What's New in Oracle VM Manager

This preface introduces the new features and enhancements of Oracle VM Manager in the 2.x releases since the initial 2.1 release. This information is useful to users who have used a previous release of Oracle VM Manager.

New Features in Release 2.2.0

The new features and enhancements in Oracle VM Manager Release 2.2.0 include:

Server Pool Master Fail Over in HA

If the Server Pool Master fails in a High Availability set up, another Oracle VM Server is automatically selected from the server pool to act as the Server Pool Master. See Section 3.5, "Enabling High Availability (HA)".

Importing Virtual Machines in VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) Format

You can import virtual machines in VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) format. See Section 5.2, "Managing Virtual Machine Images".

Importing Shared Virtual Disks

You can import a shared virtual disk. See Section 5.4.4, "Importing a Shared Virtual Disk".

Importing Multipath Devices as Shared Virtual Disks

You can import multipath devices as shared virtual disks. See Section 5.4, "Managing Shared Virtual Disks".

Scheduling Priority for Virtual CPUs

You can set the scheduling priority for virtual CPUs in virtual machines, and cap the percentage to which the virtual CPUs can receive scheduled time. See Section 6.7.4, "Policies".

Placing a Server in Maintenance Mode

You can place an Oracle VM Server into maintenance mode and make it unavailable using the Set Maintenance button on the Servers page. See Section 4.7, "Putting a Server Into Maintenance Mode".

Virtual Machine Tree Views

A new tree view is available for virtual machines on the Virtual Machines page. The tree view enables you to display:

All the virtual machines managed by Oracle VM Manager
The virtual machines created in a server pool
The virtual machines running on an Oracle VM Server

Resetting a Virtual Machine

You can reset a virtual machine from within the Oracle VM Manager user interface that may be having difficulties in starting or stopping, or performing some other action. Resetting a virtual machine was previously only available using a SQL command on the command line. See Section 6.4.5, "Resetting a Virtual Machine".

Changing the Group to Which a Virtual Machine Belongs

You can change the group to which a virtual machine belongs using the Group List drop down on the General page when editing a virtual machine. See Section 6.7.1, "General".

Improved Logging

Improved logging of activities, warnings and errors to aid in monitoring and troubleshooting. See Section 4.9, "Viewing Server Logs", Section 6.1.4, "Viewing Virtual Machine Logs", and Section 7.4, "Viewing Logs".

New Features in Release 2.1.5

The new features and enhancements in Oracle VM Manager Release 2.1.5 include:

Web Services API

A Web services Application Programming Interface (API) to enable integration of third party products with Oracle VM Manager. See Appendix C, "Web Services API".

Server Pool Management UI Enhancements

The server pool management pages in the user interface have been improved. See Chapter 3, "Managing Server Pools".

New Features in Release 2.1.2

The new features and enhancements in Oracle VM Manager Release 2.1.2 include:

Server Pool Wizard

If it is the first time you log in to Oracle VM Manager after installation, you are prompted to follow the Wizard to create a server pool containing only one physical server which will act as the Server Pool Master, the Virtual Machine Server, and the Utility Server. See Section 2.3, "Using the Wizard to Create a Server Pool".

High Availability (HA) for Server Pools and Virtual Machine Servers

In Release 2.1.2, various levels of high availability is implemented.

You can enable high availability for server pools and virtual machines when creating them. See Section 3.5, "Enabling High Availability (HA)" and Section 6.3, "Creating a Virtual Machine".

You can also enable high availability when importing virtual machine templates and images. See Section 5.1, "Managing Virtual Machine Templates" and Section 5.2, "Managing Virtual Machine Images".

You can choose to migrate the running virtual machines when restarting, shutting down, or deleting an Oracle VM Server. See Section 4.6, "Restarting a Server", Section 4.5, "Shutting Down a Server", and Section 4.8, "Deleting a Server".

Virtual Machine Conversions, V2V and P2V

Oracle VM allows you to convert a VMware virtual machine to an Oracle VM virtual machine (known as V2V), or to convert a Linux host to an Oracle VM virtual machine or template (known as P2V).

To convert a VMware virtual machine to an Oracle VM virtual machine (V2V), see Section 5.2.1, "Importing a Virtual Machine Image".

To convert a Linux host to an Oracle VM virtual machine or template (P2V), see Section 5.1.1.3, "Converting a Linux or Windows Host to a Virtual Machine Template (P2V)" and Section 5.2.1.3, "Converting a Linux or Windows Host to a Virtual Machine (P2V)".

Keyboard Layout Selection

Oracle VM Manager provides a keyboard selection when you create a virtual machine from installation media, or when you change configurations of a virtual machine. See Section 6.3.2, "Creating a Virtual Machine From Installation Media" and Section 6.7.5, "Profiles".

Rate Limit of Virtual Network Interface (VIF)

You can set up the rate limit of a virtual network interface (VIF) to customize the network traffic threshold. See Section 6.7.2, "Network".

Priority Class of Virtual Disk

The enhanced virtual disk feature enables you to set up the priority class of a virtual disk. See Section 6.7.3, "Storage".

New Features in Release 2.1.1

The new features and enhancements in Oracle VM Manager Release 2.1.1 include:

Network Bootable (PXE boot) Virtual Machines

Oracle VM Manager provides a new way of creating virtual machines in Release 2.1.1. Besides creating virtual machines from templates and installation media, you can create network bootable (PXE boot) virtual machines. See Section 6.3.3, "Creating a Network Bootable (PXE boot) Virtual Machine".

Hot Plugging Memory, Virtual Network Interface (VIF), and Virtual Disk

Some changes in the configuration of a virtual machine take effect immediately without restarting the virtual machine. See Section 6.7, "Editing a Virtual Machine".

Virtual Network Interface (VIF) Type

You can select the virtual network interface (VIF) type for a virtual machine. See Section 6.7.2, "Network".

Preferred Server

When creating a virtual machine, you can select a preferred server for a virtual machine. See Step 3 in Section 6.3.1, "Creating Virtual Machine From a Template".

Boot Source

After creating a virtual machine, you can choose to start the virtual machine from hard disk (HDD), CD-ROM, or through Preboot Execution Environment (PXE). See Section 6.7.3, "Storage".

Refresh Automatically

On the Virtual Machines page, you can choose to either refresh Web pages manually, or refresh every 30 seconds automatically. See Section 6.4.1, "Starting a Virtual Machine".

Deleting Related Directories

You can choose to either delete or retain the related directories when deleting a server pool. See Section 3.6, "Deleting a Server Pool".