Question

Answer

Managing Virtualization - System Support

We have OVPM for UNIX. Does VISPI still only work with OVPM for Windows? Currently we have a work around from HP Support to run with OVPM for UNIX. Will newer versions of VISPI work with OVPM on UNIX?

VI SPI 1.5 is supported with OMU 9.0 - so OMU on Solaris and HP-UX and OM on Linux. We now include Performance Manager (PM) with new installations of OMU 9.

Can you run the virtualization SPI if you only have the operations agent and not the performance agent?

No, you need both agents. Stay tuned for some updates regarding our agents. This issue will become moot on November 1.

Does VM SPI require both an OV agent and an OVPA agent on all the Virtual machines and Hosts?

No. You can choose to monitor the VMs with OM agents if you wish. If no OM agent is installed on a VM then a Target Connector license is required.

Does the agent install on ESX3i version 4 USB drive?

With VI SPI 1.5 the agents are no longer installed on the ESX / ESXi hypervisor - they are installed on the vMA (a virtual management appliance VM supplied by VMware). If your ESX3i version 4 USB drive has a vMA installed or is monitored by a remote vMA then the VI SPI (on the vMA) will be able to monitor it.

Do we have any plan for supporting Solaris and HP virtualized environment?

We are investigating other virtualization technologies. We named this product the Smart Plug-In for Virtualized Infrastructure specifically to indicate that it is not constrained to monitor just (e.g.) VMware.  The first version of the VI SPI supported only VMware ESX. Version 1.5 added Hyper V and ESXi. While we cannot comment on specific product plans, you can follow the trend.

Is a LINUX VM guest required?  We only have Windows guests.

The Linux vMA (Virtual Management Appliance) is provided by VMware - you just download it from their web site. It's pre-built so you do not have to 'know' anything to utilize it. VMware has information on vMA on their web site. http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vima/

Managing Virtualization - Licensing

When is 1.5 of the VI SPI going to be released

It achieved Manufacturing Release status week of September 28th and is just ready for shipping now.

How much is System Infrastructure SPI?

It is included with the OM agent.

Is there a limitation on the number of virtual machines that can be monitored?

We are suggesting that a single VI SPI is limited to monitoring 200 instances. Each host, guest (VM), resource group and cluster counts as one instance. We have tested considerably more than this but are using 200 as our recommendation.

Do you need a SPI license per ESX host or per vma?

Per VM host (ESX/ESXi or Hyper-V)

Is the VISPI different than the Nworks VMware SPI and can this be used as well?

Yes it is a completely different SPI to the Nworks / Veeam SPI - and has a fundamentally different architecture (high resolution agent based monitoring as opposed to agentless monitoring).  I guess you could use both products but I'm not sure exactly what you would gain.

Managing BlackBerry Ecosystem

How does licensing of BES SPI work?

You purchase on BES SPI license for each BES server that you wish to monitor (physical or virtual). It is a flat price structure (no tiers etc.). Obviously you also need an OM agent for each BES server in order to be able to deploy the BES SPI.

Is the BES SPI available for OM 8.1 or is it only available for OMi?

The BES SPI includes the OMi Content Pack. So you could purchase the BES SPI for your OMW 8.10 system and make full use of its "SPI" functionality or, if you have OMi connected to OMW, you can also make use of the OMi features such as Health Perspective Views and Topology Based Event Correlation.

Is there any reference data that shows how BES performance improves when using SPI?

Not right now although we would expect some of the existing application and service availability / performance improvements for OM to be valid

Can the BlackBerry SPI account for devices that are turned off or out of range when monitoring the number of messages waiting to be sent?

The total queue size of unsent messages and calendar updates that are enqueued for all handhelds is monitored. A report (by device) of pending messages is not available at this time.

Does the HP smart plug-in for BES support a Lotus Notes environment?

Not right now. This capability is under investigation.

Other Operations Management Questions

How do I get more information about the integrated OVO and OVP agent...what is this new agent called?

At present this is just a licensing change. We will provide more information on November 1. We will be executing on some technology updates in the future so keep listening for news.

How often data are collected from devices and how? 

As per all OM message threshold policies the schedule is easily configurable.  Out of the box, some are collected every two minutes, some every 5 minutes and some less often.