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Tag Archives: virtual san

Is VDI causing you gray hairs? Virtual SAN and Horizon can help!

Our 2,000+ Virtual SAN customers are deploying VMware hyper-converged systems for all kinds of solutions—from supporting large Oracle databases to powering remote IT rooms to simplifying test/dev environments—but one specific workloads is always among the most popular use cases for VSAN: virtual desktops (VDI).

The struggle to find both high performance and affordable IT infrastructure, especially storage, for VDI is real. A storage system may look great on paper or even in a small POC (proof-of-concept), but hit that N+1 user with a traditional storage system and the productivity of all N+1 users can come to a grinding halt. You are then faced with an expensive, second storage purchase or left to troubleshoot and revisit all your sizing and performance assumptions: task or knowledge workers, virus scan timing, desktop recompose frequency, number/type of drives, etc…

There’s an easier way! VMware’s hyper-converged infrastructure, built on Virtual SAN and vSphere, uniquely addresses the storage challenges that have historically plagued the VDI world. Virtual SAN offers the simplicity, performance and cost needed for successful VDI deployments—both today and as your business scales. Take a look at the following video to learn why Virtual SAN is a great fit for Horizon customers deploying VDI.

Want more details on deploying VSAN and Horizon? Read the latest VMware Horizon and Virtual SAN all-flash reference architecture. For those attending VMworld 2015 next week, you can learn more about Horizon and the Software-Defined Data Center in “Unleashing the Power of SDDC to Accelerate Desktop Transformation” (Session ID: EUC5438).

And remember, if you are a Horizon customer, then you may have Virtual SAN already for free through your Horizon licenses. Give it a try today and save yourself from having to learn and purchase another storage solution (if you know vCenter then you know Virtual SAN)!

You can test-drive VSAN today with a free, online Hands-On Lab (no installation required). If you already have access to a virtualized server, get started by downloading a free Virtual SAN evaluation.

Support for non-uniform/heterogeneous VSAN clusters? Yes!

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been asked this question by various field people and potential customers: does VMware support non-uniform / heterogeneous VSAN clusters? The question typically comes during the pre-sales stage and by the sounds of it is one of those myths that competitors use to give their product the edge in a bake-off.

For those who just care about the facts I can be short: Yes we support non-uniform / heterogeneous VSAN clusters. Our very first datasheet has the following statement in it:

Hardware independence – Virtual SAN can be deployed on hardware from any server manufacturer. This gives you the flexibility to build out customized storage systems in heterogeneous hardware environments.

Anyone telling you VMware VSAN does not support non-uniform / heterogenous environments is badly informed, or not being honest. Some of you may say, hold on… I’ve seen posts where people are making a recommendation for uniform clusters. A strong recommendation even in some cases, does that mean VSAN doesn’t function properly when you use a non-uniform cluster? Again, I can be short: No it does not. But why did they make this recommendation?

The reason is simple: lower operational complexity. Just like with vSphere HA and vSphere DRS, balancing resources and doing calculations to see if your cluster has sufficient spare resources to reprotect VMs after a failure is easier when you have a uniform cluster. Not that it is rocket science when the cluster is non-uniform, as you will just need to assume that if something fails it will be the host providing the most storage capacity. Luckily with VSAN the whole cluster acts as “rebuild capacity”, which means that mitigating this risk is relatively easy.

As an architect I usually prefer to avoid risks though, but also understand that situations like these occur and there is no reason to fear them. I spoke with a customer who is managing a rather large non-uniform environment last week. They started with 1U hosts, but for various reasons decided to go with 2U hosts more recently. Using the same cache to capacity ratio per host they’ve had no challenges whatsoever in this environment (they even went with more cache as SSD prices lowered). Performance and management has been a breeze, they are very keen on standardization but the ability to be flexible when needed is actually what they love about VSAN.

Virtual SAN going offshore

Over the last couple of months I have been talking to many Virtual SAN customers. After having spoken to so many customers and having heard many special use cases and configurations I’m not easily impressed. I must say that half way during the conversation with Steffan Hafnor Røstvig from TeleComputing I was seriously impressed. Before we get to that lets first look at the background of Steffan Hafnor Røstvig and TeleComputing.

TeleComputing is one of the oldest service providers in Norway. They started out as an ASP with a lot of Citrix expertise. In the last years they’ve evolved more to being a service provider rather than an application provider. Telecomputing’s customer base consists of more than 800 companies and in excess of 80,000 IT users. Customers are typically between 200-2000 employees, so significant companies. In the Stavanger region a significant portion of the customer base is in the oil business or delivering services to the Oil business. Besides managed services, TeleComputing also has their own datacenter they manage and host services in for customers.

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Partners: Become Software-Defined Storage Experts at Partner Exchange at VMworld 2015

At Partner Exchange @ VMworld 2015, partners will have exclusive opportunities to connect with the individuals who are transforming software-defined storage: from the Partner Lounge to targeted breakout sessions, there are plenty of opportunities to network, learn, and engage with customers. Not only will partners have access to all of the enablement, sessions, and information needed to succeed in selling VMware products, but also the opportunity to learn about the VMware partner roadmap to have well informed conversations with customers throughout VMworld.

VMware partners with a Partner Exchange Add-On Pass will be able to take advantage of the following activities and more during the week of VMworld.

Technical Boot Camps

Saturday, August 29th | VMware Campus | Palo Alto

Attend complimentary all-day technical Boot Camps at VMware’s newly renovated headquarters in Palo Alto. Transportation to and from the Moscone Center in San Francisco will be provided as well as breakfast, lunch, an afternoon networking reception, and a tour of VMware’s campus. For a full list of partner boot camps, visit the VMworld Content Catalog and begin building your schedule.

SDDC6402 – Software-Defined Data Center: Hands on with the Experts
ST06407 – Virtual SAN Workshop

Partner Breakout Sessions

Sunday, August 30th | Moscone West | San Francisco

Attend partner-specific sessions to learn about the latest Virtual SAN features, tips to successfully sell software-defined storage solutions, and how to win SDDC deals against competition. For a full list of partner breakout sessions, visit the VMworld Content Catalog.

PAR5000 – What’s New with VMware Virtual SAN and How to be Successful Selling It
PAR6413 – VMware Virtual SAN Architecture Deep Dive for Partners
PAR6390 – VMware’s Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) Solution
PAR6386 – SDDC Vision, Strategy and Opportunity for Partners
PAR6389 – Winning SDDC Deals Against Competition

Partner Exchange Lounge

Sunday, August 30th – Thursday, September 3rd

Moscone West, Level 3 | San Francisco

This year, the Partner Exchange Lounge will be bigger than ever with plenty of space for partners to network, relax, and unwind in-between sessions and meetings. Partners will be able to use the Partner Exchange Lounge to book private meeting rooms, charge up their devices, grab coffee and snacks, and connect with peers throughout VMworld. Special networking receptions will be held daily.

Having access to the Partner Exchange Lounge will give partners a unique opportunity to attend the Ask the Executives series everyday from 12:00-3:45pm and openly discuss any topic with various VMware executives such as Bask Iyer, CIO, and Chris Wolf, VMware CTO of Americas Sales.

To avoid long VMworld lines, partners will also be able to take a Hands-On Lab in the Hands-On Labs Hotspot located exclusively in the Partner Exchange Lounge. Completing this lab counts towards their Partner University Credits, Leaderboard Standing, and 2015 VTSP Accreditations.

Learn more about PEX at VMworld and register today. To stay up-to-date with the latest Partner Exchange news, follow @VMwarePEX on Twitter.

Explore VMware Virtual SAN and More at VMworld 2015

VMworld is quickly approaching, and this year’s agenda is packed with software-defined storage sessions, booth demos, and hands-on labs – from Virtual SAN to Virtual Volumes. Attend VMworld 2015 to learn how you can simplify your IT infrastructure and lower storage costs in the below sessions.

New & Noteworthy

Learn the latest VSAN technical trends, customer successes, and the future of virtualized storage at these must-see sessions.

STO5954-S	Rethinking Enterprise Storage: The Rise Of Hyper-Converged Infrastructure
STO5333	Building a Stretched Cluster with Virtual SAN
STO5947	Virtual SAN Operations Management Using vRealize Operations
STO5883	Software Defined Storage: The next Evolution in Storage Architectures
STO4650-QT	Five Common Customer Use Cases for Virtual SAN
STO6558-QT	10 Reasons Why VMware Virtual SAN Is the Best Hyperconverged Solution

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Are You a Storage Expert? Prove It. Enter the Virtual SAN Challenge!

Think you know all there is about hyperconverged storage? Put your knowledge to the test and visit the Virtual SAN Challenge for a chance to win a GoPro Hero4 video cam!

We’re kicking off the Challenge today and are offering you three chances to win:

Quiz 1: July 21 – Aug 03

Quiz 2: Aug 04 – Aug 16

Quiz 3: Aug 17 – Aug 28

Ready to get started? Here’s what you need to know:

Visit our study page and improve your chances to ace the test on your first go. You only have one chance to ace each quiz so be sure to study up!
If you get stuck, don’t panic – we’ll provide you with helpful hints along the way.
No time? No problem. Each quiz is only 6 questions, so you can take it on your coffee break!

Now that you’re armed with everything you need to prove your storage mastery, click here to join the Virtual SAN Challenge – your GoPro Hero4 could be just a few clicks away!

We’ll announce winners across our social channels at the end of each challenge, so be sure to follow @VMwareVSAN on Twitter or ‘like’ us on Facebook to see if you’ve won. Good luck!

For more information about Virtual SAN, visit vmware.com/products/virtual-san, and keep an eye on the blog for upcoming tips and best practices for using Virtual SAN.

Virtual Blocks Blog Recap: Top Posts from June

Every month, we compile a list of the top Virtual Blocks posts from the previous month for you to enjoy.

Here are the top Virtual Blocks posts from June:

Helping IT Professionals Make Informed Choices Around Storage
The Virtual Blocks blog brings you up to speed on some recent discussion on how VMware Virtual SAN stacks up in some head-to-head performance tests.

Oracle on Virtual SAN 6
Chuck Hollis talks about Oracle RAC and its ability to scale linearly as more instances were added.

10 Things You Need to Know About VSAN
VMware Virtual SAN fundamentally changes the way vSphere admins do storage. While there are several items of great material, this blog post covers the bare essentials for busy IT professionals.

The Collapse of Storage
The storage industry is undergoing rapid structural change that has not been seen in decades. Going forward, everything we’ve come to know about storage will be changing. Chuck Hollis takes a closer look at what this means.

VSAN in 3 Minutes YouTube Series
Sometimes, there is never enough time in the day to sit and learn something new. To make things easier, we’ve started a new video series, “VSAN in 3 Minutes”. Quick, bite-sized and digestible videos to get you going in the right direction.

Be sure to subscribe to the Virtual Blocks blog, or follow our social channels at @vmwarevsan and Facebook.com/vmwarevsan for the latest updates.

For more information about VMware Virtual SAN, visit http://www.vmware.com/products/virtualsan.

3 Things You Should Know about VMware Virtual SAN

How much do you know about Software-Defined Storage and Hyper-converged Infrastructure? Are you interested in hearing about specific use cases, performance data and how your peers are deploying it?

In our upcoming webcast, you’ll learn from Jase McCarty, Senior Technical Marketing Manager of VMware Storage and Availability, who will share how VMware Virtual SAN is leading the charge in Software-Defined Storage and making the jobs of IT managers easier, while saving money.

Registration is now open for this webcast that you won’t want to miss! Sign up and mark your calendar for Tuesday, July 30, 2015 at 11 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET.

The webcast will cover:

Why Virtual SAN is the platform of choice for running your business critical apps in your vSphere environment.
How Virtual SAN provides high, predictable performance that can tailor to your application needs.
Why and how customers like Union Hospital and Adobe are using Virtual SAN for their tier-1 applications.

Don’t miss the webcast! Register today.

Helping IT Professionals Make Informed Choices Around Storage

Recently, on the Virtual Blocks blog, we’ve discussed how VMware Virtual SAN stacks up in some head-to-head performance tests. The results, intriguing as they were, caught the eye of some and generated some great conversation.

Let’s bring you up to speed:

Part 1 in the blog series, “VSAN vs Nutanix Head-to-Head Performance Testing,” served as the catalyst for this discussion, specifically over the value of benchmark testing.

Chuck Hollis then followed up these initial impressions with a second blog post, “VSAN vs Nutanix Head-to-Head Performance Testing — Part 2,” where transparency became key to backing data findings. With the VMware Virtual SAN competitor’s refusal to allow any side-by-side comparison of their product for publication. That reaction increased interest around the Virtual SAN-only data results.

In Part 3 of the blog series, Hollis explored the comparisons as to how VMware Virtual SAN stacked up against the competition in terms of relative cost and performance. This piece demonstrated that VSAN accomplishes more with less money.

The results from this performance testing got the IT community talking.

For example, CRN, broke down Hollis’ comparison in “6 More Reasons Why VMware Thinks Its Hyper-Converged Tech Beats Nutanix.” The Register, too, published their own side-by-side comparisons of the data findings in, “A testing time for storage – it’s VMware from Nutanix, by a nose.“

“When software is decoupled from hardware, customers win,” said Hollis.

We encourage all customers to make informed choices around storage.

Want to give your two cents? Sound off in the comments!

Virtual Blocks Blog Recap: Top Posts from May

Every month, we compile a list of the top vSphere Storage posts from the previous month for you to enjoy.

Here are the top Virtual Blocks posts from May:

The Future Of Hyperconverged Is Already Here

Chuck Hollis recently sat down with Gabriel Long to talk about a VSAN cluster that was built that utilizes Diablo’s Memory Channel Storage technology flash storage. Chuck and Gabe talk about this hyperconverged environment and more.

Virtual SAN Health Check Plug-in Now Available

Now generally available is the VMware Virtual SAN Health Check Plug-in. Created to address one of the paint points many storage solutions suffer from, Rafi Kabesa details helpful features of the plug-in, as well as the checks it implements.

20+ Common VSAN Questions

What makes VSAN so fast? How does VSAN protect my data? Chuck Hollis discusses a list of interesting questions the Virtual SAN team encounters most often, along with answers for each question. You don’t want to miss this one.

Virtual Volumes: VM-centricity And Why Its Important

With VM-centricity, Virtual Volumes eliminates a costly tradeoff that our customers have faced with traditional storage for years. Juan Novella discusses the concept and importance of VM-centricity.

VAAI Licensing Now Aligned with Virtual Volumes (VVol)

We believe the right way to manage storage is through VM-centric, policy-based management. When it comes to environments with traditional SAN and NAS storage, Virtual Volumes is the way to go. One necessary feature to enable a successful Virtual Volumes implementation is vSphere APIs for Array Integration (VAAI). Mauricio Barra talks about this and more in his blog.

Be sure to subscribe to the Virtual Blocks blog, or follow our social channels at @vmwarevsan and Facebook.com/vmwarevsan for the latest updates.

For more information about VMware Virtual SAN, visit http://www.vmware.com/products/virtualsan.