Avastu Blog: Sustainable Global Clouds

MENLO PARK , Calif. – November 10, 2008 – Replicate Technologies today announced the general availability of its first product, Replicate Datacenter Analyzer™ (RDA) 1.0. Leveraging server virtualization to provide a breakthrough approach to fault management, RDA 1.0 ends the conventional break-fix cycle by using both preventive and remediation analysis to avoid and solve configuration errors in virtualized datacenters. It is the only product available today that provides a unified view of the dynamic datacenter, and can predict and prevent faults before they cause downtime. A well-run datacenter has always required well-managed configuration. Virtualization not only introduces a new layer to configure, but also places new and unique demands on the cross-functional configuration of servers, networks and storage. Recent industry surveys on datacenter operation and management practices indicate that more than 60 percent of unplanned downtime incidents are due to configuration errors...

Nice article this. Ideally Extended RAC should be implemented using real hardware to achieve better performance, but since this architecture is for research and training purposes only, this compromise is acceptable. Oracle VM Server requires only a single computer, but for installing Oracle VM Manager—a simple Web console for managing virtualized systems—we will need another PC. As of this writing, Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) is still the preferred storage choice; however, Oracle introduced support for NFS shared storage for datafiles in Oracle Database 11g along with performance enhancements like Oracle Direct NFS. Due to the nature of this installation we will stick with the simpler iSCSI approach as our storage option to keep the real-world FCP concept intact. Note that in an Extended RAC scenario, you must put a third voting disk in a location other than dcA and dcB to achieve a completely fault-tolerant architecture. Note that the disk mirroring configuration in this guide is in...

Thanks at least in part to the name-brand recognition of parent company Amazon.com, Amazon Web Services is one of the most popular (or at least one of the most well-known) cloud-computing systems out there. Small wonder AWS sports a bevy of third-party tools to aid the use of its services. Sometimes this comes in the form of another service -- a kind of mediator between you and AWS. Elastra's Cloud Server is one example of such a system. An application that uses MySQL, Ingres, or EnterpriseDB can be deployed into Amazon EC2, with its data stored in Amazon S3. Failover, replication, and elastic clustering (the ability to add or delete nodes based on demand) are all handled automatically by Elastra. The application side of things is more your responsibility, but you're essentially given a Linux 2.6.16 platform in one of three basic instance configurations that you can write apps in. Another mediator is RightScale, which also offers a tiered approach to elasticity. A free develope...

The VMware Infrastructure Management Assistant (VIMA) allows administrators and developers to run scripts and agents to manage ESX and ESXi systems. VIMA is a virtual machine that includes prepackaged software, a logging component, and an authentication component that supports non-interactive login. You can use VIMA to perform most of the tasks commonly performed in the ESX service console. Source

(Aliso Viejo, CA — October 1, 2008)— 3Tera®, Inc., the leading innovator of cloud computing technology and utility computing services, announces beta availability of AppLogic™ 2.4 which includes support for virtual appliances running Microsoft® Windows Server™ incorporated in all infrastructure components necessary to run Web applications including storage, networking and load balancing. The new functionality is available immediately both as a service in the cloud and as private clouds in enterprise datacenters. For the first time, a cloud computing platform enables virtual datacenters that exceed the capabilities of traditional datacenters in commercial enterprise environments. Complete Cloud Computing Solution Adding Windows to AppLogic’s existing support of Linux, Sun’s Open Solaris™ and Solaris™ 10 follows 3Tera’s Cloudware™ architecture for open cloud computing, announced earlier this year. Users of AppLogic can now utilize the most popular datacenter operating systems in their ap...

Sun on Wednesday also is releasing the second version of xVM Ops Center, a management system for both physical and virtual servers. The new version makes it easier to create virtual machines, manage storage and use xVM’s live migration feature, which makes it possible to move an application running on a virtual server from one physical device to another, Wilson says. Live migration is available in the open source version of xVM Server, but is easier to manage with Ops Center, he says. xVM Server is a software product with an embedded Web server, allowing management through a Web browser, according to Wilson. xVM Server is based on the open source Xen hypervisor, but includes technologies taken from Sun’s OpenSolaris operating system that make it more scalable, fault-resistant and easy to update, he says. Source

BlueStripe Software Unveils Industry’s First Solution Dedicated to Bringing World-Class Application Service Management to Virtual Data Center Environments BlueStripe, founded by systems management professionals from Wily Technology and IBM/Tivoli, emerges from stealth mode to solve the “next big problem” in application management RTP, N.C. – September 8, 2008 – BlueStripe Software , the industry’s first provider of Application Service Management (ASM) solutions for virtualized data center environments, today announced the official launch of operations and its first commercial product, FactFinder. FactFinder is the industry’s only solution to enable enterprises to stage, deploy, and manage business-critical applications in virtual data center environments with the same degree of confidence and control as traditional environments. FactFinder gives IT departments the visibility they need to efficiently manage application performance and availability in virtualized data ce...

Bridget reporting... Houston-based BMC Software introduced several new virtualization management products today, including nine new integrated offerings designed to eliminate the risk and operational expenses associated with management of virtualized data centers. BMC’s new virtualization management products are fully integrated with virtualization products from Microsoft, Sun Microsystems, Inc. and VMware Inc. The new BMC software is based on an automated set of closed-loop change and configuration management (CLCCM) process workflows that reduce the latency, cost and risk associated with change management. All of the new offerings support both virtual and physical infrastructures. The nine new offerings support goals for performance, compliance and enterprise visibility by addressing the challenges created by virtualization. Some of the issues addressed include the following: *Planning a virtualization/consolidation initiative: BMC Virtualization Capacity Management and Planning Serv...

Nice review. loud Computing has become a hot topic as of late with Amazon’s suite of web services frequently referenced in the press, and with focuses in academia and business as well. Cloud computing has become such a popular topic as of late that Hyperic has released a new service to trend the availability of Amazons various cloud computing services: Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (S3), SimpleDB (SDB), Simple Queue Service (SQS), Flexible Payment Service (FPS). Any developer can sign up with Amazon’s web services, create an application and deploy it on Amazon’s cloud of massive computing resources. When deploying applications for services that are intended to be available most of the time to their users (which most internet based applications do) the issue of performance always tends to arise. CloudStatus steps in by independently trending performance metrics of Amazon’s various cloud services with a well-designed interface that only consists of their web site at...

And what does it do? Secure and Agentless Inventory The Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool provides secure, agent-less and network-wide inventory that scales from small business to large enterprises. It collects and organizes system resources and device information from a single networked computer. Assessment tools often require users to first deploy software agents on all computers to be inventoried, but this tool does not. MAP uses technologies already available in your IT environment to perform inventory and assessments. These technologies include Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI), the Remote Registry Service, SNMP, Active Directory Domain Services, and the Computer Browser service. Assessments can be completed on the following Windows platforms: Windows Vista Windows XP® Professional Windows Server 2003™ or Windows Server 2003 R2 Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server Windows Server 2008 Comprehensive Data Analysis The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solu...

oday's Cisco Data Center 3.0 announcements include: -- Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) software release 4.1, offering virtualized application hosting services, greater application acceleration and video delivery for the branch office; -- Cisco Application Control Engine (ACE) software release 3.1 for the ACE 4710 application switch, offering up to 4 gigabits per second (Gbps) of throughput and up to 2 Gbps of compression capability, and multimedia readiness on a virtualized platform; -- Cisco VFrame Data Center software release 1.2, offering end-to-end infrastructure provisioning with Cisco ACE and VMware ESX; -- New Cisco Data Center 3.0 professional programs and services to better support customers with data center deployments. CNN reporting

This webinar will discuss how PlateSpin’s first major product release since the company was acquired by Novell can improve the speed and quality of your data center initiatives including server consolidation, hardware lease migration, data center relocation and disaster recovery. With extended support for Linux and Windows-based server workloads, new image-based disaster recovery capabilities and migration speed enhancements geared toward reliable, risk-free enterprise implementations, PowerConvert 7.0 is a best-in-class solution for migrating, protecting and optimizing server workloads across multiple physical and virtual platforms. Discussion Topics - A checklist of what to look for in an enterprise-ready workload migration solution - Strategies for reducing overall project times and business risk for large-scale migrations - New features and performance enhancements in PowerConvert 7.0 - How PowerConvert 7.0 enables large-scale, enterprise data center initiatives - Extending backup ...

Leading provider of IT integration software enters IT process automation (run book automation) market with the release of iWave Automator iWave Software, a leading provider of IT integration software, today announced its entry into the IT process automation market with the introduction of iWave Automator. iWave Automator provides organisations with an enterprise-class platform to automate data centre support processes (run book automation) and to integrate IT system management (ITSM) applications. Leveraging iWave's 15-year history of providing integration software, iWave Automator enables IT organisations to automate, standardise and enforce best practices, lowering their operating costs and improving application availability, while maintaining compliance in their virtualised and physical data centres. "iWave's entry into IT process automation is a natural extension for the company, building upon our deep domain expertise and proven success helping leading companies world...

Here's the toolkit and here's the reference guide. If its as cool as DTrace (Its is also freely available lately), then I'm in! Good to see Keith come out in the open to talk about it as well ;-) Here's the rest of the information

See them all here.

What's new? Major re-write of openQRM / porting it to PHP We (the openQRM Team) are happy to announce a major re-write of openQRM ! The great feedback we got from the community over the last 2 years helped us to now implement all those feature requests and suggestions how to get better. This major re-write focus on the following design specifications : - KIS (keep it simple) - run everywhere (support for every linux distribution, especially Debian+Ubuntu) - clean up (remove all not needed code) - reduce code base (less code = less bugs) - using existing components (instead of providing own binaries/libs) - better packaging and dependencies - enabling/disabling plugins via the GUI - support for multiple databases (DB2, Mysql, Oracle, Postgres) - porting from java to PHP - focus on rapid-, appliance-based deployment, virtualization- and storage-management - ease-up installation - ... and some more Go get it now!!!

LAS VEGAS – Symantec Vision - June 10, 2008 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced Veritas Virtual Infrastructure , the first solution to offer advanced storage capabilities for virtual server environments that effectively manage storage in large scale, x86 production environments. Expected to be available in the fall of 2008, Veritas Virtual Infrastructure combines new, advanced storage management capabilities from Veritas Storage Foundation with the flexible, high-performance Citrix XenServer virtualization technology from Citrix Systems. Veritas Virtual Infrastructure will allow users to fully benefit from server virtualization while both preserving current best practices in storage management from the physical environment and leveraging new opportunities provided by virtualized environments. Server virtualization is transforming IT operations by reducing costs through higher resource utilization and reducing risk through increased operational flexibility. However, serv...

The message from HP is that it wants to deliver more efficiently used assets. "Everything has to be saved now," says Phil Dodsworth, director of HP Datacentre Solutions. That means energy efficiency, power and cooling and lowering operating costs, he adds. "Our strategy is all about managing risk for our clients, and we manage risks through these processes. It's not a silver bullet." HP sees virtualisation as an important strand in what it wants to deliver - but that is a long way from the full story. "Every other supplier seems to imagine that virtualisation is a cure all for everything," says Dodsworth, "but some applications don't lend themselves to virtualisation at all." HP's strategy is very much cost-driven rather than technology-led. "That's what our customers have been telling us," says Dodsworth. "It's the cost of the datacentre that is crippling companies, not the strategic advantages that technolo...

I did a quick call with the StackSafe folks and we'll be announcing exciting stuff soon, so stay tuned! Here's StackSafe for now!

Chantilly , Va. —May 5, 2008— Fortisphere, a leading provider of policy-based virtualization management software, today announced the Fortisphere Partner Program. Created specifically for the company’s resellers, system integrators and OEM partners, the Fortisphere Partner Program will provide customers with a comprehensive ecosystem of solution partners focused on delivering best-in-class, policy-based management solutions for virtual environments. “We specialize in helping organizations implement solutions that drive operating efficiencies and cost savings across the entire enterprise,” said James Rodriguez, CEO, MTO Tech. “We strive to exceed our customers’ expectations for quality and value and as a Fortisphere partner, we can now deliver the visibility, automation and control our customers have been asking for as they expand virtualization deployments to production environments.” The Fortisphere Partner Program has been designed to forge strong relationships in the ecosyst...