With virtualization fast becoming required technology in the datacenter sprawl arena, high-tech purveyors can hardly afford to relax in the
face of fierce competition.
To help assert itself in the market, HP today said it has enhanced its Virtual Server Environment (VSE) software, which partitions several HP-UX, Windows and Linux virtual machines on one physical machine. It includes new features to help customers migrate from Sun Sparc servers to HP Integrity servers.
HP’s Integrity Essentials Capacity Advisor has been retooled to grab
performance information from Sun Sparc servers, incorporate the info and
make recommendations about how many servers are needed if admins move data
from Sun servers to Integrity servers, said Nick van der Zweep, director of
virtualization at HP.
The Capacity Adviser also now employs trending capabilities that let
customers simulate future usage patterns when planning consolidations for
HP-UX, Windows and Linux.
Van der Zweep also said the automation capabilities that shift resources
from one applications to another in VSE can now turn on and off HP-owned
CPUs to meet service levels.
For example, Integrity Essentials Global Workload Manager specifies which
workloads can automatically access spare capacity while Global Instant
Capacity allows hardware usage rights to be transferred among systems to
serve business needs.
HP also issued a new edition of HP Serviceguard to bring high availability
to Linux-based applications running in virtual machines for VMware software
on HP ProLiant servers and HP Integrity Virtual Machines on HP Integrity
servers.
For example, even though Linux is running as a guest within VMware or
Integrity virtual machines, the applications within each are protected; in
case the virtual machine fails, ServiceGuard will move that application to
another Integrity server or HP ProLiant blade server within the datacenter.
Finally, HP today introduced the HP Partner Virtualization Program to allow
independent software vendors (ISV) to build, test and tune applications
in a virtualized environment.
Specifically, the program lets ISVs use HP ProLiant and HP Integrity servers
to test applications running in HP-UX 11i, Microsoft Windows, Novell SUSE
Linux Enterprise Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux environments
virtualized by software from HP and partners such as VMware. ISVs can then
publish their applications in an online catalog to share with customers.
HP’s latest moves underscore the competition in the server market, which
includes HP rivals IBM , Dell
and Sun
. All
of these vendors are infusing virtualization technologies into their
computers for datacenters.
For example, Van der Zweep said that HP has migrated $1 billion of
infrastructure from Sun to HP infrastructure since 2004.
He acknowledged that virtualization is a key factor in shaping HP’s Adaptive
Infrastructure strategy for improving IT services to better serve the
business needs.
