Year: 2006

Microsoft just released a new online self-paced course about Virtual Server 2005. At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Install and configure Virtual Server 2005
• Configure virtual machines on Virtual Server 2005
• Migrate applications and servers to virtual machines

It costs $99 and time to complete is estimateed of about 5 hours (but you can take as much time as you want up to 6 months).

Enroll it here.

It was about the time! Microsoft should make it free to improve virtualization skills and avoid poor implementations not matching expectations in pilot programs.
I would also say this is not enough: the real training customers should receive is about virtual infrastructures designing with more attention to topics like candidates recognition, capacity planning, performance troubleshooting than to the product in itself.

I sincerely hope Microsoft already planned an Implementing & Managing and a Designing MOC (Microsoft Official Curriculum) for the next Windows Server Virtualization.

Thanks to Virtualserver.tv for the news.

Xtalks is arranging a 2 hours online conference for September 5th with following topics:

• Interoperability of new virtualized systems and existing infrastructures
• Key practical issues for virtualization
  • deciding which machines to virtualize
  • billing for virtualized machines
  • resource allocation and security for virtualized systems
• Support systems and smooth migration to virtualized systems
• Maximizing return on investment in Virtualization
• The business case for virtualization

Register for it here.

vizioncore silently updated its flagship product, esxRanger Professional, to version 1.78 introducing a main feature: file level restore.

Now esxRanger Professional will enable users to restore a file easily and efficiently using an explorer tree. When needing to restore a file or multiple files, use esxRanger Professional to grab the files you need and restore, without always needing to restore an entire image.

Download it here.

Quoting from the SWsoft official announcement:

Today, SWsoft, an established leader in server automation and virtualization software, announced the availability of the SWsoft Developer Network (SWDN). An integral part of SWsoft’s OPEN FUSION initiative, SWDN will provide developers and partners with resources to integrate applications and services with SWsoft products.
…
SWDN is appropriate for anyone interested in developing, testing or integrating their solution with one or more SWsoft products. Member benefits include:

• Development Licenses
  entitled to development licenses for the entire SWsoft product line
• Software Developer Kits (SDKs) and Documentation
  includes SDKs and technical documentation, including API specifications, technical manuals and integration specifications
• Product Betas
  early access to product betas before the general public
• Forums and Support
  access to technical forums and dedicated feedback channels to interact and share information with SWsoft engineers and fellow SWDN members
• Knowledgebase
  access to the SWsoft knowledgebase
• Certifications
  software products can be certified as “Designed for OPEN FUSION” and listed in the OPEN FUSION Catalog

SWDN offers two levels of involvement:

• Community Developer
  free access to developer forums, the technical library and the SWsoft knowledgebase
• Professional Developer
  free access for the first year (only $295 annually thereafter), which includes the Community Developer benefits plus development licenses for all SWsoft products

…

Enroll the program here.

InfoWorld is arranging a 2 days conference for September 25-26th in New York, with notable speakers from Altiris, Novell, Virtual Iron, VMware.

The agenda is now available:

• Virtualization: Navigating Through Transformational Technology
  Dr. Jeffrey Jaffe, Novell’s Chief Technology Officer, will speak about virtualization on Linux and how it is opening up new possibilities for organizations around the world. With virtualization on Linux, the use of hypervisor and hyperthreading technology, today’s technology executive can harness the power of the data center, better utilize computing power throughout the organization and ultimately free up the organization to deliver solutions and applications that truly help drive success. With all of that happening though, there is still uncertainty and a learning curve around this technology. Dr. Jaffe is looked to in the industry as someone to turn to when learning to adapt to and in adopting transformational technologies such as virtualization on Linux.
• System Virtualization Strategies
  Which virtualization technology is the right one for the job? This session will examine server virtualization options (hypervisor, paravirtualization, OS virtualization, etc.), surveys the approaches to virtualizing applications and end user desktops, and offers general guidance for technology selection and implementation. Learn how enterprise are putting these technologies to work, the problems they are solving and opportunities they are creating, and what’s next on the system virtualization horizon.
• Storage Virtualization Strategies
  prerequisite to utility computing, storage virtualization eases the management of heterogeneous storage resources, improves data availability across the enterprise, and creates a foundation for disaster recovery and business continuity. This session will provide an overview of the various approaches to storage virtualization (in-band, out-of-band, array-based, switch-based, host-based), discuss how the technology is evolving, and share how IT organizations are using storage virtualization to manage SANs and NAS more cost-effectively and help their businesses become more agile.
• Inside Hardware-Assisted Virtualization
  In systems of scale, virtualization is baked into the architecture at every level. Virtualization is just as essential in the PC server realm, but the x86 design makes engineering challenging and system overhead high. Here, we’ll talk about those challenges, how engineers have overcome them, and how new Intel and AMD CPU technology will change the picture for IT.
• Putting Virtualization to Work for IT
  The primary roles for virtualization hitherto have been cross-platform validation in software development and for software evaluation. However, virtualization is rapidly breaking into new areas where it is delivering compelling benefits to IT organizations: server resource utilization, load balancing, software support, demos, and training. This session discusses these uses as well as other specialized contexts in which virtualization can deliver unexpected benefits.
• Virtualization and Applications: Meeting Enterprise Requirements
  Mainframes and Unix systems long ago brought virtualization to mission-critical apps. Can the same be achieved on industry standard servers? This session will address performance, scalability, and high-availability of enterprise applications on virtualized x86 hardware.
• Better Testing Through Virtualization
  Virtualization is widely employed in enterprises to perform software testing using mock lab scenarios. Unfortunately, many sites do not get the full benefit from this approach because they do not design configurations correctly or set up applications properly. This session examines existing software tools and industry best practices for lab-based virtualization.
• Exposing the Intangible Enterprise – The Real World Experience of Virtualization
  Andi Mann, Senior Analyst at IT research and analysis firm Enterprise Management Associates, weighs the realities of virtualization against the marketing hype. Sharing his analysis of new empirical research, case studies, and in-depth interviews, Mann will examine how, why, and where virtualization is being usefully implemented in the enterprise and where the challenges lie. This session will also review related management issues, including how virtualization affects ITIL disciplines, and present recommendations on how enterprises should approach virtualization projects.
• From Physical to Virtual
  The first hour of this two-part session will focus on the planning and preparation required to implement datacenter virtualization. We’ll discuss skills requirements, software licensing issues, workload selection, performance and resource utilization metrics, host hardware platform requirements, emulation versus host-based virtualization, storage and networking considerations.
  The concluding hour of this two-part session will address how to successfully complete a P2V migration, tools on the market to help with this, load-balancing and fail-over configurations, pitfalls with clustering, incompatibilities, downtime expectations, fallback planning, and final testing before rollout.
• Roadmap to a Virtualization-Oriented Architecture (VOA)
  Designing and implementing a virtualization-oriented architecture can create real business value for visionary organizations today. In this keynote session, Tony Bishop, Chief Product Strategist and Head of Product Management for Wachovia’s Corporate Investment Bank Technology Group, will outline the 10 fundamental steps Wachovia is taking to realize business advantage through virtualization, and help you identify and overcome the organizational, cultural, and technical challenges to creating a virtualized, service-oriented infrastructure.
• Virtualization Futures: Trends and Forecasts

Register for it here.

Quoting from the IBM official announcement:

IBM today introduced a pair of ultra-powerful high-end machines, including the world’s most powerful server, the IBM System p5™ 595 – a 64-core speed demon capable of a record-shattering four million transactions per minute at a more affordable cost per transaction than HP’s flagship Integrity Superdome.

IBM attributed the huge leap in performance over industry competitors to the company’s revolutionary new Dual Stress processor technology, pioneered for ultrafast videogames and making its first appearance in System p5 machines.
…
The new systems leverage IBM’s leadership Virtualization Engine™ technology offerings to accommodate up to 10 virtual servers – or partitions – per processor core, enabling clients to consolidate multiple systems and distributed applications – even entire IT infrastructures – on a single box.

VM/core ratio is a value highly liable to hardware resources and workloads so it makes sense only related to a certain scenario, but provides a minimum term of comparison when evaluating different platforms.

VMware indicates an average VM/core ratio of 8 for its datacenter product, ESX Server, and 4 for Server and Workstation.
Microsoft never indicated an average VM/ratio on Virtual Server so no comparisons at all can be made.

Quoting from the Invirtus official announcement:

Invirtus, the leading provider of solutions which optimize and automate virtual machine technology, announced today that it has received first round funding from investors. Founded in 2004, Invirtus counts hundreds of businesses worldwide among its customers, including many Fortune 500 organizations.
…
Leading this first round investment are Kenneth L. Gavranovic, Bryan W. Adams, Clark Gilder and Thomas M. Lord…

Invirtus is starting in this period the beta for the next version of its flagship product: VM Optimizer.

Invirtus has been included in the virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Radar.

Richard Garsthagen, Technical Marketing Manager at VMware, launched from his blog a little unofficial PHP course to program the new VMware Infrastructure 3:

VMware Infrastructure 3 has as you probably already know a very extensive SDK which allows you to write your own software that can talk to any ESX3 or VirtualCenter 2 server and retrieve information or execute tasks. The SDK is based on a web service that is integrated in the VirtualCenter Server and any ESX Server. The new VI3 SDK is significantly different than the previous SDK. It has much more methods (function calls) and uses a different model to query information.

In this first part we are going to look at how to make a basic connection to VC2 and how to login to the service.

Part 1 is online now.

If you plan to download or already downloaded last Windows Vista CTPs (builds 5384, 5465 and 5472) you will have to download new Virtual Machines Additions as well.

As usual they are available at Microsoft Connect beta site.

Thanks to Ben Armstrong for the news.

Hitachi is one of the main players in the storage virtualization market since years with its Data Storage division. Now the company is extending its interest in server virtualization with Enterprise Server division.

Quoting from the official announcement:

Hitachi has developed a hardware-based server virtualization system and will implement it on a new server module based on Intel’s Itanium 2 Processor 9000 Series dual-core processors. Developed based on Hitachi’s experience in virtualization technology nurtured on mainframes, the server virtualization system is made available on BladeSymphony, the company’s service platform that integrates blade servers, storage units, networking equipment, operating systems and other system management software into a single package.

The system, provided on the blade server unit of BladeSymphony, can divide resources on physical servers into multiple logical partitions, enabling the optimization of software licensing fees and operation costs and increasing efficiency in use of the resources. As a result, users can achieve a 30% reduction in total cost of ownership compared to conventional service platforms.

The server virtualization system will be available starting on August 31.