VKernel: Reporting and Chargebacks for Virtual Machines
I got a comment in my VMware post from a company that makes a tool called VKernel. It makes it possible to report on VM usage in the VMware ESX Server and provide a mechanism to do chargebacks, i.e. charge users or business departments for actual usage. While it’s a little outside of what I normally cover here, I know some IT folks read my blog and might like this product.
From the comment I got from Bob Scher:
I thought this might interest you. It may not be appropriate for posting because it’s about our product. Of course I’m partial, but it is very cool! I’m on the V-Kernel team that created this it, a real Virtual Appliance for Capacity and Chargeback reporting. In a nutshell:
V-Kernel is a scalable, data-center grade product. It adds functionality not available in Virtual Center such as Chargeback, Top down reporting on Resources used by multiple VMs to support Business Services, and Storage usage reporting. One can now see reports in 10 to 15 minutes. This is for real.
We’re bringing out our last Beta (Beta 4) at the end of the week, downloadable from our website[Beta 4 is available now on vkernel.com] and v.1 the first week of September in time for VMware in SF mid-September. We are passionate about virtualization and feel that were able to make a real contribution to some thorny issues.
What do you think? Leave your feedback in the comments.
