Oracle VM Server for SPARC – A Server Virtualisation Solution

Continuing to deliver new innovations in virtualisation for Oracle Solaris and its SPARC servers, Oracle has announced Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.1, a key component in Oracle’s complete and  integrated desktop to datacenter virtualisation portfolio.

Oracle VM Server for SPARC is pre-installed on Oracle’s SPARC T-series servers and it is a server virtualisation solution that allows up to 128 virtual machines, or “domains”, on one system, providing organisations increased flexibility and improved server utilisation.

Oracle VM Server for SPARC 2.1 delivers:

• Live migration: Enables users to migrate an active domain to another host machine while maintaining application services to users. Live migrations are as simple as point and click using Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center’s console.
• Secure, encrypted migration included: On-chip cryptographic accelerators deliver secure, wire speed encryption capabilities for live migration — without any additional hardware investments.
• Dynamic Resource Management (DRM) between domains: Ensures that domains running the most important workloads get priority for CPU access over domains with less critical workloads.[advt]
• Increased maximum number of virtual networks per domain: Permits a dramatic increase in external access to domains.
• Lower-overhead, higher scalability networking for Oracle Solaris 11 Express: Allows virtual network devices to use shared memory to exchange network packets, enabling improved performance and scalability.
• Support for Virtual Device Service Validation: Immediately validates the name and path for a specified network device or virtual disk, greatly reducing the risk of incorrectly configured I/O.
• Integrated Dynamic Reconfiguration (DR) of Cryptographic units and virtual CPUs: Cryptographic units and CPUs are dynamically reconfigured together to simplify operations and ensure consistent performance.
• Enhanced Management Information Base (MIB): Enables the SNMP MIB to use the latest Logical Domains Manager XML interface, permitting third party management software to access the new features and resource properties.
• P2V tool enhancements: Bring more flexibility to quickly convert an existing SPARC server running Oracle Solaris 8, 9 or 10 into a virtualized Oracle Solaris image to run on SPARC T-series servers.[source]