Virtual machine lifecycle management is the class of management that looks at the life cycle of a virtual machine from the viewpoint of the application vs one focused on roles within an organization.
A number of major software vendors, including Microsoft and Novell, have begun to release software products aiming at simplifying the administration of larger virtual machine deployments.
The flexibility they provide is derived from three fundamental characteristics: These characteristics come together to define all the benefits of virtualization, from cost-savings to disaster recovery.
The emerging space of Virtual Machine Lifecycle Management is the result of the time, motion and transparency qualities of virtual environments.
This need cuts across software development and operations, encompassing all segments of the ITIL framework: