Sun has offered an early concept of VDI since 1999 with the
Sun Ray Software and Sun Ray devices. Over the years the solution has evolved to support other operating systems beyond Solaris as well as roll in other devices or connections. Today's offering with Sun VDI Software
2.0 uses VMware's ESX as the hypervisor for guests on Sun Ray devices. But what have they been working on lately?
Sun xVM VDI 3.0 is now in private beta. This release represents the first end-to-end solution from device to hypervisor for VDI solution-seekers. And Sun xVM VDI 3.0 also supports the use of the Sun 7000 series unified storage (Amber Road), so not only do we have a VDI solution from one vendor from device, to broker, to hypervisor, but Sun is making the backend storage available as well. Keeping score here, that is a four-point solution.
For the hypervisor, Sun xVM VDI 3.0 can run on xVM VirtualBox or VMware ESX, so there is some flexibility for organizations that have already deployed the 2.0 release. The VirtualBox-based hypervisor solutions have some additional management and performance options available with the ZFS storage available from the Amber Road storage systems.
Could this release be a game-changer for VDI? It just might. The truth is, Sun makes good software. They have a strong VDI solution, and these are positive steps forward.
Are you in the Early Access program for Sun xVM VDI 3.0? I'm very interested to your take on the new features.
E-mail me with your comments on the product.
Posted by Rick Vanover on 02/05/2009 at 12:47 PM4 comments
One of the key selling points to server virtualization is disaster recovery. But, how many of us have actually implemented a virtualization-centric DR solution that isn't a backup or restore? One of the biggest issues to implementing virtualization-centric DR is that there is usually a large upfront cost for software and usually corresponding hardware. VizionCore's
vConverter has a feature that is out to change all of that.
vConverter is not your standard P2V tool, but really a menu of rich features that are available to do as much or as little as you wish. One feature that I want to focus on is the Incremental Replication for Disaster Recovery for a selected system. Within vConverter, this is called Continuous Protection conversion, and works to convert a system and then keep it up to date. The best part is that you can do it on the cheap -- vConverter's Continuous Protection feature is available for $299 per protected system.
vConverter's Continuous Protection works to give you DR by selecting a system -- physical or virtual -- and selecting a virtual destination. vConverter also fits many environments by supporting multiple hypervisors. Currently Microsoft, VMware, Virtual Iron, and Xen Server platforms are supported. Beyond the great price and broad hypervisor support, vConverter's Continuous Protection feature is easy to set up.
Continuous Protection has a customizable update rate, available in days, hours or minutes. Depending on the workload, you may not want this interval too tight. The network traffic between the vConverter server agent and the DR virtual machine is optimized to only copy over changes. It is worth noting vConverter doesn't provide a managed failover to the protected virtual machine. Otherwise, this is a solid use of P2V and V2V conversion technologies adding extra functionality with little effort and cost.
Managed DR on the cheap! Send me your comments and let me know what you think of vConverter.
(Disclaimer: I have no financial relationship with Vizioncore. What you're getting here is my unbiased opinion of the product.)
Posted by Rick Vanover on 02/03/2009 at 12:47 PM9 comments
Along the lines of Virtualization Review editor Keith
Ward's
post
inquiring as to whether readers should hold off on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), I
think many organizations will pass on it -- for now. If you have not started
working with VDI in some capacity, you may want to.
I make this recommendation because I believe you will quickly find that VDI
requires much more of a planning process than the server-side counterparts. I
have been going through a couple of scenarios for a few VDI solutions, and it is
not as easy as it may seem. Do yourself a favor and take time to identify your
requirements, and make sure you think about the entire solution of endpoint
client or device, broker and hypervisor. This can help identify issues that may
or may not be addressed by VDI solutions as they are right now.
In my example, there was a specific requirement related to the computer name of the guest VM that could not be addressed by any of the three solutions that I worked with. While the naming requirement is the issue -- not the VDI products -- it underscores the fact that current VDI offerings may not address all
situations. Other administrators are constantly battling other issues related to
Flash-based multimedia, bandwidth usage and a client-to-core ratio in selecting
a device, broker and hypervisor for VDI.
Make no mistake -- the VDI solutions available are robust; they simply aren’t
going to fit every environment. The good news is that administrators have
resources available to them, for free. Make a request with the sales
representative for your virtualization platform to set up an evaluation VDI
solution with the products. This is an indispensible resource as you can get a
solution for your requirements. This can be an in-person, over the phone or
Web-based event, but the benefits are clear in that you will be more equipped
than going about it by yourself. Even with that help, you may still find
yourself not where the solution needs to be.
The issue is that VDI has come a long way very quickly, but based on my
experience with three brokers there is still room to improve from the management
perspective.
Posted by Rick Vanover on 02/02/2009 at 12:47 PM1 comments