VMware Server Virtualization features#
The following table describes the features that are available to you as a VMware Server Virtualization customer, based upon your configuration and subscriptions.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| vMotion® | VMware VMotion enables the live migration of running virtual machines from one physical server to another with zero downtime, continuous service availability, and complete transaction integrity. |
| Storage vMotion | Storage vMotion is a component of VMware vSphere that allows live migration of a running VMs file system from one storage system to another. While most customers will not see the disruption, performance degradation is possible, especially if the VM is busy. This migration occurs while maintaining data integrity. |
| vSphere High Availability (HA) | VMware HA provides high availability for virtual machines by pooling them and the hosts that they reside on into a cluster. Hosts in the cluster are monitored and in the event of a failure, the virtual machines on a failed host are restarted on alternate hosts. |
| VMware snapshots | Snapshots allow you to safely commit changes and roll back updates to your VMs by saving snapshots of your VMs prior to changes. |
| vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) | VMware DRS is a utility that balances computing workloads with available resources in a virtualized environment. |
| Performance graphs | Within the MyRackspace portal, customers can view statistics that make it easy to determine your available compute capacity (CPU, disk, and memory) and any compute constraints caused by resource-intensive VMs. |
| Access via portal | Customers have access to the VMware Server Virtualization section in the MyRackspace Web Portal to administer their hosted environment and resources. For more details, see Managing virtual machines. |
| File-level backups and restore | Fully-managed backup service where customers interact via the MyRackspace portal. Customers can view their configuration, backup status, and history. Customers are also able to submit change requests and restore requests via the MyRackspace portal. Important Snapshots consume additional space on the underlying storage and grow over time in the background, sometimes rapidly. We advise that you delete snapshots as soon as they are no longer needed. If the underlying datastore runs out of space, you can experience downtime, performance degradation, or some VMware features may not work as expected. |
VMware Server Virtualization managed services#
Below are the managed services that Rackspace provides VMware Server Virtualization customers.
| Area | Managed by Rackspace |
|---|---|
| Virtualization |
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| Hardware |
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| Network |
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| Monitoring |
|
Patching and upgrading#
VMware Server Virtualization provides VMware ESXi and OS patching.
ESXi patching#
Rackspace works with customers to perform VMware ESXi upgrades at their request or to address critical vulnerabilities.
Because customers' VMware Server Virtualization configuration can vary, we recommend reaching out to your account team to discuss upgraded options that best suit your environment and needs.
OS patching#
Rackspace provides a managed OS patching service for supported operating systems. Rackspace tests all patches in lab-environments before applying monthly to customer environments. The patching schedule is agreed upon by the customer.
Note
The monthly testing schedule refers only to guest OS.