vSphere

Demonstration of VMware virtualization solution for mobile phones. VMware MVP allows a corporate phone environment to run along side an employee's personal environment on the same physical device, each in complete isolation from each other.

The vLockstep technology used by FT requires the physical processor extensions added to the latest processors from Intel and AMD. In order to run FT, a host must have an FT-capable processor, and both hosts running an FT VM pair must be in the same processor family. The following table shows which CPUs are compatible with FT and can be used toegther in an FT VM pair. If an FT cluster mixes multiple processor types, they must be able to work together as shown by a green circle O where those the two processor types intersect in the table.

	Intel 3100	Intel 3300	Intel 5200	Intel 5400	Intel 5500	Intel 7400	AMD 1300	AMD 2300	AMD 8300
Intel 3100	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 3300	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 5200	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 5400	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
Intel 5500	X	X	X	X	O	X	X	X	X
Intel 7400	O	O	O	O	X	O	X	X	X
AMD 1300	X	X	X	X	X	X	O	O	O
AMD 2300	X	X	X	X	X	X	O	O	O
AMD 8300	X	X	X	X	X	X	O	O	O

CPU Speeds and FT : When ESX hosts are used together in an FT cluster, their processor speeds must be matched fairly closely to ensure that the hosts can stay in sync. VMware SiteSurvey will flag any CPU speeds that are different by more than 400 MHz.

You can read an overview of the VMware Fault Tolerance feature here.

I’m excited to announce a new sponsor to NTPRO.NL - David Davis from Train Signal. You probably know David from his VMware training video series. David is working hard on the upcoming vSphere video series, so when VMware will announce the general availability of vSphere, David should be ready.  I know David for a while, in September 2007 I reviewed his “ESX Server 3i Beta in Workstation” video, he has been in the IT industry for 15 years. He currently manages a group of systems / network administrators for a privately owned retail company and authors IT-related material in his spare time.

According to well informed people over at Channel Register, on April 21 VMware will announce its "next generation of virtualisation technology" with an event featuring VMware president and CEO Paul Maritz.

It is being billed as another giant leap, one that will help make cloud computing a reality for the data centre. Cisco and Intel will also be taking part in the launch of what looks to be ESX v4.0. Compellent has been certifying its SAN product against this coming version of the ESX hypervisor. StoneFly, an IP storage supplier, is also said to be working on ESX v4.0 certification.

Btw, an announcement isn’t the same as release…