| FAQs | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| vRanger Pro™ | ||||||||||
Highlights Leader in harnessing power of VCB framework for 3rd party backups of VMs Compatible with VMware ESX Server 3.5 and 3i through VCB interface VCB does not provide direct restore (or backup); vRanger Pro is needed to accomplish full image and file-level restores vRanger Pro & VCB offer extremely fast backups with no overhead on VMs, hosts or networks vRanger Pro provides P2V-DR modules so users can backup physical machines or VMs with physical RDMs Integration of VMware Converter & VirtualCenter does not replace need for backup and restore tool, like vRanger Pro VMware VMotion does not replace need for backup and restore tool, like vRanger Pro |
As of December 2007, VMware has been shipping ESX Server 3i, which does not include the Service Console. What are the implications for Vizioncore’s vRanger Pro? VMware has introduced ESX Server 3i, which they are offering in addition to ESX Server 3.x, their market leading hypervisor. This product offers all of the same functionality but with a thin 32 MB footprint that provides unparalleled security and reliability, while integration as server firmware makes deployment fast and easy. ESX Server 3i will be available integrated in server systems from market leading server vendors. Both 3i and 3.x versions will continue to ship and are very likely to be leveraged by customers as needed to work side-by-side within the data center. At this time, Vizioncore plans to support ESX Server 3i with vRanger Pro and all of its products, targeting delivery of this support for Q2 2008. On a separate note, all Vizioncore’s products are now compatible with VMware ESX Server 3.5 with the Service Console. Users who leverage ESX Server 3.5 with VCB will continue to achieve the fastest backups possible with this powerful combination. Vizioncore has been the leader for more than a year in harnessing the power of VMware Consolidated Backup. VCB is a framework that allows third-party backup software to offload the backup process from ESX Server hosts, enabling faster, more efficient backups. The combined solution of vRanger Pro with VCB enables extremely fast backups with no overhead on the virtual machine, the ESX Server host, or the network. Since VCB in itself is not intended to provide direct restore (or backup) capabilities, customers still need a product such as vRanger Pro to accomplish full image and differential backups as well as full image and file-level restores. In addition, vRanger Pro offers specific feature advantages, including a P2V-DR module, so users can leverage the VMware platform to backup physical machines and restore as virtual machines. If VMware is providing VCB recovery through an integration of Converter and VirtualCenter, why would I need vRanger Pro with VCB integration? While VMware Converter can restore server images created by VCB (as well as many other images), VMware Converter is not a backup and recovery tool as is vRanger Pro. There is no orchestration of backup and restore between Converter and VCB. The intention of the integration of Converter and VirtualCenter was to extend the capacity planning framework (to leverage the VMware Capacity Planning software) to accurately determine which physical machines are good candidates for virtualization and to support the speedy conversion of these servers to a virtual platform. vRanger Pro remains a leading solution for easily backing up and restoring virtual machine images. vRanger Pro is still the only solution on the market today, which integrates with VirtualCenter to provide consistent, scheduled backups, and more importantly, restores of single or multiple virtual machine images. Recovery is accomplished via the network and the host method to simplify this action. Does using vMotion preclude the use of vRanger Pro? vMotion was designed to be used by administrators for planned downtime, not for recovery of virtual machines in the event of unplanned downtime. It is still important to utilize a proven tool, like vRanger Pro, in order to capture and store backup images of your virtual machines in the event that they may need to be restored into production mode. |
|||||||||
| vReplicator™ | ||||||||||
Highlights VMware SRM provides a framework for replication with high-end storage array technologies. SRM does not replace the need for “software-based replication” provided by vReplicator vReplicator performs software-based replication for selected VMs that are not protected by high-end storage arrays. As such, vReplicator should be used in addition and as a complement to SRM and high-end storage arrays vReplicator supports any type of storage as well as disparate hardware and disparate ESX Server versions |
Will VMware’s SRM (Site Recovery Manager) framework perform replications? How will this affect Vizioncore’s vReplicator solution? VMware demonstrated ground breaking technology at VMworld in their Site Recovery Manager offering. SRM is intended to provide a framework to organize and handle the process of “failing over” virtual machines from a production site to a disaster recovery or other alternate site. The initial target for this technology is high-end storage-array based replication technologies. Today, array-based replication technologies do not “recognize” virtualization when replicating virtual machines. SRM serves to marry the awesome power of array-based replication with the incredible flexibility of a VMware virtualized environment. SRM will manage the snapshot process of a virtual machine in conjunction with the array-based snapshot as well as IP address modification and registering of virtual machines in the disaster recovery location. SRM also will provide the intelligence to manage the process of powering on the virtual machines, which cannot be done simultaneously and must follow a specific sequential process (i.e., it is important that the domain controller be turned on first, the database second, the web server after that, etc.). However, SRM does NOT support integraton with any type of software-based replication. vReplicator, on the other hand, was designed to replicate selected virtual machines which are not being replicated by hardware-based replication solutions. vReplicator performs software-based replication and is a complementary technology to other replication solutions in that it offers yet another way to leverage the VMware platform to replicate virtual machines. vReplicator performs block-level replication, that is, it scans through the VMDK files looking for changes to data. Blocks with changed data are extracted, compressed and sent over the network to the target virtual machine. vReplicator will support any type of storage, including local storage, NAS, iSCSI, or SAN. SRM currently supports iSCSI and SAN. Because vReplicator is a software-based replication technology, it provides a number of advantages that should be considered, including:
vReplicator 2.5 (available Q1 2008) will also include a VSS Driver that utilizes Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) to pause application writes in order to enable quiescing of supported databases and applications to provide transactionally consistent images of supported database types. In addition vReplicator 2.5 will also offer hybrid replication which will enable queuing of changes on the source prior to sending replication data. This reduces the resource utilization required for replication, while still allowing for a differential engine to resynchronize the source and destination VMs. |
|||||||||
| vCharter™ | ||||||||||
Highlights VirtualCenter is a management tool that provides a centralized point of control for managing, monitoring, provisioning and migrating virtual machines. vCharter complements this functionality with a holistic look at the virtual environment, key metrics and resource chargeback to help VMware Infrastructure administrators target and respond to changes that may have negative effects on VM performance |
What is the difference between vCharter and VirtualCenter for performance monitoring? Although VirtualCenter allows users to perform selected performance monitoring, the scope of its functionality is much, much wider. VirtualCenter lets you rapidly provision virtual machines and monitor performance of physical servers and virtual machines. VirtualCenter intelligently optimizes resources, ensures high availability to all applications in virtual machines and makes your IT environment more responsive with virtualization-based distributed services such as VMware DRS, VMware High Availability (HA) and VMware VMotion. vCharter, on the other hand, is designed specifically for performance monitoring of the virtual environment, thus complementing and extending the functionality of VirtualCenter. vCharter generates historical-trend reporting of performance metrics and resource chargeback reporting as well as provides additional alerting capabilities that VC does not offer at this time. These features and single interface to assess the virtual environment can really help VMware Infrastructure administrators target and respond to changes that may negatively affect VM performance. Key vCharter Features
|
|||||||||
