Virtual Machine Reporting Capability in MAP 4.0
After writing the following article on the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0 beta http://www.mvug.co.uk/blogs/mvugblog/archive/2009/06/24/microsoft-assessment-and-planning-toolkit-4-0-beta.aspx I wanted to further understand one of the NEW features “Virtual Machine Reporting Capabilities” and so I managed to get the opportunity to communicate with Kingsley Daniel the Microsoft PM for this feature.
MAP 4.0 supports discovery and inventory of virtualization technologies, both Microsoft and VMware, deployed in an IT infrastructure. The results of virtual machine inventory are presented within the MAP UI or can be generated in a new report, VM report. The following are the key highlights of VM reporting capability in MAP 4.0:
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Microsoft virtualization products supported: Virtual PC, Virtual Server 2005/R2 and Hyper-V/R2.
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VMware virtualization products supported: ESX, ESXi and VMware Server 2. Virtual Center is not supported in MAP 4.0.
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VM report provides the summary of the following information for Microsoft and VMware virtualization products:
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Count of servers grouped by virtualization technology.
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Host/Guest relationship showing number of guests running on each host, guest to host ratio.
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Host/Guest details showing hardware configuration of both hosts and guests
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MAP requires VMware server credentials to access VMware servers. VMware credentials specified must have the privilege to connect to VMware management web service, enumerate guests and query details about the guests.
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Users can easily specify server names, credentials and management port of VMware servers through MAP 4.0 user interface. Server names can also be imported through a text file or through IP address range.
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MAP uses WMI to inventory VMware Server 2 machines and VMware guests running a Microsoft OS. So users must provide WMI credentials along with VMware server credentials to get rich details about their environment.
Patrick Lownds