Parallels releases Virtuozzo update

Parallels on Monday added some higher-end features to its Virtuozzo software, that subdivides a single server operating system into several semi-independent virtual partitions.

With the release of version 4.0 of Virtuozzo Containers, the company also finalized its planned name change from SWsoft to Parallels. The company's newer name refers to a second virtualization product line that lets several separate operating systems run on a single machine, most notably Windows on Apple computers; Parallels also sells management software to control the different virtualization technologies.

Virtuozzo Containers 4.0, which costs $2,500 for a dual-processor server, includes several higher-end features:

•  Support for Windows Server 2003 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux high-availability clustering, a feature that lets one machine take over when another has failed.

• Support for real-time backup using Linux and Windows.

• Backup tools, including a scheduler and the ability to clone a virtual container.

• New resources controls such as the ability to set limits on bursts of CPU activity.

Most virtualization work today is focused on hypervisors and related technology to run multiple operating systems simultaneously, but there are advantages to the containers-level approach in some circumstances. For example, memory can be used more efficiently and some virtualization performance bottlenecks are avoided.

In its Linux incarnation, Virtuozzo is based on an open-source project called OpenVZ.