SolarWinds Offers Free Data Centre Virtualisation Tool

Data centre management software maker SolarWinds on 25 Aug. released a freely downloadable virtualisation management tool for IT managers that enables automatic shutdown, restarting and usage tracking of virtual machines.

VM Console is SolarWinds’ second community-driven data centre virtualisation tool to be offered free of charge. VM Monitor, SolarWinds’ first such offering, and VM Console can be used through the same real-time desktop dashboard.

Frozen Virtual Machines

IT professionals can use VM Console to bring a “frozen or otherwise unresponsive virtual machine back to life,” the company said. “VM Console allows IT professionals to bounce VMs, track up/down status, take a snapshot to compare the VM before and after it’s bounced, and restart VMs, all without ever logging into [VMware] vCenter or vSphere.”

“Logging into vCenter just to snapshot and bounce a VM is time-consuming and awkward,” SolarWinds Vice President of Technology Josh Stephens said. “The VM Console provides an easy-to-use desktop widget for these types of tasks.”

VMWorld Conference

SolarWinds is hosting an expert panel at the VMworld conference in San Francisco, “Virtualization 101: Best Practices on How to Manage Storage and Virtualized Environments.”

The panel, moderated by eWEEK Senior Writer Chris Preimesberger, includes SolarWinds’ Stephens; Lazarus Vekiarides, director of Software Engineering for Dell’s EqualLogic Storage Engineering Group; Symphonic Source President and CEO Ken Barth; and Bryan Bond, senior storage manager for Logitech USA. It will convene on 30 Aug. at 10:30 a.m. PDT in Moscone Center, North Room 130.