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Virtualization Factors In Customer Storage Plans
Virtualization is a key factor in user's plans for storage networking
April 10, 2008
2 Min Read
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Storage managers are deploying virtualization in growing numbers, resulting in a multitude of new requirements and storage challenges, according to various sources here at the SNW tradeshow.
In a random, ad hoc survey of 100 non-vendor attendees conducted by Symantec here at the show, it was found that all had deployed and are leveraging server virtualization -- most, or 86 percent, via VMware. Of all respondents surveyed, 73 percent were in production or planning to move into production with virtualization.
The 86 respondents in the VMware majority reported that storage issues were top challenges. Here's how percentages of respondents identified those top challenges specifically:
Storage management -- 49 percent
Backup and recovery of virtual machines -- 43 percent
SAN multipathing and load balancing -- 9 percent
Storage capacity management -- 16 percent
Storage allocation and reclamation -- 17 percent
Other top challenges -- 3 percent
The survey firm hired by Symantec also reported the following findings among the VMware users responding to the survey:
Sixty-three percent are backing up at least 60 percent of application data used in the virtualized environment.
Forty-one percent targeted I/O overhead as the key problem with VMware backup; 46 percent said scheduling backups was the main issue.
About 20 percent back up an entire physical server in order to protect individual virtual machines.
Twenty-nine percent think their data protection software is "lacking."
Thirty percent say recovering individual files from a virtual machine is easy.
Forty percent would like to use tiered storage for snapshots in virtualized environments, and 36 percent would like tiered storage for application data.
Symantec has an axe to grind here. During a press event Wednesday morning to showcase the survey results, execs touted the latest version of Symantec NetBackup 6.51 and PureDisk for VMware as solving some of the issues cited in the survey.Virtualization is also a factor in how customers will choose networking technologies as well as backup software.
One source, Eric Schott, senior director of product management at Dell, who came to his present post via Dell's acquisition of EqualLogic, says virtualization, along with server consolidation, is driving robust iSCSI sales: "Virtualization requires shared storage." And in many cases, customers find it easier to use Ethernet-compatible iSCSI than to complicate a virtualization project with Fibre Channel, if that kind of SAN hasn't been part of the picture.
Virtualization has also been included in the FCOE cheerleading here at the show. Part of a multivendor showcase demonstration conducted by the Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA) included FCOE adapters from Emulex working with NAS from NetApp and 10 Gbit/s Ethernet switches from Blade Network Technologies deploying an early version of enhanced or "lossless" Ethernet in FCOE for data center networks.
Have a comment on this story? Please click "Discuss" below. If you'd like to contact Byte and Switch's editors directly, send us a message.
Blade Network Technologies Inc.
Dell Inc. (Nasdaq: DELL)
Emulex Corp. (NYSE: ELX)
Fibre Channel Industry Association (FCIA)
NetApp Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP)
Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC)
VMware Inc.0
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