virtualization.info Editors

Whitepaper: Whitepaper: The importance of multi-port network adapters in a virtual server environment

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HP with Intel and VMware released a paper about its HP NC7170 and NC6170 dual-port server adapters:

This white paper discusses the IT benefits that enterprises can gain from VMware GSX Server and VMware ESX Server virtualization software when using HP multi-port network adapters with Intel technology.
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High-speed Gigabit Ethernet NICs in a small form factor play an essential role in the virtual infrastructure model—server networking functionality is important for secure management of ESX Server, for enabling VMotion technology and for meeting the network throughput requirements of multiple virtual machines.

In particular, best practices for VMware ESX Server call for at least three dedicated network connections. Multi-port HP adapters are the optimum solution, providing extra ports to support the virtual infrastructure in one server slot and freeing input/output (I/O) slots in servers that require additional ports. HP multi-port NICs with Intel technology also allow IT administrators to configure redundant ports to improve throughput and reliability…

Download it here.

Is virtualization the installation miracle cure?

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Quoting from CNet News:

The hidden benefit from virtualization is that users can unpack a ready-to-run collection of software components–operating system and all–and drop it onto a fresh, empty partition of the computer called a virtual machine. No muss, no fuss, no driver updates, no configuration file tweaking, no conflicts with other software.

Virtualization essentially lets the companies selling the software handle the tricky part also provides a clean slate for installation.
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Virtual installation will happen, but XenSource’s Crosby understands the change won’t happen overnight, “I think it’s going to be a fairly profound change for the industry to get there.”

Read the whole article at source.

The future of application virtualization

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Computer Business Review did a nice overview of today’s application virtualization solutions from Altiris and Softricity, also discussing upcoming Citrix competing technology:

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Late last year Citrix announced it too would be developing application streaming technologies to make centrally managed desktop applications available on- and off-line to client machines.

With its Tarpon development Citrix plans to use the same Application Isolation Environment (AIE) technology as it does in its Presentation Server Version 4 system.
This will package up and then stream applications from one machine to another where they are then executed locally on the client. Again, the applications themselves are not really installed but rather, it is their files, DLLs and registry settings that are executed in an AIE…

Read the whole article at source.

Tech: Converting Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 virtual hard disk

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Ben Armstrong provided a cool script to convert Virtual Server 2005 virtual hard disks (.vhd) from dynamical to fixed size:

set vsApp = CreateObject(“VirtualServer.Application”,”localhost”)

TargetVHDpath =Inputbox(“Enter path and name of VHD to convert:”)
FixedVHDpath =Inputbox(“Enter path and name of VHD to create”)

set target = vsApp.GetHardDisk(TargetVHDpath)

set convertTask = target.convert(FixedVHDpath,1)

while not convertTask.isComplete
wscript.echo “Conversion is ” & convertTask.PercentCompleted & “% complete”
WScript.Sleep 2000
wend

wscript.echo
wscript.echo “Conversion complete”

Be sure to read the original post for updates and comments.

Novell to integrate Xen 3.0 in the next Open Enterprise Server

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Quoting from SearchOpenSource:

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Cypress is the code name for the next release of OES, due out in early 2007. It will have a number of new features targeted at Novell’s traditional customer base. One of the key components is the baked-in operating system support for Xen 3.0 virtualization. Server consolidation is one area of keen interest to many enterprise customers and Novell wants to meet those needs with its products.

With the virtualization support comes a new capability called NetWare viX. In a nutshell, it’s a Xen-optimized virtual environment for running the NetWare 6.5 kernel aimed at helping customers move to the Linux environment. NetWare viX provides complete backward compatibility for NetWare Loadable Modules (NLMs), NetWare management tools along with support for new hardware…

Read the whole article at source.

VMware launches Server beta 2

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VMware just launched it’s last builld (22874) of its free server product called Server, introduced in February and replacing the well-known GSX Server.

The new beta 2 includes support for using VMware Server Console to connect to and configure GSX Server 3.0 installations (the opposite will not work) and introduces a special set of C APIs, going in addition to existing vmCOM APIs (for Windows hosts only) and vmPerl APIs:

  • Connect / Disconnect to Host
  • Find Items (virtual machines) on a host
  • Create a shapshot of a VM and check how many snapshots there are
  • Remove or revert to a snapshot
  • Delete a VM from your host
  • Open a virtual machine
  • Power on, off, suspend or reset a VM
  • Upgrade the virtual machine’s hardware
  • Read out errors

Download it here.

Interest on VMware ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0 is huge

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On a 30 minutes public webinar, VMware Solutions Marketing Director, Eric Horshman presented ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0.

The webinar reached 1073 attendees (which completely saturated phone lines), demonstrating how high the interest on this products wave is (and as further confirmation Richard Garsthagen reports the VMware TSX event is already full).

As expected one of the most asked question is about support of products on virtual machines, indicating people are planning to migrate several kind of enterprise applications on virtual infrastructure but may be blocked by vendors supporting policies.

Below some meaningful slides from the event (all of them are avaiable in several VMworld 2005 presentations):




Blade servers: small in size, big on energy costs

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Today’s blade servers are not directly related to virtualization but are often considered since the concept involves several kind of consolidation (physical, logical, partitioning, etc.).

Quoting from SearchDataCenter.com:

Blade servers, which are deemed the next big thing in hardware, are also a big energy drain in an enterprise, according to a recent study that looks at the latest advances in server technology.

The results of the study by TheInfoPro (TIP) Inc., a New York research firm, reveal that these new server technologies have not provided heating and cooling advantages. TIP recently released the second half of a server study it conducted in 2005. The research examined the concerns of 133 server professionals.
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Despite their intense heat production, the slim servers are indeed a priority for IT managers. According to TIP’s survey, 62% of the respondents said they will spend more money on blade servers in the next year.

Gill said blade vendors are realizing that excess power is a problem in terms of energy efficiency, and there is an initiative among them to create blades that are more energy-efficient. A number of groups have suggested that vendors should develop a standard for measuring energy efficiency and then develop technology accordingly. He also noted that virtualization technology would alleviate some problems with power efficiency and consolidation…

Read the whole article at source.

Red Hat to offer a virtualization edition of Enterprise Linux

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Following the already annonced virtualization strategy Red Hat is going to offer a dedicated version of Red Hat Enteprise Linux just for Xen virtualization.

Quoting from Computer Business Review Online:

RHEL is currently available in ES, AS and WS versions, as well as the Red Hat Desktop, and the company’s president of engineering and chief technology officer, Brian Stevens, said it will likely add another version that will enable unlimited use as a virtualized operating system.

“Enterprise Linux 5.0 should allow unlimited use,” he said. “It will very likely be a different profile. It’s very likely that there’ll be a virtualization profile that will allow pervasive and unlimited use. Sitting beside ES and AS it’s a new package, and it’s a new package you don’t have to track.”
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Red Hat’s approach to the problem is a little different from rival Novell Inc, which is also introducing support for Xen 3.0 in its SUSE Linux Enterprise 10. Novell has stated that if SUSE Linux Enterprise Server is used as the Xen host, any number of SLES instances can run as a guest on that server for the price of a single host.

Read the whole article at source.