• Illustration: Virtual Machine Manager Architecture

The first version of Virtual Machine Manager (VMM), a tool to help customers manage Virtual Server 2005—based hardware virtualization, may be useful for customers using Virtual Server 2005, but the majority of organizations using hardware virtualization may want to wait for the next version, which will support Windows Server 2008 virtualization (the Windows Server 2008 hypervisor previously code-named Viridian), as well as virtual machines (VMs) based on VMware and XenSource technology.

(VMM is part of Microsoft's System Center systems management product line, and so its full name is Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007.)

Managing Large-Scale Virtual Server Installations

VMM, now generally available, is a new software tool for managing hardware virtualization with Virtual Server 2005. Virtual Server enables multiple OS instances to run simultaneously on a single host computer. Each such "guest" OS instance runs in a VM that emulates a complete computer in software, including the processor, memory, graphics card, network interface, and storage devices (such as disk and CD-ROM drives), giving the guest what appears to be sole access to the hardware, while in reality it is shared with other OSs.

Organizations have been adopting hardware virtualization for server consolidation, because the technology enables a single physical server to run multiple independent and possibly incompatible OS configurations. However, since Virtual Server has been widely used for testing, VMM will particularly interest organizations using the product for large-scale testing of applications or system configurations.

VMM provides a library and tools to provision and manage VMs. (For an illustration of a stand-alone VMM, see "Virtual Machine Manager Architecture"). Administrators can create new VMs using templates created and stored in the VMM library, using either the administrator console or scripts written in the PowerShell scripting environment. Authorized users, such as developers or testers, can also create and deploy VMs based on designated templates in the library, using a self-service Web application called the Delegated Provisioning UI.

VMM provides two other tools for creating VMs:

Physical-to-Virtual (P2V) Conversion Wizard. VMM provides a task-based wizard to guide administrators through the process of creating a virtual version of a physical server, including creating images of physical hard disks, preparing the images for use in a VM, and creating the final VM. It can create virtual servers from physical servers running Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2003 R2, as well as VMs from computers running Windows XP. In addition to the wizard-driven P2V conversions, PowerShell can be used to script the conversion process. For P2V conversion of other OSs, such as legacy versions of Windows or Linux, Microsoft recommends partners such as PlateSpin or Portlock.

Virtual-to-Virtual (V2V) conversion tools. VMM provides administrators with tools to convert VMware's VMDK or VMX VM disk format for VMs to Microsoft's virtual hard drive (VHD) format.

VMM does not support converting a VM to a physical machine—Virtual to Physical, or V2P, conversion—which is often needed because many support organizations will not assist with a problem running software in a VM unless the problem can be replicated on a physical computer.

Other notable VMM capabilities include the following:

Intelligent placement. VMM helps administrators decide on which physical host to place a VM, based on performance data gathered from the physical hosts. Two default load-balancing algorithms are available to help administrators distribute VM workloads across multiple host servers.

File storage and cataloging. In addition to VM templates, the VMM library stores and catalogs the many large files generated by a Virtual Server installation, including VHD files for inactive VMs; CD or DVD images, which are used as an alternative to physical media for software distribution; hardware profiles, which are hardware specifications for a specific VM, containing information such as CPU type, amount of memory, and the priority given the VM when it is running; and OS profiles, which provide the most common OS settings, such as the computer name and domain or workgroup settings. Profiles and templates are created in the VMM administrator console, by wizards, or from the command line.

VMM and Other System Center Products

Although VMM provides tools for deploying and managing VMs, it only supports monitoring of some aspects of performance to help with VMM intelligent placement. Consequently, many organizations will deploy VMM with Operations Manager 2007 to monitor the health of the physical host servers and VMs, improve the reporting of VM status in VMM, and improve the intelligent placement feature by using the Operations Manager database of historical performance statistics to identify good candidates for server consolidation.

Similarly, some organizations will use Configuration Manager 2007 for patching and software inventory of VMs and their host servers, and Data Protection Manager to continuously back up servers and VMs. VMM does not provide any particular support for these products, but they can work with VMs and servers managed by VMM.

Licensing

Unlike other Microsoft management products, VMM does not require a product license for the server running VMM, but it still requires a separate management license for each server being managed. For VMM, the management license is per physical host and allows an unlimited number of VMs running on each host.

There are two ways to buy VMM:

Workgroup Edition. A US$499 Workgroup Edition includes a single VMM product license and five management licenses for managed servers; this is intended for small and medium-size organizations.

System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise. Organizations managing more than five physical servers must license VMM through a new System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise, which includes a product and management license for VMM as well as management licenses for Configuration Manager 2007, Data Protection Manager 2007, and Operations Manager 2007. The product is priced at US$1,290 per managed server (including two years of Software Assurance, which is required). The suite license does not include product licenses for Configuration Manager, Operations Manager, or Data Protection Manager: Organizations can add a product license for any one of these products for US$573, or US$1,719 for all three.

Organizations will also want to examine how they deploy SQL Server for these tools. If an organization was using all of these tools, it would likely add a SQL Server Enterprise processor license at US$5,999. Several of the System Center products are sold with a license that includes SQL Server, including VMM which includes SQL Server Express, but those SQL licenses are restricted for use only with the accompanying product. Rather than run multiple SQL Servers, organizations may want to license SQL Server separately and consolidate the various management databases onto a single server.

Approximately six months after Windows Server 2008's release, Microsoft plans to release a hypervisor, a thin software layer that boots initially and then operates VMs, making virtualization a capability of Windows rather than a separate product. The hypervisor, code-named Viridian, will likely be delivered as a feature pack rather than a refresh to Windows Server 2008. A subsequent version of VMM, which could be named Virtual Machine Manager 2008 according to Microsoft's naming conventions, and which is likely to go into beta in early 2008, will add support for Windows Server virtualization, as well as support for VMware and ZenSource virtualization technologies. The Virtual Machine Manager 2008 beta would parallel the public beta of Windows Server virtualization.

Availability and Resources

VMM 2007 may be purchased as a component of the System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise starting in Oct. 2007. The Workgroup Edition will be available in Jan. 2008.

The Virtual Machine Manager Web site, which includes a downloadable evaluation version of the product, is at www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/scvmm.

For in-depth analysis of the issues related to licensing and virtualization, see "Virtualization Licensing Adapts to New Challenges" on page 46 of the June 2007 Update.

Microsoft's Web site for its virtualization technologies is www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualization.

The TechNet library of technical documentation on Virtual Machine Manager is at technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb740949.aspx.

The System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise is detailed at www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/svrmgmtsuites/howtobuy/default.mspx.