Tintri OS 2.0 Introducing Next-Gen of VM-Aware Storage Functionality

Tintri, Inc. announced the version 2.0 of the Tintri OS.

Tintri OS 2.0 introduces advanced data management features that allow IT to more efficiently manage virtualized workloads across globally distributed environments, and provides new levels of VM agility to meet the dynamic resource requirements of the software-defined data center.

A central component of OS 2.0 is the new ReplicateVM software which enables per-VM replication. ReplicateVM is an industry-first for per-VM array-side data replication and builds on Tintri snapshot and cloning technology.

The Tintri VM-aware approach to storage for virtualized environments eliminates the cost and complexity associated with legacy storage systems, which were built for physical – not virtualized – infrastructure. As IT organizations embrace the concepts of more software-defined infrastructure, they need storage platforms that understand and automatically adapt to application workloads. Extending beyond software-defined storage, the Tintri VM-aware file system operates natively at the VM or vDisk level, eliminating the need for LUNs, volumes, tiers, or other legacy storage constructs.

OS 2.0 enables a greater degree of operational flexibility by removing the need for pre-planning and increases VM mobility with efficient replication. With the click of a mouse, administrators can replicate individual VMs between multiple Tintri VMstore systems, streamlining VM availability for data protection, development testing, business intelligence reporting and other use cases where access to VMs across multiple systems or locations is desirable.

The implementation of data replication functionality in the latest OS demonstrates how the Tintri VM-centric architecture enables new levels of simplicity and efficiency over traditional legacy storage approaches. With granularity at an individual VM-level, rather than at a LUN or volume level, only the exact required data is replicated. Data protection policies can be set on a per-VM basis, and individual VMs can be protected or restored with a few mouse clicks. Tintri inline de-duplication and compression also applies to all data being replicated, reducing WAN bandwidth consumption and improving overall performance.

Impact on Use Cases
Enterprises have deployed Tintri to support a variety of use cases including VDI, workload consolidation and test and development projects. The OS 2.0 brings a number of capabilities that will further help customers meet a broader set of solution requirements:

Enterprise Applications

• Test and development – Tintri per-VM replication capability enables duplication of production applications or databases to test environments where development engineers can perform testing on production data without fear of disrupting operations. Replicated VM snapshots can be cloned on the second system, creating full-performance, yet space-efficient clone VMs for testing.
• Business analytics – Running detailed business analytics applications or extracting data from a large database for reporting purposes can potentially impact production database workloads. Tintri per-VM, network replication efficiently replicates these VMs to a second environment which allows the analytical and reporting work to be conducted without impact to the production environment.

VDI

• Efficient replication of persistent desktops – Manual pool or persistent desktops are often created from a few base image VMs and may require different protection policies depending on each user’s requirements. Tintri per-VM data management enables administrators to quickly create space-efficient clones on remote VMstore systems.
• Remote clone VM creation and distribution of VM images – In virtual environments, there is a need to create space efficient clones for VDI, test and development, business intelligence, and many other uses. Tintri per-VM data management capabilities enable the creation of VMs anywhere from a single source. Tintri remote cloning, which leverages native per-VM replication, allows VMs to be cloned across a WAN at high throughput, while preserving space efficiency on remote VMstore systems.

Data Protection and DR

• Data protection – As IT environments become increasingly virtualized, protecting application data contained in VMs is a critical part of a datacenter data protection plan. However, data protection policies are unique to each application, requiring customization on a per VM basis. Tintri per-VM snapshots combined with per-VM replication bring new levels of efficiency to data protection in virtual environments.
• DR – Enterprises have had to overhaul their DR plans in recent years as they adapt to new challenges posed by cloud-based / virtualized infrastructures. Storage is a big part of this equation, with a growing need to ensure that the most critical data is safe and accessible at all times. With Tintri, data centers can protect their most critical VM data and quickly bring up VMs from any location on demand as necessary.

"This release sets a new bar for VM-aware storage," said Kieran Harty, Tintri CEO. "Today’s data center requires a far greater degree of agility when it comes to resource allocation, and we’re offering precisely that with this new release. This is a modern approach to modern problem, and one that’s tailored to meet the complex demands of the software-defined data center and take the pain out of the data management process for virtualized environments."

"Ease of use was one of the key factors in our decision to choose Tintri," said Jason Bourque, director of enterprises systems at Kerzner International Resorts, Inc. "Tintri has consistently made everything easier and more efficient for us, where storage is concerned. We were amazed how easy it was to set up replication. The simple right-click and protect the VM, defining the protection policy and then watching the replication in progress is awesome. Our VM template conversions went from about 20 to less than 2 mn. The cloning process was done in a matter of s. As a result, we have the option to convert several VMs at a time, which used to be a sequential process. A SQL query for a 30-day period used to time out on our legacy storage; now, it’s done in about a minute on Tintri. This is going to save us lots of time and further positions Tintri as our VMware storage platform of choice."

"After bringing us VM-aware storage, Tintri has done it again," said Ryan Makamson, systems engineer at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Washington State University. "It is awesome to be able to completely remove pre-planning resource allocation out of the storage equation altogether. This capability adds to an already-strong product that has allowed me to deploy VDI at an extremely cost-effective price-per-workload."

"To speed the delivery of IT-enabled services to the business and support the shift toward cloud-based computing models, enterprises are transforming data centers into pools of dynamically allocatable compute, storage and networking resources," according to Neil MacDonald, Gartner VP and fellow emeritus in his report, The Impact of Software-Defined Data Centers on Information Security. "At the heart of this transformation is a shift to software-based management and definition of IT services (the ‘software-defined data center’) and a decoupling from the hardware underneath for services such as compute, networking and storage. The goal is agility and speed within enterprise data centers by enabling applications to be quickly and transparently provisioned, moved and scaled as business requirements require across network segments, across data centers and potentially into the cloud without rearchitecting the network."

"As server virtualization adoption accelerates, customers must look for complete solutions that simplify data center operations," said Stu Miniman, senior analyst at Wikibon. "Tintri delivers storage that is unparalleled for managing virtualized applications, and they have continued to build solid functionality onto their hybrid flash array. I look forward to watching their continued growth going forward."