Microsoft has detailed plans to provide greater cross-platform support in its datacentre management tools, a move that looks set to benefit enterprise firms struggling with a diverse environment of operating systems and software.
At the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2008, the software giant unveiled a public beta of System Center Operations Manager 2007 Cross Platform Extensions, which adds support for open standards and the ability to manage Linux servers. Also out in beta is System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008, which enables firms to manage virtual infrastructure based on VMware's ESX Server as well as Microsoft's own technology.
Bob Muglia, senior vice president of Microsoft's Server Business, said the firm was taking its knowledge of the Windows environment and expanding it to address heterogeneous management needs, enabling businesses to drive greater efficiency and responsiveness.
The extensions to System Center Operations Manager include support for Web Services for Management (WS-Man) and what Microsoft terms "foundational cross-platform support" for HP-UX, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Sun's Solaris and Suse Linux. Microsoft partners will be able to extend this level of support with management packs, according to the firm.
System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 enables customers to deploy and configure virtual machines running under Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 or VMware ESX Server. It also integrates with System Center Operations Manager to provide a single console for both physical and virtual servers, Microsoft said.
Hyper-V, which is still currently in beta, is now expected to ship earlier than the 180-day timeframe that Microsoft set itself at the Windows Server 2008 launch in February.
A third beta release, System Center Operations Manager 2007 Connectors, enables Microsoft's suite to link with other management tools such as HP OpenView and IBM's Tivoli Enterprise Console.
Some users may see XP SP3 as the perfect stop-gap until Windows 7 28 Apr 2008
Will give ISVs power to create software appliances 16 Apr 2008
Oracle Clusterware set to offer greater scalability 27 Mar 2008
Sourcefire 3D System 4.9 will be able to monitor traffic between virtual machines 25 Jun 2009
XenServer 5.5 available now along with Essentials 5.5 for XenServer and Hyper-V 06 May 2009
Sun's xVM Server and xVM Ops Center 2.0 form core of virtualisation line-up 10 Sep 2008
11th generation PowerEdge servers backed by new storage, management and service offerings 25 Mar 2009
System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Hyper-V Server to ship within 30 days 08 Sep 2008
Spat over use of green Union flag advertising image could end up in court 06 Jul 2009
New team of auditors and investigators to keep tabs on firms covered by the Carbon Reduction Commitment 06 Jul 2009
More news
As Businessgreen.com launches its new Asia-Pacific site, editor James Murray argues that green business leaders need to develop a more sophisticated view of the continent 06 Jul 2009
From record-breaking solar panels to the International Renewable Energy Agency's new home, we round up the top stories from the past week 03 Jul 2009
Well, I hope they got a no win, no fee deal. I don't like being cynical (it's more of a congenital thing)... 03 Jul 2009 More in-depth
Post your comment
Send an email to the Business Green editor at feedback@businessgreen.com
