NexentaStor 2.0 Released by Nexenta

Nexenta Systems, Inc. released NexentaStor 2.0, a unified storage solution delivering enterprise class NAS and SAN capabilities and based on the ZFS file system.

Now with over 10,000 users and in excess of 360 paid customers, NexentaStor offers an unmatched combination of enterprise class features and an open technology and business model that promises to end storage vendor lock-in forever.

NexentaStor 2.0 adds a number of capabilities to NexentaStor 1.0, including HA Cluster 1.0, a fully automated active / active failover functionality, as well as global 24 x 7 phone support. In addition, NexentaStor 2.0 includes the first releases of an optional Windows back-up module called Deloreon 1.0 and of an optional module called Target 1.0, which is used to manage NexentaStor as a block-level target. Also, NexentaStor 2.0 marks the second release of VM Data Center, a module included with NexentaStor that assists in the management of storage for virtualized environments.

"The feedback we have received from Nexenta’s existing users has been extremely positive," said Terri McClure, Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "With NexentaStor 2.0 and the addition of fully automated HA and global phone support, we believe that Nexenta has removed the last barriers to enterprise adoption of NexentaStor. The importance of the shift in the storage market towards hardware independent OpenStorage should not be underestimated. Open storage is here, it is important, it is viable and enterprise-ready."

Escaping the vendor lock-in maze
Until NexentaStor, enterprise class NAS and SAN vendors required customers to purchase their storage hardware from the vendor. Even the on-disk format of most vendors is proprietary – so the only way to get data off the disks managed by these vendors is by using that vendor’s solutions. If that vendor stops supporting a particular line of hardware then the customer is forced to upgrade or to perform an ever more difficult migration off one set of legacy hardware and onto another. This level of vendor lock-in is no longer required to obtain enterprise class performance and data integrity; running on appropriately configured x86 servers, NexentaStor out performs legacy storage systems as a unified storage solution providing both SAN and NAS capabilities and offers an unmatched level of end to end data integrity checks that can find and correct data corruption.

With NexentaStor, customers truly own their data – which means that customers can benefit from the ongoing massive improvements in the price / performance of hardware. And NexentaStor easily interoperates with legacy hardware and can even present virtual volumes of data that incorporate legacy storage systems as targets under the management of NexentaStor. So NexentaStor offers an easy way out of the vendor lock-in maze that has trapped buyers of enterprise storage for too long.

Designed with the virtualized data center in mind
NexentaStor has been designed with today’s increasingly virtualized data center in mind. As software, NexentaStor can run as a virtual machine. Perhaps more importantly for larger users of virtualization, NexentaStor offers an optional module called VM Data Center that dramatically simplifies the management of storage for virtual environments by enabling one click establishment of replication and retention policies for VMware and Citrx Xen data stores. Blink of the eye template based cloning is also delivered by VM Data Center 2.0, which can save hours over other methods of provisioning virtual machines. NexentaStor 2.0 also includes a number of multi-system management capabilities with more on the way.

Partners delivering total solutions, including NexentaStor and certified hardware as well as related technologies and professional services, are available worldwide.

Evan Powell, CEO of Nexenta Systems, said: "NexentaStor 2.0 is the result of a lot of effort by Nexenta and by the broader OpenSolaris and Nexenta Core Platform communities. Today we announce a series of capabilities as well as customer references and partner relationships that demonstrate that NexentaStor is in many ways superior to legacy storage solutions for many enterprise buyers. We invite storage users who are concerned about their dependency on proprietary storage to contact us or our partners today."

For free trials of NexentaStor