After two years of collaboration with the XenSource/Citrix team, the latest version of Hyperic's HQ management suite enters Xen space.

Today at Linux World, Hyperic moves into heterogeneous VM management, looking to capture more of the enterprise virtualization management space. Hyperic has been working with Xen developers (initially XenSource, then Citrix post-acquisition) for the better part of two years as the Xen management API has taken shape.

My favorite new virt-specific metric: CPU % Stolen. Yup, it's what it sounds like; thanks to the Xen/Linux base, the developers offer up stats on over-allocated virt processors. Ever run into a clocked CPU in one of your Xen VMs when nothing is really happening on the guest? CPU % Stolen identifies the problem -- and the thief. You'll be able to see what other VM is poaching cycles from your dedicated resource. This new stat is Xen-only; Hyperic doesn't have a hook into this metric for VMware ESX.

No agent is required for Hyperic HQ for CItrix XenServer. Following Xen's opensource-ness, the management API is open for any developer. One caveat: unlike its VMware offering, full support for Xenmotioning is not in place. Hyperic HQ will notify administrators of pending alert conditions and make recommendations, but cannot initiate a migration of a Xen VM from one host to another. Yet.

Hyperic targets enterprise-level Web hosting providers as its primary customer base, but anyone looking to manage a large virtualized application space should take a look ... especially if heterogeneity is a requirement. VMware and Xen hosts can be managed with the same Web console. Hyperic is open source technology, so pricing is, well, free. The company makes revenue on its enterprise level support offerings, training, etc.

If you're interested, the company is offering a Webinar on XenServer management practices at 8 a.m. Pacific time on Aug. 12. Attendees will learn best practices for capacity planning, alerting, utilization analysis, automating remediation, and diagnostics.