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The Dell Unity product builds on Dell’s industry-leading VMware integration with support for VMware technology—old and new alike. VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration enables the Dell Unity system to handle offloaded VMware operations, improving performance and reducing network overhead. VMware Aware Integration (VAI) and VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) enable intercommunication between the storage and virtualization layers so that administration of one layer can be performed from the other. This can enable more efficient workflows for those familiar with one interface. Furthermore, the VASA protocol forms the basis on which VMware Virtual Volumes are constructed.
The following sections will briefly discuss the various points of integration with VMware. For more information about these topics, see the Dell Unity: Virtualization Integration white paper.
VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) improves the utilization rates of ESXi hosts in a VMware environment by offloading tasks to the Dell Unity system. For both block and file datastores as well as Virtual Volumes, various storage operations are processed by the Dell Unity system. This includes clone and snapshot operations, as well as hardware-assisted moves.
Within Unisphere, the VMware Access page helps you to easily import VMware vCenter and ESXi host information into Unisphere (Figure 9). vCenter Server and ESXi hosts are added as entries, and their associated Virtual Machines and Virtual Disks are also listed. These VMs and disks also include resources that are not hosted by the Dell Unity system. Using VAI, discovery and registration of a VMware environment is simple and efficient. The information imported provides relevant details for the user, who no longer has to switch between VMware vSphere and Unisphere to obtain a clear picture of their environment.
Dell Unity has been developed to interact with the capabilities of VASA 2.0 from Day 1. VASA provides a framework for storage systems to communicate their details to a VMware vSphere environment. Traditionally, this has resulted in providing compliance information to a virtualization administrator and the underlying properties of their VMs’ datastores.
VASA 2.0 and later takes this a step further by interacting with VMware Virtual Volumes. A Virtual Machine’s Virtual Volumes are provisioned based on user-defined Storage Policies that interact with a storage system that supports the VASA 2.0 protocol or later. Dell Unity provides a storage administrator the ability to define properties and use cases for the underlying storage through Capability Profiles. This information is communicated over the VASA protocol. Dell Unity supports VASA 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 protocols; no additional plug-ins are required.
vVols enables storing VM data on individual virtual volumes, which reside on a datastore. Data services, such as snapshots and clones, can be applied at a VM-level granularity and are offloaded to Dell UnityVSA. Also, policies and profiles can be leveraged ensure VMs are stored on compliant storage. Any VMs that become noncompliant result in an alert to the administrator.
For more information about VMware Virtual Volumes, see the Dell Unity: Virtualization Integration white paper.