Maximizing VM density is the goal as business grows and enterprise IT organizations scale their infrastructures to keep up – without breaking the bank. Dense VM environments are a more efficient use of IT resources, but they’re also more of a challenge. Running 10 or 20 VMs on a host is one thing, but dozens, or hundreds?
And then there’s the question about what kind of storage infrastructure you use to support that dense VM environment. NAS is the popular solution for virtual environments, but can it handle a hundred or more VMs per host?
That question was the subject of a recent test conducted by Hitachi Data Systems and audited by Storage Switzerland. The objective was to see if an NFS-based storage system could deliver the same or better VM density than a more traditional fibre channel storage system. The test used a configuration with Hitachi NAS Platform (HNAS) 4100 cluster configuration with Virtual Storage Platform G1000 storage.
An HNAS cluster has a modular architecture that allows more nodes (up to 8) to be added to distribute the workload as performance and capacity demands increase. This lets customers start with a smaller HNAS system and then add nodes as their environment grows. With Hitachi NAS Virtual Infrastructure Integrator, HNAS has tight integration with VMware vSphere for ease of VM data protection, cloning, management and best practice deployment.
Storage systems and VM density is also the topic of a webinar with Storage Switzerland and HDS, “Enterprise NAS for Highly Dense VM Environments”, where we discuss the challenges created when running dozens of VMs on each host. In it you will learn strategies for designing a storage infrastructure that allows both virtual server and VDI density to double or triple without degrading performance.
Sign up for the webinar and receive an advanced copy of Storage Switzerland’s Lab Report: “Designing Highly Scalable Storage for Dense VM Environments”.
Sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems
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Eric is an Analyst with Storage Switzerland and has over 25 years experience in high-technology industries. He’s held technical, management and marketing positions in the computer storage, instrumentation, digital imaging and test equipment fields. He has spent the past 15 years in the data storage field, with storage hardware manufacturers and as a national storage integrator, designing and implementing open systems storage solutions for companies in the Western United States. Eric earned degrees in electrical/computer engineering from the University of Colorado and marketing from California State University, Humboldt. He and his wife live in Colorado and have twins in college.
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