Getting Started

with Virtualization

an Networking eBook
contents
[ ]
Getting Started with Virtualization

This content was adapted from Internet.com's

ServerWatch, Enterprise Networking Planet, IT
Career Planet, CIO Update, and Enterprise IT
Planet Web sites. Contributors: Ryan Bass,
Lynn Haber, Brian Gardner, Richard Adhikari,
and Rafael Hernandez.

2 For Starters:
The Virtualization
Performance Quandary
Rafael Hernandez
2
4 The Trouble With
Virtual Disaster Recovery
Richard Adhikari

6 Planning Data Protection Into

Your Virtual Infrastructure
Brian Gardner
4 6
10 Windows Virtualization:
Get Started With Hyper-V
Ryan Bass

12 The Growing Importance of

Virtualization Certification
10 12 Lynn Haber

Getting started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook.

© 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.

1
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization ]

For Starters: The Virtualization

Performance Quandary
By Rafael Hernandez

The reality is that not all tasks are well suited to run

V
irtualization can have a huge effect on produc-
tivity and cost savings when consolidating wide-
ranging workloads, but getting the best per-
formance out of your software is something else
entirely. Here are some of the things you'll want to
keep an eye on if you're determined to get the most
out of the technology.
under a virtual OS, the usual culprits being software
that's highly resource intensive and I/O bound appli-
cations, similarly there's software that just doesn't
want to play nice for whatever reason and is best left
to run on its own machine where it can happily run its
course.

Software Soft Spots Software response time under

virtualization is also a key
Those joyous testimonies of an point to consider, if you start
effortless move to a virtualized loading up a number of sys-
platform are quite true with tem images, each running a
most small-scale projects. few tasks, things can get a lit-
There isn't much difficulty in tle hairy. Some software isn't
running a few operating sys- necessarily resource intensive
tem images on relatively mod- but requires snappy system
ern hardware, each machine response in order to perform
handling a few tasks by its at its best. So when users
lonesome. Things tend to get start leaning on the applica-
a whole lot trickier when you tion you may find it perform-
scale up the workload. ing worse than on minimally
Jupiterimages
specced hardware.
Every technology has those tempting "what if" possi-
bilities attached to them. Thoughts of quickly migrat- The fact of the matter is that there is a performance
ing everything you and your company have worked penalty with any action carried out on a virtualized
hard to build up over the years to newer methods of system. An action that's inconsequential on a low-
doing things always has pitfalls, even with more power machine can suddenly become burdensome on
mature products in the virtualization category. even the most powerful of servers. The prime candi-
dates for consolidating are generally low usage, low

“
The fact of the matter is that there is a performance penalty
with any action carried out on a virtualized system

2 ”
Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
resource intensive applications.
You're more likely than not to go back to the drawing
board with quite a few consolidation plans once
things aren't going smoothly as you hoped.
Virtualization overhead can get ugly and it's not going
to be cleared up anytime soon, but you can bet the
large software and hardware vendors are working on
this very problem.
On The Hardware Front
As with any software trend, hardware support tends to
lag behind quite a bit. There's not much blame you
can pass on to the vendors since it takes a while to
engineer features into their hardware. But the good
news is that your two favorite chip vendors have you
in mind.
AMD and Intel's rivalry extends to all things; even the
hardware accelerated virtualization field isn't safe. The
two companies have had some basic hardware assist
with various virtualization tasks in the past few years
but it's been a rather weak response to some of the
serious shortcomings that CPUs have when handling
this demanding style of application.
The two companies have been making strides in order
to improve on the performance penalty virtualization
can impose on a system. The x86 instruction sets the
companies' chips use have a particularly difficult time
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]
with virtualization as detailed here. Their first and
most logical step is to reduce the effect the hypervi-
sor has on a system's performance. AMD's SVM and
Intel's VT-x have improved how hypervisor emulation
and the like behave when accessing system resources.
Both companies also have another trick up their
sleeves with regards to CPU performance penalties a
system can encounter when managing the memory
requirements of multiple virtual machines. AMD's
Nested Page Tables, found on Quad Core Opterons
and the somewhat similar Intel EPT, soon to be found
on their upcoming "Nehalem" CPUs, have a dramatic
effect on limiting the performance hit on memory
page table access.
The hardware additions along with inevitable software
tweaking over time will lead to performance increases
(or less of an overall system performance loss) when
running virtual machines.
Current performance penalties incurred by systems
running multiple virtual machines can cause quite a
bit of frustration when you're trying to balance cost-
cutting and remove any possible instabilities that
might arise with loading up a server full of necessary
applications. Thankfully companies are improving on
their products in leaps and bounds. In a few years,
close to native performance may even become the
norm. I
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization ]

The Trouble With Virtual Disaster Recovery

By Richard Adhikari

So, why is it virtual servers are being left out of DR

A
s enterprises virtualize their data centers to cut
costs and consolidate their servers, they may plans? Or, if they're included, why aren't they being
be setting themselves for big trouble. backed up? It's because enterprise IT just does not
have the right tools to back up virtual servers.
According to a disaster recovery research report from
Symantec based on surveys of 1,000 IT managers in The biggest problem for 44 percent of North
large organizations worldwide, 35 percent of an orga- American respondents was the plethora of different
nization's virtual servers are not included in its disaster tools for physical and virtual environments. There are
recovery (DR) plans. so many that IT doesn't
know what to use and when.
Worse yet, not all virtual
servers included in an organi- Another 41 percent com-
zation's DR plan will be plained about the lack of
backed up. Only 37 percent automated recovery tools.
of respondents to the survey Much of the disaster recov-
said they back up more than ery process is manual,
90 percent of their virtual sys- although VMware has a tool
tems. to automate the run book.

When companies virtualize, Another 39 percent of

they need to overhaul their respondents said the backup
backup and DR plans; the tools available are inade-
Jupiterimages
survey found that 64 percent quate.
of organizations are doing so.
Hewlett-Packard, IBM, CA, and smaller vendors such
"That's no surprise, because virtualization has had a as ManageIQ, Avocent, and Apani offer tools to man-
huge impact on the way enterprises do disaster recov- age both the virtual and physical environments. And
ery," Symantec senior product marketing manager for companies like Hyperic are bringing out new tools.
high availability and disaster recovery Dan Lamorena However, virtual server management tools, being rela-
told InternetNews.com. tively new, are not as sophisticated as their counter-
parts for the physical environment. Also, they have

“
The biggest problem for 44 percent of North American respondents was
the plethora of different tools for physical and virtual environments.

4 ”
Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
not been around long enough for users to be familiar
with them. For example, provisioning, or setting up,
virtual machines from physical ones and vice versa can
also be a problem, and tools for this have only recent-
ly emerged.
"Virtualization makes some aspects of backup and
disaster recovery more difficult," Symantec senior
product marketing manager for NetBackup Eric Schou
told InternetNews.com. "IT shops are still struggling
with the steep learning curve."
Porting over solutions from the physical environment
won't work, Schou said. "IT shops need to get solu-
tions that are finely tuned for virtualization," he
added.
DR Isn't So Hot Either
Judging from the results of the survey, IT is still not as
familiar with DR as it should be. DR testing is a mess.
A whopping 30 percent of respondents said their DR
tests failed. That's better than the 50 percent failure
rate in 2007, but it's still pretty scary.
For 35 percent of the respondents, the tests failed
5 Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
because "people didn't do what they were supposed
to do," Lamorena said. This means that much of
recovery is still a manual process, and companies
must begin looking at automation, he added.
Another cause is that tests are not run frequently
enough. That's because "when you run a test, it dis-
rupts employees and customers," Lamorena said. He
added that 20 percent of the respondents said their
revenue is impacted by DR tests, so "the tests cause
the same pain to their customers as if they had a real
disaster."
Finally, the survey found that top-level executive
involvement in DR planning has fallen. "Last year, the
C-level involvement on disaster recovery committees
was 55 percent; this year, it's 33 percent," Lamorena
said. C-level executives are CIOs, CTOs, and CEOs.
Lamorena finds the reduction in top-level involvement
disturbing because it could lead to more problems
with DR. "That's a huge drop, and we've been think-
ing about this day and night," he said. "What's alarm-
ing is, companies may be getting a little lax and don't
think they'll be affected by a disaster." I
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization ]

Planning Data Protection Into

Your Virtual Infrastructure
By Brian Gardner

applications can be virtualized. You just have to

A
s an IT manager you've read of all the advan-
tages that come with virtualization. The next decide on a reasonable set of applications and then
step is to feel comfortable tackling a migration compile the following information:
to virtual infrastructure and to make sure it is protect-
ed. 1. Identify characteristics of selected apps under load

To begin, it is important to It is absolutely critical that you characterize these

understand the things you applications under their
need to do to plan a virtual heaviest expected load or
infrastructure and choose you'll start running out of
the appropriate data protec- resources unexpectedly
tion for it. Identifying and when you implement your
selecting the capabilities virtual infrastructure.
and limitations of data pro-
tection within your virtual Total memory footprint
infrastructure is one of the Memory the application
most critical tasks. uses at peak load? If the
application "leaks" memory
For simplification, this article (its memory footprint grows
limits the virtualization plat- even under constant load)
form example to VMware you'll need to allow room
ESX. The process is the for that as well.
same for Microsoft Hyper-V,
Virtual Iron, and others until Total CPU utilization
you get to the end and have How many CPUs and at
Jupiterimages

to determine the right implementation. what percentage used at peak load? Don't forget to
note the type of CPU you used when you did your
measurements.
What Applications Should I
Virtualize? Total disk space including growth to next budget
With current virtualization technology almost all cycle

“
Identifying and selecting the capabilities and limitations of data protection
within your virtual infrastructure is one of the most critical tasks.

6 ”
Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
Network bandwidth utilization
Network bandwidth used by this application at peak
load. Remember to account for both directions of
network traffic.
Storage network throughput (SCSI, FC, iSCSI,
NAS) as both input and output
The same thing you just did for your messaging net-
work.
Disk reads and writes
The disk activity that this application requires at
load. There are other disk load parameters that may
need to be characterized as well, depending on the
application.
Memory bus utilization estimate (memory bus
available bandwidth minus four times the total I/O)
Years of empirical data has upheld this useful rule of
thumb. This can be somewhat difficult to get since
it is not always easy to identify the memory bus
speed of a particular system.
2. Identify load patterns and recovery requirements
for virtualized applications
Is there a window during the day or night when they
could reasonably be shut down and backed up?
Is there a window during the day or night when the
total load on the ESX physical server is low enough
that backups can be performed without negatively
impacting the running apps? If there is no applica-
tion and ESX server available window, you will need
to select a proxy backup method.
Do you need to be able to recover individual files
on a regular basis? If so, you will most likely need to
run a backup agent directly within a virtual machine.
If you've designed and implemented a few data pro-
tection architectures, the requirements gathering
process was probably quite familiar to you. It doesn't
change much for virtual infrastructures.
Once you understand your application and data pro-
tection requirements there are some simple decisions
to make:
Agents in each virtual machine
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]
Build a Solid Virtual
Foundation
By Amy Newman
Virtualizing your environment is more than simply
taking a bunch of old servers (possibly laying
around since the last Boom in the 1990s), and parti-
tioning them. In most cases it means buying more
hardware.
This makes virtualizing pretty much a no-brainer for
a company starting out or one building a data center
from the ground up. But most companies don't have
that kind of cash just sitting around.
"Don't skimp on hardware," Wes Noonan, Lead
Technical Analyst at NetIQ, cautions "If you skimp
on hardware it won't necessarily cost you in capital.
It will, however, cost you in other ways," he elaborat-
ed, citing the human toll, personnel issues, and lost
sales.
So how to explain the need to invest heavily in hard-
ware?
Return on investment is always king when it comes
to spending, so selling whomever crafts the budget
on a positive ROI is critical and a good place to
start. But how to get there, and what if it's not
enough?
Quantify, Theodore Ritter, an analyst with
Nermertes research, told the audience in a session
titled, "Making the Case: Selling Virtualization
When ROI Isn't Enough."
He said that, typically, the majority of enterprises go
after low-hanging fruit and assume all costs go
down. This is fine in the beginning, as costs do gen-
erally go down. It will not, however, work in the long
term when enterprises go beyond low-performing
servers and operations.
Oftentimes, the deployments themselves occur over
several years. According to Ritter, a typical deploy-
ment process takes more than two years, and for a
larger organization, it can be a five to seven year
time frame. With such projects, you can see the
continued
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
This is the simplest decision, since it mirrors what you
are already doing with your physical infrastructure.
The strengths of this approach:
• Low disruption to existing workflows
• Easy application backup and recovery
• File level recovery
There are two significant weaknesses to this approach:
• Total cost of backup software agents
• Need to manage load on ESX server when run-
ning backups
Agent in Hypervisor Service Console
This is pretty simple as well. It only requires a single
Red Hat Linux agent for each ESX server.
Strengths:
• Low agent cost
• High-performance image backup & recovery (only
working with vmdk files)
Weaknesses:
• Need for some scripting
• Lack of file level recovery
• Lack of application awareness
Proxy backup
1) VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB)
VCB gives you the ability to use a Windows proxy
host to backup Windows virtual machines.
Strengths:
• Almost entirely eliminates load on virtual
machines and ESX server during backup
• Enables hot virtual machine backup
Weaknesses:
• Lack of non-Windows platform support
• Some recovery limitations
• VCB license cost
2) Storage server snapshots
This approach is quite simple to manage once it is
implemented if you have storage that provides the
functionality. You can connect another host to the
storage to manage the snapshots for backup and
recovery.
8 Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
initial benefits quickly, but as you move along into
production and heavy database apps, the ROI is not
as clear or as quickly forthcoming.
Enterprises therefore, must take a long-term view.
Ritter recommends finding a key metric to measure
early in the process that takes flexibility and agility
into account. This way, they become standard track-
ers and in time can be the basis of a business case.
Ritter was emphatic about this, noting, "if you don't
put the metric is place early to measure the return,
it's going to bite you early."
There are multiple approaches to measuring this
way. High availability and disaster recovery, for
example, are critical issues, and in some cases vir-
tualization makes it financially feasible for organi-
zations to set up a failover site, if they couldn't
before. Benefits such as these should be quantified
and taken into account.
Cost reduction is another way to go. One company
used cost prevention as justification for initial
investment. Other things to bring up include:
• Shorter maintenance windows
• Some servers, such as Exchange, run better
when virtualized
• Extend the life cycle of hardware as a virtual
machine (this is pretty much a no-brainer, as it's
taking advantage of hardware already in play, and
most likely already depreciated)
• The ability to start and stop hardware
Ritter provided one big caveat — process and proce-
dure must keep up with virtualization. Oftentimes,
he explained, it's not the hardware holding things
up but the human processes around it.
At first blush, provisioning goes down from weeks
to hours. However, most provisioning time organi-
zation face is outside of the actual virtualization
process (e.g., getting the purchase order in and the
time spent getting it in rack). The process that
comes before the actual virtualizing must be fixed
or the true impact of virtualization will not be felt. I
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
Strengths:
• Simplicity
• Low application server and ESX server overhead
Weaknesses:
• Cost of snapshot enabled storage
• Complexity of initial deployment (varies widely
depending on implementation)
What does implementing the right protection solution
in a virtual environment do for you?
With virtualization you can do things like physical
machine to virtual machine conversion and, in some
cases, you can take advantage of your existing back-
up images to migrate to a virtual infrastructure.
If you plan your data protection, you will never have
9 Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
to do a bare metal disaster recovery again since virtu-
al storage file systems are simple, single files.
Recovering an entire system can be as simple as
recovering a single file.
Site disaster recovery can be greatly simplified since
you can bring a site up quickly on lower end physical
systems and add capabilities as needed without inter-
rupting operations. You will still need to develop a
site disaster recovery plan, but there are many avail-
able resources to help you to do so. Clustering virtual
machines with VMware Virtual Infrastructure is much
easier and less expensive than with physical clusters.
Virtual appliances can make purchasing, installing,
configuring, and updating applications much simpler.
In some cases they can also help simplify site disaster
recovery. I
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization ]

Windows Virtualization:
Get Started With Hyper-V
By Ryan Bass

If you are running a VM containing a pre-release ver-

T
he release to manufacturing (RTM) version of Hyper-V
made its debut in June 2008. This final edition of sion Windows Server 2008 created with a beta version
Hyper-V includes security, stability, performance, and of Hyper-V, then you are out of luck and will need to re-
user experience improvements. With such a late start, create the virtual hard disk file from scratch. If you cre-
Microsoft is going to have a ated a VM containing a final
tough time capturing a sizable release version of Windows
portion of the enterprise virtual- Server 2008, then follow the
ization market, but small- to steps here to get it working
medium-size organizations are in the RTM version of Hyper-
sure to jump on board the V. If you created VMs with
Hyper-V train as they slowly RC0, all you have to do is
begin to migrate from Server shut down the guest OS and
2003 to Server 2008. merge any snapshot files. If
you've got VMs created with
We're going to take a look at RC1, then you don't have to
what to do if you've already do anything special.
got virtual machines (VMs)
created in the Hyper-V beta We've all been barraged
or release candidate environ- with the benefits of virtual-
ments, and how to get start- ization for several years now,
ed with Hyper-V if you're a but in case you forgot here
beginner. are three good reasons to
go virtual: server consolida-
If you've already been tinker- Jupiterimages
tion, business continu-
ing with the release candi- ity/disaster recovery, and
date or beta editions of Hyper-V here's what you need testing/development. Hyper-V makes it so easy there is
to know if you want to continue using those VMs: really no reason to hold back. Even if you run Hyper-V

Version Pre-existing VMs Pre-existing Pre-existing

Saved State Files snapshot files

Beta See below Not Supported Not Supported

RC0 Supported Not Supported Not Supported
RC1 Supported Supported Supported

10 Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
solely for testing and development, it is well worth it.
The biggest barrier to getting started with Hyper-V is
hardware. Unfortunately, you won't be able to use older
equipment because Hyper-V requires a 64-bit proces-
sor with hardware-assisted virtualization and hardware
data execution protection.
Installing Hyper-V
If you've got the right hardware then follow these steps
to get Hyper-V installed:
1. Setup a Windows Server 2008 x64 server
2. If the server software didn't already come with the
RTM version of Hyper-V then download and install it.
3. Open Server Manager
4. Click on Roles > Add Roles > Next > Select Hyper-
V > Next > Next
5. Select an Ethernet adapter to be available for VMs
> Next > Install
To open the Hyper-V Manager click on Start > All
Programs > Administrative Tools > Hyper-V Manager.
To create a new VM click on New from the Actions side
bar and select Virtual Machine. Follow the instructions
in the wizard to create a new VM. The easiest and
fastest way to install a new VM is to use an ISO file con-
taining the operation system you want to install. This
option is available on the Install Options page of the
New Virtual Machine Wizard.
Once you've got your first VM setup you may want to
make a copy of the virtual hard disk file. This will allow
you to setup new VMs in a matter of minutes. Of
course, before you make a copy of the virtual hard disk
file you should run sysprep or another utility on the VM
to roll the SID on the server. The SID is a unique identi-
fier that the server assigns itself when it is first created.
Duplicate SIDs will end up biting you in subtle ways
and it may not be obvious that the duplicate SID caus-
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]
es your problem.
VMs In Production
If you're going to be running VMs in production, then
you will definitely want to take a gander at the different
settings available for your VM. Some of the more
important options include: memory, processor, network
adapter, and automatic start/stop actions. Be sure to
give your virtual machine enough memory because you
don't want it to hit the page file on your virtual disk.
Processor settings are important because you don't
want a test box or runaway app to hog all the process-
ing power away from other production VMs.
Depending on the applications you are running, you
may want to install additional physical network
adapters into the host server and distribute the net-
working load among more than one adapter. Finally, it's
important to tell Hyper-V what to do when the host
operating system shuts down or starts up.
One final note: Beware of virtual server sprawl. With
Hyper-V (and other server virtualization technologies) it
becomes almost too easy to create new "servers."
Remember that there is overhead associated with each
additional VM that is created. It may need to have an
anti-virus client, a backup client, and any other
clients/agents that you install on your servers. It will
need to be patched each month, and don't forget
about that pesky OS licensing issue.
Depending on your version of Windows Server you
may need to purchase additional OS licenses. There is,
however, a Microsoft tool that will help to determine
how many OS licenses need to be purchased. With
Server 2008 Datacenter Edition you can have as many
VMs as you want, Enterprise Edition comes with the
ability to run four VMs, and Standard Edition requires a
license for each VM. I
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization ]

The Growing Importance

of Virtualization Certification
By Lynn Haber

job virtualization training. "Organizations aren't training

A ny IT professional who's missed the buzz about virtu-
alization might as well keep his head in the sand. in advance of virtualization initiatives," Anderson says.

For the rest of the IT community it's clear that talk Fast-Rising Market
about enterprise server virtualization adoption isn't a
But where virtualization is relevant to an IT profession-
matter of "if," but "when." So the question is whether
al's career -- such as storage, server management and
certification in virtualization technology is a must-have.
PC management — certifica-
tion can put them ahead of
With vendors like VMware,
the curve. IDC projects that
Citrix, and now Microsoft in
by 2011 the market for virtu-
the virtualization certification
alization services will reach
game and the job market for
about $12 billion.
IT professionals with virtual-
ization skills sizzling, it would
Today, Tom Silver, senior vice
appear that many individuals
president at Dice, reports
would stand to benefit from
about 1,500 open job post-
sinking time and money into
ings out of approximately
this specialized training. Red
8,500 posted on the compa-
Hat offers Enterprise Linux
ny's IT job site reference vir-
Virtualization training for Red
tualization skills — a small
Hat Certified Technicians
percentage but a fast-grow-
(RHCT) or individuals with
ing job area nevertheless, he
equivalent knowledge.
says.
What's clear is that there's no Jupiterimages
Silver is on the same page
doubt that getting certified in virtualization technology
as Anderson when considering a certification in virtual-
matters.
ization, noting that it depends on an individual's career
path and where they are on it.
"It just matters to some, not to everyone," says
Cushing Anderson, program vice president at IDC.
"If you're looking to get a job or move into a new area,
He says that today many IT professionals get on-the-

“
What's clear is that there's no doubt that getting certified
in virtualization technology matters.

12 ”
Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
 [ Getting Started with Virtualization
certification can help. But certifications can be a mixed
bag because once you're in the door, employers aren't
as interested in certification versus whether you can do
the job," says Silver.
Jason Martin, vice president services at VMware, says
that people who take the VMware Certified
Professional (VCP) training should have some hands-on
experience with virtualization already.
The vendor reports that it's seeing a shift in demand for
its VMware Certified Professional (VCP) on VMware
Infrastructure 3 from the channel community to large
enterprises.
"It's becoming requisite training for IT staff who will
install and manage VMware," Martin says.
In fact, he expects that by year-end more corporate IT
professionals than channel partners will pursue VCP
education. The VCP allows IT professionals to demon-
strate their virtual infrastructure expertise, according to
Martin.
Microsoft Enters Game
The relatively new VMware Certified Design Expert
(VCDX) is a more advanced certification targeting
design architect of VMware enterprise deployments.
Likewise, training such as the Citrix CCA for XenServer
matters most to individuals or companies with a direct
investment in the vendor's products.
13 Getting Started with Virtualization, An Internet.com Networking eBook. © 2009, Jupitermedia Corp.
]
Most recently upping the ante for virtualization experts
is Microsoft, with the launch of its new virtualization
products. The vendor also announced a roadmap for
certified technical specialists in virtualization.
The vendor will offer four Microsoft Certified
Technology Specialist (MCTS) certifications on virtual-
ization, two are which are available now: Microsoft
Desktop Optimization Pack, Configuring; and Windows
Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuring.
Available later this year will be: Windows Server 2008
Virtualization, Configuring; and System Center Virtual
Machine Manager, Configuring.
The four certifications are designed to validate skills on
the features and functionality of key Microsoft technolo-
gy areas such as Window Server 2008: Hyper-V; System
Center: Virtual Machine Manager; Terminal Service
Virtualization; and Application Virtualization, according
to the company.
Industry experts warn that rather then getting caught
up in the virtualization buzz, individuals should only
consider undertaking a certification track if they're inter-
ested in managing complex architectures.
"Virtualization is very technical. So while the technology
may be hot, only pursue it if it's your bliss," says
Anderson. "Otherwise, you'll be a dull employee." I