Yellow Bricks

by Duncan Epping

software

VMware vCenter Converter 4.0

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VMware vCenter Converter 4.0 has just been released. Don’t let this name fool you cause Converter is still also available as a stand alone solution for P2V’ing your servers! You can find the release notes here.

So what’s new?

  • Physical to virtual machine conversion support for Linux (RHEL, SUSE and Ubuntu) as source
  • Physical to virtual machine conversion support for Windows Server 2008 as source
  • Hot cloning improvements to clone any incremental changes to physical machine during the P2V conversion process
  • Support for converting new third-party image formats including Parallels Desktop virtual machines, newer versions of Symantec, Acronis, and StorageCraft
  • Workflow automation enhancements to include automatic source shutdown, automatic start-up of the destination virtual machine as well as shutting down one or more services at the source and starting up selected services at the destination
  • Target disk selection and the ability to specify how the volumes are laid out in the new destination virtual machine
  • Destination virtual machine configuration, including CPU, memory, and disk controller type

I think especially the hot cloning improvement, which copies incremental changes, and the workflow automation are really cool features. These are the kind of enhancements that will make your life a lot easier during migration projects.

vCenter Administrator Portal! (multi VC console)

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I’ve been offline for most of the day and when I just switched on my laptop I noticed a new section(including downloads) on the VMTN forums. This section is about a single console multiple vCenter servers. VMware vCenter Administrator Portal (VCAP) is a web-based console that provides a central view into the VMware Infrastructure environment across multiple vCenter Server (VirtualCenter) instances. VCAP is delivered as a virtual appliance based on Linux. If you’re not comfortable with a virtual appliance you can also download the installable version.

This is, besides a linux vCenter client/server, an ofter requested feature. Keep in mind that it’s a preview of what will be available in one of the next versions. You can find a PDF with more detail here: 

VirtualCenter Administrator Portal (VCAP) Overview (pdf).

Tech Preview – VirtualCenter Administrator Portal – Installation Guide – 2008 10 13.pdf (87.6 K)

What can you expect at this moment:

  • Single sign-on to multiple vCenter Servers
  • Monitor events and alarms across multiple vCenter Servers
  • Search and track inventory across multiple vCenter Servers
  • Launch VI Client in context to manage vCenter Servers
  • Search for virtual machines across multiple vCenter Servers
  • Launch virtual machine consoles
  • Utilizes permissions setup in vCenter Servers
  • Unified view for: vCenter Servers, Datacenters, Clusters, Hosts, Virtual Machines
  • Access summary view of inventory objects, rolled up across vCenter Servers, for comparison and monitoring purposes

Back to business again, patches!!

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So it’s back to business again after a couple of crazy days during VMworld. All the blogs can return to their normal “technical” writing.

VMware just released a whole bunch of patches for ESX(i) 3.5, so for you SysAdmins it’s also back to work again. You can find them here.

There’s also a new release for VMware’s Lab Manager available, version 3.0 Patch 1. There’s a KB article about this patch release, read it before you run it.

Update on Kodiak

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So I blogged about Kodiak a couple of days, and just received some new information. Let’s start of with the facts that weren’t clear in the first blog:

  1. Kodiak is not open-source at this time. (We’re working on that)
    We will be releasing an easy to use Open-SDK, and hope to eventually open up the entire code-base.
  2. Kodiak is 100% free for personal use.
  3. All systems purchased from bluebear include an unlimited use, enterprise license (and early code access).

Now, there’s already a discussion going on what “personal use” means.

But much more exciting in my opinion is the rumor that they’re polishing off a new feature – the
ability to manage multiple Virtual Center instances simultaneously and independently (as opposed to only ESX hosts at the moment)!!!

BlueBear will be opening the beta program to new registrants tomorrow, so better be quick! They will also be at VMworld in a few weeks (booth NI 10). And launch their latest product, for the enterprise; Grizzly!
In addition, all VMworld 2008 attendees will be given invites to Kodiak’s private beta!

Linux VirtualCenter client?

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Scott already wrote about this one yesterday… A lot of people have been asking for a Linux VirtualCenter client for a long time. I’m sorry this is not the announcement for the official client. But there might be a decent Linux, Mac and Windows client coming up. There’s a beta going around of a product named Kodiak, by a company called Bluebear:

Welcome to the next generation of unified systems management! Kodiak, from BlueBear, enables unprecedented visibility into and control over virtualized infrastructures, regardless of size or composition. As the industry’s only application that’s both hypervisor-agnostic and cross-platform, Kodiak sets a new standard in versatility, pushing virtualization out of the datacenter and catalyzing it’s widespread adoption throughout the information technology landscape. BlueBear believes useful software should be available to anybody who needs it, and at no cost; hence Kodiak’s price, totally free!

In other words, expect a client which can manage ESX, Hyper-V and Xenserver at the same time! Unfortunately there’s not much info available at the moment. I’ve send these guys an email to see if I can get a Beta to test it out! Check this page for a couple screenshots, it already looks promising I must say! So I’m gonna build a Ubuntu workstation and hope I will receive this beta soon and can start testing!

I love the title in the application bar: Kodiak: Ruling your virtual empire. How cool does that sound!