DCIG 2013 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide

A lot of solutions are available to accelerate VDI. It is a growing and crowded market which welcomes new solutions almost every week. In just week time in February 2013 solutions were released of GreenBytes, PernixData and Atlantis Computing.  I wrote about those solution in this blogposting titled Overview of purpose-built VDI solutions to accelerate storage performance . Very recommended if you want a high level overview of all sorts of solutions.
One of the solutions is using pure muscles:  a purpose built storage array full of Flash or SSD. It is fast but also very expensive. Some of the  arrays costs the same as one or two BMW’s.
There is not much info on the internet which gives an objective overview of all major solutions. I believe the Buyer’s Guide of DCIG is a great resource if you are interested in purchasing an all Flash Array. It lists a lot of details of solutions.
DCIG-Flash-storage
DCIG is a company which analyzes software, hardware and services companies within the enterprise data storage and electronically stored information (ESI) industries.
They did a research on 34 different storage arrays having flash memory from ten (10) different storage providers.
dcig-1
The DCIG 2013 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide accomplishes the following objectives for end users:
  • Provides an objective, third party evaluation of Flash Memory Storage Arrays that evaluates and scores their features from an end user’s viewpoint.
  • Scores and ranks the features on each Flash Memory Storage Array based upon the criteria that matter most to end users, and presents the results in easy to understand tables so they can quickly know which Flash Memory Storage Arrays are the most appropriate for their needs.
  • Provides a standardized data sheet for each of the 34 Flash Memory Storage Arrays from 10 different storage providers so end users can do quick comparisons of the features that are supported and not supported on each Flash Memory Storage Array.
  • Provides insights into what VMware vSphere APIs the Flash Memory Storage Arrays offer to optimize their VMware environments.
  • Gives any organization a solid foundation for getting competitive bids from different providers of Flash Memory Storage Arrays that are “apples-to-apples” comparisons.
The DCIG 2013 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide is immediately available. It may be downloaded for no charge with registration.

Atlantis ILIO Persistent VDI 4.0 released.

VDI deployments struggle with costs and performance. According to Gartner, “storage is the No. 1 challenge most IT organizations face when considering virtual desktop (server-hosted virtual desktop or virtual desktop infrastructure) projects.

To deliver sufficient performance many solutions are available on the market. Lots of startups emerge with solutions which accelerate storage. Lots of them are based on the usage of Flash and SSD drives in purpose built hardware appliances. Up front costs of those appliances are high. Those appliances are targeted at enterprise environments.

In a previous post titled Overview of purpose-built VDI solutions to accelerate storage performance I wrote about the available approaches to accelerate storage performance for VDI. One of the approaches is to use host RAM as storage. Host RAM is the fastest storage available.

Atlantis Computing today released a product with enables the use of persistent virtual desktops named  Atlantis ILIO Persistent VDI 4.0. Press Release can be read here.

Until the release only shared desktop images (non-persistent desktops) were supported by Atlantis.  But users want to personalize their desktop with background pictures, shortcusts etc. A desktop which is dedicated to a single user and saves the state is named a persistent desktop.

This posting will explain a bit more about:

  • What is it ?
  • What are the features?
  • What does it cost ?

Read more of this post

VMware vSphere 5.1 now supports VMware View 5.1.x.

At the release of vSphere 5.1 VMware’s own Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) solution View was not supported on vSphere 5.1.

This has now been fixed.

Current installations of vSphere 5.1 need an express hotfix so View 5.1.x can run on it. More details and download of the hotfix at the VMware website.

For new vSphere 5.1 installations an updated ISO build is available which has View 5.1.x support built in.
To download the ISO:

  1. Navigate to the vSphere Download Center.
  2. Click View Download for the VMware ESXi 5.1.0 Installable for your version of ESXi.
  3. On the Product Downloads tab, download VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201210001-838463.x86_64.iso.

The original vSphere 5.1 built released on September 10 has filename VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.1.0-799733.x86_64.iso

The vSphere 5.1 build with View support has been released at October 25 has filename VMware-VMvisor-Installer-201210001-838463.x86_64.iso

 

Free online VMware courses

VMware released 21 free online, self pased courses on various solutions.

See VMware.com for an overview and how to register

These courses are available:

  • VMware vCenter Operations Manager Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • VMware View: Fundamentals [V5.0]
  • VMware vCloud Director Fundamentals [V1.5]
  • Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Design [v5.X]
  • VMware vSphere: Transition to ESXi Essentials [V4.1]
  • VMware Workstation: Fundamentals [V7.0]
  • Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server with VMware [V5.X] Customer
  • VMware vShield Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • Virtualizing Microsoft Exchange 2010 with VMware-Customer
  • VMware View: Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • Introducing the VMware Security Solution Fundamentals
  • Virtualizing Business-Critical Applications [V5.X] – Customer
  • Virtualizing Oracle Database with VMware [V5.X] Customer
  • VMware vShield App Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • VMware vShield Edge Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • Virtualizing Microsoft SharePoint with VMware [V5.X] – Customer
  • VMware vShield Endpoint Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • VMware vShield Data Security Fundamentals [V5.X]
  • Virtualizing SAP ERP Software with VMware [V5.X] – Customer
  • vFabric RabbitMQ Essentials
  • VMware Fusion 3

New releases of VMware Workstation, View and SRM available for download

VMware made VMware Workstation 8 available for download at September 14. Download here

Also released at the same time are:

View 5.0
Fusion 4.0.1
Site Recovery Manager 5.0
To learn what is new in Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 5.0 read this posting.
vFabric 5 Standard/Advanced

VMware vCenter Orchestrator Plug-In for vCenter Server 5.0 More info here. A great overview of Orchestrator at vcoteam.info

Released: VMware View Client for iPad

At March 9 2011 VMware released the ‘VMware View Client for iPad’ app by publishing it on the Apple iTunes App Store.

Download and more information here.

FEATURES:

WORK THE WAY YOU WANT TO
Work on your Windows based VMware View virtual desktop right from your iPad giving you on the go access from any location. Support for the PCoIP display protocol means your desktop is fast and responsive regardless of where you are.

BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Feel right at home with support for native iPad gestures for quick and easy navigation around your desktop. Need to do something more complex? Call up the trackpad for better mouse targeting or the keyboard for efficient text input.

SIMPLE CONNECTIVITY
Tightly integrated with the VMware View 4.6 release for simple setup and connectivity. Quickly reconnect to you desktop by selecting from the recent desktop list.

UNMATCHED PERFORMANCE
The adaptive capabilities of the PCoIP protocol are optimized to deliver the best user experience even over low bandwidth and high latency connections.

SECURE FROM ANY LOCATION
At your desk or away from the office you’re always secure. Access your View desktop over WiFi or 3G and with tight VMware View 4.6 integration your desktop is delivered securely to you wherever you are.
SUPPORT:

- The VMware View Client for iPad is supported with VMware View 4.6 or later.
- For more information on VMware View and the View Client for iPad please visit http://www.vmware.com/go/view

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