SCVMM - the worlds longest acronym?

Nope, Adcomsubordcomphibspac is the longest English one (apparently, and it's a Navy term, standing for Administrative Command, Amphibious Forces, Pacific Fleet Subordinate Command) but SCVMM comes pretty close.  Needless to say, it's a mouthful.

System Center Virtual Machine Manager is one of the latest products within the System Center family of products to be released in a public beta, which you can download here.  So, what is it, and why is now the time to start using it, testing it, and loving it?

Well, we know virtualisation is hotter than the surface of the sun at the moment, as there is no sign of it cooling down just yet.  So, you create and start running all these different virtual machines, hopefully on Virtual Server, but then what?  How do you control and manage them all?  How do you deploy them quickly?  Do you want to convert physical machines to virtual machines and vice versa?

SCVMM is your answer to all those questions.  Sure, Microsoft accept that Virtual Server has it's short falls, but, when you combine it with SCVMM, you can really start to reap the benefits of a virtual infrastructure.  One thing I will say is, don't just think about now.  Think about a little bit further down the line, when Windows Server Virtualisation hits the fore.  Not only will you be able to migrate your virtual machines from Virtual Server straight over to WSV, thanks for the VHD file format, but SCVMM will allow you to seamlessly manage those virtual machines too, in an environment that you can start using.  Today.

So, what are some of the other benefits of SCVMM?  Well, here's a top 10...

1. Maximize Datacenter resources through consolidation
2. Physical-to-Virtual  and Virtual-to-Virtual conversions are a snap - including conversion of VMware disks & VM's to VHD's
3. Quick provisioning of new virtual machines
4. Intelligent Placement minimizes virtual machine guesswork in deployment
5. The Library helps keep virtual machine components organized
6. Templates speed the creation of new virtual machines
7. Virtual Machine Manager looks familiar and is easy to use
8. Works with the rest of the Datacenter
9. Leverages Datacenter investments in SAN storage
10. Windows PowerShell provides rich management and scripting environment

You can read details on each of the top 10 here.

There are a whole host of resources on the Microsoft.com pages:

• SCVMM Beta 2 Download
• SCVMM DataSheet
• SCVMM Overview White Paper
• Microsoft Virtualisation Solutions
• SCVMM Product Overview
• SCVMM FAQ

As if they were not reasons enough to download SCVMM and try it out, you can win an Xbox 360, just for downloading!