Virtual machines, containers, functions. Market knowledge for IT decision makers since 2003
DemoWolf published a complete set of demos about SWsoft Virtuozzo for Windows and Linux, in English and Dutch language.
Unfortunately they are only description guided, but versions with voices are coming.
They are free to see online here.
If you are interested in Virtuozzo for Windows you may want to check the virtualization.info review of SWsoft Virtuozzo for Windows 3.5.1.
VMworld 2006 has been the biggest edition so far: VMware welcomed in Los Angeles Convention Center nearly 7000 attendees.
virtualization.info was present by gratious invitation and had opportunity to meet industry key figures from VMware, Microsoft, XenSource, Virtual Iron, SWsoft, PlateSpin, vizioncore, Surgient, VMLogix, Double Take, EqualLogic, Zeus Technology, IBM, HP and many others.
Below you’ll find a short report highlighting VMworld 2006 main points of interest.
The explicit message of this year has been: software as a service (SaaS).
VMware launched the Virtual Appliances Certification Program and the Virtual Appliances Marketplace (VAM) where ISVs can sell their virtual appliances, offering customers a reliable and controlled environment for their applications.
The entire VMware top management spend words endorsing this approach and several sessions have been focused on how to manage a datacenter populated with virtual appliances.
Even company products are going to reflect such effort: Workstation 6 will introduce for example a new Virtual Appliance View to let ISVs describe environment features at every system boot.
With virtual appliances VMware is trying to approach the software as a service (SaaS) philosophy in a different way than application virtualization: porting (and in a near future streaming, I bet) a whole environment instead of just applications.
This approach may be more successful than application virtualization since it doesn’t care about underlying operating system, allowing companies to use any kind of product, regardless of which platform the software has been written for. But for sure it is more resouces demanding and raises a whole new set of maintainance issues.
The implicit message has been: focus on Enterprises.
VMworld 2006 demonstrated current company little attention for SMBs:
Only Virtual Appliances initiatives, Marketplace and Certification Program, have been a good news for some small companies.
VMware is definitively spending a lot of its resources for enterprise-grade products and features and SMB could feel forgotten, but Raghy Raghuram, Vice President for Datacenter and Desktop Platform Products, assured new efforts in SMB segment for the coming year.
The overall theme has been competition.
The VMworld exhibitors floor showed booths from 89 exhibitors, plus an amount of other virtualization vendors representatives among crowd.
Nonetheless VMware allowed all of them to show their products and insert marketing material inside welcome bags.
Unofficial reports mention PlateSpin and vizioncore as the most popular booth, while some big players like Citrix have been barely noted.
It was ironic how EMC Corporation, actually owning VMware, had so low popularity among attendees against competitor like HP and IBM, both present with respective booths.
After 3 years integration between two companies is still near zero and from a marketing point of view VMware does nothing to push EMC brand.
The overall impression has been of fierce competition even if not every company would admit it.
And competition has been greatly welcomed by attendees which have been hungry to discover alternatives on the market.
Among several notable sessions it’s worth to mention:
General sessions
Diane Greene (President and co-Founder) first and Dr. Mendel Rosenblum (Chief Scientist and co-Founder) then introduces big themes of this year’s edition in two general sessions.
To see them register here.
VMmark
VMmark is trying to solve the very complex question of how to reliably calculate application performances in a virtual environment.
It approaches benchmarking in an unusual way, discarding the traditional approach of measuring a single operation (like I/O write) performed on the operating system.
VMware proposes to verify virtual environment performances by loading a mixed set of workloads, made of some specific applications, installed on specific operating systems, inside specifically sized virtual machines. Calculate overall score and compare against a reference score provided by VMware itself.
In details each set of workloads includes 6 virtual machines loaded with:
These virtual requirements imply measuring performances on a host machine with at least 8GB RAM and 2 physical CPUs, while each connecting client (perfoming requests against all 6 virtual machines at the same time) will have to have at least 2GB RAM and 2 physical CPUs.
The overall impression has been of a very early work, where a lot of questions (like binary-translation vs para-virtualization vs hardware assisted virtualization approaches) has still to be addressed before reaching a commonly agreed benchmarking system.
VMmark is aimed to become a SPEC standard, but at the moment Microsoft, XenSource and Virtual Iron are not partecipating in the work and has to be seen if they will officially accept the proposal.
The approach VMware is using (different applications on different operating systems) also implies that VMmark can’t be used to compare server virtualization against OS partitioning (SWsoft Virtuozzo for example). While this is surely correct from a technical point of view, it doesn’t help customers which don’t care what’s behind GUI and just want a way to compare performances and VM/core ratios.
Lab Manager 2.4
Lab Manager 2.4 is going to leverage previous good work from Akimbi in the VMware ecosystem, providing notable features to handle development and QA challenges:
Final release of Lab Manager 2.4 is expected for end of this year.
The overall impression has been of a still early modification of previous Akimbi work, where VMware decided to completely focus just on a reliable integration with VMware Infrastructure 3.
While this choice is understandable, it’s unpleasant see support drop for VMware Server and Microsoft Virtual Server.
At the moment is not clear if these hosted platforms will be supported in future releases and James Phillips, formerly Akimbi Founder and CEO and now Senior Director of Virtual Software Lifecycle at VMware, talked about existing Akimbi customers granting them notables incentive to move to ESX Server.
Next generation ESX Server Storage architecture
VMware is redesigning actual monolithic storaging architecture for ESX Server, working a pluggable framework where 3rd party vendors will be able to inject their multi-path and load balancing drivers.
This approach will speed up support for newest hardware, reduce time to recertify drivers when ESX Server changes, take advantage of vendor-specific features.
Storage vendors will be able to count on a VMkernel Development Kit and will be allowed to ship ESX plug-ins from themselves.
The overall impression has been that VMware really aims to change IT industry mindset, pushing ESX as a true operating system.
Allowing partners to deliver optimized drivers, in time with their new hardware releases, will create strong indirect sales opportunities, where storage vendors will find much desirable selling ESX Server in bundle with their equipment.
Workstation 6.0
Workstation 6 is going to introduce several new features, enhancing the product in usability, scalability and integration with other VMware products.
On the usability front we have to expect:
but most of all new features for developers:
On the scalability front we’ll see even bigger improvements with:
Integration with other VMware products is going to be notable as well:
Plus a lot more of other improvements.
Workstation 6 is actually in private beta (Friends & Family) and is expected to be opened to public before end of this year. No mention on final relase date planned.
The overall impression has been of a complex product becoming more and more focused on enterprise needs, better than Server in some scenarios.
I would not be surprised one day Server and Workstation would merge in a unique product, offering the web management console as an optional installation feature.
ACE 2.0
Unfortunately I missed this session (which anyway should be under NDA) so not much can be said.
One thing is already known: integration with Workstation 6 where ACE will be a superset of Workstation, allowing IT managers to easily upgrade to ACE Manager with the correct licensing code.
Another thing, unconfirmed, is possibility VMware will sign a deal with Cisco to use ACE 2.0 as part of Network Admission Control (NAC) endpoint security architecture.
(if you don’t have an idea of what endpoint security technologies are feel free to look at my blog about security tecnologies, Security Zero, where Cisco NAC and others have been covered several times)
Workstation for Mac OS (codename Fusion)
VMware didn’t release any session about upcoming Workstation for Mac OS but some details about it has been disclosed by Richard Garsthagen, Technical Marketing Manager at VMware, with a video, and Bob Roudebush, Director of Solutions Engineering at Double Take, with a review of current beta.
The big absentee of VMworld 2006 has been Server, as already said, with few sessions and no mentions about new features coming.
No space at all has been granted to the misterious VM Integrity instead, which should rely on virtual machines patch management at host level and which VMware is working on for sure, as this SearchServerVirtualization interview with Diane Greene confirms.
What has been announced during the conference timeframe:
Products and services from VMware:
Products and services from other virtualization vendors:
Alliances and partnerships
(both Virtualization Industry Radar and Virtualization Industry Roadmap have been updated accordingly)
A final word on the event itself
VMware did a very good job arranging a world-class event.
Conference material was high quality: welcome bag, notebook, conference guide, badge, general sessions directions, etc.
Logistics has been very good too: efficient transports to and from hotels, availability of press/analyst facitilies, availability of email stations, instructor-led and self-paced hand on labs, exam facilities, and free wireless access for all attendees.
Networking possibilities has been the best part: VMware arranged a big booth packed with a lot of company employees, with several special opportunities to meet the engineers.
Alumni, Core Customers, User Groups and Bloggers had also their own lounges where to meet each other and all attendees.
Nonetheless few things could be improved:
At the end of the week VMworld has definitively been an event to attend. Highly recommended.
A new startup called InovaWave appeared at VMworld 2006: InovaWave.
Founded by two former Surgient executives, Terry Ferose (Vice President of Services) and Dave McCrory (Chief Scientist), InovaWave launched a new product called DXtreme, aimed to provide extreme performance boost for virtual machines in VMware and Microsoft virtual platforms.
The solution is currently available for Windows XP and 2003 and supports VMware Server and Workstation, and Microsoft Virtual Server.
InovaWave claims its product is able to achieve more than double performances, allowing a higher VM/core ratio, more transactions and a shorter boot time for every virtual machine.
DXtreme creates virtual disk channels for each virtual machine, with heuristic-based technologies.
The overhead it creates (from 128MB to 512MB of RAM, and from 5% to 15% of CPU power) is compensated by the big saving for all virtual machines.
Pricing for DXtreme starts at $149 per desktop and $575 per server.
A version of DXtreme for VMware ESX Server is expected to release in Q1 2007. Future releases will support Xen as well.
The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.
InovaWave has been included in the virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Radar.
Quoting from the Zeus official announcement:
…Zeus Technology, the leading provider of award-winning application traffic management software, and Egenera, a global leader in datacenter virtualization architecture, announced an alliance to offer a fully agile application infrastructure by combining Zeus Extensible Traffic Manager (ZXTM) and the Egenera BladeFrame system.
…
Combining ZXTM?s open and flexible software architecture with Egenera PAN Manager? software makes it possible to build a fully responsive and agile Service Oriented Infrastructure (SOI)…
Zeus Technology has been one of the first companies adhering to the new VMware Virtual Appliances Certification Program, launching its Extensible Traffic Manager (ZXTM) as virtual appliance in the Virtual Appliance Marketplace.
ZXTM is a traditional network load balancer Zeus is already selling as appliance and software-only solution. It’s able to handle incoming traffic and balancing it across a cluster of machines, virtual or physical.
Usually virtualization.info doesn’t cover virtual appliances releases but Zeus ZXTM VA is expected in near future to offer a more tight integration with VMware management products, as emerge from official announcement:
…
“In launching the Virtual Appliance Network, VMware has made a bold play to create an ecosystem of solutions that will help organizations deploy and manage a completely virtualized datacenter environment,” said Paul Di Leo, CEO, Zeus Technology. “By joining this programme, Zeus is able to help VMware customers improve the performance and resilience of their virtualized applications, giving them greater control over security, provisioning and traffic management.”…
Quoting from the Provision Networks official announcement:
Provision Networks, a global provider of application delivery and dynamic desktop deployment solutions for the VMware Virtual Infrastructure and Microsoft Windows Terminal Server platform, today at VMworld 2006, launched the Dynamic Desktop Deployment (D3) Alliance Program, a powerful and comprehensive ecosystem of industry-leading partners collaborating to deliver the first-ever true end-to-end enterprise VMware virtual desktop infrastructure powered by the Provision Networks Virtual Access Suite.
…
Industry-leading companies lent their support for the launch of the Dynamic Desktop Deployment Alliance Program:
- Computer Lab International (CLI)
- DataCore
- Expand Networks
- McAfee, Inc.
- Reflex Security
- Stampede Technologies
- vizioncore
…
Quoting from the Scalent official announcement:
Scalent Systems, a leading provider of server infrastructure repurposing software for large enterprise data centers, today announced that it has joined the VMware Community Source Program, a collaborative effort to develop industry-leading virtualization technology and products. As part of its participation, Scalent would contribute server repurposing technology to VMware ESX Server, which is part of VMware Infrastructure 3, the third generation of the industry-leading virtualization software suite.
…
Using Scalent V/OE, customers can seamlessly repurpose servers to add, swap, and failover among any combination of machines, while transparently maintaining the consistency and integrity of their business systems. Scalent V/OE allows customers to increase their flexibility and asset utilization, rapidly deploy VMware ESX Server to consolidate their IT infrastructures, and reduce the cost of ensuring high performance and availability…
Quoting from the Scalent official announcement:
Scalent Systems, the leading provider of server infrastructure repurposing software for large enterprise data centers, and DataSynapse, a global provider of application virtualization software, today announced a comprehensive sales and technology partnership.
Scalent will certify DataSynapse FabricServer ? on the Scalent Virtual Operating Environment (V/OE) platform and the two companies will collaborate in selling their joint solution…
Quoting from the Leostream official announcement:
Seeking to further promote the adoption of hosted desktops and the benefits of thin client computing, Leostream Corp. today announced that its Connection Broker for hosted desktops now supports thin clients from Wyse Technology, a global market leader in thin computing.
…
The highlight of this integration is the support for Wyse’s recently announced Wyse S10-VDI Edition thin client…
Quoting from EverGrid official announcement:
Evergrid, Inc., a provider of advanced quality of application service management for next generation datacenters, today announced its entry into the high performance computing market, with patent pending high availability and resource management software that lets massively parallelized distributed applications run at near 100 percent reliability on high performance computing (HPC) clusters.
…
The Evergrid software sits between the operating system and the applications, and captures the collective state of the application and its IO across all processors. By recording the state of the application, Evergrid is able to checkpoint and recover from failures rapidly with minimal overhead. The software also allows data centers to do preemptive scheduling of lower priority applications in favor of running higher priority applications, with little or no data lost. The software installs on Linux systems and requires no modifications to either the OS or application. It is scalable up to thousands of nodes at a time, with less than five percent performance overhead.
…
Evergrid’s new fault tolerant software prevents downtime by automating the checkpointing, migration and recovery of applications, thus offering automatic failover across multiple nodes and tiers. With Evergrid, even failure of multiple processors does not stop an application from functioning continuously. In addition, Evergrid’s efficient and robust management software provisions servers from bare metal up through the application and allows preemptive allocation of resources to high priority applications…