First look at Hyper9 beta for VM /ETC readers
I was lucky enough to attend a live demonstration of the new Hyper9 virtual infrastructure search and monitoring tool this week, and as a result a limited number of VM /ETC readers will be lucky enough to have access to the currently closed Hyper9 beta program in the near future. Stay tuned to VM /ETC for information on signing up for access to the exclusive beta program, but for now, this post provides a first look at some of the features demonstrated to me. I’ve also been given permission to provide some screen shots.
Hyper9 was announced publically back in September, and then caught the attention of many VMworld 2008 attendees. Scott Lowe, Edward Haletky, Eric Siebert, and Keith Ward are some of the many that have already written about their impressions of this tool’s capabilities. In general, Hyper9 is a search based management tool that promises to “rock your world” of virtual infrastructure management. Hyper9 can be used to query for information at the hardware, hypervisor, and VM operating system levels.
So, what exactly is Hyper9 and what’s so special about a tool that can search against all objects in your virtual infrastructure?
Probably the best way to explain it is to compare Hyper9 to a Google search. Just as if you would use Google to find information about MySQL databases on the Internet, you can use Hyper9 to find information about all of your virtual machines running MySQL in your data center. Then, just like Google lists the results of your web query with links to the various pages found, Hyper9 lists results with links to manage and connect to the found VMs. Finally, like Google lets you further define your search results with additional criteria, Hyper9 allows you to select or provide additional criteria to reduce your results too. Best of all, just like you use your web browser to search Google, you use your web browser to search your VI with Hyper9.
Here’s a screen shot showing the Hyper9 results of a query for “MySQL”.
And a screen shot showing the expanded results of a search for “Windows”
As you can see, Hyper9 provides some powerful reporting, monitoring, and analysis capabilities. You also have the option to save your searches for reuse again and again. Not only can you use keyword based queries, but there are pre-built criteria for all VI object fields. For example, you can find all VMs based on a version of the VM Tools, whether the CDrom is connected, or the existence of a snapshot.
As if that wasn’t enough, Hyper9 also has the ability to compare objects – both for current state analysis and for understanding changes over time. The comparison can take place using the same VM or 2 different VMs. Hyper9 calls this feature VMDNA, and it’s a great feature for examining configuration history.
The following screen shot shows how VMDNA can be used against a single machine to find differences over a time period. (click on any of the screen shots for larger versions)
By clicking on the VMDNA results you are able to drill down into a specific area to further investigate as illustrated in the next screen shot.
Using VMDNA against unique VMs is also useful. The next 2 screen shots show how a pre production version of a VM can be compared to production version.
If you are curious about what server requirements are needed to run Hyper9, I was told:
- Windows 2003 R2 (not sure if this is a hard requirement or just what the demo was running)
- The application installs and embedded Derby database, and there is an option to use PostSQL.
- 1-2 GB of available disk space for install with considerable room for growth of database.
- Installation can be on either a physical or virtual server
- Internet Explorer or Firefox web browser for browsing to the Hyper9 interface
Hyper9 does not require the installation of the VI Client on the system you are browsing from.
A lot will be happening over the next 2 weeks at Hyper9.com. There are plans to open a community site for users as well as opening new slots for beta version testers. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I will have some of these beta slots reserved for VM /ETC readers. Leave a comment with your email address (will not be published) if you are interested in getting your hands on one of the betas.
For more information about the Hyper9 product visit the product overview web page.
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Tags: hyper9, management, monitor, monitoring, virtualization
