Install HP ESXi Offline Bundle for VMware ESXi 4.1

Prerequisites

• vSphere Command-Line Interface (vSphere CLI) on a Microsoft Windows computer.
• HP ESXi bundle zip file (e.g. hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip)

Procedure

1. Power off any VMs that are running on the host.

2. Place the host into maintenance mode.

3. Find out which bulletins are applicable to the ESXi host.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --scan --bundle <local_path>/hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip

4. (Optional) List all the bulletins that are available in the bundle.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --list --bundle <local_path>/hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip

5. Install bulletins from the bundle on the ESXi host.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --install --bundle <local_path>/hp-esxi4.1uX-bundle-1.0a.zip --bulletin bulletin1,bulletin2

if you omit the --bulletin argument, this command installs all the bulletins in the bundle.

6. Verify that the bulletins are installed on your ESXi host.

vihostupdate.pl --server <server> --query

Reference: see HP Installation Instructions for more details

Exchange Server 2010 RAM Recommendations

• 1GB per CPU core for Edge Transport and Hub Transport servers
• 2GB per core for Unified Messaging and Client Access servers
• For Mailbox servers, 4GB plus between 3MB and 30MB per mailbox (so somewhere between 7GB and 34GB for a 1,000-mailbox server)
• 2GB per core for servers that combine Hub Transport and Client Access servers
• For servers that combine the Mailbox role with other roles, a minimum of 8GB (4GB plus 3-30MB/mailbox)

Reference: Exchange 2010: Can You Have Too Much RAM? and Understanding Memory Configurations and Exchange Performance

Free CD, DVD, Blu-ray Disc Burner–True Burner

http://www.glorylogic.com/trueburner.html

How to Manage SQL Server Database Files

• Log files
• Query log space usage for every DB on the server: DBCC SQLPERF(‘logspace’)
• Add a log file to the DB: ALTER DATABASE dbname ADD LOG FILE(NAME = logicalname, FILENAME = ‘filepath’, SIZE = size, MAXSIZE = maxsize, FILEGROWTH = filegrowth)
• Modify auto growth: ALTER DATABASE dbname FILE (NAME = logicalname, AUTOGROW = size)
• Remove MAXSIZE limit: ALTER DATABASE dbname (NAME = logicalname, MAXSIZE = UNLIMITED)
• Prevent autogrow: ALTER DATABASE dbname (NAME = logicalname, AUTOGROW = 0)
• Data files
• the command is essentially the same with some new options (e.g. “TO FILEGROUP”).

How to Plan SQL Server Database Files

• Log files:
  • Place log files on a different physical partition than data files.
  • It’s not true – using several log files will get a performance gain – log files are written sequentially which means that each log file is filled up before the next one is written to.
• Data files:
  • Place data files on a different physical partition from log files.
  • It’s true – using several data files can get a performance gain – data files use an equal fill algorithm (all of the files are filled equally as much as possible).
• File growth:
  • Do not accept the defaults for file growth.
  • The best is to set both data and log files as large as possible – it can be very expensive (performance wise) to grow files
  • The next best is to set files to autogrow by fairly large predicable increments (grow data file by at least 1 GB).  It’s best to grow files by a specific value than by a percentage.
  • Set all data files to grow at the same rate, and all log files to grow at the same rate.  Data files don’t have to grow at the same rate as log files.

More details see http://www.petri.co.il/sql-server-database-files.htm

Picture Resizer–TinyPic

http://www.efpage.de/eTinypic.html

Free Disk Defragmentation Tool

• UltraDefrag: can defragment any system files including registry hives and paging file.
• Smart Defrag: has Auto Defrag feature – works automatically and quietly in the background.
• MyDefrag: see differences between Ultra Defrag and MyDefrag
• Defraggler: can specify to defrag one or more files.