IE8 Beta Download

A nice offshoot of MIX 08 is the public availability of Internet Explorer (IE) 8 Beta 1 as of yesterday. While the new browser has many features, the standards support is what has me tickled pink, and you’ll be happy to hear blandname still renders properly in the new version.

So head on over to the IE8 page Microsoft has put up, and grab the first beta of the new next thing.

Some general info from the release notes, including some help on using certificates from within Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, as well as a quick heads-up that the help is merely copied from IE7:

General information

Help content

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 contains help content from Internet Explorer 7. Some topics will be broken or irrelevant. The help content will be updated in a later release of Internet Explorer 8.

New home page in home page set

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 will add a new page to the home page set. This page will be automatically removed from the home page set two weeks after you install Internet Explorer Beta 1. You can remove this additional home page from your home page set at any time. Uninstalling Internet Explorer Beta 1 earlier than its automatic removal will not remove the additional home page. In that case, you can remove the home page manually.

Turning off the in-page WebSlice button

You can turn off the in-page WebSlice button in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 by using the following method:

However, when you turn off the in-page WebSlice button, WebSlice discovery is also turned off in the Feed Discovery button that is located on the frame.

Viewing certificates in Windows Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1

Windows XP

When you click the View certificates icon after you click the Security Status Indicator lock icon in the address bar, you incorrectly receive the following message:

This type of document does not have a security certificate

To view the certificate, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the document, and then click Properties.
2. In the Properties dialog box, click Certificates.
Windows Vista

To view the certificate of an encrypted page, click the View certificates icon after you click the Security Status Indicator lock icon in the address bar.

If you right-click the document, you click Properties, and then you click Certificates, the certificate is not displayed.

Parallels Server Beta 2 Download

You can now register to download Parallels Server Beta 2!

From the announcement:

Key Features (Parallels Server Beta 2)

Hardware-optimized hypervisor-based virtualization solution.

Installable on host servers running Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, including the Windows Server 2008.

Bare metal version for non-OS server installation.

x64 (64-bit) and x86 (32-bit) host and guest OS support, including any combination of more than 50 different guest OSes in secure, high-performing VMs.

4-way guest SMP and multi-core support.

Integrated toolset includes Parallels Tools, VM backup and Parallels Transporter (the P2V migration tool).

Parallels Management Console, an easy-to-use, multi-server management tool is included.

Support for Intel VT-d hardware acceleration extension for hardware resource dedication to VMs.

Intel VT-x and AMD-V hardware-assisted acceleration support.

Open APIs and SDK for extensible management.

Command line interface (CLI) and scripting.

VMware Announces VMSafe Hypervisor Security Platform

As described in the VMware announcement:

[A] new security technology called VMware VMsafeâ„¢ that protects applications running in virtual machines in ways previously not possible in physical environments. The VMsafe APIs allow vendors to develop advanced security products that combat the latest generation of malware. VMsafe technology integrates into the VMware hypervisor and provides the transparency to prevent threats and attacks such as viruses, trojans and keyloggers from ever reaching a virtual machine. Twenty security vendors have embraced VMsafe technology and are building products that will further enhance the security of virtual machines, making the virtual environment unmatched in the level of security and protection it provides compared to physical systems.

“VMware already has the most trusted virtualization platform for running applications, and we are now raising the bar on security in ways that physical systems simply cannot match,” said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of datacenter products and solutions. “The industry has come out in full force to support VMware VMsafe technology with plans for a whole new class of security products that offer customers new advantages to running applications in virtual machines.”

So it looks like VMsafe will be a method that security vendors can use in order to ensure that operations in the virtual world will remain just as protected as our meatspace servers

In Dianne Green’s keynote today, you’ll note that almost all of the typical security players have signed up to be part of this platform – I’m guessing it could be quite lucrative, with TCOs everywhere looking for bigger, better tinfoil hats.

Download Thinstall from VMware – Project North Star

VMware has recently updated the VMware Thinstall page and is now offering a download of what they call “Project North Star” – a Thinstall product.

Also not that there is a thinstalled version of Firefox available for download from the same page.

Through Dianne Green didn’t speak a whole lot about Thinstall at VMworld today, it’s good to see VMware at least touch on it a bit as the appvirt vendors are keen to find out what sort of developments are to come.

Riverbed Releases RiOS 5.0!

From the official Riverbed RiOS 5.0 announcement:

“[]announced the launch of version 5.0 of the Riverbed Optimization System (RiOS(TM)), which powers the award-winning Riverbed(R) Steelhead(R) product line. RiOS 5.0 extends the Riverbed lead in delivering to its customers the best speed for the broad range of applications important to businesses of every size and across all industries. With the introduction of RiOS 5.0, Riverbed is the first vendor to provide application-level protocol optimization for Microsoft Exchange 2007. This makes Riverbed the first and the only vendor to accelerate Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003 and 2007. In addition, Riverbed is building upon its lead in delivering solutions to enhance IT flexibility and capabilities with new scale, simplicity and security features, including the new RiOS Services Platform (RSP) for delivering virtualized edge services without the need to deploy additional branch office servers.

Riverbed has expanded its support for Microsoft Exchange environments and is the first WDS vendor to deliver a protocol optimization specifically for the Exchange 2007 protocol (MAPI 2K7) at the application layer. Riverbed is the only vendor that provides application-level optimization for Exchange 2000, 2003 and 2007.

More Application-Level Acceleration

In RiOS 5.0, Riverbed adds to its existing HTTP and HTTPS acceleration capabilities by further improving the performance of enterprise Web applications, including SAP NetWeaver, Oracle, PeopleSoft/JD Edwards, Microsoft and Siebel CRM, SharePoint, and Outlook Web Access (OWA). In RiOS 5.0, Riverbed can further reduce the chattiness and delay often associated with enterprise Web-based applications. Users of RiOS 5.0 will see additional performance improvements of up to 10X for their Web applications.

RiOS 5.0 also delivers acceleration capabilities for Oracle 11i applications running in HTTP mode. This acceleration builds on the existing RiOS support for Oracle 11i Jinitiator socket mode optimization and targets the Oracle E-Business suite of applications, particularly Oracle forms traffic and reporting, as well as other application operations. Riverbed is the only vendor that provides application-level optimization for Oracle 11i.“ 

Novell to Acquire Platespin for 205M

More purchases and conglomeration on the way this year.

The buzz at VMworld Europe, before it has even started, is that Novell is to purchase Canadian data center management software company Platespin. Novell has now posted the news on their site, and many are scrambling to figure out where this will lead them as the software is very popular in the VM market. (UPDATE: Platespin have posted their announcement regarding the Novell acquisition as well)
Novell is starting to grow again: it now owns SuSE Linux, Ximian (original makers of Gnome), and just recently purchased open colaboration vendor SiteScape.

If you’d like more info about the acquisition, feel free to register for the Novell-Platespin webinar.

From the Platespin announcement:

On February 25, 2008, Novell announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PlateSpin Ltd. The combination of Novell’s platform and automation management with PlateSpin’s leading solutions for workload relocation, protection and provisioning will give customers the agility to cross physical and virtual boundaries so IT can work together. Both organizations are focused on helping customers maximize the strategic value of the heterogeneous data center. Novell and PlateSpin will deliver products for complete workload lifecycle management and optimization for Linux, UNIX, and Windows operating systems in the physical and virtual data center. Below you will find details about the acquisition and what it means to current and future PlateSpin customers and partners.

From the Novell announcement:

The acquisition of PlateSpin will allow Novell to offer customers a full solution stack with a powerful virtualization platform and a best-in-class heterogeneous management solution. Together, Novell and PlateSpin will solve many of the data center challenges that customers face today, including:

  • Relocation: PlateSpin provides a completely integrated product suite that automates the assessment and migration phases of data center initiatives, like server consolidation, data center relocation and hardware upgrades, to help customers reduce costs, power consumption and space in the data center.
  • Protection: PlateSpin’s disaster recovery solutions offer affordable workload protection that leverages virtualization technology to protect both physical and virtual servers in the data center, for improved security and business continuity.
  • Provisioning: Using PlateSpin’s technologies, customers will have a single approach to imaging and configuring physical and virtual workloads regardless of platform. This eliminates the manual install process and dramatically reduces the time to provision new server workloads. It will also enable customers to address changing resource requirements at peak demand times as well as in test lab scenarios.
  • Optimization and Management: Novell and PlateSpin optimize the balance between physical and virtual infrastructure by automatically monitoring and making infrastructure adjustments based on server availability and workload demand. By automating the process and increasing the visibility into how workloads use physical and virtual resources over time, customers will be able to increase server utilization and optimize their data centers by better addressing common workload movement challenges.

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Critical VMware Security Alert for Windows-Hosted VMware

Oops!

Luckily I had a feeling that host shared folders was a bad idea…

From VMware:

“On Windows hosts, if you have configured a VMware host-to-guest shared folder, it is possible for a program running in the guest to gain access to the host’s complete file system and create or modify executable files in sensitive locations.”

The fix? For now they recommend disabling shared folders as there are no patches for any of the products affected: VMware Workstation, VMware Player, and VMware ACE.

EMC Buys Into Cloud Computing with Pi Acquisition

From TechTarget:

EMC Corp. has acquired a startup still in stealth called Pi Corp. in
an all-cash transaction for an undisclosed amount.

Pi Corp. founder and CEO Paul Maritz will join EMC as president and
general manager of EMC’s newly created best cloud storage infrastructure and
Services Division, reporting directly to EMC CEO Joe Tucci. The new
division will also include the EMC Fortress SaaS infrastructure, the
Mozy online backup service and “other upcoming EMC cloud
infrastructure systems and software offerings under development.”

This is interesting to me as I see it as the “new next big thing”.

Currently the only people really loud in this space are Google and Amazon.

I highly doubt we will see much come out of either party until the very soonest Q2 2008 (Mozy update), but expect a product by year-end.

The 10 Best VMware Virtual Appliances

As suggested in the comments, I’ve updated this post here: http://blandname.com/2012/04/09/top-10-virtual-appliances-revisited/

Daniel and Bitnami have quite a few of these already published, which is pretty cool! 

This list is subjective, and you’ve been warned!

All of these virtual appliances have been tested with ESX server, and may have issues elsewhere.

For appliances that needed it, I used R3 Data Recovery VMware Converter, the version that ships with Virtual Infrastructure 3.5 (VI3.5).

Please note that both ESX 3.5 and Virtual Center 2.5 are available as trials from VMware currently, and I would highly recommend trying them out as it really is night and day compared to VMware Workstation, Server and Player.

That said, for the most part you’ll be fine working with VMware Server 2.0 – it’s free and has a special version of VMware Infrastructure Client to boot.

The list:

  1. Astaro Security Gateway – This is a must in any build for me. I use this to bridge between my LAN/WAN and the virtual networks that I create. There is a 10-device, 1000 connection “home user” license available from My Astaro that should be more than sufficient to get you up and running with a clean, secure virtual network.
  2. Ubuntu 7.10 JeOS Mini-image – this image weighs in at only 70MB or so, expands to roughly 200MB, has apt-get installed, and is a perfect candidate for building virtual appliances with. VMware tools is installed, so you don’t need to worry about things like date and time sync.
  3. OpenBSD 4.2 – The OpenBSD image is great for getting started in the OpenBSD world: learning the shell, commands, networking, and in my case, firewalling. The verison I use comes from Chrysaor.info, but feel free to use your own.
  4. OpenSuSE 10.3 – I can’t live without this virtual appliance – I use it for just about everything, and is the first appliance installed in any environment. Note that it is a bit bloated, containing USB, sound and other components typically not needed in a virtual environment. On the other hand, since it’s tried and tested on my end, it’s a lifer.
  5. Trac – I use Trac as a wiki and VM staging log. I consider all VMs, hosts and Virtual Center as software projects, and monitor changes closely. If ever I need to pull up quick info about a virtual machine, host, network, router or firewall, it’s all in Trac.
  6. WordPress – I use my WordPress virtual machine to stage different versions of blandname, to test updates, upgrades, and plugins. This also allows me to change themes, move Adsense blocks around, and generally to play without fear of losing revenue or breaking something.

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PR: Riverbed and Fortinet form Alliance

Lots of moving and shaking so far in 2008, and here’s yet another “love-in” announcement, this time from Fortinet (lesser known security vendor currently partnered with HP on the ProCurve line) and Riverbed, who we’re all getting to know as the darling of Wall Street, the WAN acceleration vendor that sells solutions that can even put Cisco to shame (my opinion, not my employer’s of course).

From the press release:

“San Francisco – February 19, 2008 – Riverbed Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: RVBD), the technology and market leader in wide-area data services (WDS), and Fortinet, a pioneer and leading provider of unified threat management (UTM) solutions, today announced an alliance that enables the two companies to deliver complementary best-of-breed security and application acceleration solutions to enterprise customers for managing their distributed workforces.

Through Fortinet’s Elite-level membership in the Riverbed Technology Alliance (RTA), Fortinet, Riverbed®, and their channel partners can immediately provide security and WDS solutions for remote offices, data centers, and mobile workers that are functionally superior to those of competing alternatives.

“Together, Riverbed and Fortinet address the need that enterprises have to secure their data; accelerate the performance of applications running on wide area networks (WANs); and reduce IT infrastructure complexity and costs,” said Mark Williams, principal architect for enterprise infrastructure at Mercury Insurance. “Implementation of two market-leading technologies such as WDS solutions from Riverbed and Fortinet’s ASIC-accelerated integrated security appliances should meet this need while instilling confidence in enterprise companies of all scales.”

This partnership takes advantage of the complementary capabilities of the companies’ two product lines and the ability to cross-sell to their broad global customer bases. Riverbed and Fortinet combined have nearly 30,000 customers, spanning enterprise vertical markets and service providers, and approximately 2,000 distributors and resellers who can benefit from the comprehensive solutions that this partnership will produce.

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