Performance Evaluation of Intel EPT Hardware Assist (Xeon 5500 series processors)

We recently released a whitepaper that demonstrates huge performance gains provided by VMware ESX on the latest Intel Xeon™ 5500-series processors. These processors introduce Intel’s second-generation hardware support for virtualization that incorporates memory management unit (MMU) virtualization called Extended Page Tables™ (EPT). ESX has been adopting these technologies as they are introduced, and many workloads [...]

GoGrid: Correctly measuring up the Cloud performance

GoGrid sets the record straight and also helps understand about the ideal Cloud disk usage and suggest to use streaming performance of block device. See for yourself:
Use the Right Tool
Secondly, hdparm -t isn’t a very good way to measure disk speed. It’s susceptible to noise from background activity, in fact the man page says:
[...]

Savvis chooses NetQoS for Network Performance Monitoring

NetQoS® Inc. technology has been chosen as the foundation of a new network visibility service offered by Savvis, Inc. (Nasdaq: SVVS), a global leader in outsourced managed computing and network infrastructure for IT applications. The service offering will provide Savvis Global Network Solutions customers with unprecedented insight into traffic composition, network utilisation, and application [...]

Citrix CTO’s open challenge to VMware: Let’s get it straight this time!

My comment is there on Simon’s blog. I am purely interested in the end-result: Get my customers happy [I know I am asking for the impossible] with the right platform.
As a former academic, I’d give this mumbo jumbo an F grade. Bad science, bad scientists, uneven playing field:

First, the VMware claims are not independently [...]

Forrester: SOA and Desktop Virtualization to worsen productivity

So basically what you can conclude from this report of forrester is that desktop virtualization will lead to the following?

Helpdesk calls might intensify
Complexity of applications will intensify
Performance of desktops might only worsen
Loss of business [as perceived by traditional IT Managers and business leaders] activity will only worsen

That doesn’t really sound good for all those desktop [...]

Xen hypervisors benchmarked on performance; interesting results

Our testing confirmed some readers’ assertions that open source Xen is a formidable challenger to the closed code VMware and Microsoft hypervisors. When we measured the performance of business transactions running atop the hypervisors, Citrix’s XenServer 5.0 was the top finisher in nine out of 12 test runs.
The disk I/O battle was won by Novell’s [...]

VMware does a performance study on AMD’s RVI

Nice read, this doc.
In a native system the operating system maintains a mapping of logical page numbers (LPNs) to physical page numbers (PPNs) in page table structures. When a logical address is accessed, the hardware walks these page tables to determine the corresponding physical address. For faster memory access the x86 hardware caches the most [...]

VMware completes B-hive acquisition; prepares for application performance!

With this acquisition, VMware will leverage the B-hive team and technology to enhance the VMware portfolio of application and infrastructure management products by offering proactive performance management and service level reporting for applications running within virtual machines. B-hive technology brings insight into the performance of applications and the ability to automate changes using VMware’s industry-leading [...]

Virtualization maybe great but I/O, compliance and security concerns still remain!

Xsigo takes an interesting approach in addressing the I/O concerns.
The solution is to virtualize server I/O. That is, turn normally fixed and static I/O channels, host bus adapters, and network interface cards into more dynamic resources whose capacity can expand and contract based on virtual server needs. If I/O virtualization could be achieved, it would [...]

GEAR6 TO SHOWCASE CENTRALIZED CACHING SOLUTIONS FOR BIOINFORMATICS AT BIO-IT WORLD IN BOSTON

BOSTON – April 23, 2008 – Gear6, accelerating I/O for real time application performance, will showcase the benefits of scalable caching appliances for bioinformatics at the Bio-IT World Conference and Expo, April 28-30, at the World Trade Center in Boston. The company will demonstrate how these new solutions enable significantly faster completion times for common [...]