Updated Virsto for vSphere Optimizes VM Storage for Software-Defined Data Centers

Virsto for vSphere 1.5 provides VM-level storage management, seamless integration with VMware vCenter and View Manager.

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Virsto Software, maker of VM-centric storage hypervisor software, has released Virsto for vSphere 1.5, delivering VM-level storage management and seamless integration with VMware vSphere for simplified management of VM storage, speedier performance, and help in reducing in storage consumption. The new version provides a high level of storage provisioning, management, and utilization for the software-defined data center.

Just as the hypervisor did for servers, Virsto’s storage hypervisor enables efficient, affordable, and agile storage in virtualized environments. Traditionally, provisioning storage in virtualized environments required a compromise in production-level performance or efficient storage capacity consumption. With its hypervisor-agnostic software approach to storage virtualization, Virsto combines performance and efficiency to improve the economics of storage for virtual machines (VMs).

The concept of the software-defined data center (SDD) is gaining interest as IT moves away from infrastructure traditionally defined by hardware toward a more flexible infrastructure built around software and applications. In the SDD, all virtualized storage, server, networking, and security resources required by an application can be defined by software and provisioned automatically. Virsto’s VM-centric storage hypervisor is purpose-built to support this vision, providing the missing link of efficient storage agility, performance and efficiency to realize more agile IT.

Virsto for vSphere offers a no-compromise approach to storage for virtual environments. Virsto enhances VMware vSphere by providing native support and unique VM-level storage management, integrating directly with existing and already-familiar management and provisioning workflows. The solution delivers value through consistent high-performance, storage thin provisioning and simplified, self-service bulk provisioning of VMs, all managed through a seamless integration with the vCenter management interface.

Notable features and benefits in the new version include:

  • Per-VM snapshots and clones: Virsto offers high performance per-VM and per-VMDK snapshot and clone support for rapid, efficient VM provisioning, backup, and recovery. The combination of high performance and extreme scalability allows Virsto’s snapshots and clones to be used in ways that conventional implementations cannot support. With Virsto, snapshots can be taken more often, kept longer, and used to meet aggressive RTO and RPO objectives without impacting the performance of source VMs.

  • Rapid deployment wizards, including Fast Prep: Virsto integrates rapid deployment wizards into native management tools and workflows. With Virsto installed, administrators can use the native vSphere workflows they know to achieve high-performance, space-efficient, instantly provisioned storage.

  • Enhanced integration for automated storage provisioning: Familiar VDI operations such as compose, re-compose, and refresh can natively leverage Virsto’s high-performance, space-efficient vDisks for production-level performance with the space efficiency of a Linked Clone.

  • Improved VM storage agility: Virsto offers simple, transparent vCenter VM-storage provisioning and automated space reclamation that allows customers to achieve end-to-end VM lifecycle management and improved agility without reliance on storage administrators for day-to-day provisioning.

  • Increased efficiency and flexibility: Virsto supports up to 10,000 space-efficient, high-performance Virsto vDisks per vCenter Server with no performance degradation; it provides non-disruptive VM snapshots and clones. With Virsto installed, customers no longer need to quiesce VMs.

  • Strong SSD performance using less space: Virsto’s unique architecture delivers 100 percent SSD performance, with 90 percent less SSD capacity required, which delivers the lowest dollar-per-IOPS architecture and guarantees QoS across heterogeneous virtual workloads on shared hosts.

Virsto for vSphere 1.5 is available immediately with subscription based pricing starting at $4,000 per GB. For more information, visit www.virsto.com.

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