Yesterday I was informed that the 2.5 beta version of VMware Lab Manager has been released.

Just to remember what it is again:
Lab Manager is a virtual lab automation system for development and test organizations that allows for rapid setup, storage, capture, and sharing of multi-machine software configurations.

Lab Manager 2.5 Beta is now available. New features include iSCSI and NFS storage support, 64-bit guests, Solaris 10 guests,  automatic server pool cleanup, storage server maintenance, and managed server maintenance (release notes).  For questions and comments, see the VMTN Lab Manager Discussion Forum.

Whats new:

• Support for ESX Server 3.0.2. Lab Manager also continues to support ESX Server 3.0.1.
• Support for 64-bit guest operating systems. For details, see the guest OS matrix in the VMware Lab Manager Installation Guide at http://www.vmware.com/beta/labmanager/Lab_Manager_Installation_Guide.pdf.
• Broader platform support for guest operating systems. For details, see the guest OS matrix in the VMware Lab Manager Installation Guide at http://www.vmware.com/beta/labmanager/Lab_Manager_Installation_Guide.pdf.
• SMP support. Lab Manager supports virtual machines with multiple CPUs.
• Support for NFS storage as both virtual machine and media storage. Previously, NFS storage could only serve as media storage.
• Automated server pool cleanup. You can automate undeploy and delete operations.
• Managed Server maintenance mode. You can redeploy all virtual machines on a Managed Server system to other Managed Server systems.
• Storage maintenance tools. Lab Manager provides a graphic and tabular view of disk space usage to support maintenance of datastore content. From one location, you can perform various operations at the virtual machine level and assess disk space that would become available if you delete a virtual machine and its "hidden" internal nodes.
• Support for Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 and ASP.NET version 2.0.5.727.

It’s funny to see that esx 3.0.2 is mentioned here, because if you search on the vmware site or with google you do not find much information about it. At TSX 2007 EMEA I was told that (and thats confirmed now with these release notes) 3.0.2 would come out. Also version 3.1 is somewhere in pre-birth state.

Funny detail in the known error list (it also existed in previous versions of LM) is that Microsoft Vista’s UAC (User Account Control) is having some problems accessing the Lab Manager Web Console (or should I write it the other way round…).

Tags: Virtualization Lab Manager VMware