virtualization

BakBone Introduces NetVault: Backup 8.1 With Full Adoption of VMware Technology

May 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

BakBone Software has released a new version of its flagship data protection solution, NetVault: Backup 8.1, adding support for individual VMware ESX Servers as well as full virtual data centers, all integrated and managed from the NetVault: Backup GUI. Users do not need to create and run scripts, giving BakBone customers the flexibility to deploy data protection in virtual environments and manage the solution under one umbrella.

In addition to new VMware capabilities, BakBone now also provides full support for Novell‘s Open Enterprise Server (OES) 2. BakBone claims to offer the broadest Linux capabilities in the storage management market, supporting more leading Linux distributions and applications than any other data protection software vendor.

According to the press release, the highlights for NetVault: Backup 8.1 include

Full VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) Support

Offers the flexibility to protect virtual machines deployed on a VMware ESX Server or multiple VMware ESX Servers from a VCB proxy server
Provides protection for virtual machine images or individual files on Windows guest operating system without the need for complex scripting
Tracks virtual machine migration with VMotion

Full VMware virtual machine backups

Provides virtual machines with protection from disasters, media failure and data corruption
Protects the entire virtual environment in case of a disaster, including log and configuration files as well as the VMDK data files

Increased flexibility

Gives administrators automatic integration with supported devices, including a VTL, SAN, NDMP or locally attached drives
Offers greater granularity for Windows on VMware by allowing customers to backup and restore individual files within virtual machines
Empowers storage administrators to create comprehensive, flexible backup policies without the need to understand VCB internals or create complex scripts

NetVault: Backup 8.1 extends capabilities beyond the backup and recovery of virtual environments. The solution reduces the load on ESX Servers and simplifies virtual environment protection by consolidating backups through single servers. This is especially important for businesses that need to reduce data center energy demands as they consolidate hardware.

[Source: VMBlog]

Parallels Debuts Software Certification Program

May 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Parallels announced today the Parallels Certification Program, which enables software vendors to test their products and certify their compatibility with Parallels virtualization software. Product certification provides assurance to end users that popular ISV applications are supported and compatible with Parallels virtualization solutions.

Certification is available for software vendors that want to assure compatibility with Parallels virtualization products, including Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, Parallels Desktop for Mac, Parallels Server and Parallels Workstation.

Software vendors can register for certification free of no charge by going to Product Certification Application Form. The Parallels Certified Products catalog includes more than 100 solutions that span many application types and includes applications such as SugarCRM and IBM DB2. To access the Parallels Certified Products catalog, go to Catalog page.

Virtualization Job Listings Jump 40% (Especially VMware-Related Ones)

May 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

IT job board Dice has announced that in the last six months, it’s seen postings for jobs requiring experience with VMware products surge 40 percent, reports eWeek.

“The numbers have grown significantly,” reportedly said Tom Silver, senior vice president of marketing and customer support at Dice.

Silver attributed the growth in job postings in this area to companies realizing that there are significant cost savings associated with virtualization, coupled with the move to make data centers greener, as they require less resources to run more quickly and cleanly.

Companies besides VMware, which once had the market largely to itself, have also taken notice of the trend, with Citrix Systems, Microsoft, Red Hat, Sun and Oracle also focusing heavily on virtualization technology.

Silver said he sees jobs in this are as an ideal career move for a programmer or project manager.

Illuminata analyst Gordon Haff also wieghed in saying he feels that virtualization is such a buzzword these days, there’s a lot of confusion as to what it actually is.

“Everyone is calling everything virtualization these days. Though actual virtualization has had a big spike in interest, too, and I have no doubt that the demand for people who have worked with VMware [has] gone up by a lot, it still may turn out to be a little over-hyped,” Haff said.

Haff also argued that virtualization work is less on the developer side of the house, and more operational in nature.

On a related note, we plan to integrate our virtualization job board into Virtualization.com real soon!

IGEL’s Range Of Thin Clients Supports Citrix XenDesktop

May 21, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

IGEL Technology announced the broadest range of thin client models supporting the important Citrix XenDesktop virtualization standard. With all of its 22 (!) models now supporting Citrix XenDesktop, IGEL claims its unique digital services approach allows organizations to offer the best user experience combined with robust desktop resilience and powerful remote management.

The IGEL Technology range includes traditional desktop designs, PC upgrade cards, 17” and 19” LCD integrated units, wireless tablets and quad screen units. The variety of choice allows organizations of all types to deploy the Citrix XenDesktop virtualization solution to almost any part of the business, including office workers, mobile users, space constrained point-of-sale areas and multi-screen environments such as dealing rooms.

The flexibility of the IGEL approach allows organizations to pick and choose the best digital services to deliver a true PC experience, including web browser, Java, SAP GUI, PDF, terminal emulation and VoIP. This also provides desktop resilience if the virtual PC connection should be lost, for example, users can access email via the local web client or SAP via the native SAP GUI in this event.

“The arguments for virtualizing PCs are becoming overwhelming,” said Dirk Dördelmann, technical director, IGEL Technology. “Applications can now be migrated to the data center without compatibility issues. The access device choice is so broad that organizations can place them almost anywhere, and the process of deployment is no more complex than plugging in a telephone. IGEL offers the end user a thin client experience that is just like a PC but without the hassles, and we are excited to now offer this capability in conjunction with our long-term partner Citrix.”

Splunk Announces Server Virtualization Management Application for Citrix XenServer

May 20, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Splunk today announced the immediate availability of its first server virtualization management application, Splunk for Citrix XenServer Management which offers extended management capabilities for Citrix XenServer. In the coming months, Splunk expects to release applications for each of the leading server virtualization platforms, built on the company’s IT Search platform.

Splunk brings IT Search, indexing, alert and reporting to the challenges of troubleshooting server virtualization. IT Search promises to deliver a comprehensive view of 100 percent of IT data – not only from the hypervisor and VM (virtual machine), but also from the server, guest OS, applications, and network.

With multiple VMs sharing a pool of server, storage and network resources, changes to any one layer or VM could potentially affect others – and the applications they contain. Splunk’s ability to index data across every tier of the infrastructure in real-time makes it the only solution to alleviate the challenge of running a dynamic environment on finite resources with optimal results.

“Splunk just gets it,” said Simon Crosby, CTO, Virtualization & Management, Citrix Systems. “XenServer customers have been asking for a way to correlate hypervisor data and metrics with everything else going on in the IT stack, including guest VMs and apps. Splunk has the smarts to put all the relevant logs, metrics and events together in the most intuitive way so you can really understand what’s happening all the way up the stack.”

According to the press release, Splunk for Server Virtualization Management supports all management use cases throughout the virtualization lifecycle – virtualization planning, workload optimization, performance monitoring, root cause analysis and log management. Whether customers are testing a new virtualization rollout or managing an existing infrastructure, Splunk Apps provide a holistic view across virtualization platform metrics from guest operating systems and applications.

Users can download a free 30-day trial of the Splunk for XenServer Management application.

Citrix Unveils XenDesktop 2.0

May 20, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

“It’s like getting a fresh new PC every day.” That’s how Citrix is touting its long awaited VDI solution, dubbed XenDesktop version 2.0, probably just because it’s what all the cool kids name their solutions nowadays.

XenDesktop 2.0 was unveiled at Citrix Synergy 2008, with the company also revealing some previously unannounced details about the complete XenDesktop product line, including the release of a new Express Edition offering free desktop virtualization for up to 10 users, and new Enterprise and Platinum Editions which integrate application virtualization via the new XenApp for Virtual Desktops feature.

These are the five editions in detail for the XenDesktop product line:

Express Edition – free desktop virtualization for up to 10 users.
Standard Edition – offers a cost-effective, but high performance, entry-level desktop virtualization solution suitable for departmental implementations.
Advanced Edition – an enterprise desktop virtualization solution for organizations that have an existing application delivery already it place. Advanced Edition adds powerful virtual desktop provisioning capabilities that reduce storage costs and simplify desktop lifecycle management by enabling a single desktop image to dynamically create and update hundreds of virtual desktops on demand.
Enterprise Edition – comprehensive desktop delivery solution including integrated application delivery. Enterprise Edition adds fully integrated application delivery with XenApp for Virtual Desktops, based on the most proven application virtualization technology in the industry with over 100 million users and 99 percent of the Fortune 500 as customers.
Platinum Edition – ideal for customers looking to implement desktops as a service from the datacenter. Platinum Edition adds extensive optimization, security, monitoring and end user support benefits to create the ultimate desktop experience and best overall product value. This edition also includes the award-winning Citrix EasyCall™ technology, giving users instant click-to-call capability from any application, as well as a built in on-demand remote assistance feature that allows support staff to see exactly what end users see if a problem occurs, chat with them in real time, and even take permission-based control of the end-user’s mouse and keyboard to walk them through a problem resolution live.

XenDesktop is available now and can be downloaded today. Suggested retail pricing is per concurrent user as follows:

XenDesktop Express – free download
XenDesktop Standard – USD $75
XenDesktop Advanced – USD $195
XenDesktop Enterprise – USD $295
XenDesktop Platinum – USD $395

Citrix also unveiled a new Desktop Appliance Partner Program aimed at establishing trusted standards for desktop appliances, a new class of device that is purpose-built to deliver a superior user experience for virtual desktop delivery.