VKernel has updated its Vkernel Operations Suite 3 (formally known as the Vkernel Capacity Management Suite) by adding a new performance analyzer. Let’s look into what the company has to say about its product and put the announcement into context.
What does VKernel have to say about its performance analyzer?
In VKernel’s words:
VKernel Performance Analyzer is designed to monitor, diagnose, and resolve performance issues in virtual environments. Performance Analyzer complements the existing monitoring capabilities in VMware vCenter with real time analysis of system metrics and alerts to determine both abnormal trends and root cause, impact, and resolution of VMware performance issues. Performance Analyzer 1.0 ships as a new product in the award winning VKernel Capacity Management Suite, which is being renamed to reflect these new broader capabilities as the VKernel vOperations Suite or vOPS 3.0.
VKernel Performance Analyzer is designed to complement the existing monitoring capabilities in VMware vCenter to provide both the diagnosis and resolution of VMware performance problems. Performance Analyzer uses real time analysis of system alerts and metrics to determine both abnormal trends and root cause, impact and resolution of current VMware performance issues. Performance Analyzer combines trend, sequencing and relationship/connectivity analyses with decision algorithms that build in deep domain-specific knowledge to produce actual problem resolutions for virtualization administrators. Performance Analyzer accomplishes this, however, with a simple to download, easy to use application that provides value to system administrators within an hour of installation.
VKernel Performance Analyzer is designed to meet the demands of the following use cases:
- One-click resolution to clear root cause issues
- Visibility through VMware vCenter alert storms
- Impact analysis of issues on all connected VMs, datastores and hosts
- Gain early warning to possible problems in your environment based on abnormal trends
- Understand where current VMware performance bottlenecks exist in the environment
Snapshot analysis
It appears that many companies believe that they have a better way to monitor virtualized environments; analyze the configuration, performance and operational data; report upon the findings in real time and then either suggest action or actually take action on the organization’s behalf to address service level objectives or prevent unplanned outages.
This time, the concern the company is addressing is the increasing requirement to be able to know what is really happening in real time and then address what is observed to keep the environment performing at the desired level.
Virtual environments are typically very complex and there are many streams of operational data being produced moment by moment. Watching all of them, looking for potential problems, is really beyond the capabilities of even the best staff member. So, tools that boil down all of the data coming from the virtual machine software, the encapsulated environments (operating systems, database management engines, application frameworks and applications themselves) are an absolute requirement today.
VKernel is one of the companies I’ve spoken to again and again. Each time, I’m left with the impression that VKernel is really listening to their customers and trying to address their concerns.
