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Windows Powershell

Beta Release: Vizioncore Virtualization EcoShell

April 16, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Vizioncore today announced the beta release of the Virtualization EcoShell, a freeware graphical toolkit for IT administrators to streamline the management of multi-platform virtual environments. The Virtualization EcoShell, specifically tailored to virtualization experts and channel partners, leverages Windows PowerShell to deliver daily cost-savings opportunities for administrators of virtualized infrastructures.Having made an exciting and acclaimed debut at VMworld Europe in February, participants remarked that the IT-tailored interface of the Virtualization EcoShell was an easy and powerful way to maintain multi-platform virtual environments, as well as create, customize, and dramatically automate repetitive and complex tasks. Similar to the Microsoft Management Console, but focused on virtualization, partners saw the opportunity to provide custom admin interfaces and add significant value around their service offerings with the Virtualization EcoShell.

Paul Casey, Datacenter & Storage, Virtualization Technology Leader, at Computacenter, Europe’s leading independent provider of IT infrastructure services commented:

“The Virtualization EcoShell is innovative in its ability to provide a simple solution for customers to quickly capture any virtual infrastructure management tasks. This enables customers to automate multi-step tasks and simplify the delivery of otherwise complex procedures via PowerShell scripts. It also provides channel organizations, such as Computacenter, the opportunity to develop significant services around assessments for customers wishing to introduce process automation and thus reap benefits more quickly and in a cost effective manner.”

The Virtualization EcoShell provides several key features and out-of-the-box use cases for administrators. These capabilities will allow them to get a strong sense of how to optimize, streamline, manage and automate their multi-platform virtual environments.

Features include:

  • Flexible and Robust User Interface – Simultaneously manage multi-platform virtual environments, Microsoft applications and other Windows PowerShell supported technologies with a highly flexible, robust virtualization-tailored graphical interface
  • Task Automation – Reduce errors from manual processes across multiple areas of responsibility through the automation of repetitive and complex tasks inherent in virtualization infrastructures
  • Administrative Reports and Maps – Provide pre-defined and customizable reports as well as automated maps without hassle in HTML, XML and CSV formats, including support for Microsoft Visio
  • Powerful Script Assistance – Cushion and ramp up script creation with a powerful Integrated Development Environment by exposing, analyzing and troubleshooting script output for common Windows PowerShell commands
  • VESI – Inspire administrators who manage multi-platform virtual environments to share and enhance the capabilities of the Virtualization EcoShell through the online community-drive initiative and forum
  • The Virtualization EcoShell and VESI are provided completely 100% free of charge.

As more organizations adopt Windows PowerShell scripts across platforms, administrators can share and enhance the capabilities of the Virtualization EcoShell through VESI, sponsored by Vizioncore. Providing personal and company-wide productivity, the Virtualization EcoShell delivers daily cost-savings opportunities and reduces the learning curve for administrators and the channel to manage virtual infrastructures.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ecoshell, Microsoft Management Console, PowerShell, virtualisation, virtualization, virtualization ecoshell, Vizioncore, vizioncore virtualization ecoshell, Windows Powershell

Microsoft Releases Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool

September 4, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt. Ltd. today announced the availability of a set of tools designed to facilitate the adoption of virtualization technology for its customers and partners. As a part of this initiative, the company launched the (free) Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool that is designed to help customers quantify the cost advantage from deploying Microsoft’s virtualization offerings versus competitive solutions. It also announced the availability of a solution accelerator – the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool to help customers automate the process of updating virtual machines, thereby allowing them to manage the updation of a large numbers of offline virtual machines according to individual needs.

The Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool gives customers direct access to a software solution that produces a detailed representation of the total cost advantage that Microsoft’s virtualization solutions deliver in comparison with other options in the market. This tool was developed independently by ex-Gartner TCO/ROI experts at Alinean, Inc. The tool allows partners and customers to examine current production server, development/QA lab, desktop and application virtualization opportunities – thereby enumerating the potential savings, service level, agility benefits and overall Return on Investment (ROI) from implementing Microsoft’s integrated virtualization solutions. The Virtualization ROI Tool collects specific information about current infrastructure costs and opportunities for improvement, then uses research by Alinean to project potential costs and benefits for various optimization strategies using the Microsoft Integrated Virtualization solutions. All research was collected from the Alinean ValueBase™ of IT spending metrics, and Microsoft product and pricing experts to reflect typical costs and savings for similar company type and size.

The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool is built on Windows Workflow Foundation and the Windows PowerShell interface to manage the workflow of updating large numbers of offline virtual machines according to their individual needs. To do this, the tool works with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 and with software update management systems (at present, either Microsoft Windows Server® Update Services 3.0 or Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007. The tool uses “servicing jobs” to manage the update operations based on lists of existing virtual machines stored in VMM. Using Windows Workflow Foundation technology, a servicing job runs snippets of PowerShell scripts to work with virtual machines.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool, microsoft, Microsoft Integrated Virtualization ROI Tool, Microsoft Virtualization ROI Tool, Microsoft Windows, Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool, PowerShell, ROI, virtualisation, virtualization, virtualization ROI, Virtualization ROI Tool, windows, Windows Powershell, Windows Workflow Foundation

Microsoft Introduces Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool

July 7, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Microsoft has announced the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool which aims to help organizations maintain virtual machines that are stored offline in a Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager library. While stored, virtual machines do not receive operating system updates. The tool provides a way to keep offline virtual machines up-to-date so that bringing a virtual machine online does not introduce vulnerabilities into the organization’s IT infrastructure.

The tool combines the Windows Workflow programming model with the Windows PowerShell interface to bring groups of virtual machines online just long enough for them to receive updates from either System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Windows Server Update Services. As soon as the virtual machines are up-to-date, the tool returns them to the offline state in the Virtual Machine Manager library.

This Solution Accelerator includes the following components:

  • Executive Overview. Available online only on Microsoft Technet. Summary for business and technical managers that briefly explains how this Solution Accelerator can fit into an organization’s IT infrastructure management strategy.
  • OfflineVMServicing_x64 and OfflineVMServicing_x86. Setup files for the tool, for 64 bit and 32 bit versions of Windows Server® 2003.
  • OfflineVirtualMachineServicingToolGettingStartedGuide. Getting Started Guide, in docx and doc formats. Provides information about how the tool works, explains prerequisites for the tool, and describes how to install and configure the tool.
  • Offline_VM_Servicing_Tool_Release_Notes.rtf. Notes provide information about this release, describe known issues in the tool, and include feedback instructions.
  • Offline_Virtual_Machine_Servicing_Tool_Help. Help file for the tool. Provides instructions for using the tool.

If you would like to download the tool, or get some more information, click here.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: microsoft, Microsoft Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool, Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager, MSCVM, Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool, virtual machines, virtualisation, virtualization, Windows Powershell, Windows Workflow

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