News and Reviews

When a virtual machine (VM) is not running, it’s not receiving operating system updates. Keeping all your virtual machines up to date manually is hard work. A new Solution Accelerator automates software updates for VMs stored in a library managed by Virtual Machine Manager.

InformationWeek (June 26, 2008): Following Microsoft's release of Hyper-V, the company will offer an updated version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager sometime in the fourth quarter.

TechNet Magazine (January 2008): Virtualization allows organizations to consolidate resources and save money. But as you begin to implement increasing numbers of virtual machines, you'll want a convenient way to manage them. Here's a guide to setting up Virtual Machine Manager and using it to perform administrative tasks from a centralized interface.

CBRonline.com (September 10, 2007): Microsoft has announced its intention to offer virtualization management capabilities for virtual machines based on VMware and the open source Xen hypervisor as part of a broad update of its virtualization capabilities.

eWeek.com (September 10, 2007): Microsoft will push its management advantage, and will offer products for the SMB market.

Tech Republic (September 8, 2007): Microsoft has been working feverishly in the virtualization arena to catch up on its relatively late start. Now, just a week before VMware’s VMworld event next week, Microsoft has finally announced the System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (SCVMM).

Computerworld (September 7, 2007): As the name of Microsoft’s new release implies, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 works closely with Microsoft’s other management and provisioning products, such as System Center Configuration Manager (formerly Systems Management Server, or SMS) and System Center Operations Manager (formerly Microsoft Operations Manager, or MOM).

Internetnews.com (September 7, 2007): Microsoft on Thursday shipped a key tool in its growing virtualization push and revealed more of its roadmap for those technologies going forward. The company quietly announced on its Windows Virtualization Team Blog that it has made available for download the final code for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (SCVMM07), part of Microsoft's evolving System Center IT management tools line. General availability via retail packaging will come in November. In addition, there will be a work group edition of the product.

IDG News Service (September 6, 2007): Microsoft Corp. Thursday released its first software designed specifically to manage virtual machines on a network, and tweaked licensing for its system-management products to take into account virtualization. System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, which has been in the works for about a year and a half, has been released to manufacturing and will be generally available in October as part of Microsoft's System Server Management Center suite of products, the company said.

The Register (September 6, 2007): Microsoft’s virtualization team has finally stirred as the market gears up for VMworld next week. A bundle of announcements today include a virtualization management software released to manufacturing, solidified pricing and licensing, and promises for future versions. ... After two years of development, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007 (SCVMM) has popped out of the oven. The software can be downloaded now from the Microsoft system center site and will be generally available in October.

DellPower Solutions (August 2007): Managing large virtualized environments can be challenging and time-consuming. This article outlines how enterprises can use Microsoft® System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2007, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007, and the Dell OpenManage™ suite to help simplify administrative tasks and enhance operational efficiency in virtualized data centers.

WindowsITPro (June 2007): Virtualization is poised to become the most disruptive technology since the commoditization of server hardware. And therefore, I think VMM, which lets you manage virtualized environments, might be Microsoft's most strategically important launch of 2007.