Veeam enables virtual machine management by business unit

Veeam gives customers a business view of their virtual infrastructure

Virtualisation specialist Veeam has released an add-on for its management tools, designed to help customers more easily manage VMware-based infrastructure according to business department use.

Veeam Business View, available immediately, integrates with existing Veeam products such as nworks Management Pack and Smart Plug-in, which respectively link virtual machines with Microsoft and HP management consoles. Business View is available at no cost for Veeam customers with a maintenance contract.

The new tool is designed to assign attributes that identify the business unit and service level with which each virtual machine is associated, aiding management oversight and making chargeback easier, according to Veeam chief executive Ratmir Timashev.

Business View builds on VMware's support for custom tags in its platform, but the vast majority of customers do not currently use this facility as there has been no automated process for creating and managing virtual machines based on tags until now, Timashev explained.

"Customers can create attributes for the business unit, department and service level, and Business View uses rules to automatically apply these whenever a new virtual machine is created," he said.

The ability to track who owns which virtual machines gives managers a much clearer overview of how resources are being allocated, and enables administrators to manage virtual machines by business unit or department, according to Veeam.

"When integrated with Veeam Reporter Enterprise, [Business View] gives you much more powerful reporting. Immediately, I can see who is the owner of a specific virtual machine, and I can see which business unit or department is using the most storage," said Timashev.

He added that Business View "plays well" with the recently released VMware vSphere, which is likewise focused more on delivering services than just providing management oversight of virtual machines.

The tool should also prove attractive to service providers, as it makes it easier to see which virtual machines in the datacentre belong to which customer.

Business View is currently available only as an add-on for existing Veeam customers, but Timashev said that the company may release it as a standalone tool if it proves popular.