of my entire Citrix Farm, including Active Directory, Delivery Controllers, VPN, and persistent desktops. As it got much attention, I decided to record a video; it's only about 4 minutes. Some things must be seen to be believed!

Self-Inflicted Ransomware & Recovery in Minutes

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:43:07 +0000

The key to a successful recovery from ransomware is the combination of restoring a clean operating system from before the initial infection and then also recovering data from as recent as five minutes before payload activation.

I failed back my VMs from the VMware Cloud

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 00:37:11 +0000

Disaster Recovery is one of the most complex exercises IT will endeavor. From infra and data replication to applications and orchestration, it is hard! In this 2nd video, I show how to easily failback VMs from VMware Cloud on AWS.

Datrium Proactive Protection for Natural Hazards is now on Docker

Mon, 10 Feb 2020 17:20:30 +0000

I recently released a set of Python components that make Datrium take pro-active virtual machine snapshots and replicate them upon detection of high winds, high temperature, or earthquakes in a defined region.

I saved my datacenter in 4 minutes

Sun, 09 Feb 2020 18:52:52 +0000

DR is one of the most complex exercises IT will endeavour. In this video you will see how I executed DR for a couple of VMware VMs to the VMware Cloud in 4 minutes.

Here is why I copied the StorageReview Performance Benchmark for MySQL on Datrium... but there was a Gotcha!

Mon, 20 Jan 2020 09:47:38 +0000

If you want to benchmark a storage subsystem, it's best to use pre-existing benchmarks to be able to compare results. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I just copied the configuration and tests performed by our good friends at StorageReview. (https://www.storagereview.com/node/3598)

I solved Natural Hazard DR with Python and Datrium

Wed, 01 Jan 2020 18:31:30 +0000

I solved Natural Hazard DR with Python and Datrium.

One of the critical issues with disaster recovery, in general, is that you only want to trigger DR when the disaster strikes.

We executed a Disaster Recovery Plan for our VDI!

Mon, 16 Dec 2019 12:40:04 +0000

I have been working with EUC solutions for a long time and for as long as I can remember, VDI solutions like Horizon and XenDesktop lacked a practical way to deliver DR.

DRaaS Connect gives LOVE to SAN/NAS and HCI with VMware Cloud Integration (...and Instant RTO)

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 10:37:16 +0000

Datrium announces integration with VMware Cloud for Disaster Recovery for customers using SAN, NAS, and HCI.

It's been fun writing about Datrium tech over the past few years as it unfolded as a cloud-first data management stack without leaving behind its on-prem components. Datrium is genuinely the multi-cloud solution that CIOs and Operators always dreamed of - a high-performance platform with integrated data management, backup, and Disaster Recovery policies that follow Apps wherever they go.

VMware Horizon now has DR to VMware Cloud on AWS

Mon, 28 Oct 2019 12:06:48 +0000

For as long as I can remember, VMware Horizon lacked a practical way to achieve DR, be it on-premise or in the cloud. To achieve DR, administrators had to abstract components of the solution, virtualize applications, manually replicate golden images and make heavy use of non-persistent desktops. Still, even like that, it was very complex to have an effective DR solution that cater for business requirements.

Innovators' Challenge - Normalizing the Clouds

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 16:35:45 +0000

The Old Lock-in Problem

Before VMware, there used to be three or four large block storage companies: IBM, EMC, HP, etc., and each produced their proprietary storage systems.

Datrium DR-as-a-Service Networking with VMware Cloud (VMC)

Mon, 09 Sep 2019 10:42:32 +0000

During VMworld Datrium launched a unique DRaaS solution completely integrated into VMware Cloud on AWS. At a high-level DRaaS if a complete DR solution offered as a subscription that leverages the VMware Cloud and native Datrium cloud-based backups to deliver a fully-orchestrated low cost, low RPO and lower RTO disaster recovery for VMware customers.

World’s 1st Just-in-Time Cloud DR (VMware Cloud)... Everything Techies Need to Know....

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 09:26:23 +0000

No, the title of this post isn't a clickbait.

Organizations spend hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to keep Disaster Recovery (DR) datacenters operational while they wait for disaster to strike so they can realize that huge upfront and ongoing investment, but at the same time crossing fingers and hoping that the tragedy never happens. In many ways, DR datacenters are like insurance with huge upfront premiums.

VMware Cloud + Datrium = Awesome Recovery!!

Wed, 21 Aug 2019 09:17:09 +0000

VMware is the de-facto standard for the enterprise datacenter, and AWS has the broadest set of cloud services with global scale and reach. If you not aware, both companies have jointly engineered a cloud solution that delivers the best of VMware and AWS for customers. The VMware Cloud on AWS has a massive global presence.

What I have learned from 100 Oracle Benchmarks on Datrium

Sun, 07 Jul 2019 14:30:57 +0000

I have recently completed a series of benchmarks with Oracle on Datrium, and as it comes with no surprise Oracle is a perfect fit for Datrium's host flash acceleration and integrated data protection. I have documented tests, findings and recommendations in a document published here, but below you will find a few highlights and lessons learned.

ControlShift Series - Seamless Orchestrated VM Failback from DR Site

Fri, 14 Jun 2019 15:47:08 +0000

This is my 3rd post on this Datrium native DR series, and this time around, I demo the unique DR Failback of VMware VMs between sites and vCenters. Many solutions provide orchestrated failover, but Failback is the tough part and where most fail. See for yourself how Datrium handles it beautifully!

From Zero to Instant Orchestrated DR in 6 seconds. Live!

Thu, 13 Jun 2019 12:01:41 +0000

Hello! This is my 2nd post on Datrium native DR capabilities. This time around I discuss the initial DR plan, configuration, the failover, and the failback of VMware VMs between sites and vCenters.

How Datrium ControlShift and CloudDVX are Deployed and Operated on AWS - Part 1

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 23:24:15 +0000

As you may know the Automatrix platform include Primary Storage + Backup + Disaster Recovery + Encryption + Data Mobility in a single end-to-end solution.