6. Netuitive

Netuitive offers software that not only discovers, maps and monitors virtual machines and virtual infrastructures, but also tracks how applications and VMs run and responds when it spots trouble. That, according to Netuitive, is a far more accurate way to monitor the health of a virtual infrastructure than systems that require IT managers to plug in performance metrics and have a management system respond to thresholds that may or may not reflect the real-world experience of the applications.

The ability to trigger a response to performance anomalies is especially interesting, Wolf says, though Netuitive's software is still able to respond only to factors the VMs themselves are able to see, Wolf says. Adding the ability to respond to glitches or changes in storage-area networks or other systems a VM sees only as attached storage would be a huge improvement, he says. Netutive is one of a number of vendors moving in that direction, Wolf says.

7. Reflex Systems

Reflex Systems hits the three characteristics at the top of the 2008 virtualization 'hot-button' list: security, automated management and cross-platform support. Its Virtual Management Center includes modules for configuration management and provisioning, compliance monitoring and reporting, VM lifecycle management, security and performance management for both VMs and the applications that run on them. Security Appliance runs an agent on each physical host, adding deep packet inspection, reporting and application control to VMC's list of capabilities.

Reflex actually began with a toolset focusing on security, but began adding additional management capabilities during the last year or two, the most recent wave of which was announced in January. Reflex' list of capabilities is impressive, as is the direction in which its product development is moving; but its real-world capabilities vary by platform, according to Wolf. The full list of VMC features is only available for VMware's ESX, for example; it's not clear which are currently available for Microsoft Hyper-V or Citrix XenServer, he says.

8. Scalent Systems

Moving VMs from one physical server to another can be an effective way to match demand for power with supply, but not if the VMs forget where their data is stored and where to find a good network connection after they land on their new home. Scalent agents sit on each physical and virtual machine maintaining a persistent memory of its network and storage relationships. The agents can manage local performance or configuration under the direction of a central controller and scripts written by IT managers. IT managers can write scripts using Java, Web services or third-party management software, and Scalent's software development kit. The concept isn't rocket science, but the execution can be tricky, and Scalent's approach works well for a number of clients who use it to dynamically provision and manage their virtual infrastructures, Wolf says. Scalent's technology should continue to be useful as IT runs more apps in VMs, or what some call the internal cloud.

9. Third Brigade

Security specialist Third Brigade has expanded its host-based virtual-server security model to include not only non-virtualized systems, but also cloud-based applications that live in shared infrastructures such as Amazon's EC2. The company's Deep Security offers firewall, intrusion protection, integrity monitoring and compliance validation and higher-level certification such as compliance with the Payment Card Industry's Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) that secure remote debit-card and other electronic fund transfers. Deep Security lives on a centralized server and installs clients on VMs and guest OSes in both internal and external cloud infrastructures, Burton Group's Wolf says. Centralizing security saves the effort of building separate clusters of VMs or physical servers in order to isolate certain applications, and the ability to expand into the cloud gives Third Brigade flexibility few other security companies can match, he says. It also offers a free version, VM Protection, for up to 100 virtual machines—a good move that has been received well among both existing and potential customers, Wolf says.

10. VKernel

VKernel tools address a major blind spot in virtual infrastructures: not just the difficulty in knowing what VMs are running at any given time, but what CPU, storage, network and other data-center resources they're using individually or as a group. The software runs on a SuSE Linux kernel as a VM within VMware's ESX to measure the resources the VMware setup is using, and generates chargebacks to make accounting and usage-reporting on virtual machines simpler. (And we expect chargeback capabilities to emerge as a more demanded management tool feature this year.) Its ability to extrapolate data on past performance using "predictive analytics" are useful in capacity planning as well, to help IT groups hold off on additional server purchases, eliminate bottlenecks as they develop and plan for peaks in usage from particular user groups or seasonal changes in business, according to Bowker of ESG.

© 2009 CXO Media Inc.