IBM Spectrum Control and Virtual Storage Center V5.2.8

IBM Spectrum Control V5.2.8 and IBM Virtual Storage Center V5.2.8 reduce the complexities associated with managing multi-vendor infrastructures.

IBM Spectrum Control
Previously known as IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center, it is a new generation in data management for traditional and software-defined environments.

With support for block file and object systems, Spectrum Control enables administrators to provide efficient management for heterogeneous storage environments. It delivers a set of advanced functions to manage Spectrum Virtualize, Spectrum Accelerate, and Spectrum Scale storage infrastructures, as well as traditional IBM and select third-party storage hardware systems.

IBM Spectrum Control offers following advanced capabilities:

A next-generation, web-based management interface that is designed to offer quick access to status and performance information, as well as intuitive dashboards that for at-a-glance visibility into critical infrastructure assets
End-to-end topology views and tables with context sensitive actions for simplified troubleshooting and management
Automated tiered storage optimization that supports varying optimization goals, automated rebalancing of storage, and tier usage goals with policy-based relocation recommendations and reports
Application modeling that enables the ability to view capacity usage, performance, and SAN resource dependencies on a per application basis
Service catalog to enable policy-based provisioning based on business workload requirements which are mapped to infrastructure capabilities
Self-service provisioning option with restricted use logins to the IBM Spectrum Control dashboard
Performance troubleshooting with a convenient performance monitor and health view, log of alerts of violated thresholds with charts, and simplified views of performance information for all resources
Volume and share provisioning through the web-based user interface and the VMware plug-in
Volume performance reports by server, unmanaged server, hypervisor, and performance data exports to multi-tab Microsoft Excel spreadsheets
IBM Cognos-based reporting that helps create and integrate custom reports on capacity, performance, and utilization
Extension of IBM Spectrum Control benefits into the VMware vCenter through the web client extension
VMware support as a vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) provider

Additionally, the Replication functionality formerly in IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center is now offered in IBM Copy Services Manager (CSM), and this is included in Spectrum Control, a replication management solution that delivers central control of replication environment using simplified and automated complex replication tasks. Using the CSM functionality within Spectrum Control, you can coordinate copy services on IBM storage, including DS8000, DS6000, SVC, Storwize V7000, and XIV. You can also help prevent errors and increase system continuity using source and target volume matching, site awareness, DR testing, and standby management.

IBM Virtual Storage Center
IBM Virtual Storage Center, previously known as IBM SmartCloud Virtual Storage Center, delivers an end-to-end view of storage with the ability to virtualize FC block storage infrastructures, helping manage data with more confidence with improved storage utilization and management efficiency. It combines Spectrum Control Advanced features with Spectrum Virtualize capabilities to deliver an integrated infrastructure to transform block storage into an agile, efficient, and economical business resource.

Virtual Storage Center provides three license options that can fit any size organization, including mid-sized businesses.

Choose from three deployment options to meet your configuration and capacity needs:

Virtual Storage Center is designed for large enterprise deployment.
Virtual Storage Center Entry adds advanced management capabilities to limited-sized IBM SAN Volume Controller environments. Virtual Storage Center Entry uses a terabyte pricing model. Use is supported in storage environments using less than or equal to four I/O groups for SAN Volume Controller machine type 2145 Storage Virtualization Engines, and 500 terabytes or less of managed storage capacity per enterprise.
Virtual Storage Center for Storwize Family is simplified with per- enclosure pricing for organizations using Storwize storage systems. Some restrictions apply.

Key prerequisite:
IBM Virtual Storage Center requires IBM SAN Volume Controller nodes.

Planned availability date: