virtualization.info Editors

During the Bill Gates keynote at WinHEC 2006 Microsoft demonstrated the new Windows Hypervisor (codename Viridian), definitively called Windows Server Virtualization.

Jeff Woolsey, Window Virtualization Program Manager, showed:

• a migrated Virtual Server 2005 virtual machine inside the Windows Server Virtualization
• a running Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 guest OS
• a running 64bit Windows Server 2003 guest OS powered with 2 virtual CPUs
• how to add or modifiy virtual hardware to a powered on virtual machine without downtime (in particular they added a virtual NIC and changed memory assignement from 4GBs to 5GBs)
• a running 64bit Windows Server codename Longhorn guest OS powered with 4 virtual CPUs

All of this from a dedicated Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in.

Microsoft also announced that Windows Server Virtualization will be able to live add storage to virtual machines and support up to 8 virtual CPUs.

Note that live modification of virtual hardware are features not provided by any virtualization vendor while more than 2 virtual SMP is offered just by Xen.

Later, during the Bob Muglia keynote the new System Center Virtual Machine Manager (codename Carmine) was demonstrated as well.

Eric Winner, Virtual Machine Manager Lead Program Manager, showed:

• how to perform a physical to virtual (P2V) migration
• how to provision new virtual machines from a masters’ library in an automatic way (through the Self Service Portal)
• how to redistribute virtual machines on physical hosts depending on workload

In his keynote Muglia also mentioned application virtualization (obviously referring to ongoing Softricity acquisition) and OS partitioning, mentioned by Microsoft itself 1 month before WinHEC.

The sneaking message is that Microsoft is going to provide all three major virtualization tecnologies in the Longhorn wave: server (or hardware) virtualization, OS partitioning and application virtualization.

Watch the Bill Gates keynote (Windows Server Virtualization is at minute 27:00) or read the transcript (Jeff Woolsey’s part).

Watch the Bob Muglia keynote (Virtualization and Virtual Machine Manager are at minute 33:00) or read the transcript (Eric Winner’s part).

Hear a Silicon Valley Sleuth podcast with Jim Ni, Windows Server Marketing Group Product Manager, about Microsoft virtualization strategy.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.

As Run-Virtual confirms, today VMware released the newest build for its mainstream solution, expected for early June.

Since the beta enrollment is closed now, there is no way to download the bits for who is not a beta tester.

Note that this build is not compatible with just released Virtual Machine Importer 2.0 beta refresh.

Cassatt released a 7-pages whitepaper about one of the biggest risk of early virtualization implementations: virtual machine sprawl.

Virtualization technology has tremendous potential to help control the spiraling cost of IT, but virtualization projects often don’t deliver the expected cost savings. The problem is not the concept of virtualization, but the lack of a management strategy that addresses all the costs that result from increasing the number of applications that share each server.

A comprehensive virtualization management strategy that addresses hardware, software, power, real estate, and administration costs is vital to realizing the costsaving potential of virtualization technology….

Download it here.

The Lone Sysadmin published an interesting report about Logical Block Addressing (LBA) issues with ESX Server 2.x (or ESX Server 3.0 beta) and EMC CLARiiON CX700s:

…
The problems I was having were caused by logical block addressing (LBA), a feature of the PC BIOS that reworks the disk geometry so that a disk always appears to have 1024 tracks/cylinders and 63 sectors per track/cylinder.
…
With VMware you get hit twice. Each virtual machine emulates LBA, too, and so each virtual machine is also misaligned by default. Coupled with the misalignment at the VMFS level you have a mess, and each I/O request made by a VM results in a lot of work at the lower level, as well as a lower cache hit ratio and fewer chances for I/O aggregation, write/read combining, etc…

Read the whole article at source.

Thanks to VMTN Blog for the news.

Quoting from the AMD official announcement:

As part of AMD’s ongoing commitment to deliver leading technology for desktop PCs, AMD today announced the immediate availability of the AMD Athlon™ 64 FX-62 dual-core processor, the world’s ultimate processor for PC enthusiasts, and the AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 5000+dual-core processor compatible with AMD’s new socket AM2 platform.

Socket AM2 from AMD is designed to enable next-generation platform innovations such as AMD Virtualization and high-performance, unbuffered DDR2 memory to the award-winning AMD64 architecture.
…
OEMs shipping systems with socket AM2 processors include Alienware, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, and Lenovo, as well as more than 40 leading system builders worldwide…

Hardware Secrets published a 10-pages review of Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and AM2 socket.

AnandTech published a 12-pages review of AM2 socket.

Tom’s Hardware published a 62-pages review of AM2 socket.

Quoting from the Stream Theory official announcement:

Streaming application technology provider Stream Theory today filed a lawsuit against Softricity, AppStream and Exent claiming the three companies are infringing on its U.S. patent number 6,453,334.
…
Stream Theory stated the U.S. patent office issued the patent on September 17, 2002. The patent describes “Method and apparatus to allow remotely located computer programs and/or data to be accessed on a local computer in a secure, time-limited manner, with persistent caching.” The patent application was originally filed with the U.S. Patent Office on June 16, 1997, and is believed to be the earliest patent in the field of streaming software.

What is really interesting here is that the lawsuit has been filed after Microsoft disclosed Softricity acquisition intentions…

Paul Murphy, from his ZDNet blog’s pages, analyzed the modern virtualization from 2 different point of views.

The resulting insight is populated of very concrete maths and provides a very interesting reading (including related comments):

There are two very different kinds of virtualization making headlines these days. The second one, resource virtualization for management purposes, seems wholly laudable. Whether used to manage storage, processing, or networking a virtual system constructed as kind of unified console for two or more pieces of real hardware can reduce administrative errors, provide unified logging for accountability, and make it easier to shift resources where they’re needed as user applications needs change.

The earlier, and more common, kind of virtualization does the opposite: splitting one piece of real hardware into numerous virtual ones, each of which is then then managed separately and each of which is more resource constrained than the original machine…

Read the whole article at source.

Ben Armstrong published a very interesting insight on Microsoft Virtual PC interface security, which can be restricted from Windows Registry in case of complex deployments:

The Virtual PC security options are stored in a hexadecimal DWORD called ‘Locks’ under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Virtual PC\5.0\Security.
The value of the DWORD determines what is restricted. The values are as follows:

• 0x001 = Disable access to the Virtual PC Options
• 0x002 = Disable access to virtual machine settings
• 0x008 = Disable access to the new virtual machine wizard
• 0x020 = Disable access to the virtual disk wizard

Be sure to read the original article for updated and comments.

VMware just updated the beta build of its new virtual to virtual (V2V) tool, expected to be released at the same time of ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0, later this year.

The new build (24380) provides compatibility with ESX Server 3.0 RC1 and VirtualCenter 2.0 beta 2, while it cannot be used with the just released RC2 builds of both products.

Read official Release Notes for a compatibility scheme and download it here.

The virtualization.info Virtualization Industry Roadmap has been updated accordingly.

VMware is about to launch a webcast series aimed to spread knowledge of new Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

The whole series is made of 7 webcasts covering several aspects and will be delivered in the next 2 months with the following scheduling:

• June 1 – Simplify Remote Desktop Management with VMware & Citrix
  With enterprises facing an ever increasing distributed end-user population, Citrix and VMware believe that virtual desktop infrastructures will be an important deployment model. By employing the Citrix Access Infrastructure in conjunction VMware VDI, enterprises that now require virtualized OS infrastructures for their remote desktop users can easily deliver and manage those desktops. Attend this session to learn how VMware and Citrix are providing enterprises with desktop management solutions.
• June 6 – Effective Desktop Disaster Recovery with VMware & Route 1
  s companies adopt business continuity programs that also encompass desktop environments, the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure will be a key initiative. Route1 and VMware enable organizations to simply and cost-effectively deploy the combination of virtualized environments built with VMware’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Route1’s SAFE Response solution. Route1¹s SAFE (Simplified Access For Emergency) Response Solution for proportional business continuity is designed to lessen the operational impact of potential worker quarantines and other disruptions resulting from man-made and natural causes. Built on the world¹s first USB thin client, Route1 MobiKEY, users remotely operate their desktop applications which look, act and behave exactly as they do when they are at their desk in the office. Users simply plug MobiKEY into the USB port of their home computer and 30 seconds later they are running their office desktop.
• June 13 – VMware & Leostream Secure Off-Shore Development
  Off-shore development provides a cost effective option for many enterprises that was not previously available. Although lower in costs, this software delivery method also poses its own challenges associated with providing secure development environments to large teams of off shore developers. Attend this session to learn how Leostream’s Virtual Desktop Controller with VMware virtual infrastructure enables virtual desktop deployments to successfully scale to thousands of users. It enables end-users to log on via a web browser, be authenticated against Active Directory, and then automatically connected via RDP to the appropriate virtual machine-hosted Windows Desktop system.
• June 20 – Streamline Outsourced Support Operations with VMware & Propero
  Virtual Desktop Infrastructure is a secure way to provide desktop environments for transaction workers such as call centers and order processing, particularly for outsourced and off-shored environments. Many call center operators do not need the local flexibility of a thick client and are typically using the computer for one single application. By serving up a server hosted desktop, a company can easily refresh the application or desktop to these professionals centrally. Propero’s workSpace for VMware provides seamless, secure access, with full single sign on, to personalized virtual desktops and virtual applications from any location with a browser. In addition, workSpace’s dynamic load-balancing and session management features ensure virtual machines consume server resources only when they need to, keeping costs low and simplifying resource management.
• June 27 – VMware & IBM Simplify Virtual Desktop Management for Branch Operations
  IBM’s Virtualized Hosted Client Infrastructure (VHCI) brings together all the benefits and control of a standalone desktop to end users while providing centralized management and increased security and control for the IT administrator. An ideal solution for remote employees or branch office environments, IBM leverages VMware virtual infrastructure software to help improve IT department efficiencies by optimizing resource utilization, as well as increase end user performance by dynamically provisioning resources to meet the performance needs of each virtual hosted client machine. This enables companies to support more users with fewer resources, while offering the best possible desktop experience from virtually anywhere and on virtually any device.
• July 11 – Ensuring Sarbanes-Oxley compliance with Wyse & VMware
  Sarbanes-Oxley legislation requires that organizations have internal controls as they relate to financial reporting. One such area for this control is access to the financial systems and data. With the Wyse and VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solution, organizations are able to host and stream complete computing environments from within the data center, allowing access through the Wyse thin computing solutions. This provides enhanced manageability and security for our enterprise customers of their financial information and systems.
• July 18 – Cost Effective Solutions for Educational Institutions with Ardence & VMware
  Educational organizations face particular financial challenges when approaching technology implementations. As public sector entities, finding a combination cost effective and best of breed can oftentimes prove difficult. The Ardence Desktop Edition in conjunction with VMware virtual infrastructure allows administrators to stream virtual machine images to diskless desktops from network storage. This breakthrough in desktop management and software distribution radically lowers the total cost of desktop ownership. IT administrators are able to provision virtual desktops from private or shared images over the network in seconds, providing unprecedented scalability, flexibility and responsiveness.

Register for them here.