Nearly everyone I talked to at VMworld was buzzing in some form about Virtualization Security. Everyone has picked up on the pre-show buzz from VMware, Trend Micro, HyTrust, and every other security vendor. This week will tell. There are announcements about security, keynote sessions that include security, and more than a few sessions about security.
This is also arguably the first VMworld where there are a large number of Virtualization Security sessions and panels at VMworld that are not entirely from VMware. I find involving the industry as they have at this specific conference moves forward the entire virtualization security ecosystem.
TVP Strategy Archives
VMworld 2010 First Impressions
The week that all of us virtualization junkies have been waiting for has finally arrived. In case you are not sure what I am talking about, it is VMworld 2010 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco California. The weather for me is a little cool with the wind but then again I am from Florida so it does not take much for me to think it is cool. The sun is shining and the place is packed. All and all a great start for this event.
Intel buys McAfee “for security in the cloud”
In case you missed it, Intel has bought McAfee, a security company best known for virus scanning and other malware detection software, for $7.68Bn (on revenues of about $2Bn). This is a tidy multiple in any marketplace, particularly as McAfee is not the dominant player. It is the largest deal Intel has ever done, and the largest pure-play security deal ever. Plus the deal was in cash.
Add to this the Intel plan to purchase the Wireless Solution unit of Infineon (for $1.4Bn) and you now have the direction in which Intel plans to go. More Security in the hardware.
Virtualization Backup Round-up
With VMworld around the corner, it is interesting to note the new an old players within the Virtualization Backup space. The virtualization backup space often includes:
* VM Backup
* VM Replication
* Continuous Data Protection (CDP)
* Storage Hardware Replication
Pretty much anything that will maintain your VMs while allowing your data to be placed elsewhere for later retrieval; such a place could be the cloud. In this article we will avoid Storage Hardware Replication and discuss only backup software.
VMware doesn't have a Client Side Hypervisor solution – so what?
Is the lack of Client Hypervisor (CHv) a problem for VMware in delivering a complete desktop solution to customers especially in the light of the XenClient release announcement? Indeed, is a client side hypervisor, technology viable for business use now, where should a CHv be considered in your desktop strategy? Is it simply a BYOC solution? Centralising desktop services is not just about delivering a hosted virtual desktop infrastructure. Managing and maintaining the end devices is equally important. CHv is a technology that is viable for business uses now beyond BYOC to match an ever more mobile
Coming Full Circle on Scale Out vs. Scale Up
When I first started with virtualization, the only option you had at the time was single core processors in the hosts. Scale up or scale out was the hot debatable topic when designing your infrastructure. On one side of the coin the idea was to scale up in that it was best to get a few of the biggest servers you could find and load them up with as much memory and processors that you could fit in the box. The end result were some very expensive servers able to run a lot of virtual machines for its time. The other side of the coin presented the idea that it was better to scale out with more, smaller servers to make up the cluster. I have worked in both type of environments and attitudes over the years and as for me, personally, I aligned myself with the scale out philosophy. The simple reason for aligning with the scale out group was host failure.