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News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing
VMware just blogged about VAssert (programming guide – PDF), a new API debuting in Workstation 6.5 (beta) that uses the Record and Replay functionality they’ve been talking about for some time now. VAssert (Virtual Assertions) is a relative of your standing programming ASSERT debugging tool, but by delaying assert-checking until later when the exact machine instructions are replayed, it can be “very fast”.
VMware engineers Weiming Zeng and Min Xu demonstrate VAssert within Apache here.
Virtual Bridges announced today the release of a major upgrade to its Win4Lin Desktop product and a specially priced edition for Ubuntu users. Version 5 of its desktop virtualization system features performance increases that it claims beat the likes of VMware Workstation and other competitors in the growing desktop virtualization market.
Win4Lin Desktop 5 is based on code that has been re-engineered since 2005, when the assets of the former company NeTraverse were acquired to form Win4Lin, now renamed Virtual Bridges. The new verison includes support for 64-bit Linux and its architecture capable of interfacing with KVM.
Virtual Bridges has created a special Win4Lin Desktop 5 Ubuntu Edition, which they are offering for $29.99.
These are the major Features of Win4Lin Desktop Products, according to the news release:
Win4Lin Desktop is being offered to users in two editions, Win4Lin Desktop 5 Ubuntu Edition and Win4Lin Desktop 5 Pro Edition. It is a no-cost update for Win4Lin Pro 4.5 users and is available here.
The company has also released Win4Solaris Desktop 5, also in two editions; Win4Solaris Desktop 5 Home Edition and Win4Solaris Desktop 5 Pro Edition.
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]
Several critical security vulnerabilities have been addressed in the newest releases of VMware’s hosted product line. Relevant releases include VMware Workstation 6.0.3, VMware Player 2.0.3, VMware ACE 2.0.3, VMware Fusion 1.1.1 and earlier versions of the before-mentioned products.
Users of VMware hosted products VMware Workstation 5.x, VMware Player 1.x, and VMware ACE 1.x should note that although they are not vulnerable to these issues, they will reach their end of general support on 2008-11-09. Customers should plan to upgrade to the latest version of their respective products.
Some of the security issues:
A full update on the VMware Security Advisories (VMSAs) can be found here.
[Source: VMBlog]
Tech Data has announced it will start selling VMWare’s desktop and data center virtualization solutions, in addition to its existing offer including virtualization solutions from Virtual Iron, Parallels, and Citrix’s XenServer (ex-XenSource).
Tech Data previously worked with VMware only through OEM agreements with HP and IBM. As of now, it can separately sell the desktop and data center virtualization solutions including VMware Infrastructure suite, VMware VirtualCenter, VMware Capacity Planner, VMware Lab Manager, VMware Workstation, VMware ACE, VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and VMware Fusion.
Senior VP and General Manager of Tech Data Advanced Infrastructure Solutions Pete Peterson got his first official certification and thus became one of 200 TD employees who can call himself a VMWare Sales Professional (VSP).
VMware will fall under Peterson’s Advanced Infrastructure Solutions division. In addition to 200 VSPs, Tech Data also has 10 VMware Certified Professionals (VCP) and hopes to double both numbers in the next 90 days, Peterson said.
“We’re really excited about this new partnership. They’re a $1.3 billion software virtualization company. Clearly, they are the market leader in this space. Virtualization is a huge opportunity for most IT shops today and a focus for our resellers,” Peterson said. “They say 5 percent of all servers globally that have virtualization software on them. Our goal is to make sure when we include it when we initially sell servers, but there’s also a huge install base that we have an opportunity to sell into as well.”
Tech Data joins Avnet, Arrow Electronics, Ingram Micro Inc. and Lifeboat Distribution as VMware distributors in the U.S.
Technorati Tags: virtualization, virtualisation, Techdata, Tech+Data,, VMWare, VMware+Infrastructure+suite, VMware+VirtualCenter, VMware+Capacity+Planner, VMware+Lab+Manager, VMware+Workstatio,, VMware+ACE, VMware+Virtual+Desktop, Infrastructure, VMware+Fusion, Pete+Peterson, VMWare+Certified+Professional, VMWare+Sales+Professional, Avnet, Arrow+Electronics, Ingram+Micro, Lifeboat+Distribution
Company Index: VMWare
[Source: ChannelWeb]
VMWare just announced that it’s adding a new blog on Virtual Reality to its blog network . In its debut post, Mike DiPetrillo touts about the 4 reasons why he switched to VMWare Fusion (other than being a VMWare employee). Here goes the list:
1) Stability. At the core of Fusion is the same engine we’ve been shipping with VMware Workstation since 1998. It’s in its 6th generation and just plain works. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve crashed my machine while running Parallels. For example, here’s a neat trick. Go start up your Windows XP VM in Parallels. Run something that uses a lot of CPU. For me that’s usually running MS Flight Sim. Now, go and suspend the VM. BAM! Crashes every time on several different machines. I’ve got 5 other tests I’ll blog on in the future where Parallels just crashes with simple tasks.
2) Battery Life. Even at idle, Parallels still uses about 15 – 20% of the CPU on my Macbook Pro. My battery only lasts about 1 1/2 hours on the road. Ouch! With Fusion it seems to run much cooler – about 0.5% of the CPU. My battery agrees and usually lasts about 4 hours on a single charge.
3) USB just works. Before switching to the Mac I had a HP Scanjet 7800. Great scanner. When I switched to the Mac and ran Parallels I couldn’t see or use the scanner anymore. There were no drivers for the Mac so I had to go to my really old Epson single sheet scanner I had laying around. Urggh. In comes Fusion to save the day. Right away Windows in a Fusion VM recognized the scanner and I became a much happier person (my wife would agree).
4) Performance. According to the CNET Crave Tests we really perform well. I tend to agree with that. I haven’t done any official benchmarks just yet but things are snappier with Fusion. Just do a search for “vmware fusion performance” and you’ll get several other opinions on the matter which pretty much agree that Fusion is faster.