Release Notes

7 Dell Virtual Storage Manager: Installation Considerations and Local Data Protection | 2079-BP-V-VSM
1 Introduction
Data centers today use VMware virtualization solutions and Dell PS Series SAN storage to consolidate servers and
storage for efficient utilization and ease of management. The encapsulation of a virtual machine (VM) into a set of files
increases both the flexibility of data protection as well as the challenges of managing the protection of virtualized
assets. VMware uses a snapshot technology within VMware vCenter
®
that can quiesce and help protect the VMs. Dell
has combined the intelligence of native point-in-time PS Series SAN snapshots with vCenter snapshots to provide a
scalable and automated data protection package for the virtual environment.
The Dell Virtual Storage Manager (VSM) is a next-generation VMware vCenter plugin that allows administrators to
coordinate data protection and recovery within their virtual environment, and perform many day-to-day storage
administration tasks directly from the vSphere Web Client GUI. The Dell VSM is a virtual appliance that is downloaded
as part of the all-inclusive Dell PS Series software support and installed into an existing VMware vCenter environment.
VSM contains many tools and capabilities that help VMware administrators gain better control and functionality in
their PS Series environment including:
• Datastore management: Provision, expand, delete, and monitor VMFS and vVol datastores across multiple PS
Series groups from within vCenter
• Data protection: Create hypervisor-consistent smart copies and replicas for local and remote data protection
and disaster recovery
• Dell PS Series vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) Provider: A protocol that allows vCenter and the PS
Series SAN to communicate, provide better storage awareness within vCenter, and to enable the VMware
Virtual Volumes feature
• Seamless vSphere integration: Enables PS Series storage management directly from the VMware new vCenter
Web Client
Note: For more information on the VMware snapshot process (which is invoked before the datastore volume is
snapped at the SAN level) refer to VMware KB article 1015180, “Understanding virtual machine snapshots in VMware
ESXi and ESX” at http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1015180.