VMware ESX

Dell Gets Down & Busy With Virtualization

May 7, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

As expected, Dell today announced its broadest lineup of dedicated virtualization solutions ever. More than a dozen new servers, tools, and services aim to simplify the deployment and management of virtualization in enterprises of any size.

“Virtualization is quickly moving beyond hypervisors and hardware consolidation,” said Rick Becker, vice president of software and solutions, Dell Product Group. “Enterprises are looking for a broad array of servers, storage and services designed specifically for virtualized environments. Having been a leader in the first wave of virtualization, today we are signaling our intent to lead the second.”

Dell comes out with updated on-line tools, new e-commerce capability and expanded factory integration. With the updated Virtualization Advisor tool, customers have more options for building validated configurations online for virtualization deployments before purchase.

Through Dell.com/VMwareNow, customers can now upgrade PowerEdge servers purchased with VMware ESXi 3.5 to full VMware Infrastructure 3 enterprise licensing in a single click. Dell will also offer in coming weeks factory integrated VMware ESXi 3.5 or Citrix XenServer Dell Express Edition across a broad range of PowerEdge servers, including the PowerEdge 2950, R900, 1950, 2900, M600 blade and M605 blade.

The PowerEdge R805 offers 2X the memory and I/O capacity of Dell’s previous generation 2 socket servers. With a choice of VMware ESXi 3.5 or Citrix XenServer Dell Express Edition integrated hypervisors, the PowerEdge R805 and R905 servers can deliver the optimal platform for virtualized environments.

Dell EqualLogic storage arrays offer new advanced SAN-aware integration with VMware Site Recovery Manager for data protection and disaster recovery for virtualized environments at no additional cost in management tools.

Dell and Egenera are making virtualization and data center automation a reality beyond the blade chassis. The Dell PAN system is built on PowerEdge 1950 and 2950 servers and Dell/EMC storage, with Citrix XenServer and factory integrated as a complete, turn-key solution that consolidates and virtualizes server compute-resources into an entire Processor Area Network to be managed like hard drives in a SAN. The Dell PAN system can deliver rapid provisioning and re-deployment “in minutes”.

Dell today announced the expansion of its virtualization services to include:

Virtualization Simplification Workshop – for customers looking to determine which options are the most suitable for their specific business needs today, their technical environment and to meet future growth.
New Virtualization Operational Assessment and Process Automation accelerates selection of the right virtualization technology for their needs and define processes and tools to automate the management of virtualized environments.
New Virtualization Healthcheck – reviews existing virtualized production environments to identify technology, process and people issues impeding virtualization scale out and provides an actionable, results oriented plan.
Expanded Virtualization Assessment – taking into account multi-vendor virtualization considerations, advanced storage options, as well as green IT data center energy efficiency improvements.
Dell PAN Accelerator Service – integrating a full Processing Area Network within the customer environment to help ensure production readiness.
Expanded Design and Implementation Services – which features the latest Virtualization technologies, in addition to best-of-breed disaster recovery tools and techniques.
ProSupport Remote Advisory Services – fast access to technical experts for consulting on virtualization implementations.

These offerings are available today from Dell Global Infrastructure Consulting Services.

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]

Sysload Software Releases SP-ANALYST, Performance Management Solution for VMware ESX

April 23, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Sysload Software, a provider of performance and capacity management solutions for data centres, announced today that it has released SP-ANALYST for VMware ESX infrastructures.

SP-ANALYST for VMware ESX provides increased frequency and higher granularity of data collection, the use of a single console to monitor both physical and virtual machines, and an extra feature that controls the timekeeping discrepancy on machines running the ESX Server platform. By providing a centralized, real-time view of the data centre, Sysload’s solutions aim to make performance management easier, even on the most complex virtual infrastructures.

From the press release:

Sysload’s full range of solutions supports multi-platform environments in terms of equipment, operating systems, and proprietary virtualization platforms (e.g., VMware, SUN Solaris, HP-ux, IBM Aix, IBM i5/OS, Linux, Windows, Novell, Citrix XenServer).

Sysload’s data collection technology is based on dedicated data collection agents deployed directly on the monitored system that allow objective monitoring of an ensemble of physical and/or virtual servers. Sysload agents can collect up to 300 metrics directly from the heart of the monitored systems with very high frequency (intervals as low as 1 second) while consuming minimal resources (less than one percent of CPU with no continuous network traffic thanks to localized history files). This fine data granularity ensures precise monitoring of system utilization and allows the detection of virtualization-related micro saturation incidents that cannot be detected by most other monitoring tools on the market.

[Source: Sysload pressroom]

VKernel Sets Up Worldwide Reseller Channel

April 23, 2008 by Robin Wauters 1 Comment

VKernel yesterday announced (PDF) the launch of its Global Channel Partner Program for value-added resellers (VARs), systems integrators, and consulting firms.

Additionally, VKernel hired Bill Brown as its director of channel sales to build and manage the new partner program. Mr. Brown joins VKernel from Acronis where he was the channel manager for the U.S. East Coast and Canada.

“The rapid growth of the server virtualization market is creating a new lucrative market for systems management solutions to real-world virtual data center issues. Traditional management tools in the physical environment simply cannot address issues in the virtual environment,” said Alex Bakman, founder and CEO of VKernel. “Our growing partner lineup is already reaping the benefits of our unique approach to systems management by offering a suite of virtual appliances that are designed to eliminate complexity, quickly solve problems, and immediately deliver value to their customers.”

“VKernel’s sales strategy is channel exclusive and we are dedicated to making our partners successful,” said Bill Brown, director of channel sales at VKernel. “The virtualization eco-system is currently evolving to include critical management solutions that partners need to fuel their growth and take advantage of a great market opportunity. It is our goal to have VKernel solutions included in each of our partner’s virtualization eco-system offerings.”

[Source: VMblog]

Dell Now Offers Five Server Platforms Based On Quad-Core AMD Opteron

April 16, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

AMD today announced that Dell is now offering five server platforms based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors. This news follows last week’s announcement that Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are generally available, and brings the number of available global OEM platforms based on the new processors to 13. Additionally, AMD is announcing today that VMware has completed qualification of Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors for use in VMware ESX and ESXi hypervisor deployments, enabling customers to leverage the latest in VMware virtualization on these server systems.

Dell servers now supporting Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors include the PowerEdge SC1435, 2970, M605 blade server and 6950 platforms, as well as the new PowerEdge T605 tower server. The T605, aimed at SMEs or remote locations, offers features such as hot-plug hard drives, remote management and redundant power supplies, resulting in high-availability systems that help prevent data access loss and increase uptime.

“Dell is delivering on its vision to simplify IT by providing customers with a seamless and simple upgrade path to Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors on PowerEdge servers,” said Brad Anderson, senior vice president, Dell Business Product Group. “The combination of AMD’s most advanced processors running on Dell PowerEdge servers provides an optimal balance of performance and energy efficiency across a variety of customer solutions, from general purpose and remote office to high-performance compute clusters and virtualized data center environments.”

[Source: Hardocp]

VKernel Announces Availability For ESX Virtualization Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer

April 15, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

VKernel Corporation, a provider of virtual appliances for managing virtual server environments, today announced general availability of its Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer Virtual Appliance. Other than being a mouthful, the Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer immediately identifies current and future capacity bottleneck issues in VMware ESX environments, which can lower the cost of each virtual machine while ensuring
higher performance.

From the press release (PDF):

“VKernel’s patent-pending technology continuously monitors CPU, memory, and storage utilization trends in VMware ESX environments across hosts, clusters, and resource pools. VKernel’s quick-to-install virtual appliance model gives users a simple, single-screen management dashboard that displays detailed capacity information to effectively plan for the addition of new hosts, clusters, and resource pools. By customizing capacity thresholds, users can receive alerts via email and SNMP.”

“When properly detecting capacity bottlenecks, organizations can increase performance and reduce downtime problems that lead to escalating business and IT costs and negative perceptions of virtualization within business units,” said Alex Bakman, founder and CEO of VKernel. “The real challenge for IT staffs is finding a solution that helps them identify capacity bottlenecks without wasting countless man-hours sifting through hundreds of management reports. Within minutes, our Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer can show exactly where capacity bottlenecks are today and where problems are likely to occur to maximize virtual machine utilization.”

The VKernel Capacity Bottleneck Analyzer Virtual Appliance is currently available with pricing starting at $199 per CPU socket. You can download a full production 14-day trial version of the VKernel virtual appliance here.

[Source: Server Virtualization Blog]