Once you've accepted that you need to embrace virtualization, the next step is to connect to a partner.

Say what you will about the great virtualization debate, but the hypervisors are about the same. Microsoft, VMWare, Parallels, Xen, they all have great hypervisors. Particularly as we look in the SMB, they all do a great job of virtualizing workloads.

What is really different between the products is the management tools, and the partner programs that stand behind them. And as you begin to grow your practice, you'll rely on having a good engagement with your partner of choice.

I got this release from my friends at Diskeeper, and they continue to push the envelope. Compelling stuff!

NEW!

So I'm presenting new material around building your virtualization practice, and I wanted to let everyone know.

"Virtualization: Defined - Building Your Virtualization Practice”

There is a lot of buzz around virtualization. The industry talks, but how do you make any money at it? Learn how to take the ideas the enterprise is talking about and scale them to your SMB customers, what you need to know about the business of virtualization, and how to build your practice.

In my process for setting up your virtualization practice, the first step I outlined is Acceptance. This may sound very 12 step program, but it's very important to get started there.

You, your organization, need to commit to doing virtualization. You need to see the vision, and understand why this is a critical piece of technology. If you don't believe it, you won't get anywhere.

The big announcement recently, and all the buzz, has been around Windows 7's feature, XP Mode. An embedded version of Virtual PC running Windows XP which will run within Windows 7 and offer a compatibility mode.

Now, this is certainly an interesting and important feature. I think this will help greatly with concerns about compatibility, and allow organizations with legacy apps to move quickly.

It also shows the real power of virtualization to solve problems like this.

However, I'll offer another thought. Have you thought of virtualizing applications?

Everyone loves a good battle.

I had the opportunity to do a face off about virtualization. And me, someone who normally isn't one to take sides on what I consider a religious debate.

http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/server-virtualization/face-off-vmware-vs-microsoft-in-the-hypervisor-wars/

I do tend to favor Microsoft, as I find their stuff solid, well thought out, and manageable.

1. Hyper-V based Windows Server 2008 virtual machines with an evaluation period of 60 days are available here:
   1. Windows Server 2008 Standard x86 (full install)
   2. Windows Server 2008 Standard x86 (core install)
   3. Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 (full install)
   4. Windows Server 2008 Standard x64 (core install)

There is a new Hyper-V Security Guide available for download now. This is a great read that goes over the practical steps that Hyper-V administrators can take in order to ensure that their servers are securely configured. You can download it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2220624b-a562-4e79-aa69-a7b3dffdd090

Microsoft Adds Microsoft Visio Add-In for Rack Server Virtualization (Virtual Rack)

Microsoft has recently released an add-in for Visio to help you build rack diagrams.

Rack Server Virtualization Add-in provides the capability to pull the rack-server data either from an Excel spread sheet or from the user and render the Visio diagram.

So Enterprise Management Quarterly picked up the book:

http://www.emqus.com/index.php?/emq/article/virtualization_defined_a_pri...

Check it out!