For the most part, Microsoft has been continually improving their virtual
machine infrastructure and keeping it under the radar. A good example of this is
the very quiet release this week of the System Center Virtual Machine Manager
Self-Service Portal 2.0 SP1 beta. SCVMMSP has been a big step forward in making
VMs on Microsoft’s Hypervisor a much more usable solution in large enterprises,
and the SP1 release will continue to increase the usability and value of the
tool.

In my view, the single most important feature of SP1 is the ability to import
virtual machines that were created outside of the self-service portal (for
example, those that were created before the portal became available) and that
are managed by SCVMM, allowing existing VMs to be added to the inventory of SSP
managed services.  The service pack also includes improved notification
services, the ability to move VM infrastructures between business units, and a
time limit for VMs that can auto-delete an expired VM once that limit has been
reached, simplifying resource management.

Microsoft is out there and active in the datacenter, preparing the way for
smooth integration of cloud services into Windows Server dominated businesses.
Sometimes it’s just hard to tell. If you’re interested in the VMMSSP SP1 beta,
it’s available via
Microsoft Connect.

A lot of work going ahead “in the background” to align the way infrastructure is managed “publicly” and “privately”. Stay tuned…