At VMworld 2009, VMware, Inc. unveiled a new management model for IT with the introduction of the VMware vCenter Product Family, a comprehensive set of solutions that provides policy-based, service-driven management. VMware vCenter Product Family builds on the capabilities of the VMware vSphere 4 virtualization platform to simplify management, reduce operating costs, and deliver more dynamic and flexible IT services.
The VMware vCenter Product Family provides customers with a framework for policy-centric, SLA-driven management across dynamic infrastructure, enabling IT to operate more efficiently as an internal service provider. It allows users to deploy virtual machines with specified service levels from a service catalog, view reports, monitor performance, and pay only for the services they use. This transformation, according to VMware, shifts the paradigm from component-level infrastructure management, to cloud-based delivery of IT services, reducing the cost and complexity of managing IT.
The vCenter solutions for infrastructure management include VMware vCenter AppSpeed, which provides visibility, service level reporting and proactive performance management for multi-tier applications, including virtualized and physical elements; and VMware vCenter CapacityIQ, which enables adequate capacity to be available to virtual machines, resource pools, and data centers by modeling the effect of capacity changes, forecasting shortfalls and proactively reclaiming excess capacity. There is also VMware vCenter ConfigControl for maintaining visibility and enable compliance of configuration state in a dynamic virtual environment; and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager, which accelerates recovery by automating the recovery process and simplifying management of disaster recovery plans.
And for service delivery management, VMware vCenter Lifecycle Manager implements a automated process for managing the lifecycle of virtual machines, from provisioning to retirement; VMware vCenter Chargeback enables accountability across the business by understanding, allocating and reporting on costs associated with the use of virtual infrastructure; and VMware vCenter Lab Manager simplifies development, QA and pre-production environments.
The VMware vCenter Product Family allows for integration into existing management frameworks to ensure service levels across all application components, whether they are physical or virtual, helping IT to protect their investments and training in existing tooling from VMware's management partners.
VMware vCenter solutions are sold individually on a per processor basis. All products are generally available with the exception of VMware vCenter CapacityIQ, which is planned to ship in Q4 2009, and VMware vCenter ConfigControl, coming in 2010. For more information, go here.