Pure Storage deepens VMware integration

Offering tighter, richer integration with FlashArray’s Purity Operating Environment, the expanded Plug-in enables VMware administrators to perform storage provisioning within the vSphere management interface and deliver agile storage services that are optimized for better virtual machine (VM) availability and performance. The new Pure Storage SRA offers native integration between Purity FlashRecover Replication, Snapshots and Protection Policies and VMware vCenter SRM, extending Purity’s local data protection capabilities to deliver instant global protection of VMs and vSphere clusters.

Storage Replication Adapter for VMware vCenter SRM
The Pure Storage SRA provides native array replication and protection policies to support VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM). This integration simplifies disaster recovery (DR) by automating data protection and failover/failback processes. SRM policies can be tested and validated without disrupting production applications or array replication, thus ensuring seamless operations and providing a simple means to meet compliance requirements.

The Pure Storage SRA for VMware SRM enables customers to perform the following functions:
· Provide an automated default data protection and replication policy to an entire vSphere cluster;
· Provide differentiated data protection and replication policies to vSphere datastores and datastore clusters;
· Provide centralized data protection plans with centralized reporting;
· Support replication topologies between dissimilar Pure Storage FlashArrays;
· Automate the failover and failback of pre-defined SRM disaster recover policies;
· Test and validate disaster recover policies without disruption to production systems or array replication.

The Pure Storage SRA for vSphere SRM is Certified VMware Compatible for VMware vSphere SRM versions 5.5, 5.8 and future releases. Both the Pure Storage SRA and Purity FlashRecover are available now at no additional cost. Customers can download them for free from my.VMware.com or the Pure Storage Community.

Enhanced Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Client
Pure Storage has enhanced their VMware vSphere Web Client Plug-in to provide greater operational agility for VMware users and increased application performance and availability for virtual machines. With the enhanced plug-in VMware administrators can apply FlashArray’s Purity FlashRecover Protection Policies to automate snapshot-based backups and replication, which, when combined with vCenter SRM, provides a simple and robust end-to-end data protection solution. Virtualization administrators will find it simpler to provision storage and VMs on-demand while optimizing FlashArray’s storage performance and resiliency settings.

The Pure Storage vSphere Web Client Plug-in enables customers to perform the following functions directly within VMware vSphere:
· Automate the provisioning of new datastores to vSphere hosts and clusters;
· Automate increasing of datastore capacity;
· Automate and ensure optimal settings for storage performance and availability;
· Provide FlashRecover snapshot and replication policies to vSphere clusters and data stores;
· Monitor storage performance and capacity.

The updated Pure Storage Web Client Plug-in is fully compatible with VMware vSphere version 5.1 and higher, as well as future releases. It is available to customers at no cost and will ship in the company’s Purity 4.1.1 next month.

“Flash storage provides a new paradigm for VMware customers and their software-defined data centers. Delivering consistent sub-millisecond latency, flash storage raises the quality of every application and provides the necessary performance to address dynamic and unexpected changes in workloads. It’s ideal for virtualized consolidated infrastructures that support a mix of applications and diverse business processes,” said Vaughn Stewart, chief evangelist at Pure Storage. With our new VMware vSphere Web Client and Site Recovery Manager integrations, we are simplifying storage management for VMware users by bringing daily operations and disaster recovery processes into their native VMware environments, ensuring the delivery of agile, resilient, highly performant and protected virtualized applications.”