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Watch out for juice pouring into operations environments
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13/03/2008
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The virtual appliance market is starting to bubble through into operational environments as IT managers get the idea of running pre-configured systems, according to analyst Butler Group.
The organisation explains that the term ‘juice’ refers to what virtualisation mainstay VMware has dubbed JeOS – ‘Just enough Operating System’ – an application deployment model where the underlying operating system is cut down to provide just enough functionality to support the application.
Says Richard Edwards, information management practice director Butler Group: “Although Microsoft still offers an all-in-one [operating systems] for small businesses [Windows Small Business Server], Backoffice Server is now obsolete, and the company’s latest operating system – Windows Server 2008 – introduces a mode of operation that takes me back to the days of OS/2 before it had the Presentation Manager graphical shell.
“Called Server Core, this scaled-back version of Windows Server does not include Windows Explorer, the .Net Framework, or Internet Explorer, and is designed instead to be either command line driven or configured remotely using the Microsoft Management Console.”
He makes the point that by stripping away some non-essential elements of the operating system, Windows Server 2008 gains a significant performance boost, as well as a reduced attack surface – and while services are reduced, Microsoft adds its next-generation hypervisor-based server – Hyper-V.
Importantly, Edwards characterises that as a “juice carton” – an operating system providing just enough capability to contain a virtualised server or application. “Microsoft Application Virtualisation [formerly known as SoftGrid Application Virtualisation] could turn out to be a very powerful ‘juice extractor’ if applied to operating systems as well as applications, as the technology is able to analyse patterns and dependencies to create a virtual application package,” he explains.
His view: IT virtualisation is providing new opportunities to both software suppliers and IT departments. “By combining virtual infrastructure with virtual appliances, organisations will be able to deploy and manage applications in much more flexible ways.
“The modularity of Linux clearly gives it a technical edge over Windows when it comes to building a virtual appliance, but with such a huge number of Win32 applications on the market, Microsoft will have a ready-made audience for its new server offerings.”
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Author
Brian Tinham
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