Transcript
Solution Sheet
Simplify Storage Connectivity Visualization
QLogic QConvergeConsole Plug-in for VMware® vCenter™ Provides Per-VM Storage and Network Visibility
KEY BENEFITS
VISIBILITY TO STORAGE RESOURCES IN VIRTUALIZED ENVIRONMENTS Challenge: VMware administrators typically use multiple screens within VMware vCenter to gather information about their network and storage devices when connecting servers to their LAN or SAN and implementing network policy controls. This typically means they must manually build a combined view or map to tie together all the various pieces of network and storage device information. The fluidity that vMotion brings to resource allocation causes considerable difficulty for this method of topology mapping, making it increasingly difficult and time consuming for IT administrators to meet the organization’s SLAs. More time-efficient and cost-effective management requires a better method to provide visibility into the interaction of the network and storage devices with the VM infrastructure.
• QLogic QCC plug-in delivers intuitive, single-pane-of-glass management • End-to-end visual representation of all network and storage connectivity—from physical adapter to Virtual Machine (VM) • Simplified, comprehensive, real-time view of storage and network connectivity for each VM • Creation and management of virtual partitions (NPAR) and supported protocols (FCoE, iSCSI, and NIC) per 10Gb Ethernet port • Dynamic allocation of bandwidth and granular Quality of Service (QoS) assignment per virtual partition
Solution: QLogic has integrated the management of its adapter portfolio into vCenter with the QCC plug-in for VMware. By offering an end-to-end visual representation of network and storage connectivity— all the way from the physical adapter to the VM—the QCC plug-in allows administrators to centrally manage adapters from the vCenter console, providing organizations with insight into storage and network infrastructure that enhances vCenter capabilities.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY QLogic® has specifically designed the QConvergeConsole® (QCC) plug-in for vCenter to enable administrators to have a real-time view of the storage (and LAN) network infrastructure mappings from the physical adapter all the way to the individual VM. This provides a simple view of current resource allocations and mappings for storage and networking in much the same way that vCenter does for CPU and memory resources. This enables administrators to streamline the process of matching per-VM Service Level Agreement (SLA) requirements to bandwidth and QoS resource assignments.
SN0430907-00 Rev. C 02/15 1
Simplify Storage Connectivity Visualization
Solution Sheet
REAL-TIME VIEW SAVES HOURS OF ADMINISTRATION TIME Before virtualization, it was relatively simple to track how each server was related to the network and storage. All the connections were static; change was infrequent, and tightly controlled and documented. With virtualization and especially with vMotion, the relationships are now fluid and changing dynamically, which makes mapping them a chore. Using the standard tools available today, an administrator would have to view six different areas in vCenter (Map Tab, Configuration Tab/Storage, Configuration Tab/Networking, Configuration Tab/Storage Adapters, Configuration Tab/Network Adapters, Virtual Machine Properties (Edit Settings)—which must be viewed for each VM) to obtain the information required to get an accurate view of the storage and network infrastructure and set the required policies for all these connections.
Storage View: Physical to Virtual
DataStores VMs
LUNs Targets Virtual Adapters Ports Physical Adapters
Figure 2. QLogic vCenter Plug-in: Real-time, Centralized View of Connectivity
The QCC plug-in can instantly display how data stores relate to VMs as well as which storage targets and LUNs the data stores reside on. QCC gives administrators an instantaneous view of those relationships and provides a mouse-over feature that reveals key configuration information for each of the hardware components throughout the storage and network fabrics. Regardless of the VM mobility situation, administrators can always see where resources are allocated so they can configure the necessary bandwidth and QoS to fulfill the service level requirements for the applications on each VM. SUMMARY The QLogic QConvergeConsole (QCC) plug-in for vCenter gives administrators insight into their virtual environments and provides a flexible and easy-to-manage infrastructure for protocol assignment, connectivity, and data flow management, enhancing the overall virtual experience.
Figure 1. vCenter Tabs for Storage and Network Information
An administrator may take a couple of minutes per VM to track down all of the storage and network information needed. Multiplying those minutes by the number of VMs on a typical implementation results in a significant amount of time—tens of minutes at a minimum per server. Multiply that result by the number of ESX servers in a typical environment and the time invested to find the relationships between all the components can become quite extensive, ranging in hours of administrative time.
Related Video: Product Demonstration – QLogic QConvergeConsole Plug-in for VMware vCenter
With the integrated VMware/QLogic solution featuring the QLogic vCenter plug-in, administrators can quickly and easily view all the required components. Figure 2 shows the storage map, which gives visibility into the virtual storage environment from a single-pane-of-glass view. This is especially important within a virtualized infrastructure where VM mobility is such an integral part of the environment. Click on the Image to Watch a YouTube Video
Follow us:
Share:
Corporate Headquarters International Offices
QLogic Corporation
26650 Aliso Viejo Parkway
Aliso Viejo, CA 92656
949-389-6000
UK | Ireland | Germany | France | India | Japan | China | Hong Kong | Singapore | Taiwan | Israel
www.qlogic.com © 2015 QLogic Corporation. Specifications are subject to change without notice. All rights reserved worldwide. QLogic, the QLogic logo, and QConvergeConsole are registered trademarks of QLogic Corporation. VMware, vSphere, and vMotion are trademarks or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. All other brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information supplied by QLogic Corporation is believed to be accurate and reliable. QLogic Corporation assumes no responsibility for any errors in this document. QLogic Corporation reserves the right, without notice, to make changes in product design or specifications.
SN0430907-00 Rev. C 02/15 2
