Punching Clouds

Alright Folks, here is the official update on the previously reported issue with the NetApp SRA 1.4.3 and VMware SRM post. Here are actual facts as of why VMware took down the SRA bits down from their download site. Again thanks to LarryT from NetApp for replaying to the original post from last week, and shedding some light on the situation, and also thanks to Michael White from VMware for the update.
The NetApp SRM SRA 1.4.3 is now available again. It turns out VMware pulled the SRA bits from the download site due to an install / configuration issue, and NOT an operational one.  The NetApp SRM SRA 1.4.3 back and it is available for download.  It is a small issue for NFS users.  If you are a NetApp partner, and need more info, you should be able to search the knowledgebase for KB article KB58002.  You’ll need your NetApp partner login to gain access to the information provided on listed link. There will be an update in the near future to avoid the issue completely, but the KB article has an easy workaround.

Error: Network device needed by recovered virtual machine could not be found at recovery or test time

This issue is also impacts IBM N Series SRA. The error listed above is what you will experience if you protect virtual machines that are using distributed virtual switches and try to recovery them.  This issue will be fixed in the next patch, and the next release of SRM. You can talk to VMware GSS for a patch if you need one.  It will only be provided by request, and is available now.  I should mention that there is a small  cosmetic issue connected with this problem that is in vCenter Server, and it will only be fixed in Update 2 of vCenter Server, but will not stop a successful failover.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve all heard about those highly publicized talks about IBM possibly acquiring Sun.  Well, the talks fell through, and in a move that would make Howie Mandel frown, IBM said “No Deal”.  Then came an unforeseen move from left field: Oracle, the database giant, could not let that glowing ball drop.  Sun was up for grabs, and Oracle made the catch.

My take on this is that Oracle is interested in Sun’s virtualization portfolio. Sun had been working on the development of several virtualization products:

• xVM – Xen based hypervizor
• Ops Center – Enterprise Management Solution
• VDI – Connection Broker
• VirtualBox – Desktop Virtualization

But let’s not forget what other technologies Oracles gets control of:

• Java
• Solaris
• MySQL
• OpenOffice

Oracle released its own virtualization platform in November 2007.  Their free Xen based hypervizor didn’t make much of an impact in the industry.  But now that Oracle owns Sun, it will probably combine its efforts with Sun’s existing products.  Does this spell competition for VMware’s market share?  Perhaps.  After all, Oracle was once a VMware partner, and they seem very serious about becoming a competitor in the field of virtualization.  In light of this acquisition, it seems that their gloves are off!

Check out the article posted by the New York Times for more information on the financial details of this acquisition.