VM /ETC

Archive for April, 2009

This is just a quick post to let readers know that VirtualBox announced on April 8 that version 2.2.0 was released. From the VirtualBox web site:

“Sun today released VirtualBox 2.2.0 which marks another major milestone for the world’s most popular free and open source hypervisor. Among the many improvements are support for OVF appliances, 3D acceleration for Linux/Solaris guests and support for up to 16GB of RAM per virtual machine. See the ChangeLog for a list of changes since VirtualBox 2.1.”

New features listed in the Changelog:

VirtualBox 2.2.0 (released 2009-04-08)

This version is a major update. The following major new features were added:

• OVF (Open Virtualization Format) appliance import and export (see chapter 3.8, Importing and exporting virtual machines, User Manual page 55)
• Host-only networking mode (see chapter 6.7, Host-only networking, User Manual page 88)
• Hypervisor optimizations with signi?cant performance gains for high context switching rates
• Raised the memory limit for VMs on 64-bit hosts to 16GB
• VT-x/AMD-V are enabled by default for newly created virtual machines
• USB (OHCI & EHCI) is enabled by default for newly created virtual machines (Qt GUI only)
• Experimental USB support for OpenSolaris hosts
• Shared folders for Solaris and OpenSolaris guests
• OpenGL 3D acceleration for Linux and Solaris guests (see chapter 4.8, Hardware 3D acceleration (OpenGL), User Manual page 70)
• Added C API in addition to C++, Java, Python and Web Services

I have upgraded my installations and plan to test the OVF import and export features soon. I will post again when I do.

As IT budgets decline, old servers called to virtualization duty is an article written by Alex Barrett and Colin Steele on SeachVirtualization.com. Other then asking some pretty good virtualization sources their opinions , I think the article does a great job explaining why the expense of buying modern hardware still makes sense even in today’s economy. Whether to buy new servers is a common decision being made today as more and more companies are conducting capacity planning studies for consolidation to virtual infrastructure analysis.

Read the entire article for several great points, but here is one quote as an example argument:

“The first thing to determine is whether installing virtualization on older hardware actually saves money. Today’s servers are equipped with quad- and six-core CPUs that can deliver much greater consolidation ratios that single- or dual-core models, he said. “VI3 [VMware Infrastructure 3] is licensed per socket, so you’re paying the same cost for older CPUs but you’re getting less bang for your buck.”

But if the budget for new hardware simply isn’t there, consider the age of a server and how much life it has left in it. When identifying a candidate for a virtualization host, identify a box that is three years or younger and has “had a relatively low runtime,” the systems administrator said.”

VM /ETC is probably the last virtualization blog to talk about VMware’s April 21 live via Simulcast web event. Nevertheless, there might be a few that have not heard about it yet. I’ve already registered, and I recommend all vmetc.com readers do the same.

Quickly, here is my speed read keywords from the verbiage on the official event web page:

• bringing cloud computing to businesses of all sizes.
• Transform your IT infrastructure into a private cloud
• dramatically reducing capital and operating costs and maximizing IT efficiency—with the freedom to choose any application, OS, or hardware.
• unveil the next generation of virtualization technology from VMware.
• one of the most groundbreaking events this year.
• Register Now >>

The virtualization community has exploded with theories and hype about what this announcement and event is really about. I’ll admit, it is exciting, but I have my doubts that this unveiling is really anything I have not heard already. I’m expecting to hear the same message I heard at VMworld 2008 in Las Vegas back in September, then again during VMworld Europe 2009 in February. I feel this is a “Microsoft” style web event that is designed to reach the masses that have not attended a VMworld conference recently. I have my fingers crossed that we’ll get an official name and a release date on VI 4 (next version), but I fear that is best case scenario. Maybe we’ll have a public beta?

Here’s what VMware employees are saying (or understandably being told to say) on their blogs to promote this event: Read the rest of this entry »

Capacity Planning for virtual infrastructure is a topic I’ve covered before. Discussing the tools to conduct the analysis is almost not worth posting about since the majority are only available for the professional services partner and not the end customer (the main vmetc.com audience). However, Lanamark’s Server Virtualization Design Module and today’s announcement of Lanamark’s Desktop Analysis Pack for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is worth mentioning.

Why? Because I am not aware of another virtualization capacity planning tool that can monitor a company’s existing desktops, physical and virtual servers and then provide a comparison of consolidation scenarios across Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, Parallels Virtuozzo Containers, Virtual Iron, and VMware ESX.

Lanamark now appears to fill a current capacity planning gap for the following scenarios:

• Companies looking at implementing / migrating to virtualization hosts other than VMware ESX or Microsoft Hyper-V (each with their own capacity planning and TCO analysis tools).
• Companies undecided on which virtualization platform to use and want to explore scenarios with an independent partner of multiple vendors.
• Companies needing customized capacity planning for virtual desktop infrastructure (beyond  adapting server virtualization capacity planning tools to vdi scenarios).

The remainder of this post contains details about Lanamark’s benefits both for server capacity planning first and then desktops. Read the rest of this entry »

I’m proud to recognize the first ever VM /ETC Ugly Green Guru (UGG) and Ugly Green Hero (UGH) award winners. Regular readers will recall I announced these new quarterly awards for Top Commenters on vmetc.com when VMware announced the vExpert program this past January.

So without further delay the 2009 Q1 winners with number of comments are:

1. Sean Clark – 13 – UGG
2. Carlo Costanzo – 8 – UGH
3. Jason Boche – 7 – UGH
4. Tom02010 – 6 – UGH
5. Martin Lohmeijer – 5 – UGH
6. David Marshall – 4 – UGH
7. Dracolith – 4 – UGH

The winners will receive an email from me this week requesting a shipping address and a t-shirt size. I’ll get the shirts delivered from Cafepress.com as quick as possible. Click the shirt image to see the back of the shirt too.

Special recognition goes to Sean Clark as the first ever Ugly Green Guru. Follow Sean on Twitter, Disqus, VMworldunderground.com, and his blog.

The reader with the most comments each quarter earns Ugly Green Guru status and will receive a unique t-shirt with UGG on the pocket instead of UGH (as pictured).

I originally thought I could lean on the Disqus plugin to track my Top Commenters, Read the rest of this entry »

OK. I fell for a April Fool’s joke a week later. To ad insult to injury, I did not read the entire post the first time through because I became preoccupied with the following line:

“Respected VMware watcher, Rich Brambles of VM/OPT also chimed in, noting the speed at which VMware implemented virtual wireless connectivity. “It wasn’t there in Update 4, which was released yesterday, but it’s here today,” reports Brambles. “It must have taken them a whole five minutes to get it running!””

When Google turned up nothing on this troublesome coincidence in name and blog, I finally read the entire post all the way to the end.

I’ll go ahead and say if I had read it on April 1 I would hope I would have caught on right away, but tonight my guard was down. Stephen Foskett had actually sent me a Twitter DM about it last week, but I forgot about it until now. Anyways, well done Stephen!

So, if you are looking for a well written April Fools post check out Cisco’s Wireless Data Center Pours On The Power – Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat.

If only a Wireless Data Center was a reality ….

I’ve been reading about the amazing features found in the new Intel Nehalem processors launched last week. This next generation of single, dual, and quad core Xeon processors is a virtualization technology enhancement that almost leaves me speechless. It’s my understanding that 6 and 8 core Nehalem processors are expected by the end of 2009 as well.

Some quick features that amaze me:

• Run up to 21 VMs on a single Nehalem processor server
• One Nehalem core could replace 9 previous generation Xeon processor based servers with 20% energy reduction
• Nehalem cores not being used can power down to conserve power and energy
• When Nehalem cores power down the clock speed of other cores can be boosted

So, rather than try to put all of this in my own words, here is a summary of “bite sized” quotes from various analysts’ articles that I’ve been reading. Be sure to check out all of these links for much more information. Read the rest of this entry »