EMC Unisphere in your pocket! Announcing the UBER VSA 3! (Now with low sodium!)
You heard it here! Time to cut your blood pressure in half! (I apologize for those of you who already have low blood pressure.. this may put you over the top!)
UBERTastic : Celerra UBER VSA v3 – Unisphere - Be sure to click this link here to get to the download links to pull down the OVA or Workstation version!
So, Roxanne… what is new in this version of the VSA? As it appears that I’m practically stealing Nick’s entire post (which I’m cool with… ;))
- DART is now 6.0.36.4
- Unisphere management console (rocks!)
- The Celerra VSA is now 64 bit! This means you can throw RAM at it for bigger setups and it will use it. Over 8GB becomes less beneficial without code changes to simulation services. Future updates will fix this from the Celerra VSA engineering teams.
- The biggest and most difficult change to construct is that the configuration is now adaptive depending on the virtual machine setup. This version is now intelligent in seeing how many resources you have given it.
- The new Celerra UBER VSA uses this intelligence to now allow *Thin* mode. If you give the VSA under 2GB of RAM it will automatically size the memory limits, processes, and management interface settings to allow it to run with as low as 1024MB of RAM. You won’t do replication or host a ton of VM’s but you can use this mode to host a few and fully demonstrate/test the new Unisphere interface on even a 2GB laptop.
- The new VSA also uses this intelligence to automatically allow the configuration of single or dual Data Mover version based on the memory assigned. If you give the VSA more than 4GB of memory you will be given the option to enable an additional Data Mover for use as a standby or load balancing experimentation. This means this single appliance can be a small lightweight NFS unit at 1024MB of RAM or can be a 2 Data Mover powerhouse at 8GB of RAM. All automatically configured on first boot through the wizard.
- Automatic VMDK/Storage additions have been adjusted for new 64 bit OS. This means this still works. Shutoff the VM, add VMDK(s), turn on and you have more space. Automagic
- Since automagic is so cool, I have changed the Data Mover Ethernet binding to be automatic also. The VM starts with 1 interface for management and 1 interface for the Data Movers. If you want more for the DM(s), just shutoff the VM, add NIC cards (up to 6 additional), and turn back on. It will automatically bind the Data Mover (yes it works with the 2 DM mode also) to the new interfaces and virtual slots. Just go back into Unisphere and assign away. This allows scale up for the bigger 2 Data Mover 8GB of RAM versions easily.
- Configuration is now Perl/Bash based instead of just Bash to keep things cleaner and slicker and allow for some coolness later on
- NTP from the configuration portion of the wizard works correctly. It sets both the Control Station and all Data Movers and enables NTP as a running service. Make sure your NTP server is valid.
So let’s summarize:
- New Unisphere
- 64 Bit
- Automatic sizing
- Thin Mode
- Optional 2 Data Mover mode
- Automatic Data Mover Ethernet adding (along with fixed Storage [VMDK] adding)
- NTP works now
Wow! That’s a whole lot! Where do I sign up to download?!? UBERTastic : Celerra UBER VSA v3 – Unisphere – No signup required, just go click and download! Because Nick has so many other vital details about the differences of THIS Uber VSA compared to Uber VSA’s in the past, I am referring you to his page so you can read the ‘technical’ details and stuff! So go download the UBER VSA TODAY! (I am downloading it right now, literally.. )
I look forward to your feedback… and enjoyment of this tool, I know I’ve been waiting for some time for this myself!
