Hello,
This is written after a two hour nap, after flying from Cape Town, to Johannesburg, and finishing in Singapore. 11 hours in the air from JHB to SIN. So long. I am here only a few days and I hope to visit with a few clients, as well as spend time with the local Veeam Team. I love Singapore, but I had forgotten how expensive it is. I had a burger and Pepsi for lunch, and most of daily allowance is gone! I have a lot to share so I really need to get started!
I did an iOS upgrade for my iPhone 7 and iPad Pro 10.5 and both were very smooth indeed. I have been running 4 or 5, maybe more, iOS 11 betas at home and was happy with it. I did an article on my upgrade. Tomorrow is the day for macOS High Sierra, but maybe in this timezone it is the day after? I will write it up too. I have been running it at home and have few issues and all were addressed before I left. Mostly by application upgrades.
Late this week I will be home - first time in 5 weeks or so. I am working on some lab stuff and then some very interesting technical white papers. Looking forward to it!
Michael
vCenter Server 6.5 U1a is GA
This is primarily a security update. See the release notes.
Horizon 7 is now GA
I missed this a couple of days ago but it looks like quite the release. Here is the bits, release notes, and docs. I like in this release how if the events database is not catching events then Horizon will catch the before and after. The HelpDesk tool has been serious updated as well. I will be doing my upgrade soon as part of some much necessary lab maintenance. The clients have been updated too. I updated my 4.5.x Mac Client to 4.6 and was able to connect fine to View 7.2.
VMware User Environment Manager 9.2.1 now GA
This interesting tool has been recently updated and you can find out more in the release notes. You can install 1 set of software - View - and have excellent desktop and application services. But there is so much more offered by VMware’s EUC group that is interesting and also makes things a little more complex.
What is VMware CEIP Program and How it helps an IT Admin with Troubleshooting vSphere
I agree that the CEIP is important. While I did not know much about it when it came out, I knew about the previous incantation of it, and of the other products versions, and I knew the great value it provided. So it is a good to see an article that pushes CEIP usage.
VMworld 2017 Veeam Recap - Breakouts, Techtalks and final thoughts
Anthony has a nice review of VMworld but also a great collection of links if you need to catch up on either VMware or Veeam stuff. Nice job! I do agree that VMworld was definitely buzzing, and was very enjoyable. The time between the two was not perfect, but next year EMEA will be in November so from one extreme to another.
Slides from my VMworld 2017 Sessions are now available
Cormac has shared out his VMworld session slides - some very good info!
My thoughts and observations on VMworld 2017
A very nice rundown on VMworld US 2017 with good info.
vRealize Suite Lifecycle Manager - Simplified Management for your vRealize Investment
This sounds pretty good, and a little familiar too, but I am not sure if I have access to it via vExpert or my employer. If it can install vRealize Automation, and vRealize Ops and allow me to configure it all once, and supports customization but consistent installs it is going to be interesting. I hope that it has the ability to be used by partners as I think that will be another good use case. And yes, I do see the humor of having to invent and produce a tool like this to install other tools. But it does look interesting anyway. Here is the release notes and bits.
CCleaner Command and Control causes Concern
Most certainly. In this article it shows how very specific companies - like VMware and Cisco were targeted. Quite worrisome actually and pretty well done from what I can tell.
Veeam Powered Network: Quick Video Walkthrough
Anthony has an article / video on PN which I think is very important for home lab users that need an easy and powerful VPN connection that is easy to configure and consume. This free tool is very handy in a variety of situations.
Canary
This is not the security gadget I have bought before, and talked about, but rather a new honeypot type of security gadget. It is both an appliance and a service. You can configure the honeypot to be what you need - say an SQL server, and it will be very carefully monitored. In fact, if hacked you can - as part of a service, have the vendor try to backtrack the hack. At a minimum you will be alerted that you have been hacked and have the knowledge on how to block it. This is very interesting stuff actually. Here is the FAQ to learn more.
New Group of Iranian Hackers linked to destructive malware
And interesting read about a new group of hackers that are quietly going about their destructive work.
TFD15 Primer - Datacore
Matt has an article on Datacore - who will be on TFD15 later this month, and this software storage company has been around a long time. Interesting stuff.
Apple Watch - watchOS 4
I updated my watch to this release, and it took around an hour. But it was smooth and did not take much time on my part. You can learn more about this release in this article. As well, here is another review by a tough audience.
Apple Watch - Series 3
You can find a review of the new Apple watch hardware, and it looks mighty good indeed. An electronic SIM so less space and room is used means LTE is possible and from what I see and hear it has pretty good call quality. It sounds like there is significant processor improvement as well and I think I heard at the keynote that it is more waterproof too. Which all sounds pretty good. BTW, here is another interesting review.
Secret Apple Watch controls: How to use the Digital Crown and side button
Some very good watch usage info in one article. If you have an Apple Watch, and use it for only a few things, this article will help you understand awhat else is possible in terms of controls.
Apple TV 4K Review: So close, so far
An interesting review of the new Apple TV. It was in fact the first thing I bought after I watched the keynote. Same price for HDR movies, and any movies you already own will be upgraded to HDR. I already see a lot of interesting movies as HDR now including a bunch I own already. Of course I have to buy a new TV now. In our house we watch mostly iTunes, and then some NetFlix. Will see how this goes. Will share.
iOS 11.0
I did the upgrade on several devices, and wrote about it here. But you can learn if you should upgrade, here is an interesting list of 11 things about it you should know, an in-depth review, and an article about the new Control Center. As I mention elsewhere I used a number of the betas and so I got used to the new control center and now quite like it. And the drag and drop is something. If you have an iPad you really need to upgrade. And for the security fixes, you need to update anyway. I have heard that some people with iPhone 6 have laggy screens. Do not do OTA upgrades but only via iTunes and you will have the best chance to have no issues.
The iOS 11 Control Center misleads users on whether Bluetooth and Wifi are on
In this article it does explain something new about iOS 11. In the Control Center if you turn off wifi (or bluetooth) it actually doesn’t turn it off but disconnects you from it. But it is still on to make it easy for you to connect again. And as you might expect, in Airplane mode it is all off.
Is the Enterprise Ready for iOS 11?
This was an unexpected find, and is interesting and has some good points. Is the enterprise ready?
Review: iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus
The X is too expensive for me, and so I was not sure if I should buy anything. But when I read this article about the iPhone 8 I was pretty impressed. Here is a review of this new phone by Tom’s Guide. Here is a performance review of the iPhone 8 that was done. These three articles are what convinced me to buy the iPhone 8 and NOT the iPhone X. It should be home by the end of the week!
Anker Premium Charger
Thanks to Joe Baguley I learned about this new interesting charger. It has the ability to charge a new MBP, as well as other devices like iPads and iPhones, and it seems to do intelligent charging depending on the device. I did buy one, and will let you know how it goes. It will likely be home before me.
Thanks for reading or skimming this far!
Michael
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