Author: Rob Steele

Windows 10 IoT Raspberry Pi 2 Setup Tutorial

After researching tons of use cases and features of IoT devices and machine learning techniques, I decided to go ahead and purchase my first Raspberry Pi 2. I primarily want to explore setting up sensors and streaming that sensor data to various cloud providers. I’ve also looked at a couple projects dealing with some mesh networking that looked interesting, but for this project we will be setting up Windows 10 IoT Core on the Raspberry Pi.

So to get started with Windows 10 IoT core you will need either a Raspberry Pi 2 or MinnowBoard Max. We will obviously be using a Raspberry Pi 2 in this tutorial. If you haven’t already purchased a RPi2 I recommend purchasing a kit with power supply. Luckily I had a micro USB cable available and an AC adapter. You will need at least 600mA at 5V to be up and running. You will also need a microSD card. I went with a 16GB card so we will have plenty of space, but an 8GB card should be enough for a minimal setup.

Download Windows 10 IoT core

Once you have your hardware in place, download the setup tools from http://ms-iot.github.io/content/en-US/Downloads.htm . You will see “Windows 10 IoT core for Raspberry Pi 2” go ahead and download the ISO file called “IOT Core RPi.ISO” You can mount the ISO or open it with an archiver software such as WinRAR. Inside the ISO is an MSI file to install the components. Go ahead and install the package. Note: There are some tools in this package to make this much easier if you are using Windows 10 already for your operating system, but I am not so we will be using some 3rd party tools instead of the native Microsoft Tools.

Now that you have the software installed, you will see Microsoft IoT in your start menu or program files, with 2 executables. One is called WindowsIoTCoreWatcher which is a lightweight program for viewing all of your IoT running machines. The other is called WindowsIoTImageHelper which will help you flash your microSD card.

Windows IoT Core Image Helper

Windows IoT Core Watcher

From what I have read these applications are supposed to only work or are only supported when using the Windows 10 OS. I’m currently using Windows 7 and both seem to launch fine. I’m going to go ahead and try using the flash utility but will also list the steps for an alternative way to flash the microSD card.

Flashing the microSD card with Windows IoT Core Image Helper

So if you see the screenshot above it looks like the microSD card is detected, but only showing 7Mb. Even though this is a 16GB card, I’m going to push forward anyways and see what happens. This utility is about as easy as it gets; first select your microSD card and then select the image file. The image file is located here: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft IoT\FFU\RaspberryPi2\flash.ffu (unless you chose to install into a different path) . Once you have the correct settings, simply click “Flash” and you will see a command prompt appear with the status of the flash.

Windows IoT Core Image Helper Progress

After the microSD card is flashed, you can now insert the microSD card into you Raspberry Pi 2 and boot.

Windows 10 IoT Configuration

Once the RPi2 is booted with the new image, you will see the windows 10 logo and a typical boot screen. Once the OS is finished booting you will have an option for language. I simply selected English and that was all you needed for configuration. Now since I had my ethernet cable plugged into the device is picked up an IP address and was given a device name of “minwinpc” by default.

Windows10 IoT Core Raspberry Pi 2 Screenshot

Once the device is up and running you have two tabs, one is a device info tab (shown above) and the other is a tutorials tab. You will also notice that if you launch the WindowsIoTCoreWatcher on the same network you can now see your device.

Windows IoT Core Watcher miniwinpc

If you right click you have four options available: Copy Mac Address, Copy IP Address, Web Browser Here, and Open Network Share. Pretty simple ! You are now able to develop on your windows 10 iot raspberry pi 2 device ! If you have any questions or thoughts, please use the comments below.

July 19, 2015
VMware Photon on vCloud Air

Tonight I wanted to provision one of VMware’s newest open source projects on VMware vCloud Info. Photon is a minimal Linux container host OS. It is designed to have a small footprint and boot extremely fast on VMware platforms. Photon is optimized for vSphere and validated on VMware product and provider platforms. Photon supports the following container specifications: Docker, rkt (rocket), and Pivotal Garden.

I would encourage you to sign up for a vCloud Air On Demand subscription if you haven’t already. If you are familiar with VMware products and would like to deploy VMs in the cloud for testing or for production this is the way to do it. vCloud Air Signup

If you sign up using my link you will get $300 in free credits. Which is plenty to play around on or even build a nice lab in the cloud.

My mic was messing up in this so I apologize, but let me know if you would like to see more videos like this in the comments below.

Official page of: VMware Photon

July 2, 2015
Xbox Elite Controller

Announced today at #XboxE3 was a couple pieces of good news and one I have mixed feelings about. First lets get onto the good stuff !!! The first and probably the best news by far is the fact that Xbox One will now have backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games ! I can’t stress how much this stressed me out when I first found out that my collection of games was now useless. Now Microsoft has come back and totally redeemed themselves !!!

Today a new multiplayer mode for Halo 5: Guardians was also announced called “Warzone” which will have up to 24 players competing in maps that are up to 4 times the size of legacy halo maps. Halo was the game that originally drew me to Xbox, but I was later drawn to the competitive world of Call of Duty. These new announcements might just draw me back.

So back in January I purchased a custom gaming controller from a small company called Scuf Gaming. (read about it here) and it was great! I had a controller fully customized to my gameplay and also joined a small elite force of gamers that took esports to the next level. With today’s announcement of the Xbox Elite Controller, I’m kind of bummed that everything special from my own custom controller will now be mass produced and easily accessible to anyone with an Xbox. While I enjoy a level playing field, the competitive side of me likes to always have a leg up. So while I’m a bit bummed that I thought I had a great piece of hardware, I was also part of some great gaming pioneers. Now we can all compete on the same level with the same hardware. Let people’s skill really shine through. I wonder if professional esports will ever test for nootropics such as AlphaBrain ? Maybe that will be the next video game steroid, what do you think ?

Xbox Elite Controller

June 15, 2015
Cisco Live 2015 – ABC Guide

Cisco Live is coming around again this year and in order to get all of the information to you I thought the easiest way to organize it would be to do it alphabetically. So here is my attempt to give you all you need to know about Cisco Live 2015 in ABC order…

Cisco Live Aerosmith

This years musical guest at the customer appreciation event will be Aerosmith !

Cisco Live Blog

Check out all of the Cisco Live featured blogs here.

Cisco Live Conference

250,000 sq feet of floor space; 200+ exhibitors; 24 hours a day for over 4 days !

Cisco Live Dates

June 7 – 11, 2015

Cisco Live Explorer Pass

Explorer Pass includes Access to World of Solutions, during show hours only (Monday – Thursday) and Access to Keynotes and Innovation Talks (Sunday – Thursday)

Cisco Live Free Exam

Purchase a Full Conference pass and receive one FREE Cisco certification written exam (more info)

Cisco Live Guest Keynote

Mike Rowe is an Emmy-nominated TV host, writer, narrator, producer, actor, spokesman and former opera singer. Mike is best-known for his work on the Discovery Channel series Dirty Jobs, the narration of Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch and, most recently, CNN’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It. (more info)

Cisco Live Hotels

There are several official Cisco Live hotels offering special discounted rates (more info)

Cisco Live IoT

Read more about the Cisco Live IoT – Internet of Things (here)

Cisco Live Justification

Need help convincing your boss that you should go ? This should help !

Cisco Live Keynotes

Keynotes include: John Chambers, Blair Christie, Rebecca Jacoby, Mike Rowe and more!

Cisco Live Mobile App

Use this mobile app to adjust schedule on fly, take your surveys, review the conference guide, check event map

Cisco Live NetVets

NetVets play a unique role in the Cisco Live community. As long-time attendees of Cisco Live and Networkers events, they have a unique perspective — one that makes them a valuable resource to their fellow attendees and for Cisco itself. (more info)

Cisco Live Opening Times

Registration opens at 3PM on Saturday June 6 and 7AM on June 7 (full schedule)

Cisco Live Passes

All conference passes can be found here: Cisco Live Passes

Cisco Live Questions

If you have questions that arent addressed here or on the website, feel free to use social media and contact Cisco Live on twitter @CiscoLive and make sure to use the hashtag #CLUS

Cisco Live Registration

You can view all of the registration packages for Cisco Live 2015 here.

Cisco Live Schedule

Looking for information on keynotes, events, and full schedule ? Maybe here?

Cisco Live Training

Cisco Live is full of training opportunities and to make things easy, the speakers will categorize the difficulty of each of the sessions by Level 1 (Introductory); Level 2 (Intermediate); Level 3 (Advanced) full information

Cisco Live US 2015

Cisco Live is all over the world, but the one in the United States will be held in San Diego, CA

Cisco Live Videos

Watch past Cisco Live videos here

Cisco Live Wiki

Did you know that there is an official Wiki for Cisco Live? Wiki Link

Cisco Live Youtube

Check out this video playlist from CiscoPress on youtube

I had a hard time finding X and Z, but if you come up with any ideas please post in the comments section.

February 25, 2015
EMCElect 2015

First and foremost I want to thank the EMCElect of 2014, I had a great year and learned quite a bit on utilizing social media for the greater good of the community. I’ve always had social profiles and dabbled with social media but this past year I truly learned the value and benefits of social media. It allowed me to meet, interact, and learn from the top experts in IT. I’ve developed new relationships and learned about new solutions and techniques not published in an “official” document but simply published with the hashtag #EMCElect. So again, I am truly thankful to all those that contributed in 2014 !!!

I’d like to give a big shout out to Mark Browne (@DathBrun) Dennis Smith (@DennisMSmith) and Sean Thulin (@sthulin) for all of their efforts and contributions in 2014, we couldn’t have made it this far without you guys, thank you!

Now on to 2015! I had the privilege of being selected as one of the EMC Elect judges to help bring in the new class. Which was a very humbling and challenging position to be in. To start, just because you were a member in 2014 didn’t mean you are guaranteed a spot in 2015. Every year there is a level playing field which opens up opportunity to everyone. We also went through a ton of nominations of top industry professionals and had to chip away until we found the best of the best. There were many that barely missed the cut, but those that did make the cut will help make 2015 an exciting year!

Without further adieu, I’m pleased to welcome in the #EMCElect class of 2015:

https://community.emc.com/community/connect/emc_elect/blog/2015/02/22/the-emc-elect-of-2015–official-list

February 23, 2015
EMC VSPEX BLUE KEYNOTE RECAP

Incase you missed the EMC VSPEX BLUE announcement earlier today, you can still access the launch presentation here. The VSPEX BLUE offering is a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance that integrates VMware’s EVO: Rail software stack with EMC’s management software. In keeping with the EVO:Rail reference architecture, each VSPEX Blue appliance has four server nodes in a 2U rackmount form factor.

Here are some links to Demos from the announcement:

VSPEX BLUE Manager Demo
VSPEX BLUE and EMC CloudArray
VSPEX BLUE Whiteboard

There is plenty of other content online, but for this post I wanted to focus on some of the questions asked during the announcement. I’ll highlight some in the following FAQ, and I’ll leave the complete transcript below.

FAQ:

What is the GA date?
-Tuesday, February 17th 2015

Is EMC VSPEX BLUE based on vSphere 5.5 or vSphere 6?

-Currently it is based on vSphere 5.5

What backup solution is going to be bundled?
-VSPEX BLUE will include vDPA EMC Avamar technology for backup

Will VSPEX BLUE utilize NSX ?
-VSPEX Blue does not come bundled with NSX in the current version. But it is on the roadmap

How many appliances can you manage under the software?
-EVO:RAIL V1.0 based supports up to 4 appliances (16 nodes). Soon this will double.

Will it be compatible with ScaleIO?
-No, EVO:RAIL is based on VSAN

What is difference between converged and hyper-converged? Isn’t this same as vBlock offering?
-Converged implies convergence of storage, compute, and networking. by the same token they can all be scaled out in a linear fashion and one cannot choose to scale storage but not compute.

What EMC hardware do you have in the backend of the blue?
-It’s EMC’s whitebox. For V1.0, it’s the same box as ECS (2U/4N) but different configuration.

What are the replication options?
-VSPEX BLUE comes with RecoverPoint for VMs 15 VM license with support for free for every appliance.

So I can only protect 15 VM’s per appliance? But the solution itself can host up to 400 VM’s?
-A customer will be entitled to protect 15VMs per appliance. A single appliance can have 60 to 100 VMs on it. If replication is needed beyond 15VMs, a customer will need to purchase extra licenses for RP4VM

Can I attach external storage? FC support?
-No. EVO:RAIL assumes VSAN controls all the disk and provides a single datastore.

How many VM’s is recommended to run within a blue system?
-It will be dependent on your workload for each of the VM’s. However the current breakdown is 100 VM per appliance with a total of 4 appliances in currently supported configuration will mean 400 VM’s

Does it use VMware HA? Is FT supported?
-VSAN 1.0 currently does not support HA. This is being addressed

Is support for vvols on the roadmap ?
-Support of vVOL is two folds: VMwware EVO:RAIL does support vVols, but you will not be able to replicate vVOLS with the current RP4VM version 4.2. This will occur in future releases where both EVO:RAIL VMware stack and RP4VM supports vvol deployment end to end

Will ViPR support VSPEX Blue?
-ViPR currently does not support VSAN today, so no.

Complete Transcript:

Technical Support: Welcome to today’s presentation! We are here to answer any questions you have during the session.02/03/2015 10:06AM

0OZYTKH4WJ@INXPO.COM: how much $02/03/2015 10:08AM

Pete Richardson: Please contact your local Partner or EMC sales personnel for pricing.02/03/2015 10:10AM

JFL3WQPOLF@INXPO.COM: Can we use this link for marketing? This will be live tomorrow as well?: http://bit.ly/1ygG9P0 02/03/2015 10:05AM

Pete Richardson: Yes this link will be live for replay tomorrow 02/03/2015 10:10AM

6GHKUIBRXA@INXPO.COM: Is it based on vSphere 5.5 or vSphere 6 02/03/2015 10:10AM

Curtis Edwards: currently it is based on vSphere 5.5 02/03/2015 10:10AM

C0L9FTO5LX@INXPO.COM: Who is the networking partner w/in the VSPEX BLUE? Thanks – aaron 02/03/2015 10:08AM

Jim Doustou: The Blue appliance does not include networking hardware02/03/2015 10:11AM

JFL3WQPOLF@INXPO.COM: Will this link be available from today so we can use this in all Awareness campaings?http://bit.ly/1ygG9P002/03/2015 10:07AM

Pete Richardson: Yes the link will be available tomorrow for replay02/03/2015 10:11AM

B5RG4V0XL0@INXPO.COM: What does EMC squared stand for 02/03/2015 10:11AM

Jim Doustou: It’s the initials of the founders02/03/2015 10:11AM

LDYF58VDB9@INXPO.COM: Are the appliances a choice like EVO? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Rieko Sato: With hyper-CI storage is SDS (software). 02/03/2015 10:12AM

JVLS3WWARD@INXPO.COM: What backup solution is going to be pushed with this?02/03/2015 10:12AM

Michael Issa: VSPEX BLUE will include vDPA EMC Avamar technology for backup02/03/2015 10:13AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: who manufactures the Nodes? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Jim Doustou: Final system integration is completed by our distribution partners.02/03/2015 10:13AM

85LRLAW9N9@INXPO.COM: Do you have a virtual lab that a consultant can use to get more exposure to VSPEX? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Rieko Sato: Yes, VSPEX BLUE will be available in vLab. 02/03/2015 10:14AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: Will this utilise NSX 02/03/2015 10:11AM

Pete Richardson: VSPEX Blue does not come bundled with NSX in the current version. But it is on the roadmap02/03/2015 10:14AM

RLX0AFXEBF@INXPO.COM: so the vspex still needs to plug into a managed fabric?02/03/2015 10:13AM

Rieko Sato: 10 GbE TOR switch. Not FC.02/03/2015 10:14AM

3BDJDP1VIR@INXPO.COM: Where is VSPEX Blue manufactured? 02/03/2015 10:10AM

Jim Doustou: Final system integration is completed by our distribution partners at various locations. 02/03/2015 10:14AM

A8IOZVIHA5@INXPO.COM: when will be available for LATAM? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Curtis Edwards: availability will be Feb 17th. For further specifics please contact your local EMC distributor/partner.02/03/2015 10:15AM

IR0Y7SVXJ6@INXPO.COM: he said you can add a new appliance if you need more space. how many appliances can you manage under the software? 02/03/2015 10:14AM

Rieko Sato: EVO:RAIL V1.0 based supports up to 4 appliances (16 nodes). Soon this will double. 02/03/2015 10:15AM

DUYBNY9YMU@INXPO.COM: any plans for a non evo:rail (i.e. other hypervisor) hyperconverged system? 02/03/2015 10:11AM

Michael Issa: Non EVO:RAIL like hpervisor is something we are considering as well but not for the SMB segment 02/03/2015 10:15AM

3GZCVWULDC@INXPO.COM: Will it be compatible with ScaleIO? 02/03/2015 10:15AM

Rieko Sato: No, EVO:RAIL is based on VSAN. 02/03/2015 10:16AM

TY5KH057K9@INXPO.COM: Is this then provided as a single skew? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Pete Richardson: Yes, there is a single SKU for the applicant, software and maintenance. So 3 line items on the quote.02/03/2015 10:16AM

JBR1PABOOF@INXPO.COM: Can this run on any x86 server hardware? 02/03/2015 10:16AM

Rieko Sato: No. This is an integrated appliance with hardware. 02/03/2015 10:16AM

BPGTBE4RW3@INXPO.COM: So what is difference between converged and hyper-converged? Isn’t this same as vBlock offering?02/03/2015 10:11AM

Michael Issa: Converged implies convergence of storage, compute, and networking. by the same token they can all be scaled out in a linear fashion and one cannot choose to scale storage but not compute. 02/03/2015 10:17AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: what EMC hardware do you have in the backend of the blue? 02/03/2015 10:15AM

Rieko Sato: It’s EMC’s whitebox. For V1.0, it’s the same box as ECS (2U/4N) but different configuration. 02/03/2015 10:17AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: will there be hardware variations to support customer need?02/03/2015 10:16AM

Jim Doustou: the current offerings include a standard and performance model (different memory configurations) and either copper or optical network connects.02/03/2015 10:17AM

JBR1PABOOF@INXPO.COM: Does it include VMware NSX? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Pete Richardson: NSX is not included in the current version of VSPEX Blue but it is a roadmap item 02/03/2015 10:18AM

6GHKUIBRXA@INXPO.COM: will this be upgradable to vSphere 6 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Curtis Edwards: it will be upgradeable when the EVO:Rail bundle supports and is released with vSphere 6. It will be a future release. 02/03/2015 10:18AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Can you integrate it to existing vmware environments?02/03/2015 10:15AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE based on EVO:RAIL comes with vSphere ENT+, VSAN, vCenter Server, and vRealized LogInsight. For centralized management. if you’d like to use existing vRealize Operations/Automation you can then treat VSPEX BLUE as a vSphere end point.02/03/2015 10:19AM

LDYF58VDB9@INXPO.COM: Isn’t this now competing with EVA:Rack? 02/03/2015 10:18AM

Pete Richardson: EVO:Rail and EVO:Rack have different use cases.02/03/2015 10:19AM

SXHWB8CDEG@INXPO.COM: is this running VSAN 6? 02/03/2015 10:17AM

Curtis Edwards: The current released version is running vSan 5.5 and vSphere 5.5. Future release will support vSan 6.002/03/2015 10:19AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: is hardware monitoring included? 02/03/2015 10:19AM

Rieko Sato: Yes. VSPEX BLUE Manager plays a key role along with ESRS.02/03/2015 10:19AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: what is the maximum amount of nodes/appliances?02/03/2015 10:18AM

Pete Richardson: each appliance has 4 nodes, and today the cluster can scale to 4 appliances 02/03/2015 10:19AM

D2LW7RHDIW@INXPO.COM: If a company already has an EA with VMWare will it still be required to pay for the VMWare licenses that come with VSPEXBLUE? 02/03/2015 10:19AM

Rieko Sato: Unfortunately, ELAs are not supported by VMware for EVO:RAIL.02/03/2015 10:20AM

ZIZ6UB2SQN@INXPO.COM: What is the basic configuration for this appliance (CPU, Memory, storage capacity)? How much can grow?02/03/2015 10:18AM

Jim Doustou: The standard model includes 8×16 G memory, 3@ 1.2 T HDD and 1 12G SDD per node. Performance models up the memory to 6@ 32G 02/03/2015 10:20AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: what is the range of available storage capacities02/03/2015 10:18AM

Pete Richardson: The VSPEX Blue appliance comes in one capacity 14.4 TB Raw 02/03/2015 10:20AM

CZU56BIY5H@INXPO.COM: might have missed it, what are the replication options?02/03/2015 10:20AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE comes with RecoverPoint for VMs 15 VM license with support for free for every appliance.02/03/2015 10:21AM

RKRY41ZRD6@INXPO.COM: Is this available to buy this from Avnet in the UK?02/03/2015 10:21AM

Pete Richardson: Yes 02/03/2015 10:21AM

Jim Doustou: Yes! 02/03/2015 10:21AM

C0L9FTO5LX@INXPO.COM: What are the key differentiators vs. Nutanix? 02/03/2015 10:12AM

Michael Issa: VSPEX BLUE differentiate against Nutanix as follows:02/03/2015 10:17AM

Michael Issa: 1. VSPEX BLUE mfg process allows for higher margin 10+ points for partners. 2. simplicity and ease of deployment with EVO:RAIL VSPEX BLUE MANAGER 2. EMC ESRS call call with global tech support 3. overall architecture vsan and EVO:RAIL has intrinsic low latency path as they are embeded within the ESX kernel space vs. NUTANIX OS, requires a VM staged as a controller with APIs to vCenter , VAAI etc. 5. We do have value added software on the appliance like cloudArray to increase on prem storage with secure optomized encyption to any public cloud 3. RecoverPoint for VM granular sync, semi sync or async replication 02/03/2015 10:21AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: what is the minimum/maximum amount of nodes supported by the hypervisor 02/03/2015 10:19AM

Curtis Edwards: VSPEX Blue will currently support 4 appliances. Unit of Purchase will be an appliance. Each appliance has 4 nodes. So a total of 16 nodes currently. You can start with one appliance and grow by adding more appliances. 02/03/2015 10:22AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: Can multiple clusters be integrated with each other?02/03/2015 10:20AM

Rieko Sato: Each VSPEX BLUE appliance has 4 nodes, and it’s a cluster. You can expand the cluster by adding additional appliances, up to 4 (which is 16 nodes). EVO:RAIL management manages all the nodes across appliances as a cluster. The next EVO:RAIL refresh (soon) will provide a single-pane-of-glass for multiple clusters.02/03/2015 10:22AM

8O560LDBOI@INXPO.COM: Can VSPEX BLUE be configured as an all-flash appliance?02/03/2015 10:21AM

Jim Doustou: Unfortunately not. The configuration is set to the supported models. IE and “appliance” model.02/03/2015 10:23AM

RLX0AFXEBF@INXPO.COM: does this or can tis product run inline with x86 HW?02/03/2015 10:17AM

Rieko Sato: No, this is not SW and cannot run with general-purpose HW. Appliance includes HW. 02/03/2015 10:23AM

D84IC4UYX1@INXPO.COM: Just saw CDW on the Video – is the Product Avail. from CDW today? 02/03/2015 10:21AM

Pete Richardson: The product is available on Feb. 17th. 02/03/2015 10:24AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Can I attach external storage? fc support?02/03/2015 10:23AM

Rieko Sato: No. EVO:RAIL assumes VSAN controls all the disk and provides a single datastore. 02/03/2015 10:24AM

V2VU3ZRX8R@INXPO.COM: is there a link to the hardware specs/node connectivity options available? 02/03/2015 10:16AM

Curtis Edwards: yes there is. you can go to emc.com/vspex for all VSPEX BLUE information. 02/03/2015 10:24AM

0OZYTKH4WJ@INXPO.COM: Can I replace my VMAX with this? 02/03/2015 10:14AM

Michael Issa: some workloads on VMAX can be moved to VSPEX BLUE but it depends on the application latency and IOPS02/03/2015 10:24AM

OGKX66DYIQ@INXPO.COM: Is it Easy to replicate accross sites? 02/03/2015 10:24AM

Curtis Edwards: Yes it is. Using RP4VM (RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines). 15 licenses plus support are included with each VSPEX Blue appliance.02/03/2015 10:25AM

3BDJDP1VIR@INXPO.COM: Where can we find more information on the VSPEX Blue supply chain. 02/03/2015 10:15AM

Pete Richardson: Please contact you partner/distributor for supply chain questions. 02/03/2015 10:25AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: what happens when you go over 4 appliances?02/03/2015 10:24AM

Michael Issa: You may encounter perf issues, and it will not be supported with the service contract in VSPEX BLUE release 1.0. We do have plans to scale out beyond 4 appliance in subsequent VSPEX BLUE releases 02/03/2015 10:25AM

0VRILZ04ZB@INXPO.COM: Is there a try before you buy for additional features that can be bought for VSpex blue? 02/03/2015 10:23AM

Jim Doustou: Eval systems are something you can arrange with your distributor or VAR. Blue comes with several Value Added software options including RP4VM and Cloud Array. 02/03/2015 10:26AM

4SQAA5QBPW@INXPO.COM: differentiating factors vs Nutanix? 02/03/2015 10:20AM

Rieko Sato: One of the key reasons customers are interested in EMC is the global support that is consistent with arrays. This is the same reaction customers had with Data Domain and Isilon prior to acquisition. VMware’s roadmap with vSphere, VSAN, management, and cloud addresses technical gap and creates additional value. EMC will be taking advantage of EVO:RAIL extensibility to create more differentiation.02/03/2015 10:26AM

V2VU3ZRX8R@INXPO.COM: if there are greater than 4 host appliances, the 5th would just become its own separate management domain? 02/03/2015 10:27AM

Pete Richardson: Yes, which you can aggregate together with SSO.02/03/2015 10:27AM

02A8CXO5AS@INXPO.COM: how good is this product if the environment has vmax with very less amount of vmware handling02/03/2015 10:11AM

Michael Issa: For deployments with low VMs and very low budget this product will not be a good fit price wise. We are consider perhaps a 2 node non EVO:RAIL option to compete with VRTX DELL02/03/2015 10:27AM

SXHWB8CDEG@INXPO.COM: when VSPEX Blue is running VSAN 6, will it be able to be configured as an all-flash appliance?02/03/2015 10:24AM

Jim Doustou: Blue configuration is set at the supported models. Each node includes 3@ 1.2T HDD and 1@12G SDD02/03/2015 10:28AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: how does vspex blue protect against silent data corruption?02/03/2015 10:24AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE’s EVO:RAIL is based on VSAN for storage. VSAN’s resilience is based on replicating the object (VMDK) and rebuilding instead of “RAID”.02/03/2015 10:28AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: if there is a problem with the EVO Rail software do you contact EMC or VMware? 02/03/2015 10:27AM

Pete Richardson: EMC. This is an EMC OEM product, so it will be supported just like it was a VMAX, VNX, etc.02/03/2015 10:28AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: how many VM’s is recommended to run within a blue system?02/03/2015 10:27AM

Curtis Edwards: it will be dependent on your workload for each of the VM’s. However the current breakdown is 100 VM per appliance with a total of 4 appliances in currently supported configuration will mean 400 VM’s. 02/03/2015 10:29AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Is there a maximum capacity for VDP Advanced backups? 02/03/2015 10:27AM

Michael Issa: The limiting factor is not VDP but the VSPEX BLUE on prem storage capacity 02/03/2015 10:29AM

H7VJA144OK@INXPO.COM: Will there be a 10G switch with vspexblue? or will there be the recommended 02/03/2015 10:29AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE does not include a TOR switch but VSPEX partners do. Brocade, for example, will offer a bundle for VSPEX BLUE. 02/03/2015 10:29AM

Curtis Edwards: Your EMC partner/distributor will recommend 10G switches. 02/03/2015 10:30AM

SXHWB8CDEG@INXPO.COM: What are the key differentiators vs. Nutanix? 02/03/2015 10:19AM

Michael Issa: 1. VSPEX BLUE mfg process allows for higher margin 10+ points for partners. 2. simplicity and ease of deployment with EVO:RAIL VSPEX BLUE MANAGER 2. EMC ESRS call call with global tech support 3. overall architecture vsan and EVO:RAIL has intrinsic low latency path as they are embeded within the ESX kernel space vs. NUTANIX OS, requires a VM staged as a controller with APIs to vCenter , VAAI etc. 5. We do have value added software on the appliance like cloudArray to increase on prem storage with secure optomized encyption to any public cloud 3. RecoverPoint for VM granular sync, semi sync or async replication 02/03/2015 10:30AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: Will there be options in the HW configurations of the VSPEX appliance 02/03/2015 10:29AM

Jim Doustou: There are 4 available models Standard/Performance each with copper and optical interfaces. Standard has 8@16G memory vs 6@32G for the performance model. 02/03/2015 10:30AM

4SQAA5QBPW@INXPO.COM: How is it superior then Nutanix? 02/03/2015 10:19AM

Michael Issa: 1. VSPEX BLUE mfg process allows for higher margin 10+ points for partners. 2. simplicity and ease of deployment with EVO:RAIL VSPEX BLUE MANAGER 2. EMC ESRS call call with global tech support 3. overall architecture vsan and EVO:RAIL has intrinsic low latency path as they are embeded within the ESX kernel space vs. NUTANIX OS, requires a VM staged as a controller with APIs to vCenter , VAAI etc. 5. We do have value added software on the appliance like cloudArray to increase on prem storage with secure optomized encyption to any public cloud 3. RecoverPoint for VM granular sync, semi sync or async replication. Note that in VSPEX BLUE rel1.0 we lack global dedupe for on prem capacity a feature NX brag about, but we provide expansion of capacity to cloud02/03/2015 10:31AM

5WFEY03UFP@INXPO.COM: Can VM’s be migrated from cuurent VCenter to EVO:Rail ?02/03/2015 10:30AM

Pete Richardson: Yes. Standard VMware capabilities are native to VSPEX Blue.02/03/2015 10:31AM

JVLS3WWARD@INXPO.COM: How much of the limitations that have been spoke about are due to vsan/vsphere 5.5? 02/03/2015 10:29AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE V1.0 based on EVO:RAIL 1.0 is targeting a moderate environment. The scale is supporting up to 4 appliances (16 nodes). This will soon be lifted to 8 appliances (32 nodes) soon with the EVO:RAIL refresh. EVO:RAIL will refresh with vSphere 6.0/VSAN 6.0 later.02/03/2015 10:32AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: How much rack space does a appliance take up?02/03/2015 10:31AM

Pete Richardson: Each appliance consumes 2U 02/03/2015 10:32AM

Jim Doustou: One appliance is 2U and include 4 nodes. 02/03/2015 10:32AM

ML0JEMEM54@INXPO.COM: have to analyse TCO , 02/03/2015 10:28AM

Pete Richardson: The TCO tools for VSPEX Blue are currently a roadmap item.02/03/2015 10:32AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: Can I plug VSPEX into my existing storage array?02/03/2015 10:31AM

Curtis Edwards: no 02/03/2015 10:32AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Does it use VMware HA? Is FT supported?02/03/2015 10:32AM

Rieko Sato: VSAN 1.0 currently does not support HA. This is being addressed,02/03/2015 10:33AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: how many clusters can be managed together?02/03/2015 10:32AM

Curtis Edwards: Currently only one cluster within the management interface. However with additional capabilities of vSphere and the use of SSO you could have multiple clusters in the vCenter. 02/03/2015 10:33AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: will VSPEX be added to the Vblock stack? 02/03/2015 10:31AM

Michael Issa: VSPEX BLUE is a stand alone appliance and complements Vblock. One topology will be to deploy VSPEX BLUE around the edge(ROBO) and using vDPA and/or RP4VM to fan into a main data center having VBLOCK or Data domain.02/03/2015 10:33AM

O71WLDFUCA@INXPO.COM: what is the upgrade path for storage? 02/03/2015 10:32AM

Pete Richardson: There currently is no planned upgrade path for storage.02/03/2015 10:34AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: is support for vvols on the roadmap 02/03/2015 10:33AM

Michael Issa: Support of vVOL is two folds: VMwware EVO:RAIL do support vVols, but you will not be able to replicate vVOLS with the current RP4VM version 4.2. This will occur in future releases where both EVO:RAIL VMware stack and RP4VM supports vvol deployment end to end02/03/2015 10:35AM

D84IC4UYX1@INXPO.COM: Can you highlight the primary differences btw. this and running VSAN SW independently? 02/03/2015 10:32AM

Rieko Sato: EVO:RAIL management radically simplifies the cluster management experience of deployment, upgrade, cluster expansion etc. that you can’t get. It’s HTML5/Javascript that is fast and easy. Because VSPEX BLUE is an appliance, not HCL. Plus the total value you get from EMC VSPEX with the additional SW products included for free, and integrated VSPEX BLUE Manager extension to EVO:RAIL.02/03/2015 10:35AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: how many VM’s can I protect with RP for VM within this solution? 02/03/2015 10:34AM

Curtis Edwards: each appliance currently has 15 RP4VM licenses with support included. 02/03/2015 10:35AM

B7CE2QSRLA@INXPO.COM: Will VSPEX be sold by VCE similarly to VCE sells Avamar and Data Domain? 02/03/2015 10:34AM

Rieko Sato: No. VSPEX BLUE is offered by distribution partners but EMC direct sales are paid. 02/03/2015 10:36AM

0VRILZ04ZB@INXPO.COM: Does this work with recoverpoint devices? 02/03/2015 10:33AM

Michael Issa: Only with RP4VM , we replicate to another instance of RP4VM on the secondary 02/03/2015 10:36AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: What happens to my VMs if a node fails? 02/03/2015 10:34AM

Pete Richardson: The DRS policy will automatic cause the VM’s to restart on a surviving node. Standard VMware functionality. 02/03/2015 10:36AM

I7EUTAWF5X@INXPO.COM: Does VSPEXBLUE support data at rest encryption?02/03/2015 10:36AM

Curtis Edwards: Data at rest encryption is a roadmap item. 02/03/2015 10:37AM

IR0Y7SVXJ6@INXPO.COM: confused about the storage options. so are you supposed to use cloud storage for your file and block level data? What iif you dont want to go cloud now. can you store directly on the box? how many TBs available? 02/03/2015 10:36AM

Rieko Sato: No, storage for VMDK comes from VSAN which is iSCSI via VMFS. For the guest OS apps, you can get file services from Cloud Array. Cloud Array provides both iSCSI and CIFS/NFS, which can be a virtual volume that uses capability in the public/private cloud.02/03/2015 10:37AM

ST8FI9EVSN@INXPO.COM: does the system have self-healing capabilities02/03/2015 10:36AM

Michael Issa: The VSPEX BLUE appliance relies on VMWare VM HA and fault tolerant technologies. It will also initiate an automatic EMC Support Service incident in case all fails, or something was not recoverable both SW or HW wise.02/03/2015 10:38AM

L8APHO71R4@INXPO.COM: why should I choose VSPEXBLUE instead of going OEM?02/03/2015 10:11AM

Rieko Sato: EMC is an OEM partner of VMware EVO:RAIL. VSPEX BLUE provides an integrated appliance through distribution partners to end-customers. The appliance is 100% supported by EMC, HW & SW including VMware SW. 02/03/2015 10:39AM

UBKKDBMP0E@INXPO.COM: what is list price of evo rail? 02/03/2015 10:39AM

Rieko Sato: Distribution partners provides the list price – Avnet and Arrow can generate quotes before VSPEX BLUE is GA on 2/17. 02/03/2015 10:40AM

KI5IK939IF@INXPO.COM: Do the appliances in the cluster have to be identical or can upgrades be performed by adding an additional appliance (within the 16 node limit) and the VMs migrated and the original nodes then removed? 02/03/2015 10:39AM

Jim Doustou: Support for mixed node clusters is supported however will complicate sizing. You can upgrade at the “appliance” level (i.e.. 4 nodes at a time).02/03/2015 10:40AM

C0L9FTO5LX@INXPO.COM: Is VSPEX BLUE utilizing Foxconn compute? Are there other partners to be added? 02/03/2015 10:16AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE distribution partners are Avnet, Arrow, Tech Data for example. Not Foxconn. 02/03/2015 10:38AM

Pete Richardson: It is currently using Foxconn compute. Please contact your distribution partner for further details about reselling VSPEX Blue. 02/03/2015 10:40AM

SXHWB8CDEG@INXPO.COM: what type of servers can be used in VSPEX Blue?02/03/2015 10:39AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE comes with HW, so you cannot run with your general-purpose server. EVO:RAIL controls the specs. It’s a 2U/4N form factor.02/03/2015 10:41AM

VOOM21H1U7@INXPO.COM: how is an existing VM infrastructure migrated to VSPEX Blue?02/03/2015 10:39AM

Pete Richardson: You would be able to use the native VMWare tools to migrate to a VSPEX Blue appliance. 02/03/2015 10:41AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Will ViPR support VSPEX Blue? 02/03/2015 10:40AM

Rieko Sato: ViPR doesn’t support VSAN today, so no. 02/03/2015 10:41AM

VOOM21H1U7@INXPO.COM: Will this appliance evolve to support SCALEIO?02/03/2015 10:40AM

Michael Issa: No this appliance relies exclusively on vSAN and EVO:RAIL technology 02/03/2015 10:42AM

H7VJA144OK@INXPO.COM: what version of vsan does vspexblue ship with and will it be upgradable? 02/03/2015 10:41AM

Pete Richardson: It is currently bundled with VSAN 1.0. It will be upgraded in the next release of the EVO:Rail software.02/03/2015 10:42AM

BPGTBE4RW3@INXPO.COM: What is the difference between vSpexBlue and vBLock offering? 02/03/2015 10:41AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE is hyper-converged. Storage is VSAN software running on compute, co-resident with application VMs. Vblock is based on external arrays, so it’s converged not hyper-converged. 02/03/2015 10:43AM

BX9Q056L4V@INXPO.COM: Is the server hardware in VXPEXBlue coming from Cisco like Vblock? 02/03/2015 10:42AM

Jim Doustou: No, the hardware is an EMC design. 02/03/2015 10:43AM

UBKKDBMP0E@INXPO.COM: Hello. I have 16 node Nutanix – can I add EMC Blue to it?02/03/2015 10:43AM

Pete Richardson: Unfortunately no. They are two completely different technologies.02/03/2015 10:43AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: so I can only protect 15 VM’s per appliance? But the solution itself can host up to 400 VM’s?02/03/2015 10:41AM

Michael Issa: A customer will be entitled to protect 15VMs per appliance. A single appliance can have 60 to 100 VMs on it. If replication is needed beyond 15VMs, a customer will need to purchase extra licenses for RP4VM, an up-sell opportunity.02/03/2015 10:44AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: so the market is primarily smb market? 02/03/2015 10:42AM

Rieko Sato: SME, large ROBO, enterprise departmental. One of the effective use case is VDI as you can start with an appliance and grow without much planning.02/03/2015 10:44AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: is there a program to trade-in existing nutanix for vspex blue? 02/03/2015 10:44AM

Michael Issa: Competitive Technology Migration program is something we will be considering 02/03/2015 10:45AM

E8ZGDUPJ5S@INXPO.COM: What is the price of 1 appliance? 02/03/2015 10:44AM

Pete Richardson: Please contact you partner/distributor for details on pricing02/03/2015 10:45AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Can you mix EVO:RAIL systems from different vendors?02/03/2015 10:44AM

Pete Richardson: Not today.02/03/2015 10:45AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: what are the computer characteristcis? (# of sockets, cores, ram, etc? 02/03/2015 10:43AM

Jim Doustou: Proc – 2@ E5-2620v2, memory 8@16G or 6@32G, HDD 3@1.2T, Sdd 1@12G. These are all per node specs.02/03/2015 10:45AM

H7VJA144OK@INXPO.COM: so there will be a limitation of 4 vspexblue when it GA’s?02/03/2015 10:43AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE 1.0 is based on EVO:RAIL 1.0, so it’s limited to 4 appliances. Soon this will double with EVO:RAIL 1.1 refresh. 02/03/2015 10:45AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: is vipr on the roadmap 02/03/2015 10:42AM

Michael Issa: Vipr and ScaleI/O are being considered but not for EVO:RAIL vsan HCIA appliance. 02/03/2015 10:46AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: how many average vdi desktops wil lthis support02/03/2015 10:45AM

Curtis Edwards: it will depending on the workload for each desktop but the current numbers are 250 virtual desktops per appliance with a total of 4 appliance and 1000 virtual desktops. 02/03/2015 10:46AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: are there any SSD options available for the blue solution?02/03/2015 10:46AM

Jim Doustou: Each node is configured with 1@12G SDD drive. 4 total per appliance02/03/2015 10:46AM

A8IOZVIHA5@INXPO.COM: 2/17 GA applies to Mexico & LATAM markets as well?02/03/2015 10:46AM

Curtis Edwards: Yes. 2/17 applies to all markets. 02/03/2015 10:47AM

I2MI1AJT5H@INXPO.COM: Typical lead time for delivery in Europe? 02/03/2015 10:46AM

Jim Doustou: Contact your partner/distributor for lead time information.02/03/2015 10:47AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: 12G SSd is pretty small. do you mean 128GB ssd?02/03/2015 10:47AM

Jim Doustou: Sorry typo. 400G02/03/2015 10:47AM

UBKKDBMP0E@INXPO.COM: that must be a mistake – 12G ??? 02/03/2015 10:47AM

Pete Richardson: It is a 400GB SSD. Typo.02/03/2015 10:47AM

8NGNUFGQBB@INXPO.COM: who manufactures the compute nodes02/03/2015 10:39AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE distribution partners not only sell/distribute but manufacture the appliance. The manufacturing process is all controlled by EMC’s automation process. Support is 100% from EMC, SW and HW including VMware SW. 02/03/2015 10:48AM

93CXENP4MI@INXPO.COM: how much useable on a single appliance is provided by VSAN?02/03/2015 10:46AM

Curtis Edwards: usable space on a single appliance is 13TB that will be assigned to vSAN to be used for various policies.02/03/2015 10:48AM

H7VJA144OK@INXPO.COM: Are you saying EVO:RAIL 1.1 will include vsan 6?02/03/2015 10:46AM

Pete Richardson: EVO:Rail will be bundled with VSAN 1.0 02/03/2015 10:48AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: how does those SSD drive work? As an cache or is it configurable? 02/03/2015 10:48AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE is based on EVO:RAIL/VSAN. VSAN uses SSD as read and write cache. 02/03/2015 10:48AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: How much IOPS can I expect? 02/03/2015 10:46AM

Michael Issa: About 250K IOPS for one vSAN datastore per appliance (4 nodes)02/03/2015 10:48AM

4J0BH3PDQ2@INXPO.COM: How many IOPS can one appliance deliver? 02/03/2015 10:48AM

Michael Issa: 250K IOPS per appliance (4 nodes) one vsan datastore02/03/2015 10:49AM

UBKKDBMP0E@INXPO.COM: SSD per node is 1 x 400GB eMLC 2.5″ SAS SSD02/03/2015 10:48AM

Pete Richardson: That is correct02/03/2015 10:49AM

LP0BE7CCDN@INXPO.COM: what other disk types you have in the blue solution?02/03/2015 10:49AM

Curtis Edwards: there are only 2 preselected disks types in the VSPEX Blue solution. It is SSD and SAS drives.02/03/2015 10:50AM

SXHWB8CDEG@INXPO.COM: Why do you say “Each node is configured with 1@12G SDD drive”? isn’t each SSD 400GB?02/03/2015 10:50AM

Jim Doustou: Correct. 12G was a typo02/03/2015 10:50AM

BX9Q056L4V@INXPO.COM: How does VSPEXBLUE compare to Oracles new Virtual Compute Appliance? 02/03/2015 10:45AM

Michael Issa: I’ll have to get back to you on this comparison 02/03/2015 10:50AM

ML0JEMEM54@INXPO.COM: Is there Web based console or management interface GUI availability along with RBAC so that end user customer can directly access the console and allocate / buy Virutual server on payment basis02/03/2015 10:39AM

Rieko Sato: EVO:RAIL management is completely new, HTML5/Javascript and stateless. It uses vCenter database. Currently, EVO:RAIL does not provide extensibility / API. As far as purchasing the appliance, it is not a SaaS model. You have to purchase the entire appliance HW/SW.02/03/2015 10:50AM

T91MC33X7T@INXPO.COM: Plans for mixing VSPEX with VPLEX and using external arrays?02/03/2015 10:50AM

Michael Issa: No, but we are considering in future releases to embed vVPLEX onto VSPEX BLUE for Active Active HA appliance deployments 02/03/2015 10:51AM

SXHWB8CDEG@INXPO.COM: when will VSPEX Blue support Intel’s Grantley (Xeon E5-2600 v3) processors? 02/03/2015 10:51AM

Rieko Sato: Haswell HW refresh is planned when EVO:RAIL supports as mainstream later this year. 02/03/2015 10:52AM

H7VJA144OK@INXPO.COM: With Vspexblue will I be able to levearge my vmware ELA?02/03/2015 10:50AM

Curtis Edwards: VSPEX BLUE is a new Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliance that offers a brand new delivery and consumption model, and a new way to stack and scale the core virtualized infrastructure services in a simple and easy way. It is not currently included as part of any existing ELA agreement or on the VMware pricelist. 02/03/2015 10:52AM

Technical Support: We are hosting an Ask-the-Experts session panel on the EMC Community Network (ECN) post event — simply go to community.emc.com for more details.02/03/2015 10:52AM

WG7V8BLK0T@INXPO.COM: Is there anything to consider when using Networker and Data Domain? 02/03/2015 10:51AM

Michael Issa: No just run vDPA and prevent upsell of Commvault , Veeam or Symantec02/03/2015 10:52AM

GBZL8MDX8A@INXPO.COM: Are these Lenovo servers in Blue? 02/03/2015 10:53AM

Rieko Sato: No. EMC’s white box. V1 is based on the same 2U//4N as ECS but different configuration. 02/03/2015 10:53AM

93CXENP4MI@INXPO.COM: can an iSCSI datastore (outwith VSPEX blue) be presented to the VSPEX Blue cluster? 02/03/2015 10:52AM

Rieko Sato: No. Because EVO:RAIL/VSAN assumes control of disks and present a single datastore. 02/03/2015 10:54AM

Michael Issa: No as the underlying storage OS on VSPEX blue is vSAN. however, you can cache to the cloud using CloudArray and run iSCCI protocol 02/03/2015 10:55AM

B9F5AH3JAK@INXPO.COM: can vDPA integrate on VSPEX Blue integrate with DD?02/03/2015 10:54AM

Rieko Sato: Yes. And because VDPA 6.0 is free, VSPEX BLUE customers can download VDPA 6.0 from VSPEX BLUE Market and backup to DD.02/03/2015 10:55AM

SDD6O6Q2H2@INXPO.COM: any integration with ViPR or XtremIO ? 02/03/2015 10:55AM

Rieko Sato: ViPR does not support VSAN. VSPEX BLUE this product is based on EVO:RAIL. We are exploring SIO based and would like to get your feedback.02/03/2015 10:56AM

INS2OEI4XS@INXPO.COM: Can external ESX hosts be added the the VSPEX Blue vCenter ?02/03/2015 10:55AM

Rieko Sato: No, because EVO:RAIL assumes entire cluster control to deliver the amazingly simple appliance experience.02/03/2015 10:56AM

UBKKDBMP0E@INXPO.COM: When is it configurable in channel express?02/03/2015 10:54AM

Rieko Sato: Only the qualified VSPEX BLUE distribution partners who are doing the manufacturing can order from EMC CXP.02/03/2015 10:57AM

Technical Support: We are hosting an Ask-the-Experts session panel on the EMC Community Network (ECN) post event — simply go to community.emc.com for more details.02/03/2015 10:58AM

GBZL8MDX8A@INXPO.COM: What top of rack switching are we using to cluster nodes02/03/2015 10:56AM

Rieko Sato: VSPEX BLUE does not include any TOR switch. VSPEX partners do. Brocade, for example, provides a bundle for VSPEX BLUE. 02/03/2015 10:58AM

Technical Support: We are hosting an Ask-the-Experts session panel on the EMC Community Network (ECN) post event — simply go to community.emc.com for more details.02/03/2015 11:01AM

Technical Support: We are hosting an Ask-the-Experts session panel on the EMC Community Network (ECN) post event — simply go to https://community.emc.com/events/3084 for more details. 02/03/2015 11:20AM

February 3, 2015
VMware vCloud Air from Beta to Now
I was given the privilege to test out what was formally called VMware vCHS on demand, and up until the beta phase of OnDemand you would have to size and buy chunks of resources if you were going to use the VMware vCHS service. When they announced the beta on demand program I was nothing but excited and intrigued as to how this new service would pan out.

Having the ability to spin up cloud resources ondemand from within a familiar interface (VMware vCenter) is everything a virtualization admin could ever want. I had my doubts about how easy it would actually be though. I assumed much coding or special plugins would be needed in order to administer virtual machines in a remote cloud. To my surprise however it was quite the opposite experience for me. When I logged in for the first time the interface was very clean and only showed me the basic options that I needed. Below is a screenshot of how easy it is to create a new virtual machine in vCloud Air, complete with a cost calculator.

Below you can see all of your resource usage across your own cloud. You can even get the same view on individual virtual machines with up to the latest hour worth of data.

I am a long time user of VMware Workstation and with the release of Workstation 11, the is also support for vCloud Air. So for those of you that do not administer VMware ESX hosts/clusters you can still fire up virtual machines in the cloud. It surprises me how many IT professionals are still building home labs when they can be utilizing on demand cloud resources. You can build a hybrid cloud now from a laptop with VMware workstation and vCloud Air OnDemand. Below are some screenshots of the workstation integration:

Besides the native integrations and ease of use lets talk a bit more about one of the easiest use cases for vCloud Air… Disaster Recovery. Late adopters of cloud technologies can’t argue the fact that DR is still a great use case for cloud technologies. Some of the newer features released include:
- Native failback support – Customers will now be able to resume normal data center operations in their primary data center following a failover to vCloud Air. Customers will be able to replicate workloads back from vCloud Air to their primary environment over the network and resume normal operations.
- Multiple recovery points – Customers will have the option to roll back to multiple earlier snapshots of their data center environment. This is vital to recover from outages caused by data corruption, viruses or hacking attacks that compromise the most recent recovery point.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and check it out. VMware is currently offering $300 in service credits for your first 90 days which is plenty of time to try out all of the features. As always if you have any questions or need me to elaborate on anything please comment below or follow me on twitter.
January 27, 2015
Unboxing my Custom Scuf One Xbox Gaming Controller

I’ve been gaming for quite awhile and am very competitive in nature, so naturally I’m always looking for ways to enhance my competitive game play. I mostly play first person shooters and even more specific, I have invested much of my time into the Call of Duty franchise. With that said, the first step into gaining a competitive edge is to invest into a good controller. I did some research and noticed that most of the professional gamers are using custom controllers built by Scuf Gaming. The two main reasons I was drawn to the Scuf One was the fact that they have incorporated “paddles” onto the controller and that they also have adjustable triggers.

The paddles were an immediate hit in my mind as I was constantly taking my thumb off of my aiming thumb stick in order to jump or go prone in Call of Duty. By keeping my aim while being able to jump simultaneously meant that I never had to lose my target to jump or go prone. Much better response time and more accurate aiming.

I also raised an eyebrow when I saw that you can adjust the triggers so that you no longer had to press them all the way in to aim or to fire a weapon. Again, a much faster reaction time and a lower latency in firing is instantly achieved.

Below are pictures of my custom Scuf One that I created for online FPS gaming:

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January 15, 2015
What are Clan Tokens in Advanced Warfare ?

I’m just getting started / familiar with Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Clans and noticed that there is a “Clan Tokens” metric. I’ve looked in multiple locations in the game and had to resort to search online for answers to what they are and what they are used for. I would assume they would be used for some item unlocks or can be used for events. I’m not a big fan of assuming so here are some of the some what official answers I have found:

@ffemt1117 @JohnTanker6982 we will announce the use for the clan tokens and bank at a later date.

— Beachhead Studio (@beachheadstudio) December 17, 2014

@Gaz7676 @ATVIAssist Clans will be awarded credits based on their performance in Clan Wars, which will be stored in the bank for later use.

— Beachhead Studio (@beachheadstudio) November 7, 2014

@Fabo40Hand Hey there, Clan Tokens are being stored for a later date, Sorry! ^KO

— Activision Support (@ATVIAssist) December 17, 2014

So unfortunately nothing solid yet, but I’m fairly amused that it has already been implemented in the game without explanation.

December 18, 2014
VMware CBT may not be giving your backups accurate data.
If you are currently using VMware vSphere and you are utilizing CBT (Change Block Tracking) for you backups you may be at risk of bad backups. Luckily this issue only effects vmdk files that have grown over 128GB in size, so this should narrow down your scope of affected backups. This issue can be reproduced by expanding a virtual disk (vmdk) file with Change Block Tracking (CBT) enabled. Your virtual machine may be at risk if the vmdk file was extended to a size greater than 128 G. Which would incorrectly calculate the in-use blocks in the vmdk file.

This affects esxi hosts versions 4.x and 5.x and there is no currently no fix or update; There is however a workaround.

Workaround:

Go to each of the affected VMs and disable and then re-enable Change Block Tracking (CBT) on the virtual machines.

How to Disable CBT:
1. Power off the virtual machine.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
3. Click the Options tab.
4. Click General under the Advanced section and then click Configuration Parameters. The Configuration Parameters dialog opens.
5. Set the ctkEnabled parameter to false for the corresponding SCSI disk.
How to Enable CBT

Note: Ensure that you power off the virtual machine before performing these steps.
1. Right-click the virtual machine and click Edit Settings.
2. Click the Options tab.
3. Click General under the Advanced section and then click Configuration Parameters. The Configuration Parameters dialog opens.
4. Click Add Row.
5. Add thectkEnabled parameter and then set its value to true.
6. Click Add Row, add scsi0:0.ctkEnabled, and set its value to true.
  Note: scsi0:0 in scsi0:0.ctkEnabled indicates the SCSI device assigned to the hard disk that is added to the virtual machine. Every hard disk added to the virtual machine is given a SCSI device that appears similar to scsi0:0, scsi0:1, or scsi 1:1.
7. In the home directory of the virtual machine, verify that each hard disk contains a vmname-ctk.vmdk file.
Sources:

http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2090639

http://www.reddit.com/r/vmware/comments/2keko3/major_bug_in_vmwares_cbt_function_causes_data/
October 27, 2014