Using Dell/EMC Storage Software in a VMware …...Choosing appropriate storage software functionality is a key part of combining a VMware software–based virtualized environment with
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Server virtualization can provide multiple benefits in
enterprise environments, allowing enterprises to
consolidate servers to help increase resource utili-
zation, use power efficiently, and reduce operating costs.
Enterprises can gain similar advantages in the storage envi-
ronment by consolidating those resources, helping them
simplify management, increase flexibility and allow nondis-
ruptive virtual machine (VM) migrations, and meet service-
level agreements (SLAs).
Choosing appropriate storage software functionality is a
key part of combining a VMware software–based virtualized
environment with consolidated storage. Important factors to
consider include data mobility, flexible quality-of-service
(QoS) functionality, high-availability features, and simplified
management.1
Simplifying management with the EMC Navisphere Task Bar Implementing storage software in a virtualized environment
can seem like a daunting task, and the relative ease of
deploying new VMs along with the variable I/O patterns that
result can make efficient storage management a challenge.
Ease of use, then, becomes a key factor when choosing stor-
age management software in such an environment.
The EMC® FLARE® operating environment includes the
Navisphere® Task Bar, which is designed to increase ease of
use for storage administrators and complement the advan-
tages of VMware and EMC software. Administrators can use
this task bar (freely available to those with EMC service main-
tenance contracts) to perform many common storage man-
agement tasks in significantly fewer steps than they would
otherwise require, including rapidly provisioning as much as
1 TB of storage, using the mirror wizard to help protect data,
and creating a clone backup.
Enhancing data mobility through advanced LUN technologyThe FLARE operating environment for Dell/EMC CX3 UltraScale
series storage can provide high levels of data mobility and
resource flexibility, allowing administrators to deploy new
servers quickly and nondisruptively. Dell/EMC metaLUN and
Virtual LUN technologies are designed to complement these
capabilities, enabling real-time online expansion of logical
units (LUNs) and transparent volume movement, respec-
tively, typically without I/O interruption in hosts running the
VMware ESX Server virtualization platform.
MetaLUNs are created by expanding a single LUN through
concatenation, striping, or both. When VMs require additional
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Using Dell/EMC Storage Software in a VMware Virtual Environment
When deploying VMware® virtualization software, choosing storage with complementary software can be critical. The advanced software functionality available with Dell/EMC CX3 UltraScale™ series storage arrays is designed to provide the data mobility and resource flexibility necessary to create an integrated, highly available virtualized information infrastructure.
By AnDRew GIlmAn
1 The features described in this article apply to the Dell/emC CX3 UltraScale series, and may not be available with other Dell/emC storage arrays.
Choosing appropriate storage software func-tionality is a key part of combining a Vmware software–based virtualized environment with consolidated storage.”
Deploying highly available storage with Dell/EMC UltraPoint architecture Even in virtualized environments, an application’s
availability is only as good as the storage its data
resides on. Dell/EMC CX3 UltraScale series arrays
are designed to provide cost-effective mid-range
storage with industry-leading high-availability
capabilities. Architecture, process, and soft-
ware enhancements over previous-generation
Dell/EMC storage enable these arrays to provide
enterprise-class reliability to VMware software–
based environments.
The Dell/EMC CX3 UltraPoint DAE3P enclo-
sure offers a back end designed to increase fault
isolation by using a point-to-point architecture
rather than an arbitrated loop between the link
controller card and the disk drives. Isolating the
disk drives when a fault is detected or when the
drives are being installed mitigates risks to
system-wide availability.
Complementing the increased resiliency of
the UltraPoint hardware architecture are recent
enhancements to the FLARE operating environ-
ment. These enhancements help reduce the
risk of a double drive failure through the use of
proactive hot spares, which allow copy opera-
tions to a hot spare from a failing drive to help
eliminate the rebuild window and reduce expo-
sure to a second drive failure. High availability
is one of the primary advantages of virtualiza-
tion, and Dell/EMC CX3 UltraScale series arrays
can help ensure this availability for enterprises
running VMware software.
Integrating VMware virtualization with flexible, resilient Dell/EMC storage Choosing appropriate storage and storage soft-
ware for a VMware software–based environ-
ment can be critical to maximizing the
advantages of virtualization. By deploying
VMware software in conjunction with Dell/EMC
CX3 UltraScale series arrays, taking advantage
of metaLUN and Virtual LUN technology, and
using EMC Navisphere and Navisphere Quality
of Service Manager software, enterprises can
create flexible, resilient, easy-to-manage virtu-
alized infrastructures.
Andrew Gilman is a product marketing manager
at EMC Corporation overseeing the Navisphere
Management suite and VMware marketing activ-
ities for CLARiiON. Since joining EMC in 2005,
he has held a variety of marketing roles by way
of the Marketing Leadership Development
Program. Prior to EMC, Andrew held both techni-
cal and marketing roles at several successful
startups in the telecommunications field. Andrew
has a B.S. in Business Administration from
Boston University’s School of Management.
QUICK LINKS
Dell/EMC storage: www.dell.com/emc
EMC and VMware: www.emc.com/vmware
Feature Section: Virtualization in the MainStreaM
DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | August 200760
“By deploying Vmware software in conjunction with Dell/emC CX3 UltraScale series arrays, enterprises can create flexible, resilient, easy-to-manage virtualized infrastructures.”