The BUI, or how Sun learned to stop over-thinking and love the customer
There are a lot of things that Sun is known for doing well. Shiny hardware, open-source software, excellent April Fools Day pranks. But user interfaces are generally not placed on that list. Honestly, our UIs have, in the past, probably gone on the opposite list.
Which is probably why people at VMworld were so impressed with the UI for Sun xVM Ops Center 2.0 and Sun xVM Server.
The new UI is almost the same in both Sun xVM Server and Sun xVM Ops Center. It's divided into three panels. The one on the left is the navigation. Each heading expands when you select it.
The center panel displays detailed information about what's selected. For instance, if you select jobs, the current list of jobs will be displayed. If you select an OS, CPU and memory information will appear.
The right panel displays the actions that can be taken on whatever is selected. If the OS from the last example is still selected, these actions will include updating the OS, rebooting the system, and activating notifications.
So, basically, in addition to the new features that are going into Sun xVM Ops Center 2.0, we've tried to make it intuitive and as simple as possible to learn. Makes me feel like waving a cowboy hat.
Nice interface looks like you employed some people from Microsoft :)
Posted by brett on September 30, 2008 at 06:47 AM MDT #
Brett,
Are you saying that because it's such a blue screen?
Seriously, though, I think the UI folks are proud of what they've done, and I think they should be.
Posted by Owen Allen on September 30, 2008 at 08:39 AM MDT #
And so they should be it looks very good, the MS comment was a joke but my admiration of the interface wasn't.
What is the level of support like now for Ldoms, is there any ability to manage vmware hosts. What i'd really like to see is a management tool that will let me manage Xvm, Ldom, Zones/Cntainers, Vmware Zones and maybe even HyperV all from a single interface.
Brett
Posted by Brett Carr on September 30, 2008 at 08:45 AM MDT #
Cool UI. Very sleek. Which begs a question - Why is Project Woodstock out there when Sun itself seems to classify it as useless?
Posted by Anon on September 30, 2008 at 11:04 AM MDT #
Brett,
I figured as much.
As for interoperability, we're doing our best to make Sun xVM products work
with other people's solutions. Sun xVM VirtualBox and Sun xVM Server can both
use vmdk files. As for future interactions between Sun xVM and VMware or
Microsoft, we'll all have to wait and see.
In the long run, Sun xVM Ops Center is meant to be the overarching tool that
you imagine, though. In 2.0, Sun xVM Ops Center will at least let you manage
Sun xVM Servers and containers/zones.
Posted by Owen Allen on September 30, 2008 at 11:26 AM MDT #
Anon,
I don't know much about Project Woodstock. But from what I can see, it seems to be making a lot of the tools that we used in this UI generally available, which seems like a good idea.
Posted by Owen Allen on September 30, 2008 at 11:30 AM MDT #
is it extjs ?
but anyway it's cool
Posted by Ryan Fabella on November 05, 2008 at 10:38 PM MST #
Hey Brett, the tool you are lookin for is openqrm 4.2 (cloud edition) . Am about to begin testing myself, i was actually wondering about openqrm supporting the sun stuff, i'm not sure but it certanly supports Xen.org Xensource Vmware, can migrate Physical servers to VM and back.
I'm not touting anything here, i'm reading this thread out of pure interest in solaris running my xen. (xvm) i understand that they have incorporated a whole lot of tech that the opensource version does not have.
But Sun OPS center is not free, and i am lookin for a VM solution for SMB. emphasis on the S.
And xVM + OpenQRM would seem like an awesome combination.
QRM also seems to want to manage your whole data centre, it's not just a VM interface.
Maybe Sun UI team could take a look it at? consider including it?
Posted by Anthony McInerney on November 23, 2008 at 07:46 AM MST #
Anthony,
I may be able to clarify a bit here. There are a couple of parts of Sun xVM that together accomplish much of what openQRM is doing.
Sun xVM Server allows you to create and manage virtual machines on a single server. It's open-source, so it's ideal for small businesses.
Once you start pushing into medium- or large-business scale, Sun xVM Ops Center comes into play. It's a datacenter management tool, combining management of Sun xVM Servers with OS and hardware monitoring, provisioning, and patching.
OpenQRM does have some nifty features, and I'll have to take a closer look at it. But I think they have similar aims - combined management of virtual and physical machines. Sun xVM Ops Center isn't free, no, but if you're a business big enough to want services and support, OpenQRM is not free either.
Posted by Owen Allen on December 01, 2008 at 03:55 PM MST #
What I am specifically looking for though is a management platform that will let me manage Sun Ldoms, Sun Zones and VMWare ESX, do either of these products satisfy that aim?
Posted by Brett Carr on December 02, 2008 at 02:40 AM MST #
Right now, no. But we're working on that.
Sun xVM Ops Center can read VMware's vm format, but it can't manage instances of VMware ESX. Sun xVM Server fills a similar role to ESX and is open-sourced, so you could move your virtual machines from ESX to Sun xVM Server and manage them in Sun xVM Ops Center. Sun xVM Ops Center can manage Sun Zones, although the degree of management will be more extensive in 2.0 and thereafter, and support for Sun Ldom management is planned for a future release.
The OpenQRM docs say that they can manage VMware, although they're not specific about what products. They also don't mention Sun Ldoms or Sun Zones, so I don't think they manage either one.
Posted by Owen Allen on December 02, 2008 at 03:04 PM MST #