Nov 2008
Virtually Automatic

Hard on the heels of server consolidation comes an intractable new problem for IT shops: virtual server sprawl. Unused virtual machines (or VMs, as they’re known) can increase overhead, mop up scarce resources and introduce security holes. They have to be found and killed. Systems administrators are dealing with 10 times the number of system images. They need tools that can handle routine chores without manual intervention.

A new generation of VM automation tools is here to help, built by five startups of exceptional pedigree: DynamicOps, Embotics, Fortisphere, ManageIQ and Q-layer. At first glance, these tools might appear to overlap with physical-server automation tools for provisioning, runbook or change and configuration, or with special tools for managing virtual environments.

In fact, those existing automation tools don’t track VMs through their lifecycles, or else they need retrofitting to understand how live migration can move running VMs from one physical server to another. Virtual management tools, by the same token, complement virtual automation frameworks by exposing live migration and resource pooling as features that these virtual automation frameworks can use.

DynamicOps, Embotics, Fortisphere, ManageIQ and Q-layer bring to market different combinations of discovery and tracking, dashboards and self-service portals, automation and federated management to help beleaguered administrators make sense of sprawling and confusing virtual infrastructure. We believe they have identified a real gap in the market, and that their products address real pain points in the enterprise.

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