vSphere

VMware's vSphere virtualization platform is known for its reliability and offers built-in features like High Availability (HA) to ensure that physical server failures have only minor effects on end-user applications. But not everyone chooses to use these features and, as with any technology, bad things can happen even if you do use them. So, what do you do when the unexpected happens -- when a virtual machine is slow or down or when an ESXi server or vCenter is unresponsive?

The world's leading server virtualization platform is still tops in performance, scalability, and advanced features

It's politically smart to offer some quick benefits when starting virtualization to get approval, but don't stop there, says Mike Laverick, author of VMware vSphere 4 Implementation. Laverick has seen medium sized companies running 100 percent of their servers in a virtual mode.

When VMware launched its latest virtualization platform, vSphere, it introduced the phrase “cloud operating system” to the IT industry. The terminology may seem like a marketing gimmick, but there are real-world benefits in the over-hauled virtualization software, as one early user of vSphere has found.

Among the consequences of VMware's battery of vSphere 4 announcements Tuesday about its new virtualization infrastructure and add-on components, third-party software vendors specializing in fault-tolerance and high-availability are feeling new pressure now that VMware has added basic versions of those functions to its core product.

VMware and RSA announced a strategic plan to embed RSA's data-loss prevention (DLP) and encryption technologies into VMware's new vSphere 4, virtualization software for the data center which will soon ship.