Hardware virtualization management: To plug in or not to plug in?

Despite claims that server virtualization makes everything easier, in many ways it has made data centers more complex to manage. By virtualizing the physical server, gone are the days of managing one app, one server. On the flip side, also gone are the days of server vendor lock-in. Because virtualization abstracts away the underlying hardware, it is easier for data center administrators to have multiple server hardware vendors in play, allowing administrators to rack the best (or cheapest) hardware they can get their hands on.

Does that mean hardware vendors will stay out of the virtualization management game? Hardly. In spite of this newfound freedom, hardware vendors are still fighting to maintain control as that “single pane of glass” when it comes to systems management. So how do you handle management across multiple vendors in a virtual environment?

[ Find out more about Dell’s Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter at InfoWorld’s Lab Notes. | Also on InfoWorld, read about VMware’s presidential shake-up and learn about their four co-presidents. ]

Dell has its own systems management solution, Dell OpenManage, but it wasn’t originally designed to manage a virtual server environment, so Dell is trying other ways to make it easier for its customers to manage their PowerEdge servers in this new environment. Last year the company worked hard to integrate its servers, service processors, and Dell OpenManage administration tool with Microsoft’s System Center. Now Dell is attempting to ease administration burdens for VMware users by hooking Dell PowerEdge servers into VMware’s vCenter management console via a new Dell plug-in.

Dell seems to have come to the conclusion that it has little chance of circumventing VMware users from using vCenter as their main entry point into their virtual environments. Thus, they created a plug-in for vCenter that allows it to reach into OpenManage, the Dell PowerEdge Lifecycle controller, and the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) for remote systems management. The plug-in provides administrators with the capabilities of provisioning bare-metal servers, deploying ESX and ESXi hypervisors on to bare metal, handling firmware and BIOS updates, and managing alerts directly from within VMware’s vCenter console.

IBM’s approach to virtualization management takes a different path. Despite what Dell may have heard from customers, IBM doesn’t believe VMware should be that single-pane-of-glass view into the virtual data center. IBM’s approach is more open and focused on managing both physical and virtual resources, regardless of whether the virtualization environment is VMware, KVM, or something else. The company claims this approach will give IT administrators with a more holistic, integrated view of their IT infrastructure that spans servers, storage, and networking.

“Using IBM Systems Director, we can manage physical and virtual resources across the entire IBM Systems portfolio (System x, Power, System z, storage, and networking) and across multiple virtualization environments — such as VMware, KVM, Hyper-V, PowerVM, and z/OS — using plug-ins like VMcontrol, Network Control, Storage Control, and Active Energy Management,” said Alex Cabanes, manager of IBM system software. “These products work in conjunction with virtualization environments. In addition, IBM Systems Director can interface using the open UIM [Upward Integration Module] into the Tivoli Management Framework, Tivoli NetView, HP OpenView, Microsoft SMS, Microsoft Operations Manager, CA Unicenter NSM, and BMC Patrol, so customers can use their existing Systems Management infrastructure to manage their IBM Systems in a cohesive, integrated manner.”

By adding Tivoli into the mix, IBM says they can provide a deeper insight into actual workloads, as well as manage across IBM and non-IBM environments such as HP, Sun, and EMC.

Hewlett-Packard’s conclusions about VMware administrators’ preference for using VMware vCenter are similar to Dell’s. But HP claims it came to that conclusion much sooner — or at least acted on it much sooner than Dell.

“In September 2009, HP began offering the integration module HP Insight Control Extension for VMware vCenter,” said HP spokesperson Dayna Fried. “We were the first vendor to provide this kind of integration — and at no additional charge. HP Insight Control Extension for VMware vCenter Server is a part of HP Insight Control and does not require any additional investment. “

According to Fried, HP’s modile is already on its third release. Initially HP focused on integrating server and power management into vCenter, but they have since added the ability to manage external storage.

“One of the most exciting new capabilities is the unique ability to see the virtual networks from the virtual NIC or storage controller in the VM, as well as through the converged network adapter, through the Virtual Connect module, and extending to the SAN or data center switch. There is no other tool that provides that complete network view, in our opinion,” Fried added.

But Dell still insists its plug-in is different. Doug Iler, senior manager of OpenManage product marketing at Dell, said other vendors’ plug-ins offer very limited extra information, and he claims that if you want deeper information, the IT admin must leave vCenter and open up the OEM’s proprietary console. This, according to Iler, is not the case with Dell, who puts 80 percent of the information needed by VMware IT admins right at their fingertips. And if they need access to something else, Dell will provide links into the Dell console. But that is the exception and not the rule, he insists.

Dell is already working toward a future upgrade. Iler says the plug-in will continue to grow to encompass features of the other Dell plug-ins and expand the features in the initial release. In addition to the vCenter plug-in, Dell currently has plug-ins for AIM, Microsoft System Center, and modules for its EqualLogic storage device.

But unlike its plug-in for Microsoft’s Systems Center, Dell’s plug-in for VMware vCenter isn’t free. Instead, the company prices the plug-in based on the number of PowerEdge 11G servers connected to the vCenter. And while the plug-in can see and monitor Dell’s 9th- and 10th-generation servers, only its 11th-generation servers have the LifeCycle controller software that allows Dell to manage BIOS and Firmware updates and bare-metal deployments, so those are the only servers they count against licensing. Pricing starts at $299 for three servers, $799 for 10 servers, $1,799 for 50 servers, and $2,999 for 1,000 servers.

You also need to be running VMware vSphere/ESX/ESXi 4.0 and higher for the plug-in to work. Older versions of VMware, such as VI3 and earlier, are not compatible. Another limitation is that the plug-in can only be used with up to three vCenters; linked vCenters are not yet supported. Data from multiple linked vCenter consoles will be aggregated to provide a more complete view of the environment in a future release, probably timed to coincide with the Dell PowerEdge 12g server or perhaps VMware vSphere 5.0 due out later this year.

Do you rely on your hardware vendor to manage your virtual environment? Or do you use a third-party management solution? Are you satisfied with what VMware presents? If not, will these types of plug-ins provide the next step needed to properly manage your virtual data center?

This article, “Hardware virtualization management: To plug in or not to plug in?,” was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization and cloud computing at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.