{"id":3339,"date":"2013-08-29T12:09:49","date_gmt":"2013-08-29T16:09:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=3339"},"modified":"2013-08-29T12:09:49","modified_gmt":"2013-08-29T16:09:49","slug":"vmware-re-virtualizes-networks-and-storage-to-keep-pace-with-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/29\/vmware-re-virtualizes-networks-and-storage-to-keep-pace-with-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"VMware re-virtualizes networks and storage to keep pace with the cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO\u2014VMware is still the big kahuna in virtualization, and the company is hosting its annual VMworld conference this week to show off the latest shiny bits of software that businesses can buy for their data centers. We’ll be covering the event in San Francisco to keep you up to date.
\nDetails on the VMware public cloud service that will compete against Amazon could be in the offing. While servers and cloud computing will dominate the agenda today, updates on end user computing (possibly including dual-persona phones) will come tomorrow. For now, we can talk about the new products VMware was willing to reveal in advance of the show.
\nNSX
\nAlong with a new version of its core vSphere virtualization platform, VMware is unveiling new software to virtualize networks and storage. All of these tools, when combined with the forthcoming public cloud service, will help VMware stay competitive against the likes of Microsoft, Red Hat, and the open source OpenStack cloud infrastructure-as-a-service platform.
\nToday, the company is announcing VMware NSX, network virtualization software designed to “deliver the entire networking and security model from Layer2 to Layer 7 in software, decoupled from underlying networking hardware,” in VMware’s words. It’s not exactly a new product\u2014it combines VMware’s existing vCloud and Network Security (vCNS) tools with the technology of Nicira, which VMware bought a year ago.
\nThe core parts of NSX include logical switches and routers along with a RESTful API for integration into third-party cloud management platforms, plus a logical firewall, load balancer, and VPN.
\n“The platform is built around a controller cluster that manages the distribution of logical network functions into hypervisors throughout the data center,” VMware said. “The NSX platform delivers the base Layer 2 and Layer 3 network virtualization with add-on software modules for specific Layer 4-7 network services, such as firewall, load balancer and VPN.”
\nWhile NSX integrates with vSphere and the vCloud Director and Automation Center management tools, it also works with hypervisors and management software beyond VMware’s. That includes the Xen Server and KVM hypervisors and the OpenStack and CloudStack cloud management platforms.
\nNSX will be available in Q4 2013 for a price that has not yet been announced. But the basic networking components that VMware already offers are available in the main vSphere platform, which VMware customers typically own.
\n“The vCloud Networking and Security that are already in the core vSphere platform will remain there at least for now,” Gartner virtualization analyst Chris Wolf told Ars via e-mail. “I expect customers that just want basic network virtualization features to stick with vCNS.” vCNS includes a virtual firewall, VPN, and load balancing.
\nBig, virtual data
\nBeyond networking, VMware is virtualizing storage\u2014and not for the first time. vSphere already has a virtual storage platform, but VMware said it’s going to provide something better in the form of Virtual SAN (vSAN). This lets IT shops “instantly provision VM storage using simple policies” and scale storage capacity and performance up automatically as a cluster of virtual servers grows.
\n“vSAN is a big deal,” Wolf said. “With vSAN, customers can pool local storage on servers and create a storage network without needing any traditional SAN hardware\u2014just servers and local disks. This is a big component for enabling the software-defined data center, and over the long term, vSAN can help organizations reduce their reliance on hardware-based storage solutions. We expect clients to start using vSAN in dev\/test environments as a way to cut costs and potentially expand vSAN deployments to VDI [virtual desktop infrastructure] workloads as well.”
\nOne big difference between vSAN and VMware’s previous storage software is that “you can use local storage and still be able to take advantage of live migration [the ability to move virtual servers from one physical machine to another with no downtime] and high availability,” Wolf said. “Previously, organizations would need a third party product like the HP Lefthand VSA to do it. Also, vSAN storage is replicated and highly available. So if a server fails you won’t lose any data.”
\nvSAN is heading into a public beta, and general availability is planned for the first half of 2014.
\nAs for the core virtualization platform, VMware is unveiling vSphere with Operations Management version 5.5. A vSphere instance can now manage 320 physical CPUs, up from 160 in vSphere 5.1. Memory support was doubled to 4TB, and support for virtual CPUs doubles to 4,096. The maximum size of a VMDK (virtual machine disk) has dramatically risen from 2TB to 62TB.
\nBeyond the numbers, some new features make it easier to deploy certain applications and recover from failure. vSphere is now better able to handle the needs of applications requiring low latency, such as in-memory databases, VMware said. Also, a new “Flash Read Cache” virtualizes server-side flash storage to provide a “high performance read cache later that dramatically lowers application latency.”
\nA new high availability feature places an agent inside a virtual machine to monitor the traffic and activity of the application running inside. When something abnormal happens, the VM can be automatically rebooted or a notification can be sent to an administrator. Previously, VMware high availability software would not necessarily realize an application was misbehaving if the virtual machine itself looked fine, VMware product marketing executive Peter Wei told Ars.
\nFull Story: VMware re-virtualizes networks and storage to keep pace with the cloud | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO\u2014VMware is still the big kahuna in virtualization, and the company is hosting its annual VMworld conference this week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9,10],"tags":[1166,1171],"class_list":["post-3339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-software","category-technology","tag-virtualization","tag-vmware"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-RR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9285,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2018\/01\/12\/new-emc-and-vmware-vulnerabilities\/","url_meta":{"origin":3339,"position":0},"title":"New EMC and VMware Vulnerabilities","author":"NCCT","date":"January 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/AjCAWj_HmFc Curt Franklin, Brian Chee, and Lou Maresca discuss the recent vulnerabilities in Dell's EMC and VMware units. EMC Avamar, EMC NetWorker, EMC Integrated Data Protection Appliance, and vSphere Data Protection all carry risks that can give attackers root access.","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/AjCAWj_HmFc\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2907,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/07\/12\/windows-server-2012-r2-preview-your-cloud-on-ramp-is-under-construction\/","url_meta":{"origin":3339,"position":1},"title":"Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview: Your cloud on-ramp is under construction","author":"NCCT","date":"July 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been just under a year since Microsoft released Windows Server 2012. Touted as an operating system built for the cloud, Server 2012 promised some significant improvements to storage, networking, and virtualization services. It tried to strike a balance between the complex and varied needs of its data center customers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview: Your cloud on-ramp is under construction | Ars Technica","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/dynamic-memory-980x632.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8278,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/05\/13\/venom-vulnerability-more-dangerous-than-heartbleed-targets-most-virtual-machines\/","url_meta":{"origin":3339,"position":2},"title":"Venom vulnerability more dangerous than Heartbleed, targets most virtual machines","author":"NCCT","date":"May 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Researchers have uncovered a new bug that\u2019s much more dangerous than last year\u2019s Heartbleed vulnerability. Venom, short for Virtualized Environment Neglected Operations Manipulation, could allow an attacker to infiltrate a datacenter and take over its entire network. As ZDNet notes, most datacenters use virtual machines to segregate customers, allowing the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2015-05-13-image-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2015-05-13-image-3.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.techspot.com\/images2\/news\/bigimage\/2015-05-13-image-3.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7112,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/12\/10\/researchers-say-poodle-can-be-repurposed-to-attack-tls-10-percent-of-the-servers-vulnerable\/","url_meta":{"origin":3339,"position":3},"title":"Researchers say Poodle can be repurposed to attack TLS, 10 percent of the servers vulnerable","author":"NCCT","date":"December 10, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of months after researchers at Google uncovered POODLE (Padding Oracle On Downgraded Legacy Encryption), a vulnerability in a specific version of the SSL protocol, security firm Qualys has announced that the issue also affects implementations of the TLS protocol. Poodle allows attackers to compromise the secure connection between\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5871,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/07\/01\/free-wi-fi-networks-in-sf-san-jose-enable-seamless-switching-with-hotspot-2-0\/","url_meta":{"origin":3339,"position":4},"title":"Free Wi-Fi networks in SF, San Jose enable seamless switching with Hotspot 2.0","author":"NCCT","date":"July 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"San Francisco and San Jose are now at the cutting edge of another tech trend, and one that has nothing to do with smartwatches or social-media startups\u2014not directly, at least. The two cities have geared up their free public Wi-Fi networks so users can automatically get on both after going\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3106,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/05\/attackers-reported-seeding-cloud-services-with-malware\/","url_meta":{"origin":3339,"position":5},"title":"Attackers reported seeding cloud services with malware","author":"NCCT","date":"August 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"LAS VEGAS -- Malware writers are ramping up their use of commercial file hosting sites and cloud services to distribute malware programs, security researchers said at this week's Black Hat conference here. Traditionally, malware writers had distributed their malicious code from their own sites. But as security vendors get better\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Networking"","block_context":{"text":"Networking","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/networking\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}