VMware Virtual SAN
Radically Simple Storage for Hyper-converged Infrastructure
Overview:
VMware® Virtual SAN™ is VMware’s softwaredefined storage solution for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI). Seamlessly embedded in the hypervisor, Virtual SAN delivers enterprise-ready, high-performance shared storage for VMware vSphere® Virtual Machines. It leverages commodity x86 components that easily scale to drastically lower TCO by up to 50%. Seamless integration with vSphere and the entire VMware stack makes it the simplest storage platform for virtual machines—whether running business-critical applications, virtual desktops or remote server room apps.Key Benefits
- Radically Simple – Deploy with 2-clicks through the standard vSphere Web Client and automate management using storage policies.
- High Performance – Flash accelerated for high IO throughput and low latency. Deliver up to 7M IOPS with predictable sub-millisecond response time from a single, all-flash cluster.
- Elastic Scalability – Elastically grow storage performance and capacity by adding new nodes or drives without disruption. Linearly scale capacity and performance from 2 to 64 hosts per cluster.
- Lower TCO – Lower storage TCO by up to 50% by deploying standard x86 hardware components for low upfront investment and by reducing operational overhead.
- Enterprise High Availability – Enable maximum levels of data protection and availability with asynchronous long distance replication and stretched clusters.
- Advanced Management – Single pane of glass management from vSphere with advanced storage performance monitoring, troubleshooting and capacity planning capabilities.
What is Virtual SAN?
VMware Virtual SAN is VMware’s software-defined storage solution for hyperconverged infrastructure, a software-driven architecture that delivers tightly integrated compute, networking and shared storage from a single, virtualized x86 server. Virtual SAN delivers high performance, highly resilient shared storage by clustering server-attached flash devices and/or hard disks (HDDs).
Virtual SAN delivers enterprise-class storage services for virtualized production environments along with predictable scalability and all-flash performance—all at a fraction of the price of traditional, purpose-built storage arrays. Just like vSphere, Virtual SAN provides users the flexibility and control to choose from a wide range of hardware options and easily deploy and manage it for a variety of IT workloads and use cases. Virtual SAN can be configured as all-flash or hybrid storage.
Architecture and Performance: Uniquely embedded within the hypervisor kernel, Virtual SAN sits directly in the I/O data path. As a result, Virtual SAN is able to deliver the highest levels of performance without taxing the CPU with overhead or consuming high amounts of memory resources, as compared to other storage virtual appliances that run separately on top of the hypervisor. Virtual SAN can deliver up to 7M IOPS with an all-flash storage architecture or 2.5M IOPS with a hybrid storage architecture.
Scalability: Virtual SAN has a distributed architecture that allows for elastic, non-disruptive scaling from 2 to 64 hosts per cluster. Both capacity and performance can be scaled at the same time by adding a new host to the cluster (scale-out); or capacity and performance can be scaled independently by merely adding new drives to existing hosts (scale-up). This “Grow-as-you-Go” model provides linear and granular scaling with affordable investments spread out over time.
Management and Integration: Virtual SAN does not require any additional software to be installed—it can be enabled in a few, simple clicks. It is managed from the vSphere Web Client and integrates with the VMware stack including features like vMotion®, HA, Distributed Resource Scheduler™ (DRS) and Fault Tolerance (FT) as well as other VMware products such as VMware Site Recovery Manager™, VMware vRealize™ Automation™ and vRealize Operations™.
Automation: VM storage provisioning and storage service levels (e.g. capacity, performance, availability) are automated and controlled through VM-centric policies that can be set or modified on-the-fly. Virtual SAN dynamically self-tunes, adjusting to ongoing changes in workload conditions and load balancing storage resources, ensuring each VM adheres to the storage policies defined for it. This policy-driven approach automates manual storage tasks and makes storage management for virtual machines simpler.
Key Features:
Kernel embedded: Virtual SAN is built into the vSphere kernel, optimizing the data I/O path to provide the highest levels of performance with minimal impact on CPU and memory.
Flash-Optimized: Virtual SAN minimizes storage latency by accelerating read/write disk I/O traffic with built-in caching on server-side flash devices. Virtual SAN all-flash can be deployed for as low as $1 per GB of usable capacity – over 50% less than the cost of competing hybrid hyper-converged solutions.
Granular non-disruptive scale-up or scale-out: Non-disruptively expand capacity and performance by adding hosts to a cluster (scale-out) or just grow capacity by adding disks to a host (scale-up).
NEW: Deduplication and Compression: Software-based deduplication and compression optimizes all-flash storage capacity, providing as much as 7x data reduction with minimal CPU and memory overhead.
NEW: Erasure Coding: Erasure Coding increases usable storage capacity by up to 100% while keeping data resiliency unchanged. It is capable of tolerating one or two failures with single parity or double parity protection.
NEW: Quality of Service (QoS): QoS controls, limits and monitors the IOPS consumed by specific virtual machines, eliminating noisy neighbor issues.
Virtual SAN Health Service: The updated Health Service provides integrated hardware compatibility checks, performance monitoring, storage capacity reporting and diagnostics directly from VMware vCenter Server™.
Single pane of glass management with vSphere: Virtual SAN removes the need for training and operating specialized storage interfaces. Provisioning is now as easy as two clicks.
VM-centric policy-based management: Virtual SAN uses storage policies, applied on a per-VM basis, to automate provisioning and balancing of storage resources to ensure that each virtual machine gets the specified storage resources and services.
Built-in failure tolerance and advanced availability: Virtual SAN leverages distributed RAID and cache mirroring to ensure that data is never lost if a disk, host, network or rack fails. It seamlessly supports vSphere availability features like vSphere Fault Tolerance, vSphere High Availability, etc. vSphere Replication™ for Virtual SAN provides asynchronous VM replication with RPOs of up to 5 minutes.
Virtual SAN Stretched Cluster: Creates a stretched cluster between two geographically separate sites, synchronously replicating data between sites. It enables enterprise-level availability where an entire site failure can be tolerated, with no data loss and near zero downtime.
Specifications:
| Standard | Advanced | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | Hybrid hyper-converged deployments | All-flash hyper-converged deployments | Site availability and Quality of Service controls |
| Product components | |||
| License Entitlement | Per 1 CPU or Per VDI Desktop | Per 1 CPU or Per VDI Desktop | Per 1 CPU or Per VDI Desktop |
| Storage Policy-Based Management | |||
| Read / Write SSD Caching | |||
| Distributed RAID (RAID 1) | |||
| VSAN Snapshots & Clones | |||
| Rack Awareness | |||
| Replication (5 min RPO) | |||
| Software Checksum | |||
| All-Flash Support | |||
| Inline Deduplication & Compression (All Flash only) | |||
| Erasure Coding - RAID 5/6 (All Flash only) | |||
| Stretched Cluster | |||
| QoS – IOPS Limits | |||
Deployment Options
Virtual SAN is available via a broad set of consumption models—from the jointly-engineered appliances providing the most streamlined deployment of VMware Hyper-Converged Software, to over a hundred pre-certified Virtual SAN Ready Nodes available from all major server vendors.System Requirements
Hardware Host
- 1GB NIC; 10GB NIC recommended
- SATA/SAS HBA or RAID controller
- At least one flash caching device and one persistent storage disk (flash or HDD) for each capacity-contributing node
Cluster Size
- Min. 2 hosts – Max. 64 hosts
Software
- One of the following: VMware vSphere 6.0 U2 (any edition), VMware vSphere with Operations Management™ 6.1 (any edition), or VMware vCloud Suite® 6.0 (any edition updated with vSphere 6.0 U2)
- VMware vCenter Server 6.0 U1
Support:
VMware Basic Support & Subscription
Weekday Support for Test, Dev and Non-Critical Deployments
- Global, 12x5 access to support
- Unlimited number of support requests
- Remote Support
- Online access to documentation and technical resources, knowledge base, discussion forums
- Product updates and upgrades
Overview
VMware Basic Support is designed for non-critical applications and platforms that require support during normal business hours. Our global support centers have been strategically placed to provide you with fast and efficient access to the support center in your region. Each center is staffed with engineers that can provide industry-leading expertise in virtualization and years of experience supporting virtual infrastructure products in real-world customer environments. We are committed to delivering enterprise-class, worldwide support with a single objective in mind: your success.
VMware Production Support & Subscription Service
Technical Support, 12 Hours/Day, per published Business Hours, Mon. thru Fri.
- Global, 24x7 support for Severity 1 issues
- Fast response times for critical issues
- Unlimited number of support requests
- Remote Support
- Online access to documentation and technical resources, knowledge base, discussion forums
- Product updates and upgrades
Overview
VMware Production Support is designed with your production environments in mind. Our global support centers are staffed around the clock to provide you access to our industry-leading expertise in virtualization and years of experience supporting virtual infrastructure products in real-world customer environments. We are committed to delivering enterprise-class, worldwide support with a single objective in mind: your success.
| Feature | Production Support | Basic Support |
|---|---|---|
| Hours of Operation1 | 24 Hours/Day 7 Days/Week 365 Days/Year |
12 Hours/Day Monday–Friday |
| Length of Service | 1 or 3 Years | 1 or 3 Years |
| Product Updates 2 | Yes | Yes |
| Product Upgrades 2 | Yes | Yes |
| Products Supported 3 | All Products (excluding VMware Fusion and VMware Player) |
All Products |
| Method of Access | Telephone/Web | Telephone/Web |
| Response Method | Telephone/Email | Telephone/Email |
| Remote Support | Yes | Yes |
| Root Cause Analysis | Available only with Business Critical or Mission Critical Support Offering | Available only with Business Critical or Mission Critical Offering |
| Access to VMware Web Site | Yes | Yes |
| Access to VMware Discussion Forums and Knowledge Base | Yes | Yes |
| Max Number of Technical Contacts per Contract | 6 | 4 |
| Number of Support Requests | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Target Response Times Critical (Severity 1) Major (Severity 2) Minor (Severity 3) Cosmetic (Severity 4) |
30 minutes or less: 24x7 4 business hours 8 business hours 12 business hours |
4 business hours 8 business hours 12 business hours 12 business hours |
| Business Hours North America Alaska, Hawaii Latin America Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA) Asia, Pacific Rim, Japan (APJ) Australia/New Zealand |
Monday - Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time zone) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PST/PDT) 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time zone) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (GMT/GMT+1) 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Singapore Time) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Sydney AET) |
Monday - Friday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time zone) 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. (PST/PDT) 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (local time zone) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (GMT/GMT+1) 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. (Singapore Time) 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Sydney AET) |
1 Hours of operation for Gemstone are Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PST/PDT). Severity 1 issues are responded to 24x7.
2 Product updates and upgrades are not included with Basic Support and Subscription Service for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for VMware.
Product updates and upgrades are not included with Production Support and Subscription Service for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) for VMware.
3 VMware Fusion Professional and VMware Workstation require a minimum of ten (10) licenses in order to purchase Basic support. VMware Workstation requires a minimum of ten (10) licenses in order to purchase Production Support.
Documentation:
Download the VMware Virtual SAN 6.2 Datasheet (PDF).