Hello all,
I hope that this finds you all well, and safe. It was an odd week for me, I was off but not really off. So my wife and I did some walks, visited the mountains, and did some orienteering as well. Back to work on Monday. Still work at home for a long while yet. I think October is the time that NetApp people are back in the office. But I am home office based so no big deal, but I do miss visiting customers - a lot!
I wrote an article about how to do multi-tier app DR orchestrated failovers fast, and another article about how to get a domain controller safely into a test failover. I have a range of cool stuff to share and I hope everyone finds some useful info.
Have a great week,
Michael
Updated VMware HCX R141
You can find the release notes on this new update. This release adds additional OS support which is good.
vSphere 7
This article links to a lot of vSphere 7 blogs. It is a very nice way to learn more about vSphere 7 - and make no mistake - it is a big release with lots to learn.
Five of my favorite enhancements in vSphere 7
William has his list in this article. I really like his first one as I found that in beta and really liked it.
vSphere 7 - API’s, Code Capture, and Developer Center
Nigel has an article all about this. I am glad code capture is included! But some good reminders.
How to Install or Upgrade ESXi 7.0b on 10th Gen Intel NUC
You can get some help with this issue in this article. Good info as it is nice to have options.
vSphere 6.7 U2 & Later CPU Scheduler modes: Default, SCA v1, and SCA v2
This article will educate about CPU scheduler which is a big part of virtualization.
Configuring NSX-T 3.0 Stretched Networking
This article will help you do stretched networking in NSX-T 3.0.
Cloud Director NSX-T inter-tenant routing
This article will help with doing some interesting routing in vCD.
Data Protection Partner Assets for vSAN
Thanks to Jeff I saw this collection of info which I think is pretty useful. Handy link for customers looking for new backup tools which are supported.
VMware Tanzu Mission Control Gains Data Protection
This is very good news and for more info check out this article.
PowerShell Performance Tuning
This article is about making PowerShell process faster. Not really important in my lab, but in bigger environments it would be a big deal.
Using Terraform to Deploy the Site Recovery Manager 8.3 Appliance
David has an article to help you with this. Very cool.
Breaking: VMware Announces Intent to Acquire Datrium to Provide DRaaService for Hybrid Cloud Environments
This article definitely caught me by surprise. I did not expect it. But I think it might be good for customers so that is good. They do seem to have a powerful and useful DR orchestration tool.
The 2020 Guide to Building Your Digital Workspace Solution
This article has some good points. And looking out in time I think they have it right.
Runecast Awarded CIS Certification
I am a big fan of Runecast and so it was nice to see that they were certified by CIS in this article.
New ‘EvilQuest’ ransomware is actively targeting macOS users in the wild.
This is new ransomware that is aimed right at Mac. It seems like it is distributed via pirated software. It not only encrypts your stuff but it also steals cryptocurrency wallets. If you stick to the Mac App Store, or third-party developers you trust, you should be able to avoid it.
Best Antivirus Software for Mac in 2020
This article talks about a number of different Anti-malware tools for the Mac. And they like best BitDefender which I agree with and use on my personal Macs. I also like Trend and Norton.
Apple began work on the Watch’s handwashing feature years before Covid-19
The next release of the watchOS will include support for a hand-washing app that will help you / monitor your hand-washing. This article talks about it.
Rene Ritchie: macOS Big Sur redesign - Explained
This article talks about the design of Big Sur. I have been using it for a while and I like it. It works.
More Big Sur-prises: Password Autofill on macOS
This article highlights something I did not hear at WWDC. The password autofill will be in more apps, but also, you will be able to use a password manager as the data source. I think that this is very big, and most excellent. It will be easier for people to use strong passwords and it may even be better security.
Hands-on with iOS 14’s Sound Recognition feature that listens for doorbells, smoke alarms, and more
I thought this was a very good Accessibility feature. The iPhone - with iOS 14 - can listen for certain noises and alert you to them. See more on this in this article.
Apple engineer, product manager discuss Scribble on iPadOS 14
This article talks about this new feature but it seems to already work good in the beta and I can see it being quite useful. Here is another article that is about testing scribble.
Apple Photos: What can you do if you crop out details and later want them back?
This has happened to me before, and so it was cool to see this article on the subject. It makes total sense to me that Apple would have a way to deal with this.
All the ways Siri is changing in iOS 14
This article talks about the changes but I can confirm they are nice changes. I really like how it doesn’t take over the whole UI but rather has a small card with the answer.
How to update from the iOS 14 beta to the official release
This article will help you with this situation - which is not dire.
Apple promises faster software update installation with macOS Big Sur
This was sort of a funny article to see, I had heard it already, but the upgrade to the first dev beta of Big Sur was the slowest upgrade I remember.
Here’s how Apple’s new Car Key feature works and when you be able to use it
I thought this was cool when I saw it demoed. It was not just about opening and starting a car but controling who you share a key with and the limits on the key. See this article for more info. Really not sure how many cars will support this or how quick.
Apple adds APFS encrypted drive support to iOS 14 and APFS Time Machine backups to macOS Big Sur
This article talks about some good news. The Files app on iOS 14 will be able to access encrypted drives, and macOS Big Sur will be able to Time Machine to APFS volumes which doesn’t work now.
Veeam Backup for Azure - Integrating with Veeam Backup and Replication
Dean has the story in this article. It is an interesting series. BTW, here is the restore article.
v11 VeeamON Enhancements in Focus
Anthony talks of some of the stuff from VeeamON. Pretty darn cool - I am a big fan of CDP as I worked on it a lot. Plus a macOS agent!
Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave
Thanks to Danny for this unusual but very interesting article. Some quite good points in it, and a nice reminder of the history that I lived and worked through.
Better Collaboration Between Security & Development
Thanks to Danny who shared out this article. I quite agree with the article. When I worked at VMware, I saw on occasion the security guys speaking to the dev staff about more security development. Was very popular.
Do the Three
This article has some good points if you are starting out in IT or business.
Why Security is Hard
Yes it is. This article is about some things we know and some we don’t. Makes some good points too. I would like to hear about their product.
Thanks for reading or skimming this far,
Michael
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