Vmware v Director

[Mongo]

Is any one using this product? I am currently using Lab Manager and the EOL is in May 2013 and since I am in education we have to have a supported product. They have a trial version but I do not have extra servers laying around to try it out and I can't test them on production machines. My only other option is to do a virtual lab and install it there but there will be a lot of processing and performance degradation.

I would like to be able to get into v Director and monkey around to see if I can create the labs and VMs the same or close to how it functions on Lab Manager.
My main need is to have fenced networks so students can log into their account and run the OS's needed to complete their labs. There is no need for them to have Internet access nor the ability to connect to other student networks. They also need to have user permissions that denies them the ability to create, delete, or modify the images and network templates. The interface needs to be simple also since they are a wide demographics of students that range from new computer users to future technicians.
Thanks guys.

[Swag]

Hows your research coming along? I came across two articles that could be helpful to you. One covers Organized Networks and Vapp networks (vDirectors version of fenced networking) and the other covers vCloud environments. Hope this helps!

Organized Networks and Vapps
http://it20.info/2010/09/vcloud-directo ... r-dummies/

Vcloud
http://virtualizedgeek.com/2011/08/15/w ... t-a-cloud/

Cheers,

[Mongo]

Vcloud has a lot more than what we need it for. The conversion over to it is time consuming and requires a lot of down time. I have found another product that we may get instead. v-commander is more of what we need and it is cheap. It also allows us to run it along side lab manager without interrupting production time. I can move the students labs over seamlessly with very little down time. It runs directly off of esx and v-center. that and it supports more browsers.
Thanks for checking it out. I have made my choice. I just have to do a ROI on it. Since it is only 500 a year that should not be a problem. May be one of the shortest ROIs I have ever done. LOL