Tech Zone has been abuzz with everything vSAN 8 Update 1 the last few weeks. We released vSAN 8 at the end of last year, and already there’s a lot to uncover in this first update just a few months later. There’s always something to enhance – simplicity, productivity, performance, availability – and many of these upgrades address the areas that mean the most to IT admins everywhere.
In case you missed the latest resources and features reported on Tech Zone, here’s a quick roundup of links to key announcements and explainers that will help you get the most out of your vSAN environment.
Virtually Speaking Podcast: Announcing vSAN 8 Update 1
If you’re on the run and don’t have time to read about the vSAN 8 Update 1 release, listen instead! The Virtually Speaking Podcast breaks down everything you need to know in less than an hour.
5 Benefits of Using vVols or vSAN for vSphere Tanzu Persistent Volumes
Anyone who works with Kubernetes, containerized applications or microservices architecture likely has storage on the brain. Efficiency and simple management are key so IT admins worry less about Persistent Volumes (PV) and focus more on the task at hand. In this Tech Zone article, you’ll learn the five ways that vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) and vSAN benefit vSphere Tanzu PV management.
Advantages of Multiple vCenter Deployments with the vSphere Container Storage Plugin
One way to simplify storage management is to pair multiple vCenter deployments with the vSphere Container Storage Plug-in. The plug-in improves availability, performance and scalability in a vSphere environment. Learn more about how to best leverage this new storage plug-in.
New Tanzu/CNS Features in vSphere 8 U1
Catch up on the latest Tanzu features and how they pair with vSphere 8 Update 1. For instance, Tanzu supports thick provisioning of Cloud Native Storage (CNS) volumes and enables conversion of existing CNS volumes in disk format from thick to thin without interrupting workloads. The pairing of Tanzu and vSphere 8 Update 1 lowers cost and complexity barriers, allowing users to usher in a new generation of digital transformation for their cloud-native workloads.
Evolutionary Improvements with Disaggregated Storage in vSAN 8 U1
Disaggregated storage has been beneficial to customers since its introduction with vSAN 7U1. With vSAN 8 Update 1, we have continued that innovation and added three new critical capabilities to vSAN disaggregated storage: storage disaggregation with vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA), support of vSAN stretched clusters with disaggregation in vSAN Original Storage Architecture (OSA), disaggregation in vSAN connectivity across clusters using multiple vCenter servicer instances (OSA). In this article, you’ll learn about each new feature and visualize each capability with detailed diagrams and charts.
Performance Improvements with the Express Storage Architecture in vSAN 8 U1
With vSAN 8 we introduced a new way of processing and storing data with vSAN ESA. It gives our customers all-new capabilities, drives better performance and improves levels of space efficiency, all while consuming fewer CPU resources. The first update the vSAN ESA further enhances its efficiency and storage processing through an adaptive write path and optimized I/O processing for single VMDK objects. Thanks to the latter, mission-critical apps or heavy transaction-based systems may improve IOPS and throughput by up to 25%. Learn more about this quickly advancing feature and how vSAN ESA can improve your performance.
Auto-Policy Management Capabilities with the ESA in vSAN 8 U1
Much like vSAN 8, the ESA in vSAN 8 U1 introduces new capabilities not possible with vSAN OSA. Our new “Auto-Policy” Management feature is an optimized, cluster-specific default storage policy that will help administrators run workloads on an ESA cluster using optimal level of resilience and efficiency. Auto-Policy Management for vSAN ESA adapts based on a cluster’s size, type and other characteristics. This Tech Zone article is an in-depth explainer of the feature and includes a walkthrough on enabling it.
vSAN I/O Trip analyzer task scheduling in vSAN 8 U1
vSAN 7 Update 3 saw the introduction of the vSAN I/O trip analyzer. The newest vSAN update includes an enhancement to VM I/O trip analyzer’s scheduling mechanism that can better detect temporary performance lulls. The trip analyzer then creates a detailed diagnostic report that helps admins discover bottlenecks and other performance gaps. See a sample diagnostic report and learn how trip analyzer complements other vSAN performance views in this article.
High Resolution Performance Monitoring in vSAN 8 U1
In addition to I/O trip analyzer, high resolution performance monitoring is another way to pinpoint activity and performance levels on a VM, a group of VMs or a cluster. Optimizations to the performance monitoring include a real-time range option for five-minute sampling intervals and can sample at 30-second intervals. See how you can use this feature to ensure your vSAN instance runs as efficiently as possible.
Enhanced Performance Diagnostics tools for vSAN 8 U1
The performance monitoring features continue! vSAN 8 Update 1 enjoys enhancements in various diagnostic tools, including an improved “Performance for Support” dashboard, trace objects space allocation, and network testing and health checks. Read more about each feature here.
Skyline Health Scoring, Diagnostics and Remediation in vSAN 8 U1
The final performance monitoring feature in vSAN 8 Update 1 goes far beyond monitoring. Upgrades to Skyline Health include prioritizing and drawing connections between issues to facilitate quick and effective prioritization and remediation of issues VMware is always available to help their customers optimize the value of their VMware investments. See how Skyline Health assists in maintaining a healthy vSAN instance.
vSAN 8 U1 Express Storage Architecture – Faster than Ever
In vSAN 8 Update 1 (ESA) is not only faster than ever, but it also has better space efficiency and performance consistency, reduced resource utilization, and it’s easier to manage. Compared to the Original Storage Architecture, ESA improves performance up to 240%! Visit Tech Zone to read up on everything you can expect from the new ESA.
Don’t Miss Any vSAN Tech Zone Content
Tech Zone is a valuable resource. You can expect resources for new enhancements or explainers and diagrams that help teams familiarize themselves with their vSAN instance. The more confident you are with your technology, the more you can enjoy its capabilities and every new enhancement to the fullest.
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