VMware Lab Manager 3.0 FAQs

VMware Lab Manager 3.0 includes the following key new features:

• Organizations – Create customized roles, user and group-level access rights, and provide dedicated or shared resource pools, templates and system configurations for multiple organizational units
• Multiple networks – Define multiple physical and virtual networks, each with their own subnet and VLAN characteristics. Create virtual machine configurations with multiple vNICs to attach to those networks.
• Integration with VMware VirtualCenter – Leverage the full power of VMware Infrastructure including resource pools, HA, DRS and VMotion to make your lab infrastructure more flexible and highly available.

For a detailed list of new features and enhancements, please refer to the Release Notes in the documentation section.

VMware VirtualCenter is the main console for IT administrators responsible for managing VMware Infrastructure. VMware Lab Manager is a higher level automation solution for IT administrators who need to provide lab infrastructures to users more on an intermittent basis. VMware Lab Manager tightly integrates with VMware VirtualCenter to assign dedicated or shared resource pools to lab users, and to take advantage of the server consolidation, high availability and business continuity benefits of VMware Infrastructure. Unlike previous versions, VMware Lab Manager 3.0 requires VMware VirtualCenter.

VMware Lab Manager simplifies lab administration and provides lab users with a self-service portal for creating and deploying system configurations. By definition, lab operations are very unstructured and driven by frequent provisioning and reconfiguration tasks that VMware Lab Manager automates. VMware Stage Manager provides management and automation capabilities for application owners responsible for managing the releasing new or updated applications into production. Both systems can be used independent of one another, or in conjunction to take full advantage of VMware Infrastructure to optimize application development and release processes throughout the organization.

VMware Workstation provides virtualization capabilities for individual users who need to run multiple operating systems locally on their desktop or laptop computers. VMware Lab Manager is a server-based virtualization product that enables teams of users to share hardware resources and access virtual machine configurations from a shared image library. You can import and export virtual machines between the two products.

VMware Lab Manager 3.0 requires VMware Infrastructure 3 Standard or Enterprise Edition and VMware VirtualCenter. VMware Lab Manager currently does not work with VMware Infrastructure 3 Foundation or VMware ESXi. Lab Manager requires ESX 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.5 or higher. For a detailed list of system requirements, please refer to the Users Guide in the documentation section.

VMware Lab Manager 3.0 is licensed on a per processor basis. Simply count the number of processors in the ESX servers that you will use with VMware Lab Manager to determine the total number of Lab Manager licenses needed. Although VMware Lab Manager uses server and agent software, there is no charge for the server component. You can deploy one or multiple installations of the server software but you still only pay for the total number of processors in the ESX servers that agent software runs on.

Simply download the latest product binaries, uninstall the program files of the previous version and install the new bits. Make sure you back up the VMware Lab Manager database before you begin the upgrade process. VMware Lab Manager 3.0 requires a new license key that all existing customers with support and subscription (SnS) contracts will receive automatically. If for some reasons you did not receive the new license key, please contact VMware. For detailed upgrade recommendations, please refer to the Users Guide in the documentation section.

To ensure that you realize the full benefits of the VMware Lab Manager product, a minimum of one year of Gold (12x5) Support and Subscription is required.  You may also choose to upgrade to Platinum (24x7) Support and Subscription.  Along with access to the world’s largest virtualization support organization with the most experience supporting critical applications in a virtual infrastructure, both support offerings also include access to periodic fixes and enhancements to our products during the life of your support contract.   These programs are offered on an annual or multi-year subscription basis. 

Depending on the criticality of your systems being managed by VMware Lab Manager, you may want to consider purchasing Business Critical Support.  VMware’s Business Critical Support is a supplemental service to Platinum which provides your centralized data center team with personalized technical support delivered by a designated team of experts familiar with your system configuration, past support experience and specific business needs.