virtualization.info Editors

While waiting for VMware Infrastructure 3.1 beta program, worldwide customers may start wondering what the term VI Ops hides:

At the moment virtualization.info has no informations about this new thing, but, assuming it’s a new add-on for VMware Infrastructure 3, it may be a self-service provisioning system (Ops may be the shorthand for Operators), like the one Microsoft introduced with its System Center Virtual Machine Manager beta 1.

VI Ops, whatever it is, has to be added to a misterious codename Integrity virtualization.info discovered in June 2006 and which is still unveiled.

Update: This article from SearchServerVirtualization confirms VMware efforts in provisioning space, already started in June 2006 with Akimbi acquisition and subsequent release of Lab Manager 2.4:

[The second category] is management and automation solutions — for example, resource optimization and virtual machine lifecycle management, which looks at how you provision, change/modify and de-provision a virtual machine — the kind of stuff you need to do to prevent server sprawl. We have all the core functionality today, but we want to tie in a nice end-user workflow capability.

It seems the new HP ProLiant Partner program is collecting successes in virtualization space, with Virtual Iron following the SWsoft move of last week.

Quoting from the Virtual Iron official announcement:

Virtual Iron Software, a provider of enterprise-class software solutions for server virtualization and virtual infrastructure management, today announced it has joined the HP ProLiant Partner Program and BladeSystem Solution Builder Program. Virtual Iron is one of just two charter members of the new invitation-only ProLiant Partner Program.

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HP has produced a new white paper validating the Virtual Iron solution on the HP ProLiant server platform. This document provides a public lab-validated proof point and a solution proof-of-concept. Several HP ProLiant rack mount and blade servers were tested including the ProLiant BL460c, BL465c, BL480c, DL380 G5, DL385 G2, DL580 G3 and DL585 G2 servers.

The white paper is available online here.

The Virtual Iron software has also been validated in the HP Test Lab on the HP ProLiant DL140, DL320, DL360 and DL365 servers…

Not happy enough reaching release candidate status for Workstation 6.0, its subset Player 2.0 and its superset ACE 2.0, VMware is preparing to launch the much expected ESX Server 3.1 + VirtualCenter 2.1 (aka VMware Infrastructure 3.1) beta program.

More informations as soon as possible.

VMware just updated three beta programs together, allowing testers access to Workstation 6.0, Player 2.0 and ACE 2.0 release candidates.

All betas share the same build number (42757) and this is quite understandable considering Player is a subset of Workstation and ACE is a superset of it since version 2.0.

While new builds of Workstation 6.0 and ACE 2.0 seem to introduce just integration with each other, Player 2.0 RC shows some surprises introducing experimental support for 2-way Virtual SMP, USB 2.0 support and Shared Folders.

All products are expected to be released in Q2 2007. Meanwhile enroll for the Workstation 6.0 beta program, the Player 2.0 beta program, or the ACE 2.0 beta program.

VMware continues to call current ACE 2.0 beta as Enterprise Edition, probably meaning a limited amount of ACE capabilities will be available at no additional cost in Workstation 6.0.

As not enough VMware is offering ACE 2.0 Enterprise Edition for free to VMware Infrastructure 3 customers until April 16.

vizioncore officially opened public beta of its upcoming esxReplicator 2.0.

In this new release vizioncore introduces a new, more efficient replication engine which has an improved error handling and supports VMware ESX Server 3.0, but also delivers improvements to user interface, now offering real-time statistics, jobs wizards and integration with VMware Virtual Center 2.0. But the most notable improvements relates esxReplicator awareness of VMware VMotion and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) tasks.

Download the beta here.

After announcing it in September 2006, INSYSTEK finally opened beta program for its suite of management tools with virtualization environment support: Virtualize IT.

The whole suite is made of three components, Inventory Manager, Control Center and NSMC, offering traditional enterprise management capabilities now blended with virtual machines management ones. Among others:

• Virtualization host configuration (including support for VMware ESX Server)
• Virtual machines provisioning (template deployment and re-designing), cloning, cold and hot migration
• Virtual machines inventory

Enroll for the beta here.

Quoting from CNET:

Any new x86 server can run virtualization software, but Dell plans to release a model that’s geared specifically to those drawn to the newly mainstream computing trend, CNET News.com has learned.

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Parker offered only a few details about the plan, but he did say that the server will have two processor sockets.

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Parker also indicated that the machine will be amply endowed with computing resources…

Read the whole article at source.

TechIQ is reporting SWsoft’s department Parallels may be preparing a new products for Apple Mac OS X Server.

virtualization.info already reported Parallels has plans to deliver a server and an enterprise server version of its virtualization solution in January 2006, updating readers with new dates in August of the same year. But company was exclusively alluding to a Windows/Linux hosted solution and a bare-metal one.

Given the huge success collected in the Apple market and limited profit opportunities available on other enterprise markets, where SWsoft is already present with Virtuozzo, it’s easy to think Parallels may want to shift its main focus on Mac OS at the moment.

VMware published a very interesting 4-pages technical note, Configuration Maximums for VMware Infrastructure 3, detailing current limits of ESX Server 3.0, Virtual Center 2.0 and, more popular, its virtual machines.

It’s a critical document for every virtualization project where scalability is a core requirement, and customers should require one from every competitor.

Read it here.

InfoWorld publshed a long comparison, with interesting charts, between Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 (scored 7.4/10), Parallels Workstation 2.2 (scored 7.8/10), VMware Workstation 6.0 beta 3 (scored 8.3/10), and the new InnoTek Virtual Box 1.3 (scored 6.9/10).

Comparison is particularly interesting because of last entry, Virtual Box, which shows a good set of features compared against more mature competitors.

Anyway is worth to remember it isnt completely fair since VMware Workstation 6.0 is still in beta and it’s not known if the product already is feature complete.

InfoWorld provided such conclusion:

As with most mature market segments, the major players in the desktop virtualization space have carved out sustainable niches for themselves. VMware Workstation continues to dominate the developer landscape, with Version 6.0 further solidifying its position at the top of the virtualization heap. Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2007 has been relegated to a “VMware player” type of existence, while Parallels Workstation for Windows 2.2, though a speed demon, struggles to escape the shadow of its favored (and better equipped) sibling, Parallels Desktop for the Macintosh. And despite a poor benchmark showing, VirtualBox still delivers a modular, developer-friendly architecture that effectively complements its open source licensing.

Longer term, these vendors have one of two options: Dig in and try to carve out the biggest piece of a very limited pie (developers and help desk professionals); or evolve their products into something more all-encompassing, as VMware has attempted to do with ESX, VDI, ACE, and other acronyms du jour. With Microsoft already focused on the datacenter and with InnoTek well on its way to delivering an ESX-type solution, that leaves Parallels as the odd man out.

Read the whole comparison at source.