What User Virtualization Certifications are Necessary?

In many ways, the IT world has gone certification happy. Nearly every job requirement lists certifications as well as length of service, however, in the realm of cloud computing and virtualization what do these certifications mean? Are they even valuable? Is there a general enough certification that covers all the hypervisors, is there a third party certification available?

Eucalyptus/Terracotta a scalable Java Cloud Platform?

We recently received a presentation on a combined solution from Eucalyptus and Terracotta. Initially we were suspicious because they clearly share an investor – Benchmark Capital. Was this a PowerPoint integration dreamt up by two Venture Capitalists over a power breakfast? However, the combined solution was presented by some very plausible techies with a real-live demo and does look as though it starts to provide a generally-useful abstraction over which to deploy scalable applications (specifically Java stacks), and it too works with commodity hardware. It’s not as slick as the 3Tera solution, more of a command-line approach, but it potentially has the edge in scalability.

Virtualization Security for the SMB, Starting Point for All

The most recent Virtualization Security Podcast was on the subject of virtualization security for the SMB. Specifically cover the case where the customer wanting virtualization security could afford to purchase a hypervisor and perhaps one other security product. In the end the panelists came up with a list of suggestions for virtualization security for the SMB that are applicable to all levels of Virtualization. The panel looked at SMB security with an eye towards Availability, Integrity, and Confidentiality.

Bringing a Virtual Host to its Knees

I recently got called to examine some performance issues that were happening to a VMware VDI Cluster. I was told all the hosts in the cluster would run at 100% CPU utilization for an extended period of time and the client would like an explanation and recommendation. I pretty much had a good idea what the problem was before I ever started looking at hosts. I know this topic has been covered many times before but it does not seem like it has been covered enough.

Is Hyper9 a good fit for the SMB?

I talked extensively to Hyper9 to determine if their product would be a good fit for the SMB as most of their marketing literature is geared towards helping to manage thousands of VMs not necessarily 100s of VMs. My thoughts before talking to them is yes it would be useful, but after talking to them, I discovered some key facts that would help an SMB decide on whether or not to invest in Hyper9 which is a tool to allow you to query the VMware virtual environment for issues as well as general information.

CA Buys Cloud Platform Vendor, 3Tera

The acquisition of 3Tera by Computer Associates signals an intent to move beyond traditional Systems Management, into something that may almost be viewed as Operating System: a layer of software called AppLogic that sits above the virtualization stack, and provides a consolidated abstraction against which composite applications may be built within the Cloud. Essentially the AppLogic layer deals with the nuts and bolts of configuring and connecting virtual machines, all you do is choose from a menu of virtual appliances you want, and use a visual interface to show how the appliances interconnect at a software level.