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NetEx Takes HyperIP Virtual with Broad Application Support for WAN Optimization on VMware Infrastructures

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NetEx today announced that its HyperIP for VMware offers the broadest range of third-party support for applications. These include all of the leading providers of disaster recovery, data migration and replication software, such as Data Domain, Dell/EqualLogic, EMC, FalconStor, Hewlett-Packard/LeftHand, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, Microsoft, Network Appliance and many others.

The move by NetEx to virtualize the HyperIP WAN optimization software is part of an industry trend with more companies opting to deploy applications as software-only implementations to take advantage of the cost, scalability and flexibility of the VMware infrastructure.  Virtualizing applications for VMware eliminates the need for specialized appliances while allowing IT organizations to quickly re-allocate computing and storage resources as needed to accommodate business priorities.

HyperIP for VMware is the industry’s only software-based WAN optimizer that operates on a VMware ESX server to boost the performance of third-party storage replication applications.  Virtual HyperIP mitigates TCP performance issues that are common when moving stored data over wide area network connections because of bandwidth restrictions, latency due to distance and/or router hop counts, packet loss and network errors.  HyperIP increases end-to-end performance of replication applications by 3 to 10 times, reducing VMotion and Storage VMotion transfer windows with enhanced efficiency by utilizing 80 to 90 percent of available bandwidth between data centers or branch offices up to OC12 rates.

NetEx was one of the early adopters in recognizing the impact of the virtual infrastructure, how it could benefit IT operations, and speed up data migration and replication operations when combining HyperIP for VMware with data movement applications from top tier IT storage vendors.  VMware has enhanced the ESX infrastructure by redesigning the Hypervisor to support multiple cores, opening the way for all applications to be offered as virtualized pure software plays and eliminating the need for expensive appliances and expensive IP network upgrades.

The applications supported by HyperIP for VMware include: DataCore AIM,  Data Domain Replicator Software; Avamar, SRDF Adaptive Copy, SRDF/DM, SRDF/A (DMX), Centera Replicator, and Celerra Replicator,  RecoverPoint CRR and DL3D from EMC; Dell/EqualLogic PS Series Replication; FalconStor Software’s IPStor, Disksafe and FileSafe; HP/Lefthand Networks SANiQ; TrueCopy for iFCP from HDS;  IBM Tivoli Storage Manager and Global Mirror (FCIP),  Microsoft NetBios and Data Protection Manager;  SnapMirror and SnapVault from  NetApp; NSI DoubleTake; DataGuard, DB Rsync and Streams from Oracle; SANRAD Global Data Replication; Softek Replicator; NetBackup, ReplicationExec and Volume Replicator by Symantec; Veeam Replication; and VMware VMotion.  In addition, HyperIP fully supports WAN optimization for the industry standard FTP and iSCSI protocols.

Pricing for HyperIP for VMware starts at $2,000.

VISI Launches Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS) Product Based On VMware Infrastructure 3

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VISI, Minnesota’s largest cloud computing, data center services and managed hosting provider, is proud to announce the launch of its new Virtual Dedicated Server (VDS) product based on VMware’s industry-leading virtualization and management suite, VMware Infrastructure 3.

VISI’s VDS product was designed to provide a higher level of security, reliability and performance than you can get with traditional hosting products. VISI has leveraged VMware’s High Availability (HA) feature to maximize customer’s uptime by rebooting a virtual server on another physical host in the event of hardware failure.

VMware’s Infrastructure 3 allows VISI to offer customers greater control and flexibility by providing them their own operating system (OS) instance. Customers are able to select the amount of CPU, memory and storage they need. Data is stored on a SAN-based storage system for enterprise-class reliability.

As a member of the VMware Service Provider Program (VSPP), VISI is well positioned to deliver knowledge and expertise to customers from initial pre-sales and consulting engagements to post sales support and implementation services. VISI has attained the following credentials as part of its VMware practice: VMware Sales Professional (VSP), VMware Technical Sales Professional (VTSP), and VMware Certified Professional (VCP).

Uptime Software Upgrades VMware Monitoring and Reporting Tool

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uptime software has announced the latest version of its systems management software, up.time 5. Through close collaboration with VMware and its vSphere and vCenter Orchestrator offerings, up.time’s new capabilities aspire to change the way enterprises manage, measure, and monitor their VMware infrastructure.

up.time represents a leap forward for companies that need to drive both performance and cost-savings from their VMware infrastructure, while ensuring a consistent quality of service. It does this by providing IT managers with an unobstructed view of the datacenter to efficiently manage distributed applications and global services levels, while maximizing enterprise-wide IT resources. The solution’s ability to span both physical and virtual realms has helped hundreds of customers achieve new levels of performance and render immediate cost savings. QuickPlay Media, a customer dedicated to providing solutions that manage the business of mobile video for the world’s leading communications providers, is one example.

The new capabilities announced today– advanced visibility, deep VMware metrics and reporting, automated problem resolution and incidence avoidance –raise the bar for managing VMware performance with:

  • Increased VMware efficiency though dramatic increases in VM density and optimized VM workloads.
  • Automated incidence avoidance that reduces manual find/fix by automatically heading off reoccurring problems before they happen. Deep and seamless integration with VMware vCenter Orchestrator® makes building out automated problem avoidance workflows easy, providing advanced capabilities for SMB and Enterprise companies. This dramatically reduces Mean-Time-To-Repair and required resources, while increasing performance and productivity.
  • Fast problem isolation and resolution through intelligent alerting, easy pinpointing of root cause, and automated actions that can eliminate recurring outages in the future.
  • Rapid VMware infrastructure growth requiring fewer resources by delivering an easy-to-use consolidation, monitoring, optimization, and automation solution, all while helping reduce VM sprawl.
  • Improved visibility and manageability of the entire infrastructure from a single console, including virtual and physical infrastructures and applications, and across multiple datacenters.

An enterprise version of up.time is available for a risk-free 30 day evaluation download here –  (a Virtual Appliance is also available for download here. uptime software’s world-class support services are free during this evaluation period to help customers drive value in their environments.

Siemens IT Solutions and Services Deploys VMware Infrastructure 3

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VMware today announced that Siemens IT Solutions and Services has deployed VMware’s management and virtualization suite, VMware Infrastructure 3.

Siemens has joined with the VMware vCloud Initiative by developing a virtualized private cloud environment with VMware Infrastructure to provide capacity on demand for mission-critical applications. Siemens used the VMware platform to build out its cloud environment, improve server utilization from 20 percent to over 60 percent, and reduce hardware expenditures by approximately 70 percent compared to the cost of building a cloud environment without virtualization.

Siemens IT Solutions and Services, an operating company of Siemens Corporation, offers consulting services, systems integration, software development, and IT infrastructure management. The business unit has annual revenue of $7 billion. Siemens is using VMware Infrastructure to help both internal and external customers address significant business challenges, including the need for green IT, cost reduction, business innovation, more effective customer service, and faster time to market. The VMware platform also gives Siemens cost-effective and reliable disaster recovery and a resilient application environment that enables delivery of service availability up to 99.99 percent.

Update On ESX 3.5 Issue: A Letter from Paul Maritz

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New VMware CEO Paul Maritz has issued an official statement about the major bug plaguing customers who had updated to ESX / ESXi 3.5 Update 2 and experienced a serious problem yesterday due to a mistake in the licensing code.

The letter in full:

“Last night, we became aware of a code issue with the recently released update to ESX 3.5 and ESXi 3.5 (Update 2).

When the time clock in a server running ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2 hits 12:00AM on August 12th, 2008, the released code causes the product license to expire.  The problem has also occurred with a recent patch to ESX 3.5 or ESXi 3.5 Update 2.  When an ESX or ESXi 3.5 server thinks its license has expired, the following can happen:

  • Virtual machines that are powered off cannot be turned on;
  • Virtual machines that have been suspended fail to leave suspend mode; and,
  • Virtual machines cannot be migrated using VMotion.

The issue was caused by a piece of code that was mistakenly left enabled for the final release of Update 2.  This piece of code was left over from the pre-release versions of Update 2 and was designed to ensure that customers are running on the supported generally available version of Update 2.

In remedying the situation, we’ve already released an express patch for those customers that have installed/upgraded to ESX or ESXi 3.5 Update 2.  Within the next 24 hours, we also expect to issue a full replacement for Update 2, which should be used by customers who want to perform fresh installs of ESX or ESXi.

I am sure you’re wondering how this could happen.  We failed in two areas:

  • Not disabling the code in the final release of Update 2; and
  • Not catching it in our quality assurance process.

We are doing everything in our power to make sure this doesn’t happen again.  VMware prides itself on the quality and reliability of our products, and this incident has prompted a thorough self-examination of how we create and deliver products to our customers.  We have kicked off a comprehensive, in-depth review of our QA and release processes, and will quickly make the needed changes.

I want to apologize for the disruption and difficulty this issue may have caused to our customers and our partners.  Your confidence in VMware is extremely important to us, and we are committed to restoring that confidence fully and quickly.

Thank You,

Paul Maritz
President and CEO
VMware”

Major Bug Kills VMware Powered Virtual Servers

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Today’s a black day for VMware, and also (and maybe especially) VMware customers who upgraded their virtual servers with the new Infrastructure 3.5 Update 2. As of this morning, many could not power on VMotion or any of their Virtual Machines. The VI Client threw the error “A general system error occurred: Internal Error”.

This was first reported by a customer in a thread on VMware Communities. You can find the Knowledge Base article on this problem here.

The problem apparently exists within the software licensing code, rather than the functional part of ESX software.The license code falsely identifies many implementations as being out of license, prevents new virtual machines from launching, or existing VMs from migrating to new hosts.

Big oops indeed.

“An issue has been uncovered with ESX 3.5 Update 2 and ESXi 3.5 that causes the product license to expire on August 12,” says a statement from VMware’s public relations company in response to press inquiries. “VMware is alerting customers and partners of this issue. Updated product bits with correct licensing will be made available for download as soon as possible. VMware regrets any inconvenience to customers. VMware is working on an immediate patch for customers in production. VMware expects to fix the issue in code in the next 36 hours once QA testing has been completed,” the statement concludes.

A work-around has been offered whereby customers should manually set the date of all ESX 3.5u2 hosts back to 10 August as a temporary fix. Brian Madden has more on the actual glitch and the workaround, as does Matthew Marlowe.

It looks like ESXi 3.5 and even some versions of Infrastructure 3.5 Update 1 with some patches have been affected. New downloads of all affected products has been disabled, and according to VMware patched products will be made available starting tomorrow.

This will hurt VMware in any event, even if we don’t really know how many customers have already downloaded Update 2, and how many of those were using it in a live environment.

VMware