Microsoft's Virtualization Chief: Watch For Us In The CloudMicrosoft's Virtualization Chief: Watch For Us In The Cloud

Microsoft is taking steps to mesh its virtualization software with its cloud computing endeavors.

In a recent interview, Mike Neil, Microsoft's general manager of virtualization, said the Hyper-V hypervisor and Virtual Machine Manager component of Microsoft's System Center are designed to support virtualization both on premises and in the cloud.

Neil paused in a busy day of talking to the press after delivering a keynote at the Sys-Con Virtualization Conference and Expo in San Jose Nov. 21. In a Waggener Edstrom Public Relations office not far from the San Francisco Giant's new ballpark, he talked about Microsoft's virtualization initiatives and how they may evolve to support cloud computing.

First he claimed it was one-third price to manage a virtual machine environment under Windows Server 2008 and Systems Center's Virtual Machine Manager versus VMware. But he said it wasn't Microsoft's goal to gain market share through lower license fees. "We don't look at it as a matter of us taking customers from VMware. We look at it as a matter of how do we grow the pie," he said.

With Hyper-V now available either independently or as part of Windows Server 2008, and Virtual Machine Manager available since late October, Microsoft's "ISV community is excited about the new possibilities," and can be expected to generate new applications that are design for a managed, virtualized environment, he said.

Some of those applications are almost surely going to be cloud-based. One example Neil gave was the Louisville, Ky., hosting service, Maximum ASP. It's come up with MaxV, a cloud computing service that runs Hyper-V virtual servers. They will take a bundled application and operating system based on the Microsoft/Citrix Systems VHD format and run it as a Hyper-V server, adding such services as high availability through clustering, SAN storage and nightly backups. Customers can have root administrative access to their virtual server. The service has a price tag of $99 a month.

Neil said Microsoft's virtualization and cloud computing strategy was clearer with the announcement of Windows Azure Cloud Infrastructure tools. "It's not just hosting in the cloud. It's establishing a platform in the cloud. We want to store data in the cloud, run programs, supply access control and identity management, and control the workflow.

"On premises, you can buy SAP apps and run them under Windows... If SAP is to provide a cloud version, then you need a platform in the cloud to run it on, with scalable data services, federated identity and other services. Microsoft has been talking about 'software and services,' but it hasn't been clear how that works. With the Azure platform, it's clearer. Software and services together make good sense," Neil said.

By platform, Neil said cloud suppliers will need to not just supply remote servers but ways to develop and maintain applications in the cloud. "When it comes to Google or Amazon.com, they have the cloud but what cloud development tools do they supply?" he asked.

"We have a leg up on cloud in development tools. At [Microsoft's] Professional Developers Conference [in Los Angeles Nov. 17-20], we created a cloud application. As part of Visual Studio 10, we built in a test manager solution; it runs in a VM. If you find a bug, you attach the VM to the bug report so the developer can see what the bug did, and doesn't have to repeat the steps that created it."

Microsoft can also use its ADO.net approach to retrieving data and data base objects. In effect it's an API that can grant access to Microsoft SQL Server, to OLE objects or to data that behind an ODBC relational database interface. With one API, cloud users can link to a variety of data sources, also in the cloud, he said. Azure will bring more cloud infrastructure tools, he predicted.

Neil noted that Microsoft is among the supporters of the management interface for virtual machines being worked on by the DMTF standards group. "We built Hyper-V in the DMTF management spec (VMAN), so we're already compliant with that. We plan to support OVF," or the Open Virtualization Format, which lets stored virtual files be moved from one hypervisor to another, offering the information needed to the new host to reactivate the virtual machine.

Neil noted that Microsoft partner, Citrix, has built a Kensho toolset for OVF, which helps construct files in the OVF format. "We see OVF as a way to package up applications for appliances, move them into the cloud. We're waiting for the standard (to mature)," although at this point it's been issued in its 1.0 version by the DMTF. Microsoft enjoys "a close partnership" with Citrix, and the two are working together on a desktop virtualization infrastructure, he said.

Neil noted Microsoft will be pressing another advantage in its approach to virtualization. With the release of Virtual Machine Manager, Microsoft's System Center can manage both Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware ESX Server virtual machines. "Citrix XenServer is on the roadmap. We wanted cross vendor management capabilities. With System Center, you just need one license and one console to manage virtual and physical resources," he said.

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