VMware wants to make it easier for IT departments to manage the virtual machine configurations that they use for testing or developing software, and will release an upgraded Lab Manager tool on Thursday.
Testing enterprise applications is becoming increasingly complex. With the adoption of SOA and Web 2.0 techniques, the interactions of multiple servers must be taken into account, making it important that quality assurance be able to deploy realistic test setups easily and repeatably.
[ Stay up to date on the lastest virtualization developments with InfoWorld's Virtualization Report blog and newsletter. ]
VMware's Lab Manager allows software developers and testers to choose a virtual machine setup from a library of previously stored configurations and deploy it to a server pool, while IT staff retain control of who does what. The configurations can include multiple virtual machines.
Version 3 of Lab Manager adds more capabilities for defining the networks linking virtual machines, including multiple subnets and multiple network cards per virtual machine.
On the management side, it adds support for role-based access, allowing IT departments to define different user roles and customize the rights associated with them, the company said Monday.
It will also integrate with OpenLDAP servers, where the previous version, 2.5, integrated only with Microsoft's Active Directory. Lab Manager 3 also adds the ability to create groups of users, called organizations, which can be mapped to groups in OpenLDAP.
With virtualization software increasingly seen as a commodity, companies like VMware have had to concentrate on virtualization management tools to make money. In July, VMware began giving away its ESXi hypervisor, the software layer that allows multiple operating system images to coexist on a single physical machine. The move was a response to Microsoft's release of a free version of its hypervisor, Hyper-V, at the end of June.
VMware Lab Manager 3 now integrates with VMware Infrastructure 3, the company's flagship management platform released early last year, offering users access to the high-availability features in VMware HA and load-balancing functions in VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler.
The new version of Lab Manager requires VMware Infrastructure 3 Standard or Enterprise, but will not work with VMware Infrastructure 3 Foundation.
The software will go on sale through VMware distributors and resellers on Thursday, priced at $1,295 per processor, VMware said.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
1 Recommendation
