HP delivers Day 1 storage support for VMware vSphere 6 and new VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes technology

VMware announced the launch of VMware vSphere 6. HP has worked closely with VMware from the project’s start to define, develop, and test the vSphere Virtual Volumes technology, a significant storage enhancement introduced in vSphere 6. HP is delivering Day 1 support and certification for vSphere 6 and vSphere Virtual Volumes across midrange, high-end, and all-flash HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage arrays, enabling customers to upgrade vSphere on the proven HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage platform as soon as they are ready. HP will also provide support for vSphere 6 across the HP StoreVirtual, MSA, and XP Storage platforms.

VMware vSphere 6 is the next version of their industry leading virtualization platform. vSphere Virtual Volumes, a new and important enhancement in vSphere 6, allows users to marry the powerful data services of the storage array with the granularity of individual virtual machines (VMs), providing greater flexibility and simplified management. vSphere Virtual Volumes enables customers to exercise greater control over the way they apply unique, array-based data services to support business objectives such as assuring service levels for mission-critical applications. For example, with vSphere Virtual Volumes, quality-of-service parameters can be applied individually to a specific VM instead of a group of VMs, provided the underlying capability is available on the storage array. An administrator can therefore set policies which automatically assign dedicated storage resources to maintain service levels for a company’s most important applications, regardless of the demands generated by other applications or VMs.

While much of the storage industry is not yet ready to support this advanced virtualization capability, HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage was selected by VMware as the only Fibre Channel reference platform for its Virtual Volumes development at the start of the program. This engineering-level approach with VMware means that HP has all the expertise necessary to help customers quickly and easily tap the benefits of new vSphere 6 features with their HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage infrastructure.

The following benefits and key capabilities are the result of this early, in-depth collaboration:

• Deploy vSphere Virtual Volumes on 3PAR with confidence, knowing that VMware has completed development and qualification using the 3PAR platform from the very beginning as its only Fibre Channel reference platform.
• From Day 1, take advantage of the availability of vSphere 6 and vSphere Virtual Volumes on existing and new 3PAR platforms with the latest release of the 3PAR Operating System 3.2.1 MU2.
• Handle an order of magnitude more volumes simply and with high service levels by combining incredible headroom of the 3PAR array, which supports up to 64,000 Virtual Volume objects,(1) with its powerful quality-of-service management capabilities.
• Support service level agreements and service level objectives across thousands of virtual machines autonomically, without the need for any administrative interaction. Prioritize and manage mission-critical VMs by IOPS, bandwidth, or latency goals simply with 3PAR Priority Optimization software.
• Increase resiliency and business continuity via built-in vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA) providers on each 3PAR controller node, thereby protecting information exchange between VMs and applications in the event of a VASA provider failure without the complexity of external, VM-based VASA providers. Benefit from simplified management with 0-step installation of VASA, integrated right into the 3PAR controller.
• Reduce storage capacity requirements for vSphere Virtual Volumes by 75% or more,(2) since all HP 3PAR Thin Provisioning, Thin Clone, and Thin Deduplication capabilities are integrated not just in software through vSphere APIs, but are also integrated and accelerated in silicon, delivering world-class efficiency without performance tradeoffs.
• Enable operating cost reductions through simpler administration, made possible by policy-based, and complete infrastructure management of HP server, storage, networking, and data protection systems via a single, updated HP OneView for VMware vCenter plug-in.

(1) HP 3PAR OS 321 MU2 required.

(2) As compared to not using data compaction technologies. Based on a 4:1 data compaction ratio achieved with the combination of HP 3PAR Thin Technologies.