Alan Renouf has posted an excellent two page cheat sheet on VMware Toolkit version 1.5.  The guide is a great way to learn how to leverage the toolkit to help you in your everyday life.  Some of the things covered are host cmdlets, vm cmdlets, folder cmdlets, and several other cmdlets.  The guide also list out some commands to get started and also has some commands for virtual machine tasks.  Please stop by and download it as this is a very valuable sheet of paper to have.

Download Link
http://virtu-al.net/Downloads/VIToolkitQuickReferenceGuide.pdf

Virtu-Al (Alan Renouf’s Site)
http://www.virtu-al.net

Below is a video that was posted out on the Edge Microsoft site this morning.  It features Dai Vu talking about Hyper-V versus VMWare ESX.  Dai Vu also talks allot about SCVMM 2008 and how it compares to VMWare Virtual Center.  Please let me know what toughts you have after watching the video.

Microsoft has released a new version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 for evaluation.  SCVMM 2008 is a piece of software that provides a management solution for virtualized environments.  Not only can you manage Hyper-V from SCVMM, but you can also manage other virtual hosts across multiple platforms.  This product lets you truly have a centralized management of your virtual IT infrastructure.

Microsoft Download Link
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=ED012990-6E86-4B43-9842-DA5C02FF1C83&displaylang=en#Overview

Hyper-V Server has now been out for a few weeks.  Hopefully some of you have had a chance to install it in your test labs.  Microsoft has released a document to help you configure and administrate it.  I actually did find the install pretty strait forward and easy to complete.  The helpful addition to Hyper-V Server 2008 is the configuration tool.  I think they should add something very similar to the Server Core 2008 Install so everything does not have to be done through command line.  Check out the link below to find the guide from Microsoft.

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 Guide
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e1e111c9-fa69-4b4d-8963-1dd87804c04f&DisplayLang=en

There is a great post on the VMware blogs that talks about how ESXi is not only easier to install but is quicker to install then Hyper-v from Microsoft.  One of the more interesting stats that they have is that hyper-v takes seven reboots compared to one reboot of ESXi.  It will be interesting to see the improvements that Microsoft will make in the coming months to their product.  One thing for certain is that VMware still has a dominant lead over Microsoft in visualization technology.

VMware blog post
http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2008/09/vmware-vmware-v.html

Install video of ESXi vs. Hyper-V
http://www.vmware.com/technology/whyvmware/resources/esxi-hyper-v-installation.html

On the VMTN blog there is a post outlining the details of the VI toolkit contest.  The VI toolkit will give VMWare administrators additional scripting control over their environment.  The contest has a first place prize of a trip to VMWorld 2008 in Vegas.  The deadline for the contest is August 30.  So there is plenty of time to enter.   Stop by and check out the additional details at the VMTN Blog.

http://blogs.vmware.com/vmtn/2008/07/vi-toolkit-the.html