Virtualize Your Storage On Commodity x86 Servers

Featured article by Calvin Page, IT Specialist

You may be aware of the SDDC – the Software Defined Data Centre – and even be part way to using it in your business. Presently, the likelihood is many environments are either still fully hardware driven or have a partial software facility – but this is changing in favor of software.

The basic definition of a SDDS is the use of commodity hardware under an ‘intelligent’software layer. Hardware still exists – just not as much of it, as virtualization in the form of software takes hold.

Software defined networking has already become established, and some commentators say that eventually security and other core IT services will be software driven.

In many cases, the first step is to virtualize servers followed by storage. The latter is achieved by using a virtual SAN (Storage Area Network) to effectively increase the storage capability of your existing hardware without having to physically install more.

The attraction of virtual SAN

Along with the considerable cost savings of reduced hardware investment, the flexibility and ease of control with a virtual SAN working in conjunction with a top grade hypervisor such as VMware’s vSphere or Microsoft’s Hyper-V is a major advantage.

Data storage requirements can be managed easily, and changing needs can be catered for without having to shut systems down to physically work on or install hardware. It’s all done via a control panel, and one of the biggest assets from some virtual SAN offerings is the ability to provide facilities to remote locations without having to physically install and maintain hardware; thus reducing the need for expert IT personnel to be on-site.

The changing data centre landscape

The image of a data centre containing row upon row of physical units may be a fading memory in time as fewer will be required. It’s a case of the software controlling the hardware such as x86 type servers in terms of pooling their capabilities; data centres are changing in what they’re investing in.

One of the key attractions of virtual storage is hardware standardization. Some virtual SAN’s can make use of commodity ‘off the shelf’hardware, so the likelihood is that a data centre can make use of some or all of its existing hardware when moving to a virtual storage set up.

For example, StorMagic offer a virtual SAN, SvSAN, that works on any x86 server appearing on the hardware compatibility lists for VMware’s vSphere and Microsoft’s Hyper-V hypervisors. SvSAN also works on any supported internal server disk storage or JBOD array.

Getting the most out of x86 servers

There’s a possibility that the use of a collection of networked x86 servers was installed originally to provide storage at a lower price compared to the costs involved with higher end servers, so virtualization of storage can contribute even more to managing budgets.

The use of a virtual SAN in conjunction with them effectively boosts storage at a price likely to be much less (possibly up to 40%) than new hardware investment. It also makes the management of resources more flexible.