Year: 2004

Opsware’s automation software for VMware virtual infrastructure automates the provisioning and management of VMware’s server product line, including VMware ESX Server and VMware GSX Server. Opsware demonstrated the new automation capabilities at the VMware user conference, VMworld 2004, held in San Diego, October 27th to 29th.

“VMware is the leading virtualization software on the market today, and a growing number of customers are asking for the ability to manage their virtual infrastructure as part of their broader environment,” said Tim Howes, CTO and EVP of Development for Opsware Inc. “The Opsware System enables customers to rapidly deploy VMware platform products and automate management of their virtual and physical infrastructure.”

“Demand for VMware virtual infrastructure continues to grow as IT organizations look to optimize server utilization rates, consolidate servers and achieve consistency in their environments,” said Brian Byun, Vice President of Alliances at VMware. “With Opsware automation, companies reduce costs by rolling out virtual infrastructure faster.”

The Opsware System automates provisioning of VMware virtual infrastructure. It also automates lifecycle management of each VMware virtual machine.

VSM: Could you briefly describe your role regarding MSVS 2005, and how long you have been working with server virtualization?

EB: My role is the group product manager in our Windows Management team and Virtual Server is one of the products that my team manages. Personally I have been involved with virtual machine technologies for about 4-5 years, including time with this product at Microsoft and with my previous company.

VSM: Can you tell us why Microsoft thinks it is important to be in the server virtualization arena?

EB: We have a broad initiative called the Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI), which is a holistic approach we are taking to help customers lower their costs and improve responsiveness associated with developing, deploying and operating their IT systems. A critical part of DSI is how we enable customers to more flexibly use the hardware on which they run their applications. A virtual machine solution like Virtual Server 2005 is a critical technology that addresses this need, and helps companies save up to 50% on hardware costs and improve IT responsiveness by reducing provisioning times by 50-85%.

VSM: What are the important features of MSVS 2005?

EB: In addition to the standard capabilities of virtual machine solutions such as hardware resource virtualization, policy based resource management, and support for a wide variety of storage and clustering options, the differentiating features of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 can be categorized in a few areas:

Easy to Deploy and Configure: With our rich scripting interface, called the COM API, we make it very easy for customers to automate the deployment and configuration of one or many virtual machines in their environment, and our flexible virtual networking support makes it simple to connect those virtual machines in a variety of combinations.
Easy to Manage: Virtual Server 2005 provides an easy-to-use Web-based administration tools for simple, out of the box management. In addition we have responded to the customer’s desire to manage physical and virtual machines from one console, and have integrated support for virtual machine management into our and partners’ standard management products, including Microsoft Operations Manager 2005, Systems Management Server 2003 and Windows Server 2003, Automated Deployment Services.
Easy to Use: With a unified, common Windows experience across the Virtual Server 2005 host and guest environments, we enable customers to leverage their experience and familiarity with working in a Windows environment.

VSM: How does it work?

EB: Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 installs on Windows Server 2003 and allows you to create independent, fully isolated virtual machines that run their own copy of the OS and applications – allowing you to more effectively utilize your existing hardware.

VSM: How complicated is the installation and deployment process?

EB: The setup and installation process is simple and straightforward.

VSM: What expertise is needed to do this successfully?

EB: IT professionals and developers should be able to successfully install and deploy Virtual Server with little additional expertise.

VSM: What is the expected consolidation ratio for physical to virtual servers?

EB: This is heavily dependent on which workload/application a customer is running in a virtual machine, but on average we see customers consolidating 3-4 virtual machines per CPU (not per server).

VSM: Are there any performance standards for applications running on virtual servers?

EB: Again, performance varies depending on the type and characteristics of the workload you are running. We do provide customers guidance in our “Solution accelerator for migrating and consolidating line of business applications” that helps them identify which applications are well suited to be run in a virtual machine.

VSM: What are the network capabilities for virtual servers?

EB: Virtual Server has very flexible networking capability that enables users to configure their virtual machines with a guest to guest, guest to host, and guest to external network configuration, depending on their needs.

VSM: Does your solution help customers with business continuity or disaster recovery?

EB: Virtual Server is used by some customers as a more cost effective way to provide a disaster recovery environment that mirrors their production configuration.

VSM: Can you give us any examples of how MSVS 2005 is being used to deliver specific business value?

EB: One example is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 customer Jack in the Box, one of the best-known fast-food chains in the United States, who recently determined that it needed to upgrade the technology it used in nearly 2,000 restaurants. Rather than launching a massive code rewrite, Jack in the Box decided to host the older applications and operating system on virtual machines using Microsoft Virtual Server 2005. The company has long-term plans to base the applications on the Microsoft .NET Framework, and to run them on the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system. Currently, however, the use of Virtual Server 2005 makes it possible for Jack in the Box to immediately migrate old applications to new hardware, while also reducing restaurant servers by 50% and reducing server maintenance costs.

VSM: Why should a customer look to Microsoft as they consider some of the advantages of server virtualization?

EB: Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is the most cost effective virtual machine solution for Windows Server 2003. It enables customers to reduce hardware costs by at least 50% and decrease server provisioning times by 50-85%. Because we develop and support the operating system and virtual machine software, customers have one point of contact for support of their entire stack.

VSM: How does MSVS 2005 compare to VMware products?

EB: There are some pretty significant differences between the two technologies. Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 offers:

Close integration with Windows Server 2003 as the host operating system provides customers the broadest, most robust compatibility with industry-standard hardware, device models, protocols, remote access methods, automation environments.
Rich support of open standards such as COM/COM+, HTTP/S, SSL/TLS, RFB+, RDP, XML.
Higher level of automation (richer API with significantly more calls) enables customers to automate the configuration, integration and management of Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.
Leverages a single, continuous architecture that spans desktop and server lines.
Management strategy targeted at leveraging existing server management tools (MOM 2005, SMS 2003, and 3rd party management tools) rather than creating yet another management tool specifically for virtual machines.
By being part of Windows Server System, Microsoft is assuring its customers greater interoperability. Furthermore, the Windows Server System Common Engineering Criteria requires WSS product to run on Virtual Server 2005. This ensures customers will have a consistent and predictable experience across their investments in the Windows Server System.

VMware’s architecture is characterized as follows:

VMware’s proprietary host operating systems severely limit device compatibility and support.
VMware has a proprietary remote console and security model.
Limited API set limits ability to automate configuration, integration and management.
Virtual Center is a proprietary, Virtual Machine only management console that does not integrate with existing server management tools.

VSM: Who do you perceive as your other key competitors?

EB: VMware and others provide similar virtualization technology; however Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 is uniquely positioned to provide customers with a powerful, cost-effective virtual machine platform, especially for Windows Server 2003 environments.

VSM: Who are the recommended hardware vendors for MSVS 2005?

EB: We are working with a broad range of partners on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, including hardware vendors such Dell, HP, IBM, NEC and Unisys.

VSM: Server virtualization is really in its infancy. Can you share with us where you might see this technology leading us in the future?

Two initiatives, called Pacifica and Presidio, are under way at the chip maker, said Fred Weber, AMD’s chief technical officer. Pacifica is a virtualisation technology, while Presidio involves security features, an AMD spokeswoman said.

Weber did not provide any details about either technology during his presentation, except that both are expected in 2006.

Virtualisation technology has been used on mainframes and high-end servers for years, but IT departments are starting to use the technology on low-end servers as well, said Nathan Brookwood, principal analyst with Insight 64.

IT managers use virtualisation software from companies such as VMware to create virtual operating environments on servers where computing resources can be allocated to various tasks based on changing workloads. The idea is to have multiple applications running different operating systems operating on a single server technology, such as AMD or Intel’s processors, rather than having to run those applications and operating systems on separate servers, Brookwood said.

However, this is a demanding task for software, Brookwood said. Companies like IBM and Sun Microsystems have built specific hardware technologies into their Power 5 and UltraSparc chips that can offload some of the virtualisation tasks onto the hardware, he said.

“In order to virtualize technologies within a processor, a little bit of hardware goes a long way,” Brookwood said. Users still need virtualisation software, but that software will run much faster with hardware support, he said.

Neither Intel nor AMD has built such technology into their processors for low-end servers, but both are now talking about having that capability available around 2006. Intel has discussed its Vanderpool virtualisation technology at recent conferences, but like AMD, has not provided specific details about the technology.

Security is a primary concern of many server users and is being addressed by both hardware and software vendors. AMD is working with several partners on the Presidio project, which will bring hardware-based security features to server chips in 2006, the AMD spokeswoman said. Some of those features will also be incorporated into PC chips, she said.

Intel also has plans for chips with hardware-based security features around 2006.

The storage vendor, which is owned by giant EMC, is expanding its Virtual Partner Network with a new Premier Enterprise tier, it said at the VMWorld annual conference, last week.

This level comes in addition to its Enterprise and Professional partner tiers.

The vendor will offer Premier-level partners new marketing, financial and support benefits customised for each geographic region, according to Mike Mullany, vice-president of marketing at VMware.

The programme is designed for partners that have VMware Certified Professionals on staff and are members of the VMware Authorised Consulting Programme.

“The Premier Enterprise tier is designed for firms investing in VMware expertise at higher levels,” Mullany said. “Many are already authorised consultants.”

Simon Gay, consultancy practice leader at Computacenter, said increased numbers of VMware resellers will not have a huge impact on his business. “VMware has always worked in close partnership with its channel. Setting different partner levels is an excellent move,” he said.

“It enables partners to demonstrate their skill level and helps customers select the most appropriate partner for their particular needs.”

VMware claims to have 5,000 corporate customers and 2.5 million users. Still, the company is a big fish in a small but growing pond and is going up against Microsoft, which last month launched its Virtual Server 2005.

The virtual machine software business has become popular as customers try to eke out as much performance as possible from their data centres.

Jane Rimmer, VMware’s UK director of marketing, said: “The proposition is pretty simple. Companies have a dedicated server for every business process. A lot of the time those servers are idle. Our systems allow firms to pool these resources and make more efficient use of them.”

VMware originally sold this technology to test and development environments but found ‘virtualisation’ utilities could be employed by corporate IT departments.

It has never been so easy to come to an acceptable video resolution in Solaris in VMware. For me, it took a little while to find out how to configure Xorg, so in case someone needs an idea:

– Leave the VGA mode Xserver by selecting “Command Line Login” from the “Options” menu.
– According to docs.sun.com, you can’t use kdmconfig
– You could run “/usr/X11R6/bin/Xorg -configure”, but it does not work for me (screen turns black and hangs)…
– Instead, run /usr/X11R6/bin/xorgconfig

This is what I have answered (1024×768/24, US keyboard):

Enter a protocol number: 1
Do you want to enable Emulate3Buttons? n
Mouse device: [ENTER]
Enter a number to choose the keyboard: 7
Enter a number to choose the country: 1
Please enter a variant name for ‘us’ layout: [ENTER]
XKB options: [ENTER]
hsync: 10
vertical sync: 2
identifier for your monitor: [ENTER]
Do you want to look at the card database? y
Enter a number to choose the corresponding card definition: 29
video memory: 8
identifier for your video card definition: [ENTER]
list of modes (resolutions): 3
Which modes? 4
virtual screen that is larger than…? n
list of modes (resolutions): 4
default depth: 5
Shall I write it to /etc/X11/xorg.conf? y

Leaving the command line console should restart the Xorg server in full color mode.

There is still one problem: The Java Desktop is not starting and puts me back to the login screen. Starting “gnome-session” form the failsave terminal ends in a core dump. Okay, it’s still a beta…

IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., is growing its virtualization offerings in its Intel Corp.-based xSeries systems by making it easier to deploy and manage virtual machines. The moves are intended to continue driving the adoption of virtual machines in the data center, said Rob Sauerwalt, global brand manager of software and services in IBM’s Systems Group.

“IBM doesn’t view virtualization as simply partitioning,” Sauerwalt said. “We really see it as a better way of getting better utilization in the data center.”

Brad Day, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc., said companies running Windows or Linux on x86 hardware are beginning to recognize the server consolidation benefits of virtual machines.

“In the last three [fiscal] quarters, for every level of administration, when they talk about system consolidation relative to x86, 30 to 40 percent plan some sort of virtual machine policy,” said Day, in Cambridge, Mass.

Virtual machine technology has been widely used in the Unix space to consolidate back-end applications, such as ERP (enterprise resource planning) software.

IBM has added Virtual Machine Manager free to its IBM Director management software, enabling users to manage both physical and VMware virtual machines from a single console. Until earlier this year, IBM customers running virtual machines needed Director for the physical IBM server and one VMware ESX console for each virtual system. Then VMware launched VirtualCenter, enabling users to manage all virtual machines from a single console, Sauerwalt said.

Now they have a central place to manage both.

“We got it down from hundreds of consoles to two consoles to one,” he said.

IBM also has rolled out Version 4.2 of its Remote Deployment Manager—an extension of the Director management suite—enabling users to remotely deploy a VMware ESX virtual server onto an x86 system. In addition, IBM at the end of the year will offer a free VMware license for six months with every BladeCenter blade server chassis and will offer VMware’s P2V Assistant—a migration tool for users looking to move images currently on physical servers onto virtual machines.

At its VMworld user show late last month, VMware, of Palo Alto, Calif., gave users a demonstration of the upcoming four-way version of its Virtual SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) server. The new version—an add-on to the company’s ESX Server—will be available in the second half of next year, around the time that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Intel begin introducing their multicore processors.

The four-way Virtual SMP will enable a virtual machine to work with up to four physical processors, allowing users to run more mission-critical applications on the virtual servers, according to VMware officials.

The four-way capabilities will come about two years after VMware introduced its two-way version.