VMware and NetApp

Overview

With powerful storage provisioning and data protection, NetApp® storage solutions from NetApp complement the manageability, utilization, and cost-saving benefits of VMware virtualization software. Unified storage solutions from NetApp enable powerful thin provisioning, simplified data protection and scalable and consistent I/O performance for all SAN and NAS protocols. Some of the key features of the NetApp storage virtualization solution include:

• NetApp FlexVol™ technology enables IT organizations to create multiple flexible volumes on a large pool of disks and aggregate I/O across all physical disks on NFS, iSCSI or Fibre Channel. Users can dynamically allocate storage and add storage capacity as needed without downtime.
• NetApp FlexClone® provides instant clones of VMs without impacting server resources and requiring additional storage capacity.
• NetApp Snapshot™ allows VMware users to make fast and space-efficient backup copies of active data with negligible performance and storage overhead.
• NetApp SnapMirror® Software protects data and accelerates recovery, by providing a simple, efficient way to replicate data between systems in multiple locations using multi-transport (IP and FC) and frequency choice (sync, semi-sync, and async) options while only transferring changed blocks.

NetApp storage systems offer powerful yet flexible provisioning capabilities that give IT storage specialists the ability to lower cost while meeting the capacity, utilization, and performance requirements of VMware environments.

Whitepapers & Solution Briefs

• NetApp FAS 2050HA Unified Storage
  This deployment guide provides a detailed summary and characterization for designing and configuring a NetApp FAS2050HA storage system for use with VMware View and Linked Clones.
• Tech OnTap: Using VMware Site Recovery Manager to Simplify DR
  This article discusses the challenges of DR planning and explain how VMware SRM—in conjunction with NetApp storage functionality—can greatly simplify DR for virtual infrastructure
• NetApp Tech Report: Rapid Deployment of Oracle Database 11g Using VMware Infrastructure and NetApp FlexClone
  This paper provides an overview of the first-generation grid infrastructure, describes how advanced server and storage virtualization can enhance existing grids, and includes a case study of a next-generation grid implementation that demonstrates how to solve a pervasive technical problem by creating database clones that are space efficient, rapidly provisioned, and easily managed.
• White Paper: Comprehensive Virtual Desktop Deployment with VMware and NetApp
  VMware offers an end-to-end solution called VMware® View, the next generation of VMware VDI, that allows organizations to provide corporate end users with access to virtual desktop machines that are hosted in a central data center.
• Solution Brief: Address Desktop Challenges with VMware View and NetApp
  NetApp helps you realize the full potential of your VMware environment by addressing the common storage challenges associated with virtual desktop solutions
• TR-3683: Microsoft Exchange 2007 on VMware Infrastructure 3 and NetApp iSCSI Storage
  This document describes the architecture of a solution for deploying Exchange 2007 on VMware Infrastructure 3 on NetApp storage. It also discusses sizing the Exchange environment with a building block approach, along with results of performance testing and functional validation of all components including backup, restore, and disaster recovery.
• Performance Report: Multiprotocol Performance Test of VMware® ESX 3.5 on NetApp Storage Systems
  This document compares the performance of FC, iSCSI, and NFS protocols using VMware® ESX 3.5 on NetApp® storage systems. This document seeks to compare the individual protocol performance and CPU utilization at varying workloads.
  
• Need a Reason to Deploy VMware on NetApp?  How about 10.
  This paper communicates the top 10 benefits to deploying VMware software on your NetApp storage hardware.
  
• Better Business Continuity with VMware Virtual Infrastructure and NetApp
  This paper discusses the importance of business continuity, the ability to provide high availability and disaster recovery for key applications and the constraints and challenges such as high costs, flaures to meet recovery time and availability goals, and overly complex and unreliable solutions.
  
• TR-3606: High Availability and Disaster Recovery for VMware Using NetApp SnapMirror and MetroCluster
  This document discusses disaster recovery in terms of levels of data protection for a VMware environment that uses NetApp for its primary storage. These levels of protection are based on customer needs and can be considered independently.
  
• TR-3610: Disk-to-Disk Backup in a NetApp/VMware Environment
  This document describes how NetApp products increase the storage availability of a VMware ESX environment by providing disk-to-disk backup with SnapVault®. It outlines a plan for the setup, configuration, and functional testing of a disk-to-disk backup environment. Specific equipment, software, and functional tests are included along with results.

VMware on Netapp.com

A server-to-storage virtualized infrastructure is an efficient and cost-effective way to manage your data center. NetApp virtualized storage solutions, used in conjunction with VMware, simplify data protection and expand the benefits of your virtualized applications—from improved flexibility and reduced provisioning times, to increased resource utilization and performance.