Hyper-converged infrastructure has quickly become the hottest topic in the data center modernization journey. However, many customers are still evaluating how to best assess their HCI needs. Fear not! A very simple and quick vSAN Assessment may provide you the answer.
The vSAN Assessment was launched in 2015 and has now seen widespread adoption with over 800 assessments completed to date. It is a great non-disruptive tool that determines how vSAN can help you save time and money for your storage needs. Customers can now see the benefits of vSAN before taking the plunge – and with the new release, it has gotten much easier!
Very quickly – how does it work?
The assessment has two parts:
- Portal: An online web portal where customer data is analyzed and presented
- Collector: A virtual appliance (OVF file) that is deployed in the customer environment which collects data and sends back to the portal
Remind me again what the assessment does?
It collects and analyzes data from the customer’s existing vSphere environment (eg: Tier 1 (cache) and Tier 2 (capacity) I/O information, memory size, no of vmdks, etc). The assessment then provides the following recommendations:
- Which VMs are a suitable candidate for vSAN
- Estimated raw and usable capacity
- Estimated storage CAPEX & OPEX savings with a TCO analysis and comparison
So, how do I get started?
All assessments are Partner/ Sales Engineer (SE) initiated. Once the customer receives an invite, the vSphere Admin can take over, install the appliance and get the process started. Upon completion, the partner/ SE is notified and results can be discussed.
What are the new upgrades?
- Re-bootless install – In the past you had to bring a host into maintenance mode to install the collector appliance. But now, with re-bootless install, that requirement has been eliminated! Simply install and execute with no worries about creating change control tickets, or needing to wait for maintenance windows.
- Runtime reduction from 1 week to 2 days. Who doesn’t like getting results quicker? Now, in just 2 days you can see how vSAN will benefit your environment. With a shorter duration, it is recommended to run the assessment during peak workloads to provide more accurate sizing data.
- Key new features to actively monitor the status of your assessment while it is running.
- Collector configuration details displaying:
- Assessment type i.e. per VM or per Cluster
- Whether offline or online mode has been selected
- Configured duration for running the assessment
- Status of Jobs – showing the total number of jobs processed while the assessment is running, the number of running jobs, queued jobs and pending jobs.
- Collector configuration details displaying:
Conclusion
What’s stopping you from taking the plunge? The assessment is free, non-intrusive and done in just 2 days! To get started, contact your preferred Partner, Sales Engineer or visit https://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san/assessment.html
