Cisco and Nexenta Partner to Deliver Enterprise File Services for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Deployments at Cloud Scale

Nexenta Systems Inc., announced a partnership with Cisco Systems, Inc. to deliver its software-based enterprise file services to the Cisco HyperFlex solution.

This tested, validated, and ready to deploy solution allows the independent scaling, flexible cluster scaling HyperFlex, to accelerate adoption and expand to new use cases through Nexenta’s software storage solution, NexentaStor Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA).

Cisco HyperFlex Further Simplifies and Expands Use Cases for Hyper-Converged Systems
Today’s enterprises are finding hyper-converged infrastructures with HyperFlex is a way to modernize IT infrastructures, by making it more efficient, easier to deploy and keep performance high to support use cases including Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and ROBO.

While hyper-converged architectures are proven to streamline the building and management of new cloud data centers, essential enterprise workloads require file storage protocols like NFS and SMB/CIFS. The answer of the past is legacy monolithic storage filers, which destroy the TCO and philosophy of going hyper-converged.

Because VSA, SDS for enterprise applications, can be deployed virtually, customers can easily leverage this software for their HyperFlex environment. There is no need to buy additional hardware, but instead, they can leverage their existing HyperFlex hardware saving cost, rack space, and added complexity.

“Nexenta’s software adds file services capability to Cisco HyperFlex which becomes an all-inclusive, full-featured solution for today’s modern data center. We are excited to partner with Nexenta to empower our customers to further simplify and lower their TCO for use cases like VDI,” said Manish Agarwal, director of product management, Cisco.

Software-Based Enterprise-Class File Services to Hyper-Converged Systems
Nexenta’s award-winning fifth-generation storage software, VSA, allows organizations to easily add file services to your HyperFlex. With added software-based NAS capabilities, customers can leverage an extremely efficient fit-for-purpose storage solution including all of the capabilities expected from an enterprise-class solution including, inline data reduction, snapshots, data integrity, security, and domain control. The management of combined Cisco and Nexenta stack is all done through the VMware vCenter interface.

Cisco HyperFlex Further Streamline VDI Environments
With this solution, Nexenta and Cisco are currently focusing on enabling VDI deployments to eliminate the need for added additional hardware while providing the performance, scalability, and security required by leading enterprises. Add the Nexenta software to your HyperFlex system to add essential support for home directories, user profiles, and home shares for your VDI deployment on HyperFlex.

HyperFlex and VSA Solution Differentiators

High-performance SMB and NFS
Microsoft AD, LDAP, and Kerberos integration
Concurrent SMB & NFS sharing
Simplicity of management through VMware vCenter Plugin
Inline IO acceleration improving performance
Capacity saving inline data reduction
Integrated and scheduled snapshots
Maintains data integrity during stressful tasks – network/ disk, host recovery
Security and domain control with AD
High-performance replication (scheduled and continuous)
High availability
Designed to meet the high demands for performance in a hyper-converged environment
Tested and validated by Cisco and Nexenta

“In today’s modern private, hybrid and multi-cloud environments enterprises are looking to remove complexity without comprising features. Running a Windows VM or adding a legacy filer is no longer the acceptable answer. This is why Cisco and Nexenta have partnered together to bring two proven solutions engineered to provide the performance needed to support these critical applications.” said Ricardo Antuna, VP business development, Nexenta.

Customers can then work with mutual Cisco and Nexenta global channel ecosystems to purchase this complete solution.