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Longhorn Server Will Stress Virtualization
Rob writes in with an article from CBROnline based on an interview with Microsoft's UK server director. He says the timing of the release of the next version of Microsoft's server OS, dubbed Longhorn, depends on the company getting virtualization ready to go. Microsoft has apparently decided to embed its hypervisor technology into Windows, an OS-centric approach to virtualization shared by XenSource Inc., its open-source rival and partner. This contrasts with the model of virtualizing the hardware layer being pursued by VMWare. The Microsoft spokesman is coy about a release date for Longhorn, saying it could be earlier or it could be later (but it should be in 2007).
Is it Long and Horny, or is it Micro and Soft?
This will work fine if all the servers you want to run on a given machine are MS. I like VMWare for the fact that you can load Windows on one VM, Linux on another, and Solaris on yet another. The folks at PACCAR are running massive numbers of systems on a single Blade.
What I would like MS to give us is a Virtual Platform OS, much like VMWare's ESX server. Give me an extremely lightweight OS geard towards Virtualizing the HW layer, then let me load anything into each VM.
As far as I know, VMWare is the only one doing that.
Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong fix.
Microsoft seems to be TERRIFIED of VMware (EMC). Why? Is is because VMware allows the use of Windows UNDER Linux? (Whereas, it seems, Microsofts preferred approach will be Linux under Windows?).
Of course, having Linux as the HOST OS means that driver vendors will have to support Linux more in the enterprise. And, I believe that Linux is the "better" OS in that the kernel has gone through a more stringent review process.
But all of these statements -- that the Windows Virtualization Technology will be stunning, that Virtualization belongs in the OS, etc. seems to be thowing FUD directly at VMware (and, I assure you, the VMware product is "stunning" -- I particularly like the Server product running on Linux).
To my knowledge (or my opinion, if you prefer), Microsoft ONLY reacts this strongly if their platform is being threatened. And I don't see what the introduction of a bit more enterprise driver support does to threaten Windows.
Ok, I have a guess: It could be that Linux is so good that it makes for a more solid OS base. This then provides a compelling platform to begin virtualizing Windows Servers on. But, if the enterprise is ALREADY basing on Linux, why not start transitioning to native Linux? After all, its stable enough to host Windows, right? A chink in the platform.
But that implies that Microsoft believes that Linux is that good...
Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
talking about getting it right? so the degree will be
Yawn...if Microsoft could write an OS that had decent multi tasking, a responsive scheduler, and adequate memory allocation and protection, the appeal of running a bunch of virtual machines just to run a bunch of different jobs and keep them from interfering with each other would be much less. This has been done before, most notably by VMS..I used to manage a cluster of large VMS systems, each of which had dozens of Oracle databasea on them, supported interactive editing of documents for hundreds of people, and ran a mixed bag of financial, accounting, engineering and program development applications...all on the same machines....looks like Microsoft and Cutlerdidn't incorporate enough of it in Windows...
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Where did this story come from? 2005?
I'm virtually certain that this will come with virtual customer service. Now if only all the bugs would be virtual and I could pay with virtual cash, I might be more than just a virtual customer.
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I'm pretty sure Longhorn Server will stress just about everyone who comes into contact with it.
ESX 3.x management client requires a .NET platform running on windows. No mono, no wine. Yes, it's snappier than the web interface, but jesus - they should bundle as many free windows licenses as the client requires with every ESX3 sold. It's BS I have to run VMware 3 Infrastructure Console in XP in VMware Workstation on Linux. That's one winblows license for no extra functionality and tons of RAM and resources wasted for this ludicrous tie-in.
To rephrase: they sell a lean and mean proprietary VM hypervisor kernel that uses linux for management and stuff. It can run on any OS. And you're required to run a closed proprietary OS to manage it.
This is not only insane it's DANGEROUS. What if M$ broke .NET in the next hotfix so that VMware ESX 3 management software broke?
There have been demands for a mono or unix or linux native client to manage ESX3 for at least 18 months and STILL no official word from VMware. I wonder how much money M$ paid VMware to get one of their worst competitors to bend over.
'Once scientists, even the dim-witted social scientists, get muzzled, the Western Civilization is finished.' - oldhack
Awesome! Here's how it will almost be implemented.
Beta 1 will have it. It will totally destabilize the OS.
Beta 2 will not have it, but it will be replaced with shiny graphics.
Beta 2.5 will have to remove the shiny graphics, because these too will destabilize the system.
Beta 3 will put it back, working perfectly.
Rc 1 will be totally unstable and also have gaping security holes.
Rc 2 will look like Server 2000
Rc 3 will look like "longhorn" but without the virtualization. However, the shiny graphics will be there.
Anyone signing up for the "upgrade"? I hope you like vapour.
blah blah blah
Because you can have five servers on three machines and if one physical box goes down, the VMs running on that system can migrate to the other two machines and things can pick up more or less where they left off... if you have a SAN anyway.
It also lets you make upgrades trivially; you can migrate the VM(s) away, upgrade the system, and migrate VM(s) back.
It keeps your system from being tied to any given OS so all you need ever install on a computer is enough OS to run vmware, and vmware itself. If a machine suddenly explodes and you can't get replacement hardware, you're not forced into reinstalling the OS to get Windows booting again.
And finally, there are compelling reasons to run applications on their own system on Linux as well, security not being the least of these issues. It's not just Windows. How's the light down in that basement?
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"