Virtual Storage Console

Back in March, I posted a blog and a video that was shown at VMworld Europe 2009 regarding the upcoming vCenter Host Utilities Kit. Since then I've gotten several inquires about it.  So let me dig a little deeper and provide a bit more insight.

First of all, the ESX Host Utilities Kit has been renamed to Virtual Storage Console (VCS). In fact, the last standalone ESX Host Utilities Kit that supports vSphere is the 5.1 version that's already posted on the NOW site. The next release will be the VSC 1.0.

UPDATE 09/02/2009: Although the VSC 1.0 has been formally announced by NetApp it is NOT yet available for download from NOW. However, it is getting ready for release but, again, I will not be able to publicly state release dates given it is NDA.

What is it?

VSC is NetApp specific software that enables administrators to manage and monitor NetApp specific storage side attributes of ESX-ESXi hosts. VSC functions as a plugin to vCenter and uses NetApp specific APIs to set and retrieve information from the array .

By default VSC uses SSL and SSL signed certificates. Furthermore any array credentials and passwords are stored using 128bit encryption.

What does it do? 

VSC adds a tab into vCenter and enables the following:

• View Status of Storage Controllers
• View Status of physical hosts, including versions and overall status

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

•   Check for the proper configuration of ESX settings as it applies to:
• • Multipathing Settings
  • NFS timeouts
  • HBA driver timeouts
• Provide the ability to set the appropriate to set the appropriate timeouts on multiple ESX hosts simultaneously with a single mouse click 

 

• Launch FilerView from within VSC  for storage provisioning

 

• Provides access to mbrtools (mbrscan, mbralign, mbrcreate) to identify and correct partition alignment issues

 

• Ability to set credentials to access storage controllers
• Ability to collect diagnostics from the ESX hosts, FC switches and Storage controllers

• Capacity Reports on:
  • Datastore
  • LUN
  • Volume
  • Aggregate
• Deduplication Reports
  • Deduplication State
  • Deduplication Status
  • Space Savings
• LUN Status
  • Pathname
  • NAA ID
  • Status - Online/Offline
  • Protocol
  • ALUA - Enable/Disable

Requirements:

• DataONTAP 7.3.1.1 or later
• VCenter Server 4.0
• ESX/ESXi 4.0

How about ESX 3.5?

In order to use all of the VSC functionality, ESX 4.0 is needed and vCenter 4.0. However, at a minimum, vCenter 4.0 is required. ESX 3.5 hosts will be discovered however the appropriate timeouts can not be modified from within the console.

VSC Status

VSC is currently under Beta and we believe we'll have it available as soon as the Beta process is complete. I can not comment any further on this without getting into NDA specifics. 

Technorati Tags: NetApp Virtual Storage Console,VMWare

Comments

[Nick Howell]

Thanks for the update, Nick! Looking forward to trying it out! Hope you'll give us a post when it's available for download!

[Brian]

vSphere is out and we're running it now -- we really need this!!! Any update?

[Nick Triantos]

Brian, the VSC is on Beta as we speak. Assuming no hiccups, it'll be released next month and it'll support all protocols.

[Thommy]

Any more news about the release date for VSC?

[Brian]

I hope we will see this on NOW for download very soon...

[Philip]

I wouldn't mind being on the beta so I can actually use it.

[Jens]

did somebody seen a download link on NOW on the page ?

[Geert]

Is this a Free tool?
What is the pricing?

[Nick Triantos]

Geert,

The VSC will be provided free of charge to NetApp customers. Should be posting in the next 2-3 weeks, if not earlier.

[Chris Haynes]

Another announcement in Tech OnTap Newsletter today: "In addition to the recent release of RCU 2.1, SnapManager® for Virtual Infrastructure version 2.0 and the Virtual Storage Console version 1.0 have recently been released."

One would assume that "have recently been released" would mean the tools would be available in the download section of the NOW site.

One would be wrong.