Test Validation

2013EvaluatorGroup,Inc.Allrightsreserved.

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform

(UCP) Pro for VMware

vSphere
Author: Leah Schoeb, Sr. Partner,
Evaluator Group

April 2013
Enablingyoutomakethebesttechnologydecisions

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Table of Contents
ExecutiveSummary ....................................................................................................... 2
EnterpriseSystemManagementChallengeswithVirtualInfrastructures....................... 3
HitachiUnifiedComputePlatformOverview................................................................. 4
Orchestration............................................................................................................................ 4
Hardware.................................................................................................................................. 5
SoftwareHitachiUnifiedComputePlatformDirectorandConsole....................................... 7
ValidationOverview&Objectives ............................................................................... 11
EvaluationFindings...................................................................................................... 11
MonitoringwithHitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)Director .............................................. 11
ProvisioningphysicalserversandESXiservers............................................................................... 12
ImageManagementandDeployment ............................................................................................ 13
StorageProvisioning ....................................................................................................................... 14
ConfiguringVLANs........................................................................................................................... 15
EvaluationSummary.................................................................................................... 16
References................................................................................................................... 18

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Executive Summary
ServervirtualizationhasbecomeacommonpartoftodaysITdatacenters.Oneofthemajorbenefitsof
servervirtualizationistheabilitytoconsolidatehundredstothousandsofvirtualizedserversinafew
physicalserversintoasinglevirtualinfrastructure.ThisconsolidationcansignificantlyreduceITrelated
CAPEXandOPEX.Therapiddeploymentofvirtualizedinfrastructureshasbeenmaturingandgrowingin
sizewhichhasmadeinfrastructuremanagementmorecomplex.HitachiDataSystemsrecently
introducedaconvergedsolutiontonotonlysimplifythedeploymentofavirtualinfrastructurebutalso
simplifythemanagementofthatinfrastructure.
ConvergedinfrastructuresolutionscanreduceOPEXbyminimizinganadministratorstimewith
provisioningresources,managing,monitoringandtroubleshootingthedatacenterinfrastructurewith
centralizedmanagement.Inturn,thiswillminimizesystemdowntimethereforereducingtheimpacton
SLAs.Thesetypesofconvergedsolutionsaregoodforrapiddeploymentofprivatecloudenvironments
withthenecessarysecuritybuiltin.
HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)ProforVMwarevSphereisthenextgenerationin
infrastructuremanagementandispartoftheHitachisolutionforbuildingandmanagingvirtual
infrastructuresasaconsolidatedbusinessresourcepool.UCPProforVMwarevSpherearchitectureis
designedtoenablerapiddeploymentandsimplifiedmanagementofenterpriseclassvirtual
infrastructures.UCPProforVMwarevSpherefullyintegratesandsupportsbothphysicalandvirtual
componentsoftheinfrastructureandsupportssimpleautomationandorchestrationthroughitsHitachi
UnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)Directorsoftware,whichisintegrateddirectlyintoVMwarevCenter.
Minimalphysicalinstallationisrequiredsinceallcomponents(servers,networkingandstorage)are
alreadycabledandintegratedtogetheratthefactorytocreateareadymadedatacenter.TheseHitachi
brandedcomponentsincludeIntelXeonprocessorbasedHitachiCB500bladechassisandachoiceof
HitachiVirtualStoragePlatform(VSP),HitachiUnifiedStorageVM(HUSVM),orHitachiUnifiedStorage
150(HUS150).IntelhasrearchitectedtheXeonfamilytoaddthespecificcapabilitiesneededfor
todaysITstorageproblems,enablingtheenergyefficientperformance,dataprotectionandscalability
toaddresstheexplosionofdata,improvedatacenterefficiencyandprepareforemergentusagemodels
atthesamepowerenvelopeinanintelligententerprise.VMwarevSphere5.1andtheintegratedUCP
Directormanagementsoftwareisalsopreinstalled,reducinginstallationandconfigurationtimeand
cost,whichcaninturnminimizeongoingmaintenancecosts.UsingUCPDirectorstandardtemplatesto
deployESXihosts,theuseralwaysstartsfromtheexactsameknownstate.Thisallowsforfaster
deploymenttimeandlowercostofoperations.
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ArchitectedproductslikeUCPProforVMwarevSpherefulfillarequirementforthosewhoneedto
rapidlydeployandmanageanenterprisevirtualinfrastructureand/orprivatecloud.Thisconverged
solutionfromHDSisbuilttoorder,pretestedandpreconfiguredtocustomerrequirementsbeforeit
reachesitsdestinationinthedatacenter.TheunifiedmanagementandtheuseofRESTfulpublicAPI
and/orCLIintegratedintoVMwarevCentergivestheadministratortheabilitytovisualizethecomplete
virtualandphysicalinfrastructurefromVMwarevCenter.Inaddition,unifiedorchestration,monitoring
andtroubleshootingofferstheabilitytoprovision,configure,andcorrelatephysicalandvirtualalertsfor
fastertroubleshooting.
VMwarevSphereisthefirstofseveralhypervisorsandnativetier1applications(likeMicrosoftHyperV,
OracleDatabase,MicrosoftExchange,etc)UCPProforVMwarevSpherewillsupport.
EvaluatorGroupassessedtheUCPProforVMwarevSpherehardwarearchitectureandsoftware
systemsmanagementinDecember2012.WereviewedtheUCPDirectorsoftwareintegratedwithin
VMwarevCenterandvalidateditsfunctionality.
Enterprise System Management Challenges with Virtual
Infrastructures
EvaluatorGroupspeakswithITusersfromcompaniesofallsizesacrosstheworld.Althoughnew
architectures,capabilitiesandapplicationspresentongoingchallengesforITstaffinVMware
environments,thefactremainsthatalargeportionoftimeandresourcesremaindedicatedto
installationsofvirtualizedinfrastructures.Despitetherecentwidespreadadoptionofserver
virtualizationandallitsbenefits,theprocessofbuildingandmanaginganewnonintegratedvirtual
infrastructure(servers,network,storage,virtualization,OSandapplications)canbeastimeconsuming
asanonvirtualizedinfrastructure.Inaddition,someofthetimeconsumingmanagementtasksITstaff
findwithatraditionalnonintegratedare:
ImagemanagementManagingupdates,changingdefaultimagesandmaintainingactive
imagesforeachhost(ESXiServer)canbetimeconsumingandattimesdifficulttomanagein
largerenvironments.Keepingtrackofnewupdatesandpatches,alongwithcreatingnewimages
andmodifyingautodeployrulescanbecometedious.
MonitoringItcanbedifficulttomonitoravirtualizedinfrastructurewhenthereisnosingle
interfacetomonitorboththephysicalandvirtualcomponents.Alertsofpendinghardware
failurescanbemissedorgoundetected.Withouttheholisticpictureinasinglemanagement
systemthiscouldcauselongertroubleshootingtimes.
Provisioning
o Host(ConfiguringahostanddeployinganESXiimage)Performingthisprocessmanually
raisesthepossibilityofmakingerrorsalongtheway.Findingtherightimagesanddrivers
onlinecanbetimeconsuming.
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o Storage(CreatingandattachingvolumesorLUNs)Inmanycases,thewayorganizations
arestructuredcanaffectthetimeneededtocreateandattachstoragevolumesandLUNs.
Thesetaskscansometimesaddweekstotheprocess.Atypicalscenariocanlooklikethe
following:
Oncetheadministratorputsinarequestforstoragetothestorageadministrator,
he/shehastoidentifyspaceandlocationtocreatethevolumeorLUNandaddit
totheinfrastructure.
WhenthevolumeorLUNhasbeenadded,theSANadministratorneedsto
identifytheWWNsforthehostandarrayportsandcreatethezonesinthe
appropriatefabric.
AtthispointtheVIadministratorcanmountthenewstoragevolume,thencreate
andformatpartitions,andcreatetheneededdatastores.
o Network(ConfiguringaVLAN)Performingthisprocessmanuallycanbeerrorprone,
timeconsumingandcomplextoo.IdentifyingallofthehostsinaclustertocollectVLAN
information,determiningportconnectionsfromeachhost,andconfiguringallswitch
portsconnectedtotheclustermanuallyincreasesadministrativetimerequirements.
AprimaryvalueoftheHitachiUCPProforVMwarevSphereistheeliminationofthetimespentonthese
commontasks.Thehardwareandsoftwarearepreinstalledandpreconfiguredbyproductexpertsand
developers.Thisoffersahighdegreeofintegration.

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform Overview

Orchestration
HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)Pro forVMwarevSphereprovides orchestrationcapabilities,
whichcombinecomputing,networking,managementandstorageintooneintegratedproductto
provision,manageandofferservicesfromasingleconsole.Orchestrationcanoffer:
ConsolidatedmanagementTheabilitytoconsolidatemanagementfrommultiplesitesmakesit
easiertoperformupdatesfromacorporatelevelandallowsforasingleteamtomanageSLAsvia
centralizedtemplates.
CostCentralizingwithinasingleconsolecansavetimeandmoneyinsimplifiedmanagement,
lowertheriskofhumanerrorwithautomatedtasks,andprovidetheabilitytocoordinate
workflow.
FlexibilityandAgilityRapiddeploymentallowstheadministratortorespondquicklyto
requestsandeffectivelymeetSLAs.Thisconsolidatedapproachmakesactivitieslikechargeback
andreportingeasierandlesstimeconsuming.
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ApplicationAlignedInfrastructureBusinessstrategyandprocessescanbealignedwith
chargebackandSLAs.ApplicationscanbescaledtotherequiredsizetomeetSLAsandoptimize
theuseofresources.

Figure1UCPOrchestration
(HCSM=HitachiComputeSystemManager,HDvM=HitachiDeviceManager,VSP=VirtualStorage
Platform,HUSVM=HitachiUnifiedStorageVM,HUS=HitachiUnifiedStorage)
Hardware
Thehardwareconfiguration(Storage,Server,EthernetandFibreChannelNetworks,andmanagement
console)comespreconfiguredandbuilttoorder.Figure2showsthebaseconfigurationwhichcanbe
expandedtoanadditionalcomputerackwithuptofourmorecomputeblocks(upto32servers),
additionalsupportingpower,and2additional8GBFCswitches.Inadditionthestoragecanbe
expandedwithanadditionalstoragerackofHitachiVirtualStoragePlatform(VSP)FCstorageorany
supported3
rd
partystorage(seereferences).
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Computeblockseachcomputeblockiscomprisedofa6UCB500chassiswithupto8internal
bladeserversbasedonthelatestgenerationIntelXeonprocessorsbuilttoespeciallysupport
virtualizedenvironments.Hitachihasdesignedthesebladeserverstotakeadvantageofthe
IntelXeonarchitectureforperformanceandcapacityinahighlydenseformfactor.Key
IntelligentstoragebenefitsenabledbyIntelincludedatadeduplication,datacompression,
intelligenttieringandthinprovisioning.Additionalcomputeblockscanbeaddedasneededfor
growth.
NetworkBrocadeEthernetandSANswitchesarepreinstalledandconfiguredtoassistinrapid
deploymentofVLANsandSANprovisioning
Storage
o HitachiVirtualStoragePlatform(VSP)ispreinstalledandoffersstoragevirtualization,
provisioning,andautomatictieringforconvenience.VSPsupportsvirtualizingthirdparty
storagearrays(seereferences)behindtheVSP.
o HitachiUnifiedStorage150(HUS150)consolidatesfile,blockandobjectstorageneeds.
o HitachiUnifiedStorageVM(HUSVM)consolidatesfile,blockandobjectstorageneeds
especiallyforvirtualizedinfrastructures.
Hitachistoragesolutions,utilizingIntelsXeonprocessorscanhelprelievebottlenecks,allowingdata
toflowmorefreely.Virtualizedapplicationscanbefullyutilized,thegrowingvolumeofdatacanbe
quicklycapturedandusersdemandforcontentandrealtimedataaccesscanbeeasilyandquickly
supported.

ManagementThereareredundantmanagementservers(CR210H)thathostVMwarevCenter,
HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)Director,andallotherinfrastructuremanagementtools.
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Figure2HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)Hardware

Software Hitachi Unified Compute Platform Director and Console

HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)DirectorsoftwareisintegrateddirectlyintovCenterand
providesmanagementandprocessorchestrationforacollectivegroupofassetsasbusinessresource
pools.UCPDirectorcansimplifytheintegrationandongoingmanagementoflargeenvironmentsand
canhelpreducecapitalexpenditure(CAPEX)andoperatingexpenditure(OPEX),asscopeandscaleof
theseenvironmentscontinuetogrow.
Note:Attimestheremaybespecializedserverorstoragemanagementfeaturesthatrequiretheuseof
theserverandstorageelementmanagers.InthesecasesUCPDirectorwilllinktothemtocompletethe
task.
UCP

Pro

Hardware Architecture

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UCPDirectorintegratesfourmainfunctionsintoVMwarevCenter:
Inventoryofhardware
Monitorhardwarerelatedevents
Manageimagestoindividualserversandservertypes
AutomateEthernetandFibreChannelconfiguration

Figure3ThickClientUCPDirectorConsole
InUCPProforVMwarevSpherev2.1,HitachidevelopedarichwebbasedclientversionoftheirUCP
Directorsoftware.TheUCPDirectorwebclientofferscrossplatformsupportandcanberunusingany
standardwebbrowser.Additionalfeaturessuchasinventorylists,relatedobjectsandportletsoffera
morecomprehensiveviewofthedatacentertothevCenteradministrator.Likethethickorserver
basedversion(figure3),thewebclientversionofUCPDirectoristightlyintegratedwithinVMware
vCenteranditsgraphicaluserinterface.DevelopingawebclientversionofUCPDirectorisinkeeping
withVMwaresstrategyofdevelopingwebbasedclientversionsofalltheirmajorapplicationsand
managementtools.ThewebclientversionofUCPDirectoroffersallthefeaturesandfunctionalityof
thethickserverbasedversionofthesoftwareandevenextendsfunctionalityintostandardpartsof
VMwarevCenter.
UC P

Dir ector Monitoring with

vC enter

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Figure4v2.1ThinClientUCPDirectorIntegratedinVMwarevCenter

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Figure5vSphereWebClientViewUCPphysicalinfrastructureinventory

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Validation Overview & Objectives
Hitachi Data Systems commissioned Evaluator Group to validate their claims of the rapid deployment
and ease of management of Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) Pro for VMware vSphere. The
validationobjectivesweretoobserveandconductthefollowingfunctionality:
1. ProvisionphysicalserversandESXiservers
2. ImageManagementandDeployment
3. StorageProvisioning
4. ConfiguringVLANs
5. EaseofuseandfeelofinventorywithUCPProforVMwarevSphere
Evaluation Findings
Monitoring with Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) Director
UCPProforVMwarevSphereshowsacompletehardwareinventory(computechassis,servers,storage,
EthernetandFCswitches).Scansareperformedregularlytokeephardwaredetailsuptodate.The
followingtablesnotonlyshowedinventoryinformationbutalsostatusandhealth(greenorred)ofthe
hardware.ThishardwareinformationcoupledwiththevCenterinformationaboutthevirtual
infrastructuregivestheadministratoranendtoendviewtohelpwithmonitoringforSLAsand
troubleshootingforissues.
ComputeChassistableTherewasgooddetailofthecomputechassis,includingdetailsofeach
bladesconfiguration.Therearetwowaystoviewthephysicalserverinventory.
StoragetableDetailsoftheHitachiVirtualStoragePlatform(VSP)storagearraywaseasyto
findonthestoragepage.ThetoplevelstoragepageshowstabsforwhichPools,Volumesand
Portsareavailableandthepageshowshardwaredetails,suchasserialnumber,microcode
version,capacityandID.Detailsaboutavailable,reservedallocatedorunallocatedcapacitywas
alsoinformationeasilyfound.
FibreChannelSwitchestableThistableshowedtheportID,state(online,nolight,nosync),
status,WWNconnection,andthedevicetheportisconnectedto.Wedrilleddowntothe
CredentialsandIPaddresstabandwereabletogettheusername,passworddetectionand
managementIPaddress.
EthernetswitchestableNetworkingmappingcanbeviewedthroughserverdetails.VLANIDs,
portsandEthernetdevicesconnectedtoaredisplayed.Thistabledisplayedswitchname,status
(active,unreachable,unsupported,initializing),serialnumber,type,makeandmodel,firmware
version,managementIPaddressandID.
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Provisioning physical servers and ESXi servers

UCPProforVMwarevSphereUCPDirectorwithinvCenterprovidesacompleteserverhardware
inventoryviewtoprovisionphysicalserversandbuildESXiserverswithESXiAutoDeploy.Imagesfor
deploymentwereeasytocreate.UCPDirectorworkswiththeHitachiComputeSystemManager
(HCSM)toprovidetheserverhardwareviewinvCenter.Inaddition,eventscommunicationcreatedby
theUCPDirectorbetweenvCenterandHCSMgaveusachancetoseealerts,suchashardwarefailures,
showupandtriggeranalarmautomatically.Thisallowedustoobserveaphysicalserverautomatically
putintomaintenancemodeandthemigrationoftheVMstoanotherphysicalserver.
Inordertoadministerphysicalserversandimages,newUCPadministratorroleswiththeappropriate
permissionsmustbeadded.Theactualmanagementofallphysicalserverswasshownthroughusing
UCPDirector.Eachserverhasatableofinformation(Figure5)showingpower,hostnamesfrom
vCenter,healthstatistics,serverserialnumber,slotlocationinachassis,imageinformation,component
resourcesandmore.

Figure5PhysicalServerDetails
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Image Management and Deployment
Normallymanaginghostimages(ESXiserverimages)inVMwarevCenterisamanualprocesswhich
requiresmultiplestepsorcanbeautomatedusingVMwarePowerCLI.HitachiUnifiedCompute
Platform(UCP)ProforVMwarevSpherehasalreadyautomatedthisprocesssothereisnoneedtowrite
anythinginPowerCLI,savingtimefortheadministrator.WeobservedthatUCPDirectorallowedusto
reviewrepositoriesforimages.ThenwewereabletoclonethatrepositorytotheinventoryasaUCP
imagewhichcanbedeployedononeoftheservers.
OnedefaultimagecomeswithUCPProforVMwarevSpherethatcontainsallthesupporteddrivers.We
observedthisimagebeingdeployedonaserver,copiedtobecloned,andcopiedtobechangedfor
otherrequirements.Eachservertypewillhaveadefaultimagefromwhichtowork.Inaddition,we
observedthatwhenaphysicalserverisresetthenthroughvCenteranimagewillbeautomatically
deployed.Ifthereisnospecificimageconfiguredforthephysicalserverthedefaultimageforthat
servertypewouldbedeployed.Inourcasethedefaultimagewasdeployed.Weeasilyclonedanimage
fromthehostimagestablewithjustarightclick,fillinginanewnamefortheimageinthedialogbox,
thenclickingOK.
Figure6showsthetableforviewingandmanagingimages.HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)
DirectorConsolehasahostimagestabundertheserversectionthatgaveusaviewoftheimage
details,suchas,imagename,ID,defaultornot,status,UCPimage,descriptionoftheimage,vendor,last
modifiedandmore.Thenwedrilleddowndeepertoseeotherimagedetails,suchaspackage
information(name,vendor,version,releasedataandmore).
Weobservedotherimagemanagementoperations,likeeditingandconfiguringimages,checkingfor
updates,makingchangestothedefaultimage,assignedanimagetoanotherphysicalserver,and
deployingpendingimages.
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Figure6ImageManagement

Storage Provisioning
HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)DirectoristightlyintegratedwithHitachiVirtualStorage
Platform(VSP)StorageArraybywayoftheHitachiDataManager(HDM)andisabletousetheHitachi
VSPfeatureslikeHitachiDynamicProvisioning(HDP),HitachiDynamicTiering(HDT)andHitachi
UniversalVolumeManager(UVM).TheHitachiDeviceManager(HDM)isusedfirsttocreatethe
storagepools.Thesestoragepoolscreatedfromphysicalparitygroupscanbestripedwideandenable
thinprovisioningtominimizeoverprovisioning.Inaddition,ifatieredstorageapproachisneededto
prioritizeperformancecharacteristics,HDTcanhaveSSD,SASandSATAdrivesinthesamestoragepool.
ThenUCPDirectorusestheHitachiDeviceManager(HDvM)asastorageelementtoprovisionstorage
volumes.WeobservedavolumebeingcreatedontheHitachiVSPthroughthisintegratedstorage
managementandthenbepresentedinvCenterinventoryasavailablespaceforthecluster.This
demonstratedastorageprovisioningworkflow.
OncestoragepoolswerecreatedtheywereviewedviathePoolsTableshowninfigure7below.The
poolstableshowedinformationlikethestatus,thetotalphysicalcapacity,thetypeofpool(HDPorHDT),
physicalutilizationandID.Wedrilleddownfurtherintothepooldetailsandobserveddrivetype,the
availablecapacity(GB)andpercentallocated.InadditiontheVolumetabshowedusthevolumesand
eachvolumesdetailintheselectedpool.WenotonlyobservedtheLDEV,nameandtheassociated
poolID,butalsothemappinginformationshowingthephysicalserver(s)thatthevolumeisattachedto
anditsutilizationinformation.Foradditionalmappinginformationwelookedattheportstable.The
porttableshowedthenameofthearrayport,theWWN,thespeed,thetype(Fibre,iSCSI,orFCoE),and
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theattributes(target,initiator,orexternal).Toconfigureahost(ESXiserver)orclusterstorageweused
theserverstabletocreate,addanddeleteahostvolume.


Figure7CreateNewVolumes
Configuring VLANs
HitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)DirectoractsasaninterfacetotheEthernetswitchinside
vCenterandisabletoreporthardwareeventsandautomateVLANconfigurationsforanyEthernet
switch.WeobservedthatthetwoEthernetswitchesusedinthevalidationwerealreadyaddedtoUCP
Directorinventoryandwereavailabletobeconfigured.WeobservedthisintheEthernetSwitchestable
whichshowedtheswitchnames,thestatusofeachswitch,theserialnumberofeachswitch,switch
type,makeandmodel,firmwareversion,IPaddressandID.
OnceEthernetswitcheshavebeenaddedVLANscanbecreatedforthevirtualmachinenetwork.Thisis
normallycreatedmanuallywithinvCenter.OnceVLANsontheESXiservershavebeendefinedthrough
Storage Provisioning

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vCenter,UCPProforVMwarevCentercanconfigurethem.ThedefaultVLANswereconfiguredforall
managedports.WealsoobservedthatdifferentVLANswereconfiguredonindividualhostsand/or
clusters.

Figure7CreateaVLAN
Evaluation Summary
TheEvaluatorGroupfoundthatHitachiUnifiedComputePlatform(UCP)ProforVMwarevSphereisan
easysolutionforITorganizationsneedingtorapidlydeployandmanageaVMwarevSphere
infrastructureordeployaprivatecloud.TheunifiedmanagementwiththetightintegrationoftheUCP
DirectorwithinvCenterdoesgivetheadministratoranendtoendviewfromvCentertoorchestrate,
monitor,andtroubleshoottheirinfrastructuretomeetandkeepSLAs.Thisconvergedsolutioncan
maximizetheuseofanadministratorstimeandshowsahighdegreeofflexibilityindeployingand
managingtheenvironment.DaysandsometimesweeksofinstallationtimearesavedsinceUCPProfor
Network Provisioning

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VMwarevSphereispreinstalled,preintegrated,preconfigured,andpretestedspecificallyincluding
customerrequirementsbeforedelivery.WiththecombinationofIntelXeonbasedHDSservers,HDS
storage,builtinnetworkingandVMwarevSphere,UCPProforVMwarevSpherecanreducetheinitial
investment(CAPEX)requiredtoprocure,integrate,andimplementaninfrastructuresolutionfor
virtualizedenvironments.UCPProalsoreducesongoingoperationalcost(OPEX)throughasimplified
managementprocessandautomationoftasksthatmightotherwiserequiretheinvolvementofmultiple
departmentsandmanymanualsteps.
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References
Supported 3
rd
party storage - http://www.hds.com/products/storage-
systems/specifications/supported-external-storage.html

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