VM /ETC

Nick Triantos of NetApp has posted some preview vSphere vStorage integration information about NetApp’s ESX Host Utilities. The next version of Host utilities will be available as a plugin for vCenter and will allow the centralized configuration and monitoring of all managed ESX hosts. The current version 5.0 requires running a acript on each ESX host for installation and utilities configuration. As Nick explains on his Storage Nuts and Bolts Blog:

“Thus far, the Host Utilities, including the current 5.0R2 release needed to be installed at the console of each ESX host. With the 6.0 release this will changes and a single vCenter plugin instance will manage all the ESX hosts in the Datacenter from a centralized management location.It will support both ESX and ESXi implementations as well as all protocols, FC, iSCSI, FCoE, NFS and you will be able to set all the necessary parameters for every ESX host in the cluster regardless of protocol implementation.”

If you’ve implemented NetApp filers for VMware Virtual Infrastructure then you know the importance of the NetApp Host Utilities. You can also recognize the immediate benefit of a centralized distribution and configuration feature. Installing the utilities on all your ESX hosts is not difficult, but it certainly is tedious and time consuming. The monitoring and status information in vCenter is “icing on the cake” for the Vmware admin because currently this information is only available via the NetApp Filer management interface.

Nick provides a video demonstration apparently from the VMware Europe 2009 booth in Cannes, France last week. The video is without sound but does provide some call out text to explain features and provide some narration. The video gets a little too fast for me in spots so I’ve taken some notes and listed them below.

My Video Notes:

Supports ESX and ESXi hosts

Shows all NetApp Controllers accessible to ESX hosts

Provides status of NetApp Host Utilities for all ESX hosts managed by vCenter, and provide reason for problems.

Checks the status of recommended NetApp host settings, ctrl+click multiple ESX hosts and then right click change settings of all hosts as needed via agentless deployment

View capacity details for each controller

“Storage Details” view shows valuable details of NetApp info about datastores and disks information

• graphical view of storage utilization from datastore, LUN, and volume perspectives
• complete LUN mapping details
• deduplication status and capacity savings details
• view ESX hosts accessing LUNs shown by iniator names

Point and click collection of support information

NetApp Plugin is a framework that will provide installation of additional snap-in utilities for other management and reporting functions.

• Video shows a “rapid cloning utility” already installed, but does not provide any other details on it.

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