Periodically we ask our readers to vote on the best virtualization products. The readers have spoken when it comes to the best hypervisor available today. 56% of our readers chose VMware ESX where only 30% voted for Microsoft Server 2008 Hyper-V.
Read the full story at: VMware ESX - Voted VirtualizationAdmin.com Readers’ Choice Award Winner - Hypervisors
You may structure your virtual infrastructure inventory very differently than the structure of your business. So how do you match up the business with the virtual infrastructure? You can do it for free with Veeam Business View. Here is what it looks like:
Learn about it and download it for FREE at- Veeam Business View
For those who aren’t familiar with it, SRM is VMware’s Site Recovery Manager. SRM is used for disaster recovery of an entire datacenter running VMware virtual infrastructure.
The new version 4 is compatibile with vSphere 4 and, if you use vSphere (or plan to), I highly recommnd that you consider SRM to ensure that you can successfully and quickly execute your DR plan. I believe that it will allow you to do that easier than any other solution for traditional physical servers.
You can read more about VMware’s new SRM and download the free 60-day eval at- VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) for vSphere
Our own, Janique Carbone has a really great article that encompasses the business need for VDI now and for the future. Now - to resolve end-to-end issues for virtualizing desktop situations, and later to directly reduce operating costs and ROI.
Carbone also mentions the utilization of thin or rich client devices, to deploy virtual desktops on sever farms. In this way, virtual desktop computing is performed on the data center servers, while the user interface is presented on the client devices using a remote desktop client application. Dynamic or Static virtual desktops can then be utilized.
A Static virtual desktop uses a remote desktop connection and is usually set up for guest accounts and when specific applications are installed. A Dynamic virtual desktop is usually provisioned and assembled from a single master image and uses a Terminal Server and user-specific settings.
Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) allows licensing options available for Windows virtual desktops in a VDI environment. Licenses are allocated on a device basis. Also, Microsoft’s partner, Citrix, provides XenDesktop to manage larger deployments.
Janique sums up VDI with this comment …
“Whether you need to deploy a static or dynamic virtual desktop infrastructure, the components that integrate together to comprise a Microsoft VDI solution include Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, VECD, System Center VMM 2008, System Center DPM 2007 SP1, Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, and Citrix XenDesktop.
Read the full article is on VDI with Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V
VMware has recently announced their 2009 third quarter earnings and it’s looking really good.
Revenues are at $490 million, up 4% from 2008
Non-GAAP Operating Margin of 22%; GAAP Operating Margin of 5%
Non-GAAP Diluted EPS of $0.24; GAAP Diluted EPS of $0.09
US revenues for the third quarter declined 1% to $246 million from the third quarter of 2008. International revenues for the third quarter grew 9% to $244 million from the third quarter of 2008. Other statistics include operating cash flow was $199 million, a decrease of 6% from 3rd quater of 2008.
Paul Martiz, president and chief executive officer said ”VMware is well positioned to help take our customers on an evolutionary path forward, one that offers a superior platform for both private and public cloud environments. As our portfolio grows in the fourth quarter with the anticipated release of VMware View 4 for the desktop, we expect customers to increasingly turn to VMware to help them simplify IT.”
Some of the recent stragegic announcments are:
1. September 1, 2009, as part of the VMware vCloud initiative, VMware announced the support of more than 1,000 leading service providers.
2. The newly acquired SpringSource division will focus on providing developers and customers the best experience for developing modern applications.
Take a look at the complete statistics at VMware’s earning report
To quote Will Smith, I’m the best of the best! Well, move over Will. VMware has been touted as The Gold Standard in Desktop virtualization. It has won over 50 industry awards.
Take a look at these awards:
The most powerful, reliable and secure desktop virtualization product is one of the praises it has been given. Let me share a few of their enhancements:
1. Optimized for maximum performance running on 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 PCs.
2. The Best 3D Graphics for Windows Aero and DirectX 9.0c, among others.
3. New IDE integrations for the SpringSource Tools Suite and Eclipse IDE for Java & C/C++ along with Record Replay Debugging improvements.
4. See the graphic to show up to four virtual CPUs and 32GB of RAM dedicated to each virtual machine.
What are you waiting for? Check out the details and get your copy of the new VMware Workstation version 7 today!
We all try to be as proactive as we can in detecting possible resources that, for instance, are being under-utilized or not used at all. VMware has come out with the latest complete campacity product for virtualized environments. Visibility into past, present and future infrastructure capacity so you can analyze what is available and what is being used; forecast what is needed; and plan when capacity will run out. I really can’t think of anything better than that.
Bogomil Balkansky, VP, product marketing, server business unit, for VMware states, “VMware vCenter CapacityIQ is the first product that enables customers to fully analyze their virtualized environments, identify bottlenecks and wasted resources, and plan for current and future capacity needs so they have confidence that they can meet business demands.”
Also, Mike Laskowski, solutions architect, R.R. Donnelly comments on this great product from VMware, “With vCenter Capacity IQ, we can easily identify over- and under-provisioned virtual machines, helping us to reduce both waste and performance risk. CapacityIQ’s ‘what if analysis’ and reporting features help us with ongoing planning and deployment to ensure the right level of resources and the best possible ROI.”
The full article is: VMware Delivers New Management Solution
The one BIG catch with the new CapacityIQ is that it isn’t vSphere compatible. In other words, it only works with ESX 3.x and VI 3.x. Hopefully, VMware will soon release a vSphere compatible version.
I have been interested in StarWind iSCSI for a while and they have a new version coming out. It’s called StarWind Enterprise HA 5.0.
It’s a technology that makes sure your data is available and online even in the event of a failure. it allows you to configure an Active-Active 2 Node storage cluster while ensuring a highly reliable and fault tolerant storage. Check out the video and see what you think:
I plan to eval the software myself as a potential replacement to the open-source OpenFiler (not that there is anything wrong with OF, but I am always looking for alternatives)
If you are looking for the best Apple Mac virtualization solution, the new VMware Fusion 3 is the answer.
Donald Malm has the following comments about VMware’s Fusion 3 …
“I am a Mac devotee, but most of my clients are Windows users,” said Donald Malm, who runs a consulting service. “The ease in switching between my files and my client’s files when I am in Unity mode in VMware Fusion is exceptional. It allows me to stay dedicated to the Mac experience, but meet my customers’ needs along the way.”
VMware’s total solution allows incredable ease for running Windows applications in a MAC environment. There are over 50 new features and enhancements available. Here is just a few of them:
Check out all the details on VMware’s Fusion 3 at this link
Recently, I wrote about how you can make your life so much easier by using backing up using VMware virtualization-specific application. It is very robust with features like data-duplication and file level restore. VMware Data Recovery (or vDR as it is called) is included in vSphere Essentials Plus, Advanced, Enterprise, and Enterprise Plus (or you can purchase it separately).
To learn more about vDR, what it does, and how you backup and restore a VM with vDR, checkout my new articles on it at:
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