StorMagic, Eden Prairie, Minn., started as a developer of shared storage appliances, but then found that its software could also be implemented on virtual appliances.

That software, SvSAN, allows the deployment of high-availability shared storage in VMware virtual server infrastructures. Aimed at small and midsize businesses, it enables a virtual SAN to be created in the host server's internal disk storage and one or more attached external arrays.

When customers purchase two SvSAN virtual appliances and configure them on two separate physical host servers, they get a high-availability offering that allows active-active mirroring between the two.

SvSAN also provides the ability to migrate virtual servers from one physical host to another via VMware's VMotion functionality without a separate shared storage device.

The SvSAN storage virtual appliance supports VMware vSphere 4 as well as VMware ESX and VMware ESXi server virtualization platforms.

The software lists for less than $2,000, but a free version for managing up to 2 TB of capacity with no expiration date is available to qualified users.

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