Chapter 1: Oracle VM Introduction

At Oracle OpenWorld 2007, Oracle announced its entry into the x86 server virtualization market with the first release of Oracle VM for x86, version 2.1. Oracle VM for x86 was introduced as a low cost, high performance, open source server-virtualization solution for Oracle and non-Oracle workloads, backed by Oracle's world-class support organization. With the release of Oracle VM for x86, Oracle had a flagship x86 server virtualization solution and a clear x86 server virtualization strategy.

Note: The first release of Oracle VM for x86 was version 2.1. An Oracle colleague explained to me that Larry Ellison avoids using 1.0 for Oracle product releases to help drive early adoption.

In August 2008, Oracle announced the release of Oracle VM templates. Oracle VM templates are self-contained preconfigured virtual machines with key Oracle technologies, which can be downloaded from the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal and quickly deployed into production using Oracle VM for x86. Oracle VM templates completely eliminate the operating system and application installation process, reducing risk and dramatically shortening Oracle application deployment timelines.

In August 2009, Oracle announced the release of Oracle VM Template Builder. Oracle VM Template Builder is an application-packaging studio that generates preconfigured, reusable Oracle VM templates with Oracle and non-Oracle applications on Oracle Linux JeOS (just enough operating system). Oracle Linux JeOS is a customizable small-footprint x86 and x86-64 Oracle Linux operating system.

On January 27, 2010 Oracle completed the acquisition of Sun Microsystems, which added Sun's software and hardware assets to Oracle's product portfolio. Shorty after the Sun acquisition, Oracle rebranded numerous Sun virtualization technologies with the Oracle VM product name and created the Oracle VM product family with the following three separate product lines: Oracle VM for x86, Oracle VM for SPARC (formally LDOMs), and Oracle VM VirtualBox. Each product line has add-on products that extend the functionally of the line. Then, Oracle announced Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder and JRockit Virtual Edition. Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder and JRockit Virtual Edition extended Oracle VM templating into the Oracle Fusion Middleware product portfolio.

With the addition of Oracle VM templates, Oracle VM Template Builder, Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder, and JRockit Virtual Edition, Oracle VM for x86 was transformed from a x86 server-virtualization solution into Oracle's next-generation application delivery platform.

The next sections will examine Oracle VM for x86, Oracle VM templates, Oracle VM Template Builder, Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder, JRockit Virtual Edition and the Oracle VM Management Pack.

Oracle VM for x86 Introduction

Oracle VM for x86 is Oracle's x86 cloud virtualization and next generation application delivery platform. Oracle VM for x86 ships preinstalled on the Sun x86 server and blade product line and is also fully supported on third-party x86-64 servers. Oracle VM for x86 is the preferred virtualization and application delivery platform for internal and/or external clouds using x86 hardware running Oracle Linux, Solaris x86, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, or Windows virtual machines. With Oracle VM for x86, mission-critical applications can be migrated from physical to virtual machines with unparalleled density, performance, and ease of management.

Operating system and application installations can be very time consuming. Oracle VM for x86 offers next-generation operating system and application packaging and deployment features that eliminate the traditional operating system and application installation process. Oracle VM for x86 enables operating system and application configurations to be packaged in preconfigured, reusable virtual-machine templates. Virtual machine templates can consist of a single virtual machine or a group of virtual machines, called an assembly. Virtual machine templates can be rapidly redeployed an unlimited number of times as copies of an original virtual machine or virtual machine assembly, or as a unique new virtual machine or virtual machine assembly.

The Oracle VM for x86 is a type 1 hypervisor that installs directly on x86-64 hardware, enabling multiple concurrently running virtual machines to share a single piece of hardware. Each virtual machine has its own operating system, kernel, virtual CPUs, RAM, network interfaces, storage, and applications. Oracle VM for x86 increases server utilization by breaking the traditional one-workload-per-box approach to server provisioning while making operating systems and enterprise applications easier to deploy, manage, and support by eliminating the operating system and application installation process.

Oracle VM for x86 consists of an x86 server component and a manager component used to manage one or more clustered servers. The server component is based on the open source Xen.org hypervisor, and is called Oracle VM server. The Xen hypervisor is a thin layer of code that installs directly on hardware that enables multiple guest operating systems to run concurrently on a single piece of hardware. Xen has emerged as the industry open standard for x86 virtualization, with broad adoption from ISVs such as Oracle, IBM, HP, Dell, and Citrix, and cloud providers such as Amazon AWS, Savvis Cloud Services, and Rackspace Cloud. Oracle makes subtle changes to the original Xen.org code that create a unique Xen distribution, which Oracle maintains and redistributes as Oracle VM server. Oracle VM server was designed to support the most demanding high I/O workloads like Oracle Database products and Oracle Exalogic, which other hypervisors and Xen distributions are unable to support.

The manager component is a traditional Oracle application, named Oracle VM Manager, that installs on Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Oracle VM Manager is used to manage one or more clustered Oracle VM servers, virtual machines, and virtual machine resources. Oracle VM Manager is a traditional Oracle application consisting of an Oracle database, an Oracle application server, and a J2EE application with an OS-/browser-neutral Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) administrative portal. All of the Oracle VM Manager components can be installed in an all-in-one configuration on an Oracle Linux virtual machine or in a multiple node HA configuration. Oracle VM Manager is distributed from the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal as an ISO file and as a preconfigured, production-ready Oracle VM template.

Figure 1 shows the Oracle VM Manager administrative portal.

Oracle VM for x86 Virtualization Modes

Oracle VM for x86 supports two unique virtualization modes, paravirtualization mode (PV mode) and hardware virtualization mode (HVM mode). Oracle VM servers can support both paravirtualization mode and hardware virtualization mode simultaneously on a single x86-64 server using either an Intel or an AMD virtualization technology. Intel and AMD virtualization is a requirement only for hardware virtualized mode, not for paravirtualization mode. Intel and AMD virtualization technologies are enabled and managed using the system BIOS.

Paravirtualization mode requires the virtual machine operating system to run a Xen kernel and Xen network and I/O drivers. Xen paravirtualized kernels ship along with the default Linux kernel with Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating systems. Paravirtualized virtual machines are hypervisor aware and run without the additional overhead of hardware emulation. Paravirtualization offers much less overhead with timers, interrupts, I/O traffic, and context switches, allowing superior scalability under heavy loads when compared to hardware virtualization mode.

Unlike paravirtualization mode, which requires the virtual machine to run a Xen kernel, hardware virtualization mode supports native unmodified operating systems. Virtual machines that run under hardware virtualization mode are called hardware virtualized machines (HVM). Hardware virtualized machines are unaware that they have been virtualized and think they are on physical hardware. To provide acceptable performance, hardware virtualized machines need to use paravirtualized network and I/O drivers. From Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.7 onwards, the stock kernels provide paravirtualized network and I/O drivers for hardware virtualized guests. From Solaris 10 10/09 onwards, the stock kernels provide paravirtualized network and I/O drivers for hardware virtualized machines. Windows does not have native paravirtualization support, although Windows virtual machines can run as hardware virtualized machines using Oracle's paravirtualized network and I/O drivers. Oracle has released paravirtualized network and I/O drivers for the Windows operating system that can be freely downloaded from the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal.

In hardware virtualization mode, the hypervisor, the Intel or AMD virtualization technologies, and dom0 with QEMU work in concert to emulate hardware for hardware virtualized machines. Hardware virtualization mode has a higher overhead than paravirtualization mode, due in part to the overhead of emulating hardware for hardware virtualized machines.

Table 1 shows the guest operating system support matrix for Oracle VM for x86. 2.2.x

Guest Operating System	Paravirtualized 32-bit	Paravirtualized 64-bit	Hardware Virtualized 32-bit	Hardware Virtualized 64-bit
*Oracle Linux 6.x	*	*	*	*
Oracle Linux 5.x	*	*	*	*
Oracle Linux 4.x	*	*	*	*
*Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x	*	*	*	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.x	*	*	*	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.x	*	*	*	*
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3.x			*	*
Microsoft Windows 2000			*	*
Microsoft Windows 2003			*	*
Microsoft Windows XP Pro			*	*
Microsoft Windows Vista			*	*
Microsoft Windows 7			*	*
Microsoft Windows 2008 SP1			*	*
Microsoft Windows 2008 R2				*
Oracle Solaris 10 10/09+			*	*
Oracle Solaris 11 Express			*	*

* Oracle VM 2.2.x does not have native ext4 support, therefore Oracle Linux 6 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 virtual machines must use ext3 for the /boot partition to be able to boot.

Oracle VM for x86 Packaging and Pricing

Oracle VM for x86 is not a licensed Oracle technology product. Support for Oracle VM for x86 is available as an add-on component of Oracle’s enterprise support package. Support for Oracle VM for x86 is available with Sun x86 hardware as an add-on Premier Support for Systems package. Oracle VM for x86 support for third-party hardware is sold as an add-on support component of Oracle’s enterprise support package.

Premier Support for Systems costs 12% of the net Sun system purchase price and includes comprehensive support for the system hardware and firmware, as well as operating system support for Solaris x86, Solaris 11 Express, Oracle Linux, and Oracle VM for x86. Along with hardware and firmware support, Premier Support for Systems includes operating system support for one or more virtual instances Oracle Linux, Solaris 10 x86, and Solaris 11 Express x86 running on Oracle VM for x86.

Support for Oracle VM for x86 for third-party hardware is sold in two packages: Oracle VM Premier Limited support for servers with up to two sockets and Oracle VM Premier support for servers with more than two sockets. Support for Oracle VM for x86 for third-party hardware only includes support for Oracle VM for x86. Operating System support for Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris x86, Solaris 11 Express, and Windows virtual machines running on Oracle VM for x86 must be purchased separately.

The next section will examine how to accelerate application deployments using the Oracle VM for x86 product line and add-on products.

Accelerating Application Deployments with Oracle VM for x86

As mentioned in the Oracle VM for x86 introduction, the Oracle VM for x86 product line includes comprehensive virtual machine and application packaging and deployment options that accelerate application deployments by eliminating time-consuming operating system and application installations. Oracle offers five unique options for accelerating application deployments using the Oracle VM for x86 product line:

List 1: Five options for accelerating application deployments using Oracle VM for x86.

Virtual Machine Cloning
Oracle VM Templates
Oracle VM Template Builder
Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder
Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition

The next sections will examine virtual machine cloning, Oracle VM Templates, Oracle VM Template Builder, Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder, and will conclude with Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition.

Virtual Machine Cloning

Operating system and application installations can be very time consuming. Virtual machine cloning using Oracle VM Manager can help accelerate application deployments by eliminating the entire operating system installation and configuration process. Applications that can tolerate host name and IP changes can be included within clones and can be rapidly redeployed an unlimited number of times as copies of the original virtual machine.

Virtual machine cloning accelerates application development and testing by reducing the time required to deploy a clean operating system environment for application testing. For example, using Oracle VM Manager, a virtual machine can be saved as a clone or saved as a template and then the clone or the template can be rapidly redeployed an unlimited number of times as copies of the original virtual machine or as unique new virtual machines.

Note: The minimum requirement to create and Oracle VM templates is an Oracle VM server managed by Oracle VM Manager.

Virtual machine cloning is an Oracle VM Manager image management feature. The Oracle VM Manager clone and save-as-template features offer sparse and nonsparse virtual machine image provisioning. The term “sparse” is commonly referred to as “thin provisioning,” in contrast to nonsparse, which is referred to as “thick provisioning”.

A thin-provisioned clone will not write the parent virtual machine's zeroed blocks to disk, whereas a thick clone will copy all of the parent virtual machine's blocks to disk. Thin-provisioned disks grow proportionally to the number of writes to the disk by the virtual machine, so that large portions of the unused disk do not consume space.

As of this writing, both thin and thick clone provisioning are off-line operations, meaning that the parent virtual machine must be powered off to create a clone. The advantage of selecting thin provisioning for clones is that the storage is allocated only when needed, which reduces the time it takes to create clones in addition to saving disk space. The disadvantage of using thin provisioning is that the file system free-space reports may be misleading. For example, since thin-provisioned disks are allocated only when needed, the file system free space reports may not be accurate since large portions of unused disk, that is, the zeroed blocks, have not yet been written to disk.

Tip: Some applications do not support copying sparse files and may copy the entire uncompressed size of the file including the sparse sections.

For more information on virtual machine cloning please refer to Chapter 5. For more information about Oracle VM Storage, please refer to Chapter 6.

Oracle VM Templates

Operating system and Oracle application installations can be very time consuming. The Oracle VM for x86 Template program was created to accelerate Oracle application deployments by offering self-contained, preconfigured virtual machines with key Oracle technologies. Oracle VM templates can be downloaded from the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal and rapidly deployed an unlimited number of times using Oracle VM for x86. The minimum requirement to run Oracle VM Template Builder and Oracle VM templates is an x86-64 server with Oracle VM for x86, Oracle VM Manager is optional although highly recommended.

List 2: The steps to download and deploy an Oracle VM template.

Select and Download the desired Oracle VM template from the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal.

Copy the Oracle VM template zip file to your Oracle VM server's /OVS/running_pool directory.
Unzip and untar the files in the /OVS/running_pool directory.
Import the Oracle VM Template using Oracle VM Manager.
Start the Oracle VM template using Oracle VM Manager.
Access the Oracle VM template's console and select the initial boot-time options.

An Oracle VM template can consist of one or more virtual machines containing a preconfigured Oracle operating system and Oracle technology products. Using Oracle VM templates eliminates the operating systems and Oracle application installation and configuration process, which dramatically shortens application deployment timelines. There is no other vendor in the x86 virtualization market that can offer pre-packaging of production ready enterprise applications.

List 3: Oracle’s Oracle VM templates collection as of this writing.

Virtualization and Management

Oracle VM Manager 2.2 and 2.1.5
Oracle VM Template Builder 2.1
Oracle VM Server 2.2.1 and 2.1.5 SDK
Sun Ray Software 5
Oracle Secure Global Desktop
Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control 10g R5 (10.2.0.5)
Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control 11g R1 (10.2.0.5)

Applications

E-Business Suite 12.1.3
E-Business Suite 12.1.1
E-Business Suite 12.X Sparse Middle Tier
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.0 Update 1 with ESUs and JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Tools 8.98 Update 3
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne 9.0 Update 1 and JD Edwards EnterpriseOneTools 8.98 Update 2
PeopleSoft ELM 9.1 Bundle #2 with PeopleTools 8.50.09
PeopleSoft FSCM 9.1 Bundle #4 (includes Maintenance Pack 2) with PeopleTools 8.50.10
PeopleSoft CRM 9.1 Bundle #2 with PeopleTools 8.50.09
PeopleSoft Portal Solutions 9.1 and PeopleTools 8.50.09
PeopleSoft HCM 9.1 and PeopleTools 8.50.02
Siebel CRM SIA 8.1.1
Siebel CRM SIA 8.0

Middleware

Oracle WebLogic Server on JRockit Virtual Edition 11g R1 (10.3.2)
Oracle WebLogic Server 10g Release 3
Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 10.1.3.4
Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 WebCenter
Oracle Identity Management 10g Release 2
Oracle Fusion Middleware Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) 10.1.3.4 and 10.1.3.3

Database & Real Application Clusters (RAC)

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 11g Release 2
Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) 11g Release 1
Oracle Database 11g and Oracle Database 10g Release 2

Operating System

Oracle Linux 4 and 5
Oracle Solaris 10

Third-party Software

Zeus Traffic Manager

Oracle VM Templates Packaging and Pricing

Oracle VM templates can be downloaded from the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal.

An Oracle VM template license includes a free download and free trial use of the Oracle technologies with the option to purchase a product license. Oracle VM templates do not have time limits or feature limitations. Oracle VM templates can be quickly transitioned from evaluations into test, development. or production by purchasing the Oracle technology product license.

Oracle frequently updates Oracle VM templates and adds new Oracle VM templates to the Oracle Linux eDelivery portal. The best way to stay up to date about Oracle VM templates is to visit ITNewsCast's Oracle VM section.

For information on how to get and deploy Oracle VM templates, please refer to Chapter 8 and Chapter 9.

Oracle VM Template Builder

Oracle VM Template Builder is a free add-on product for Oracle VM for x86 that packages Oracle and non-Oracle applications on Oracle Linux JeOS (just enough operating system) as a preconfigured, reusable Oracle VM template. Oracle Linux JeOS is a prepackaged, customizable small-footprint x86 and x86-64 Oracle Linux operating system.

Deploying preconfigured Oracle VM templates eliminates the entire operating system and application installation and configuration process. Oracle VM Template Builder dramatically shortens application deployments by packaging unique application configurations within preconfigured Oracle VM templates that can be rapidly deployed one or more times using Oracle VM for x86. The minimum requirement to run Oracle VM Template Builder and Oracle VM templates is an x86-64 server with Oracle VM for x86, Oracle VM Manager is optional although highly recommended.

Note: Oracle VM Template Builder is the application Oracle uses to create Oracle VM templates.

Oracle VM Template Builder templates are designed to be configured at the initial boot time to ensure that each template has unique operating system and application configurations. The initial boot time configuration selections can be default values and/or actions based on the user’s input.

Note: Oracle Linux JeOS is shipped with only English language support. Additional language packages for JeOS are available from Oracle Linux eDelivery portal.

Oracle VM templates can be built and used by anyone including Oracle, ISVs, Oracle Partners, VARs, and end users. JeOS Oracle VM templates can be redistributed without an agreement from Oracle. Redistributing templates with applications may or may not be allowed. It is necessary to consult with the ISV to determine if their application can be legally redistributed within an Oracle Linux JeOS template.

Packaging software applications with Oracle VM Template Builder requires a thorough understanding of the software application's behavior. This particularly applies to the Oracle VM JeOS template reconfiguration and cleanup scripts used in the Oracle VM JeOS template.

Creating Oracle VM JeOS templates is a multistep process. The number of steps to create an Oracle VM template depends on the type and complexity of the application software added to the Oracle VM JeOS template.

Oracle VM Builder Packaging and Pricing

Oracle VM Template Builder is distributed as an RPM package and as a Oracle VM template from the Linux eDelivery portal. Oracle Linux JeOS is distributed with Oracle VM Template Builder and as RPMs from the Linux eDelivery portal.

Oracle VM Template Builder and Oracle's JeOS are open source, free to download, free to use, and free to redistribute.

Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder

Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is an add-on product for Oracle VM for x86 that can profile and package reference physical or virtual multitier Oracle Fusion Middleware environments as prepackaged Oracle VM templates, which are called assemblies. Assemblies contain preconfigured JeOS virtual machines with configurable initial boot-time metadata that allow each assembly to have unique operating system and application configurations. The initial boot-time configuration selections can be default values and/or actions based on the user’s input.

Note: Introspection is Oracle's terminology for application profiling.

Assemblies are created and managed using the Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder Studio, which is a standalone administrative application. Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder Studio integrates with Oracle VM for x86 using the Oracle VM Manager API. The minimum requirements for Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder are a) Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder Studio, b) Oracle VM for x86 server pool, c) Oracle VM Manager, and d) a physical and/or virtual reference Oracle Fusion Middleware environment to introspect.

The current release of Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is 11g Release 1 (11.1.1). Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder 11g Release 1 works exclusively with Oracle VM for x86 2.x. Oracle describes the this release as a developer-centric release, as opposed to an enterprise release, due to the lack of enterprise security features, such as root access to files and directories and the absence of role-based access. The next release of Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder should be an enterprise release with the enterprise security features, broader Oracle Fusions Middleware application support, and Oracle VM 3.0 integration.

Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder Packaging and Pricing

Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is distributed from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN). Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is supported on 32-bit version of Oracle Linux and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.

Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is not a standalone Oracle technology product that can be purchased a la carte. The right to use Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is bundled with WebLogic Enterprise Edition. The only way to purchase Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder is by purchasing WebLogic Enterprise Edition licenses.

Note: I intend to add a chapter about the next enterprise release of Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder. Please stay tuned to ITNewsCast.com and the underground Oracle VM Manual for the new Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder chapter.

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is an add-on product for Oracle VM for x86 that is packaged as a virtual appliance that runs exclusively on Oracle VM for x86. Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition appliances contain a full featured implementation of Oracle WebLogic Server 11g that runs directly on the hypervisor with the help of a thin OS layer with networking, hardware device interaction, I/O, and process scheduling. Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is a single-user, single-process system that is designed to run any JDK 6 compatible application with full support for domains and clusters. With Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition, mission critical Java applications can be quickly deployed or migrated from physical or third-party virtual environments to Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition virtual appliances with unparalleled density, performance, and ease of management.

Figure 2 shows an Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition appliance, highlighting the JRockit Virtual Edition OS layer.

The Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition OS layer contains a purpose-built kernel that contains only the essential services to run Oracle WebLogic Server 11g with JDK 6 compatible applications. Oracle WebLogic Server 11g on Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition offers up to 30% better performance for Java applications compared to WebLogic deployments using a traditional operating system, and has a footprint up to five hundred times smaller than that of WebLogic deployments using a traditional operating system. Without a traditional operating system, JRockit Virtual Edition eliminates the operating system installation, management, security, and storage requirements as well as operating system license and support costs.

To illustrate just how thin the Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition OS layer is, Table 2 compares a Linux operating system to JRockit Virtual Edition.

Numbers	Linux	JRockit Virtual Edition
Administration Utilities	+-500	1
Administrative Commands	+-3000	10
Command Parameters	+-50000	100
Disk Image Size	+-10 GB	1 GB

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition uses the same administrative infrastructure, tools, and WLST scripts as a traditional WebLogic deployment. Each Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition appliance ships with an administrative server equipped with WebLogic Server Administration Console. Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition appliances support both off-line and on-line management of applications running in WebLogic instances.

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is intended to be a deployment platform. Oracle recommends that Java application development be done on traditional WebLogic platforms. Once the application is ready to be deployed into production, it can be moved from the WebLogic development system to an Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition appliance.

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition Packaging and Pricing

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is distributed as a virtual appliance from the Oracle eDelivery portal.

Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is not a standalone Oracle technology product that can be purchased a la cart. The right to use Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is bundled with WebLogic Enterprise Edition. The only way to purchase Oracle JRockit Virtual Edition is by purchasing WebLogic Enterprise Edition licenses.

The Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in

The Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in adds Oracle VM Manager functionality to Oracle's system management solution, Oracle Enterprise Manager (OEM). The Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in is a complete port of Oracle VM Manager to Oracle Enterprise Manager 10g and 11g. Along with the Oracle VM Manager feature set, the Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in offers advanced monitoring, provisioning, patch management, and configuration management. Oracle VM servers can only be managed from one or the other of the two management options, Oracle VM Manager or the Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in, not both.

Note: The Oracle VM Management Pack is licensed software; Oracle VM Server and Oracle VM Manager are not licensed software.

Figure 3 shows the Oracle Enterprise Manager administrative console.

It's difficult to compare a full-featured system management solution like Oracle Enterprise Manager with a single-product management solution like Oracle VM Manager, although for completeness Table 3 contrasts the high-level features of the Oracle Enterprise Manager with those of the Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in and Oracle VM Manager.

Capability	Oracle VM Manager	OEM / Oracle VM Manager Plug-in
Oracle VM server, Oracle VM pool, virtual machine, and virtual machine resources management, quality monitoring and provisioning.		*
*Oracle Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Solaris and Oracle VM server provisioning and patch management.		*
Database and application administration, quality management and provisioning.		*
Configuration Management, i.e. tracking of configuration drifts.		*
**Parse Oracle VM server and virtual machine operating system configuration files to track changes/differences and send alerts/notification on when changes are made.		*
Scriptable command Line Interface.	*	*

* Oracle Enterprise Manager does not support Oracle VM server patch management.

** The Application Change Console.

The Application Change Console is a separate standalone application that is licensed with the Oracle VM Management Pack Plug-in. The Application Change Console (ACC) is able to parse configuration files to track changes and differences and send alerts and notifications when changes are made. The Application Change Console has prebuilt parsers for Operating System configuration files. After installing the Application Change Console, you can point the Application Change Console to the Oracle VM servers and Oracle VM guests using hostnames. The Application Change Console will connect to a host via SSH to gather and track configurations. No additional agents are required. All of the Application Change Console components can run on Oracle Linux on Oracle VM.

Oracle's x86 Virtualization Support Policy

Since the first release of Oracle VM for x86, which was announced at Oracle Open World in November 2007, Oracle has provided certified support for Oracle technology products on Oracle VM for x86. Oracle VM for x86 is the only x86 virtualization solution that Oracle tests and certifies and is the only one supported by Oracle for Oracle technology products. Oracle does not test, certify, or support Oracle technology products on any third-party x86 virtualization solutions. For example, Oracle does not certify or test Oracle technology products on VMware ESX, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen Server, Red Hat with Xen, or KVM or on any Xen or KVM-enabled Linux system. Oracle maintains an up-to-date list of Oracle certified software on Oracle VM via Metalink Doc ID: 464754.1.

Oracle’s support policy, regarding Oracle technologies and virtualization, can be referenced via MetaLink documents 794016.1 and 249212.1. In short, MetaLink documents 794016.1 and 249212.1 explain that service requests (SRs) involving uncertified virtualization solutions will receive best effort for known issues on physical systems. Oracle may request that the customer reproduce the problem on native hardware if the third-party virtualization software cannot be ruled out as the root cause of the problem.

Major ISVs, for example, Microsoft and IBM, have virtualization support policies similar to Oracle’s. Microsoft and IBM may request that customers reproduce problems on native hardware if the third-party virtualization software cannot be ruled out as the root cause of a problem.

Microsoft: "As part of the investigation, Microsoft may require the issue to be reproduced by the customer independently from the non-Microsoft hardware virtualization software."

IBM: “Will IBM correct all defects for IBM software products that are running in a supported virtualization environment?

A: Not necessarily. As with other operating environments, IBM does not warrant that all code defects will be corrected. IBM will issue defect correction information, a restriction, or a bypass to IBM products if the defect is applicable to a supported virtualized environment or to a native physical machine environment (that is, without the virtualization software).”

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