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Microsoft Hyper-V Server

Veeam’s Backup & Replication To Gain Support For Microsoft Hyper-V

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Veeam Software, provider of VMware data protection, disaster recovery and VMware management solutions for virtual datacenter environments, today announced at Tech·Ed North America that it is adding support for Windows Server Hyper-V and Microsoft Hyper-V Server to Veeam Backup & Replication, its data protection solution for virtual environments.

By extending support to Hyper-V, Veeam is providing:

– 2-in-1 backup and replication for Hyper-V
– Changed block tracking for Hyper-V
– Built-in deduplication and compression

Veeam Backup & Replication for Microsoft Hyper-V will be available to customers in the fourth quarter of 2011.

Release: Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta

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Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta is the beta release of the stand-alone hypervisor based product Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008, first released in September 2008.

The new Beta contains the same virtualization feature-set as Hyper-V that is part of Windows Server 2008 R2 Beta.  Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 can be downloaded here and now includes:

  • Processor and memory support: Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta now supports up to 8-socket physical systems and provides support for up to 32-cores.  In addition, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta supports up to 1TB of RAM on a physical system.

  • Updated Hyper-V Configuration Utility: The Hyper-V Configuration utility is designed to simplify the most common initial configuration tasks.  It helps you configure the initial configuration settings without having to type long command-line strings.  New configuration options have been added for R2 Beta including:

    • Remote Management Configuration

    • Failover Clustering Configuration

    • Additional options for Updates

  • Failover Clustering: The initial release of Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 did not include support for failover clustering.  However, with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Beta, host clustering technology is included to enable support for unplanned downtime.
  • Live migration: Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 includes support for live migration. Live migration enables customers to move running applications between servers without service interruptions.

With live migration and failover clustering, customers receive high availability and dynamic migration capabilities for both planned and unplanned downtime.

Microsoft Deepens Partnership With HP

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Microsoft today announced expanded product, sales and services initiatives with HP aimed at helping businesses more easily adopt and deploy virtualization. Microsoft has expanded its work together with HP to sell and market storage, server and networking consolidation solutions and desktop virtualization solutions to small-, medium-sized- and large-business customers worldwide.

Today’s announcements include the following:

  • In the U.S., Microsoft is working with HP to offer products, training and deployment services for storage, networking and server consolidation that are designed to help customers decrease costs, increase business agility, improve data access and protection, and increase employee productivity.
  • Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and Microsoft System Center are supported on the new industry-standard HP Virtual Connect 10Gb Flex-10 module, which works with the Flex-10 NIC on the recently introduced HP ProLiant BL495c virtualization blade server. Together these technologies help enable customers to significantly lower costs with their server and network consolidation, business continuity, and dynamic datacenter projects.
  • The HP and Microsoft Frontline Partner Program in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) has registered 60 percent of eligible partners across 36 countries to receive access to virtualization training, sales tools, marketing materials, workshops, and incentives targeting small and medium-sized businesses.
  • Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) features will be delivered in the HP ProLiant PRO Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, running on HP ProLiant and BladeSystem servers, in December 2008. PRO is a feature of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 that enables dynamic management of virtual machines and the associated host platforms.
  • HP provides comprehensive services, built on Microsoft technologies, for customers to virtualize their desktops and data centers. The services address strategy, design, transition, operation and continual improvement. HP offers virtualization workshops and proofs-of-concept as the first step for virtualization projects. HP also provides education and support for technology staff as well as services to develop a strategic technology road map using best practices to consolidate and manage infrastructure.
  • HP Business Service Automation will enable automation of change and configuration management processes across virtual and physical environments for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V environments, and will integrate with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 for managing advanced platform capabilities, while decreasing downtime associated with uncontrolled change. HP is scheduled to release a beta in the first quarter of 2009.

Microsoft Exchange Managed Services Provider Azaleos Adds Hyper-V Support

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MS Exchange managed services provider Azaleos has announced its OneServer Virtual Edition now supports Microsoft Hyper-V Server, adding virtualization capability to Exchange email servers.

According to Azaleos’ announcement, Exchange virtualization can consolidate server and storage resources, simplify administration, and streamline high availability and disaster recovery. Already offering support for VMware ESX, Azaleos’ Exchange support gives customers the choice of either virtualization platform, or even a physical server.

According to another statement from Azaleos, “Microsoft Exchange Server typically does not require the full processing capabilities of an entire server, [making it] ideally suited for virtualization where its needs can be combined with other workloads.” This is also an early example of how email hosts can adopt Microsoft’s Hyper-V virtualization capabilities.

Managed services available on OneServer Virtual Edition include real-time monitoring and reporting system ViewXchange; remote command and control service ManageXchange; turnkey mobile device management and monitoring solution MobileXchange; anti-virus and anti-spam service ProtectXchange; disaster recovery service RestoreXchange; and archival and storage service ArchiveXchange.