Virtual Server 2005 R2 Creates Profitable Services For Solution Providers

Virtualization brings extended opportunities to solution providers, the technology runs “guest” operating systems on a “host” machine and allows easy demos of products or tests of technologies or provides the foundation for transitioning from one operating system to another. But, both cost and remote access limitations have hobbled the technology at times.

Several software vendors are pitching their own products to the channel. Companies such as VMware, Parallels, XenSource and Virtual Iron have been battling for market share, while the 800 pound gorilla --Microsoft-- has watched from the sidelines, dabbling with virtualization products acquired with the purchase of Connectix.

As the virtualization market has heated up, Microsoft has steadily lowered the price of Virtual Server Enterprise Edition. Originally priced at $999, the price dropped in a matter of months to $199. With the release of Virtual Server Enterprise Edition R2, the price is now naught! Some may wonder why Microsoft would do such a thing, the simple answer is to gain market share and add value to Microsoft’s operating systems (still needed as the host OSes).

Now that Virtual Server R2 is available as a free download, all that is needed to get the product is a valid Microsoft Passport account. What’s more, Microsoft now offers support for Linux with Virtual Server Enterprise Edition R2 and is touting the products ability to consolidate hardware and operating systems.

What may seem like Microsoft’s embrace of the open-source movement is truly a shrewd marketing maneuver: First, dominate the market with a free product by squashing the competition and then generate demand for other Microsoft products.

But tactics aside, Virtual Server brings a great deal of leverage to channel players and can even be used as a tool to move users off of Microsoft’s operating systems.

CRN Test Center engineers put that theory to the test by setting up a Virtual Server system that runs non-Microsoft OSes.

Starting off with a Windows 2003 Server system, test center engineers installed and configured VSR2. In a virtual environment, speedy hardware is important so Test Center engineers selected a Dual Xeon (2.8Ghz) HP server with 4 Gbytes of RAM and a fast SCSI hard drive.

Solution providers looking to replicate virtual environments should make sure the hardware is up to snuff. A full 384Mbytes of RAM and roughly 1Ghz of processing power per Virtual Machine would be a good starting point. Test center engineers also configured Internet Information Server (IIS) to host the Virtual Server Management console and to provide a method for remote access to the virtual machines.

Solution providers will find the installation of Virtual Server R2 straight forward, the product auto configures IIS and integrates with Active Directory. Once the product is installed, administrators will manage and configure the virtual machines with Internet Explorer. The browser will be used to access a local Web page (or remote, if so configured) which offers the administration tools. They can enable everything from creating virtual machines to monitoring usage and changing configuration sessions. For local administrators, taking control of a virtual machine usually entails nothing more than clicking on an icon representing the virtual machine.