Post by Phil Curran

Back in June, NetApp and Cisco announced that more than 150 customers have implemented infrastructure solutions  based on the FlexPod private cloud architecture.  Meanwhile, Dell has  made some noise about developing virtual infrastructure solutions to simplify the design and deployment of private cloud environments.

The benefits of these approaches are pretty clear in  that they can deliver a pre-defined reference architecture that provides  predictability in design, deployment and performance of the  infrastructure for private cloud deployments. This helps to simplify and  accelerate not only the initial deployment but also offers guidelines  for scaling out the infrastructure.

In spite of these benefits, we're still seeing a  significant data protection and management gap in these solutions. For  example, the Enterprise Strategy Group recently reported in its Market Landscape Report that two of the top five Virtualization Spending Initiatives for 2011  include addressing concerns around backup and disaster recovery. This  continues to be a challenge for many customers.

A Virtual Infrastructure Reference Architecture with Purpose-Built Data Protection

In order to address this gap, the CommVault team has been working with  key technology partners to develop a set of virtual infrastructure  reference architectures that include purpose-built data protection from  the ground up. We introduced our first generation of this reference  architecture approach at the Dell Storage Forum back in June with our joint introduction of Converged Virtual Infrastructure  Building Blocks based on Dell servers, storage and networking, and  incorporating CommVault Simpana software for integrated data protection.

One of the brilliant aspects of this building block approach is that it extends well beyond a simple reference architecture to  define the performance characteristics of the solution. This ensures  that customers truly get a predictable infrastructure that behaves in a  pre-defined and pre-qualified manner. It's one of the main reasons we're  seeing a lot of interest around the reference architecture and around  our VIRAL initiative.

The VIRAL Program: accelerating cloud deployments

As interest around our first virtual infrastructure reference  architecture has increased, the CommVault team has extended the basic  reference architecture framework into an overall VMware channel  enablement program in the form of VIRAL. The VIRAL program is designed  to help partners and VMware end-users simplify and accelerate the  deployment of scalable virtual infrastructures. This program leverages  the elements of the reference architecture and delivers additional tools  for channel partners focused on delivering joint CommVault-VMware  solutions for scalable virtual infrastructure deployments.

The first reference architecture available under the  VIRAL program is based on Dell servers and networking and Dell  EqualLogic storage along with CommVault Simpana software.

However, we won't stop there. This reference  architecture is the first of several to be developed over the coming  months and we'll be providing updates as new reference architectures  become available.

What about the SMB space?

Clearly the VIRAL program and our reference architecture initiatives  will be of huge interest and benefit to our enterprise customers looking  to deliver public cloud deployments but, we certainly have not  forgotten about the SMB and mid-market space. When I speak with our SMB  customers, I hear many of the same challenges around backup windows;  explosive data growth and the need to deliver restore times that meet  their SLAs. However, the scope of the challenge is, of course, different  and cost can be an even bigger issue. For these folks, we have  introduced an SMB-focused bundle offering.  Jerome Wendt for DCIG does a nice job of covering this offering in his blog.

Phil Curran is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with CommVault.

Post by Phil Curran

With the recent launch of vSphere 5, VMware introduced the concept of the "Monster VM."  As Andre Leibovici points out in his blog, this "is VMware's ultimate move to help organizations to  virtualize business-critical applications."  I couldn't agree more. The  fourfold increase in supported CPU, memory, network and I/O will go a  long way toward enabling customers to deploy larger workloads within a  VMware context.  Review all the details on vSphere 5 support.

There is little doubt that with support for this type  of workload more businesses will consider virtualization as they deploy  critical applications going forward.  I have heard several people point  out that customers are no longer asking "why virtualize?" Instead, they  are now asking "Why NOT virtualize?"

One consideration that continues to be pushed to the  background in this drive for bigger and faster virtual servers is data  protection. The ability to build a single VM with 32 vCPUs 1 TB vRAM,  and 2 TB of disk sounds great, and it sounds even better if this Monster  VM is going to support a critical database app. But how in the heck are  you going to back that up? If you are of the "just dedupe it" school,  you might want to think again – particularly for transactional DBs.  Likewise, even the "virtualization-specific" tools on the market are  going to struggle if they are still streaming backups and users  considering these tools should seriously reconsider given the new  paradigm that vSphere 5 presents.

So what's the answer? Simply put: indexed hardware  snapshots. Consider that a snapshot can grab a persistent copy of very  large virtual machine datastores in a matter of minutes (including the  VM and application quiesce/un-quiesce process), thereby minimizing the  impact on application performance. But, to be really useful, a snapshot  by itself is not enough without a detailed index of the contents of the  snap. A fully indexed snapshot can make all the difference when it comes  to restores. The index allows an admin or user to skip the time  consuming process of mounting snaps, restoring VMs and searching for the  file they're looking for. By integrating snapshot technology with a  full index, you can automate this entire process to deliver restores in  minutes or hours rather than days.

This is exactly what CommVault Simpana software  delivers for VMware environments.  I suggest folks interested in  learning the details of this approach, check out our detailed demos: 500 Virtual Machines Protected in 17 Minutes, File Level Restore from Inside VMs and Auto-Protection Capability.

Our recently announced support for vSphere 5 proves once again that Simpana software was purpose-built for exactly  this type of environment. Monster VMs?  We've got them covered. We'd  love to hear your thoughts.

Phil Curran is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with CommVault.

Post by Phil Curran

The countdown to VMworld, Las Vegas has started. Have you worked out  your conference schedule yet? Have you looked into ways of cloning  yourself so that you can attend two sessions simultaneously?

We know how hectic VMworld can get, so we decided to create as many opportunities as possible to  meet you during the conference. CommVault will not only speak at VMworld  but we will also be hosting sessions at our booth (#801) where we will  set up four different stations to address specific data management  solutions:

1. Virtual Server Data Protection
2. Cloud Enablement
3. Customers on CommVault: Case Studies and Best Practices
4. Scalable Virtual Infrastructure

Check out CommVault's schedule of VMworld events  below, and stop by booth #801 for exclusive VMworld demos,  presentations, and discussion forums hosted by our experts and  customers.  And don't forget to participate in our #VMworldCV Twitter Contest where you could win an iPad by telling us what you would like to learn  or ask during our "Customers on CommVault" booth sessions. Contest ends  tonight!

The contest winner will be selected at random from all contest entries. Please read our official contest rules here.

Which CommVault VMworld event are you most looking forward to?

Monday, August 29

• 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.: Virtual Server Data Protection live demos and presentations
• 6 p.m.: Customers on CommVault discussion forum to talk about experiences and best practices

Tuesday, August 30

• 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.: Virtual Server Data Protection live demos and presentations
• 12 p.m.: Introducing VIRAL: VMware Infrastructure Reference Architecture Leaders with Dell-EqualLogic
• 1 p.m.: CommVault SnapProtect:  Integrated VMware protection with NetApp
• 2 p.m.: Cloud Enablement live demos and presentations
• 4 p.m.: Customers on CommVault discussion forum to talk about experiences and best practices

Wednesday, August 31

• 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.: Cloud Enablement live demos and presentations
• 12 p.m.: CommVault SnapProtect:  Integrated VMware protection with NetApp
• 1 p.m.: Introducing VIRAL: VMware Infrastructure Reference Architecture Leaders with Dell-EqualLogic
• 2 p.m.: Virtual Server Data Protection live demos and presentations

Phil Curran is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with CommVault.

Post by Phil Curran

CommVault is heading  to VMworld,  Las Vegas!  We are looking  forward to seeing many of our customers and making new  friends at the  conference. From August 29 to September 1, you will find  us at booth #801 where  we will be showcasing some of our latest  products and solutions and welcoming  two of our customers who are  joining us for exclusive VMworld booth sessions to  talk about their  CommVault experience and share best practices.

The customer  booth sessions will give CommVault users the  opportunity to have an intimate  discussion about virtual server  protection and data management, but we want to  take it a step further  and reach out for your feedback to make sure you get the  most value out  of these conversations.

Starting  August 15, 2011 and ending August 24, 2011 at midnight, send at tweet to @CommVault using the #VMworldCV hashtag to tell us what you would  like to learn at our VMworld  customer booth sessions. Your tweet will be  integrated into our  customer booth sessions and will automatically make you  eligible to win  an iPad at VMworld. Click here for full contest rules.

Official #VMworldCV Twitter Contest Rules:

• Follow @CommVault on Twitter
• Send tweet mentioning @CommVault and tell us what you would like to learn at our VMworld customer booth sessions
• Include your #VMworldCV hashtag in your tweet
• One entry per person (so make it a good tweet!)
• Winner will be selected at random and announced via blog post and tweet on Friday, August 26
• Winner will get a brand new iPad, to be picked up at the CommVault booth at VMworld
• Contest starts August 15 and ends by August 24 at midnight

Let the tweeting begin!

Phil Curran is a Senior Product Marketing Manager with CommVault.