Virsto Software tackles storage virtualization for Hyper-V
Q&A: Virsto One provides high-performance, thin-provisioned snapshots and clones, and dramatically increases I/O performance for Hyper-V environments
Follow @infoworldStartup Virsto (named for "virtual storage") Software burst on the virtualization scene with new software designed to dramatically improve the storage performance for Microsoft Hyper-V virtual environments. The company's new Virsto One software tackles common problems found with enterprise data storage management in a server virtualization environment.
The new software aims to reduce storage sprawl, simplify storage management, increase storage performance, and eliminate excessive storage costs -- a major undertaking.
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Virsto One is delivered as a simple plug-in and installs into the parent partition of the Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor. From an architecture view, it consists of a filter driver and a system service that talks directly to standard windows management interface (WMI). Because it is accessible by any compatible WMI service, it offers users a seamless interface with PowerShell integration and Microsoft Management Console (MMC).
The filter driver resides above the raw volume layer and presents a virtual disk as a virtual hard drive (VHD) object to the parent partition. Hyper-V manager then attaches these VHD objects to guest virtual machines. According to the company, Virsto One VHDs are high-performing, thin-provisioned dynamic storage objects that conform to Microsoft-fixed VHD specifications; therefore, they are automatically compatible with all Microsoft system storage functionality.
To find out more, I spoke with Mark Davis, the CEO of Virsto Software.
InfoWorld: What are some of the core issues that your company has found when looking at virtualization and storage?
Davis: Almost all storage technologies used today are based on techniques designed for physical servers. Unfortunately, virtual servers invalidate key assumptions built into such products. Because of this, storage for virtual environments is far from optimal.
Users of virtual servers have four complaints. First, virtual servers consume up to 30 percent more disk space than physical servers, caused by the well-known "VM sprawl" problem. Because a VM is really just a big file that looks like a disk, VM sprawl is storage sprawl.
