Specifications

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 Reviewer’s Guide 94
Microsoft SQL Server
System Center integrates with familiar tools and technologies like Microsoft SQL Server. System
Center uses a SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2008 database—located locally or clustered remotely—
to store performance and configuration data. In addition, reporting in VMM takes advantage of familiar
SQL Server Reporting Services through Operations Manager.
Management of Physical and Virtual Infrastructure
The System Center family of system management products provides a comprehensive management
solution for physical and virtual environments, with data protection, configuration management, and
health monitoring of both physical and virtual machines.
Data Protection and Recovery
System Center Data Protection Manager provides continuous data protection of physical and virtual
machines. Data Protection Manager enables backup and recovery of entire virtual machines on the
host by using efficient block-based replication, which makes it possible to recover entire virtual
machines in the event of disaster.
Change Management
System Center Configuration Manager (formerly Microsoft Systems Management Server) helps
improve IT productivity and efficiency by reducing manual tasks, enabling administrators to focus on
high-value projects, and maximizing hardware and software investments.
Server Health Monitoring
Operations Manager provides a sophisticated solution for unified health monitoring of physical and
virtual machines and an easy-to-use environment that tracks thousands of event and performance
monitors across hundreds of operating systems and applications.
Operations Manager provides an end-to-end service management solution that is the best choice for
Windows Server–based virtual machines. It integrates deeply with Windows Server technologies,
helping IT increase efficiency while enabling greater control of the data center environment.
VMware ESX Server Management
VMM can manage both Microsoft and VMware virtualization platforms. This provides a unified
management experience for both Microsoft and VMware virtual machines. VMM supports the full range
of VMware management capabilities including support for VMotion and Resource Pools.
In addition, all capabilities available to manage Windows virtualization hosts can also be used with
VMware hosts, including Intelligent Placement of virtual machines, library management, and complete
PowerShell scripting. Combining this with other products in the System Center family such as