virtual machines

Red Hat and AMD migrate VMs across CPU architectures

Paul Mah — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:56:04 -0500

AMD and Red Hat have done what has, so far, proved impossible; they have demonstrated a live migration of virtual machines (VM) across different CPU architectures. For those not familiar with the concept of live migrations, the ability to switch VMs across different physical servers is important in order to better balance workloads. At the same time, it also makes it possible to bring down parts of a VM grid to perform hardware upgrades, among other reasons. In a released video, live migration was demonstrated between systems running a Barcelona, Shanghai and an Intel box--while streaming HD video. Still, this is but an early demonstration. And you can expect frantic research from the various vendors, now that this appears to be possible.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at the Inquirer

VMware apologizes for ESX bug

Paul Mah — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:41:16 -0400

Users who have updated to the latest version of VMware's flagship ESX product found themselves in a quandary when they could not power up their virtual servers earlier this week. The culprit proved to be leftover code from beta versions that slipped in through the most recent update in late-July.

Implemented in order to better control beta releases, the "time bomb" code was designed to stop the virtual machines from being powered up past a certain date, which in this case was August 12. The company has since issued a patch that allowed enterprises to start up affected virtual servers, with VMware CEO Paul Maritz apologizing for the "disruption and difficulty" in an open letter.

For more about the VMware ESX snafus:
- check out this Computerworld article

Microsoft to unveil new licensing policies for virtual machines

Paul Mah — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:40:23 -0400

Earlier this week, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company will announce licensing changes with regards to server virtualization next Tuesday. Indeed, current Microsoft licensing rules have been problematic for proponents of virtualization, in part because software hosted on a virtual server is licensed based on the physical server.

When using technologies such as VMware's VMotion, which is able to shift running virtual machines between physical servers without downtime, each VMotion move is actually considered a license transfer. However, customers are not allowed to make more than one "license transfer" every 90 days, effectively negating much of VMotion's benefits. At the moment, the opinion from analysts is that Microsoft will remove the 90-day restriction.

To learn more Microsoft's licensing policies:
- check out this Network World article

Key steps to safer virtual servers

Judi Hasson — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:30:37 -0400

Chris Whitener, chief security strategist with HP Secure Advantage, has some basic pointers for making sure that you have top notch virtualization security. For starters, he recommends using server hardening tools and methodologies to verify the host operating system is secure. He also said it is necessary to ensure that the host operating system is as secure as the guest OS, that security policies in the host OS reflect requirements of individual virtual machines, and that you manage virtual processes more like you already manage your physical resources.

Whitener also said it is key to stay vigilant about securely managing the physical infrastructure. Failing to follow this advice may lead to big headaches and cost you dearly in time, money and aggravation.

For the details:
- see this InfoWorld.com article

Virtual Iron goes green with new LivePower feature

Paul Mah — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:37:10 -0400

Virtual Iron has announced version 4.4 its flagship virtualization product, which includes a new feature called LivePower. Beyond just creating or shifting virtual machines around, LivePower makes it possible to monitor usage levels of virtualized servers. When underutilized servers are detected, they can be automatically consolidated onto fewer physical hosts. Unused machines are then powered down, resulting in immediate electrical savings in the evenings and nights, for example. The reverse happens when the load increases in the morning, in which case physical servers are powered up and the VMs are moved back. Virtual Iron 4.4 with LivePower will be available before the end of August at a price of $799 per server socket. The number of cores on a processor has no effect on the socket count.

For more about the new version of Virtual Iron:
- check out this The Register article

Red Hat eyes virtualization

Paul Mah — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 05:22:14 -0400

The Red Hat summit in Boston last week saw Red Hat open a beta of its Linux-based oVirt hypervisor that weights in at less than 64MB. oVirt is based on the KVM, or kernel-based virtual machine, and supports both Linux and Microsoft's Windows operating systems as hosts. In addition, it also supports live migration to allow applications running on one virtual machine to be seamlessly migrated to other virtual machines without any downtime. Live migration can be done even if the target is on a separate physical server.

Overall, observers present at the Summit were impressed by Red Hat's virtualization strategy, which also involves building management tools that will eventually allow thousands of virtual machines to be created and managed on Red Hat's platform.

For more on Red Hat's virtualization strategy:
- check out this NetworkWorld article

Sanbolic brings shared file access to virtual machines

Paul Mah — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:12:23 -0400

SAN vendor Sanbolic, better known for its Melio clustered file system that allows Windows servers shared access to files, has extended its technology to VMware virtual machines. Called the Melio Clustered File System Application Data Solution for VMware ESX, the software makes it possible for concurrent application access of the same data by separate servers. While the enterprise-positioned VMware ESX hypervisor stores virtual machines on a shared SAN volume, it works only on a virtual machine level. In the event of a failure, no other server will be able to access the data immediately. Sanbolic's software makes it possible. Gartner's Paquet noted out that Sanbolic's technology could be rendered unnecessary should VMware choose to bundle it by default into its virtualization engine.

For more about Sanbolic:
- check out this Network World article

The top challenges to compliance in virtualization

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:59:55 -0400

Chris Farrow of Fortisphere, in a recent News.com article outlined some challenges for achieving IT compliance in the field of virtualization. For example, the discovery and inventory of virtual machines can be tricky, given that virtual machine resources cannot be tagged physically. Also, what is the company's policy pertaining to rogue virtual machines? Closely related to this would be the importance of maintaining a chain of custody in which an audit trail of approved changes is documented. Farrow also discusses the importance of segregating low-risk virtual machines from high-risk or mission-critical ones, and the need to track software licenses for violations. Because virtualization is relatively new, he advocates that companies ensure they retain the appropriate expertise in their technical personnel.

For more on the challenges to IT compliance in virtualization:
- check out this ZDNet article

Critical VMWare vulnerability discovered

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 06:59:55 -0500

If you use VMWare's desktop virtualization software in your enterprise, you'll want to pay close attention: Core Security Technologies have discovered a vulnerability in VMWare's desktop software that could allow an attacker to gain complete control of a system, in order to launch executable files on the host OS. "The discovery is notable given that virtualization security is largely uncharted territory," ZDnet's Larry Dignan writes. "However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out virtualization could be some fertile ground for hackers." VMWare plans to address the vulnerability in a future release; in the meantime, Core Security recommends that customers disable shared folders for all virtual machines as a precaution.

For more on the discovery:
- see this ZDnet article

Virtualization emerging as key to SOA

Sun, 15 Jul 2007 20:01:38 -0400

Virtualization is shaping up to be a key element in the successful deployment of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) strategies, according to an analysis in eWeek. As organizations harness SOA to break down silos of automation and tap into legacy systems, experts like David Greschler, director of integrated virtualization strategy at Microsoft, believe that virtualization provides a way for all the pieces of IT the infrastructure--applications, operating systems, presentation layers, virtual machines, and storage and network devices--to be separated from each other and then put back so that all the elements can work together as a whole. But many organizations are missing the opportunity to leverage virtualization SOA because the architects active in both environments are not talking to each other. Those channels of communication however, are beginning to open, says Jason Bloomberg, an analyst with market research firm ZapThink.

For more on SOA implementation:
- read more in eWeek. Article