Comments on: Optimizing the Virtual Data Center http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/ Tracking the Internet Evolution Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:56:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: VMWare Snatches B-Hive, Opens R&D Center in Israel | Venture Capital Cafe http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-880641 VMWare Snatches B-Hive, Opens R&D Center in Israel | Venture Capital Cafe Wed, 28 May 2008 22:09:55 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-880641 [...] develops technology that measures performance across machines in virtual networks, by monitoring the latency and health of information transfer in the data [...] [...] develops technology that measures performance across machines in virtual networks, by monitoring the latency and health of information transfer in the data [...]

]]> By: VMware Buys B-hive for Performance Scans - GigaOM http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-880553 VMware Buys B-hive for Performance Scans - GigaOM Wed, 28 May 2008 13:54:58 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-880553 [...] Stacey Higginbotham, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 6:54 AM PT Comments (0) Virtualization superstar VMware said today it would purchase Israeli startup B-hive Networks for an undisclosed amount. The B-hive team will form the base of VMware’s development center in Israel and will give VMware a better way to track the performance among virtualized machines. [...] [...] Stacey Higginbotham, Wednesday, May 28, 2008 at 6:54 AM PT Comments (0) Virtualization superstar VMware said today it would purchase Israeli startup B-hive Networks for an undisclosed amount. The B-hive team will form the base of VMware’s development center in Israel and will give VMware a better way to track the performance among virtualized machines. [...]

]]> By: links for 2008-03-16 | Jonathan Coffman - Convergence Journalism Specialist and New-Media Evangelist http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-866026 links for 2008-03-16 | Jonathan Coffman - Convergence Journalism Specialist and New-Media Evangelist Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:26:25 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-866026 <p>[...] Optimizing the Virtual Data Center - GigaOM [...]</p> [...] Optimizing the Virtual Data Center - GigaOM [...]

]]> By: Alistair Croll http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-862527 Alistair Croll Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:04:00 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-862527 <p>Actually, the seed of this post was an amazing presentation Steve Shah of Risingedge (http://www.risingedge.org/) gave at Interop last year (http://www.interop.com/newyork/education/data-center.php) on "the state of the cage." He looked at several trends that were converging, and concluded (among other things) that the performance and efficiency issues were moving into the data center fairly quickly.</p> <p>Not sure if Steve still has the material but it was awesome (no surprise as he's a superlative presenter and great thinker.) He's now a founder of stealthy startup Asyncast (http://asyncast.com/) but he won't tell me what they're up to yet.</p> Actually, the seed of this post was an amazing presentation Steve Shah of Risingedge (http://www.risingedge.org/) gave at Interop last year (http://www.interop.com/newyork/education/data-center.php) on “the state of the cage.” He looked at several trends that were converging, and concluded (among other things) that the performance and efficiency issues were moving into the data center fairly quickly.

Not sure if Steve still has the material but it was awesome (no surprise as he’s a superlative presenter and great thinker.) He’s now a founder of stealthy startup Asyncast (http://asyncast.com/) but he won’t tell me what they’re up to yet.

]]> By: Tony Lucas http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-862426 Tony Lucas Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:57:25 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-862426 <p>Ken,</p> <p>Agreed, there is numerous "costs" that need to be taken into account, including the ones you mention, some real, some opportunity or technical costs, costs of migrating between servers vs network overhead vs the benefits that John mentions etc.</p> <p>We've been doing a lot of work on this as part of the future development of our computing platform FlexiScale, and hope to show some of the first examples of this part of our technology later this year but it's definately an area with a lot going for it at the moment.</p> Ken,

Agreed, there is numerous “costs” that need to be taken into account, including the ones you mention, some real, some opportunity or technical costs, costs of migrating between servers vs network overhead vs the benefits that John mentions etc.

We’ve been doing a lot of work on this as part of the future development of our computing platform FlexiScale, and hope to show some of the first examples of this part of our technology later this year but it’s definately an area with a lot going for it at the moment.

]]> By: John Gannon http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-862407 John Gannon Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:15:09 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-862407 <p>There are some security and fault-tolerance benefits that come from having VMs that communicate with one another on separate hosts. This should be weighed against any reduction of latency associated with cutting out external network communications.</p> There are some security and fault-tolerance benefits that come from having VMs that communicate with one another on separate hosts. This should be weighed against any reduction of latency associated with cutting out external network communications.

]]> By: Ken http://gigaom.com/2008/02/20/optimizing-the-virtual-data-center/#comment-862405 Ken Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:51:39 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=11532#comment-862405 <p>The concept of a data center "optimizer" is dead-on, but the analysis is a bit more advanced. There are actually <em>lots</em> of variables to take into account, not just proximity of processes and the pipes between them. Consider you need to know the workloads, the capacities of different (physical) machines, the cost to operate each machine (capital cost, power cost, etc.) the desired networks, the compatibilities of machines vs. software, etc. and optimize against these in <em>real time</em>. Add in the fact that some applications may be virtualized (on different vendor VMs), and some may be native -- and in fact, some may be "scaled-out" across a server farm.</p> <p>The good news is the concept of policy-based optimization is very real. (BTW, Gartner calls it "Real-Time Infrastructure" while Forrester calls it "Organic IT"; others call it automated workload management). At any rate, this sort of optimization can both speed-up applications, and reduce operating & capital costs by 1/3 to 1/2. Check out companies like cassatt.com</p> The concept of a data center “optimizer” is dead-on, but the analysis is a bit more advanced. There are actually lots of variables to take into account, not just proximity of processes and the pipes between them. Consider you need to know the workloads, the capacities of different (physical) machines, the cost to operate each machine (capital cost, power cost, etc.) the desired networks, the compatibilities of machines vs. software, etc. and optimize against these in real time. Add in the fact that some applications may be virtualized (on different vendor VMs), and some may be native — and in fact, some may be “scaled-out” across a server farm.

The good news is the concept of policy-based optimization is very real. (BTW, Gartner calls it “Real-Time Infrastructure” while Forrester calls it “Organic IT”; others call it automated workload management). At any rate, this sort of optimization can both speed-up applications, and reduce operating & capital costs by 1/3 to 1/2. Check out companies like cassatt.com

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