Sanbolic Provides Centralized Storage Management MMC Snap-In

Sanbolic, Inc., a developer of software to simplify and share SAN storage, announced a snap-in for Microsoft Management Console (MMC) that provides centralized configuration and assignment of Storage Area Network (SAN) volumes for servers running Sanbolic’s LaScala clustered volume manager. Using the LaScala Disto snap-in, administrators can centrally manage such tasks as adding new storage to existing stripe sets, creating or expanding logical drives, and assigning or reassigning storage drives among servers. Customers using Microsoft System Center for data center management can now easily add a central storage management console within their Windows environment.

SAN storage is becoming pervasive in Windows data center environments, especially as server virtualization tools are being introduced. The LaScala Disto snap-in provides new capability to integrate centralized storage management into the familiar Microsoft-based console. LaScala volume manager installs on each server and adds a number of key storage management capabilities while significantly simplifying storage management. LaScala can be used to aggregate storage space and bandwidth from heterogeneous storage arrays into a single data pool. Logical drives can be created within this storage pool and assigned to specific servers using standard Windows security permissions. In an Active Directory environment the volume level ACLs enable user account to have access to assigned volumes after log-in in from any machine. Storage can be added and volumes expanded dynamically while systems continue to access data. This solution elevates many typical storage management tasks from array- or switch-based management tools to the volume manager running on the host, which can be centrally managed from LaScala Disto interface accessed through the MMC snap-in.

Sanbolic’s products include LaScala Disto, LaScala Clustered volume manager, and Melio clustered file system. LaScala volumes may be formatted with the native Windows file system, NTFS, or with Sanbolic’s Melio clustered file system. When formatted with Melio FS, the storage volumes may be accessed by multiple servers, which have concurrent shared read and write access to the file system. Sanbolic’s software is designed to be easy to install and intuitive to use by customers familiar with Windows.

"SAN storage management is an increasingly important task for our Windows data center customers," said Bala Kasiviswanathan, director of Storage Solutions Marketing at Microsoft Corp. "Sanbolic’s snap-in for MMC addresses the critical need of centralized storage management for our mutual customers."

Sanbolic software currently supports Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2000, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008. Sanbolic distributes its product solutions worldwide through a network of distributors, OEMs, VARs and system integrators.

Sanbolic, Inc.