Home > Blogs > Virtual Blocks > Tag Archives: virtual san

Tag Archives: virtual san

Get hands-on with Virtual SAN – download the free 6 month evaluation!

Starting today you can download Virtual SAN for a free 6 month evaluation through VMUG. Sign up here: http://vmug.hs-sites.com/virtual-san-trial

Having seen the tremendous interest in learning more about VSAN, we think this would be a great way to test drive the product and play with all the features in your own lab or test cluster. Find out how easy and automated the policy-based management actually is or how VSAN just works with all your existing vSphere features like vMotion, HA, DRS etc….. Go check it out and see what other VSAN users rave about!

If you need any guidance around deployment, hardware, best practices check out the VSAN resources page: http://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san/resources.html

Remember, if you are not already a VMUG member you can join for free at: http://www.vmug.com/Join and then download the VSAN evaluation.

Fujitsu Integrated System PRIMEFLEX for VMware VSAN

Fujitsu and VMware are pleased to announce the certification of PRIMEFLEX for VMware VSAN for VMware Virtual SAN 6.0. This Virtual SAN certification for Fujitsu is available now.

This will further expand the strategic Fujitsu/VMware collaboration with Virtual SAN Ready Nodes based on the latest Fujitsu Server PRIMERGY platforms. Fujitsu has updated their Virtual SAN Ready Node profiles for Server Medium, Server High, VDI Linked Clone and VDI Full Clone profiles for Virtual SAN 6.0- click here.

These reference architectures are based on Fujitsu x86 servers, which hold as of February 2015, 10 of the 15 number one positions in VMware’s VMmark® benchmark, and enable Fujitsu to continue their leadership position. Additionally, by using Fujitsu configuration tools like SystemArchitect, the complete configuration of an entire Virtual SAN environment can be quickly set up (rack, switch cabling, etc.) and adapted down to the level of each component to meet individual customer needs.

PRIMEFLEX for VMware VSAN provides the following benefits:

  • Easy setup of an entire Virtual SAN environment
  • Fast and easy design, at minimum risk
  • Built on reliable, efficient and agile Fujitsu x86 servers
  • Expansive scaling and sizing

Check out the following resources for the PRIMEFLEX for VMware VSAN

Please work with your Fujitsu sales representative to quote and order PRIMEFLEX for VMware VSAN listed on FTS’s.

VMware Virtual SAN Health Check Plug-in Now Available

The VMware Virtual SAN team is proud to announce the general availability of the new VMware Virtual SAN Health Check Plug-in.

The Health Check Plug-in was created to address one of the pain points many storage solution suffer from – hardware health and configuration – and VSAN is no different in that respect. The Health Check Plug-in will address this issue and in the same time maintain one of Virtual SAN’s core benefits  – keeping things simple. The simplicity aspect comes into effect in two ways:

  • It’s a simple vCenter plug-in seamlessly integrating with the rest of the vCenter UI – maintaining the single pane of glass benefit
  • It provides clear and detailed warnings and alerts including suggested ways to solve issues when they appear

Virtual SAN Health Check Plug-in implements several checks including:

  • Hardware Compatibility – scans your VSAN cluster and detects components not on HCL. Also will make sure you have the right drivers and firmware
  • Networking Configuration – checks for potential hosts getting disconnected, cluster partitioning and other network related issues
  • Limits Health – makes sure the cluster stays operational in cases like a host failure
  • Storage Device Health – checks for disk capacity issues, congestion, metadata health and other potential device problems
  • Virtual Machines Objects health – checks for objects metadata health, and other potential object complications

Overview screen of Virtual SAN Health Check Plug-in:

hc plugin

 

In addition to the ongoing monitoring of the Virtual SAN 6 cluster health, the Health Check Plug-in enables a set of proactive tests like:

  • VM creation
  • Storage Performance
  • Multicast Performance

Check out this short demo video to see how the Health Check Plug-in helps overcome a networking problem:


The Health Check Plug-in is a free vCenter Plug-in that is downloadable under the drivers & tools tabs in the Virtual SAN download page. If you are not a Virtual SAN 6 customer, you can still try out the plug-in by downloading your free 60 days evaluation copy – www.vmware.com/go/try-vsan-dl-en

You can also try our hosted evaluation by going to the Virtual SAN 6 hands on lab – www.vmware.com/go/try-vsan-hol

VSAN Evaluation – How to use the VSAN sizing tool – Part 2

This blog post is the second in our series of blog posts of VSAN Evaluation using our integrated sizing and TCO tool ( vsantco.vmware.com ). For part 1 that discusses VM profiling go here:

VSAN Evaluation – How to use the VSAN sizing tool – Part 1

In this part of the blog series we will discuss how to adjust our default recommended ready nodes profiles to your specific scenario. I’m aware this part can be somewhat confusing, but after a few tries I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it and can do this in a matter of minutes.

First, let’s start by explaining what a Virtual SAN Ready Node is. Virtual SAN is a pure software product, but using it with non-certified hardware can have some unwanted results. This is why we decided to partner with all the major OEMs to create ready-to-go hardware solutions called ready nodes that can also be used as a reference architecture and be customized to your preferences. My team member and VSAN Product Manager, Rakesh Radhakrishnan, wrote a blog ( Virtual SAN Ready Nodes – Ready, Set, Go!) almost a year ago answering most common questions around the topic. Also check out the most updated list of ready nodes here – Virtual SAN Ready Nodes – and our Virtual SAN Hardware Quick Reference Guide .

vsan ready node

Continue reading →

VSAN Evaluation – How to use the sizing tool – Part 1

clueless

Sizing a vSphere environment for VMware Virtual SAN is not an easy task and if this is how you look like when you approach it you should continue reading. Nevertheless, even if you already did sizing for VSAN in the past there are some nuances that you might want to pay attention to.

First, before we go into explaining how to size for VSAN, it is imperative you understand why this is important:

  • If you undersize VSAN for your environment you might not get the performance you expect or won’t have the capacity you need for your virtual machines
  • If you oversize VSAN you might end-up with a higher hardware bill that can be at least partially deferred until you actually need to grow VSAN to that size – remember you can grow as you-go, no need for large upfront investments

OK, so when can I get this tool you ask? It is already available, just go to VSANTCO.VMware.com – the tool was recently updated to also allow you to size VSAN with an All Flash architecture.

Continue reading →