SAN Management Tips for VMware vSphere

VMware® vSphere® extends virtualization into the realm of cloud computing, allowing data centers to deliver computing resources in an agile, cost-effective way. Built on the ESX/ESXi operating system, VMware vSphere encompasses a comprehensive suite of products to optimize and manage the VMware virtualization environment.

VMware vSphere requires a scalable and reliable data infrastructure to enable the flexibility needed for today’s server virtualization and tomorrow’s next-generation cloud computing. Emulex® LightPulse® 8Gb/s Host Bus Adapters (HBAs), OneConnect Universal Converged Network Adapters (UCNAs), including 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) Network Adapter, 10GbE iSCSI Adapter and 10GbE Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) CNAs, provide high-performance connections to the storage area.

Adapter Management

Emulex OneCommand Manager: click to view

Emulex OneCommand Manager: click to hide

Emulex OneCommand™ Manager, provides centralized management of Emulex fabric (Fibre Channel HBA) and network (iSCSI UCNA, FCoE CNA and 10Gb/s Ethernet Adapter) connectivity solutions in physical and virtual server deployments through a graphical user interface (GUI) as well as a fully scriptable command line user interface (CLI). OneCommand Manager provides powerful adapter provisioning and diagnostic capabilities through a GUI as well as a fully scriptable CLI, helping increase administration efficiency and business agility.

When compared to other adapter management solutions, OneCommand Manager offers twice the functionality and reduces administration time in half. Read the OneCommand Manager Report Card.

Click here for more information on OneCommand Manager.

Emulex OneCommand Manager vCenter Plug-in: click to view

Emulex OneCommand Manager vCenter Plug-in: click to hide

Emulex OneCommand Manager vCenter Plug-in enables IT administrators to manage Emulex OneConnect Fibre Channel and Ethernet Adapters directly from VMware’s vCenter management platform. Click here for more information on the OneCommand Manager vCenter Plug-in

Infrastructure Performance and Availability Software

Emulex OneCommand Vision: click to view

Emulex OneCommand Vision: click to hide

Emulex OneCommand Vision is an intelligent application designed for proactive management of I/O within data center environments. OneCommand Vision enables IT administrators to maximize network resource utilization, proactively manage performance and availability and assess I/O infrastructure requirements for consolidation efforts within the data center by monitoring and analyzing the physical as well as virtual I/O layers. This includes the operating system, adapters, fabrics and the array end-points.

While virtualization technologies have introduced greater computing flexibility into data center environments, they’ve also made detection of I/O bottlenecks more difficult. In a virtualized data center environment, I/O health is very critical. As IT administrators deploy more applications to run on virtual machines (VMs), the performance of these applications depends on the performance of the I/O. The fact remains that virtualization technologies still depend on a physical infrastructure and virtualized environments create multiple layers, which can mask where I/O issues lie. OneCommand Vision is the ideal solution to effectively unmask such issues and help maintain optimum application performance and availability.

Click here for more information on OneCommand Vision.

Emulex and VMware vSphere