Tag Archives: Virtualization

Avere Announces Software Updates, Adds Virtual FXT Filer

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Today Avere Systems announced an update to the AOS software (version 4.5) that runs on their FXT Edge Filers. The big news in this version is the addition of a Virtual Edge Filer, the vFXT.

Avere’s FXT works by placing an Edge Filer close to the end-user clients. The Edge Filer uses a global name space to virtualize file storage for the Core Filers positioned behind it. AOS 4.0 included support for using public cloud storage as a Core Filer, or Cloud NAS. AOS 4.5 adds support for installing an Edge Filer in the cloud, further extending the functionality. Continue reading →

GeekFluent Round-up of VMware’s Announcements from Monday of VMworld 2014

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I’m here at VMworld 2014 and this year VMware has gone above and beyond. Monday’s opening keynote included more new product announcements than any other VMworld I’ve attended (I’ve been going yearly since 2009).

Such a massive flow of info can be hard to keep up with without a program. Below you’ll find my summary of the announcements. Continue reading →

EMC Announces RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines

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RP4VMToday, timed with VMworld, EMC announced a new version of their RecoverPoint data protection / disaster recovery product: RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines. This is the product that came out of what was formerly being called Project Mercury.

The new product, takes RecoverPoint further into VMware data protection than the RecoverPoint Virtual Edition did, allowing data protection granularity at the individual VM level.

I’ll walk through the pieces, including what’s different between this product and the “full version” of RecoverPoint. Continue reading →

EMC Announces Major Updates to Their SDS Platform – ViPR 2.0

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EMC ViPR logoIn another of their announcements on the first day of EMC World, EMC announced a series of major updates and new features for their software-defined storage (SDS) platform, ViPR. The new updates will be in ViPR 2.0

While storage solutions will always require that hardware be involved, software-defined storage allows the ability to provide storage services without being tied to any specific hardware.

ViPR works by separating the control plane from the data plane. This means ViPR come in two parts, ViPR Controller, and ViPR Services. ViPR 2.0 makes additions on both sides. Continue reading →

EMC Announces Version 1.30 of ScaleIO

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EMC ScaleIOToday, in one of the many announcements that kicked off EMC World, EMC announced the new version of their ScaleIO product.

If you’re not familiar with ScaleIO, EMC defines it as a “software-only server-based SAN that converges storage and compute resources to form a single-layer, enterprise-grade storage product. You can also think of it as similar to VMware VSAN, but usable for things other than VMware.

What That Means Continue reading →

EMC’s Project Liberty – Hints of Things to Come?

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EMC Project LibertyToday, in addition to announcing a new model VNXe, EMC announced their Project Liberty as part of the pre-EMC World build-up.

What’s Project Liberty? EMC is calling it a “virtualized storage software technology based on VNX”.

What does that mean? Project Liberty is essentially a virtual appliance version of EMC’s VNX.

But, wait, I can hear you thinking this one:

Doesn’t EMC already make a VNX virtual appliance available? Continue reading →

EMC Announces Next-Generation VNX – Takes It Full Multicore

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Today EMC announced the availability of the next generation of their VNX unified storage platform, previously codenamed “Rockies”. The new platform — actually available for purchase for the past month or so — which some are calling “VNX2”, offers a significant performance increase over the previous generation. Rather than VNX2, EMC refers to this generation as “MCx”, which stands for “Multi-Core Optimized”.

Virtualization as a Storage Driver

EMC has seen the greatest growth in the VNX line in its use as an engine for server virtualization. With the hyper-consolidation that server virtualization technology like VMware vSphere allows for, storage arrays become aggregators for tens, hundreds, and even thousands of virtual machines.

Designing storage for virtual environments isn’t always easy.
Continue reading →

EMC Enhances RecoverPoint (and takes it virtual!)

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Today, EMC announced version 4.0 of RecoverPoint.  The new version brings many exciting new features, my personal favorite being the availability of a virtual version of the RecoverPoint Appliance (RPA).

RecoverPoint is a SAN-based data protection/replication solution.  It works through the use of a specialized RecoverPoint Appliance (RPA) installed on the SAN.  The solution uses “splitters” to take a copy of all data writes and send them to the RPA.  The splitters can be one of three types: array-based (on supported arrays), network-based (on supported switches), or host-based (as device drivers for HBAs in environments not using RecoverPoint-supported arrays or switches).

Depending on the configuration, the RPA can use this duplicate data stream to provide one of three modes of protection: Continue reading →

EMC Announces VPLEX Metro Express Edition (plus VAAI support)

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[UPDATE: I’ve edited the post to remove one of the new features that had been mentioned in early pre-announcement briefings.  The features listed now match what’s actually been released.]

Today, EMC announced updates to their VPLEX family of storage virtualization devices, including a new way to purchase it — the VPLEX Metro Express Edition.

What’s a VPLEX?

If you’re not familiar with it, the EMC VPLEX creates a layer of abstraction between physical hosts and storage arrays — it virtualizes the storage.  Doing this provides datacenters with all kinds of flexible options they wouldn’t otherwise have: Continue reading →

Evolution of Virtualization – The Whiteboard Video

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I posted before about having fun with whiteboards at VMware PEX, and I posted the draft outline for the “Evolution of Virtualization” whiteboard I did with Gabriel Chapman (@Bacon_Is_King).

Today, Amy Lewis (@CommsNinja) has posted the final version of the video we recorded.  I have to say, the editing makes it look very professional.

For me, improving efficiency and gaining flexibility have always been the driving forces behind virtualization. Continue reading →