Quest Software

Vizioncore's vCharter Pro is the first enterprise-class, scalable performance monitoring solution for companies running hundreds, if not thousands, of virtual machines.  Powered by Foglight®, vCharter Pro has built-in awareness of VMware® Infrastructure, which provides layered views encompassing VirtualCenter, Datacenter, clusters, resource pools, ESX Server, VM and datastore levels. vCharter Pro can help administrators pinpoint resource contention issues among CPU, memory, disk or NIC.  Collected metrics are filtered via rules and customized alarms and stored in a central database for unattended monitoring and historical trending.  With just a few mouse clicks, administrators can drill from the top down through lower layers to uncover problems, and by clicking on alarms, can obtain further information through pop-up windows.

I just had a short email conversation with Chris Akerberg and he confirmed that David Bieneman has left Vizioncore. Chris has taken over David’s responsibilities and is heading Vizioncore from now on as president. I’m wondering what David’s plans are, but I think that we’ll hear from him soon. Maybe he’s creating another great invention like he did with his Ranger a few years ago.

A short quote from Quest Software: David has indicated that he is going to work independently on new product ideas.

Larry Loucks, CISSP/VCP/VCI/SCP/MCSE, is a 22-year veteran of the IT industry who has served in many capacities including Novell/Microsoft/Cisco engineering, network design and optimization, and security consulting. During the past 10 years, Larry has worked in consulting with an aim toward improving infrastructure performance while lowering costs of IT to business. Larry joined the virtualization industry around four years ago, and is a former VMware Senior Consultant.

Vizioncore announced vConverter, the fastest, easiest and most reliable tool for performing physical to virtual (P2V) and virtual to virtual (V2V) machine conversions. Customers working with VMware, Microsoft, XenServer or Virtual Iron environments can use vConverter to significantly simplify, automate and accelerate the machine to machine conversion process, maximize system availability and eliminate any potential impact on physical systems.  As customers increasingly look to standardize on virtual infrastructures, the reliability and performance of conversion tools are critical factors in ensuring that migration projects are as non-disruptive and require as few man-hours as possible. Server consolidation initiatives often allow only a few hours at weekends in order to perform conversions, so a fast, reliable tool that automates many of the manual pre- and post-migration tasks is critical to achieving maximum successful P2V conversions per time window.

This month vRanger Pro, vReplicator, vCharter and vMigrator will all fully support VMware ESX Server 3.5. In December, VMware announced general availability of this major update in the VMware Infrastructure 3 platform. ESX Server 3.5 provides improved memory processing, reduced CPU overhead, and support for paravirtualized Linux to help improve performance of Linux workloads.
VMware has also introduced ESX Server 3i, which they are offering in addition to ESX Server 3.5, their market leading hypervisor. This product offers all of the same functionality but with a thin 32 MB footprint that provides unparalleled security and reliability, while integration as server firmware makes deployment fast and easy. ESX Server 3i will be available integrated in server systems from market leading server vendors. At this time, support for ESX Server 3i in Vizioncore's products is scheduled for Q2 2008.
As always, Vizioncore is committed to keeping pace with developments of the VMware Infrastructure platform. As a Community Source member and a Technology Alliance Program partner, Vizioncore remains at the forefront of development of the VMware platform. Vizioncore's solutions extend the business value of VMware investments for customers around the world.

Vizioncore will be launching vConverter 3.0 with the "Direct to ESX Server" feature on November 28, 2007. Vizioncore's vConverter P2V/V2V solution is an enterprise class converter that significantly reduces the time and effort spent converting physical servers to  VMware, Microsoft or Virtual Iron virtual machines. Some of the unique features that set vConverter apart include:

- "Direct to ESX Server" allows you to convert straight to a live ESX Server.
- Live agent-less conversions.  No boot CD, driver issues, or downtime.
- Intuitive GUI or CLI interfaces for any level admin.
- Resize partitions on-the-fly to save on storage.
- No infrastructure install required for fast setup.
- Lightweight application footprint.
- Heterogeneous support for multiple platforms.
- Two editions:  Server Consolidation & Disaster Recovery.

Ever wondered why vRanger is copying VMDK files via the COS so fast ? Here’s the answer. Someone from Vizioncore showed me this video at the TSX in Nice. The vzboost-vmkmod module is written by a Vizioncore software engineer who studied the original VMFS module code from VMware and rewrote it into the vzboost-vmkmod module. You can take a look at vzboost in action using this link. First you see the original VMware driver running with 280 writes per second after the vzboost driver is loaded the speeds will jump to 639 writes per second.

vOptimizer is an advanced optimization solution that quickly and easily reduces a Microsoft or VMware virtual machines virtual hard drive to the smallest possible size while optimizing the Windows guest operating system to boost performance. vOptimizer FreeWare and Desktop Editions enable local VM optimization while Network Edition enables entire repositories of VMs located anywhere on the network to be optimized via scheduled automated jobs. Vizioncore vOptimizer Freeware may be used for a maximum of two (2) users within Licensee's organization. For more than two (2) users within an organization licenses must be obtained. This license does not entitle Licensee to receive hard-copy documentation, technical support, telephone assistance, or enhancements or updates to the Product from Vizioncore. Thanks to Alessandro Perilli over at virtualization.info for the download link.

Vizioncore is proud to announce the GA Release of vRanger Pro 3.2. vRanger Pro 3.2 is the recognized industry-standard backup and restore solution for virtualized environments..  Now enabled with a VSS driver, vRanger Pro 3.2 can provide transactional consistency in backups and restores.  vRanger Pro is the only agent-less backup tool that can provide a consistent backup of running VMs.

Vizioncore Signals Changes to Corporate Strategy. Rebranding of products to reflect enhanced support for multiple virtualization platforms Vizioncore Inc., the market leader in management tools for virtual infrastructure environments, announced that it will be extending support to a wider range of virtualization platforms and is rebranding its range of products in preparation for this move.

IFN Finance is in staat bedrijven eerder, ruimer en langer te financieren dan banken door te kijken naar de totale handelsstroom van een bedrijf. Financiering is bij IFN Finance voornamelijk afhankelijk van de kwaliteit van de afhandeling van leveringen, de kwaliteit van debiteuren, de spreiding van uitstaande vorderingen en de risico's van non-betaling en is in mindere mate afhankelijk van balansverhoudingen. IFN Finance is een middelgrote organisatie met ca. 140 medewerkers.

Vizioncore, Inc. Debuts esxRanger Professional for VMware(R) ESX Server(R). Updated Version of esxRanger Features Enhanced Virtual Center(R) Compatibility, Expanded Database Backend
Functions.

Vizioncore, Inc., the leader in backup, restoration, and disaster recovery automation for the VMware® ESX Server®, announced today the general availability of its heavily anticipated esxRanger Professional solution. Expanding on previous versions of the dynamic backup, restoration, change control, archival, and disaster recovery tool, esxRanger Professional features enhanced Virtual Center® Integration and an extensive Database Backend for recording and reporting purposes.

Vizioncore's esxRanger Professional builds upon the market-leading solution's ability to provide real-time full image backup protection without taking the server out of production. Leveraging the solution's enhanced Virtual Center® integration capabilities, esxRanger Professional effectively locates any VM for backup regardless of its location, allowing administrators to see the virtual center tree and easily backup VM folders for enterprise level scheduling.

In addition, esxRanger Professional includes an extensive set of Database Backend functions. Some of the features include logging of backup times, compression ratios, and recording the LUN location of different VMs, allowing users to run reports and query specific information as needed.

"The expanded functionality of esxRanger Professional further grows the value of the solution for our clients, simultaneously widening the gap between esxRanger and those of our potential competitors," said David Bieneman, CEO of Vizioncore, Inc. "esxRanger Professional has solidified itself as the standard in VM backup, restoration, and recovery automation, allowing all level administrators to easily backup their VMs without prior knowledge of the Linux or VMware operating system."

Additional information about the new esxRanger Professional or about Vizioncore's other products, esxCharter and esxReplicator can be found at www.vizioncore.com.

About Vizioncore Inc.

Founded in 2002, Vizioncore is an innovative producer of dynamic backup, change control archival, and disaster recovery software applications for VMware® ESX Server® users. The creator of the first commercially-available hot backup disaster recovery tool for VMware® ESX Server. Vizioncore's products are available through the VMware® distribution and reseller channel.

Continue reading "Nieuw esxRanger Professional" »

Het Amerikaanse tijdschift Network World heeft een uitgebreid aritikel over esxRanger.

Vizioncore, a start-up backed by management product vendor Quest Software, says it can eliminate the complexity of using VMware virtual machines for disaster recovery.
The company is selling a Windows-based tool called esxRanger designed to allow IT administrators to set policies for backing up and restoring virtual files.
The product can be used to schedule hot backups of VMware ESX Server virtual machines - software files that contain an operating system, application and related data, and are separated from the underlying hardware. The backed-up files are compressed to make more efficient use of bandwidth and storage hardware, says David Bieneman, founder and CEO of Vizioncore. Lees verder op Network World.