Unifying VDI and Unified Communications for your Organization

Join eGroup & Katalyst Network Group throughout the Carolinas for our multi-city Cisco VXI/Post Citrix Synergy Road Show!

You will have the opportunity to participate in a “hands-on” demonstration and learn firsthand all of the exciting announcements made during Citrix’s Synergy Conference and Cisco’s Partner Summit.

You will also have the opportunity to experience Cisco’s Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI). VXI is an end-to-end systems approach powered by XenDesktop that delivers the next generation virtual workspace by unifying virtual desktops, voice, and video.

Learn how local companies eGroup and Katalyst work together to enable your organization to deliver true workforce mobility.

Each event includes a beer tasting, appetizers and giveaways!  Click on a city below to register:

6.4  Raleigh, NC
6.5  Charlotte, NC
6.6  Greenville, SC
6.7  Columbia, SC
6.8  Charleston, SC 

Join us for a complimentary webcast series with live Q&A.  Click on a title for more details and to register!

May 23: Best Practices for Virtualizing Oracle Database and Applications

Virtualization can improve IT efficiency, flexibility and availability, transforming service delivery while reducing costs. The inclusion of business-critical applications (BCA) such as Oracle Database and applications can deliver the most significant value to your business. However, many companies are cautious about including Oracle software in their virtualization roadmap because they lack specific in-house expertise to virtualize the infrastructure for Oracle or because of the perception of risk associated with these projects.

May 24: Introduction to Virtual Desktop Infrastructure with VMware View

Although the capital expenditures for traditional computers have decreased over time, the operational costs of managing these desktops have increased significantly because of the escalating complexity of tasks, labor costs and security concerns. End users are also tied to a single piece of hardware to access all their data and applications, which limits mobility and causes frustration. Learn how virtual desktops using VMware View™ can meet these challenges by providing end-user freedom while maintaining IT control.

May 30: Best Practices for Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange

Virtualization can improve IT efficiency, flexibility and availability, transforming service delivery while reducing costs. The inclusion of business-critical applications (BCA) such as Microsoft Exchange can deliver the most significant value to your business. However, many companies are cautious about including Microsoft Exchange in their virtualization roadmap because they lack specific in-house expertise to virtualize the infrastructure for Microsoft Exchange or because of the perception of risk associated with these projects.

May 31: Technical Deep Dive: Capacity Management with VMware vCenter Operations Management Suite 5.0

VMware has introduced new capabilities to allow VMware vSphere® administrators to proactively manage virtual infrastructure resources. When you right-size and optimize your infrastructure capacity you can increase virtual machine density and consolidation ratios by up to 30 percent, defer hardware and software purchases, and plan for upcoming virtualization projects more easily.

Learn from technical experts how you can take advantage of these new capacity management capabilities to ensure best performance and quality of service in a more cost-effective manner.

Mount Pleasant, South Carolina—March 3, 2012—eGroup, Inc., Technology Solutions for Serious Competitors, and Imprivata, the leader in secure access and collaboration for healthcare, today announced a partner relationship.

“The ability to securely access and collaborate on patient information, without interrupting workflow or detracting from care, is essential in the healthcare industry” said Mike Stokes, Director of Sales, eGroup. “We are always striving to provide a better customer experience, and our new relationship with Imprivata is another prime example of that.” Read more >>

VMware has recently added a couple of NEW promotions to their amazing “Cloud Infrastructure and Management”, “Cloud Application Platform”, and “Desktop and End User Computing” Promotions to kick off their 2nd Quarter.

Cloud Infrastructure and Management Promotions

NEW – 50% off vCenter Operations Management Advanced Edition

• May 1, 2012 – September 15, 2012
• Save 50% when you purchase vCenter Operations Management Advanced Edition.  Do you need high performance and resource efficiency in your vSphere environments?  Purchase now and save more than $1,500.

NEW – 25 Free Training Credits with vCenter Operations Management Enterprise Edition

• May 1, 2012 – September 15, 2012
• Receive 25 education credits ($2500 value) with a purchase of vCenter Operations Management Enterprise Edition licenses.  Limit one per customer.

Free Training with vSphere Acceleration Kit with Management

• February 1, 2012 – June 15, 2012
• Free Instructor-Led Training ($3,500 value) with Purchase of Any vSphere Acceleration Kit with Management!

Read more >>

I came across an issue with vCenter backups continually failing on Veeam Backup and Replication 5.0.   All the rest of the backups ran smoothly, but vCenter continually failed with an error message stating “VSSControl: Failed to freeze guest, wait timeout” and/or ”VSSFreezer: Failed to prepare guest, wait timeout 900 sec”.  As I investigated the issue, I uncovered that it could be one of two issues… Read more >>

Iomega’s StorCenter devices come with many great features that can be used for businesses and consumers.  Unfortunately, if these services are not being used they can negatively effect a device’s performance and should be disabled.

In the management interface (http://<IP/DNS name of device>/management.html) go to the “Protocols” section.  Within this screen, disable all of the network protocols that are not being used.

Also make sure to disable the Media Server if not being used.

With all of the extra processes disabled, the StorCenter device will be able to devote more resources to your critical workloads.

The Iomega StorCenter NAS devices are great appliances for SMBs to store, share, and backup their business critical files.  For this demonstration I’ll be using an ix4-200d Cloud Edition NAS appliance, but the interface options are common amongst most of the latest StorCenter devices.

1.) First, browse to the management interface of your StorCenter device (http://<IP address of device or DNS name of device>/manage.html.  Log-in with an administrative account.

2.) Next, select “Storage” in the left-side navigation menu, and “Shares” in the Storage section.

3.) Enter the name of your shared folder along with the necessary permissions.

4.) Once the folder has been created, click “Backup” and “Copy Jobs”.

5.) Proceed to name the copy job entering the address and user account of your backup storage device.

6.) Make sure to create a backup schedule, and test to job to verify success.

That’s it!  You now have a share folder location for your employees and a scheduled backup job of that folder.