NetApp Expands Management Integration With VMware

NetApp, Inc. introduced new products and enhancements that complement VMware vSphere 4 and VMware View to help customers optimize their desktop and cloud computing environments:

• Virtual Storage Console – Virtual Storage Console is a plug-in for VMware vCenter Server that enables IT administrators to manage and monitor NetApp storage in VMware vSphere 4 environments, the industry-leading virtualization platform. Now customers can improve control of their cloud environments and centrally manage their server and storage infrastructure.

• SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure – SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure integrates with VMware environments and automates data protection polices for NetApp Snapshot and SnapMirror features. Customers can now leverage an easy-to-use management tool for virtual machine backup and recovery and minimize backup time using NetApp Snapshot. Additionally, customers can instantly recover a datastore, virtual machine, virtual machine disk, or an individual file within a virtual guest. 

• Rapid Cloning Utility – Rapid Cloning Utility, a vCenter plug-in, simplifies the way administrators clone VMware virtual machines and datastores, providing greater ease through automation. In conjunction with NetApp FlexClone, a single image can be replicated hundreds of times in minutes while using almost no additional storage capacity. NetApp has also expanded support to Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN, giving customers greater choice in deploying the Rapid Cloning Utility across a range of storage environments and protocols.

    
This announcement further highlights NetApp’s tight integration with the VMware platform, which already includes secure multi-tenancy with NetApp MultiStore for secure partitioning of storage resources; NetApp Data Motion, to move data non-disruptively across storage and server systems to enhance availability for both internal and external cloud customers; and NetApp MetroCluster, with new and unique capabilities for VMware High Availability (HA) to provide applications with continuous access to data.

NetApp Virtualization Quick Start Bundles
Speed Virtualization Deployment
In addition to today’s product news, NetApp also introduced new Virtualization Quick Start Bundles to speed deployment with integrated storage, software, and networking components. The journey to a fully virtualized environment requires careful planning. With Virtualization Quick Start Bundles, NetApp has made it easier than ever before to rapidly deploy best-practice configurations for VMware vSphere 4 that include NetApp storage systems and software, Cisco Nexus network switches, and NetApp Professional Services to eliminate the guesswork when it comes to architecting the right solution. This POD-based design approach enables customers to easily scale incrementally to meet ever-changing business needs. Customers looking to deploy virtual desktops or virtualize Exchange, SQL Server, SharePoint, or any general-purpose application can get up and running quickly with confidence that they’ve made the right choice.

"VMware is at the forefront of helping customers simplify the management of data centers to enable cloud computing and the delivery of IT as a service, for which the provisioning, monitoring, and protection of storage are critical components," said Parag Patel, vice president, Alliances, VMware. "Through integration with NetApp technologies and solutions, our joint customers can create flexible pools of compute, network, and storage resources that can be provisioned as needed to make IT as a service a reality."

"Just as VMware vSphere 4 is the foundation for cloud computing, our customers are turning to NetApp as the storage platform of choice for building their cloud infrastructures," said Patrick Rogers, vice president of Solutions Marketing at NetApp. "NetApp uniquely complements VMware vSphere 4 and VMware View to enable customers to overcome the boundaries of conventional data center architectures. Our long-standing partnership with VMware is helping customers maximize efficiency and improve data availability in their virtual environments. Our tight integration with VMware will continue to change the landscape of today’s data centers and provide our customers a path to cloud computing."