V-locity 2.0 Release Supports VMware
Maximizes I/O performance on virtual servers
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Diskeeper Corporation has shipped V-locity 2.0, a new virtual platform disk optimizer that in the background invisibly optimizes Windows Guest operating systems running on the VMware ESX and Microsoft Hyper-V platforms. New to V-locity 2.0 is the addition of IntelliWrite fragmentation prevention technology originally introduced with Diskeeper 2010. Utilizing IntelliWrite technology, V-locity writes files to the disk to prevent up to 85 percent of fragmentation from occurring before it even happens.
V-locity creates a virtual-specific product that performs defragmentation functions and synchronizes the complex and ongoing activity between host and multiple guest operating systems in a virtualized environment.
As virtualization platforms begin to age, fragmentation of files in Windows host and guest operating systems generates more disk I/O than should be necessary. Fragmentation creates more overhead on the OS and file system. Although CPU, network, and memory resources may allow for greater VM density, the disk subsystem can become a virtualization “high” hurdle.
“Fragmentation clogged disk subsystems can lead to an inability to run more VMs on given hardware infrastructure and lead to disk performance bottlenecks for VMs that share a common storage subsystem,” notes Diskeeper product manager, Michael Materie. “V-locity is designed to alleviate the ‘virtual’ disk bottleneck for VMs and provide a faster and more efficient computing platform for new consolidation and provisioning initiatives, without having to add more hardware.”
Diskeeper Corporation’s proprietary technology, IntelliWrite, writes files in a non-fragmented condition. Copy-on-write solutions (e.g., as used by Snapshots) take action on changes to data at a block level. Moving data, as performed in a defragmentation job to consolidate file fragments in a logical file system, can trigger copy-on-write solutions to take unnecessary extra actions such as using more storage capacity. Writing a file contiguously eliminates the need to defragment it after it has been created.
InvisiTasking technology, another Diskeeper Corporation proprietary technology, is specifically engineered to allow “background” applications to operate with zero impact/overhead on a system. With V-locity 2, the InvisiTasking technology has been “enlightened” to operate across a virtual platform. Even as more VMs are added to a host platform or dynamically migrated to new hosts (e.g., vMotion, Live Migration), the enlightened InvisiTasking will continue to dynamically adjust to changing environments, providing V-locity 2.0 users with “Set It and Forget It” optimization of their virtual disk platforms.
V-locity also frees vital storage resources by eliminating virtual disk “bloat.” This is the wasted disk space that takes place when virtual disks are set to dynamically grow but don’t then shrink when users or applications remove data. V-locity compacts the virtual disk, thereby preventing waste and allowing IT Managers to better allocate their virtual storage resources.
V-locity has four unique solution sets:
- InvisiTasking coordinates resource usage to ensure defrag is 100 percent invisible
- IntelliWrite prevents fragmentation and offers 100 percent compatibility in all environments
- Virtual Disk Intelligence automatically detects and configures based on virtual disk type
- Virtual Disk Compaction shrinks/compacts virtual disks that are set to grow-as-needed
V-locity consists of three components:
- V-locity Host installed in the VMware ESX Host or Windows Server 2008/R2 operating system running Hyper-V
- V-locity Guest installed in all Windows virtual machines
- For VMware ESX platforms, V-locity includes a small application that allows remote connections from your Windows desktop to the V-locity Host component on an ESX system
On Windows platforms, each component optimizes its respective OS; performing defragmentation of files and consolidation of free space. This minimizes unnecessary I/O passed from the OS to the disk subsystem and aligns data on the drives for optimal access.
Estimated Street price begins at $199.95 per CPU-core. Trialware and additional information are available at www.diskeeper.com.