Pierre Reynes's Old Weblog

How to run Windows for FREE using VirtualBox

By CNET TV, how to use VirtualBox to run Windows for free in a Virtual machine.

 Link to CNET Video

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Video on Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center

Here is a Video on the Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center:

Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center Open For Business

Yesterday, Friday March 7, 2008 was a big day for the Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center: It was the Grand Opening by Bob Kelly, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and Lisa Sieker, Sun Microsystems Systems Marketing Vice President.

The Interoperability Center extends the Sun presence on the Microsoft campus in Redmond. It will allow Sun and Microsoft to make sure that their respective products work well together in many critical areas for customers of both companies, such as Virtualization, Java, Systems Management, Identity,... Another of the lab's mission is proof-of-concept testing which will leverage both Microsoft's EEC and Sun's Solutions Centers.

The Center is now open for business!

 It was a great day for both companies. After the ribbon cutting ceremony we had a demonstration of the Sun Ray thin client in the Windows environment. Many Microsoft engineers were very enthusiastic about the Sun Ray technology. We then had a number of meetings and product presentations.

 Here is Trevor showing the internals of the Sun Fire X4450 (See Can your 2U Server do that?)

Finally Bob Kelly mentioned needing his haircut refreshed. Lisa Sieker, women of many talents, quickly fixed that little issue. ;-)

Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center Build Out Phase II

This is our second trip to Redmond to work on the Sun/Microsoft Interoperability center. A number of additional systems have been delivered since the holiday break. We are going to spend the next two days assembling, racking and cabling these puppies. These new systems create a lot of excitement around us because of their unique and innovative designs.  For example one of the stars is the Sun Fire X4500 data server that packs 48 disk drives and a 2-socket x64 server in a 4U form factor.

Here is a couple of Sun Fire X4500's sitting next to part of the ST6140 storage array.

As we go in the storage room downstairs, we find some Sun Fire X4450 (2U, 4 sockets) and Sun Fire X4600 (4U, 8 sockets) x64 servers. Here is Bill moving a 50+ Kg X4600 with just two fingers...

Also waiting for us are some Sun Blade 6000 chassis and blades. The 6000 chassis can host up to 10 blades (a. k. a. Server Modules) with either Sun UltraSPARC T2, AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon processors.

Some of the systems require assembly. For those that thought that a 2U high rackmount server is a small server, think again. The Sun Fire X4450 server packs 4 Quad-Core Xeon 7300 processors (that is 16 computing cores) with 32 DIMM slots (that is up to 128 GB of RAM using 4 GB DIMMs), 6 PCIe expansion slots and 8 internal SAS disk drives! Need to see it to believe it? Here is Trevor loading memory in a X4450. The 4 CPUs are located under the memory tray.

As we go back to the EEC data center to rack the new systems, I try to keep up with Trevor "Flash" McGill as he racks and cables everything in no time. Here he is racking a ST6140 Storage Array in .037 sec. I had to set my camera to a special action sport setting to capture this shot.

At the end of day 2 we have all the new gear racked and cabled. Part of the storage will be directly attached to the servers. Here are some Sun Fire X4450 servers with Sun StorageTek 2530 arrays directly connected. At the bottom are the rack power distribution units with the power switches ready to be turned ON.

At the bottom of the next rack is a Sun Blade 6000 chassis and blades ready to go. Bill and Trevor looking at a job well done.

The racks in the MPSC also received several additional systems, including a Sun Blade 6000 chassis.

The next and final steps will be to configure the networks and systems for remote management (all Sun x64 systems include a fully featured Service Processor with KVM over IP) and OS provisioning, then test the storage and we will be ready to go. Some of the systems are actually already running as I am typing this...

To be continued...

Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center Build Out

The last few days were pretty exciting as I was in Redmond on Microsoft's main campus where we are building the Sun/Microsoft Interoperability Center. You might recall Sun and Microsoft announcing the Interoperability Center on September 12, 2007 as part of the announcement "Microsoft and Sun Expand Strategic Alliance".

The campus in Redmond, and particularly building 25, is nothing new to me as I already had the pleasure to work with John Cressey's team to install several racks of Sun gear in the Microsoft EEC in March 2005. The main focus at the time was to allow customers to run proof of concepts using Microsoft software and Sun x64 systems and storage, thanks to the EEC infrastructure. The new Interop center is a lot more ambitious and leverages both the Enterprise Engineering Center (EEC) and the Microsoft Partner Solution Center (MPSC).

So here I am again in the lobby of building 25, looking at the same gigantic EEC and MPSC signs hanging in front of the tall glass wall.

First I had to go and say "hello" to old friends in the EEC data center... They will soon be upgraded with Sun's greatest and latest but will continue being used by the EEC.

This view is from the inside of the EEC training room. Here is a wider shot. They look pretty good I have to say.

Inside the EEC, we were greeted with a nice Sun logo. This screen actually plays a presentation looping through the logos of all the EEC partnering vendors.

As we enter the EEC setup lab, we find all the Sun systems and racks recently delivered.
For the next two days, we will be upgrading and installing Sun Fire X2200 M2 servers, Sun Fire X4150 servers, Sun StorageTek 2530 Arrays, Sun Ultra 40 M2 workstations and Sun Fire X4500 data servers in several Sun Rack 1000-42 cabinets. This is only the beginning. During our next visit we will be installing many additional systems, including, and not limited to, the extremely dense 2U 4-socket Sun Fire X4450 servers, the powerful  8-socket Sun Fire X4600 server and the high price/performance Sun StorageTek 6140 Array.

Here is a pile of Sun Fire X4150 servers, memory DIMMs, tool-less rackmount kits and a Sun Rack 1000-42 waiting to be put together.

On the left are some Sun StorageTek 2530 arrays and on the right some Sun Fire X2200 M2 servers, all waiting to be racked.

 The team is working fast and the servers are quickly upgraded with additional memory and drives and then installed in the racks. Here are Bill Channell, Alan McFarland, Wayne Brady and Brian McBride unpacking the X4150's.

The Sun Fire X4150 servers are loaded with memory. These 1U 2-socket servers support 16 DIMMs, 8 disk drives and 3 PCIe cards! Notice the nice clean design with virtually no cables except for the SAS cables going to the RAID HBA.

Trevor "Flash" McGill was working at the speed of light! I couldn't get a clear shot of him, this is the best I could do. ;-)

Alicia Kreshock gave us a hand and even paid for lunch, thanks again Alicia! Things were moving along pretty quickly.

And here is the end result (for now). Sun Rack 1000-42 cabinets installed in the EEC Data Center.

 And more Sun racks installed in the MPSC.

 This is just the beginning, there is a lot more to come...