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Microsoft Hyper-V 2.0 To Support Live Migration

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According to Bink.nu, Windows Server 2008 R2 will include Hyper-V R2, aiming to deliver the final pieces for enterprise level OS virtualization (together with SCVMM2008) and to really compete with VMware at that level.

Stephen Bink writes:

“The most anticipated is of course Live Migration: moving running VM’s from one host to another without interruption of services running inside the VM’s

To accomplisch this technique a new shared filesytem is needed and so will also be introduced in Hyper-V 2.0: Clustered Shared Volumes.

The Live migration works best together with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, it can provide additional Live Migration management and orchestration scenarios such as Live Migration via policy.”

Microsoft Launches Cloud Platform, Dubs It Windows Azure

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Ray Ozzie opened the Microsoft PDC ’08 this morning with a keynote speech, announcing Windows Azure, Microsoft’s “Windows in the cloud” (press release here). It is a new service based operating environment, which he described as a massive highly scalable service platform. What is being released today is just a fraction of what it will become. It will be Microsoft’s highest scalable system enabling people and companies to create services on the Web.

Ozzie described how this platform combines cloud-based developer capabilities with storage, computational and networking infrastructure services, all hosted on servers operating within Microsoft’s global datacenter network. This provides developers with the ability to deploy applications in the cloud or on-premises and enables experiences across a broad range of business and consumer scenarios.

Mary-Jo Foley offers a ‘guide for the perplexed‘.

Microsoft did not disclose pricing, licensing or timing details for Azure. The company is planning to release a Community Technology Preview (CTP) test build of Azure to PDC attendees on October 27.

More details later.

RingCube Technologies Releases vDesk version 1.1

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RingCube Technologies today announced vDesk version 1.1, a high-performance enterprise desktop virtualization solution that delivers anytime, anywhere access to a personalized desktop environment complete with applications, data and settings. vDesk version 1.1 delivers new MobileSync technology that enables users to work offline and synchronize their vDesk virtual workspaces between four flexible deployment options:

  • PC – vDesk is stored and runs locally on the user’s PC
  • Drive – vDesk is stored on portable drives such as USB, flash, and smartphones
  • Network – vDesk is stored on a network file share and runs locally
  • VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) – vDesk is stored in the data center and accessed remotely using VDI

vDesk MobileSync enables users to synchronize their vDesk Workspace between any of the four vDesk deployment options and work offline. While offline, users become truly mobile by being able to access their virtual workspace anytime, anywhere. For example, a user can access their vDesk through VDI while in the office and check out their vDesk workspace to a laptop or portable drive for a business trip or to work at home. Mobile professionals have the flexibility to work from an airplane, at home or in a hotel room.

When they come back to the office, they are prompted automatically to check in and synchronize their vDesk Workspace to the network. Once checked in, the user can access their vDesk workspace through VDI and have all the changes that were made offline reflected in their online vDesk workspace.

vDesk MobileSync enables rapid backup or “hot standby” for disaster recovery for users who have hardware failures or loose their laptop or portable drive. If a user’s laptop or portable drive is lost or fails, the user can check out their vDesk Workspace from the network to a new laptop or portable drive and be up and running in minutes with the latest applications, data and settings.

vDesk 1.1 is available immediately through RingCube. Pricing starts at $200 per user.

Release: Veeam Reporter Enterprise 3.0 Edition

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Veeam Software today announced general availability of its Veeam Reporter Enterprise Edition. The new offering is an advanced version of Veeam Reporter, the product for automated discovery and documentation of VMware Infrastructure 3 (VI3). Veeam Reporter Enterprise is the first solution specifically designed for reporting and change control in large VI3 virtual environments.

Veeam Reporter Enterprise provides unattended data collection and scheduled or ad hoc reporting, as well as centralized Microsoft SQL Server data storage to help systems administrators discover, document and report on all the objects within their VMware virtual infrastructure. Its client/server architecture supports use by many administrators, who can each see their area of interest.

Like the original Veeam Reporter, Reporter Enterprise collects information about the VI3 environment, its components and configuration settings. From this collection, Reporter provides comprehensive Microsoft Visio, Excel, Word or Adobe PDF reports for analysis, change control, documentation and decision-making support.

Veeam Reporter Enterprise is available immediately, with North American pricing beginning at $375 USD per socket.

VMware Earnings Call: Solid Q3, Maritz Not Afraid Of Microsoft

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VMware reported better than expected financial results today and said it was standing by its forecast for the rest of the year, albeit at the lower end of its guidance.

Revenue for the third quarter was US$472 million, up 32 percent from the same period a year ago. That’s slower growth than VMware has reported in the past, but still ahead of the $463 million that financial analysts had been expecting, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Net income was $83 million, or $0.21 per share, up from $65 million, or $0.18 per share, in the third quarter last year. That too was ahead of the analyst forecast, which called for earnings of $0.20 per share.

VMware maintained its forecast for 2008 revenue growth of 42 percent to 45 percent, but it cautioned that the economic uncertainty makes it difficult to predict demand for its products. It said there was “an increased likelihood that 2008 revenue will be at the lower end of the guidance range.”

VMware CEO Paul Maritz called the figures “solid” in the face of a “challenging economic environment.” During the call with financial analysts, Maritz also said VMware has not seen its sales drop off since Microsoft introduced Hyper-V into the virtualization market in June. Maritz is also confident that VMware’s product roadmap is a full 12 to 24 months ahead of Microsoft’s virtualization roadmap.

Microsoft Releases System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 RTM

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Microsoft has released System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008, its enterprise management console for its hypervisor platform Hyper-V. You can download a free trial version here.

From Softie Keith Combs’ blog:

Highlights of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

  • Support for VMs Running on Windows Server 2008
    • System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 was designed to fully utilize the foundational features and services of Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft Hyper-V™ Server. This includes Hyper-V’s 64-bit architecture, attack hardened security model, fail-over cluster support (see below) and others.
    • Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (VMM) supports the management of hosts running Hyper-V and VMM can actually enable Hyper-V remotely from the VMM 2008 console.
    • VMM 2008 integrates with new clustering support in Windows Server 2008 to allow for fault-tolerant and cluster aware virtual machines to be created
    • VMM 2008 supports all Hyper-V functionality while providing VMM-specific functions, such as Intelligent Placement, the Self-Service Portal, and the integrated Library.
  • Multi-Vendor Virtualization Platform Support
    • In addition to support for Hyper-V, VMM 2008 integrates multi-hypervisor management into one tool with its support for virtual machines running on VMware ESX infrastructure and Microsoft Virtual Server.
    • VMM 2008 provides comprehensive support for VMware VI3 including moving virtual machines among virtual hosts with no downtime via VMotion, through integration with VMware’s Virtual Center.
    • VMM 2008 specific features such as Intelligent Placement, consolidation candidate recommendations and others can be run against virtualized infrastructure on any supported platform.
    • Windows PowerShell™ scripts for customization or automation are also supported across Hyper-V, VMware ESX or Virtual Server implementations
  • Host Cluster Support for “High Availability” Virtual Machines
    • With greatly expanded support for failover clusters, VMM 2008 improves its “high availability” capabilities for managing mission-critical virtual machines. VMM 2008 is now fully cluster-aware meaning that it can detect and manage Hyper-V host clusters as a single unit.
    • New in this version of VMM is automatic detection of virtual hosts that are added or removed from the cluster – thus easing the burden on the administrator to manage this function.
    • In VMM 2008, creating a high availability virtual machine (HA VM) has never been easier. Gone are the complex multi-step manual processes from before – now, an administrator clicks a simple checkbox which designates a VM as highly available. Behinds the scenes, VMM orchestrates the creation of that HA VA which includes instructing the Intelligent Placement feature of VMM 2008 to recommend only hosts that are part of a host cluster for the newly minted HA VM.
    • Improved HA VM management features of VMM 2008 include the Failover Cluster Management Console for various cluster-related tasks such as designation and management of cluster reserves, letter-less disk drives, guest clusters, among others.
    • VMM 2008 also supports VMware host clusters in which the nodes of the cluster are VMware ESX Servers.