"Sun is offering server virtualization capabilities across all its hardware platforms," writes Deni Connor, principal analyst for Storage Strategies NOW in an article in CIO that reviews the evolution of virtualization concerns in the company. Sun's principal virtualization solution, she continues, is based on Solaris Containers, a virtualization or partitioning technology that has been part of the Solaris 10 Operating System (Solaris OS) and available on x86-based and SPARC server platforms since January 2005.

In December of the same year, Sun introduced UltraSPARC T1 processor-based CoolThreads servers replete with built-in server partitioning or virtualization technology called Logical Domains (LDoms) that let as many as 128 physical servers be consolidated on one CoolThreads system, Connor writes, adding that Sun supplemented its Solaris Containers and LDoms virtualization technologies with the introduction of xVM, a platform for x86-based servers, in October 2007. Sun is currently beta testing vXM, Connor notes, which it released as open source and expects to ship this summer.

These developments lend credence to the observation by Al Hopper, former member of Sun's OpenSolaris Governing Board and an engineering consultant for Logical Approach in Plano, Texas, who says, "Sun has a virtualization product in every category that matters."

Connor explains that Sun's xVM strategy is not just for Sun-based hardware since Sun has close partnerships with Dell and IBM. "OpenSolaris runs on servers that aren't made by Sun," says Gordon Haff, senior analyst with research firm Illuminata. "There's no reason people wouldn't use the technology on non-Sun x86 servers."

Sun set to work on Xen, the open source virtual machine monitor that underlies xVM by ramping up its capabilities for high-availability and performance. Sun also added predictive self-healing, and its ZFS file system technology, which provides an advanced backup and snapshot technology for protecting guest virtual machines, Connor writes.

The Sun virtual network technology, which will be available in the second half of this year, will enable users to dole out network shares, do bandwidth metering and limiting and "...in effect let users guarantee the same quality of service in the same way as they do with the CPU," Steve Wilson, VP of xVM for Sun told Connor. She adds that Sun also is complementing xVM at some point later this year with a management platform called xVM Ops Center, which also will manage Sun Containers and LDoms .

Connor asks just where Sun stands vis-a-vis VMware and Microsoft and notes one answer provided by Chris Wolf, a senior analyst with the Burton Group, who says, "IT organizations with favorable relationships with Sun have been interested in holding off on x86 virtualization projects until xVM Server matures. Sun has a lot of work to do to go after the x86 market and they face formidable competition. Still, Sun has a very good end-to-end virtualization strategy, and I think a number of organizations would look highly on a centralized virtualization management stack that includes LDoms, Solaris Containers, and Xen-based virtualization."

For all of that, Wolf concludes that, "At this point, I'm not ready to rule out Sun as a potential major competitor in the virtualization space." [...read more...]

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