The latest version of EMC’s VMware virtualization software contains a number of features aimed squarely at storage users.
VMware Infrastructure 3 is designed to break the typical constraints associated with machines configured to run only specific pieces of software.
The latest version includes VMware ESX Server 3, the company’s strongest server, storage and network virtualization platform, and VirtualCenter 2 with VMotion, which lets users move running virtual machines from one host to another.
New features include storage virtualization via VMFS 3, a new distributed file system that lets users bundle storage from different storage arrays and then pools them and makes them available to applications.
With VMotion, the new Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) tool aggregates hardware resources into logical resource pools and allocates them to applications running in virtual machines. When a virtual machine feels the weight of an increased load, DRS allocates more resources by redistributing virtual machines among the physical servers.
Another new tool, VMware High Availability (HA), eliminates single points of hardware failure by relocating and restarting virtual machines.
VMware Consolidated Backup offloads backup jobs to one central server. This function reduces the load on ESX Server and allows it to run more virtual machines while backing up data during production hours.
Other new perks include new virtual SMP capabilities to enable virtualization of large enterprise applications that can scale to take advantage of four virtual CPUs and 16 gigabytes of memory and new native support for iSCSI and NAS storage.
VMware Infrastructure 3, in beta since October, has been tested with more than 200 servers and storage arrays, as well as management software.
The platform runs 28 “flavors” of Windows, Linux, Netware and Solaris, and VMware is offering its new software now in three packages.
The idea of the technology is that servers within data centers can be managed as one utility and allocated to different divisions or projects within a company, said Patrick Lin, director of data center platform products at VMware.
Lin said the practice of servers being oriented for a specific operating system and application set is giving way to the methodology of different types of software working on the same machine.
This is quite a departure from where VMware started virtualizing systems, first with server partitioning through a hypervisor and later with the consolidation of several servers into few.
“You’ll never look at hardware the same way,” Lin said.
With VMware Infrastructure 3, new capacity can be added or subtracted based on demand without shutting down the system to adjust resource provisions. Applications can also be shuttled to hardware resources on the fly regardless of the operating system and hardware.
Designed for small- and medium-sized businesses, VMware Infrastructure Starter provides server virtualization using local or NAS storage and full management capabilities through the included VirtualCenter management agent. VMware Infrastructure Starter starts at $1,000 for 2 CPU configurations.
VMware Infrastructure Standard consolidates production environments. Its core is ESX Server and includes clustered VMFS 3, Virtual SMP for running enterprise workloads and the VirtualCenter. VMware Infrastructure Standard starts at $3,750.
Finally, VMware Infrastructure Enterprise, which embodies VMware’s virtualization stack, is designed for large data centers and starts at $5,750.
Cisco Drops EMC NAS
In a recent notice, Cisco announced that it will no longer resell EMC NAS systems.
Cisco downplayed the announcement, saying a bigger relationship with EMC is in the works, but analysts say the deal apparently didn’t generate much in the way of sales.
“Cisco and EMC remain actively engaged in joint sales activities that enhance the value proposition of our respective products in shared deployments,” Cisco said in a statement. “One of the strongest collaborations is focused on branch office consolidation involving the Cisco WAFS/WAAS solution and EMC NAS. To that end, the Cisco NAS EOL notice is an initial step in our restructuring efforts towards a broader Cisco/EMC relationship that will deliver a more tightly integrated sales and marketing effort and ultimately greater value to our customers.
“The relationship between Cisco and EMC is at its strongest point ever.”
Article courtesy of InternetNews.com