Today Lanamark announced availability of Lanamark Suite Managed Services Edition which enables IT consultants, managed service providers, system integrators and value-added resellers to offer subscription-based capacity management and optimization services. Here is a summary of the two editions:

Professional Services Edition

Lanamark Suite Professional Services Edition enables solution providers to deliver project-based assessment, planning and design services across desktops, servers and storage. It facilitates delivery of the following solutions and services:

• Application Delivery Planning
• Desktop Virtualization Planning
• Server Virtualization Planning
• Storage Optimization

Managed Services Edition

Lanamark Suite Managed Services Edition enables solution providers to deliver subscription-based capacity management and optimization services across physical and virtual infrastructure. It facilitates delivery of the following solutions and services:

• Capacity Management
• Hardware Lifecycle Management
• Continuous Server Consolidation
• Virtual Infrastructure Optimization
• Software Asset Management

Rather than resell complex capacity planning software such as Novell PlateSpin Recon, solution providers can instead deliver capacity planning and optimization as a service. This allows customers to focus on their core business rather than purchase expensive software and maintain in-house expertise for using it.

Novell recently launched Novell PlateSpin Recon 3.7, claiming that it "...Delivers New Capacity Tool to Give Deep Insight into...Storage".

First, PlateSpin got so excited about the new capacity planning tool that it actually forgot to post the press release on its own website. However, the parent company, Novell, did the honors.

Second, there is a mention of a "new capacity tool" for storage. There is no new tool - storage planning is a feature of an existing Novell PlateSpin Recon product.

Finally, PlateSpin published a KB article stating the following limitation:

"Another exception to this function is the inability to list attached SAN disks as fiber Channel (FC) storage type for Windows 2003 server platform. This is because Windows 2003 server doesn’t have the required file (hbaapi.mof) which is responsible for identifying the disk type as FC. Therefore, in the properties of inventoried Windows 2003 server, the SAN disk type is listed incorrectly as "Local" under "Storage" tab. This file exists on Windows 2008 server."

The best part is the workaround:

"The work around to address this issue is copying this file from a Windows 2008 server to the Windows 2003 server which has attached SAN drives."

This makes users wonder what other manual work they will have to do to perform storage capacity planning.

If you are looking to get deep insight into storage infrastructure, products like Quest Storage Horizon (formerly MonoSphere) provide excellent capabilities in this space. If you are a solution provider designing storage infrastructure for virtualized environments, then the Storage Design Module in the Lanamark Suite is worth taking a look at.

After releasing PlateSpin Recon 3.6 in April, Novell announced PlateSpinRecon 3.7. The new version includes the following enhancements:

• Support for IBM AIX 5.2, 5.3 and 6.1
• Collection of additional disk performance metrics
• Identification of disk type attached to the workload (local, iSCSI, FC)

Unlike Lanamark Suite, PlateSpin Recon continues to use agents that can affect the security, performance and compliance of target systems. However, the user guide seems to contradict itself:

• PlateSpin Recon does not require the installation of agent software, eliminating the need to physically touch data center servers. All performance and inventory data is collected via standard OS instrumentation capabilities. (p. 11, 16)
• Windows: PlateSpin Recon copies an executable onto the machine being inventoried to the a directory within ADMIN$. PlateSpin Recon runs the executable through WMI or a remote service. (p. 165)
• Linux/Solaris: PlateSpin Recon uses the SCP protocol to transfer a platform-specific inventory binary and libraries to the /tmp directory of the machine being inventoried. (p. 164)

An agent, such as the one deployed by Novell PlateSpin Recon, can set off intrusion detection systems and void compliance of locked down target systems in enterprise environments. Furthermore, if a malicious third-party gains access to the host running Novell PlateSpin Recon and substitutes the executable/binary with malicious software (malware), then the malware can be launched on all systems accessed by PlateSpin Recon with administrative privileges. This single point of attack makes the enterprise particularly vulnerable to a security breach.

To avoid a slap on the wrist from customers, most solution providers would opt-in for an agent-less approach.

Alessandro Perilli wrote an interesting blog post about how Novell is moving PlateSpin Recon development to India. The PlateSpin Recon development team working on the product in Toronto, Canada is very talented and this change is not likely to be well-received by members of this team. There is also a question of how the product will be managed and how Novell is planning to channel feedback from customers and partners to the product development team.

That said, a number of virtualization companies have built phenomenal teams and products with development centers offshore. Lanamark with design and development teams in Latvia, Romania and Ukraine, Parallels with development centers in Eastern Europe and VMLogix with a stellar team in Bangalore, India are good examples of such companies.

PlateSpin will be hosting a webinar to review new capabilities in PlateSpin Recon 3.6. Here are the webinar details:

• Date: May 14, 2009
• Time: 1:00 pm EST
• Length: 1 hour

Click here to register

After releasing PlateSpin Recon 3.5 in December 2008, Novell announced PlateSpin Recon 3.6. The new version includes the following major enhancements:

• Support for Sun Solaris Containers
• Support for Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11
• Enhancements for including virtual clusters in virtual infrastructure reports

In its announcement, Novell clearly underscores that PlateSpin Recon enables "data center managers to gain new insight into their virtual infrastructure." This direct focus on the enterprise is quite different from the focus at Lanamark for enabling solution providers to deliver IT infrastructure assessment, planning and design services for enterprises using Lanamark Suite.

Comparison of Lanamark Suite versus Novell PlateSpinRecon and VMware Capacity Planner

Novell PlateSpin Recon and Lanamark Suite provide similar visual charting and reporting capabilities. However there is a significant difference in the amount of time it takes solution providers to prepare reports for customers. This is largely because Novell PlateSpin Recon is designed for enterprises whereas Lanamark Suite is optimized for usage by consultants, system integrators and value-added resellers delivering IT infrastructure analysis and design services.

Based on feedback from Lanamark partners who have used PlateSpin Recon in the past, it takes 60% to 80% less time per project to perform analysis and reporting using Lanamark Suite. This typically translates to time savings of one-to-two days per project. For a five-day project, this results in 20% to 40% savings in manual effort required from the solution provider. Here is why reporting with Lanamark Suite is so efficient:

1. Project files

Lanamark Suite allows solution providers to create a project file using a snapshot containing inventory and performance data, and a project template containing one or more report templates. This ensures that customer data from different snapshots and reports are never mixed across different projects, making analysis and reporting much more manageable and efficient.

2. Report templates

Report templates can be exported and shared among a team of consultants. When a project is created and a report template is selected, the data in the snapshot is automatically projected onto the report template.

3. Automated data projection

There is no need to generate each report and then export it to the file system. Lanamark Suite automatically projects snapshot data onto report templates which can be immediately published into various file formats.

4. Plug-in for Microsoft Office Word 2007

Lanamark Suite enables solution providers to create a report document template in Microsoft Office Word 2007 with embedded charts and tables. This allows a report to be produced for customers without exporting, copying and pasting each chart and table into the report document, dramatically reducing the amount of time required for preparing customer deliverables.

Because Lanamark Suite is designed to enable solution providers to deliver assessment, planning and design services, every bit of efficiency is multiplied by the number of projects. This is the reason why reporting automation is an integral part of Lanamark Suite.

Citrix today announced that it will make Citrix XenServer Enterprise available at no charge to customers. How does its offering compare to that of Microsoft?

Since Microsoft Hyper-V is free and because Microsoft is making revenue from its System Center family of systems management products, this move will further align Citrix with Microsoft. Furthermore, because Citrix is going to support Hyper-V in its Citrix Essentials management package and because Microsoft is going to support Citrix XenServer in System Center Virtual Machine Manager, the virtualization offerings from both vendors are becoming increasingly symmetrical:

• Citrix XenServer Enterprise (free) with Citrix Essentials management applications ($).
• Microsoft Hyper-V (free) with System Center management applications ($).

That said, there are several areas where the offering from Citrix shines compared to the one from Microsoft:

Live Migration

• XenMotion is included with Citrix XenServer Enterprise.
• Microsoft is not going to have live migration capabilities until Windows Server 2008 R2 is released (in 2010 most likely).

Multi-server Management

• Citrix is giving away XenCenter for free to allow enterprises to manage multiple hosts.
• The equivalent Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager offering is priced at $869 USD per managed server. Alternatively, customers may purchase Virtual Machine Manager as part of the System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise at $1497 USD per managed server.

Lab Management and Stage Management

• Citrix partnered with VMLogix to include stage and lab management capabilities as part of Citrix Essentials.
  
• Microsoft is going to offer lab management capabilities as part of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2010.
  

It is clear that Citrix and Microsoft will continue creating a unified front against VMware. The most recent announcement from Citrix declaring extension of its 20-year partnership with Microsoft into server virtualization underscores this.

Regardless of whether Citrix XenServer Enterprise or Microsoft Hyper-V is the target virtualization platform, planning for these environments side-by-side is becoming increasingly important. Products such as Lanamark Suite and Novell PlateSpin Recon make this possible.

Learn more about the Sever Virtualization Design Module with support for Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V and other virtualization platforms.

VMware Capacity Planner is probably the best known tool for planning VMware Infrastructure deployments. But what about other tools and how do they differ from VMware Capacity Planner? Below is a summary of two alternative solutions compared to VMware Capacity Planner:

Lanamark Suite

Agent-less	Yes
Desktop virtualization planning	Yes
Server virtualization planning	Yes
Size on disk	42 MB
Advanced modeling	Yes
Supports multiple hypervisors	Yes
Data has to go offsite for analysis	No
Web-based management console	Yes
Free virtualization readiness assessment	Yes
Support for both physical and virtual infrastructure	Yes
Space required for 500 machines with one month of data	500 MB
Additional requirements
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0

Learn more about Lanamark Suite

Novell PlateSpin Recon (formerly PowerRecon)

Agent-less	monitoring only
Desktop virtualization planning	No
Server virtualization planning	Yes
Size on disk	2+ GB
Advanced modeling	Yes
Supports multiple hypervisors	Yes
Data has to go offsite for analysis	No
Web-based management console	No
Free virtualization readiness assessment	No
Support for both physical and virtual infrastructure	Yes
Space required for 500 machines with one month of data	10+ GB
Additional requirements
PostgreSQL 8.3 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005 Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Microsoft IIS 5.0/6.0 with ASP.NET

Learn more about Novell PlateSpin Recon

VMware Capacity Planner

Agent-less	Yes
Desktop virtualization planning	No
Server virtualization planning	Yes
Size on disk	250 MB
Advanced modeling	No
Supports multiple hypervisors	No
Data has to go offsite for analysis	Yes
Web-based management console	Yes
Free virtualization readiness assessment	No
Support for both physical and virtual infrastructure	No
Space required for 500 machines with one month of data	minimal (data sent offsite)

Learn more about VMware Capacity Planner

After acquiring PlateSpin earlier this year for $205M, Novell has formally renamed its flagship capacity planning product PlateSpin PowerRecon to simply PlateSpin Recon. The latest 3.5 release has some exciting new features:

 

1. Extended hypervisor support

Citrix XenServer 4.1 and 5.0 as well as Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V are now supported (VMware ESX was supported in previous releases).

2. Platform expansion

Microsoft Windows Vista (32- and 64-bit), Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32- and 64-bit), Linux (64-bit), and Novell NetWare (5.1, 6.0 and 6.5) are now supported.

3. CPU Normalization

Differences between CPU manufacturers, generations and architectures are now taken into account in the Consolidation Planning Module.