The great battle of enterprise storage is on!

The time has come to take sides on the core question of storage for virtual servers: Do you want storage intelligence to live in the hypervisor or the array? Most administrators are already lining up on one side or the other, unintentionally casting their vote while the rest flounder. But the storage industry must wake up and embrace the divide.

Hypervisor Huggers Unite!

Do you "heart" virtualization?

VMware’s vSphere dominates the world of enterprise server virtualization and has become the core element of the modern open systems datacenter. Microsoft recognizes this but has been unable to field a competitive hypervisor ecosystem for the virtual datacenter. Today, vSphere is the state of the art and nowhere is this more apparent than in storage.

In just a few years, VMware has delivered and updated a host of advanced storage functionality, from provisioning to migration and load balancing to backup and data protection. vSphere 5 includes an advanced and scalable storage virtualization layer, delivering everything a datacenter needs. VMFS sculpts basic block storage into a shared resource for virtual machines, with snapshots, policy-based layout and movement, and flexible allocation and thin provisioning.

Most VMware administrators are “server guys” and relish these features. They have never experienced an automated “storage service” like this, and the enterprise storage world has never been able to construct anything remotely as flexible, user-friendly, and functional. And Hypervisor Huggers don’t need complex enterprise storage arrays to do it: They can use basic iSCSI or Fibre Channel devices to provide performance and capacity and let VMware do the rest!

Storage DRS is exemplary of the new virtual datacenter world. Introduced in vSphere 5 (and restricted to the pricey Enterprise Plus license), Storage DRS uses the core technology of Storage vMotion to dynamically balance I/O and capacity across a diverse pool of storage. Storage DRS even uses Policy-Driven Storage and VASA to enforce tiered storage and data placement strategy. This kind of virtualization has been a “holy grail” quest for the enterprise storage industry, but they’ve never delivered on their promises.

Cheers for Storage Stalwarts!

Do you wish all this virtualization nonsense would just go away?

But not every IT environment wants be 100% vSphere focused, and many aren’t convinced that dumb storage is the smartest place for their data. These Storage Stalwarts want smarter and better-integrated storage arrays, and VMware is innovating here as well.

VMware’s Storage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) technology is squarely aimed at this market. VAAI allows vSphere to hand off heavy storage operations to the high-end storage arrays from the major players. It works transparently, too, coordinating cloning without the kind of scripting and hair-pulling that used to require. VAAI in vSphere 4.1 also includes block zeroing support and something called “atomic test and set” which we’ll get to in a moment. Microsoft announced their own cloning integration, ODX, but it won’t ship until Windows Server 8 appears sometime next year.

But cloning is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Hypervisor-to-array integration. The rising army of NAS users have seen the glory of more-complete array integration for a while, and they’re not quiet about it. They love that VMware’s NFS protocol support makes storage “disappear” in vCenter, becoming just another resource with integrated thin provisioning and flexible allocation and movement.

VMware is moving aggressively to please their Storage Stalwarts, adding more VAAI support for block and file in vSphere 5. But, as the company laid out at VMworld 2011, neither access method is ideal for virtual servers. So VMware has been pushing the enterprise array vendors for ever-greater integration. They see a future where a VAAI-based protocol enables arrays to de-multiplex I/O streams from the hypervisor and intelligently handle per-VM data.

Stephen’s Stance

You can spot a Hypervisor Hugger by their big LUNs: They would rather treat storage as a bulk commodity, and array vendors should be lining up to get their business. Storage Stalwarts will jump on each new VMware innovation, finally making use of the capabilities they have spent over a decade paying for but not utilizing. The only untenable stance is trying to keep a foot in both worlds: It’s foolish to buy an enterprise array and use it as bulk storage!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Are You a Hypervisor Hugger or a Storage Stalwart?
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Features, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

VAAI in 4.1: Three For Block (Plus One More)

vSphere 4.1 officially includes three VAAI primitives: Full Copy, Hardware Assisted Locking, and Block Zeroing. But it was intended to include a fourth (Thin Provisioning Stun) and variations in nomenclature have confused administrators.

Here’s the complete list of VAAI primitives in vSphere 4.1, including a little more about what they really do.

Atomic Test & Set (ATS) (AKA Hardware Assisted Locking or HardwareAcceleratedLocking)

This is one of the most valuable storage technologies to come out of VMware, but it’s usually overlooked. It allows compare and write of SCSI blocks in one operation using proprietary array-specific op-codes. This enables granular locking of block storage devices beyond the basic full-LUN “reservations” included in SCSI from days of yore. This is huge for performance when LUNs are shared, with HP reporting at VMworld allowing 6 times more VMs per LUN once VAAI is turned on. NFS doesn’t really need this since locking is a non-issue and VM files aren’t shared the same way LUNs are.

To verify from the CLI:

esxcfg-advcfg -g /VMFS3/HardwareAcceleratedLocking

Cloning Blocks (AKA Full Copy, Extended Copy, or HardwareAcceleratedMove)

This is the signature VAAI command. Instead of reading data from the array then writing it back, the hypervisor can command the array to make a mirror of a range of data on its behalf. If supported and enabled, operations like Clone and VMotion can be lightning quick, since many high-end arrays are very capable of this sort of action. This leverages the SCSI XCOPY command (or other proprietary alternatives enabled with a VMware plug-in) and defaults to a 4 MB block size.

To verify from the CLI:

esxcfg-advcfg -g /DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedMove

Zeroing File Blocks (AKA Block Zeroing or HardwareAcceleratedInit)

Thin provisioning is difficult to get right because storage arrays have no idea what’s going on in the hosts. VAAI includes a generic interface for communication of free space, allowing vast ranges of blocks to be zeroed out at once. Along with the generic T10 “WRITE_SAME” command, VAAI allows vendors to use “UNMAP” or their own mechanisms with a plug-in. VMware defaults to a 1 MB block size for zeroing operations. But zeroing only works for supported block arrays, and only for capacity inside a VMDK: Clones and vMotions leave the array guessing.

To verify from the CLI:

esxcfg-advcfg -g /DataMover/HardwareAcceleratedInit

Out of Space Condition (AKA Thin Provisioning Stun)

Running out of capacity is a catastrophe, but it’s easy to ignore the alerts in vCenter until it’s too late. This command allows the array to notify vCenter to “stun” (suspend) all virtual machines on a LUN that is running out of space due to thin provisioning over-commit. This is the “secret” fourth primitive that wasn’t officially acknowledged until vSphere 5 but apparently existed before. In vSphere 5, this works for both block and NFS storage. Signals are sent using SCSI “Check Condition” operations.

VAAI Commands in vSphere 4.1

esxcli corestorage device list

esxcli vaai device list

esxcli corestorage plugin list

VAAI in 5.0: Lots More

vSphere 5 includes a new generation of VAAI primitives, including support for NFS storage. Once again, VMware includes a “secret” primitive not yet implemented, and puzzlingly lumps some of the official entries together in company documentation. But VMworld changed that, with one presentation including insight into the real list of VAAI primitives.

vSphere 5 includes and enhances all the VAAI primitives from vSphere 4.1 (including “Out of Space Condition”) as well as the following new capabilities.

vSphere 5 includes the above primitives, plus these

UNMAP (AKA Space Reclamation or EnableBlockDelete)

Zeroing File Blocks is great, but VMFS operations like cloning and vMotion didn’t include any hints to the array. This means that some of the biggest storage operations aren’t accelerated or thinned out! UNMAP is a SCSI command, and it was added to VAAI to allow thin-capable arrays to clear unused VMFS space as well. But vCenter couldn’t handle waiting for the array to return “UNMAP” command status, so the use of this primitive is officially suspended by VMware until this issue is resolved.

To verify from the CLI:

esxcfg-advcfg -g /VMFS3/EnableBlockDelete

For now, disable it:

esxcfg-advcfg –s 0 /VMFS3/EnableBlockDelete

Quota Exceeded Behavior (AKA TP Soft Threshold)

It would be nice if vSphere could react before an out-of-space condition is reached. This primitive allows the array to notify the hypervisor preemptively, possibly triggering a Storage DRS re-balance, for example. It also allows the hypervisor to query the array for its threshold values using SCSI “mode sense”.

TP LUN Reporting (AKA Report Thin Capacity)

A very simple command, this allows the hypervisor to query the array to determine if a LUN is thinly provisioned. On block arrays, the SCSI “TPE” bit is used, but this also works with NFS.

NFS Full File Clone (AKA Hardware Snap)

NFS already did a nice job with storage provisioning and presentation, but VMware couldn’t make use of hardware snapshot capability. This changes in vSphere 5, with a “Full Copy”-like mechanism appearing for NAS. But the NFS version doesn’t support Storage vMotion operations like its block cousin.

NFS Space Reservation (AKA Zeroedthick Files)

NFS is always thin, which is a good and bad thing. This new primitive adds two new file type for NFS-based VMDK files: “Eager” and “Lazy” Zeroed Thick. These are similar to the old default “thick” volume in block storage, but thick provisioning and space reservation is brand new territory for NFS admins. This primitive uses the NFS “reserve_space” command.

NFS Extended Stat (AKA Extended Status)

One-upping the SCSI block world, vSphere 5 can query NAS servers for all sorts of information, including file size. This should make NFS in vCenter even more friendly!

NFS Space Reclaim (AKA Space Reclamation)

Although the block-only UNMAP feature doesn’t work, the NFS equivalent Space Reclaim seems fine. This enables the hypervisor to unlink old files once they’re no longer used. This primitive uses the NFS “unlink” command.

NFS Fast File Clone (AKA Linked Clone Offload)

This “secret” VAAI primitive allows a future release of VMware View (and only View) to offload creation of linked clones to a NAS array. Hopefully we’ll see more of this in the future!

VAAI Commands in vSphere 5

esxcli storage core device list

esxcli storage core device vaai status get

esxcli storage core plugin list

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | A Complete List of VMware VAAI Primitives
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Features, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Sharing the Work

Matt Simmons and I are working together to plan future Tech Field Day events

I have been very, very busy lately. This is a good thing, considering that “I work for no man” but it sure does cause stress! That’s why I’m glad to announce that Matt Simmons has joined me full-time, taking on much of the workload of planning and executing Tech Field Day events.

The great thing about Matt is that he can basically do everything I can do: He’s a systems administrator and can handle all of the techie IT stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and he has experience working with hotels and travel people in planning events. Assuming all goes well with the next few events, Matt and I may even be able to add additional “staff” to meet the demands of an expanding event series!

Of course, the input of current and past delegates and the sponsors themselves helps out a lot too. There’s no way we could make this happen without the delegates help selecting and voting on their peers’ qualifications and helping out with making everything run smoothly on the ground. They’re also a huge help in suggesting new presenters and making introductions.

There’s nothing like an “thought leader” referral, except perhaps the enthusiastic endorsement of previous presenters! And we have had no shortage of enthusiasm, as witnessed by the hearty handshakes (and hugs!) from our friends at Zerto, Embotics, SolarWinds, Drobo, Symantec, Dell, Veeam, and so many other companies. And that was just at VMworld!

Something Old, Something New

Tech Field Day is all about lively technical discussion. We're going to try to capture and share some of that at TFD8!

We are always trying to keep the Tech Field Day events lively and fresh, and we continue to evolve the “formula”. We have some new ideas for Tech Field Day 8, and a great batch of new delegates and companies as well.

We always try to pick new and interesting voices for these events, and Tech Field Day 8 is no exception. We are also trying to go out on a limb a little more, bringing in up-and-coming delegates that we feel will be the next superstars of the industry. Take a look at our delegate list, and I think you’ll agree that we have a great group!

We are also experimenting with a new roundtable discussion format, something we began with Tech Field Day 7 in Austin. Rather than directly discussing the presenters, we are going to reserve some time in the schedule to discuss pertinent topics and trends in IT. With the help of our friends at Truth in IT, we will produce a series of videos of these conversations. These will be released in the month after the event.

In Austin, we decided to post recordings of the presentations immediately after the event. We will do that again in Tech Field Day 8, and hope this becomes a valuable resource for folks looking to learn about these companies. We got great feedback at VMworld about the streaming and the recordings, with many people commenting that they went back and viewed the presentations once the event was finished.

We are still tinkering with the schedule and trying to decide how many companies we can fit in with our new roundtable concept, but I hope this gives you an idea of the sort of things you learn from Tech Field Day. We expect to announce a few more companies shortly, including some big names who are just going through the process of contracts and legal legwork. Watch this space, and tune into the live streaming of these presentations at TechFieldDay.com!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | Tech Field Day 8, Silicon Valley
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Everything, Features, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

FalconStor NSS 7.0 brings VMware VAAI support to any storage array

FalconStor Software announced this week that Network Storage Server (NSS), their SAN virtualization solution, now supports VMware VAAI. This is big news for two reasons: Is the first time a smaller storage company has added VAAI support, and this is the first software virtualization product to do so. Users of this FalconStor solution will be able to use the three ESX 4.1 VAAI primitives with a wide variety of third-party storage devices.

You would probably also be interested in reading VMware VAAI Storage Array Support in Plain English

VMworld 2011 was a flurry of activity, but the FalconStor booth caught my eye. There, on the backdrop, were the four letters I’ve been tracking throughout the storage industry: VAAI. VMware’s array integration API brings powerful capabilities for the hypervisor to directly communicate with supported storage devices. Once enabled, VAAI “just works”, accelerating storage the motion and file locking and improving storage efficiency through thin provisioning.

But VAAI support is very difficult for storage vendors to bring to market. It requires capabilities that may not be present in some storage systems as well as the development of a plug-in for VMware vSphere. Then, vendors must go through certification with VMware before being added to the hardware compatibility list.

When it was initially announced as part of vSphere 4.1, VAAI support was limited to a few large companies. Since then, only IBM has added substantial support for the API, and no small vendor has been able to step up. This has somewhat dampened my enthusiasm for VAAI, since I would like to see widespread support across the industry.

Now that vSphere 5 has been announced, along with an extended version of VAAI, I hope more vendors will join the party. But until then, the FalconStor announcement brings hope to those who own unsupported systems. NSS is a block storage virtualization platform, and version 7.0 brings VAAI to any storage array. It is available as a software product or virtual appliance or as a physical appliance solution.

In this way, it is similar to the IBM SVC and HDS USP products. But FalconStor NSS is substantially less expensive than those offerings, more suitable for smaller businesses with “alternative” storage devices. FalconStor software is also widely offered by storage resellers, who will now be able to offer VAAI compliant solutions from vendors other than the big names.

Stephen’s Stance

I do not necessarily endorse or recommend FalconStor NSS over competing products from more familiar names, but I commend them for adding VAAI support. There the first small vendor to do so, and their software virtualization platform spreads the availability of this important software capability. For that, they should be commended!

No disclaimer: I’m not associated with FalconStor in any way.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | FalconStor Brings VAAI Support To Every Storage Array
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Next Sunday, I’m headed back to Las Vegas (for my fifth time this year!) for another enterprise IT event. But this is a special event: VMworld always includes an amazing group of attendees and companies! And for the first time, I’m participating in the event, presenting to vExperts on Sunday. I hope I see you there!

My VMworld Schedule

I’ll be arriving in Las Vegas on Sunday morning (here’s hoping Uninental/Continited decides to upgrade me to first class again!) and heading straight to the Hilton to drop off my bags. Then it’s time to head to the Sands Convention Center for lunch and registration.

I’ll spend Sunday afternoon at the vExpert Sunday Event organized by John Troyer. Although this event is only for vExperts, I bet it’ll be well-attended and I’ll see lots of familiar faces!

After dinner Sunday night is VMunderground. Always a highlight of VMworld, VMunderground is a great social event run by some awesome folks, including Tech Field Day delegates, Theron Conrey and Sean Clark. Tickets are required, and I believe they’re all taken. So I hope you got some while they lasted!

I’ve got some open time Monday (hear that, vendors?) but I’m sure that’ll fill up soon. Anyone want to meet up for breakfast or lunch? I’ll definitely be roving the Solutions Exchange from 5:00 to 7:30 with my buddies.

Tuesday kicks off with breakfast with Mark Thiele and others. I’m trying to arrange another visit to SuperNAP, the world’s largest datacenter, right after. Then it’s meeting after meeting with vendors, with trips to the Solutions Exchange mixed in. I’d love to set up a dinner, too. Who’s in?

Wednesday is meeting after meeting, too. And although most folks will be enjoying The Killers Wednesday night, I have to head back home that afternoon. I have to see my family sometimes, you know?

Stephen’s Stance

I’d love to meet up with you at VMworld! If you’re a product vendor and would like to brief me on what you’re doing, please try to get it into my open Monday, ok? Or let’s do it over a meal – there are some amazing restaurants in Vegas! And if you’re a fellow geek wanting to meet up, drop me a line too. I’ll be out “gallivanting” (as my mom would say) every evening. Join me!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2011. | VMworld 2011, Las Vegas
This post was categorized as Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Update: @SSauer points out that this is vShield, and posted some information here: A New Generation of vShield Security Products

vSwitch, vNetwork, vShield?

Most hypervisor products include an internal virtual network switch, but VMware’s ESX has multiple choices. The original “dumb” virtual Ethernet switch was augmented by vSwitch back in the ESX 3 days, bringing more-advanced configuration options.VMware improved and renamed the vSwitch in vSphere 4, creating the vNetwork Standard Switch (vSS).

But it was the introduction of vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) in vSphere 4 that really set VMware’s network capabilities apart. The champion of this field is Cisco, whose Nexus 1000V virtual switch extends their NX-OS datacenter networking OS right into the ESX world.

The Cisco Nexus 1000V runs both the supervisor and Ethernet modules inside the virtual ESX environment

As illustrated above, the Nexus 1000v consists of two key components:

1. The Virtual Supervisor Module is an implementation of NX-OS on an ESX virtual machine, and provides the interface and configuration of the virtual network
2. The Virtual Ethernet Module runs at a lower level in ESX, replacing the vSwitch for networking between VMs

One can think of the Cisco Nexus 1000v as a specialized replacement for the more-generic vNetwork Distributed Switch. Both include plug-in vSwitch replacements and centralized management, and both implement more-advanced network protocols like private VLANS and receive-rate limiting as well as supporting vMotion. But Cisco’s 1000v goes much further, adding PortChannel, LACP, security and QoS, and advanced management features.

See this comparison of vSwitch, vSS, vDS, and 1000v as well as Rich Brambley’s vSS/vDS post

From a technology standpoint, the key to both vDS and 1000v is the ability to replace the core ESX vSwitch with a more-capable alternative. Now let’s turn to what VMware might be introducing next.

What Do We Know?

Howie Xu, VMware Director of R&D, released a video discussing his sessions at VMworld, entitled ”The Future Direction of Networking Virtualization” (TA8361). This video begins with a quick pan past Xu’s whiteboard (pictured below) and includes a discussion of the state of the art, vision, and product and technology roadmap for VMware’s networking-related efforts.

The part that really piqued my interest was later in the video, when Xu talks about creating a “networking virtual chassis or hypervisor” to allow third-parties to develop and roll-out advanced networking devices within vSphere. VMware has already steamrolled through the heart of server-based applications, making VMware-based virtual appliances as common an installation format as the DVD. Now the company is turning its attention to the network. This is huge!

Xu speaks of both a platform and a service to support this ”open extensible networking virtual chassis platform,” and goes on to suggest that it could be used by “networking security, load balance, application acceleration, IP address management, and performance management” products. The virtual appliance marketplace is already populated by the familiar names in networking, from F5 to Bluecoat to Checkpoint. Therefore, VMware must be talking about something much deeper and more advanced than merely encouraging the creation of more virtual appliances!

The core question is whether VMware is opening up the “green box” in my diagram above to run third-party applications and what level of system access they will get.

Consider this a vFabric pre-intro!

Then there is the name. The whiteboard prominently includes the words, “vFabric Intro” in the corner. Judging by the rest of the readable content, this indicates that this new technology will indeed be called “vFabric” as Stu speculated.

Update: It appears that vFabric is not the name of this virtual chassis (thanks, Stu and Howie!). Good thing, too, since the name, “vFabric” is a registered trademark of QLogic Corporation, for “computer software for managing computer hardware, namely switches used in networks.”

What’s Coming?

I’m more of a storage guy, so I rang up my friend Greg “Etherealmind” Ferro and ran some ideas past him. Greg and I talked about the needs of network-based devices, and how they differ from traditional server-based applications.

Greg suggests that vFabric will really assist vMotion

Networkers have been conditioned with the belief that custom silicon is the best way to achieve low latency and high performance for network devices. The same could be said of the storage world, where companies like HDS, 3PAR, and BlueArc pride themselves on their custom ASICs. But EMC, HP, and others are proving that Intel’s server-class CPUs and peripheral busses now have the guts to go head-to-head with custom silicon. The networking world is no different, with many newer companies basing their products around industry-standard hardware.

But deploying these systems in a virtual environment is more challenging. Can a virtual machine hypervisor prioritize threads for network devices? Can it handle the overhead related to networking operations in real-time? What happens in the event of a DDoS or network flood? Most network devices run real-time operating systems like VxWorks or QNX to ensure packet throughput, but virtual environments are notorious for “overflow” of I/O or CPU load between guest machines.

The whiteboard provides some hints as to how VMware will tackle these issues. First, we spot the term, “latency-aware queueing,” which suggests that a mechanism will monitor the hypervisor and alter the queues for virtual network devices as the load changes. As latency rises, the hypervisor can move workloads to different processor cores or even alternate hardware using vMotion. We also spot a reference to “non-blocking”, suggesting an asynchronous I/O mechanism will reduce the likelihood that one of these virtual network devices will have to wait for data.

Both of these technologies are hallmarks of real-time operating systems (RTOS), and are critical to the design of scalable hypervisors like VMware’s ESX. It is likely that the company is developing an advanced hypervisor environment for these specialized devices, an evolution of vDS and the API that allows the Cisco Nexus 1000v to run its Virtual Ethernet Module.

Stephen’s Stance

If our assumptions are true, then this is an exciting development indeed. If VMware exposes the “green box” in our diagram above to third-party developers, we could see an entirely new and more-powerful ecosystem evolve around VMware vSphere. Running virtual network devices in a quasi-real-time environment will enable even-greater integration and flexibility.

The Nexus 1000v has not eliminated purchasing of Cisco hardware, and vFabric will not destroy the larger network device market. But we expect wide vendor support for the concept, especially those involved in lower-end and remote-office applications. We would love to see Palo Alto Networks, Infoblox, SolarWinds, and Vyatta, to name a few, developing next-generation applications for vFabric. Virtualization-aware integrated networking shouldn’t be the sole domain of Cisco.

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | A VMware Hypervisor For Networkers?
This post was categorized as Computer History, Enterprise storage, Everything, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Donate your conference backpacks to school kids in need!

Trade shows are a veritable swag-fest, some with great loot and some with junk. I’ve been critical of the booth babe and chotchkie phenomenon, but my friend Kevin Houston has a better suggestion: Donate your (useful) swag like backpacks and pens to school kids in need.

Kevin first suggested this to me at HP Tech Forum after I refused the giveaway backpack I wouldn’t have used. It turns out that he’s been doing this for a while, with a focus on the backpacks so many vendors distribute. It’s funny – my own son uses my VMworld 2009 backpack and I have to admit it’s a well-built and useful bag. But I hadn’t thought of the underprivileged kids out there who could use it even more.

Did you know that 41% of kids in the United States come from “low-income” households? According to the NCCP, over half of the kids in Arkansas, DC, and Mississippi are under financial stress. I’m sure back-to-school time is a serious disappointment for many kids whose parents can’t afford a new backpack, pencils, and other school supplies. Many don’t realize that school districts can’t afford enough supplies either. In fact, it’s so common that the IRS allows teachers to deduct up to $250 in out-of-pocket expenses to equip their classrooms with basic supplies.

So I’d like to echo Kevin’s call: It’s time for us techies to lend a hand and support education. The next generation needs us! When you come home from VMworld and similar events, load that backpack up with school supplies (notebooks, pencils, scissors, and the like) and donate it to a local school. They’ll be glad for the help!

Photo by Kevin Houston

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | Donate Your Swag to School Kids In Need
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Everything, Features, Gestalt IT, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Boche.net and Gestalt IT are giving away a trip to VMworld 2010 in San Francisco!

VMworld is an awesome event, and one of the few technical conferences that is still growing even as the old standbys falter. But it’s also expensive – a pass costs almost US $2,000, and airfare isn’t cheap these days, either. I was so pleased to see Jason Boche offering a VMworld 2010 pass as a contest prize that we at Gestalt IT decided to pitch in, too. We’ll pay for airfare for the winner, as well as providing them a platform to share what they learn at the event.

The economy remains pretty bad, and I know many people who are out of work or otherwise unable to afford a luxury like a tech conference trip. But this is just the sort of event that can kickstart community involvement, a career, or a job hunt. Don’t underestimate the value of attending in person – You really ought to go!

So head over to Boche.net and enter the contest, and check Gestalt IT for details on the air travel!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2010. | Contest: Free VMworld Trip Thanks To Boche.Net and Gestalt IT!
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Enterprise Storage

• HDS’ HAM-Fisted Announcement did not impress, with many wondering (So Long And Thanks For All The Fish) what exactly the company had announced. But by week’s end (USP-V and Hitachi High Availability Manager) we had figured out How It Works and even had some time for jokes.
• What should be in the cloud? How about some profiling questions nobody’s asking re: cloud applications
• Want your own iSCSI array? StarWind has responded to your comments, 2TB at no cost!
• What Is a Backup? Some great discussion (Backup to the Future) and a solution: When Is A Copy A Backup?
• Howard Marks is also doing a great job with backup and archiving: See Of Backups and Archives, Storing Archival Data – Part Deux, and All Archive Data is Not Alike
• I joined Chris Evans, Marc Farley, and Greg Knierieman for Infosmack Episode #6 – HDS USP-V announcement, EMC non-competes and changes at VMworld
• ‘Nuff said: And people wonder why I hate HP, Google Could Learn a Thing or Two from EMC, Virtualization: Why Microsoft cares

Misc

• Tim O’Reilly took a look at a technology I just didn’t get, but changed my mind with Google Wave: What Might Email Look Like If It Were Invented Today?
• Want a crazy car to get your mind off of GM and Chrysler? How about the 500-hp Ariel Atom 500 V8
• A wonderfully long and detailed article: Lessons from the Vaccine–Autism Wars
• Finally, take a look at this amazing video: Louis CK “Everything’s amazing, nobody’s happy”

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2009. | Back From The Pile: May 30, 2009
This post was categorized as Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage. Each of my categories has its own feed if you'd like to filter out or focus on posts like this.

Hopefully, VMware's three pillars (vCloud, vClient, and VDC-OS) are a little more solid (not to mention closer) than the Three Pillars of Creation in the Eagle Nebula

VMware packed a lot into their 2008 VMworld conference, including an outline of their “three pillars” strategy, focused on vClient, vCloud, and something they are calling the Virtual Datacenter Operating System. While it is debatable if this last item really is an operating system, it’s certainly a major strategic change in messaging.

VDC-OS is divided into four “vServices” (Management, Cloud, Application, and Infrastructure), and one core Infrastructure vService is vStorage. Since my focus is enterprise storage, I thought I would take a moment to examine the current and future status of vStorage.

EMC’s Chad Sakac has taken up the challenge of communicating vStorage to the world, in a post to his blog, a pair of YouTube videos (multipathing, I/O dedupe), and (apparently) a session or two at VMworld. But I’m not sure it’s really entirely clear just what vStorage is and what this means to existing and future VMware storage developments. So let’s dive in and take a look.

vStorage = Storage vService for VMware Infrastructure

Let’s get one thing out of the way immediately: VDC-OS is not a new product – it’s a framework to organize VMware’s existing and future datacenter-targeted products like ESX. The company is sweeping away the current hodgepodge of server product elements and placing them all into a more-organized structure called VDC-OS.

As such, the whole thing is not fully baked at present – there are lots of missing elements, and these point to future products from VMware and others. I applaud the organization, and feel that this is the first really viable next-generation datacenter vision that I have seen. It accurately reflects the current reality of the corporate data center and includes a migration path to take it to a compelling new level.

VMware has a realistic approach to bringing current datacenter elements into the future

As we can see in VMware’s diagram (above), the Virtual Datacenter OS is made up of VMware Infrastructure, with application vServices resting on infrastructure vServices or the cloud. This last bit is the fundamental breakthrough that makes VDC-OS more than just slideware – if it works, applications (virtual appliances) can transparently move from local infrastructure to cloud infrastructure owned and operated by others. It’s transformative, and if they pull it off, this could usher in a new datacenter world.

vStorage is one of the core infrastructure services, along with vCompute and vNetwork. Although it’s not entirely clear at this point, vStorage presumably includes all existing VMware storage technologies as well as the new APIs for multipathing and I/O deduplication highlighted at the show. I envision a future in which vStorage is a set of APIs for everything from I/O to device management, and VMware even includes virtual storage appliances in this umbrella.

vStorage: What’s In It?

At the very least, vStorage includes the following:

• VMFS for shared storage
• Thin Provisioning support in VMware Infrastructure is apparently coming in 2009, but is also apparently incompatible with fault tolerance.
• Linked Clones is another desktop technology coming to VI 2009.
• The Site Recovery Manager API has also become part of vStorage, though this isn’t getting much press.
• VMware Consolidated Backup (VCB) will also apparently be a vStorage API.
• The existing snapshot API will also presumably included.
• The new API for Multipathing covers the old generic native multipathing (NMP) from ESX as well as EMC’s most excellent PowerPath. The latter is presumably an extra-cost option that enables lots of niftiness, as demonstrated by Chad in this video.
• Another new API claims to deduplicate I/O, reducing traffic for certain supported disk operations, as demonstrated in Chad’s second video.

What is in and what is out is still kind of up in the air. But you can see that vStorage includes most of our old favorites (VMFS, SRM, VCB), some desktop elements (thin volumes, linked clones), and some new surprises (PowerPath, I/O dedupe). There is enough meat here to separate this from traditional slideware: VDC-OS has legs!

© sfoskett for Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat, 2008. | What is VMware VDC-OS vStorage?
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