Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008, Microsoft's System Center tool for managing virtual machines (VMs), was released in Nov. 2008. VMM 2008 can run on Windows Server 2008 and can manage VMs running on Microsoft's Hyper-V or VMware's ESX virtualization technologies. For large enterprises, VMM is most economical when licensed as part of a suite with other System Center products so that it can use certain features of those products. A stand-alone edition has been introduced with VMM 2008, and a low-cost Workgroup Edition is appropriate for small or midsize businesses.

VMM 2008

VMM is a software tool for provisioning, managing, and storing VMs for hardware virtualization, which is important for organizations that want to consolidate production applications onto fewer, better utilized servers. VMM 2007 was released in Oct. 2007 and could manage VMs running Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2 product, but it did not support Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008. VMM 2007 was available only in a bundle of System Center management products or a Workgroup edition.