Virtualization management: Cross-platform tools fall short

How we tested virtual machine environments Product Test Alert NetworkWorld.com | LANs & WANs Research Center | Update Your Profile Sponsored by Avaya Teleworking: Value for Virtual Workers This white paper illustrates how teleworking is growing and transforming the way companies do business. It covers the business issues and benefits of implementing a Teleworker solution. Spotlight Story Virtualization management: Cross-platform tools fall short By Tom Henderson and Brendan Allen, Network World Lab Alliance With the abundance of formidable virtualization platforms on the market today, there ought to be a better way to manage heterogeneous VM farms. Read full story Related News: How we tested virtual machine environments For a product to be included in this round of test, it have to be able to manage two or more server virtualization platforms from a list consisting of VMWare's ESX 3.5, Microsoft's Hyper-V, and Citrix's newly 'free' XenServer 5.0. Microsoft's SC-VMM provides limited view of VMware-based VMs The final version of SC VMM – which began shipping in November – is much improved over the beta code we tested last fall, but it has still got some rough patches in terms of integration with Microsoft's Operations Manager (needed for monitoring and trending) and as supporting non-Windows VMs goes. TotalView provides static view of VMware- and Xen-based virtual servers Insystek TotalView is designed to be a comprehensive environmental management tool for physical and virtual infrastructure. For the purposes of this test, it supports XenServer and VMware ESX and VirtualCenter and a few older virtualization environments not included in our test bed, but it does not support Hyper-V yet. DynamicOps homes in on VM provisioning DynamicOps' Virtual Resource Management (VRM) tool is more of a provisioning tool for deploying and controlling access to virtual machines, and is less effective when it comes to the subsequent management of the successfully installed VMsr way to manage heterogeneous VM farms. CA offers the strongest current option for cross-platform virtual management Of the products we compared, CA's NSM/ASM pairing served up the best combination of VM management components. But it wasn't problem free. April giveaways galore Cisco Subnet and Microsoft Subnet are giving away training courses from Global Knowledge, valued at $2,995 and $3,495, and have copies of three hot books up for grabs: CCVP CIPT2 Quick Reference by Anthony Sequeira, Microsoft Voice Unified Communications by Joe Schurman and Microsoft Office 2007 On Demand by Steve Johnson. Deadline for entries April 30. Network World on Twitter Get our tweets and stay plugged in to networking news. 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