Leostream Keeps VM Systems in Check

Large enterprises that plan to use virtualization software to consolidate server capital and lower operating expenses have a powerful management ally in the latest edition of Leostream Inc.s Leostream Virtual Machine Controller. eWEEK Labs tests show Leostream VMC Version 2.0, which was released this month, can provide a comprehensive, easy-to-use management solution for handling day-to-day operations and provisioning Windows-based virtual machines.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Leostream VMC 2.0

Leostreams VMC 2.0 provides an easy-to-use, far-reaching management solution for Windows-based shops with virtual machine deployments. Larger organizations, especially, will find that Leostream VMC pays for itself in the long run: Its centralized management and the security enhancements it brings to virtual machine schemes will enhance their values and could save administration time and costs. More information is available at www.leostream.com.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS USABILITY EXCELLENT CAPABILITY EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE GOOD INTEROPERABILITY GOOD MANAGEABILITY EXCELLENT SCALABILITY GOOD SECURITY GOOD

PRO: Centralized virtual machine management; simple, robust provisioning; granular access control. CON: Lacks virtual machine conversion and resource management tools.

EVALUATION SHORT LIST • Surgient Network Inc.s eQualibrium • VMwares VMware Control Center

Wintel shops should consider using Leostream VMC 2.0 to manage virtual machine software, such as VMware Inc.s GSX Server for Windows, when rolling out many guest operating systems running on a few larger multiprocessor server systems.

However, although Leostream VMC helps ease the pain of managing complex VMware rollouts and management chores, its probably just a matter of time before VMware or Microsoft Corp. or both release capable management solutions for their virtual machine software.

Although Leostream has a solid head start on competitors, some companies will opt to use the management controller provided by the virtual machine vendor, thus keeping the convenience of a single-vendor solution.

However, for companies that have deployed a VMware system, Leostream VMC will simplify management, raise system security and lower operating costs.

Leostream VMC 2.0 is available as a software download from Leostreams Web site and has a starting price of $2,800. In addition to the upfront cost for the Leostream VMC license, Leostream also charges a per-processor licensing fee of $300 for managed host systems.

Weve seen a real need for products such as Leostream VMC as virtual machine systems take hold in more organizations. Virtual machines are well suited for software testing, quality control and application development environments, where the ability to create virtual machines with preconfigured applications on the fly is very important to increasing productivity while lowering (or maintaining) operating expenses.

Virtual machines also are becoming increasingly popular for server consolidation endeavors, where clusters of virtual machines on larger servers can increase overall CPU utilization, provide a means of workload management with hardware partitioning, and adopt a simplified management model while reducing hardware, software and facilities costs. (For eWEEK Labs report on server consolidation, go to www.eWEEK.com/labslinks.)

VMware and similar products provide an efficient path toward server consolidation goals, but the underlying management schemes provided by these virtual systems are inadequate for some larger enterprises (see Case Study).

Managing a large number of virtual machines, in addition to the host server systems themselves, can quickly become a nightmare. For example, although VMwares management consoles can manage multiple virtual machines running on a host, sites that have deployed multiple servers to host virtual machines must use several consoles to manage the entire system.

Leostream VMC allows IT managers to log on to a single Web interface to manage virtual machines residing on different host server systems. By installing agents in host and virtual systems, Leostream VMC can effectively manage every virtual machine on the network, across different hardware systems as well as domain boundaries.

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