Virsto Introduces Hypervisor-Based Storage Virtualization Solution

Virsto Software introduced its storage virtualization software, Virsto One.

Designed to increase the agility of storage in virtual environments, Virsto One is the first and only hypervisor-based storage solution that can anticipate the evolving demands, barriers and opportunities native to server virtualization. Initially supporting Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, Virsto One is architected to be storage- and hypervisor-agnostic and enable users to virtualize storage-intensive workloads, maximize consolidation of server and storage hardware, reduce storage management complexity and significantly reduce overall storage costs.

virsto_virsto_one
Here is a drawing of the Virsto One internals. This drawing is looking at the Virsto architecture from one physical node, or server. There are three main components in the Virsto One architecture, the service, filter driver and the virtual hard disk (VHD).

Most data storage technologies deployed with virtual servers today were not designed specifically for server virtualization, and were designed based on assumptions that are true for physical servers, but are false for a virtual data center. Virtualization exposes new challenges for storage, creating a barrier to the full virtualization of data centers. These challenges include virtual machine (VM) sprawl which can consume 30% more storage than physical servers, storage performance problems that can reduce server I/O throughput by up to 80%, an increase in storage management complexity that drives increases in administrative headcount and application performance issues, and excessive storage capital and operating costs.

"We’re well past the ‘try it’ stage for virtualization, but still haven’t made it truly mainstream yet. One of the biggest obstacles that remains is the imbalance between what server virtualization technologies enable and their associated I/O requirements," said Mark Bowker, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "Virsto was built to take on these challenges directly at the hypervisor – where the issues are created. This combination creates a much more complete and effective solution for the data center."

Making Virtual Storage as Empowering as Virtual Servers
Specifically designed for IT professionals to take advantage of current and future opportunities brought about by virtualization, Virsto One drastically reduces the complexity of storage for virtual servers and delivers innovation and benefits by:

Reducing storage sprawl – cutting VM image space consumption by 90% through unlimited high-performance, thin provisioned, VM-optimized snapshots and clones.
Simplifying storage management – enabling quick, simple automatic thin VM storage provisioning, instantaneous clone creation and off-host snapshot backup.
Increasing storage performance – providing VM-optimized flow control to eliminate the I/O blender, potentially doubling I/O performance and ensuring unlimited high performance yet space-efficient storage.
Eliminating excessive storage costs – decreasing storage costs by reducing the number of terabytes and disk spindles required for VM application support, enabling use of low cost commodity storage hardware, and reducing the operating expense of VM storage management.

Virsto One is delivered as a simple plug-in to Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, and offers a seamless user interface with PowerShell integration and standard Windows interfaces.

"As deployments of server virtualization mature, storage problems unique to virtual servers are impacting data centers of all sizes – whether they are internal IT organizations or cloud service providers," said Mark Davis, CEO of Virsto Software. "Our mission is to make storage virtualization as empowering as server virtualization by removing the challenges and significantly improving the capabilities of VM storage. We chose to support Hyper-V as it’s a strong hypervisor platform and one that has been easy for us to integrate with our software."

"We believe that server virtualization is most economical when scaled up rather than out, leading us to look for ways to run up to 100 VMs per server," said Roger Johnson, team leader of the Enterprise Systems Group at Crutchfield, a leading North American electronics retailer. "I have extensively tested Virsto software and am excited about how Virsto improves the already excellent economics of Hyper-V. With Virsto, we can support greater server consolidation with a smaller storage budget. Additionally, we can run three times as many virtual machines per disk spindle, without any special hardware, while providing consistently high application quality of service and minimizing storage management headcount burdens."

"As a provider of managed hosting services on the Microsoft platform, we rely on virtualization to make us dynamic and flexible when responding to customer needs," said Ryan Jones, virtualization product manager at MaximumASP. "Virsto creates value on top of our existing storage investments, and can help us drastically reduce VM image sprawl, allowing us to reduce capital expenditures. Virsto allows us to improve application performance and availability, while at the same time keep our storage capital and operating expenses in check."

Availability and Pricing
Virsto One will be generally available by the end of February. Pricing is based per socket. Hyper-V users may download a free 30-day evaluation (you need to register).