Specifications

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 Reviewer’s Guide 92
automatically detects and utilizes existing storage-attached network (SAN) system infrastructure where
available. This capability, coupled with the distributed storage architecture of Virtual Machine Manager,
facilitates the movement of large virtual machine images at top speeds.
Offline Virtual Machines
Administrators can store entire offline virtual machines in the VMM library. These virtual machines may
contain applications or processes only periodically needed and left unused the remainder of the time,
such as applications used for demonstrations. The ability to store and quickly re-provision virtual
machines makes it more likely that users and administrators will take episodic applications offline,
helping to save otherwise wasted resources.
Virtual Machine Templates
VMM empowers administrators with virtual machine templates. These templates essentially represent
standard virtual machine configurations similar to the mini-setup and System Preparation Utility
(Sysprep) commonly used in Windows Server deployments. Templates also encapsulate best practices
regarding hardware and guest operating system configuration, helping IT administrators manage their
virtual infrastructure in the uniformity of the environment.
Windows PowerShell
For even greater automation and control, VMM is fully scriptable using PowerShell. With this tool, IT
administrators can avoid labor-intensive manual processes by running remote scripted services against
many virtual machines. For example, IT administrators can write Windows PowerShell scripts to go with
templates so that the script will update the machine with the latest security patches when those new
virtual machines are provisioned.
Because the VMM console interface is layered on top of the PowerShell objects, every action logs an
audit trail that helps people learn the language. Easy to adopt, learn, and use, the PowerShell
architecture enables IT administrators to construct lightweight integration solutions quickly, linking
System Center with established data center tools and procedures. System Center Operations Manager
and System Center Data Protection Manager also use PowerShell.