Alan Stevens

VMware Workstation 7

The seventh generation of VMware's venerable desktop virtualisation platform, <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/workstation/">VMware Workstation</a>, includes support for Windows 7 hosts and guests as one of its key features. However, that's not all it has to offer, as we discovered when we downloaded the new version and put it through its paces.

December 14, 2009 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

The mid-term R2 refresh of Hyper-V Server 2008 sees Microsoft's free bare-metal hypervisor enhanced to match the capabilities of its full <a href="http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/software/os/0,1000001098,39671447,00.htm">Windows Server 2008 R2</a> implementation. In essence, that means greater scalability, plus the inclusion of VM migration tools left out of the original release — including live migration with minimal downtime. However, management tools remain an extra so, by itself, <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/hyper-v-server/en/us/default.aspx">Hyper-V Server 2008 R2</a> shouldn't be considered a self-contained virtualisation solution.

November 25, 2009 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

Parallels Virtuozzo Containers 4.0

<a href="http://www.parallels.com/">Parallels</a> (formerly SWsoft) has a 'bare-metal' server hypervisor in development, but this remains in <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/server/wl/">beta testing</a> and is only properly available for the <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/server/mac/">Apple Mac</a>. However, it does have a hypervisor alternative, in the form of <a href="http://www.parallels.com/products/virtuozzo/">Parallels Virtuozzo Containers</a> which takes a somewhat different approach to compared to VMware, Microsoft and Citrix products, yet delivers very similar results.

December 5, 2008 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

XenServer 5

The open-source <a href="http://www.xen.org/">Xen</a> hypervisor has been around for a while now, mostly notably bundled with a variety of Linux distros, but has never had much impact. Even when the software was released as a commercial product and subsequently acquired by Citrix, it failed to win many hearts or minds. That could change with the launch of <a href="http://www.citrix.co.uk/English/ps2/products/product.asp?contentID=683148&ntref=hp_nav_UK">XenServer 5</a>, which addresses many of the shortcomings of previous versions, putting the Citrix hypervisor firmly in the production-quality ranks.

November 18, 2008 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

VMware Workstation 6

Popular with professional developers and others looking to test, debug and otherwise support software applications, <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop/workstation.html">VMWare Workstation</a> is now in its sixth release with a raft of new and enhanced features aimed at further enhancing its appeal to that market. VMware Workstation is popular with developers for several reasons, not least of which is its wide platform support, with implementations available for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of both Windows (desktop or server) and Linux. It can also host a wide range of 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems including most versions of Windows and Linux, along with less popular platforms such as Sun Solaris and even, for those who still need it, Novell NetWare.

June 20, 2007 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

VMware Infrastructure 3

The undisputed heavyweight of the server virtualisation world, the recently updated and re-packaged <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/">VMware Infrastructure 3</a> (VI3) solution is aimed squarely at enterprises looking to consolidate full-scale production systems. As such it’s easily the most scalable of the VMware platforms with additional management, load balancing and high availability features, all designed to take full advantage of the underlying virtualisation technology.

September 6, 2006 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

Altiris Software Virtualization Solution 2.0

If there was ever an application designed to 'blow your socks off', it has to be the Software Virtualisation Solution (SVS) from <a href="http://www.altiris.com">Altiris</a>. Why? Because it lets you install complete Windows applications in seconds, run them without affecting anything else on the host PC, and remove them again just as quickly and easily. Imagine it: using SVS you can check out new application releases without being forced to upgrade the existing version; test beta code without fear of corrupting other programs or data files; reset applications to their just-installed state at the click of a mouse button; and a whole lot more besides.

July 10, 2006 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2

First came VMWare, which recently announced free availability of its market leading server virtualisation software in the form of <a href="http://www.vmware.com/products/server/">VMWare Server</a>. Then Microsoft quickly followed suit with the release of <a href=" http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/default.mspx">Virtual Server 2005 R2</a> as a free download. Moreover, the company is bowing to customer pressure by offering official support for Linux virtual machines plus a new Virtual Machine Additions for Linux pack to enhance such setups.

June 7, 2006 by Alan Stevens in Virtualization

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