By Fran LoPresti and Chris Cavanaugh

To reduce the number of servers needed by the campus community and contribute to the ongoing effort to create a greener campus, OIT is supporting virtualization efforts at the university.

First, OIT has arranged for an enterprise license agreement with VMware to provide deep discounts on VMware Enterprise products to the university community. VMware is a virtualization product that permits multiple environments on a single server, which would cut down on the number of servers needed on campus. The agreement includes a wide range of VMware software such as VMware ESX and Virtual Center. Software not included in the agreement will be available at 50 percent off of the commercial price. Departments can purchase VMware’s software through OIT’s Software Licensing Office. Details are available at www.oit.umd.edu/slic/products/vmware/vmware.html.

This past summer, staff members from OIT and other campus units participated in a three-day class: Best Practices for VMware. The class covered advanced concepts in VMware 3.5 as well as VMware’s recommended best practices for configuration and management.

Additionally, OIT is planning a selection of VMware services to offer to the university, including consulting services and leased virtual slices on OIT hardware. If there are services you would like to see offered, please send suggestions to vmwaresupport@umd.edu.