Broadcom/VMware Plans Next-Gen of vSphere Virtual Volumes

By Thoma Nagelmeyer, Broadcom Software

In conjunction with the company’s unveiling of VMware Cloud Foundation 9, we’re also announcing plans to develop the next-gen of VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols).

Next-gen vVols will have 3 main goals: deliver a consistent, optimized user experience across storage platforms; evolve vVols for modern, large scale use cases such as AI/ML workloads and Cloud Service Provider deployments; fully integrate with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF).

vVols leverages Storage Policy-Based Management (SPBM) to optimize storage operations and reduce the need for specialized skills for storage infrastructure. vVols eliminates the manual provisioning of storage and replaces it with descriptive policies at the VM or VMDK level that can be applied or updated via a simple workflow.

Customers continue to adopt VMware Cloud Foundation at a brisk pace, and they want to integrate their existing storage solutions into VCF to get the most out of their investments. They want to start their journey to a fully software-defined approach to infrastructure by simplifying storage operations and integrating with the cloud management capabilities that are integrated into the VCF private cloud platform. As customers run more workloads on vVols-enabled arrays, the performance, scale and data protection requirements continue to grow, so vVols must continue to evolve to meet these needs.

Planned customer benefits of next-gen vVols will include:

Integration with VMware Cloud Foundation; install, deploy and manage storage with VCF; usable as primary and supplemental storage for all workload domains
Prescriptive VASA model to deliver consistent, optimized user experience across all storage platforms
Support for high fan-in, cloud-scale use cases
Enable HA and stretched cluster deployments
Migration from legacy vVols platform without any downtime
Scalable, immutable snapshots for both traditional and modern applications

Resources:
Check out following breakout sessions:
VMware’s Vision for Storage and Data Protection in VMware Cloud Foundation
What’s New with vSAN and Storage Operations in VMware Cloud Foundation
vVols and Stretched Clusters with Pure Storage and VMware
Workload Provisioning And Protection Made Easy With VMware And NetApp
Hands-on labs expert-led workshop: VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes and Storage Policy Based Management