After using the Infrastructure for some time, I have a list of features I want to see in the next VIC:

1) Live cloning or backup:

I know that VMware have consolidated backup to provide this function, but it requires either another backup program acting as a frontend or a number of command line commands. I’m not scared by the CLI, but the windows command line is rather ugly and pretty much useless. Powershell is supposedly better, but it requires that I read some documentation before using it. I want a quick command integrated in the VIC which allowes me to take a complete copy of my virtual machine and archive it somewhere outside the datastore which it currently resides in. Give me an option to create a complete backup ready to be powered on somewhere else without having to mess around with CLI commands and/or third party backup systems!

2) Storage VMotion GUI integration:

As storage VMotion is one of the new and fancy features in ESX 3.5 / ESX(i), it would be quite nice to do this from the GUI. I suspect that it is scheduled to be integrated in the VIC in either 2.5 Update 2 or 3.0, but I want it now. Again, I know about the different CLI options, but then again: when I have a fancy GUI, why can’t we use it? :-) Thanks to Andrew Kutz for the third party VIC plugin which enables SVMotion in the VIC :-)

3) Linux support for VMware Infrastructure:

I’m a big fan of open source systems and are currently running Linux on all my desktops and laptops. As I have access to the academic part of MSDN (MSDNAA), the cost of aquiring Windows 2003/2008 are virtually zero. Even so, i really want VMware Infrastructure, both the server and the client part, to be able to run on Linux. Currently, my Infrastructure installation is running inside a virtual machine on one of my ESX hosts. This isn’t an optimal solution and I’m pretty sure that VMware does not support this configuration. Being able to run Infrastructure on a linux host instead would mean that I could move it to my storage server. That would mean that I will have one less VM to worry about.

Another problem with the dependence on Windows Server is that it adds significantly to the total price of the virtualization solution. Windows 2003 costs at least $999 while Linux is free. Removing $999 from the total would be nice :-) Removing a Windows host from the list of systems to administrate is even nicer :-)

But, please note this: I don’t want a web client instead of the VIC. The web clients are both difficult to use and extremely slow compared to the current VI client.

4) IPMI integration:

I would be pretty cool to be able to control the power settings of my hosts by sending IPMI commands to the hosts directly from the VIC. As the DRS have some support for controlling the power status (VMware Distributed Power Management) of hosts it might be valuable to have IPMI support directly in the VIC.
Disclaimer: I don’t know how VMware are powering on hosts again after taking them offline when they are idle. I guess that they are using Etherwake to wake up hosts since they have no way of knowing the ip address of the IPMI service processor.

Well, this list might be extended later on :-)