Virtualization enables rapid provisioning of new systems through the use of templates, cloning and automated provisioning as well as rapid virtualization of existing systems through physical-to-virtual (P2V) utilities. This rapid proliferation introduces many new management challenges for IT organizations and left unchecked can impact cost, availability and security. There is a common misperception that virtual machine and resources are “free” - when in fact they are not. Uncontrolled VM proliferation can cause “VM sprawl” and dramatically impact resource consumption and costs – wasting storage, consuming server capacity and network bandwidth, as well as incurring additional software license expenses. There are also additional risks and challenges associated with managing, securing and patching VMs, dealing with offline VMs as well as ensuring compliance across the virtual infrastructure.

EVM provides the ability to manage VMs across their lifecycle from provisioning or conversion (P2V/V2V) through operations and eventually to VM retirement. Managing and tracking VMs from discovery and creation through retirement is essential to avoiding sprawl and keeping the virtual environment well managed and optimized. EVM automatically discovers, assesses, classifies, monitors and tracks VMs in any state, powered on, off or suspended, without installing any agents. EVM maintains comprehensive visibility of VM configuration, virtual hardware, performance, event, utilization, allocation and event information together with relationship and dependency mapping..

EVM™ provides a wide spectrum of lifecycle management and automation for VMs, including:

• VM lifecycle Management - including automatic discovery, tracking, inventory, analysis, assessment, aging and retirement.
• Self-Service Provisioning and Self-Management - through a rich, web-based portal with fine-grained access control and support for request management, tracking and approval.
• VM Configuration Management - including automatic, agent-free deep discovery, analysis, assessment and tracking of software, accounts, users, groups, patches, services, packages, registry keys, MD5s and configuration files.
• Comprehensive Baselining and Drift - including the virtual hardware, settings, guest configuration, network settings as well as relationships and classifications.
• Real-time Policy-Based Standards Enforcement – assessment, analysis and policy-based enforcement of configuration, operational, network, resource and security standards.
• Resource Monitoring and Optimization – performance monitoring, identification of over-allocated resources, current and future bottlenecks, automatic VM aging and retirement, snapshot management and resource policy enforcement with best-fit placement for new VMs.
• Usage, Chargeback and Cost Allocation – detailed usage tracking by configurable classifications with support for multiple rates tables, fixed cost, allocation and usage based chargeback and cost allocation.
• Advanced Capacity Planning and Placement – factors in resource availability, policies and business classifications across time periods optimal planning and VM placement.