Serial Port

While pursuing the 100% virtual mark you once in a while run into trouble with legacy hardware where there is hardware directly attached to the physical server you are going to virtualize. If it is USB equipment you can use USB Anywhere devices to make it happen, but if it is serial port connected equipment it gets harder to tackle that issue.

For instance you want to virtualize a building management system server with reading equipment connected to the serial ports. Is that possible? Yes you can!

It is possible to use a Virtual Serial Port Concentrator, as for instance the Avocent ACS V6000, which is described in this KB article and as mentioned in the vSphere 5 documentation here.

By connecting physical serial ports over the network with a virtual machine you can break the dependency of the physical layer and the OS layer. By solving this puzzle you can protect the organization against legacy hardware failure  and/or from software that nobody knows how it is installed anymore.

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Last week I was able to attend a presentation from Whiptail in which they talked about their flash-based storage array. With their product portfolio they offer storage solutions that deliver high levels of speed for applications which produce high loads on storage.

Whiptail positions itself in the marked as a storage solution for applications like VDI, server virtualization and databases that demand high performance. At this moment they are not trying to compete with storage vendors that deliver high amounts of storage space. high numbers on read and write actions, high bandwidth and low latency times are the current key values of the Whiptail storage solutions.

The Whiptail storage family consists of the:

The Accela which is smallest model in the family. This unit uses 2U of rack space and has a power usage below 200 watts. It can deliver a storage capacity from 1,5 TB up to 12 TB at a write speed of 250k IOPS (based on 4K cryptographically random writes) a bandwidth of 1.9 GB/s and a latency value of 100 µs (0,1 ms).

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Last Thursday Cisco released version 1.0 of their new multi-UCS-domain management tool,
UCS Central and now it is generally available.

UCS Central is a product that enables IT administrators to manage multiple UCS domains that are managed through individual UCS Managers from a single location through a single interface. UCS Central works closely with UCS Manager and provides consolidated management functionality for multi-UCS-installations. It uses a policy management framework similar to UCS Manager but provides a broader scope of these policies across multiple UCS domains.

In addition, it also provides consolidation of data such as hardware and firmware inventory, faults, ID pools. The product is deployed as a virtual machine that works with the multiple UCS managers. UCS Central manages thousands of physical blade and rack servers that are integrated with UCS fabric interconnects distributed across multiple UCS domains. UCS Central provides a intuitive web based GUI and an accompanying CLI for user access . It also provides an XML API similar to the one found in UCS Manager to provide automation and integration capabilities with higher level systems management tools.

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Last week Nimble Storage announced a new reference architecture with Cisco Systems and VMware for 1.000 simultaneous VDI users, requiring only 3U of rack space, for $43 for storage per desktop. A pre-configured, fully-integrated system – built around the reference architecture, which consists of a Nimble CS220G-X2 array, Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) B-Series Blade server platform, and VMware View 5.1 – enables customers to rapidly provision VDI, realize significant savings over deployment of physical desktops, and achieve high levels of security and central manageability.

Highlights

• Fully validated and tested Nimble Storage, Cisco and VMware reference architecture that eliminates the complexities of configuring compute, networking and storage;
• Nimble Storage conducted load stress tests, including tests for boot storms and software patches, that optimize the system configuration;
• Optimized desktop storage density: $43 per desktop for 1,000 users in 3U of rack space;
• The architecture was tested with a moderate profile steady-state workload;
• Modular product architecture provides easy scalability and support.

Architecture

• Cisco UCS B-Series Blade server platform including six UCS B230 M2 blades, each with dual-socketed 10-core Intel CPU and 256GB RAM;
• Dual, redundant 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections between the Nimble Storage array and Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect;
• Windows 7 Enterprise virtual desktops with 1.5GB vRAM and one vCPU per desktop;
• One Nimble Storage CS220G-X2 array with twelve 1TB hard disk drives and four 160GB flash SSDs;
• VMware View 5.1 with VMware vSphere.

Today I visited the Cisco booth here at VMworld 2012 in Barcelona and got a inside view of the UCS Central. UCS Central is a tool Cisco is working on to manage multiple Cisco UCS systems/domains. At the moment it is still in beta but they expect to release it Nov/Dec 2012.

UCS Central is serves as the UCS central nervous system and integrates all UCS components across multiple UCS domains, managing server blades, VMs, storage and networking—across multiple chassis—as a single logical domain. UCS Central provides an intuitive GUI with a command-line interface (CLI) and XML API options. It enables real-time configuration and reconfiguration of resources. The built-in XML API provides an open management framework for customers, developers, system integrators and managed service providers to interoperate with Cisco Unified Computing System resources.

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Today NetApp will present a new baby FlexPod called the Express Pod. It’s a small FlexPod ideal for smaller customers for whom the full scale FlexPod is too big and expensive.

In April 2012 I wrote:

So, Cisco and NetApp now include cheaper storage and server components in FlexPod solutions, this leaves the ever expensive Cisco Nexus 5000 network components needed. I would love to see Cisco and NetApp take the last step and also introduce an entry-level Cisco Nexus network based on e.g. the Cisco Nexus 3000 series switches.

It looks like they listened because the new (minimum) Express Pod configuration consists of:

• 2 x Cisco Nexus 3000 switches;
• 2 x Cisco C220 rack servers;
• 1 x NetApp FAS2220.

Yesterday at the VMworld 2012 Europe event in Barcelona I spoke with an engineer from QNAP at their booth. He told us that QNAP will be introducing a new firmware release for their Pro line. The version number will probably be 3.8 (current version is 3.7.3) and it will contain full VMware VAAI support for vSphere 4 and 5. Also, QNAP will introduce a plugin for the vSphere Client software so users can manage the QNAP from within the client.

For those of you who don’t quite remember what VAAI is, VAAI stands for VStorage API for Array Integration. It is a hardware acceleration functionality that can dramatically improve the storage performance with VMware vSphere. More info on VAAI can be found here. This makes a QNAP Pro NAS even more suitable for SMB and Lab environments.

The exact release date is not known yet, but it is expected to be in Q4 2012. So, if you own a QNAP Pro NAS, keep your eye on the QNAP Website.

Recently we had the chance to test a Thecus NAS Server. I had not heard of the name Thecus personally, but the other VMGuru.nl guys knew it.

So I was the best guinea pig to be thrown at it. I had in mind I would test and review a small NAS box, until I saw the box that arrived. The Thecus N8850 dimensions (HxWxD) are 380.4 x 235 x 282.6 (mm) It is very smoothly finished and looks real nice. It was like unwrapping a Ferrari. In my opinion the design is beautifully executed. With a touch panel on the front and a touch power button also on the front. When powering on the Thecus the white leds on the front panel light up behind the vertical row of holes. An OLED menu is displayed on the top screen.

It is an Enterprise NAS in a Tower with 8-bays to fill. On the front there are four indicators for the several LAN connections. During the test I had two available from the on board LAN ports. So you will see LAN1 and LAN2 light up on the photo. Through Linking Aggregation I bundled both 1GbE ports, but more on that later on.

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Two years ago the HP Vice President for Enterprise Servers Storage and Networking, Randy Seidl, said the following:

“A year from now the difference will be (Cisco) UCS (Unified Compute System) is dead and we have had phenomenal market share growth in the networking space.“

Man, he must feel pretty stupid right now. In Q2 of 2012 Cisco realized a 22% market share in the blade server market in North America and a 15% market share worldwide. How’s that for being dead, mister Seidl?

I have sold Cisco UCS solutions for about 18 months now and Cisco has definitely made a good impression in the server market. But there are still a lot of people (customers, (former) colleagues, VMware enthusiasts) who have vaguely heard of Cisco UCS but don’t see the distinct differences with blade server solutions like those from HP, IBM, Dell or Fujitsu.

So I decided to sum up

10 things you should know about Cisco UCS

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Recently we received a request from Synology to review their DS1512+ high performance NAS. We’re very familiar with Synology as, we at VMGuru.nl, have been using a Synology DS411j for a while now. And having reviewed the QNAP TS-459Pro II and TS-869 Pro, I’m curious how the Synology deals with the competition.

So, a couple of weeks ago, a large package arrived containing the Ds1512+ NAS. In this article, we’re unboxing the NAS appliance and setting it up so we can go and test it. The Synology DS1512+ is a 5 bay NAS appliance in a relatively small package, the appliance  itself is only 157 x 248 x 233 mm (HxWxD).  But judging by the weight (4,25kg) this is certainly not your average cheap NAS appliance.

Introduction

First of all, here are the specifications:

CPU: Dual Core 2.13GHz;
Memory: DDR3 1 GB (Expandable, up to 3GB);
Disks: 5 x 3.5″ or 2.5″ SATA(II);
Capacity: 20TB (5 x 4TB HDD)
Compatibility: See supported HDDs;
LAN: 2 x 1Gigabit ethernet;
External HDD Interface : 2 x USB 3.0, 4 x USB 2.0, 2 x eSATA;
Noise Level: 28.8 dB(A);
Power: 50.6W (Access) ; 22W (HDD Hibernation).

Unpacking the Synology results in a very complete package. It contains the NAS itself, a quick start manual, two network cables, a power cable, an installation CD and a lot of screws to mount the disks in the brackets.

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For some time now StarWind software is working on a new release of their iSCSI SAN which will be version 6. Currently the software is in it’s beta phase, but StarWind released some release notes containing some new features and improvements.

First of is the change made to High Availability (HA) clusters. In the current release you can create a HA cluster containing two nodes. With the release of version 6 you will be able to create three node HA clusters.

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In the past we at VMGuru.nl have been great fans of Dell EqualLogic storage solutions for it’s simplicity and with our current employer we have learned the advantages of NetApp storage systems and it’s completeness. But why should we have to choose? Why can’t we just combine the ease of use and licensing model from EqualLogic with the high performance file system and feature set of NetApp? Well, now you can!

Recently we were introduced to Nimble Storage, a flash-enabled hybrid storage solution that combines fast SSD disks with high capacity SATA disks.

Their own CASL (Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout) file system, combined with compression and clever dynamic caching algorithms, result in a high performance storage system that use simple SATA disks. The CASL FS deploys SSD disks as a read cache to enhance read performance and it uses a write optimized data layout (to turn random writes into sequential writes, much like NetApp’s WAFL does) combined with inline compression to improve write performance.

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As one of the largest Cisco Partners in the Netherlands we do a lot of Cisco UCS implementations and as the first company in the Netherlands with the Cisco Advanced Data Center Architecture Specialization, where the place in the Netherlands for Cisco UCS troubleshooting. Last week a colleague was called to a troubleshoot a customer problem.

The customer was unable to create a 14th Virtual Network Interfaces on their Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card and 13 interfaces is far from the maximum of 128 or 256 possible virtual interfaces per Cisco UCS VIC. Fortunately the solution appeared to be simple.

In a Cisco UCS environment all centralized intelligent occurs in the Fabric Interconnect. When using Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Cards (VICs) you can create Virtual Network Interfaces (VIFs) which can be presented to individual virtual machines. All of these virtual interfaces that are created show up in the Fabric Interconnects. They are called VIFs (Virtual Interfaces) and use VN-Tags.

The number of VIFs per blade is limited by the most restrictive item in the following list:

• the network connectivity from chassis I/O Module (IOM) to Fabric Interconnect;
• the Adapter VN-Tag namespace;
• the OS/BIOS version.

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Thursday 12th there was a press release by StarWind stating “StarWind completely eliminates the need for shared storage when implementing Windows Server 2012 Scale-out file servers”. At first, while reading the title, I was a bit confused. Starwind itself offers shared storage solutions with it’s software. But after reading the article, it´s clear that the intention is to eliminate the implementation of hardware-based storage solutions.

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A couple of weeks ago we unboxed the QNAP TS-869-Pro to test-drive in our test lab. As we concluded in this article, we quite liked the appliance. It has a solid build quality, the management software is really easy to use and with a bit of knowledge and all the right tools present, you’re up and running in about an hour. Now, that is only half the story, as you also want to know how it performs when you finally connected the appliance to your virtual environment.

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Starwind is an innovative company and one of the first to offer an iSCSI initiator on the Microsoft Windows platform without a lot of hassle. The company offers Not For Resale (NFR) licenses to some specific groups of IT professionals.

If you hold or are one of the following:

• VMware vExpert
• VMware Certified Instructor (VCI)
• Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP)
• Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT)
• Citrix Technology Professional (CTP)
• Citrix Certified Instructor (CCI).

you can get a free NFR license for its best-of-breed High Availability SAN solutions software to fuel your Lab. What do you need to do?

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A while ago, the folks at QNAP sent us one of their NAS devices for a test run around the block. You can read the article over here. Now, we were quite fond of the device and the capabilities and QNAP was pretty pleased with our review. So, a couple of weeks ago, a new package arrived in the mail here at VMguru and we were very pleasantly surprised to find a brand new QNAP Product in the box. In this article, we’re unboxing the NAS appliance and setting it up so we can go and test it with a VMware test server.

The box that arrived was actually pretty impressive. This seems to be a pretty big thing! After removing the shipping package, we saw a very nice box with an even nicer picture of the QNAP we’re going to put to the test. This is certainly not your average 2-disk or 4-disk NAS.  So, first of all, some specs to get you all warmed up. This NAS is a pretty all-round guy with a lot of support already build in.

The hardware specs:

• CPU: Intel^® Atom^™ 2.13GHz Dual-core Processor
• DRAM: 1GB RAM (Expandable RAM, up to 3GB)
• Flash Memory: 512MB DOM
• Hard disk bays: 8 x 3.5/2.5 inch drives, hot swappable and lockable
• LAN: 2 x Gigabit RJ-45 Ethernet port
• USB: 2x USB 3.0 port (Back: 2) 5x USB 2.0 port (Front: 1; Back: 4)
• eSATA: 2 x eSATA port (Back)
• Display: Mono-LCD display with backlight

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