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.
In a new update called 8/07, a long-awaited feature of Sun Microsystems' Solaris 10 has finally arrived: the ability to run Linux software on x86 machines.
Sun originally billed the technology as one of the standout features of Solaris 10, which the company launched in 2005, but the company went back to the drawing board before unveiling it. The first version of Solaris 10 also introduced a technology to slice a single version of the operating system into separate, largely independent "containers," and the second incarnation of the Linux-on-Solaris technology, called BrandZ, puts the Linux applications in a separate container. BrandZ is officially called Solaris Containers for Linux Applications.
Sun initially billed the feature as a way to lure back Linux customers who had defected from the Solaris environment. However, most expect the feature to appeal chiefly to died-in-the-wool Solaris shops who have need for some Linux applications.
But techies enticed by another Solaris 10 feature, DTrace, might be more interested. DTrace lets programmers perform sophisticated debugging or system administrators find performance bottlenecks--and they can use production systems that don't have to be rebooted to enable special features. Linux containers on Solaris means developers can peer at their Linux software's inner workings, though not Linux itself. (Linux fans are working on their own version of an equivalent technology.)
Currently, Solaris containers can run Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 applications. Red Hat released RHEL 3 in 2003. But customers should take a deep breath before migrating apps: it's up to software companies to certify their software for use on the new foundation.
The new Solaris also includes the PostgreSQL 8.2 open-source database, which runs about 20 percent faster than its predecessor and supports probing with DTrace. And it includes faster network performance, the company said.
Also Tuesday, Sun announced a partnership with VMware that permits central servers to run software remotely that otherwise would be run on desktop PCs. The software, called Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Software 1.0, costs $149 per user and will be available in October.
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