vSphere version 5 also comes with what is called Auto Deploy.  Auto Deploy makes deploying hosts easier.   This feature is mostly used for companies that are deploying 50 or more hosts. In version 4 you had to use host profiles to help with deploying hosts, but with version 5 you can now use an image.  From the VMware documentation on www.vmware.com Website you will find that when a host boots for the first time, information about the host is stored in VMware. The information that is stored is “image state, configuration state, dynamic state, virtual machine state, and user input.” (If you go to the VMware Website and click ‘support and documentation,’ you will be able to find detailed information about each item that is stored.)

Version 4 used hardware version 7 for creating virtual machines. The hardware version for virtual machines is explained in detail in the vSphere Basic System Administration vCenter Server 4.0. In the document it says, “The hardware version of a virtual machine indicates the lower-level virtual hardware features supported by the virtual machine, such as BIOS, number of virtual slots, maximum number of CPUs, maximum memory configuration, and other characteristics typical to hardware.” With version 7 you can create new hardware on a virtual machine such as a new hard drive or an NIC.  You can also edit your current settings and possibly increase the memory or CPUs. In version 8 you can edit and create just like in version 7. The main difference in the versions is the maximum configurations have increased in version 8. For instance, you can now use 32 virtual processors and 1TB of memory in your virtual machines where as in version 7 you were limited to 8 virtual processors and 255GB of memory per virtual machine. To learn more about the configuration maximums, you can reference the Configuration Maximum pdfs that VMware provides on their Website.

There are many other features that are now available in vSphere version 5 that can be very beneficial for any company. VMware itself is beneficial to any company looking to save money. VMware helps conserve space in server rooms by eliminating the need for physical servers, and saves money on the power needed for those physical servers.  Depending on how many physical servers you have, you could use as little as two servers for your entire VMware environment.  You can also manage all your virtual servers in your VMware environment through vSphere client.  vSphere client gives you the ability to restart, power down, console into servers, and many other options to manage your servers. You just can’t go wrong when it comes to using VMware in your environment.

Join us for a 45-minute Hands On Technology training session with Senior Cisco Engineer, Jim McBurnett, as we learn how to upgrade Cisco 3560, 2960, and 3750 series switches in TGA’s live training lab.

Don’t miss out on this H.O.T. opportunity!

Food and beverage will be provided. Space is limited so sign up now.

When: March 13, 2012  |  8:00 AM or 12:00 PM

Where: TGA, 13891 Asheville Hwy, Inman, SC 29349

Call: 864-473-1200

Click here to Sign Up

Lately, so much of the material you find about helping small business is about the cloud. Cloud file sharing, cloud applications, cloud storage – the list goes on and on.  But the first question you need to ask is: Is it right for me?   The next question you should ask is:  Is it truly safe for my company to use? Our purpose in writing this article is to discuss the many items to review while you consider your choice, or choices. While this is not an exhaustive list, it does provide the main concerns you should be addressing.

In considering any new technology, there are several main concerns:

1. Reliability
2. Safety and security
3. True value of the solution
4. Learning curve / complexity for the users

For cloud services:

1. Is your company Internet oversubscribed / overloaded?
2. What is the history of the company?
3. Is it secure? And what regulatory or legal requirements might impact its use for my company?
4. How far across the Internet is it as related to my company?
5. Can my business function if the service is down?
6. If I choose to leave the service, is there a termination fee? And how can I get my data back?

Let’s briefly discuss these concerns as pertaining to the cloud:

If you always experience slow Internet, will you see a savings that the cloud service should provide if you have to increase the Internet connection size? This is the primary holdup we have seen. It almost becomes a shell game with the financing of some cloud services.

The history of the company providing the cloud service is crucial.  This is not just the financial history or age of the company, but rather the flux of the solutions they provide.  Google is a prime example.  A fielded Google-provided solution lasts 2 years in some cases before it is end-of- lifed. Is the company partially free? Does it provide services based on advertising support? Consider this very carefully.

Security is a major issue these days in the United States. From the Sarbanes Oxley to HIPAA – and to others   -careful review of how they impact your daily business should be considered.

Internet reach is something that many have not been concerned with.  If your business is not in a major metropolitan center, the chance of losing all access to the Internet or having weather issues limit access is a very real possibility.  This also brings to the forefront the location of the cloud service.   If you are in Greenbow, Alabama, and the cloud service is a data center in Richmond Virginia, or Seattle, Washington, should you be concerned? YES!

If you lose your Internet connection, or you have a router/firewall or other equipment failure, does that shut down your business? Can you process payroll? Can you do accounting work?

As a consultant , when reviewing a new process or procedure, a back-out plan is always on the table. In the same manner, a back-out plan should be documented and thought out PRIOR to implementing a cloud service.  In all cases a back-out involves costs. These costs should be known up front regardless of when that back-out happens – immediately or at the end of a contract.

Now that you have a few items to ponder from the concern perspective, here are a few positive considerations:

1. Global access to information (which also can be a concern)
2. Back-up is someone else’s responsibility
3. Disaster Recovery Planning—Data recovery!
4. Less internal hardware maintenance (This can be true but not always)
5. Security may be better than small companies are willing to implement

We have briefly covered some concerns and questions regarding cloud services.  In the end, only YOU can ascertain if a public cloud-based initiative is right for your company. We highly recommend an exhaustive review of our concerns and your own concerns, before making a plunge.

As a wrap-up to our series on “When should we upgrade?” we will cover the End of Sale Notice.  Cisco’s End of Sale notice has specific dates for milestones in the life of a product. In the next few paragraphs we will provide details on how these milestones impact you.

The first milestone is the End of Sale Announcement.  This is when the process starts for both the partner and the end user.  This is when all of us should be looking at our networks, and any projects that may occur before End of Sale and Last Day of Shipment.    This is simply the day that Cisco identifies its intentions.  Note that you normally have 5 years of support from this date.

End of Sale Date: This is the date that products will no longer be on the price list and available for sale.  One thing that is interesting about this date is that NEW products are no longer available.  However, some longstanding products may still be in the Cisco authorized refurbished product program.  This would be the only way to get these products.

Last Ship Date: This date is often noted as on or before, based on supply of the product.  The real deal here is you can’t count on this date. It will flex. As with several of the dates, this should be considered carefully during a project plan.

End of Routine Failure Analysis, End of Engineering Support, or End of SW Maintenance Releases Date: Normally, this is when we tell customers to decide how critical their software/hardware is.  If this is a business-critical product, plan to replace it by this date.  Would you run a firewall past the day that you can no longer get security issues resolved or have the vendor check for issues? These three categories all have approximately the same meaning.  They do not all appear on the notices simultaneously.

End of New Service Contract Attachment:  This impacts new purchases only.  If you purchase a product right at the end of the sale period, this may impact you. This is another consideration at the beginning of a project.

End of Service Contract Renewals:  Consider this to be the last leg; a replacement plan should be in place by this date. Depending on the time when a contract is renewed, it might not be renewable for a full year; and when less than 6 months is remaining from renewal date to end of support, Cisco may not allow for renewals.  We have seen this happen.

Last Date of Support:  This signifies a TOTAL loss of support. If a device goes down, or there is a software vulnerability, or you just simply need a TAC engineer’s time after this date, it won’t be possible.  Most commonly, only a partner’s experience can help with a problem up to the point where a software bug is determined to be an issue.

All of these dates may seem pretty easy to understand, but one element that complicates matters is the end of support date that impacts multiple elements.  Great care should be taken when looking at any Cisco voice- or server-based application.  These applications can have hardware and software end-of-sale elements that are not co-located. An example of this would be the end of sale for a specific model of server that supports a voice application.  The replacement server may not support the older versions of the software, forcing multiple upgrades.  Lastly, there may be inter-vendor dependencies that force an upgrade due to end of support.  Consider Cisco Unity and Microsoft Exchange:  these interdependencies can be impacted by an end-of-sale announcement from Cisco that would require changes on the Microsoft side, the Cisco application side, and the Cisco hardware side.

During this series of articles, we have covered several major topics regarding Cisco and general product life cycles.  If you have more questions or would like additional information, please contact a TGA account representative.

During our first blog we covered the software upgrade.  This installment of the three-part series will focus on hardware upgrades and tie those back to software and the software-hardware symbiosis.

Part II — The Hardware Upgrade

Hardware upgrades are often the most physically demanding of all the upgrades.  Consider chassis switch replacements, or blade center replacements.  While these are not always the most common, they are highly labor intensive.  Add to this the internal memory upgrades that require unracking the gear, and dissection!  So let’s talk about the reasons we would upgrade hardware.  Depending on your job role, you could come up with dozens of them, but we are going to focus on just a few in today’s blog.

First, in every day in the life of a system admin there comes a time of, “Oh, I wish I could do that with what I have.”  And that is the first reason for upgrading:  increased capabilities.  Often, this means a faster router, a special feature only supported on new hardware, or just the ability to handle more interfaces.  In a future article we will cover a new feature called TRILL for switches.  Most system admins view new hardware replacements as opportunities to improve upon the status quo, however caution should be the word of the day.  We often see new hardware installs met with too many changes too quickly and this creates lots of opportunities for challenging situations.

Beyond the new-feature needs comes the end-of-support forced upgrade.  Many organizations have policies that require items to be covered by a warranty or a level of manufacturer support.  In these organizations, a forced hardware upgrade is just a scheduled event based on vendor end-of-support timelines. (Remember that we will cover Cisco’s End of Sale Notice in the third and final part of the series.) Forced upgrades often bring with them many daunting challenges.  New hardware means new software and new software means interdependencies on software versions. An example of this is Cisco’s Unified Communications software.  The Cisco Emergency Responder supports certain versions of hardware and software for switches, and The Unified Contact Center Express has an intense document for the call control element versions (Communications Manager and Communications Manager Express).  Upgrading a Cisco Voice installation where the servers have to be replaced can be a daunting task with the intricacies of the hardware supporting X version and the software dependencies added to that. Consider the PRE-VMWare installs of voice where a Cisco 7825-I2 only supports Communications Manager up to version 7.1 and the new server only supports version 8.0 and higher. An upgrade that involves Contact Center may require upgrading that server and software along with replacing the server.

So far we have covered a new feature or capability upgrade and a forced upgrade to maintain support. The third most common upgrade is the failed hardware upgrade.  This upgrade can be tricky.  In the event the failed hardware is still supported and under warranty, you get an easy way out.  However, for those organizations that do not follow the replace before end-of-support model, this upgrade can really be painful.  Often when a failed device upgrade is forced upon us, we have to quickly learn new software, hardware and even interdependencies while being thrust into a nearly impossible repair window.  Going back to the Cisco Voice Solution – if your Contact Center server were to fail and the new server does not support the version you were running this could be daunting.  Another challenge is the Cisco Authentication Control Server Appliance.  The latest iterations do not support Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP).  In this realm, if LEAP is still used by your organization you may have to rebuild your entire wireless architecture should a forced upgrade occur.

As you look around your network, a constant eye should be kept on aging hardware, software, and specific configurations.  These elements can create a failed-device replacement nightmare with more labor effort than can be imagined on the surface.  Keeping management informed on a scheduled basis can help prevent an impending disaster!

There are a few silver bullets out there:

For hardware appliances that run software applications – begin looking at a migration away from physical servers, check out VMWare.

For hardware elements, make sure you are on the distribution lists from the manufacturers so that you are kept informed about hardware End of Sale Information.

Engage your consulting partners; ask for a review of your network to determine what is and is not supported by the vendor.

And lastly, once you get those end-of-support notices, build a plan for upgrades.  It may take more than a month to get everything checked and ready, but a month of research is far less stressful than 2 hours of a system down due to failed and unsupportable systems!

In summary, hardware is often a challenging and costly upgrade for most organizations with software, hardware and configuration interdependencies. These interdependencies should be the catalyst to plan ahead.  Often the last-minute replacement is a lot longer than a minute!

Our first blog will be Part 1 of a 3-part series to cover one of the most hotly debated topics between IT and management:  When should we upgrade?

As we contemplated subjects for our first post, this topic just seemed to jump out at us after we discovered equipment that was still in continuous use since 1999!  Because this is such a broad topic in many respects, we will divide it into three parts. First, we will cover software, next we will move on to hardware, and we will conclude with a review of Cisco’s End-of-Sale notice.  We will present examples of specific software, hardware and EoX documents along with definitive reasoning that will arm you with the information you will need when it is time to discuss this subject with management.

Part 1 – The Software Upgrade

We will start our series with the software upgrade.  Often, software upgrades are labor- or time-only upgrades from annual manufacturer support contracts, or, in some cases, free software without a contract.  This is where the decision to upgrade becomes difficult.  The downside considerations include the after-hours labor, the down time and getting end-user acceptance.  So WHY do we go through all that effort to upgrade? Typically, the reasons for any upgrade are simple:

1. To resolve a software bug – either to fix a failure or to correct security vulnerabilities of a critical nature
2. To add a new functionality provided by the new software version, or a software performance enhancement provided by newer software
3. To maintain support from the vendor (More on this in Part 3 of this series!)
4. Staying current for critical devices

Of these four common upgrade scenarios, the security hole is the most difficult to gauge.  And often, the challenge of the security vulnerability is the knowledge of its existence.  To combat this situation, security notices involving critical bugs can be received from numerous sources. A few examples are: Cisco Product Security Incident Response Team emails, Security Tracker, and Microsoft Security Notification Services. Every security risk MUST be individually assessed as to the impact it has on your network and configuration. Cisco offers security patches for FREE without a SMARTNet support contract.  In the event that your device is not under a support contract and is not end of support (often called EoX – for End of Sale/Life/Support) your Cisco partner can provide these security patches as can a Cisco TAC engineer.

Here are a few links to help you get started:

http://www.securitytracker.com/

Security Tracker offers a free weekly email and a daily paid-for premium notification service. Both services cross all vendors and products.

http://www.cisco.com/go/psirt

Cisco offers email notifications, an RSS feed and a Web-based software checker. All of these are free services.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/dd252948

Microsoft offers multiple levels of notification from monthly to “timely” notices. All of these are free services.

Vendor Support or an end-of-vendor support for Version X is often seen as a weak consideration for an upgrade.  However, this should be looked at from 2 standpoints.  First, how critical to the operational security and effectiveness of your organization is the device? Can a security compromise of this device shut down business operations or compromise the security of the organization?  Due to all the recent security breaches at large corporations, this has been getting a little more attention lately.  Firewalls, WAN routers, IPS sensors, VPN appliances, and wireless elements all fit in a critical security infrastructure category.    Second, if there is a problem and you don’t upgrade, will you be able to get any support?  Vendors will set an end-of-support date and, after that date, the answer to most – and often ALL – problems is to upgrade to Version X and we can help you.  Even if your consultant will support you, if they get to a roadblock and have to call the vendor, a mandatory upgrade will be required.

Staying current is a melding of 1 and 2.  Consider a border firewall or an Internet Edge router.  This is one subset of devices where the current software versions are a double-edged sword.  Staying current will help prevent problems from known security vulnerabilities, and conversely, have you on the cutting edge of newer software with new bugs and vulnerabilities.  This all adds up to making critical devices a whole category for upgrades.  Would you run a firewall on 3-year-old software? To address this, a periodic reading of release notes and review of known bugs and security issues are highly recommended!  Enter the Cisco IOS Software checker for IOS devices. (http://tools.cisco.com/security/center/selectIOSVersion.x)

We have explained why upgrading is critical, and mentioned a few notification services. In our next article we will cover hardware upgrades and how they can merge with a software upgrade.