virtualization.info Editors

After the huge press coverage of last week about the first upcoming virtualization product, Parallels Workstation 2.1, for Apple Mac OS X on Intel architecture, Parallels already delivers the beta 2.

The new release fixes some bugs and introduces no new features.

Screenshots are available here and a video is available here.

Download it here.

After the Microsoft re-launch of Virtual Server 2005 R2 for free, Windows IT Pro News UK interviewed Alfred Biehler, product manager of Microsoft UK, Arun Jayendran, a senior product manager in the Windows Server marketing group and Chris Stirrat, a product unit manager in the Windows Enterprise Management Division.

I personally never read answers so evasive like in this interview. The whole amount of avoided answers and unsaid things gives you a good idea of Microsoft position in virtualization market.
And if you still have doubts you can read my insight Microsoft, the big absentee of virtualization.

Read the whole interview at source.

At BriForum 2006 Brian Madden interviewed Ron Oglesby, co-author of the book ESX Server: Advanced Technical Design Guide, about actual and upcoming VMware technologies.

Listen at the podcast here.

The What is Virtualization? webcast has been moved on the new What is Virtualization? section.

Check it there!

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Quoting from the eWeek InfraSpectrum podcast summary:

This week’s InfraSpectrum looks at the displacement of conventional PC and server deployment by on-demand PC provisioning and server virtualization, with comments from tech leaders at Ardence, Virtual Iron, and Gigaspaces talking with Peter Coffee about the tipovers that they see taking place.

Listen to the podcast here.

Quoting from the webcast registration form:

You are invited to another HP and Intel® joint webcast focused on HP Integrity servers based on the Intel Itanium 2 processor! This session will show you how a single HP Integrity server can support multiple virtual machines, each with its own separate “guest” operating system. As a result, each virtual machine (VM) can host its own applications in a fully isolated environment.

Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Time: 9:00 AM Pacific / 12:00 PM Eastern / 5:00 PM GMT
Duration: 1 hour

Quoting from Yahoo News:

…
“We are continuing to work with Apple on a possible next version of Virtual PC,” said Amanda Lefebvre, marketing manager for Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit. “We still don’t have all the answers, but we are trying to understand what changes need to happen in their operating system and what changes we need to make.”
…
Since Virtual PC emulates the Windows environment, the move away from PowerPC chips requires substantial changes to Virtual PC. “This is like building a brand new version for us,” Lefebvre said. “It’s not just a new operating system, it’s new hardware, too—this is a really big transition. It’s hard to say right now what it will look like or when it will be.”…

Read the whole article at source.

AppSense wrote an interesting paper about workload management in virtual infrastructures, covering quality of service (QoS) and service level agreements (SLAs) concepts:

Workload management is a key concept to fully utilizing the resources available in any server based infrastructure. Allowing your users and applications to get the most out of the CPU, memory and network resource is critical to a stable and responsive environment. This is no different when the environment is virtualized.

As industry continues to raise the bar with higher SLAs issued between IT departments and the rest of the organisation, this paper offers solutions to
increase QoS, meet SLAs and provide much needed optimal system management.

In a virtual infrastructure, there are two levels that workload management can be applied; the guest virtual machine and the host server. Individually, they both offer great benefits. Used together, they offer a total solution.
Controlling the guest makes sure that the processes within a virtual machine do not adversely affect each other, and controlling the host server protects the co-habiting virtual machines from contention.

AppSense Performance Manager offers a comprehensive workload management solution that will optimize and enhance your VMware ESX and GSX environment.

Using patented Intelligent Process Management™ technologies, AppSense Performance Manager eliminates resource contention at both the guest and host level and optimizes the CPU, memory and network bandwidth resources being used by consolidated applications.

By proactively protecting your virtualized environment from resource hogging, reducing server sprawl and optimizing resource allocation, AppSense
Performance Manager will increase your VMware consolidation ratio and virtual machine response times, maximizing your Return on Investment.

Download it here.

Quoting from ZDNet Asia:

…
Chris Sharp, general manager at Microsoft Asia’s servers and tools division, told ZDNet Asia that about 10 percent of its large customers–companies with more than 500 employees–already deploy virtualization. “With the changes in [Virtual Server’s] pricing and licensing, Microsoft expects that number in the Asia-Pacific to double within the next fiscal year,” he said.
…
Microsoft’s Sharp expects many of the company’s customers to deploy server virtualization for server consolidation, manageability and disaster recovery purposes. “We believe companies are looking for self-managed dynamic systems in the future. Many of them already have server power, and are now looking to get utilization up for existing servers, [as well as achieve] high availability ad [perform] platform stimulation,” he said…

Read the whole article at source.