How to configure OpenFiler iSCSI Storage for use with VMware ESX.

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I wanted to test an Openfiler as a solution forHA and vMotion with ESX Server and vCenter. Using Openfiler is a great way to save some money on expensive SANs and for home lab testing and learning, this choice is just great. I did not have 3 physical boxes (2 for ESX hosts and one for Openfiler) so I opted for a hybrid solution, where I’m actually running one ESX server inside of VMware workstation.

via How to configure OpenFiler iSCSI Storage for use with VMware ESX. | ESX Virtualization.

Openfiler

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The Openfiler distribution is available as an installable ISO CD image to be deployed on bare-metal or a pre-installed disk image for use in one of the several supported virtual machines monitors.

Installable images are available for both x86 and x86-64 architectures. Supported virtual machines monitors include Xen, VMware, QEMU, Virtual Iron and Parallels.

via Openfiler — Download.

Facebook stores up to 800 pages of personal data per user account

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If you live in Europe, then you have the right under a European data protection law to request a copy of all information stored about you on any given service. In the case of Facebook, you can demand such information via the Personal Data Requests form.

via Facebook stores up to 800 pages of personal data per user account | Geek.com.

Facebook is relatively new and the average person doesn’t value their privacy — thus, Facebook has been able to acquire a huge amount of personal information on each member.  Organizations might soon value privacy and see value in the data they generate,  in which case local highly available onsite (or perhaps offsite)   SANs will become a useful investment.  Associations without a central authority (i.e. Facebook) might become desirable.  It is however not feasible for an average person or small business to run their own web server.  They should, however, be in complete control over the data their web site generates.  Users of Facebook have no control over the dissemination of the data they and their connections generate.

SPARC T4 looks to be good enough to stave off defections to x86, Linux

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For those who are still members of the Sparc/Solaris installed base—those who haven’t headed for x86 or Itanium already—the T4 is potentially good news. It provides a way to preserve investments in existing Solaris skills and software while getting a significant performance boost over the year-old T3. The T4 will likely stop some defections, buy Oracle time as it prepares its next generation of processor, and reduce the company’s dependence on reselling Fujitsu SPARC 64 systems to run its own database.

via SPARC T4 looks to be good enough to stave off defections to x86, Linux.

Citrix drops dependencies on Windows to boost XenServer with v6.0

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“Site Recovery in previous versions was dependent on the StorageLink Gateway component which was a Windows-based separate installation,” Citrix says. “With XenServer 6.0 the StorageLink functionality is delivered as a native part of XenCenter and the Site Recovery functionality is done natively as well.”

This also allows Citrix to support replication on a greater number of storage devices.Similarly, a Windows VM requirement was removed for access to storage features like data replication, de-duplication, snapshots and cloning, while a new workload balancing tool uses a Linux-based virtual appliance “with a smaller footprint [that] replaces the Windows-based virtual appliance and eliminates the Windows licensing dependency,” Citrix said.

via Citrix drops dependencies on Windows to boost XenServer with v6.0.

Here’s an interesting comment on this article:

agrocrag | a day ago | permalink
I don’t know what all the stuff in this article means, but I have to use a thin client at work that is connected to a Citrix-based server, and it is bar none the worst computing experience I have ever had.
And another:
dal20402 | about 17 hours ago | permalink
It’s really OT for this article, but as a user subjected to XenApp, I can confirm that the user experience is horrendous. It’s pretty stable and reliable in our office, but, even running on quite good hardware with few users connected, it’s absolutely dog-slow, and feels like using a computer while suspended in a jar of molasses.If I’m doing any significant amount of work on the weekends, I’ll go into the office rather than trying to use our XenApp system from home. I save more time by not waiting for the system than I use making the commute.

Another interesting tidbit further down in the comments…

Fast forward ten years and now thin client desktops cost more than quad core workstations.

Is this true?