virtualization

Parallels Server Reaches Beta 4 Build

May 1, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

Parallels Server 3.0 Beta4 Build 1990 is now available for download. The build reintroduces Leopard Server virtualization, which had been temporarily removed. The upgraded beta means that Leopard Server can once again be run under a virtual machine on XServe systems, or any other compatible Apple hardware.

As a company employee posts in the Parallels forum, this is what’s new in Beta 4:

Virtualization Engine

Guest Mac OS X Leopard Server support (on top of Mac OS X Leopard Server only)
General performance improvement
Virtual machine density improvement

Virtual devices

Networking performance improvement

Server Infrastructure and User interface

Separate installer for Parallels Management Console for Linux included
Separate installer for Parallels SDK included

[Source: MacNN]

KVM Sponsor Qumranet Ships Solid ICE

May 1, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

KVM sponsor Qumranet launched (PDF) its long awaited desktop virtualization solution yesterday, just weeks before Citrix launches XenDesktop. Solid ICE (Independent Computing Environment) is a hosted desktop virtualization product that promises desktop-like performance with support for multiple monitors, bi-directional audio and video, streaming video and USB support.

From the press release:

By centrally hosting desktops in KVM on servers in the corporate data center, Solid ICE (Independent Computing Environment) gives IT administrators greater control over desktop image management, provisioning management, policy enforcement and security. Solid ICE also offers IT managers easier access to remote desktops to provide maintenance and support, as well as instant, inherent disaster recovery. In addition, businesses deploying a green IT strategy can achieve a savings of up to two thirds on electric power with Solid ICE.

The company said it prices the product by concurrent virtual machines, $200 per concurrent virtual machine which includes one monitor support and one SPICE display. Qumranet also offers a 30-day trial on its web site, although it seems to have messed up the spelling for the product name a bit 🙂

[Source: ZDNet Blogs]

VKernel Chargeback Virtual Appliance Gets VMWare Certification

April 30, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

VKernel Corporation announced (PDF) today that the company has joined the VMware Certified Virtual Appliance Program. The company also notes the VKernel Chargeback Virtual Appliance is currently the only available VMware-certified virtual appliance for chargeback and cost visibility.

Virtual appliances are pre-built, pre-configured, ready-to-run enterprise applications packaged with an operating system inside a virtual machine. Customers can easily install and deploy these pre-integrated solution stacks. This speeds up time-to-value and simplifies software development, distribution, and management.

The virtual appliance measures CPU, memory, storage, and network utilization in VMware virtualized environments, stores the information and generates chargeback and cost visibility reports. This helps customers track and allocate expenses to individual departments or users based on actual resource consumption.

“VKernel’s new Chargeback Virtual Appliance offers customers an easy way to tackle the complex yet essential task of accurately accounting for resource consumption and assigning its associated costs,” said Dan Chu, vice president of emerging products and markets at VMware. “VMware virtual appliances greatly simplify how customers deploy and manage their business-critical software applications. We welcome VKernel’s contribution to the more than 700 virtual appliances available from the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace.”

[Source: VMBlog]

Marathon Technologies Releases everRun Software

April 30, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

We’ve covered the beta launch of Marathon Technologies’ everRun software a little over a month ago, and now the company has officially released the product.

Customers can download a free 15-day trial of everRun VM. The latest version of Citrix XenServer 4.1 is also available as a trial edition. everRun VM suggested retail pricing is $2000 per server (perpetual license) for customers that have Citrix XenServer Enterprise Edition. everRun VM with Citrix XenServer 4.1 Enterprise Edition is $4500 per server for a perpetual license.

Absolute Performance Releases System Shepherd 5.0

April 30, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Absolute Performance yesterday announced the availability of System Shepherd version 5.0, performance management software SaaS applications. System Shepherd 5.0 brings the ability to instrument and manage application software operating in VMware, Xen, Hyper-V and Parallels virtualized environments.

The 5.0 release of System Shepherd adds the ability to look deep into the virtualization software hypervisor, giving insight into the performance of multiple applications, web servers, databases and operating systems running across a single or multiple virtual machines. System Shepherd quantifies the resource utilization of all the software operating within the virtualized environment, easing performance tuning and resource management of virtualized applications and software. System Shepherd supports VMware ESX hypervisor and will expand support to Parallels, Xen and Hyper-V in the coming months.
System Shepherd 5.0 is the foundation of Absolute’s suite of On Demand software solutions for managing software performance in software-as-a-service delivered applications, content and enterprise solutions. Version 5.0 brings a fully customizable dashboard based on the flexible, iGoogle-style web-based user interface.

Everything is configured through System Shepherd’s web interface, cutting installation time down to less than a day, even hours, as compared to the weeks, months and sometimes years to install on-premise enterprise management systems.

[Source: SYS-CON]

Mosaic Technology Launches V-Accelerate

April 30, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Mosaic Technology today announced V-Accelerate, a virtualization program to help companies effectively and rapidly implement data center virtualization. V-Accelerate combines planning, design, component acquisition, and implementation, using VMware as a foundation.

According to the press release, V-Accelerate leverages Mosaic’s experience in VMware though Certified VMware Professionals. It also takes advantage of Mosaic’s 12-plus years of infrastructure expertise with leading technologies in storage, backup/recovery, data deduplication, and data management.

V-Accelerate includes:

Assessment – structured capacity planning to maximize VM scheme
Configuration – detailed infrastructure analysis and recommendations based on strategic, business, and budget considerations.
Implementation – Fast track deployment with substantial knowledge transfer

“Virtualization is more than server consolidation,” said Don Basler, Director of Marketing at Mosaic. “Our experience shows us that while many companies initially are attracted to the benefits of server consolidation, they quickly discover that a variety of infrastructure and data management issues need to be considered.”

“V-Accelerate manages those issues. We look at the total picture — physical and logical server configurations, storage virtualization, backup and recovery, replication, and overall VM management. In the end we save our customers time, effort and money.”

[Source: PRWeb]