NetApp Releases VSC 2.1 vCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere

NetApp has released the Virtual Storage Console 2.1 (VSC); our VMware vCenter plug-in. Behind the scenes the VSC is actually a framework from a number of sub-plug-ins (VSC, Rapid Cloning Utility and SMVI) delivered in a single installation. We created this sub-plug-in architecture as a way to enable new plug-ins without having to create multiple NetApp tabs in vCenter.

The main feature in the VSC 2.1 is a rewritten infrastructure discovery process. As I don't write code I am challenged to share with you the details of the changes made; however, I can share with you that a 30 node vSphere cluster, booting from SAN, with 1,505 virtual machines stored on 69 datastores used to take 35.45 minutes to discover. With version 2.1 the baseline discovery process now completes in 1.94 minutes and subsequent updates complete in 16 seconds!

The VSC also includes a new version of MBRAlign that supports I/O offload for correcting misaligned partitions in VMs running on NFS datastores. This capability reduces load on the hypervisor and storage network in order to reduce the time required to align the partition in the VMDK.

The VSC is the recommended best practice for deploying VMware on NetApp. It's also a free product available on the NOW site. Note, the backup and store capability requires a SMVI license.

Here's an overview of the capabilities of the VSC and enablments available in vCenter:

Supported Configurations

VMware VI3 & vSphere 4

• Independently and mixed clusters

NetApp FAS arrays, 3rd party arrays with vSeries, and OEM platforms IBM N-Series & Fujitsu Ontap-v VSA

• Data Ontap 7.3.3 and later (7.3.5+ & 8.0.1+ recommended)
• MetroCluster & vFiler storage options

Provisioning Storage
FC, FCoE, iSCSI & NFS datastores

• Create, clone, resize, and destroy
• Supports VAAI Full Copy & Block Zero

Set multi-pathing policies for VMFS & NFS
Secures access to storage

• LUN masking
• NFS exports

Cross-domain operation enablement
Storage admin creates storage pools

• VI admins provision from pools

Storage admin grants capabilities to VSC users

• Role based access
• Clone VMs
• Provision, manage, destroy datastores

Storage Efficiencies
Enable & Monitor data deduplication
Enables hardware-based FlexClones of VMs & datastores

Desktop Virtualization
Automated pool creation

• Provisioning of hardware-accelerated VM clones & datastores
• Hardware-accelerated VM refresh

Import wizard supporting

• VMware View Manager 4.6
• Citrix XenDesktop 5

OpenAPI Support
Provides programmable APIs for tech-centric customers & partners
SOAP based

Infrastructure Monitoring
Discovers arrays, hosts, and VMs

• Automatic update of storage controller list
• Audits against best practices established by NetApp & VMware
• Non-disruptively corrects items out of compliance

Notification of deployment misaligned VMDKs

• Includes MBRTools
• Identify and correct VMDK misalignment
• I/O-offload for VMs on NFS

Reports storage details

• Array details, disk type, data protection, replication, etc.

Reports storage utilization

• Datastore, LUN, FlexVol, Aggregate
• Layers between datastore and aggregate are automatically managed

Backup & Restore
Agent-less Backup
Policy driven backups for datastores and VMs
Supports restores of datastores, VMs, VMDKs, & files

Comments

[Schley Andrew Kutz]

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that's so, then color me flattered. This new NetApp plug-in is exactly like the EMC VSI 4.0 plug-in for vSphere that was released last year (http://akutz.wordpress.com/2010/12/22/emc-vsi-4-0/). I'm flattered, I truly am :)

[Vaughn Stewart]

@Andrew -

Thanks for sharing. I admit, EMC has done one fine job in developing their plug-ins and that is no short order with the number of disparate array platforms they support VMware on.

it's funny how EMC and NetApp employees view things differently. EMC claims 70+ points of integration scattered among 5 or 6 or 7 array platforms. I wonder what the median average is in terms of integrations per array platform?

NetApp provides the most complete plug-in, delivering the same capabilities across all arrays with access via any protocol. This model enables solutions consistency, regardless of being deployed in the core datacenter or in a small ROBO office. We think hardware is simply a means to scale.

EMC & NetApp view the needs of customers differently.

I challenge your claims that NetApp is not the leader and offer the following content from 2009 as evidence...

http://blogs.netapp.com/virtualstorageguy/2009/08/emc-the-storage-most-integrated-with-vmware-the-conclusion.html

Thanks again,
Vaughn

[James Bothe]

Does this replace SMVI? Should I not install that package and only use VSC 2.1?

[Jason Benedicic]

Hi Vaughn,

Are there any more details about the new MBR Tools available other than what is in the IAG?

In an ESXi environment I would usually just use a Linux machine to mount the NFS stores and run the tool against the VMDK's as a part of any P2V process.

However the latest tool won't even let me run the help command on my Ubuntu 10.04 machine.

Is it totally redesigned to only work with ESX now? Any information would be helpful.

Kind Regards,
Jason.

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=658313066]

@Vaughn - a few of us have noticed the mbrscan and (the newer) nfsstat -d output are not agreeing on the state of alignment - can you weigh in on if this just an interpretation of nfsstat -d output issue or if we actually have unaligned IO happening on what mbrscan says are aligned VMs?

http://communities.netapp.com/message/56904

thanks

[Pedro Rocha]

Hi!

When mbralign will support ESXi, if so?

How can I automate alignment for VMs on ESXi 4.1, just as mbralign does?

Thanks,
Pedro.

[Vaughn Stewart]

@Fletcher - I don't have intimate knowledge around the data you are seeing with nfsstat, but I'd suggest you have an application in your VM that is creating a number of writes that are less than 4KB in size.

If what I suggest is accurate there's no need to be concerned, as it is normal behavior for the application.

I know you're well aware of misalignment, but please allow me to restate for those who may not be... What we want to avoid is having misaligned I/O for hundreds or thousands of VMs on an array. The inefficiency in I/O transfers due to a large mass of misaligned VMs will stress the array and lead to the eventual need to upgrade hardware.

Let me know if the small writes is or is not the case. I'd be happy to engage others to continue the conversation if needed.

Vaughn

[Vaughn Stewart]

@Pedro - We are woking on an official release targeted for the fall. Those pesky NDAs prevent me from sharing the details here.

If you need to address a misaligned ESXI environment today you should first upgrade to data Ontap 8.0.1. This release includes logic to better better handle the impact of misaligned workloads. After the upgrade you could consider a number of steps to actually align the VMDKs...
Wait for the MBRAlign releasee that supports ESXi
Running MBRAlign from an ESX host
Using a 3rd party alignment tool
Install MBRAlign in a Linux VM (btw - this model screams - its fast)