Virtualization offers small and mid-sized businesses numerous advantages, including lower costs, greater IT efficiency, and improved resource utilization. However, many growing businesses consider virtualization too daunting for their resources. They view building and maintaining virtual environments as tasks that only large enterprises have the wherewithal and technical expertise to accomplish.
HP offers a host of versatile software tools and valuable services that bring the benefits of virtualization within easy reach of any size organization. In fact, customers can think of HP as a one-stop virtualization shop that offers virtualization software, HP hardware, host and guest operating systems, services, support, financing, and a broad portfolio of administration tools.
This article will explore HP's software tools that help organizations build, optimize, maintain, and expand virtual infrastructures.
HP Systems Insight Manager
HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM) – the familiar server and storage management tool for HP ProLiant servers, HP BladeSystem, and HP StorageWorks storage arrays – forms the management foundation for virtualized infrastructures. HP ProLiant Essentials software plug-ins extend HP SIM's capabilities, transforming it into a comprehensive, easy-to-use platform that enables organizations to holistically control both physical and virtual IT resources from a single console. What's more, HP SIM is available as a free download on HP's website.
HP ProLiant Essentials Virtual Machine Management Pack
Virtual Machine Management Pack enhances HP SIM with unified management capabilities across most contemporary virtualization software platforms and industry-standard servers. Together, they provide:
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Simplified deployment and operation of virtual machines with Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 and VMware®. |
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Tracking, monitoring, and control functions for virtualized environments. |
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Reduced cost and complexity in server consolidation projects. |
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Greater agility for reacting changing business demands. |
HP ProLiant Essentials Server Migration Pack
Server Migration Pack simplifies the server consolidation process, enabling rapid and seamless:
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Physical-to-virtual (P2V) migration: Migrates a physical machine to a virtual machine guest within a Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 or VMware virtual machine host. |
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Virtual-to-virtual (V2V) migration: Migrates a virtual machine guest between different virtualization layers, including Microsoft Virtual Server 2005, VMware ESX Server®, and VMware GSX Server®. |
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Virtual-to-physical (V2P) migration: Migrates a virtual machine guest within a Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 or VMware virtual machine host to a physical machine. |
HP ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack
Rapid Deployment Pack allows customers to set up automated deployment tasks. With this plug-in, HP SIM could, for example, automatically install operating system software any time a new blade is inserted into a business's HP BladeSystem enclosure. This eliminates both the labor and potential inconsistencies involved with manual installation, and it frees IT staff to focus on innovation and tactical projects.
HP ProLiant Essentials Performance Management Pack
Performance Management Pack reduces the need for in-house diagnostic expertise by making it easy to identify and troubleshoot potential configuration problems. It provides proactive notification of emerging bottleneck conditions, debugs existing performance issues, displays performance information, and logs system data for later analysis and reporting.
HP ProLiant Essentials Vulnerability and Patch Management Pack
Virtual systems are just as susceptible to attack as physical systems. Vulnerability and Patch Management Pack provides comprehensive vulnerability scanning and remediation capabilities to ensure that systems remain secure. It also automatically acquires and deploys patches across the entire infrastructure, handling both physical and virtual resources while eliminating the need for multiple manual installations.
HP Storage Essentials
HP's portfolio of Storage Essentials software integrates out-of-the-box with HP Systems Insight Manager to enable simplified, centralized administration of DAS, NAS, SAN, and mixed storage environments. These powerful storage-related plug-ins provide single-pane resource and performance management, provisioning, reporting, and infrastructure and capacity monitoring, as well as tools for user chargeback and for optimizing resource utilization of networked data storage resources.
HP simplified virtualization
HP Systems Insight Manager and integrated HP ProLiant Essentials software take the fear and hard work out of building and maintaining virtual environments. In short, they help make the benefits of virtualization attainable for small and mid-sized businesses.
In addition, HP offers other services and best-in-class support that ensure businesses' virtual and physical resources operate continuously and optimally without large, specialized IT staffs. Visit the HP SMB Smart Services website to learn more.
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