Mike Laverick has written a nice whitepaper about the beta of VMWare’s PowerShell Toolkit. This mini-whitepaper walks you through the setup and configuration of PowerShell for VMware - and how to get up an running with Dmitry Sotnikov’s PowerGUI and PowerPack for VMware.

It’s a really good step-by-step white paper with lot’s of screenshots so even a VMWare dummy can start using PowerShell using this.

You can download the white paper here.

More information about using PowerShell for VMWare can be found on this VMWare Blog : http://blogs.vmware.com/vipowershell/ 

You probably already knew that starting with version 4.5 the official name for Softgrid will be Microsoft Application Virtualization. Microsoft now announced that there will also be a new official short name: App-V.

App-V and Hyper-V, I must say, that doesn’t sound so bad. What’s next? Terminal-V, Mail-V, DB-V?

Read the article on the App-V blog.

While I was working on an Application virtualization comparison chart (which will be released next week), I noticed something interesting. In the ThinApp FAQ it is stated that the general availability of VMware ThinApp will be on June 27th 2008. So now you know.

Another thing I’ve read was this:

…it has a very fast product release cycle—about once a month.

This comes from the ThinApp whitepaper. I hope this also means that new features, like a GUI for editing applications, will be released soon. Fortunately, you don’t have to upgrade all your applications when a new ThinApp update is released.

Until the final release, you can read my review here.

Stage Manager, Lab Manager, Lifecycle Manager, Site Recovery Manager. Confused? I am.

Yesterday VMWare released their product Stage Manager. I decided to do some investigation and end my confusion. A quick scan of the release notes did not solve the puzzle. Therefore I decided to dig deeper and consulted my good friend Google to help out.

The summary of my investigating is:

Lab Manager is product primarily for use in large test environment where the test users can share resources like DNS Server, AD Servers, Exchange servers etc. This will mainly be used in large companies with a software development department.

Stage Manager is focused on administrating the creation of applications in a production environment where the different phases in the development of applications can be recorded by using snapshots.

Lifecycle Manager is a tool to ease the administration and management of a virtual infrastructure. This is done by automating the creation, managment and eventually deleting of virtual machines when they are ultimately at the end of life.

Site Recovery Manager is a disaster recovery solution that can be managed with the VMware virtual infrastructure and the replication possibilities of the SAN-vendors.

Virtualization.info brings a scoop about VMware’s Capacity planner:

virtualization.info has learned that Capacity Planner will be available free of charge starting on July 1st.

Partners will not be required to buy any license anymore (even if they will still have to attend a classroom course that doesn’t come cheap). They will just have to login on the online portal, create a new profile and start monitoring the customer’s infrastructure.

As I work for a VMware partner, I’m looking forward to use the Capacity Planner a lot more.

At Microsoft Tech-Ed 2008 a new training and certification program was announced. It looks like Microsoft is taking this virtualization-thing seriously ;-).

A prime example of a cutting-edge technology with tremendous potential to cut costs and increase efficiency is virtualization.

Microsoft Learning has created a series of training and Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification programs that focus on Hyper-V and the forthcoming Windows Server Virtual Machine Manager, both of which are part of Microsoft’s virtualization strategy.

Available later this year.

While I was writing a review of the latest release candidate of Thinapp, VMware announced the upcoming release of the 4.0 version of Thinapp.

PALO ALTO, Calif., June 10, 2008 — VMware, Inc. (NYSE: VMW), the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, today announced the upcoming availability of VMware ThinApp 4, an application virtualization solution that lets customers run multiple versions of virtually any application on any Windows operating system without conflict. For example, users can run both Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7 on the same operating system without disruption.

Pricing, Packaging and Availability:
The VMware ThinApp offering, which includes a copy of VMware Workstation and 50 client licenses, is priced at $5,000.  The client licenses are priced at $39 per endpoint. The ThinApp licenses are perpetual.  ThinApp will be available for purchase within 30 days through VMware’s network of distributors, resellers and OEMs.  All prices are VMware list prices.

 
There is a introduction video from VMware that you can watch here.

After having seen the Installfree demo last week, I decided to take a look at VMware’s Thinapp Release Candidate, a.k.a Project Northstar. Features in the latest release are:

• Application Link: allows administrators to dynamically link ThinApp packages to one another, making it possible to create separate packages for interdependent components (such as Java or .NET) and use them across multiple ThinApp packages.
• Application Sync: allows customers to execute updates to virtual applications through a secure Internet connection, increasing application portability while reducing security and patch risks to offline and out-of-network machines.

Release notes
Manual

After registering for the release candidate, Read the rest of this entry »

Today I spoke to someone of InstallFree (who, in my eyes, use revolutionary application virtualization techniques) about their Bridge and Desktop products.

The release date of their first product, the InstallFree Bridge was the 7th of April this year. More information about the InstallFree Bridge, like DataSheets, WhitePapers and Business Cases can be found here.

But today I heared that the release date of their second (full blown) Application Virtualization product, known as the InstallFree Desktop, is set to September this year.

VMWare is offering free seminars in The Netherlands. (the following text is Dutch)

VMWare Desktop Virtualisatie

De nieuwe standaard voor steeds meer bedrijven wordt Desktop Virtualisatie. VMware Desktop Virtualisatie maakt het mogelijk om uw desktopbeheer te vereenvoudigen, uw beveiliging te verhogen, disaster recovery te vergemakkelijken en de kosten te verlagen.

Laat u volledig inlichten over Desktop Virtualisatie

Dit event is speciaal ontwikkeld om u te voorzien van alle informatie die u nodig heeft. De VMware specialisten bespreken de technologië, voordelen en ervaringen van reeds uitgevoerde implementaties. Alles zodat u een welafgewogen keuze kunt maken over wat Desktop Virtualisatie voor uw organisatie kan betekenen.

• In één middag wordt u op de hoogte gebracht van de laatste ontwikkelingen op Desktop gebied:
• Marktpositionering: De toekomst van de zakelijke desktop
• Hoe kan desktop- en applicatievirtualisatie uw beheer vereenvoudigen, uw beveiliging verhogen en de kosten reduceren?
• Demonstratie van VMware Desktop en Applicatie Virtualisatie, op een stateless werkplek
• Klanten Case Study
• Oplossingen voor werkplekbeheer
• Veel ruimte voor het beantwoorden van uw vragen door VMware experts
• Gratis software om zelf te uittesten
• Ervaren VMware partners laten hun oplossingen zien op de marktplaats

Voor wie?
Alle IT-professionals van het datacenter tot de desktop die belang heeft bij het inzetten en implementeren van virtualisatie binnen hun eigen organisatie.

Wanneer

• 17 juni Utrecht
• 18 juni Amsterdam
• 19 juni Apeldoorn
• 9 september Rotterdam
• 10 september Eindhoven
• 11 september Maastricht

 Hier kan u zich aanmelden.