virtualization.info Editors

Duglas Brown wrote a very good paper about application virtualization, covering Softricity SoftGrid 3.2 and upcoming Citrix codename Tarpon:

With the emergence of numerous virtualization technologies like VMware and Softricity SoftGrid, the release of Citrix Presentation Server 4.0, and Citrix’s announcement of Project Tarpon, the age old challenges around operating system and software installations are being brought to the forefront. Solutions like VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server address issues with operating system rollouts. You now have the ability to separate your operating systems from your hardware by creating a level of indirection or an abstraction layer between the physical hardware and the operating system. This technology is being widely adopted to overcome rapid server deployment as well as driver conflicts, disaster recovery, and many other issues.

Now that we have a solution for overcoming operating system to hardware installation and deployment issues, the critical questions become:

• Is there a better way to install and run applications?
• Can we solve application conflicts, application installations, and application management issues in the way VMware and Microsoft Virtual Server have addressed similar problems with operating systems and hardware?

In this paper, I will detail the problems that IT departments face deploying and supporting applications. I will identify the pros and cons of various technologies that are designed to address these issues. We will explore server-based computing (including Citrix’s new application isolation feature), electronic software distribution (ESD), and on-demand virtual application computing, which includes new comer Citrix.

I recommend reading it while expecting the Altiris release of Software Virtualization Solution.

John Savill published for WindowsITPro a Visual Basic Script useful for backup of Virtual Server 2005 virtual machines, suspending, copying and resuming (which will be no more needed from Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 featuring live backup):

‘ backupvm.vbs
‘ John Savill
‘ Usage : backupvm.vbs
‘ e.g. cscript backupvm.vbs savdalum01 c:\backup’ Make sure that you place the \ at the end of the backup path or you’ll get errors.
‘
Option Explicit
On Error Resume Next

Dim objFSO, objVirtualServer, objVM, objSaveTask, objVHD

‘Connect to file system object.
set objFSO=CreateObject(“Scripting.FileSystemObject”)

‘Connect to Virtual Server.
set objVirtualServer = CreateObject(“VirtualServer.Application”)

‘Get virtual machine from command-line parameter.
set objVM = objVirtualServer.FindVirtualMachine(WScript.Arguments(0))

‘Save state of the virtual machine.
set objSaveTask = objVM.Save

‘Loop waiting for task completion
while not objSaveTask.isComplete
WScript.Sleep 1000
wend

‘Copy virtual hard disks and undo disks.
for each objVHD in objVM.HardDiskConnections
If objFSO.FileExists(objVHD.HardDisk.file) Then
‘Wscript.Echo objVHD.HardDisk.file & ” ” & WScript.Arguments(1)
objFSO.CopyFile objVHD.HardDisk.file, WScript.Arguments(1)
End If
If objFSO.FileExists(objVHD.undoHardDisk.file) Then
‘Wscript.Echo objVHD.undoHardDisk.file & ” ” & WScript.Arguments(1)
objFSO.CopyFile objVHD.undoHardDisk.file, WScript.Arguments(1)
End If
Next

‘Copy .vmc and .vsv files.
objFSO.CopyFile objVM.File, WScript.Arguments(1)
objFSO.CopyFile objVM.SavedStateFilePath, WScript.Arguments(1)

‘Start the virtual machine.
objVM.Startup

Read the original article for update and comments.

Thanks to Virtualserver.tv for the news.

Products

• SWsoft Virtuozzo for Windows 3.5.1

Books

• The Rational Guide to Scripting Microsoft Virtual Server 2005
• The Rational Guide to Managing Microsoft Virtual Server 2005

Quoting from the DataCore Software official announcement:

DataCore Software today announced that it has entered into a partnership with AccessFlow, a computer systems consultant and reseller that designs and deploys virtual infrastructure solutions. AccessFlow’s mission is to combine server virtualization (VMware), storage virtualization (SAN), network virtualization and client/application virtualization (Citrix) to enable significant reductions in IT costs.

AccessFlow was looking to fill a void for its customer base between low-cost storage technologies and the need to provide seamless failover and Fibre Channel storage solutions to customers and prospects that have embraced VMware…

Quoting from the Wyse official announcement:

Wyse Technology, the global leader in thin computing, today announced that it is teaming with VMware, the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, to deliver enhanced virtual desktop computing solutions. Wyse and VMware plan to work cooperatively on joint engineering projects, customer engagements, channel partner programs, and co-marketing initiatives.

As a key first phase of the collaboration, Wyse has joined the VMware Community Source program and plans to integrate its Wyse infrastructure deployment and management solutions with the VMware virtual infrastructure, across its thin-client platform portfolio: Windows XPe, Windows CE, Wyse Thin OS and Linux.
…
Wyse and VMware are designing their enhanced virtualized thin computing joint solutions to enable customers to easily deploy virtual desktop solutions across the enterprise. Using a combination of VMware virtual infrastructure and Wyse’s thin computing hardware and software, corporate IT administrators will be enabled to deploy virtual desktop environments to their end users using Wyse’s technology for device and user management while maintaining the central management, control and security benefits of their data center VMware virtual infrastructure…

Quoting from the Softricity official announcement:

Softricity, the on-demand software virtualization company, today announced the availability of its new Return on Virtualization (ROV) Calculator, a Forrester Total Economic Impact (TEI)-compliant tool that details the cost savings and business value possible with the Softricity Desktop, the premier platform for enterprise application virtualization.
…
The ROV Calculator guides enterprises through a comprehensive questionnaire regarding their business and technology environment to create an analysis of the tangible impact the Softricity Desktop can have on their operations

Quoting from the Red Hat official announcement:

Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions to the enterprise, today formally announced its ‘Integrated Virtualization’ strategy. During a launch today in San Francisco, company executives detailed plans for creating a Red Hat virtualization environment and working with partners such as AMD, Intel, Network Appliance and XenSource to simplify virtualization deployment for customers.
…
Red Hat will tightly integrate virtualization capabilities with its operating system and ensure all aspects of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux platform, from management tools and installation to software management, will enable customers to deploy virtualized environments easily and effectively.
…
This month Red Hat will make Fedora Core 5 available, which will contain a preview of Red Hat Enterprise Linux virtualization technology. In the summer of 2006, Red Hat will make Virtualization Migration and Assessment Services available along with an Enterprise Virtualization beta. Red Hat Enterprise Linux v. 5, scheduled for general availability by the end of 2006, will feature fully integrated virtualization…

There also is a 1-hour-long recorded webcast of this press event available here.

Quoting from OSNews:

IBM researchers Singh, Smith & Reed are developing in their free time legacy BIOS support for Intel Macs. “BAMBIOS” is using Boch’s BIOS emulation code and has also adapted its graphical BIOSes for the current ATi and Intel graphics chipsets used on the Intel Macs today.
…
To EFI, our software looks like a regular EFI program which happens to be a bootloader. This bootloader contains a binary payload which is an entire BIOS, VGA BIOS, and other x86-specific glue needed to boot the machine. This binary payload is loaded into memory in the legacy BIOS space. To all software on the machine, it appears as if the machine has a traditional BIOS. An important aspect of BAMBIOS is that its goal is to be non-disruptive.

Read the whole article at source.

Brian Madden posted a very interesting article about application delivery in a Windows environment.

He considered 9 ways to do so, including 3different with products like VMware and Softricity, underlying pros and cons:

• Application Streaming and Virtualizatiion
  Use something like Softricity to stream the application to the user’s device on demand
• VMware PC
  Build a huge VMware server and divide it into multiple VMs, with each VM running Windows XP. Provide remote access via XP’s built-in remote desktop
• VMware Clients within Terminal Server / Citrix Sessions
  Build a server and install terminal services and Citrix. Install VMware Workstation (or Microsoft Virtual PC) as a publish application in Citrix. Then “publish” a VMware disk image for each user. Users connect to the published VM via ICA

Read it at source.

Be sure to read comments as well. The first one states: Citrix should have bought VMware or vice versa and I found it pretty interesting.

To provide a more interactive experience I actived an online chat system for virtualization.info.

From the home page, on the left sidebar, you can activate it by simply clicking on chat about this page.
It will start an AJAX chat float window, dockable on the browser window (no intervention from you).

The service, totally unmoderated, is provided by Gabbly and it actually offers nickname changing, history and RSS feed (it provides a daily transcript).

It’s an experimental feature and as soon as I’ll see SPAM or unfair messages I’ll close it immediately.