DataCore Software, the leading provider of storage virtualization software, today announced that it will be showing attendees of Storage Expo the latest SAN management plug-in to VMware Virtual Center on stand 555 at the show. In addition, DataCore will be showcasing its new Transporter migration software capability for SANmelody™ and SANsymphony™ users that seamlessly migrates images between physical and virtual machines in seconds and minutes – versus hours and days.

Integrating the Worlds of Virtual Servers and Virtual Storage

“DataCore makes it simple for VMware users to integrate their storage and SAN as part of their virtual world,” states Nick Broadbent, UK managing director, DataCore Software. “Transporter goes the next step; it removes the time delays and machine migration limitations that previously existed between the virtual server and virtual storage layers. It allows virtual or physical machine images to become just another image on the SAN – they can then be immediately booted to blade servers, migrated between virtual and physical platforms or transported automatically at high speed where needed.”

High-availability and Performance

DataCore has also recently released updated versions of its SANmelody, SANsymphony and Traveller CDP solutions that support the new capabilities and add support for 8Gb/s Fibre Channel SAN. The latest Emulex and Q-logic high speed 8Gb/s HBAs offer twice the performance, providing the I/O scalability necessary to support an increase in the number of applications running on virtualized servers.

"The DataCore product line is the ideal complement for VMware, Microsoft and Citrix virtual servers and desktops," adds Nick. "We stand alone in providing both iSCSI and FC scalability, high speed caching and true high-availability with auto failover and auto failback solutions that are perfect for virtualization customers."

VMware Virtual Center Integration – Click for Simple and Comprehensive SAN management

At Storage Expo, DataCore will feature its new management plug-in for VMware Virtual Center. The latest releases of DataCore’s SANmelody and SANsymphony platforms will support this no cost option. The VMware Virtual Center plug-in gives system administrators the option to allocate and manage capacity from their DataCore virtualized SANs directly to their ESX virtual machines from the same console they use to control other VMware virtualization parameters. It also accesses a powerful and extensive SAN management control centre that meets the needs and objectives of even the most demanding virtual and physical storage consumers.

Transporter provides time saving migration – transport system images between physical and Virtual Machines quickly and automatically in VMware, Citrix and Microsoft Virtual Environments

Migrating disk images and workloads between different operating systems, hypervisors and storage subsystems has always been a difficult and time consuming task involving lengthy backups and restores followed by complicated format conversions. DataCore takes advantage of its intrinsic ability to generalize virtual disks to make source images from one Windows environment immediately available to a dissimilar physical or virtual platform. The migration takes place in background without modifying the original source, avoiding potentially irreversible migrations.

These new and advanced capabilities have been packaged as a $998 “Transporter” option to SANmelody and SANsymphony software licenses. Transporter can be used to perform an unlimited number of migrations. Transporter is the quickest and most general way to import Windows images, including the boot drive, between dissimilar physical or virtual platforms without waiting for lengthy disk-to-disk copies or error-prone conversions.

To fix an appointment at the show, please contact Sharon Munday — details below. DataCore Software will be running demonstrations at 11:00; 12:00, 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00 on both show days and press and analysts are welcome to attend.

Storage Expo is the UK’s definitive event for data storage and information management. Storage Expo 2008 runs 15th – 16th October 2008 at Olympia in London. For more information, visit www.storage-expo.com.