The New VMware Log Insight Update Allows For More Visibility On Servers

When you're dealing with businesses and corporations, it's best to have servers that have really good server administrators. You have to think that all of that data needs to be taken care some how right? Data at times can seem like a very fickle thing, but at the end of the day, all of the data that gets collected from a particular business for the purpose of analysis has to be stored on something secure, i.e. the company's servers. As with most large corporations however, the servers are like their virtual safes, and the people accessing those safes are constantly monitored for the safety of the company. Every log on the company's server is collected for safety and analytical purposes. Since, again, most companies tend to use virtual servers, it can be hard for the server administrators to just pop in and poke around. Thankfully there's been a bit of a remedy to this situation.

VMware released something that helped with virtual visualization in June of 2013. Many a server administrator was thankful for the help in seeing all of the logs for a company. Now, the software will be updated to a much faster version of itself.

The VMware's Log Insight 2.0 will be upwards of 30 percent faster than the 1.0 version. Of course, that doesn't really mean anything if you aren't sure what I'm talking about. This new version of the Log Insight will be able to take in and analyze log data at a much, much faster rate than before. When you have a large company with a plethora of logs to sort through, the added 30 percent speed increase is going to help immensely. The speed boost isn't all that comes with this update either. The new update also comes with some new technologies that are being used to help making grouping specific issues together less difficult and at a faster pace.

When we receive data, its not always the easiest to take in. It can be confusing, and should the date be corrupt, then you have a whole other monster on your hands to deal with. The Log Insight 2.0 is going to help by putting all of that data in an easy to understand format with the use of updated tables and charts.

Now not only will the Log Insight 2.0 come with all of that, but Windows servers won't be left out anymore either. There is a Windows agent included with the new update that will make it less difficult to gather up log and file info from Windows servers. The agent itself is but a mere .msi file, so that should be comforting to hear for all of you server workers out there. Adding Windows to the new update will definitely help the company in the long run as well. Before, customers would have to go through a third party program in order to view their Windows logs. Now, the update cuts out the middleman entirely and allows for full log visibility support that both VMware and Microsoft can be happy about and push.

Data is just as valuable to company's as it is to company's customers. All of that data can be hard to sift through, and administrators can only do so much with virtual servers. This update is definitely a welcome help, and hopefully there will be more to come.

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Zimbra Updated by VMware

After being in development for over a year, Zimbra 7 is finally being released. VMware acquired Zimbra, an open source collaboration vendor, a little over a year ago from Yahoo, and the Zimbra 7 release is the first thing to come out of the company under the ownership of VMware. Zimbra 7 includes features that expand the usability and scalability of the platform even further than before.

According to Senior Director of Zimbra Products and Marketing at VMware John Robb, "The VMware Zimbra team worked closely with both Zimbra and VMware customers over the last year to prioritize the Zimbra 7 release. VMware is very supportive of open source, community based development, and Zimbra 7 demonstrates our commitment."

Zimbra 7 is the first release from the company since Zimbra 6 was released in September of 2009. Zimbra 6 was the final major release under Yahoo, who acquired Zimbra in September of 2007 for $350 million.

Zimbra 7 includes a lot of good stuff including improved file sharing capabilities that allow users to store and share files in the cloud via the Zimbra briefcase. If you are an administrator, this release includes enhanced delegation capabilities to control permissions and access. There are also new policies for load balancing as well as automatic recovery of Zimbra servers.

VMware virtualization-related enhancements are also included in Zimbra 7. "VMware Zimbra 7 includes support for VMware vSphere HA as well as support for NetApp NFS," according to Robb. "Additionally, the Zimbra Appliance leverages VMware Studio." Robb also added that Zimbra is an important product family at VMware and is part of the VMware End-User Computing Business Unit. "VMware Zimbra is completely integrated into VMware and it is available for all VMware partners to sell," said Robb.

As a part of the Zimbra 7 update, the desktop client is also being updated. Zimbra Desktop was released in 2007 as a way of bringing web-based email to the desktop. Zimbra Desktop was originally built with help from Mozilla Prism technology. Prism, as you know, was a project by Mozilla that targeted enabling web applications to run on your desktop. Mozilla has since moved the Prism project into their new effort called Chromeless.

According to Robb, "We are looking at all options for Zimbra Desktop and we are working closely with the Mozilla team, a Zimbra customer." Robb also noted that the future of Zimbra at VMware is definitely bright. According to Robb, VMware is looking at the future of end-user computing. It is a future where end-users access their data as well as their applications through a workspace that is available as part of their new mobile enterprise.

"VMware wants to provide IT with the ability to securely manage and deploy these workspaces. Zimbra is a key component of delivering on the future of end-user computing because it provides VMware a platform for delivering personal and end-user data and information," according to Robb.

Source - Server Watch - VMware Updates Zimbra

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New Data Center from Microsoft in Washington

Very soon, Microsoft will be unleashing a state-of-the-art data center in Washington after receiving a tax cut from local politicos. Microsoft has promised to open up what it is calling "one of the most innovative new data centers" in Quincy, Washington in the early part of this year. There aren't a whole lot of details, but it is said that the center is expected to host services like Microsoft's Azure cloud.

This new data center is based almost entirely on pre-assembled computing models that are designed to give you a greater scale as well as greater flexibility. The center also uses server cooling techniques that were developed at the Dublin and Chicago data centers of Microsoft in order to help cut running costs. The data center will open up next to Microsoft's existing 500,000-square-foot data center facility in Quincy, which was opened back in 2007.

General Manager of Microsoft's Data Center Services Kevin Timmons wrote in a blog post that the expansion takes new ideas that were forged in Dublin and Chicago one step further, using modular building blocks for electrical, mechanical, server and security subsystems. At Microsoft's other data centers the modules were capable of scaling from 400 to 2,000 servers.

According to Timmons, "Our modular design enables us to build a facility in significantly less time while reducing capital costs by an average of 50% to 60% over the lifetime of the project."

This new design means that the Quincy extension will be housed in a steel and aluminum structure instead of the concrete building that is the existing Quincy center. A report from Data Center Knowledge back in May said that the building will completely lack side walls. This news comes following an eight month experiment where Microsoft ran five HP servers in an outside tent with absolutely no failures.

"The Structure," according to Timmons, "is virtually transparent to ambient outdoor conditions, allowing us to essentially place our servers and storage outside in the cool air while still protecting it from the elements. The interior layout is specifically designed to allow us to further innovate in the ways that we deploy equipment in future phases of the project."

This is all very exciting stuff, but it almost didn't happen. Back in 2009, Microsoft released news that they were closing the existing Quincy data center and moving operations to San Antonio, Texas. This news came as a Washington tax exemption that favored data center providers was set to expire. However, local politicians responded with a 15-month sales tax exemption on the purchase and installation of computers and energy for new data centers in 32 rural counties in the state of Washington, the place where Microsoft has called home for 32 years.

This tax break was backed by the political pressure group Washington Needs Jobs who has members including Microsoft, Yahoo and VMware as well as the Washington Technology Industry Association and the town of Quincy. It was also said that, along with Microsoft, Yahoo and VMware are also planning on producing data centers in Washington.

Source: The Register

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VMware to Bring Virtualization to Your Smartphone?

Virtualization first struck on the workstation, then came server virtualization, and then virtual desktops. By now, virtualization is seen as ubiquitous in data centers and is also fairly well understood. However, it is not widely used on the desktop. But it seems that virtualization doesn't want to stop there because VMware, last week, announced that it had partnered with LG to enable virtualization on its Android phones which would make smartphones owned by employees palatable to companies conscious about security.

Where the consumer market is concerned, LG's presence is strong and continuously growing. However, the company is overshadowed by BlackBerry in the enterprise market. That is why LG is working with VMware to integrate its end-user computing technologies into the company's smartphones. According to VMware, this will "enable users to adopt the mobile device of their choice, while allowing corporate IT departments to manage sensitive data on those devices with enterprise-level security and compliance."

The first application of this technology is supposed to be available on smartphones in 2011. Unfortunately, there has yet to be any exact release date or pricing mentioned. This virtualization will, however, enable LG smartphones to run two operating systems like Android and BlackBerry, for example. It will also allow them to run one account in isolation from another. What this basically means is that a user can securely run a network account separate from his account on the same mobile device.

This is a great tool for companies who want their IT techs to have the ability to have access to everything they need whenever they need it. Look for a lot of companies implementing this into their IT departments when it releases in 2011.

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Server OS Landscapes Going with the Flow

The world of UNIX and Linux server operating systems right now is anything but boring. However, that may not be the best thing, especially for enterprises that want a background of stability and certainty when they choose a server OS to power their business.

If you use Sun UNIX, then you know all about this. The OpenSolaris project just recently disintegrated into nothing after a long run of uncertainty and was replaced by something probably based on the Illumos project like the OpenIndiana spork. Users of Solaris weren't greeted with such a rude awakening though. Their enterprise OS hasn't actually gone away. They have, however, come to terms with the fact that UNIX is now a product of Oracle which means it is being developed along a very, very different style then it was under Sun.

The Suse Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) is under Novell and is also one of the two leading open source server distributions. The server itself runs just fine but, being owned by Novell, which is known for being a little chaotic, has cast a shadow over the product.

On a lighter side, if you are a Red Hat shop, you can rest assured that you are running the number one open source server OS from a dependable and stable company. In fact, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is respected so highly that Oracle uses it as a basis for its own Linux offering.

But how long will this last? Oracle has decided to drop Red Hat compatibility in its Oracle Linux Product after announcing the Oracle Unbreakable Kernel for Oracle Linux at Oracle OpenWorld last week. According to Oracle, it is a "fast, modern, reliable kernel that is optimized for Oracle software and hardware." Oracle also promises that the new kernel will offer a 75% performance gain demonstrated in OLTP performance tests over a Red Hat compatible kernel, a 200% speedup of Infiniband messaging and 137% faster solid state disk access.

It is rumored that VMware may buy Novell's Linux business, and if that does happen, then Red Hat is going to be a minnow among sharks in the server OS market going forward. To put it into perspective, Solaris is a part of a $140 billion Oracle Corporation while SLES would be a part of a $36 billion VMware. As for Windows, AIX and HP-UX, they are each owned by corporations worth some $220 billion (Microsoft), $166 billion (IBM) and $90 billion (HP) respectively. Red Hat is definitely the odd one out with only $7 billion.

That leaves IBM, HP and Microsoft. All these companies are fairly predictable and boring, but they are also huge. However, with all that is going on in the enterprise operating systems market at the moment, big, boring and predictable may be the perfect thing for many potential customers.

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VMware Acquires Zimbra - Sights Set on Microsoft

Earlier this month VMware set an interesting stage on the virtualization front through its acquisition of Zimbra from Yahoo. For those unfamiliar with Zimbra, Zimbra is a very popular open-source collaboration software for companies of all sizes which provides calendaring, e-mail, and also offers mail services over the web for cloud and hosting providers.

What Does This Mean for VMware and The Cloud?

VMware's recent acquisitions of SpringSource and Zimbra is clear proof that they are aggressively moving up the ladder. Currently VMware, Microsoft, and Google are the three key cloud competitors in the market, but Google does not compete directly with VMware on the virtual plane. This leaves Microsoft as the primary concern for VMware and the acquisition of Zimbra has no doubt created even more friction between the two companies. Now it's no longer just a case of VMware vs. Hyper-V on the virtualization front, but also a case of Zimbra vs. Exchange on the collaborative applications front.

Scott Gode, vice president of Azaleos, a Seattle-based managed services company that specializes in Microsoft products stated that if VMware can make Zimbra part of a unified and seamless cloud platform, then Microsoft might want to sit up and take notice. "This acquisition signals to me for VMware that their gloves are fully off against Microsoft," he said. "All the major cloud players are similar in that they're making moves, from an infrastructure standpoint, so they're set up when the market moves."

Larry Augustin, CEO of SugarCRM, wrote the following in an email to InternetNews.com concerning Zimbra and VMware. "VMware is clearly moving aggressively up the stack and is not content to be limited to virtualization or even infrastructure,". "With the Zimbra acquisition, VMWare is squarely positioning itself in the applications and collaboration space." "I would expect them to continue to make acquisitions in open source and at all tiers of the software stack: infrastructure and applications,".

Even VMware seems to have a sense of destiny between themselves, Microsoft, and the cloud. VMware Chief Operating Officer Tod Nielsen simply stated "Its going to come down to us and Microsoft." in an interview with eWEEK.

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What is VMware?

VMware is one of the best virtualization software solutions on the market. VMware software is able to split up a server into multiple portions making essential mulitple computers. These virtual computers that VMware makes are then accesible by guest operating systems. With multiple guest being able to access a single server via virtualization an IT administrator is able cut down on cost by needed less hardware.

VMware is also compatible with almost every guest operating system including: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 200 NT, Me, 98, 95, MS-DOS 6.22 or better, IBM OS/2 Warp, Mac OSX Server, Linux, Sun Java Desktop, SCO OpenServer, SCO UNIXWARE, Free BSD, Netware Server, Solaris 10 x86. That pretty much covers every OS out there.

VMware also comes with a great number of features inluding:

• Virtual State Capture: Capture the state of your virtual machine so if a problem arises you can roll back to a previous state
• Large guest operating system support: Nearly all versions of windows and linux are supported
• Simple Installation: VMware installs like a standard application so no hassle
• Web management interface: You can manage your VMware installation via web browser
• Supports two-processor SMP: Allows your virtual machine to take advantage of multi-processing.
• Easy migration path to other VMware products: All VMware products are made so that upgrading is hassle free.

The biggest downside of VMware is that there are other solutions out their such as VirtualBox, KVM and Xen that are free. The benefits of VMware though are much greater than from these other free solutions. VMware is much easier to use and comes with so many advanced features that spending the extra bucks on VMware is completely worth it.

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