(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — In support of the new VMware vSphere 4.1 release, storage and data management solutions developer NetApp (www.netapp.com) has added new storage management integration for greater performance and scalability of VMware vSphere environments.
According to NetApp’s announcement this week, NetApp Virtual Storage Console enables customers to centrally manage all NetApp storage for VMware environments directly from the VMware vCenter Server console and fully leverage the benefits of virtualized infrastructures.
“Virtualization of the server and storage infrastructure is reshaping today’s data center as customers begin laying the foundation for cloud computing,” VMware global strategic alliances vice president Gary Green said in a statement. “The integration between VMware vCenter Server and Virtual Storage Console further demonstrates how the VMware and NetApp partnership benefits our customers by providing enhanced visibility and management for greater productivity, response time, and overall return on investment.”
Virtualized infrastructures are expanding the role of administrators and causing them to spend more time on storage monitoring and management. Although VMware vCenter Server provides a powerful tool for managing and monitoring VMware vSphere environments, administrators also need a way to easily and efficiently manage associated storage.
Combines several best-of-breed storage technologies, NetApp Virtual Storage Console delivers end-to-end management of both SAN and NAS-based VMware infrastructures. Tightly integrated with VMware vCenter Server, the single storage console enables VMware administrators to centrally monitor, provision, clone, back up, recover, and replicate storage operations for virtual server and desktop environments without requiring storage administrator assistance.
Virtual Storage Console also helps optimize utilization and improve responsiveness with real-time discovery, health monitoring, and capacity management. These capabilities give VMware administrators the necessary tools to improve server and storage visibility and efficiencies while still enabling storage administrators to own and control storage policies.
NetApp Virtual Storage Console employs both NetApp and VMware APIs to deliver a robust, fully supported solution for multiple virtual desktop environments, and enables quick updating of thousands of desktops or virtual machines. Virtual Storage Console also supports NetApp MultiStore, letting customers, service providers, and cloud providers secure multi-tenant cloud environments from within VMware vCenter Server, maintaining desired service levels and security for each tenant. Additionally, NetApp is supporting the new VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (or VAAI) capabilities that offload data management tasks from the host server to the storage system, helping free up host CPU cycles for better performance and increased virtual machine density.
“Enterprises recognize the importance of deploying virtualized resources to enable a more flexible, dynamic data center,” NetApp solutions and alliances marketing vice president Patrick Rogers said in a statement. “NetApp simplifies storage management in VMware environments, helping our joint customers achieve greater savings and business agility.”
