RELDATA Unifies iSCSI SAN, NAS and VMware Certification into One
Ask any VMware administrator what the implications are of using a non-certified storage solution in their VMware environment and they shudder to think of the consequences if they call VMware support. But identifying a unified storage solution that is also VMware Certified is more complex than small and midsize enterprises (SMEs) may expect. It is for this reason that SMEs should look to storage solutions like the RELDATA 9240i where VMware Certification is not only a given; they may even be able to add VMware Certification for other non-certified storage in their environment.
Operating system (OS) certification (VMware or otherwise) with an external storage system is a prerequisite in almost any SME. The rationale behind this is simple, especially in the case of VMware. If an SME needs to call VMware for support and the storage system is identified as a potential problem, the question as to whether or not the storage system is VMware Certified will invariably arise.
So if an SME mentions that it is using a storage system that is not certified with the version of VMware that it has in production, the SME runs the risk that VMware support may lower the priority of its call or even decline to support its environment until a VMware certified storage solution is put in place.
This scenario is not out of the realm of possibility. At a recent VMware User Group conference that I attended in Omaha, NE, a Senior VMware engineer who is a member of the VMware storage support team spoke.
He shared that this team takes double the number of Priority One calls of any other VMware support group. So one should not be surprised if a support call placed to VMware requesting support for a non-certified storage solution gets a lower priority.
To avoid this scenario, putting in place a VMware Certified storage solution only makes sense as there are scores of vendors and hundreds of models that are VMware Certified from which to choose. This might lead one to believe that identifying a storage solution that is VMware Certified would be pretty straightforward.
This may be true if one just needs iSCSI SAN certification or NAS certification. But identifying storage solutions that are certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS gets dicey as the solution needs VMware's block and file certifications. So while there are lots of storage models from which to choose that are VMware Certified with either block or file, the vast majority are not VMware Certified for both block and file.
By way of illustration, on December 22, 2010, the VMware's Technical Resource Center website has a VMware Compatibility Guide page where an individual can do the following:
However this is only the starting point, not the end. Now an administrator still needs to go through the entire spreadsheet and identify the specific models that are VMware Certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS.
This is quite cumbersome and prone to error. Each row only lists one model and whether it is compatible with either an iSCSI SAN or NAS, but not both. Further, the same model may appear in multiple rows depending on what firmware level is on the storage array.
Adding to the difficulty, not every model from every vendor supports both an iSCSI SAN and NAS. So one needs to sort through each row in the spreadsheet and identify which arrays are certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS. I got it down to 170 rows with 85 models from 16 different vendors (though your results may vary.)
The point is who wants to go through all of this work just to find out if a storage array is VMware Certified for both iSCSI SAN and NAS? Also, if an SME finds out that their existing storage is not VMware Certified, then what? Do they just get rid of it?
It is these two scenarios that should make RELDATA particularly appealing for SMEs. First, there is no guess work as the RELDATA 9240i is VMware Certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS. This immediately takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation since no one has to scour through VMware's Compatibility Guide to figure out if a particular vendor model works with both an iSCSI SAN and NAS.
Second, if an SME already owns a storage array that is not VMware Certified, the RELDATA 9240i solves this problem as well. Since the 9240i can virtualize other storage arrays, SMEs can put this other storage behind the 9240i and re-present it to the server through the 9240i. In so doing, this previously non-certified storage gets the magical VMware Certification designation.
Buying storage is hard enough and the last thing most SMEs expect or want to hear when they place a support call into VMware that their unified storage system is not VMware Certified. The RELDATA 9240i eliminates that concern. It is VMware Certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS and can even help eliminate an SME's existing VMware Certification concerns by giving it the option to virtualize and thereby VMware Certify their existing storage arrays using the RELDATA 9240i.
Operating system (OS) certification (VMware or otherwise) with an external storage system is a prerequisite in almost any SME. The rationale behind this is simple, especially in the case of VMware. If an SME needs to call VMware for support and the storage system is identified as a potential problem, the question as to whether or not the storage system is VMware Certified will invariably arise.
So if an SME mentions that it is using a storage system that is not certified with the version of VMware that it has in production, the SME runs the risk that VMware support may lower the priority of its call or even decline to support its environment until a VMware certified storage solution is put in place.
This scenario is not out of the realm of possibility. At a recent VMware User Group conference that I attended in Omaha, NE, a Senior VMware engineer who is a member of the VMware storage support team spoke.
He shared that this team takes double the number of Priority One calls of any other VMware support group. So one should not be surprised if a support call placed to VMware requesting support for a non-certified storage solution gets a lower priority.
To avoid this scenario, putting in place a VMware Certified storage solution only makes sense as there are scores of vendors and hundreds of models that are VMware Certified from which to choose. This might lead one to believe that identifying a storage solution that is VMware Certified would be pretty straightforward.
This may be true if one just needs iSCSI SAN certification or NAS certification. But identifying storage solutions that are certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS gets dicey as the solution needs VMware's block and file certifications. So while there are lots of storage models from which to choose that are VMware Certified with either block or file, the vast majority are not VMware Certified for both block and file.
By way of illustration, on December 22, 2010, the VMware's Technical Resource Center website has a VMware Compatibility Guide page where an individual can do the following:
- Select the "Storage/SAN" tab
- Select ESX 4.1 next to "Product Release Versions"
- Select iSCSI Array (iSCSI) and NAS array (NAS) next to "Array type." There is currently NO unified storage option.
- Select "All" next to "Firmware Version"
- Leave every other search criteria on the page at the default
- Click the "Search" button
However this is only the starting point, not the end. Now an administrator still needs to go through the entire spreadsheet and identify the specific models that are VMware Certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS.
This is quite cumbersome and prone to error. Each row only lists one model and whether it is compatible with either an iSCSI SAN or NAS, but not both. Further, the same model may appear in multiple rows depending on what firmware level is on the storage array.
Adding to the difficulty, not every model from every vendor supports both an iSCSI SAN and NAS. So one needs to sort through each row in the spreadsheet and identify which arrays are certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS. I got it down to 170 rows with 85 models from 16 different vendors (though your results may vary.)
The point is who wants to go through all of this work just to find out if a storage array is VMware Certified for both iSCSI SAN and NAS? Also, if an SME finds out that their existing storage is not VMware Certified, then what? Do they just get rid of it?
It is these two scenarios that should make RELDATA particularly appealing for SMEs. First, there is no guess work as the RELDATA 9240i is VMware Certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS. This immediately takes a lot of guesswork out of the equation since no one has to scour through VMware's Compatibility Guide to figure out if a particular vendor model works with both an iSCSI SAN and NAS.
Second, if an SME already owns a storage array that is not VMware Certified, the RELDATA 9240i solves this problem as well. Since the 9240i can virtualize other storage arrays, SMEs can put this other storage behind the 9240i and re-present it to the server through the 9240i. In so doing, this previously non-certified storage gets the magical VMware Certification designation.
Buying storage is hard enough and the last thing most SMEs expect or want to hear when they place a support call into VMware that their unified storage system is not VMware Certified. The RELDATA 9240i eliminates that concern. It is VMware Certified for both an iSCSI SAN and NAS and can even help eliminate an SME's existing VMware Certification concerns by giving it the option to virtualize and thereby VMware Certify their existing storage arrays using the RELDATA 9240i.
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