DataCore SANsymphony-V 9.0: “Storage Hypervisor for the Cloud”

DataCore Software Corporation announced innovations required to manage enterprise storage and roll out agile, scalable cloud storage infrastructures.

Aptly described as The Storage Hypervisor for the Cloud, DataCore’s SANsymphony-V 9.0 offers customers flexibility, automation and value.

The new capabilities are driven by:

• Organisations planning private cloud deployments
• Large data centres seeking responsive, cloud-like services
• Cloud service providers (CSPs) developing public, private and hybrid cloud offerings.

"DataCore’s latest storage hypervisor innovations, together with both its pricing and rental models, are extremely well tailored for building out cloud storage infrastructures, whether a user is starting out with a modest trial or is well on their way to a full-blown, large scale rollout," said Mark Peters, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "It has succeeded in abstracting the storage-related aspects of the Infrastructure-as-a-Service layer so that cloud-storage is easy to drop into place, and can be flexed or expanded at will. It makes perfect sense – even for contemporary data centres that don’t yet have cloud on the brain."

Also DataCore introduced a programme designed to help CSPs create cloud storage infrastructure with SANsymphony-V 9.0.

Manage Storage Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
to Meet Unpredictable Demands
Storage has long been managed as static, motionless hardware. Each request for capacity requires IT specialists to manually intervene anytime new applications, or users, demand new storage. That means provisioning space using complicated, device-specific procedures and permanent connections. In contrast, self-service requests for cloud storage come fast and furious in unpredictable patterns. Resources across multiple purpose-built devices with tiered levels of protection must be quickly reserved and subsequently released to make room for the next subscriber. Manual intervention, especially in large scale systems, is overwhelming and simply not an option. It is made even more difficult by the sheer number of devices and the variety of equipment necessary to satisfy the different classes of service.

"IaaS modules supported by SANsymphony-V 9.0 orchestrate the dynamic coordination between the catalog choices subscribers see and the storage devices enlisted to meet their needs," said George Teixeira, CEO and president at DataCore Software. "It’s what makes cloud storage work unattended."

Infrastructure-wide Storage Management
and Dynamic Asset Optimisation 
CSPs can programmatically call the IaaS functions in SANsymphony-V 9.0 to satisfy client’s individual storage needs. The DataCore storage hypervisor provides an extensive set of capabilities that can be centrally managed and work infrastructure-wide. Storage devices can be profiled and organised into different tiers and optimised dynamically to maximise the efficient use of more expensive and higher performance assets. The software dynamically sets up or tears down virtual disks on cue, reclaiming space when done. For complete control and visibility of the infrastructure, SANsymphony-V 9.0 offers IaaS modules that integrate with server hypervisors from VMware and Microsoft, as well as systems management products like Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manager and VMware vCenter.

Device-Independent Storage Virtualisation
Scales Up and Out
Variable size is an intrinsic property of cloud infrastructures, dictating that storage pools be segmented, readily expandable and even shrunk according to the changing needs of users. In response, SANsymphony-V 9.0 scales up and scales out, automatically adapting to new requirements without disruption. That means key storage elements beyond disk space – including the horsepower to multiply IOPS, throughput and caches – can be harnessed quickly for added performance when demand calls for it. It centralised management console scales accordingly, supporting operations on large groups of related objects for convenience and synchronization, yet allowing experts to troubleshoot and tune on a granular basis.

Scale to Federate Diverse Resources;
Automate to Optimise Utilisation and Performance
The storage hypervisor excels at pooling distributed storage assets regardless of vendor make or model, whether co-located or many miles away. The hardware-agnostic design harnesses the value of purpose-built storage devices (SSDs, external storage systems, internal server drives and public cloud storage) while eliminating management confusion and complexity. Automatic storage tiering combined with automatic load balancing results in optimal use of disk space and the ultimate I/O performance. These features are key to fulfilling the dynamic and variable needs of users, applications and the business at a reasonable cost.

The Role of Scale in Realising Resiliency and Meeting
Looming Performance Expansion
In large scale scenarios, SANsymphony-V 9.0 uses N+1 redundant grids to ensure necessary performance expansion and to make cloud storage continuously available. The storage hypervisor anticipates equipment periodically being taken out-of-service for planned and unplanned reasons, redirecting suitable storage resources to take their place in accordance with SLAs. In effect, a configuration that requires two storage virtualisation nodes to handle peak workloads is configured with an active third node to which information is mirrored. The third node is able to take over transparently for any of the others. As the cloud expands, additional nodes can be inserted to add performance and facilitate growth.

For evidence of continuous availability with DataCore’s architecture in large scale deployments, one need only look at Host.net, a provider of enterprise private cloud as well as co-location, offsite backup and network solutions. Jeff Slapp, CTO at Host.net explains: "We’re fast approaching 1,000 days of 100% uptime thanks largely to the DataCore platform – and we continue to check off days on the calendar without a hitch. All this while we expand, upgrade, change out storage devices and even reconfigure networks in the background. It offers flexibility and interchangeability at its best."

Unlike traditional data centres, clouds don’t just expand at the core, they expand at the periphery, particularly to remote locations. The satellite locations provide extra safeguards against regional disasters and bring the data closer to distant subscribers. SANsymphony-V 9.0 stretches outwards to connect these sites with 1-to-many and many-to-1 replication options. DR procedures can be periodically tested and verified without disturbing production activities at other points in the cloud. Similarly, the software allows rapid resynchronization and resumption of a temporarily suspended site.

Licensing and Availability
The new licensing structure for SANsymphony-V 9.0 aligns with the range and scale of the product. It is available in five different virtualisation models spanning from very large deployments to small pilot programs and branch applications. Customers can upgrade across levels without any software ‘throw-away,’ disruption or retraining, ensuring ROI. A special licensing program has also been created for hosters and CSPs. SANsymphony-V 9.0 will be available from authorised partners around the world beginning July 2, 2012.