VMware Virtual SAN is maturing, and as it does, the list of its supported storage devices is growing. This is particularly true now that Virtual SAN supports an all-flash architecture.
In this blog, I wanted to highlight the different possibilities in supporting an all-flash Virtual SAN architecture and a few pointers to selecting the right storage device.
Deployment Possibilities – It’s Not A ‘One Size Fits All’
Every organization has their own individual needs for running their applications. And each application will have different demands, depending on mission criticality, business needs and performance expectations.
A “one size fits all” is never going to be the right solution. This is especially true given the need to support the rapid pace of data growth and the varied performance level each application requires. The biggest challenge organizations face today is how to provide the required level of performance while supporting growing capacity in the most cost effective manner. Each application may require a different approach. Some applications may depend on very high performance, while others may necessitate large capacity with a lower, varying performance requirement.
These varied needs require an architectural design that efficiently meet the demands of each particular application, and contain the cost of expanding infrastructure.
A Choice of Certified Flash Storage Devices for VMware Virtual SAN
I have often mentioned on this blog that SanDisk® has the broadest industry portfolio of data center flash solutions. And we have certified the largest variety of flash storage devices in the VMware Virtual SAN compatibility guide (VCG).
The varied endurance and capacity options of our solutions are listed in VMware Virtual SAN VCG. From an endurance perspective, you can find solutions starting at <1 Drive Write Per Day (DWPD) and reaching all the way up to 25 DWPD, supporting the most demanding write-intensive applications. Which endurance level you choose has a great impact on both the cost of acquisition and your overall return on investment (ROI). I suggest reading Hemant Ghaidani’s blog post on Endurance and its impact on TCO to better understand this. From a capacity perspective, you can find SAS drives starting at 200 GB and reaching up to 4TB of capacity per drive.
In addition, you also have a choice of interfaces that are important to take into the equation: SAS, SATA or PCIe solutions. For example, if any enterprise or SMB is looking to try a low-cost, all-flash virtual SAN for its tier-3 applications, they may opt for an all-flash SATA Virtual SAN. This will provide them with a cost-effective solution that delivers consistent performanc as well as a path to understand how this new Software-Defined Storage architecture can support their business critical applications in the future to help reduce costs. Enterprises who want to build high-performance All-Flash Virtual SAN today, we have multiple high-performance and high endurance flash storage devices to choose from, that are already certified and listed in the Virtual SAN compatibility guide.
Conclusion
We have so many choices available today how to adopt an all-flash Virtual SAN. This is exciting for anyone looking to find the most efficient deployment for their workloads. As we continue the journey, I am certain our broad portfolio will help accelerate the adoption of all-flash Virtual SAN as we see it deployed in more and more enterprises.
For the most up to date listing of our certified products and solutions, I would encourage you to visit VMware Virtual SAN VCG. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or reach out to me directly at biswapati.bhattacharjee@sandiskoneblog.wpengine.com
