DataCore Software has released new plug-in to integrate DataCore’s Storage Hypervisor and Management with VMware vCenter™

DataCore Software has released a new plug-in software to integrate the powerful enterprise-wide storage management capabilities of DataCore’s SANsymphony™-V Storage Hypervisor with VMware vCenter™ Server. The management plug-in software is available immediately for download to all SANsymphony-V customers.

VMware vCenter is the de facto standard for managing VMware virtual infrastructures and the SANsymphony-V Storage Hypervisor combines powerful storage virtualisation and enterprise-wide storage management. Together, these capabilities are seamlessly integrated to allow a VMware administrator to efficiently manage all their virtual machines (VM) and storage resources from a single console.

DataCore and VMware – A Combination Delivering Compelling Benefits

VMware administrators are now able to provision, monitor and manage their storage and server resources from a single pane of glass and perform common storage tasks and complex scheduling workflows to clone, snapshot and restore datastores and VMs without having to become storage experts

The vCenter Plug-In helps VMware administrators increase productivity and respond faster to user needs in a number of ways, including:
•Enabling an end-to-end view for VMware to storage from a virtual machine, host or virtual disk perspective; central monitoring and management of storage resources

•Rapidly provisioning virtual disks to VMware vSphere®/ESX® hosts

•Creating and restoring snapshots of datastores where VMs are housed
•Scheduling tasks to coordinate workflows between vSphere and SANsymphony-V servers

•Taking consistent snapshots of a datastore for validation or before making changes to the environment

•Scheduling recovery clones (full copy) or efficient differential snapshots to rapidly restore VMs

•Employing high-availability mirror protection to virtual disks

•Visualising current conditions in easy-to-understand terms to simplify troubleshooting and performing root cause analysis for virtual machines and their storage•Lowering OpEx and enhancing administrator productivity – through automated workflows, task wizards and lesser need for storage training and specialised skill sets
Simplify Difficult Storage Tasks: Snapshots, Clones and Restorations
The software’s built in wizards and simple command menus take the complexity out of creating, scheduling or capturing snapshots of VMs. Administrators simply select the datastore housing the specific VMs of interest. The plug-in signals the VMware vCenter Server to quiesce those VMs and then triggers SANsymphony-V to take snapshots of the corresponding datastore. Both full clone and differential (lightweight) snapshots are supported. The known positive state in those online snapshots may be used to set up new VMs or quickly recover from malware and user errors that may have damaged their integrity.

Snapshots with a click of the mouse may be scheduled at regular intervals, for instance, Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. when it will not disrupt daily operations. The workflow can also define how long the snapshots should be retained before being deleted.