[plug] Another NAS solution for the vmware scenario raised earlier

[Michael Hunt]

Fellow Pluggers,

Cam across this in my web travels today which may interest hose looking 
at a NAS/Vmware solution,

http://servervirtualization.blogs.techtarget.com/2007/10/31/more-fuel-on-the-nfs-for-vmware-fire/?track=NL-827&ad=612326&asrc=EM_USC_2500655&uid=5296532

<snip>

Last week I wrote an article on IT environments that chose Network File 
System (NFS) for their shared VMware storage 
<http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid94_gci1277912,00.html>, 
and at least one large IT shop corroborates my story. An IT 
administrator at a well-known investment management firm writes that he 
runs 45 VMware ESX 3.0.2 hosts that run more than 1,000 VMs entirely on 
Network Appliance <http://www.netapp.com/> network-attached storage 
(NAS) 3070 boxes — and with great success.

“We haven’t seen any issue with speed, that is for sure,” he writes.

Before switching to NetApp, the firm ran its environment on EMC and 
Hitachi storage area networks (SANs). The admin described the latter as 
“a pain,” “expensive,” and suffering from SCSI lock, manageability and 
host bus adapter (HBA) issues.

By moving to NetApp NAS, the firm has also realized another benefit: 
improved data protection. “We also love the fact that we save a lot of 
money on the backup solution. We just use snaps to another NetApp — no 
agents, no tapes, no overpaid workers, no maintenance contracts on over 
1,000 servers.”

</snip>

Keep reading the full article for more.

Michael Hunt