vmware server

Kroll Ontrack Lets You Recover Data From VMware Systems

June 5, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Kroll Ontrack, a provider of data recovery and legal technologies products and services, today issued a news release claiming it is the first company able to perform data recovery services on VMware systems.

In essence, Kroll Ontrack conceived and developed capabilities specifically designed to recover folders and files on all types of virtual systems. This capability provides businesses with a viable resource when data loss occurs in these environments.

Specifically, Kroll Ontrack can successfully recover lost data on the following VMware systems:

* VMware Infrastructure 2 & 3 (ESX Server, VMFS)
* VMware Server – http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.com/server-recovery/
* VMware Workstation (all versions)

[Source: iTWire]

VMware Server 2.0 beta 2 Underway? (Confirmed)

March 27, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

VMware is (finally) set to release beta 2 of VMware Server 2.0, which is reportedly to be announced at 6pm PST today.

Could be true, since the discussion forum at VMware is filled with people who are seeing an expiration deadline for their usage of the 4-month old beta 1, due next Sunday. The first post on the forum dates back to 24 March, but other members are not convinced a new build is actually coming, nor are they happy with the short-term note and the lack of communication from VMware.

More when there’s anything official to announce.

Update from that same discussion forum:

“We were all set to post Beta 2 today but encountered a last minute cosmetic issue on Windows installer (we saw it mostly on desktop Windows OS), so we are spinning up a new build tonight and will have everything posted mid afternoon (Pacific time) Friday March 28th. Sorry for the delay but it was a deliberate decision to take the hit now. Hang in there.”

Final update:

Beta 2 is available.

More info here, registration for download over here.

New features and enhancements in the VMware Server 2.0 Beta 2 release:

Updated VMware Infrastructure (VI) Web Access management interface: With the faster performance, improved stability and broader range of configuration options, the VI Web Access management interface provides a simple, flexible, intuitive and productive management experience. In addition, embedded help files are context sensitive based on the task being performed.
Independent virtual machine console: With the new VMware Remote Console, you can access your virtual machine consoles independent of the VI Web Access management interface plus resize the virtual machine console windows as needed.
Support for USB 2.0 devices: Transfer data at faster data rates from USB 2.0 devices.
Multi-tiered permissions: Configure different levels of permissions to access virtual machines in different ways, including browsing, interacting, configuring and administering virtual machines.
New hardware editors: Edit and add devices such as USB 2.0 devices and legacy devices such as floppy drives, serial and parallel ports.
Automatically start your virtual machines: Select which virtual machines that you want to automatically start when VMware Server starts. In addition, there is also an option to boot the virtual machine directly into the BIOS Setup Screen.
Link to Virtual Appliance Marketplace: Access thousands of pre-built, pre-configured, ready-to-run enterprise applications packaged with an operating system inside a virtual machine. This speeds up time to value and simplifies software development, distribution, and management.

Existing VMware Server 2.0 Beta features

New operating system support: The broadest operating system support of any host-based virtualization platform currently available, including support for Windows Vista Business Edition and Ultimate Edition (guest only), Windows Server 2008, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Ubuntu 7.10 in 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
More scalable virtual machines:Support for up to 8 GB of RAM (up from 3.6 GB in Server 1.0) per virtual machine, 10 virtual network interface cards and up to two virtual SMP (vSMP) processors per virtual machine.
64-bit guest operating system support:Use 64-bit guest operating systems on 64-bit hardware to enable more scalable and higher performing computing solutions.
Support for Virtual Machine Interface (VMI): This feature enables transparent paravirtualization, in which a single binary version of the operating system can run either on native hardware or in paravirtualized mode to improve performance in specific Linux environments.
Support for VIX API 1.5: This feature provides a programming interface for automating virtual machine and guest operations.

Techtrob: Virtualization in Linux – Four Software Programs Reviewed

February 25, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Techtrob.com analyzed four software choices for linux driven virtualization platforms, now that Canonical completely supports the use of Parallels software in Ubuntu Linux. The article compares four virtualization products available for Ubuntu Linux: the free, open source x86 emulator Qemu; the closed-but-free versions of VirtualBox and VMware-Server, and the commercial Parallels Workstation.

Recommmended reading, includes screenshots for easy comparison!

Here’s their conclusion:

This article looked at four different products for virtualization in Linux, specifically Ubuntu Linux. The findings were interesting – the only product that requires the purchase of a licence for personal use, Parallels, actually performed the worst of the group. Qemu did well for a completely free-as-in-speech application, although VMware and VirtualBox blew the competition away in terms of performance.

Of these applications, VMware and VirtualBox definitely come out the clear winners. For individual use, where the ability to run a single Windows desktop inside of Linux is all that is needed, VirtualBox turns out to be my preference. It’s much smaller than VMware, which comes packed with extra features that aren’t necesary for the end-user. If your needs are different, however, you’ll probably want to give VMware a closer look. Overall, the maturaty and stability of all four applications was impressive enough to call virtualization on the Linux desktop “complete.”

Free VMware Server

February 6, 2006 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems, today introduced VMware Server, a free new entry-level hosted virtualization product for Linux and Windows servers. The product is available as a beta download at www.vmware.com/products/server/.

“Virtualization and VMware have become mainstream in the past year, and many customers have deployed thousands of VMware server environments across their enterprises. With VMware Server, we are ensuring that every company interested in, considering or evaluating server virtualization for the first time has access to the industry-leading virtualization technology,” said Diane Greene, VMware President. “VMware Server makes it easy and compelling for companies new to virtualization to take the first step toward enterprise-wide virtual infrastructure.”

VMware Server, the successor to VMware GSX Server, enables users to quickly provision new server capacity by partitioning a physical server into multiple virtual machines, bringing the powerful benefits of virtualization to every server.

VMware Server is feature-packed with the following market-leading capabilities:

Support for any standard x86 hardware

Support for a wide variety of Linux and Windows host operating systems, including 64-bit operating systems

Support for a wide variety of Linux, NetWare, Solaris x86 and Windows guest operating systems, including 64-bit operating systems

Support for Virtual SMP, enabling a single virtual machine to span multiple physical processors

Quick and easy, wizard-driven installation similar to any desktop software

Quick and easy virtual machine creation with a virtual machine wizard

Virtual machine monitoring and management with an intuitive, user friendly remote console

Availability

VMware Server beta is available for immediate download at www.vmware.com/products/server/. The product is expected to be generally available later in the first half of 2006. Support and subscription services for VMware Server will be available for purchase upon general availability.

Source at VMware website