HDS Targets Virtualization with TagmaStore
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NEW YORKâHitachi Data Systems Inc. unveiled Tuesday embedded virtualization layer technology that can aggregate up to 32 petabytes of internal and external storage into a single virtual storage pool and
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But keeps pushing SAN virtualisation Attempts to converge data networking and storage networking on a single 10Gig physical base have failed, according to a veep at at SAN technology supplier Emulex.â¦
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ObjectStore suitably EdgeXtended by acquisition
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This time it's really fit for use, says DataCore Storage virtualisation is finally going mainstream, DataCore Software has claimed, as it limbers up for a major new release of its flagship SANsymphony app later this week.â¦
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(InfoWorld) - Hewlett-Packard is upgrading its virtualization software offerings to help data center managers better manage their virtual environments, while VMware is offering a virtualization capability for Web hosting companies. HP on Wednesday announced enhancements to its HP Virtual Server Environment software for its Integrity line of servers, which creates a pool of virtual servers that can expand and contract depending on capacity needs. Virtualization refers to the practice of running multiple software applications on one physical server to enhance utilization. Previously, most servers were dedicated to running only one application, but that kept utilization rates as low as 15 to 20 percent. Virtualization increases server utilization, thus reducing the need to buy, power, cool, and manage additional servers. HP also offers a specific software tool, Integrity Essentials Capacity Advisor, for easing the migration of data from Sun servers to HP servers. Although virtualization improves server utilization, it requires different management tools than a nonvirtual environment. HP says the Integrity Essentials Global Workload Manager, another feature of Virtual Server Environment, specifies which computer workloads can automatically access available capacity in order to maintain service level agreements for key applications. The company also announced a new Partner Virtualization Program, which allows ISVs to test how their software will work in an HP virtualization environment. Testing and fine-tuning can be done for virtualization using HP ProLiant and Integrity servers and with a number of operating systems, including HP-Unix, Windows Microsoft, and Novell and Red Hat Linux. The Virtual Server Environment also works with VMware virtualization software. Meanwhile, VMware announced Wednesday the launch of its VMware Service Provider Program, which allows Web hosting services, telecommunications companies, and other outsourcing businesses to include virtual infrastructure as a service offering. Traditional hosting services use dedicated servers for each client, but virtualization makes it possible to run multiple virtual servers, even for different clients, on one physical server. The Web hosting company can then bill clients monthly based on how many virtual machines they use, not physical ones, VMware said.
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Storage Expo Iomega punts a hard disk autoloader
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Virtuozzo Containers 4.0 includes higher-end features for server availability and backup. Also, SWsoft completes its name change to Parallels.
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The company unveiled its long-awaited TagmaStore storage system that can act as the front-end manager for multiple storage systems from other vendors.
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(InfoWorld) - Managing transportation logistics is all about handling scale. As transportation management services firm Transplace added consumer goods companies such as Del Monte, Office Depot, Home Depot, Auto Zone, and DirecTV as customers, it needed to quickly bring server capacity online. Already planning a hardware refresh to support continued growth, CTO Vince Biddlecomb decided to bring in server virtualization at the same time so that he'd have a more scalable, flexible platform for that anticipated growth. Biddlecomb uses EMC VMware on his Sun servers mainly to support Oracle databases and J2EE applications on BEA's WebLogic Web server. He liked the fact that the technology was operating system- and hardware-agnostic, as his datacenter supports a range of technologies. And he found the virtualization approach to be less complex than, for example, running his Oracle databases on an IBM Power6-based System p 570 server, which he had considered initially. "We have all 12 instances sit on two logical partitions. We can configure the CPU and memory for each, and share when they are not busy," Biddlecomb says. But adopting virtualization required a deeper investment in datacenter hardware, Biddlecomb discovered, because virtualization changes the fundamental character of what is being supported. "You look at it as a pool of memory and CPUs. You just drop a couple VMs to increase capacity," he says. But treating servers as instances of capacity from a large pool of resources means that pool has to be kept available and running well. To do so, Biddlecomb discovered he needed to beef up the network I/O capabilities of the physical servers to avoid network traffic contention across the VMs sharing those ports. "We put more NICs in to them, since there is more network activity going on," he says. He also discovered he needed to beef up his SAN storage to support all the VMs that began to be created and to provide sufficient failover capacity in case of failure. "You can very quickly suck up 500GB or 1TB of storage for the VMs," Biddlecomb says. Although you no longer need storage in the servers themselves, you need more storage in the SAN, and that storage tends to be costlier. The more fine-grained your servers, the more storage you need, Biddlecomb notes. He likes to have more, smaller virtual servers so that each has a specific purpose that lets it be added or deleted easily without worrying about other applications that could be affected. But with 20GB of overhead for each virtual server, that approach can quickly eat up storage. Altogether, the use of virtualization roughly doubles the cost of a physical server, Biddlecomb says. He spends about $12,000 for a Dell server with extra NICs, plus $6,000 for VMware, and $5,000 for the associated enterprise storage. Because he had already planned to replace all his servers, there was no additional sticker shock from the fact that all physical servers needed CPUs from the same family, but most enterprises would require a complete server refresh. "You need to commit to building that infrastructure," he says. Biddlecomb also notes that the CPU-family restriction will limit how he can deploy virtualization in the future, and force him to forgo incremental technology improvements until the next server refresh. He's already been forced to do so: "We'll stick with our Intel servers even though the AMD [Barcelona-class Opteron] servers look to be better for memory management." One way he will work around that limitation in the future is to put physical servers into one of two clusters, one inside the DMZ and one outside. That way, he can stage his hardware refreshes by cluster, rather than do everything at once. Ultimately, Biddlecomb sees the use of virtualization as cost-neutral when it comes to the hardware side. "But you get a large savings in administration," he says. He has about 120 virtual servers spread out over 30 servers, administered by just two people. Virtualization special report Case study: Credit Suisse Case study: Nationwide Insurance Case study: Purdue University Case study: Stonebridge Bank
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Dell has announced the availability of virtualisation services.
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Startup unveils today its Virtual Essentials, tools to track, tag, and monitor virtual machines in the enterprise.
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Hewlett-Packard hammered home its commitment to the Itanium 2 chips this week, announcing new mid- and high-end members of its Integrity family of servers with the Madison chip, along with new support for OpenVMS 8.2, Novell's version of Linux, bundled virtualization software and, for the first time, a pay-per-use policy for server-based Windows.ADVERTISEMENTReducing the Total Cost of OwnershipLearn how to reduce the total coast of ownership in enterprise data management in this case study.
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HypervisorShield, a new service of Catbirdâs V-Security suite, extends security protections to the hypervisor layer in a virtual environment.
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(Source: Network Appliance)  Microsoft Exchange Server has evolved into a critical application for many companies. Legacy storage infrastructures based on traditional direct-attached storage (DAS) are insufficient for meeting service level requirements associated with data availability, recoverability, manageability, and scalability.  Leveraging an iSCSI-based storage network, Snapshot&trade; technology-based recovery mechanisms, and storage virtualization technologies provides an appropriate infrastructure for meeting the increasingly demanding requirements of Exchange - at a cost structure appropriate for Microsoft Windows&reg; environments.
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Storage Expo Do you want a SAN or a SANity check?
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(Source: Nexsan)  Can your data center meet your growing storage needs without breaking the bank? Do you have the power and cooling capacity neccessary to meet the demands of today's high-density equipment? Is is necessary to trade off performance and accessibility for storage density and energy efficiency?Attend this live Webcast, featuring Nexsan CTO and co-founder Gary Watson, for expert insight on "green storage" and learn what high capacity, energy-efficient storage systems can do for you, with topics including: - Cost-effectively conquering ever growing amounts of data - Reducing storage power costs by a factor of 10 - Simple, software transparent energy savings - Highest drive capacity equals smaller, more efficient footprint - Performance and efficiency - not mutually exclusive! - Leveraging green storage to reduce total operating costs and carbon footprint year after yearThis webcast will air on Thursday, June 28th 2007, at 2:00 PM, EDT.
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Enhanced midrange storage array, network hardware released.