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Virtualization - current trends

22. June 2012 Admin Virtualization (0)

​A survey of 350+ IT professionals from the US, United Kingdom, Japan and Germany to determine current perceptions and utilization of virtualization practices was recently concluded. Here are the findings: 

Server virtualization is a growing trend in enterprise IT. Within the next year, IT professionals anticipate that virtualized machines will outnumber physical, non‐virtualized machines. And while virtualization technology offers many benefits, there are also a number of challenges.

Understanding IT Virtualization

 
Virtualization is part of an overall trend in enterprise IT. Qualified survey participants were IT professionals whose primary job responsibility included server virtualization in companies where virtualized servers are protected by antimalware security software and have been in production/deployed for at least 3 months..
 
As expected, server virtualization is widely embraced in today’s marketplace. In addition to virtualized servers, some 70% of the survey respondents also indicated their organization has already deployed or is currently piloting Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technology. 

High Level of Virtualization across Server Workloads

 
When asked to identify the specific server workloads that are virtualized within their organization, it is apparent that organizations are working hard to virtualize many different server workloads. Currently database, apps, and virtual desktops are the most commonly virtualized server workloads.
 
In general, US enterprises tended to be further along in their adoption of virtualization technologies, than their counterparts in Germany, UK, or Japan. In fact, more than 50% of the US respondents indicated their organizations had successfully virtualized one or more of the server workloads listed above; almost 40% had virtualized the following:
 
1.     Database
2.     Apps
3.     Virtual Desktops
4.     Email
5.     File
6.     Collaboration
7.     Web
8.     Print
9.     FTP
10.  DNS
11.  Proxy
 
But the other countries weren’t far behind. More than 50% of the international respondents indicated their company had 5 or more server workloads virtualized. And of the respondents who indicated their organization currently has more physical un‐virtualized host servers than virtualized machines, some 60% said they expect that to flip‐flop within the next year, with virtualized machines soon outnumbering un‐virtualized servers.
 
Server virtualization managers were in agreement that the most common critical resource within their virtual environment was the CPU. Memory and I/O were also highlighted as critical resources for specific types of workloads.
  
The average peak utilization level of their virtualized server was fairly consistent when working with all of the server workloads: anywhere from 60‐80%.

Click right! Right Clicks in Word, Excel and Outlook

22. June 2012 Admin End User Productivity, Office, Tips & Tricks (0)

Microsoft Office programs are so packed full of right-click menus that you may never need to use the ribbon again. Give it a try. 

In a Microsoft Word table, right-click and you’ll be able to do all sorts of table formatting, directly from the shortcut menu. For example, you can insert and delete rows, columns, and cells, add borders and shading, and adjust the width of the table.
 
Screen shot of Word doc with shortcut menu
 
Microsoft Execl, you can format cells with a right-click. The exact commands you see on the menu depend on where you click in the spreadsheet. For example, you can easily filter or sort a list from a right-click.
 
Screen shot of Excel spreadsheet with shortcut menu
 
Microsoft Outlook also has lots of useful right-click menus. For instance, you can right-click the Inbox to create more folders in your folder list—an excellent way to organize and keep on top of your email messages.
 
Screen shot of Outlook tabs with shortcut menu

Make consistent style changes on all slides using the slide master

11. June 2012 Admin End User Productivity, Office, Tips & Tricks (0)

​Sometimes PowerPoint users forget that changes to features, like bullet styles and indentations, don’t have to be made on every slide—they need be made only once, on the slide master. The PowerPoint slide master stores information about the theme and slide layouts of presentations, including backgrounds, colors, fonts, effects, placeholder sizes, and positioning. Using the slide master can give you peace of mind as you make a presentation, because you know your slides will be consistently formatted.

Note: These slide master instructions are for PowerPoint 2010 and PowerPoint 2007.
 

 

To make changes to PowerPoint themes or layouts, from anywhere within your presentation, click the View tab, and then click Slide Master. You will see a slide master, as shown here.

The PowerPoint slide master stores information for your entire presentation.

 

The slide master includes placeholders showing the layout of text on the slides and the style in which text will be formatted. The slide master includes corresponding layouts to accommodate different types of information. You can apply a layout to a selected slide in Normal view: On the Home tab, in the Slides group, click the arrow next to the Layout icon.
Remember that changes you make to the layout or formatting on the slide master are automatically applied to all the slides in your presentation. If you want to change the placement or text styles for a specific slide only, select that slide, and work in Normal view. Then, make any of the types of changes mentioned here.

 

To change the bullet style for all first-level bullets in a presentation, make the change on the slide master:
  1. From anywhere within your presentation, click the View tab, and then click Slide Master.
  2. Click anywhere in the first bullet.
  3. Click the Home tab.
  4. In the Paragraph group, click the arrow beside the Bullets icon and then click Bullets and Numbering.
  5. Select the bullet style and attributes you want for your first-level bullets, and then click OK.

    You can change the style for all first-level bullets in your presentation.
In a similar way, you can make other adjustments to the style and format of the slide master, using formatting options on the Home tab. For example, you can change the text color and size, and you can change the indentation of the bullets from the Paragraph dialog box.

 

You can use slide masters for a lot more than adding repeated information or changing formatting, too.