Sun publishes xVM Server Early Access on the web

Sun Microsystems has published on the web an early version of its bare-metal hypervisor, xVM Server early Access 3. The download URL has been made available by Mark Thacker, the group manager Security and Virtualization at Sun, in a post on Project Kenai, the site that hosts the development community for xVM Server.

Here is the info and the links:

Hello everyone !


Thank you for your awesome contributions to the Sun xVM Server Early Access program.
We are happy to announce that we are moving forward and are launching today Sun xVM Server Early Access 3 along with an update of our Windows Guest Additions drivers. Many of the enhancements and bug fixes that you see here are a direct result of the queries that we received from you on the product.

Here are the details :

Sun xVM Server Early Access 3

* Key features
- View File System in Guest Details
- Force a Crash Dump
- Move Guests/Images between Libraries
- Modify Networks
- Network Graphs
- Desktop Minimization (150MB in overall size of the ISO)
- When working with info in a storage library, it is now possible to
import Appliance or ISO images from a network library directly
or from the user’s desktop
* Hidden URL https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_SMI-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductRef=sun-xVM-EA3-G-F@CDS-CDS_SMI

Sun xVM Guest Additions Early Access 2
* Released on 11/11
* Notable features
- save and restore feature support (cold migration)
- able to shutdown/reboot Win HVM+PVIO guests from the dom0/server
* Known Issues
- PV drivers does not support live migration yet (CR 6767902)
- Guest Additions crash windows guests with FAT-formatted disks (6746380)
- PV network driver will not attach to NICs added to the guest after installation (6769798)
* Production URL
https://cds.sun.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/CDS-CDS_SMI-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductRef=sun-xVM-GuestAdd-EA2-G-F@CDS-CDS_SMI

FAQ
Q : Does EA 3 require a re-install of Server ?
A : Yes, you can not do an upgrade yet. So if you have EA 2 already installed, you will have to save your guests off to a NFS or CIFS server, install xVM Server EA 3 and then re-import your guests or libraries.

Q : Can I share this with other people that I know ?
A : Yes, but we ask that all customers identify themselves by sending an email to xvm-server-ea-request@sun.com where we will then provide them with the URL’s and key information.

Q : Is there some documentation on xVM Server ?
A : Yes. A Getting Started Guide is included at the xVM Server EA 3 download URL above and its is CRITICAL that everyone using EA 3 read this guide before installing and using the product.

Q : Where can I ask questions about xVM Server ?
A : Please feel free to join the xVM Server project on Kenai.com. Note that we will be changing this forum this week to bring together the Early Access Project with the public xVM Server project. This will simplify the process of participating in the larger xVM community on Kenai.com.

xVM Portfolio Gaining Momentum

The Sun XVM Portfolio is Gaining Significant Momentum after its Launch recently & now @ VMworld Virtualization conference, Las Vegas 2008 .

Sun XVM Portfolio consists of the 4 Products namely :

i) xVM Server

ii) xVM Ops Centre

iii) xVM Virtual Box

iv) Sun VDI


To know more about Sun xVM Portfolio of products which covers Virtualization space ranging from "Desktop to Datacenter" : Check out the video Preso on xVM Portfolio

Why two hypervisors from Sun : xVM Server & xVM Virtualbox ??

This is the question arising in mind for me & many : "Why has Sun two hypervisors? When should we use xVM server? When should we use xVM Virtualbox?"

I find this question a little bit strange. No one asks: When should we use VMware Workstation, when should we use VMware ESX, and what´s with VMware GSX ... sorry ... VMware Server.

So the difference is simple: Use xVM Virtualbox for your virtualisation needs on your desktop and use xVM Server for the virtualisation in the datacenter. It´s as simple as that. Future developments in both classes of virtualisation may give us a area where both systems are viable ways to do the job (e.g. there are plans to integrate live migration to VirtualBox), but at the moment this should give you a guideline. Of course you could use xVM Server on your desktop system and VirtualBox on your server, but that aren´t their primary use cases.

xVM Server Demo with Steve

Virtualization with Sun xVM Server - Interview and Demo with Steve Wilson , Have a look at RedmondTV for exclusive Video.

Sun Microsystems -Desktop Virtualization Technology on BlogTalkRadio

Sun's Internet Radio show, will feature Andy Hall, Sr. Product Manager of Sun xVM VirtualBox discussing Sun's VirtualBox technology and recent advances in desktop virtualization.

Topics of discussion will include recent OEM agreements as well as the role of the developer community in enabling product innovations, enterprise investment in VirtualBox technology and what the future holds for desktop virtualization.

Innovation Insider is a show on BlogTalkRadio from Sun Microsystems that features discussions with industry innovators on a variety of topics.

Checkout the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/stations/sunradio/featured.aspx

Sun Announces Availability of Facebook App for 2008 Summer Olympic Games

The application, MyPicks Beijing 2008, allows participants to pick Gold, Silver and Bronze medal winners for each event during the Summer Games and win points for their country with each correct prediction. At the conclusion of the Games, the country with the highest point total will be declared the winner of the MyPicks Beijing 2008 Games. MyPicks Beijing 2008 is available on Facebook today at: http://apps.facebook.com/mypicksbeijing/Home.


MyPicks Beijing 2008 was developed by Pramati Technologies using zembly™, Sun's new browser-based social application development environment. Released in private beta in June 2008, zembly is the world's first social programming environment specifically designed for creating and hosting social applications targeting the most popular platforms on the web including Facebook, Meebo, OpenSocial, the iPhone and more. zembly utilizes Sun hardware on Network.com™ while taking advantage of Sun's software stack – the Solaris™ 10 Operating System, GlassFish™ application server and MySQL™ database. For more information on zembly, please visit: www.zembly.com.

“The spirit of the Games has always been about bringing the world closer together. So it's fitting that social networking sites like Facebook - that easily connect people around the world - can be leveraged to create socially-driven applications such as MyPicks Beijing 2008,” said Todd Fast, CTO of the zembly project at Sun. “The zembly team is thrilled to work with Pramati technologies to enable new forms of applications for Facebook and demonstrate the exciting possibilities of zembly.”

Firefox of Virtualization- Sun's xVM Virtualbox 1.6.2

It's an article from Channelweb giving accolades to Sun's xVM VirtualBox 1.6.2.
Citing Sun's characterization of VirtualBox as the "Firefox of virtualization," the review acknowledges similarities, saying "In many ways, the product is comparable to the browser: it's available under a general public license, delivered with an API set for customization and is cross-platform .... Accolades must go to Sun." - check out the article

Sun's Love Making in Bollywood

Sun Micro systems is entering the entertainment extravaganza industry Bollywood by foraying into a new Scientific Fiction Movie titled Love Story 2050 as a official Technology Partner.

Love Story 2050 is gaining traction among global audiences since it portrays Sun's extensive use of technology & Special effects in creating a time machine which takes the characters of Mumbai to the year 2050 with flying cars, 200 storied buildings robots and sky rails.

Catch out the early stages of Sun's Love now [ Still another 42 years to get there :) ] in the form of Love Story 2050 Movie Trailer and getting all that excited now ???, hmm.. Simple, Watch the movie in a Theater near you where it got released.

Sun being the official Technology Partner for the Movie makes it even more responsible in the form of organizing promotion events like Sun-Love Story 2050 Quiz with nice goodies like ipods to win for the participants.

Where is GPS Heading To?

GPS - Global Positioning System from the early stages of deployment in Military purpose by DARPA[Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)to current stage where it formed an integral part of civilian usage, may it be in Car Navigation, Adventure Sports, Trekking and so on...

The future of GPS Industry looks very bright indeed which is currently worth $1.4 Billion , On this note I would like to share the preso slides that I have presented on the software project that I have undergone using GPS ("Positioning and Navigation System by GPS") in Technological Trends Forum of egov Asia 2006 International Conference held at Bangkok, Thailand , my preso slides are showcased here

Sun xVM hypervisor opens TACC supercomputer to developers

Sun Microsystems Inc.'s star high-performance computing (HPC) customer, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, or TACC, is set to deploy Sun's version of the Xen hypervisor, xVM Server on part of its 4,000-node supercomputer.

More Details available here

Wikipedia of Sun xVM can be found here

Nice Article on Sun xVM VirtualBox 1.6 vs. VMWare Server 2.0 Beta

A nice article that I came across in Zdnet which compares Sun xVM VirtualBox & VMWare Server 2.0 Beta, A must Read article for Virtualization Lovers See Below: Sun xVM 1.6 VirtualBox and VMWare Server 2.0 Snapshots
xVM

VMWARE

Sun Microsystems and Intel Break Records

Nice to hear Sun & Intel in a joint act breaking record of Million-Messages-per Second Barrier for Thomson Reuters Market Data System

Sun xVM Virtualization Story

Sun xVM Virtualbox is so cool, no wonder it crossed 5 Million downloads(at an average download of 10k per day), Below is the snapshot taken from my Laptop running Ubuntu Linux inside Windows Vista using Sun's xVM Virtual Box, Wide variety of operating system platform support is there for users to virtualize, Wanna get started to download and play around with Virtualbox , Please Check out: Virtualbox




Sun's xVM Virtualbox - One of the Best Desktop Virtualization Product : www.virtualbox.org

Checkout for more on Sun's xVM Platform Offerings to Get Started :
http://www.sun.com/software/products/xvm/index.jsp


Blog of Sun's VP, xVM : http://blogs.sun.com/stevewilson/


Symantec VPM Vs Sun xVM : http://novageeks.org/blogs/index.php/2008/06/23/symantec-vpm-vs-sun-xvm

Excellent Webpage with lot of Sun's xVM Opscentre/Server & Virtualbox Info: http://blogs.sun.com/xvmblog/

Running Linux applications in Solaris Linux branded zones

While playing around with the latest version of Nevada this week, I decided to see how well Linux branded zones work. In case your not following the Sun development efforts, Linux branded zones allow you to run Linux ELF executables unmodified on Solaris hosts. This is pretty interesting, and I definitely wanted to take this technology for a test drive. After reading through the documentation in the brandz community, I BFU’ed my Nevada machine to the latest nightly build, and installed the packages listed on the brandz download page. Since brandz currently only supports CentOS 3.0 - 3.7 and the Linux 2.4 kernel series, I first had to download the three CentoS 3.7 iso images (branded zones currently don’t support CentOS 3.8 without some hacking):
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$ cd /home/matty/CentOS

$ wget http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/centos/3.7/isos/i386/CentOS-3.7-i386-bin1of3.iso

$ wget http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/centos/3.7/isos/i386/CentOS-3.7-i386-bin2of3.iso

$ wget http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/centos/3.7/isos/i386/CentOS-3.7-i386-bin3of3.iso

After I retrieved the ISO images, I needed to create a branded zone. Creating Linux branded zones is a piece of cake, and is accomplished by running the zonecfg utility with the “-z” option and a name to assign to your zone, and then specifying one or more parameters inside the zone configuration shell. Here is the configuration I used with my test zone:

$ zonecfg -z centostest

centostest: No such zone configured
Use 'create' to begin configuring a new zone.
zonecfg:centostest> create -t SUNWlx
zonecfg:centostest> add net
zonecfg:centostest:net> set physical=ni0
zonecfg:centostest:net> set address=192.168.1.25
zonecfg:centostest:net> end
zonecfg:centostest> set zonepath=/zones/centostest
zonecfg:centostest> set autoboot=true
zonecfg:centostest> verify
zonecfg:centostest> commit
zonecfg:centostest> exit

This zone configuration is pretty basic. It contains one network interface (when you boot the zone, a virtual interface is configured on that interface with the address passed to the address attribute), a location to store the zone data, and it is configured to automatically boot when the system is bootstrapped. Next I needed to install the CentOS binaries in the zone. To install the CentOS 3.7 binaries in the new zone I created, I ran the zoneadm utility with the ‘install’ option, and passed the directory with the CentOS ISO images as an argument:

$ zoneadm -z centostest install -v -d /home/matty/CentOS

Verbose output mode enabled.
Installing zone "centostest" at root "/zones/centostest"
Attempting ISO-based install from directory:
"/home/matty/CentOS"
Checking possible ISO
"/home/matty/CentOS/CentOS-3.7-i386-bin1of3.iso"...
added as lofi device "/dev/lofi/1"
Attempting mount of device "/dev/lofi/1"
on directory "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1"... succeeded.
Checking possible ISO
"/home/matty/CentOS/CentOS-3.7-i386-bin2of3.iso"...
added as lofi device "/dev/lofi/2"
Attempting mount of device "/dev/lofi/2"
on directory "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2"... succeeded.
Checking possible ISO
"/home/matty/CentOS/CentOS-3.7-i386-bin3of3.iso"...
added as lofi device "/dev/lofi/3"
Attempting mount of device "/dev/lofi/3"
on directory "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3"... succeeded.
Checking for distro "/usr/lib/brand/lx/distros/centos35.distro"...
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 1
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 2
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 3
Checking for distro "/usr/lib/brand/lx/distros/centos36.distro"...
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 1
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 2
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 3
Checking for distro "/usr/lib/brand/lx/distros/centos37.distro"...
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 1
Added ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1" as disc 1
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 2
Added ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.2" as disc 2
Checking iso file mounted at "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3"...
read discinfo file "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3/.discinfo"
ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3": Serial "1144177644.47"
Release "CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]" Disc 3
Added ISO "/tmp/lxisos/iso.3" as disc 3
Installing distribution 'CentOS [Disc Set 1144177644.47]'...
Installing cluster 'desktop'
Installing zone miniroot.
Installing miniroot from ISO image 1 (of 3)
RPM source directory: "/tmp/lxisos/iso.1/RedHat/RPMS"
Attempting to expand 30 RPM names...
Installing RPM "SysVinit-2.85-4.4.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "basesystem-8.0-2.centos.0.noarch.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "bash-2.05b-41.5.centos.0.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "beecrypt-3.0.1-0.20030630.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "bzip2-libs-1.0.2-11.EL3.4.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "coreutils-4.5.3-28.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "elfutils-0.94-1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "elfutils-libelf-0.94-1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "filesystem-2.2.1-3.centos.1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "glibc-2.3.2-95.39.i586.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "glibc-common-2.3.2-95.39.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "gpm-1.19.3-27.2.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "initscripts-7.31.30.EL-1.centos.1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "iptables-1.2.8-12.3.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "iptables-ipv6-1.2.8-12.3.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "kernel-utils-2.4-8.37.14.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "laus-libs-0.1-70RHEL3.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "libacl-2.2.3-1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "libattr-2.2.0-1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "libgcc-3.2.3-54.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "libtermcap-2.0.8-35.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "ncurses-5.3-9.4.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "pam-0.75-67.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "popt-1.8.2-24_nonptl.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "rpm-4.2.3-24_nonptl.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "rpm-libs-4.2.3-24_nonptl.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "setup-2.5.27-1.noarch.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "termcap-11.0.1-17.1.noarch.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "zlib-1.1.4-8.1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Installing RPM "centos-release-3-7.1.i386.rpm" to miniroot at
"/zones/centostest"...
Setting up the initial lx brand environment.
System configuration modifications complete!
Duplicating miniroot; this may take a few minutes...

Booting zone miniroot...
Miniroot zone setup complete.

Installing zone 'centostest' from ISO image 1.
RPM source directory: "/zones/centostest/root/iso/RedHat/RPMS"
Attempting to expand 667 RPM names...
Installing 433 RPM packages; this may take several minutes...

Preparing... ##################################################
libgcc ##################################################
setup ##################################################
filesystem ##################################################
hwdata ##################################################
redhat-menus ##################################################
mailcap ##################################################
XFree86-libs-data ##################################################
basesystem ##################################################
gnome-mime-data ##################################################

[.....]

After the brandz installer finished installing the CentOS 3.7 RPMs, I used the zoneadm ‘boot’ option to start the zone:

$ zoneadm -z centostest boot

To view the console output while the zone was booting, I immediately fired up the zlogin utility to console into the new Linux branded zone, and ran a few commands to see what the environment looked like after the zone was booted:

$ zlogin -C centostest

[Connected to zone 'centostest' console] [ OK ]
Activating swap partitions: [ OK ]
Checking filesystems [ OK ]
Mounting local filesystems: [ OK ]
Enabling swap space: [ OK ]
modprobe: Can't open dependencies file /lib/modules/2.4.21/modules.dep (No such file or directory)
INIT: Entering runlevel: 3
Entering non-interactive startup
Starting sysstat: [ OK ]
Starting system logger: [ OK ]
Starting kernel logger: [ OK ]
Starting automount: No Mountpoints Defined[ OK ]
Starting cups: [ OK ]
Starting sshd:[ OK ]
Starting crond: [ OK ]
Starting atd: [ OK ]
Rotating KDC list [ OK ]

CentOS release 3.7 (Final)
Kernel 2.4.21 on an i686

centostest login: root

$ uname -a

Linux centos 2.4.21 BrandZ fake linux i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

$ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor : 0
vendor_id : GenuineIntel
cpu family : 6
model : 6
model name : Intel Celeron(r)
stepping : 5
cpu MHz : 1662.136
cache size : 2048 KB
fdiv_bug : no
hlt_bug : no
coma_bug : no
fpu : yes
fpu_exception : yes
cpuid level : 10
flags : fpu pse tsc msr mce cx8 sep mtrr pge cmov mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yum works well in a branded zone, and most of the tools you typically use work out of the box. Linux branded zones are wicked cool, and I can see tons of uses for them. Some folks are dead set on running Linux instead of Solaris, which means they can’t take advantage of things like ZFS, FMA and DTrace. If you need to better understand your application and the way it interacts with the system, or if you want to take advantage of the stability the Solaris kernel brings to production system, you can fire up a branded zone and run your application transparently on a Solaris system. You can also easily transport your applications between a CentOS server and a branded zone, use DTrace to profile the application, and then take any performance wins back to your Linux server.Who can argue with that? :)

Is Vinod Khosla backing Obama ??

Vinod Khosla one among the four founders of SUN Microsystems finds a place in Obama Stock Index for his support towards Obama's Candidature for President of USA.



Info:
Andreas Bechtolsheim , Bill Joy,­ Scott Mc Nealy and Vinod Khosla of SUN(Stanford Universit­y Network) MicroSystems. Founded by four StanfordUniversity buddies. Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer; Vinod Khosla recruited him; Scott McNealy to manufacture computers based on it; and Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer... SUN is the acronym for Stanford University Network

Sun Microsystems enters Big Five List with Rank 1 on HPC systems

Sun Microsystems Breaks Into Top Five on Top 500 Supercomputers List With Highest Ranking Open HPC System

Sun's Lustre File System Manages Data On Six Of The World's Top 10 Supercomputing Sites; Half Of The Top 10 Systems Archive Data On Sun Storage

For more information about Sun Constellation System, please visit: http://www.sun.com/servers/hpc/SunConstellationPreview.jsp
Published by researchers at the University of Tennessee, NERSC/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Mannheim in Germany, the TOP 500 list tracks the use of supercomputer installations at commercial, scientific and academic research institutions. The list is released twice a year and can be viewed at www.top500.org




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