I think that right now, the esx installation guide is available only as a pdf. Their documentation team sent me a link to an html version. But it's not on the main esx documentation page. That was probably just an oversight. IMO, it's not just for accessibility that companies should supply their docs in html format. You also get the advantage that google indexes each page. So google searches are more likely to find the exact info you want rather than pointing you to a whole 100 page pdf document. Do you get what I'm saying? If I google for "vmware iscsi" it finds the vmware installation guide but that's a 100 page pdf doc. To get to the page on ISCSI I still have to drill down to the right page. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive. Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances that can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

I guess I don't see the concern with PDFs. I usually just convert them to another format like word or even text in some cases. I search through a word document using find then I place a bookmark at the passage I want. I have found not all documents are going to be in html so I work with them any way I can, including changing the format. Greg B. Greg L. Bobo Customer Service Matrix Systems, Inc. 7550 Paragon Rd. Dayton, OH 45459 937.438.9033 x2228 office 937.438.0900 fax www.matrixsys.com -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:04 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation I think that right now, the esx installation guide is available only as a pdf. Their documentation team sent me a link to an html version. But it's not on the main esx documentation page. That was probably just an oversight. IMO, it's not just for accessibility that companies should supply their docs in html format. You also get the advantage that google indexes each page. So google searches are more likely to find the exact info you want rather than pointing you to a whole 100 page pdf document. Do you get what I'm saying? If I google for "vmware iscsi" it finds the vmware installation guide but that's a 100 page pdf doc. To get to the page on ISCSI I still have to drill down to the right page. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive.

Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH

interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances that can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote

admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

Which pdf to text converter are you using? I've already run several on the esx docs and none of them gave satisfactory results. Even google's html converter can't figure out the vmware esx 3.5 installation manual. Do a google search for "site:vmware.com ESX Server 3 Installation Guide" and then click on "view as html" on the first match. You'll get a document with lots of links but no access to the text. Click the links and you are just returned to the top of the same page. The conversion tools I've tried gave similar results. Links but not text. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bobo, Greg" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 10:41 AM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

I guess I don't see the concern with PDFs. I usually just convert them to another format like word or even text in some cases. I search through a word document using find then I place a bookmark at the passage I want. I have found not all documents are going to be in html so I work with them any way I can, including changing the format.

Greg B.

Greg L. Bobo Customer Service Matrix Systems, Inc. 7550 Paragon Rd. Dayton, OH 45459 937.438.9033 x2228 office 937.438.0900 fax www.matrixsys.com

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 11:04 AM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

I think that right now, the esx installation guide is available only as a pdf. Their documentation team sent me a link to an html version. But it's not on the main esx documentation page. That was probably just an oversight.

IMO, it's not just for accessibility that companies should supply their docs in html format. You also get the advantage that google indexes each page. So google searches are more likely to find the exact info you want rather than pointing you to a whole 100 page pdf document.

Do you get what I'm saying? If I google for "vmware iscsi" it finds the vmware installation guide but that's a 100 page pdf doc. To get to the page on ISCSI I still have to drill down to the right page.

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

...

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive.

...

Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH

...

interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances that can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote

...

admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

Do you have experience with vmware esx and configuring an ISCSI array? That's what I'm going to need to do. I've been diggling around with an evaluation copy of esx 3.5. But i'm thinking I might be better off starting with one of the lesser products intended for a workstation. What I would really like to know is if I play with vmware workstation, will what I learn be useful to me when learning esx? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive. Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances that can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive. Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances

Hi, So which Iscsi array are you using and how are you finding it? Andrew. -----Original Message----- From: Ryan Shugart [mailto:rshugart@pcisys.net] Sent: 15 August 2008 02:27 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware (was: buying documentation) Hi John: I actually configured VMWare ESX to work with an ISCSI array just last week. Actually, understanding the principles of ISCSI is harder than getting VMWare to work with it, and speaking as someone who'd never worked with ISCSI before I had it up and running inside of 4 hours, including setting up the ISCSI target. How much experience with ISCSI do you have outside of VMWare? In general, yes, if you had VMWare workstation some of the concepts would carry over such as how VMs are stored and the things you can do with VMs. However, VMWare Workstation and VMWare ESX are two very different products with two different goals. Unless you've never worked with any kind of virtual machine before, I'm not sure there's much of a point with you starting out with workstation. Even if you have never done anything with virtual machines, you won't gain too much with workstation in terms of skills with ESX, although Workstation is a nice product to work with in its own right. Depending on how much time you have, I'd get VMWare ESX up and running using local storage, make sure you're comfortable with managing local storage including creating VMFS volumes and managing them, and then bring in the ISCSI stuff. The VIC can seem daunting at first from an accessibility standpoint simply because its so busy and there aren't as many keyboard commands as there s hould be. If you've got a virtual center server its even worse. However, take it from someone who has been working with ESX for over a year its very doable if you just take time to learn it. You should be comfortable with your screen reader's mouse commands, and have an overall idea of your architecture, but there's nothing that's not doable with time. Also if you have Linux experience, you can log into the service console and run a lot of commands from there. The service console is NOT a 100% replacement for the VIC GUI though. Hope this helps. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:59 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware (was: buying documentation) Do you have experience with vmware esx and configuring an ISCSI array? That's what I'm going to need to do. I've been diggling around with an evaluation copy of esx 3.5. But i'm thinking I might be better off starting with one of the lesser products intended for a workstation. What I would really like to know is if I play with vmware workstation, will what I learn be useful to me when learning esx? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation that

can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins -- allpay.net Limited, Fortis et Fides, Whitestone Business Park, Whitestone, Hereford, HR1 3SE. Registered in England No. 02933191. UK VAT Reg. No. 666 9148 88. Telephone: 0870 243 3434, Fax: 0870 243 6041. Website: www.allpay.net Email: enquiries@allpay.net This email, and any files transmitted with it, is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the allpay.net Information Security Manager at the number above.

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive. Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances

Hi Andrew: I've actually used two arrays, both software based. I used Datacore's SanMelody software to talk to VMWare with no issues, and a demo NexentaStore appliance with the one issue that raw device mappings didn't work. In both cases I did most of the configuration on the target, and then told ESX to find the LUN, and in both cases it found the LUN I'd set aside for it on the target right away. We're evaluating various ISCSI solutions, and are probably going to go with the Storage Director Z300 running NexentaStore from PogoLinux option as it's a more tipical appliance formfactor, and 9TB at $12000 including onsight support isn't anything to sneeze at. Ryan Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Hodgson Sent: Friday, August 15, 2008 1:17 AM To: blind-sysadmins Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware (was: buying documentation) Hi, So which Iscsi array are you using and how are you finding it? Andrew. -----Original Message----- From: Ryan Shugart [mailto:rshugart@pcisys.net] Sent: 15 August 2008 02:27 To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware (was: buying documentation) Hi John: I actually configured VMWare ESX to work with an ISCSI array just last week. Actually, understanding the principles of ISCSI is harder than getting VMWare to work with it, and speaking as someone who'd never worked with ISCSI before I had it up and running inside of 4 hours, including setting up the ISCSI target. How much experience with ISCSI do you have outside of VMWare? In general, yes, if you had VMWare workstation some of the concepts would carry over such as how VMs are stored and the things you can do with VMs. However, VMWare Workstation and VMWare ESX are two very different products with two different goals. Unless you've never worked with any kind of virtual machine before, I'm not sure there's much of a point with you starting out with workstation. Even if you have never done anything with virtual machines, you won't gain too much with workstation in terms of skills with ESX, although Workstation is a nice product to work with in its own right. Depending on how much time you have, I'd get VMWare ESX up and running using local storage, make sure you're comfortable with managing local storage including creating VMFS volumes and managing them, and then bring in the ISCSI stuff. The VIC can seem daunting at first from an accessibility standpoint simply because its so busy and there aren't as many keyboard commands as there s hould be. If you've got a virtual center server its even worse. However, take it from someone who has been working with ESX for over a year its very doable if you just take time to learn it. You should be comfortable with your screen reader's mouse commands, and have an overall idea of your architecture, but there's nothing that's not doable with time. Also if you have Linux experience, you can log into the service console and run a lot of commands from there. The service console is NOT a 100% replacement for the VIC GUI though. Hope this helps. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:59 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware (was: buying documentation) Do you have experience with vmware esx and configuring an ISCSI array? That's what I'm going to need to do. I've been diggling around with an evaluation copy of esx 3.5. But i'm thinking I might be better off starting with one of the lesser products intended for a workstation. What I would really like to know is if I play with vmware workstation, will what I learn be useful to me when learning esx? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation that

can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

_______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins -- allpay.net Limited, Fortis et Fides, Whitestone Business Park, Whitestone, Hereford, HR1 3SE. Registered in England No. 02933191. UK VAT Reg. No. 666 9148 88. Telephone: 0870 243 3434, Fax: 0870 243 6041. Website: www.allpay.net Email: enquiries@allpay.net This email, and any files transmitted with it, is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this email in error please notify the allpay.net Information Security Manager at the number above. _______________________________________________ Blind-sysadmins mailing list Blind-sysadmins@lists.hodgsonfamily.org http://lists.hodgsonfamily.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-sysadmins

Hi John: I actually configured VMWare ESX to work with an ISCSI array just last week. Actually, understanding the principles of ISCSI is harder than getting VMWare to work with it, and speaking as someone who'd never worked with ISCSI before I had it up and running inside of 4 hours, including setting up the ISCSI target. How much experience with ISCSI do you have outside of VMWare? In general, yes, if you had VMWare workstation some of the concepts would carry over such as how VMs are stored and the things you can do with VMs. However, VMWare Workstation and VMWare ESX are two very different products with two different goals. Unless you've never worked with any kind of virtual machine before, I'm not sure there's much of a point with you starting out with workstation. Even if you have never done anything with virtual machines, you won't gain too much with workstation in terms of skills with ESX, although Workstation is a nice product to work with in its own right. Depending on how much time you have, I'd get VMWare ESX up and running using local storage, make sure you're comfortable with managing local storage including creating VMFS volumes and managing them, and then bring in the ISCSI stuff. The VIC can seem daunting at first from an accessibility standpoint simply because its so busy and there aren't as many keyboard commands as there should be. If you've got a virtual center server its even worse. However, take it from someone who has been working with ESX for over a year its very doable if you just take time to learn it. You should be comfortable with your screen reader's mouse commands, and have an overall idea of your architecture, but there's nothing that's not doable with time. Also if you have Linux experience, you can log into the service console and run a lot of commands from there. The service console is NOT a 100% replacement for the VIC GUI though. Hope this helps. Ryan -----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2008 3:59 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] vmware (was: buying documentation) Do you have experience with vmware esx and configuring an ISCSI array? That's what I'm going to need to do. I've been diggling around with an evaluation copy of esx 3.5. But i'm thinking I might be better off starting with one of the lesser products intended for a workstation. What I would really like to know is if I play with vmware workstation, will what I learn be useful to me when learning esx? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ryan Shugart" To: "Blind sysadmins list" Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 8:38 PM Subject: Re: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Hi John: Well, in the case of VMWare, VMWare has a lot of good documentation, including their installing and configuration guides, available on their web site for free. Many books are available in browsable HTML and downloadable PDF forms, I don't know specifically about the install guide. They aren't the most accessible, but on the other hand I've been able to work my way through them with time if that says anything, so none of them are to the unusable point. If you're into ebooks though, two good sources are bookshare (http://www.bookshare.org) and for specific technical books try http://safari.oreilly.com I've used Safari, and while the main stream site doesn't give you accessible books, you can contact them, tell them you use a screen reader and they'll let you into a special site that has accessible versions of the content for no extra charge. Overall, Orielly is one of the most blind friendly book publishers I know of, although they are expensive. Its worth it though. Finally, there are several of us on this list who work with VMWare, including myself, so if you have questions I'm sure we would be more than happy to do the best we can to answer. I myself work with VMWare on a daily basis at work, and use all their tools, the SSH interface, the VIC, etc. and do so successfully with minor annoyances that can be major depending on how much pressure you're under, but have never left the annoyance relm for me. Ryan

-----Original Message----- From: blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org [mailto:blind-sysadmins-bounces@lists.hodgsonfamily.org] On Behalf Of John Heim Sent: Wednesday, August 13, 2008 1:14 PM To: Blind sysadmins list Subject: [Blind-sysadmins] buying documentation

Anybody have experience buying books on-line? I guess I'm going to need to buy a book on installing & configuring vmware esx. I have been struggling just to get it installed. I'm going to have to learn about the remote admin tools and how to get it to talk to an ISCSI array.

I'm worried that if I buy an e-book, I'll end up with the equivalent of a pdf document.

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