Customer Resources
VMware announces vSphere 4.0!
VMware's Marketing is definitely hyping this one up. They're announcing plenty of new features, one of which is storage vMotion. We all know that one has been around for a while now... I guess since its now in their VC interface they're going to hype it even more. But their new features are definitely worth mentioning...VMware Fault Tolerance (this ones awesome!)
VNetwork Distributed Switch
Thin Provisioning
vShield Zones
Dont let VM sprawl get the better of you...
We all know how virtualized environments can get out of hand... spinning up VMs is easy as pie- even my 9 year old nephew can do it; which makes the hardest part holding onto your savings. If you end up using as much hardware for virtual machines as you did for native environments, the cost savings line starts becoming less clear..
Title: Hanging Onto Virtualization Savings
Author: Sturdevant, Cameron
Source: eWeek, v25 n35 p39(2) Publication Date: Dec 1, 2008
ISSN: 1530-6283
URL of Publication: http://www.eweek.com
The need for cross-platform management tools is increasing as the use of technologies from Microsoft, VMware, and others grows. IT managers who are accustomed to getting praise for the large operational and equipment savings that has accumulated from implementing server virtualization solutions from Citrix XenServer, VMware, and now Microsoft Hyper-V are up against the task of preserving these savings with effective and efficient virtual machine management. Desktop, server, storage, and application virtualization, IT managers will encounter a growing threat of rising management costs unless capacity planning tools and effective management are put in place quickly. There is an urgent need to stop VM sprawl, which is the creation of virtual machines without a life cycle plan for continued utilization monitoring, configuration management including patch management, and an automated process for VM placement based on physical host, business process, and security policy constraints. You are in immediate danger if your organization creates VMs without a life cycle plan. Presently installed tools from CA, BMC Software, IBM/Tivoli, and Hewlett-Packard are not yet prepared for the next challenge that IT managers face concerning x86 server virtualization. In the one-app/one-server age, management platforms used time and events to determine system health. Virtual machines break this basic and previously useful method of system and application management. VMs can hibernate when not needed or move to a new location based on usage rules. As virtualization moves from the test/development environment into production, we will pass from basically reusing and recycling current equipment into carefully acquiring new physical resources to support ongoing virtualization. However, it could not be happening at a worse time. In the near future, effective management of virtualized IT resources across platforms and accounting for future capacity needs will be the new measure of IT efficacy.
Why Microsoft hasn't dominated server virtualization (yet)
A new report indicates that despite VMware's higher upfront costs, the ESXi platform's VM density advantages give the virtualization giant a leg up over Microsoft's Hyper-V. Find out where other analysts stand on the issue and where Microsoft's virtual efforts could be headed
This article is based on the recent Analysis performed by the Taneja Group, titled "The True Cost of Server Virtualization Solutions".
In this Technology Validation, Taneja Group reviews the effective performance of the Hyper-V and ESXi hypervisors. Based on their performance, we then review the total cost of acquiring Microsoft Hyper-V plus System Center and VMware Infrastructure 3. Based on our findings, VMware wins, with a cheaper cost of acquisition that flies in the face of common misperceptions. VMware has an effective VM density at least 1.5:1 times greater than Microsoft Hyper-V, and comes out ahead in purchase cost by 5% to 29% when compared to Microsoft. Download the full report here (please be patient the file is ~1MB)
Elysium
Tech Notes
Best Practices for a Fault Tolerant Web Layer
Elysium's Walle Lindberg discusses various options for load balancing an Apache Web ServerVAM
Check out VMware's Virtual Appliance Marketplace
One of the really nice benefits of VMware's long standing place in the virtualization market is their abundance of virtual appliances. Are you looking to test out a new Linux distribution? Or are maybe you're looking for an open source filer? (I recommend Openfiler or Freenas) Perhaps you need a production grade Firewall Router? (Vyatta's a good one)The VAM marketplace has all of those applications prebuilt onto virtual appliances, ready for your customizations. Check it out at VMware's Virtual Appliance Marketplace.