Author: Jeffrey Hault

Broadcom purchased VMware on November 22, 2023.  The full weight of this event is now hitting the IT industry like a sledge hammer.  Broadcom has decided that they are really only interested in the top 600 customers of VMware and maybe the next 6000.  After that their attitude is that all other customers can go fly a kite or maybe jump off a bridge.  After your current support contract ends, there will be no future support for you.  If you are a small or medium sized IT shop like Nerds-On-Wheels.com, Inc., you need to find a replacement for all VMware implementations that you currently support.  This means that you will need to find, test and plan implementation of the alternatives.  This also means that we will need to prepare our customers for a large project expense that was not planned or budgeted for.  If there is not a “spare” server sitting around that is sufficient enough to temporarily host all of the VMs during the transition, you would likely be completely depending on the viability of your backups to restore to the new non-VMware host.  This also means that you would need to verify that your current backup solution supports your future hypervisor/host.

Unfortunately, Broadcom and VMware are private companies and they can choose to alienate as many customers as they choose.  I really would like to see a class action suit against Broadcom and VMware right away but I do not believe that this is a viable option for all of us who fall into the basket of “unwanted customers”.

The thing that is interesting in my mind is that I am not sure that we have ever contacted VMware support except for licensing issues for upgrading or downgrading when the portal did not work.  The knowledgebase and other forums have been all that we have ever needed when issues come up.  Broadcom/VMware could make a boatload of money off customers like us by selling renewals that do not include the ability to call for support.  Maybe give us a “lifeline” for when there is an unsolvable issue so that we can email a group that will research issues not in the knowledgebase.

As I see it, we all have a huge decision to make over the next 12 to 24 months.

Options:

1. Return to physical servers. This is cost prohibitive.
2. Microsoft Hyper-V. This is likely the best option.
3. Citrix Hypervisor. This will require more research.
4. Red Hat Enterprise Linux with Smart Virtualization.
5. Oracle VM Server. This will require more research.
6. XCP-ng. This is from a very small French company and claims to be Open Source.  Support from Vates is $2000 per year to start and multiplies from there.

If you have questions or would like to discuss your options, reach out to us on our contact page.

Because of the huge need for more users to work from home and access their work computers and or office data, Nerds-On-Wheels.com, Inc. has partnered with RemotePC for secure remote access to office computers.

If you have questions or need help setting up remote access to your office, contact us today for assistance.

Hello and thank you for being a past, current or future client with Nerds-On-Wheels.com, Inc.

 

This is a brief note to everyone as a reminder that we are always here to assist you with your technology needs.  During this time of panic and everyone adjusting to the ever changing situation caused by this pandemic we wanted to let you know that we can help to implement new workplace technologies to enable your users to either work from home or remotely access needed data from outside of the office with little to no compromise in security.

 

Now, more than ever, we all need to be aware of the threat to the security of our people and our data.  Hackers will be watching as many of us make changes to our networks and computers to adapt to this crisis.  Do not rush to make changes without consulting your technology service providers so that you can keep your data and your business safe from hackers.  No one wants to have their business survive this temporary crisis just to find out that hackers took over their network while no one was looking.

 

Like many other technology companies, Nerds-On-wheels.com, Inc. is here to help.  Do not hesitate to reach out to our team for assistance before you make drastic changes.  It is much easier to prepare before something happens rather than repair the damage after the damage has occurred.

Why is it that it seems Microsoft updates are more often than not causing issues for almost everyone?  The April Microsoft releases seem to affect almost every version of Windows and not in the same ways.  Windows 7 users who have certain versions of third party antivirus software installed experienced boot issues after the updates.  Windows 10 users with certain third party antivirus software installed experienced extreme slowdowns.  Windows Server versions have also experienced issues with boot up and login after these latest patches.

If you are experiencing issues after the week of April 8, 2019, it is likely that you have been hit with the latest Microsoft Alpha testing.  From our research and testing, we have determined that the following Windows updates can be an issue:  KB4493467, KB4493472, KB4493446, KB4493448 and KB4493435.  From our testing the best solution is to uninstall these patches and hide them from future installation.

If you are not computer savvy or are just not comfortable with the process of removing Microsoft patches, contact Nerds-On-Wheels.com, Inc. or a trusted computer expert for assistance.

 

What is next after SBS (Small Business Server)? Replacing SBS.

• Replacing SBS with Multiple Physical Servers?
• Replacing SBS with Virtualization?
• Replacing SBS with Cloud?

If you patched SBS 2008 to SP2 and Exchange Server to SP3, technically Microsoft ended mainstream support in 2015 for the operating system which was Windows Server 2008 (not R2).  Exchange Server 2007 SP3 mainstream support ended in April of 2012.

If you patched SBS 2011 to SP1 and Exchange Server to SP3, technically Microsoft ended mainstream support in 2015.

I realize that even SBS 2008 still works and Exchange Server 2007 still works.  The issue for both editions of Small Business Server is that the standards are changing for security and email but Microsoft is no longer providing updates for the SBS components that enable it to keep up.

So now the big question is what do you do as a replacement?  Below I will break down the basic pros and cons of the three options.

 

Replacing SBS with Multiple physical servers:  This involves setting up a minimum of two physical servers (one for active directory and one for exchange server).

Pros

1. You can implement Windows Server 2012R2 or Windows Server 2016 and update your domain functional level.
2. Because you are replacing Windows Server 2008 standard with Windows Server 2012R2 or 2016 you can now increase the RAM available to the OS as much as you like.
3. You can implement Exchange Server 2016 which will resolve all of those unpatched mail related issues.
4. You can dedicate as much RAM and CPU as you choose to Exchange because it will now be on a separate server and is no longer fighting SQL Server for RAM and processor.
5. Because you have separate physical servers you would have more redundancy.

Cons

1. You now need to purchase and support two or more physical servers.
2. If you try to do this on the cheap, you will be setting up file sharing on either the only active directory server or your Exchange Server.
3. If you choose to implement this the right way, you will need to purchase four or more servers.
4. Because you have separate physical servers you would have more potential points of failure.

 

Replacing SBS with Virtualization:  This involves utilizing special software or operating system to use one physical server and make it function like many.

Pros

1. All of the pros above still apply except for the separate hardware redundancy.
2. You only need to purchase one physical server.
3. If you choose a physical server with enough room for expansion, you can grow your network just by upgrading one server and buying more Windows licenses and CALs.
4. Because everything is in one physical server, there are fewer potential points of failure.
5. With one physical server the hardware maintenance is significantly less.
6. Once you virtualize all of your servers you can move them to new physical hardware by just powering them down and moving the virtual disk(s) to a different host server and power the servers back up. You no longer need to install the operating system fresh with new drivers and migrate your applications.
7. If you have a situation that requires more resources on one of your servers in a rush, all you need to do is power the server down and update the specifications to include more RAM or additional processors and power it back up. You could even borrow resources from another virtual server if needed without disassembling any server hardware to move RAM chips or processors.

Cons

1. There is one physical server so if there was a hardware issue that was not handled by the redundancies that was built into the server when purchased, all of your servers would be affected.

Replacing SBS with Cloud:  This involves moving all or most of your business applications to servers that are physically located at a hosting facility accessible over the Internet.

Pros

1. The upfront cost could be much less than purchasing any new physical hardware.
2. Since the servers are in the cloud, you would not have the onsite maintenance responsibility of the physical servers being onsite.

Cons

1. Because the servers are no longer yours, you would have the new expense of “renting” your servers every month.
2. Because the servers are no longer on premise, you will be completely dependent on your connectivity to your new hosting vendor. This means that if your Internet goes down, no one would have access to anything until the Internet connection is restored.
3. Even if you choose to move your applications to the cloud and your email to the cloud, you still will need some services locally onsite like DNS resolution, user logon security, file storage and data backup for the file storage. This means that you would still need a server onsite.

 

This is just a brief discussion of your options and their pros and cons.  Suffice it to say that you will need to make a decision on this soon if you are still depending on Small Business Server to run your business.  When you are ready to have that discussion, we will be here to help.

 

May your coffee always be leaded and your computer never infected . . .