Posting on behalf of:
Shanky Chandra Gowri, Product
Marketing Manager for EqualLogic.
“What is EqualLogic Host Software and why should I care?” –
A question that I have been asked by so many people, customers and colleagues
included. If I got a dollar for every time I answered this question, I would be
a millionaire by now…
My job as Product Marketing Manager for EqualLogic got
more challenging when Dell brought in more awesomeness to the EqualLogic Host
Software product portfolio with the announcement of:
- EqualLogic
Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) v4.0 - EqualLogic
Host Integration Tools for VMware (HIT/VMware)
v3.1 - EqualLogic
SAN Headquarters (SAN HQ) v2.2
Here are four reasons why you should use these EqualLogic
Host Software products in your environments:
Reason
1: Comprehensive Data Protection
More and
more organizations are virtualizing mission-critical applications but
protecting these virtual servers and the applications is a challenge. Host
Integration Tools, with features like Auto-Snapshot Manager and Storage
Replication Adaptor for VMware Site Recovery Manager, provide comprehensive data protection that is tuned
to your applications and environment for efficiency and reliability. These
tools ensure clean and consistent copies of data for reliable and fast backup
and disaster recovery.
HIT/Microsoft 4.0 further strengthens my Reason 1 with centralized data protection and
more efficient management of multiple Microsoft hosts and virtual machines. The
Enhanced Clustered Shared Volume (CSV) support is designed to streamline data
protection for CSVs and improve capacity utilization. The new EqualLogic
Storage Replication Adaptor for VMware SRM 5.0 supports automated failback from
disaster and leverages EqualLogic SAN-based replication making failback
rapid, reliable and affordable.
Reason
2: Integrated Operation
Traditionally
storage management on SAN and data management on hosts have been two disparate
tasks. Host Integration Tools enable integrated,
simplified and automated end-to-end operations from hosts to the EqualLogic
array. These tools help streamline data management on hosts thereby
reducing administration overhead and improving space and time savings.
HIT/VMware 3.1 provides
end-to-end EqualLogic storage visibility and enhanced datastore management
capabilities within vSphere® UI through
tight integration with VMware vSphere 5.0, vSphere
Storage APIs for Storage Awareness
(VASA) and vSphere Storage Dynamic Resource Scheduling
(DRS).
Reason
3: Optimized Performance
The unique
peer storage architecture of EqualLogic storage arrays automatically balances
workloads by seamlessly spreading data across multiple active storage
resources, and optimizing the available network connections, cache,
controllers, and drives. Host Integration Tools, with the EqualLogic Multipath I/O feature, enable host
platforms to intelligently leverage EqualLogic SAN architecture, storage and network
usage for optimized performance for customer
environments. EqualLogic SAN HQ helps
improve performance and effective allocation of group resources by enabling
centralized monitoring and analysis of multiple EqualLogic groups.
SAN HQ 2.2 enables multi-site
support for consolidated view of EqualLogic groups distributed across data
centers in different geographies. New features
like live view, normalized view, RAID evaluator and Group diagnostics provide
ongoing, realistic, real-time diagnostic information and enable you to optimize
and tune your system for performance and efficiency.
Reason
4: Streamlined Management
Organizations that are implementing a SAN for the first time or want to migrate away from
expensive, complex solutions will benefit from the Management features of Host
Integration Tools. These tools enable easy configuration and management of EqualLogic
arrays helping minimize time and training. Remote management capabilities
further reduces time and complexity by helping customers configure and manage
multiple EqualLogic arrays remotely.
HIT/Microsoft 4.0 introduces Enhanced PowerShell Tools for streamlined
management of EqualLogic arrays, replicas and iSCSI connections.
While these new releases offer increased functionality to
you, they continue to adhere to the EqualLogic values of Automation and Ease of
Use. Now that you’ve got my reasons for why you should care about EqualLogic
Host Software in your environments, have a dollar in hand for further questions 
.
You can find additional
information and videos about the new Host
Software releases in Dell TechCenter. You can follow me on twitter at @ShankyAtDell