PowerMax Content Pack for Log Insight v1.1

I've posted an update to the The Dell EMC VMAX And PowerMax Content Pack For VMware vRealize Log Insight which you can find on the VMware Marketplace. You can also install it directly from your implementation as below: The new version only has a couple changes. The first is a renaming of "VVol" references to...

Tech Preview of SRM with vVols on PowerMax

Disclaimer: This post concerns pre-GA releases from both VMware and Dell EMC. This overview of new technology represents no commitment from VMware or Dell EMC to deliver these features in any generally available product. Today at VMworld Europe, VMware and Dell EMC introduced a preview of VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) with VMware Virtual Volumes...

VASA Provider 9.1 ESXi validation errors

In our recent PowerMaxOS release I mentioned that we have a new VASA Provider, version 9.1. I noted our recommendation to upgrade to this release, particularly for the performance benefit related to snapshots; however, I failed to mention a VMware bug in ESXi 6.7 that can cause issues when deploying the new version. I was...

vVols, VVols, VVOLs or again vVols?

So which is the correct spelling of VMware's storage paradigm? If you said, "all of them?" it would be hard to fault you. VMware has gone through many iterations of the capitalization before landing on "VVols" for the past couple years anyway. Well it was too good to last and VMware is asking for another...

Reducing snapshot VM stun time: VVol VASA Provider upgrade

One of the features of Virtual Volumes (VVols) is that when you take a VM snapshot it uses the array technology instead of VMware's host-based solution. If you use VMware with VMFS or NFS you are probably quite familiar with the sight of VMware's snapshot files which include a .vmsd file, a couple vmdks -...

SPBM update for vRA – VVols

I wanted to let you know about an update to Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM) with vRealize Automation. If you are in this space, you may have read my post on how to use VMware's SPBM package with Virtual Volumes. At a high level the package allowed you to use vCenter configured storage policies when...

VVol WP updates

I recently updated my Virtual Volume (VVol) whitepaper to include some answers to customer-prompted questions, along with an important discussion around VVol limitations. For those familiar with the paper I'll outline the changes here so you don't need to go searching for them. Let's start with the questions. Some of these are new, some are...

Unisphere for PowerMax – VMware integration

As I mentioned in my initial post on PowerMax, I wanted to use a separate post for Unisphere for PowerMax VMware integration. VMware integration has been part of Unisphere in one way or another since it was called Symmetrix Management Console. In its more recent form it consisted of showing information about ESXi hosts, their...

Dell EMC PowerMax

Today Dell EMC announced the latest high-end array to our family, the Dell EMC PowerMax. The PowerMax is an end-to-end NVMe solution. It's powerful and fast, period. The PowerMax is not a VMAX. It's a new platform with a new operating system, PowerMax OS. Dual-ported active/active NVMe drives (the only vendor to do so) means...

VMAX TB and best practices

I've just completed the latest update to the VMAX/VMware TechBook, a tome (I can be derogatory since it's mine) of some 400 plus pages that explains how best to use VMware on the various VMAX/VMAX3/VMAX AFA arrays. You can find it here. When customers ask me about best practices, a link to this doc is...