VMware ESX Server 3i
I know that strictly speaking XenSource came up with the first embedded hypervisor, but don’t mention that to VMware.
However, VMware have officially announced, the not so well kept secret, I first heard about this in conjunction with Dell servers. It is a great idea and all the major server vendors have been involved, including IBM, HP & Dell.
The hypervisor will run in memory which will mean that boot times are improved along with the obvious power & cooling implications of not needing to have any hard drives to run an OS.
This ultra-thin hypervisor (a mere 32mb) whilst currently sounding a little like vapour-ware (given that all the statements talk of “will” and “could”) is going to have all the important functionality HA, DRS, VMotion etc.
I can’t wait to get hold of this, possibly on the new IBM 3950 M2 which hasbeen designed specifialy for the embedded hypervisor market.
I’ll let you all know if there is any mention of embedded hypervisors on the stands of any of the hardware vendors.
