Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
vSphere FT can work in conjunction with vMotion. As of vSphere 5.0, vSphere FT is
also integrated with vSphere DRS, although this feature does require Enhanced vMotion
Compatibility (EVC).
vSphere Storage APIs for Data Protection and VMware Data
Protection
One of the most critical aspects to any network, not just a virtualized infrastructure, is a solid
backup strategy as dei ned by a company's disaster recovery and business continuity plan. To
help address organizational backup needs, VMware vSphere 5.0 has two key components: the
vSphere Storage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) and VMware Data Protection (VDP).
VADP is a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) that backup vendors leverage in
order to provide enhanced backup functionality of virtualized environments. VADP enables
functionality like i le-level backup and restore; support for incremental, differential, and full-
image backups; native integration with backup software; and support for multiple storage
protocols.
On its own, though, VADP is just a set of interfaces, like a framework for making backups
possible. You can't actually back up VMs with VADP. You'll need a VADP-enabled backup appli-
cation. There are a growing number of third-party backup applications that are designed to
work with VADP, and VMware also offers its own backup tool, VMware Data Protection (VDP).
VDP leverages VADP and technology based on EMC Avamar to provide a full backup solution
for smaller VMware vSphere environments.
Whither VMware Data Recovery?
In vSphere 5.1, VMware phased out its earlier data protection tool, VMware Data Recovery (VDR),
in favor of VMware Data Protection. While VDR was provided with vSphere 5.0, VDR is not sup-
ported with vSphere 5.1 and later, and VDP should be used instead.
Virtual SAN (VSAN)
VSAN is a major new feature included with vSphere 5.5 and the evolution of work that VMware
has been doing for a few years now. Building on top of the work VMware did with the vSphere
Storage Appliance (VSA), VSAN lets organizations leverage the storage found in all their indi-
vidual compute nodes and turn it into—well, a
virtual
SAN
.
VSAN requires at least three nodes but will scale to as many as 8 nodes. VSAN also requires
solid-state storage in each of the compute nodes; this is done to help improve I/O performance
given that most compute nodes have a limited number of physical drive spindles present. (Note
that the solid-state storage in the servers used by VSAN is separate from solid-state storage that
