Drive Down Server Virtualization’s Storage Costs

http://www.processor.com/editorial/article.asp?article=articles/P3207/34p07/34p07.asp&guid=

As a potential first step to meeting shared SAN requirements across virtual servers, Augie Gonzalez, director of product marketing at DataCore Software ( http://www.datacore.com/ ), suggests using portable storage virtualization software to make the disks inside the existing physical servers shareable. “The storage virtualization stack will run inside its own virtual machine (VM) or right on top of the hypervisor. From there, it first virtualizes formerly dedicated drives into shared iSCSI resources accessible from multiple VMs over a conventional LAN.”

...At the point where application workloads consume more than 75% of the physical server resources and the number of servers grows, DataCore’s Gonzalez advises moving the storage virtualization software into a pair of small dedicated servers that can handle the expanded capacity and I/O demands of the bigger environment. This, too, is straightforward, as the software licenses are fully portable from virtual to physical machines. Achieve further cost containment by relocating the original internal drives behind the storage virtualization nodes before any more storage is added.

...Many of the storage applications are dual mode, meaning they can reside in either a virtual machine or a dedicated physical host. DataCore’s Gonzalez believes this gives SMEs the best of both worlds. SMEs can start small, leveraging internal disks, and then as the production environment ramps up, they can move the storage to a dedicated system. Throughout that process, shared storage is available, but cost and complexity are kept to a minimum.

Key Points:
• Shared storage is critical for maximizing the benefits of server virtualization, and now it is also affordable for the small to midsized data center.
• Leveraging the server virtualization project itself either through the use of virtual machines or by repurposing legacy servers is a key element in driving out costs.
• Simplicity is as critical as reducing hard costs; SME personnel typically wear multiple hats, and integrating storage management into the virtual server management console reduces complexity significantly.

Virtualization's Third Dimension: Everything Channel Awards DataCore Software the 2010 Five-Star Partner Program Rating for Its Commitment to the Channel

http://vmblog.com/archive/2010/03/31/virtualization-s-third-dimension-everything-channel-awards-datacore-software-the-2010-five-star-partner-rating-for-its-commitment-to-the-channel.aspx

DataCore Partner Program Recognized as Exceptional by Leading Channel Authority

DataCore Software, announced it has been recognized by Everything Channel as a top information technology (IT) vendors for its DataCore Partner Program. Additionally, the DataCore Partner Program was awarded a Five-Star rating, representative of an exceptional program.

DataCore Takes Virtualization to the Third Dimension

The Five-Star recognition is significant since DataCore has recently undergone a major push to make it easier for partners to reap the rewards and benefits of having DataCore storage virtualization solutions in their arsenal of product offerings. A new Solution Advisor Resource Center includes a wealth of sales training and positioning tools and materials to help resellers and solution advisors grow their virtualization business with DataCore's storage virtualization solutions - http://www.datacore.com/partner/resources/  .

"We are very pleased that Everything Channel has recognized DataCore as a Five-Star Partner Program winner," states Bill Ferara, director of channel sales for the Americas, DataCore Software. "The word is getting out that DataCore storage virtualization software overcomes the major storage-related obstacles and upheavals that slow down or stop virtualization projects from getting off the ground or being successful when deploying a virtual infrastructure. We are confident that resellers will profit from adding DataCore storage virtualization to its business portfolio, particularly since storage virtualization software has become more and more a strategic part of any virtualization deployment."