PernixData released new versions of its products FVP 3.5 and Architect 1.1, two platforms for scale-out server-side storage acceleration and holistic data center design, deployment, operations and optimization.
The new versions extend the capabilities of the software giving an additional level of flexibility introducing the PernixData server as virtual appliance simplifying the deployment process and an enhanced UI to better understand the environment.
What's new
The new releases bring the following new features and enhancements:
PernixData FVP 3.5
PernixData management server is now coming as virtual appliance making the deployment and management easier allowing to save a Windows licence.
- appliance is deployed using OVA
- dedicated mechanism for upgrading all future releases
Support for accelerating VMs using RDMs.
- support for physical or virtual RDM
- eligibility on a per-VM basis
UI enhancements to better understand the environment.
- separating acceleration rate reports for read/write
- search functionality for FVP cluster
Architect 1.1
Management server is now a virtual appliance and only one server is needed if you run one or both products. No additional software needs to be installed or configured.
- appliance is deployed using OVA
- dedicated mechanism for upgrading all future releases
PDF based performance reports to provide users with predefined reports to help with right info about the environment.
UI enhancements to make the environment clearer.
- additional predefined breakdowns for Latency, IOPS, throughput to understand acceleration in clear way
- separating acceleration rate reports for read/write
- drill-down features in VM Performance plot
Ignore blacklisted VMs in "FVP Acceleration Resource Sizing" feature.
PernixData FVP 3.5
Deploy the VA
The deployment is pretty straightforward and is similar to most other VAs. The virtual appliance includes both FVP and Architect products.
From vSphere Web Client, right click the datacenter/cluster and select the Deploy OVF Template option.
Click Browse button and select the OVA file downloaded from PernixData Support Portal Login then click Next.
Click Next.
Give the VA a Name and click Next.
Select the size of the virtual appliance to reflect your environment then click Next to continue.
Select the virtual disk format and the datastore to store the VA then click Next.
Set the IP allocation field as Static - Manual and click Next.
Configure network parameters then click Next.
Optionally enable Power on after deployment option then click Finish to begin deployment.
Configure the VA
In your favorite browser, type the IP/DNS name of the VA just installed.
i.e. https://pernixdata-mgm.nolabnoparty.local
Accept the EULA then click OK.
Enter default credentials and click Login.
username: pernixdata
password: pernixdataappliance
Specify the vCenter Server and correct credentials then click Next.
Enter the Network Settings and click Next.
Specify the Time Zone and the NTP Server then click Next.
Enter a New Password to enforce security and click Finish.
Once the installation has completed, click Go to PernixData Management Console button to access the program.
The system starts the Management Service.
To access the Management Console enter the vCenter Server credentials and click Login.
The PernixData Management Console main screen is displayed.
PernixData FVP configuration
To setup PernixData FVP (clusters, fault domains, resources, ...), check out this guide.
Upgrade the VA
To upgrade the VA, in PernixData HUB a new tab Global Settings has been added. Select Appliance Configuration tab in the left pane and click the Appliance Configuration URL link.
Enter the local appliance credentials and click Login.
Select Software Update tab.
To perform the update, the bundle must be first downloaded from the PernixData Support Portal. Click Select button to select the bundle in .tgz format then click Update to apply the update.
UI enhancements
Select FVP from the top-down menu.
In Reporting > Virtual Machine there are new columns Read and Write Acceleration Rate (Avg) in a percentage form. This way you can clearly see the status of acceleration.
Search box
Select Overview tab. In the right side there is now the Search box to help searching faster the cluster you want to work with. You might have a large number of clusters vSphere as well as multiple FVP clusters and sometimes the search is challenging in large environment.
Architect 1.1
Select Architect from the PernixData Hub top-down menu.
Go to Reporting > Cluster > IOPS.
In IOPS tab you have available the new Read and Write Analysis items that make simple to understand how much IOPSs are actually accelerated.
The chart with Read/Write Summary.
Reports in PDF
Go to Intelligence tab and select General > Performance Reports and click Create Report.
Select the VMs or the FVP cluster to analyze, specify Start and End time then click OK.
After few seconds you have the report available that you can export in PDF format ready to be delivered to managers.
An example of report (extract) in PDF format.
Acceleration Resource Sizing
Go to Architect > Acceleration Resource Sizing.
The plot now shows only effective estimate resources per Host basis excluding blacklisted VMs set in FVP.
To set VM in the blacklist select FVP from the top-down menu and go to Configuration > Advanced > Blacklist.
Click on Add VMs to specify blacklisted VMs. The VMs inserted in the blacklist are not contributing to the resource size estimation.
Additional information of new releases can be found at PernixData website.
