OpenVZ Project Pushes Technology Boundaries Combines Different Types of Open Source Virtualization

HERNDON, Va., November 28, 2007 — The OpenVZ project shows what is possible using its open source virtualization software in combination with virtual machine open source Xen software — effectively creating many virtual servers to improve utilization of the physical server.

A software download available at the OpenVZ website, http://openvz.org/download/kernel/rhel5, enables users to divide one physical server into virtual servers using Xen software, and then creating OpenVZ virtual environments inside those virtual machines.

The software download is based on the RHEL5 Xen kernel with builds available for both x86 and x86_64 platforms. The software can run on the Xen hypervisor in both Dom0 and DomU.

"We wanted to show people what is possible with the low overhead of our operating system (OS) virtualization open source OpenVZ software," said Kir Kolyshkin, manager of the OpenVZ project. "This is a marriage of complementary technologies that blends the flexibility of virtual machine technology, which is capable of running different operating systems, along with the efficiency of OS virtualization, which can run several times more virtual servers as compared with other virtualization technologies."

"This combination of open source virtualization technologies provides users with flexibility of running one or more guest operating systems, while also realizing high performance through low overhead," said Tom Schwaller, an expert in Linux, open source and virtualization technologies based in Germany. "We're seeing virtualization technologies maturing as we really understand what is possible."

OpenVZ Virtualization Keeps E-mail Filtering Service Up and Running

JunkEmailFilter.com Uses Operating System Virtualization to Manage its Network of Servers

HERNDON, Va., November 15, 2007 – JunkEmailFilter.com works in the dangerous area of sorting through e-mail to filter out viruses and junk e-mails known as "spam," so that its clients receive only the e-mails they want to see. For higher levels of control and security, it uses open source virtualization software, known as OpenVZ.

"In our business, it's a necessity to have redundant systems in different locations in case bad things happen," says Marc Perkel, support manager at JunkEmailFilter.com. "People are dependent on us to get their e-mail through, so we cannot afford downtime."

The company has set up virtual servers with OpenVZ operating system server virtualization software and maintains backups so that, if necessary, a virtual server can be restored on another physical server and started up immediately.

There are four OpenVZ virtual servers on each of four physical servers that run e-mail server software, MySQL and SpamAssassin with virtual servers as large as 4 gigabytes.

"OpenVZ has almost no overhead, so we are giving up almost nothing in terms of performance to run virtual servers," says Perkel. "In our experience, OpenVZ has been compatible with most everything we run so it's one of those 'just works' solutions."

"We run different software programs in different virtual servers," says Perkel. "That way, one application isn't compromised if another application has an issue."

"With OpenVZ, we can also limit applications to specified amounts of memory and processing power, which allows us to tune our resources very precisely. If necessary, those can be adjusted on the fly," says Perkel.

The company has used OpenVZ software to create templates for different virtual servers, such as its VoIP phone system and SpamAssassin servers that process e-mail. Each virtual server is deployed on a physical server independent of others, which enables virtual servers to be moved among physical servers to balance workloads.

About JunkEmailFilter.com

E-mail filtering is easy to set up and doesn't require users to change their existing e-mail server. Instead of e-mail coming from the Internet directly to the user's e-mail server, it goes to spam filtering e-mail servers. There, it is stripped of viruses and spam and within seconds is passed on to the user's existing e-mail server. JunkEmailFilter.com is based in San Bruno, California. More information can be found at www.junkemailfilter.com.

VIRTUAL BRIDGES ANNOUNCES MAJOR UPDATE OF WIN4 PRO DESKTOP PRODUCTS

Windows Coexistence is the key to Linux and Solaris competitiveness

AUSTIN, TX -- Virtual Bridges, a provider of desktop and enterprise virtualization solutions for business, announced today the release of a major upgrade to its award-winning Win4* Family of Desktop Products.

“Virtualization in general offers a lot of potential, but Win4Lin specifically delivers it. With the master Win4Lin image it's easy to build a Windows Win4Lin desktop that is impervious to virus and malware,” said Jon Watson, President KPG Media Corp. “It's easy to back up entire Windows installations, which previously would have required expensive applications and a high degree of technical skill. It's even easy to run Windows apps floating on a Linux/BSD/Solaris desktop.”

The Virtual Bridges Win4* brand professional-grade virtualization products help businesses extend their Open Source desktops without additional hardware costs. There are three Win4 Desktop products: Win4Lin Pro Desktop allowing users to run Windows applications on the major Linux Distributions, Win4Solaris allowing users to run Windows applications on Sun Solaris and Win4BSD supporting users of FreeBSD and PCBSD.

Win4 4.5 Desktop Highlights include:

• Support for multimedia-rich LTSP setups, including remote audio playback and recording to/from the terminals (Win4Lin only)

• Full bridged networking functionality and options

• Support for newer Linux host kernels (2.6.22 and up) (Win4Lin only)

• New full-screen Windows session option from Linux login screen (Win4Lin only)

• Improved, dynamic single-application launch capabilities

• Automatic, seamless default color printing, and improve printing performance

• Improve mouse tracking and click response on remote displays

• Enhanced audio support on Solaris Workstations and Sun Rays,

• Including recording capabilities (Win4Solaris only)

• Maintenance roll-up from 4.0, many other bug fixes and minor enhancements

• Automatic support for ALSA playback and recording (Win4Lin only)

• Automatic detection and support for EsounD playback and recording