Virtualization.com

News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing

Robin Wauters

Release: Desktop Analysis Pack for Lanamark Suite

by Leave a Comment

Lanamark today announced availability of the Desktop Analysis Pack for Lanamark Suite. This new analysis pack is designed to help solution providers analyze enterprise desktop environments, identify candidate desktops for virtualization and recommend optimal resource allocation to virtual desktops in order to maximize end user adoption and satisfaction.

The Desktop Analysis Pack distinguishes desktops from laptops to identify mobile users and determines associations between workstations and external devices such as monitors, printers and scanners. It leverages the Lanamark Software Intelligence (LSI) technology to recognize software applications installed versus ones actually used across the enterprise. The combined information about desktop hardware and software enables channel partners to identify desktops most suitable for virtualization, determine what type of thin client devices would be most appropriate for end users and recommend how software applications should be allocated to minimize licensing costs.

Once the analysis phase is completed and candidate desktops for virtualization are identified, solution providers can then leverage the Lanamark Server Virtualization Design Module to build optimal virtual desktop infrastructure solutions across leading virtualization and hardware platforms. The module allows what-if scenarios to be compared side-by-side with comprehensive TCO calculations and enables channel partners to build end-to-end solutions with server, storage and thin client components from Brocade, Dell, EMC, Emulex, Hitachi, HP, IBM, NetApp, QLogic, Sun Microsystems, Wyse and Xiotech.

XLink Technology Releases proReplicator 3.0

by Leave a Comment

XLink Technology announces today the new release of proReplicator 3.0 for Windows 2008/2003/2000/XP systems.

Product Overview: Xlink proReplicator brings data replication to a whole new level, combining both real-time and scheduled data replication for all your mission critical servers. Whether you are concerned about virtual machine backup, database, email or web server continuous data protection (CDP) and disaster recovery, proReplicator will provide a consolidated solution for your enterprise. Data replication in proReplicator could be implemented either scheduled or in real-time, locally or remotely, over LAN or WAN.

Feature Highlights:

  • Manual Failover / Failback, Test-Data on demand with one mouse click. With a very simple user interface, it is only one mouse click to test data on replicas or get system failover / failback between the Primary and a replica.
  • Scheduled or Real-time replication for entire VMware guest OS. Once you go to a virtual environment, you have to look at the virtual machine and make sure that you back it up the same way you do your physical system. It is always necessary to continuously replicate application data from multiple virtual production servers to another backup server either locally or over the WAN, for fully disaster recovery in the event of an outage.

Xlink ProReplicator can be installed on the host OS or a guest OS of VMware server, replicating from the host OS offers not only the benefit of replicating all applications running on the virtual machine(e.g. Exchange server, SQL database server, IIS web server, or file server), but also replicating non-Windows guest OS (e.g. Linux or Solaris x86).

  • Real-time and Application-aware data replication for MSSQL database and IIS web servers. Default replication templates provided for MS SQL database server and IIS web server. User self-defined templates are also supported.
  • Scheduled Automatic Replication. Flexible scheduling allows you to run automatic replication jobs instead of, or in addition to, the Real-Time replication.
  • Scheduled or Real-time data replication to local and remote target locations. ProReplicator provides local and/or remote protection against almost any outage, you can replicate to a disaster recovery site as far away from your production server as you wish.

Key Benefits:

  • One-stop solution for server continuous data protection and disaster recovery.
  • True CDP technology for point-in-time data protection, guarantee database and major applications recoverability.
  • Application-aware data replication to reduce unwanted garbage files.
  • Provides local and/or remote protection against almost any outage, you can replicate to a disaster recovery site as far away from your production server as you wish.
  • Minimization of network bandwidth usage: Real-time replication copies only the modified portion of a file. ProReplicator monitors byte-level change in data. At time of saving them into disk devices, it speeds up performance by using block-level CDP to match disk block IO operations.
  • Data Replication on database and non-database files, as well as dynamically generated Registry Files: The Registry Replication feature meets the needs of some server systems that require certain dynamically changed key definitions of registry matched on the Secondary server for a successful failover.
  • Easy setup and centralized configuration on Primary Master Station

Support Platforms:

  • Supports VMware
  • Supports SQL 2000, 2005 and 2008 and SQLExpress
  • Supports Windows 2008/2003 32-bit and 64-bit, Windows 2000/XP
  • No need for the cost/complexity of the Microsoft clustering
  • No system reboot required on installation

IBM Walks Away From Talks Over Potential Sun Acquisition

by 1 Comment

IBM has withdrawn its $7 billion bid for Sun Microsystems today (Sunday), reports the NY Times, who confirmed the collapse of the talks based on a statement from an unnamed source while several other media, including the Wall Street Journal and ZDNet, were still speculating. The New York Times correctly points out this leaves Sun free to pursue other opportunities for selling itself.

Since last year, Sun executives had been meeting with potential buyers. I.B.M. stepped up, seeing an opportunity to add to its large software business, acquire valuable researchers and consolidate the market for larger, so-called server computers that corporations use in their data centers.

In their talks, I.B.M. and Sun had a contract to deal with each other exclusively. Now, Sun is free to pursue other suitors, including I.B.M. rivals like Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems. Cisco recently entered the market for server computers.

It will be interesting to watch the market react to this on Monday morning.

Hyper9 Introduces H9Labs

by Leave a Comment

Hyper9 announced on Wednesday the creation of H9Labs, an experimental division of Hyper9 that will research, develop and provide VI administrators with an opportunity to experience and evaluate new and emerging innovations and technologies.

H9Labs is unique because it relies on the community of VI administrators for input on the capabilities they need most to effectively do their job, and user feedback will be crucial to help improve these tools before they attain general availability status.

H9Labs recently announced VI administrator tools developed by H9Labs’s own Andrew Kutz, a well known developer in the VMware community who was recently named a vExpert by VMware.

H9Labs GuessMyOS plug-in replaces generic VM icons in the VI3 client inventory tree with OS-specific icons for both Windows and Linux guest and Virtualization Manager Mobile Beta, which allows the user to manage and monitor their virtual infrastructure from their favorite mobile device. The free H9Labs PowerShell Cmdlts, such as the Out-DataSet cmdlet, is an extremely useful and needed cmdlet as indicated by the VI administrator community. VI admins use it to pipe any type of data that can be formatted with the built-in cmdlet, Format-Table, into a typed Microsoft .NET System.Data.DataSet.

Unidesk Files Patent On Composite Virtualization Desktop Management Technology

by Leave a Comment

Unidesk earlier this week announced the filing of a patent application with the US Patent and Trademark Office on its technology for simplifying the management of hosted virtual desktops and virtualized notebooks and PCs in corporate computing environments.

Unidesk Composite Virtualization technology, the centerpiece of the company’s first patent for a “Managed Desktop System,” will dramatically reduce the operational costs of desktop management and support for enterprise IT organizations, while providing unprecedented customization, personalization, and mobility benefits for desktop users.

Unidesk’s patent application consists of 42 distinct claims that describe the company’s unique ability to disaggregate desktops into separately manageable containers. With Unidesk Composite Virtualization technology, IT can provision, patch, package, version, and rollback operating system images such as Microsoft Windows; IT-delivered applications; and, user-installed applications and data independent of each other. By dynamically synthesizing these containers into completely personal desktops whenever users demand, Unidesk’s patent-pending technology will greatly simplify the management of hosted virtual desktop solutions such as Citrix XenDesktop and VMware View, as well as PCs and notebooks virtualized with Type 1 and Type 2 client hypervisors, while satisfying even the most demanding desktop use cases.

Additional information on how Unidesk will reduce the cost of desktop operations, maximize worker productivity, improve edge security, increase data availability, and facilitate compliance will be available when the company launches its first product based on Composite Virtualization later this year.

Vizioncore Enhances vEssentials Software Bundle

by Leave a Comment

Vizioncore earlier this week announced that its vEssentials bundle, that previously included vFoglight Pro, vRanger Pro and vReplicator, is newly improved and can be purchased with a choice of any three Vizioncore software solutions.

Designed to provide ultimate flexibility, the new vEssentials bundle allows the freedom to select a set of Vizioncore’s industry-leading virtualization management solutions at an affordable economic-friendly price – a savings of up to 40% off list prices. Customers can choose from any of the following products to benefit from the savings: vConverter DR, vFoglight Pro, vOptimizer Pro, vRanger Pro, and vReplicator. The new vEssentials bundle helps companies save money while achieving new levels of productivity in allowing them to extend, enhance, control and improve their IT systems and virtual environments.