F5

F5 Solution Enables Cloud Connection for Live Application Mobility

August 31, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

F5 Networks today announced that it will be demonstrating a solution that affords businesses seamless flexibility in leveraging both public and private clouds.

During VMworld, F5 will demonstrate how it is possible to perform a secure migration of a live virtualized application, and its associated storage, to and from the cloud with no downtime or user disruption. This solution leverages F5 and VMware products available today.

An agile Application Delivery Network is the fundamental component required to extend virtualization beyond a single data center or VMware vSphere 4 instance. This integration uses F5’s BIG-IP solutions with VMware vSphere 4, VMware VMotion, VMware Storage VMotion, and the VMware vCenter APIs to overcome many of the networking hurdles that previously prevented organizations from migrating live applications to and from the cloud. The integration between VMware vCenter Server, BIG-IP Global Traffic Manager, and BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager simplifies global traffic management to enable easier live migrations. The solution also takes advantage of BIG-IP WAN application delivery services to accelerate VMware VMotion and VMware Storage VMotion events over links that are limited by bandwidth, latency, or packet-loss.

Prior to this solution, virtual applications needed to be cloned or suspended and redeployed separately in the cloud. Neither live virtual applications nor their storage could be migrated to the cloud. This integrated solution enables organizations to fully take advantage of the cost savings of the cloud model, while avoiding the hassles and complexities of rerouting global traffic manually or having to terminate live applications in order to reroute traffic.

F5 Enhances Data Management Solutions

May 12, 2009 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

F5 Networks today announced new software releases for its ARX file virtualization system and Data Manager storage management solution. The new capabilities in both products enable organizations to better control storage costs, improve capacity utilization and forecasting, and unlock maximum value from their existing file storage assets, all of which are key corporate mandates in today’s economy. In addition, F5 announced the new “ARX Fast Start” package available in North America to make it easier and more cost-effective for organizations of all sizes to reap the benefits of file virtualization.

Version 5.0 of Data Management Operating System, the common software powering all F5 ARX file virtualization solutions, introduces new features that simplify automated tiered storage deployments and enhance data protection and recovery. Highlights of version 5.0 include:

Easier deployment of a virtualized file storage environment with seamless import functionality that gives users continuous access to file data throughout the implementation process
Improved data protection capabilities for virtualized storage environments, including a file tracking capability, which dramatically simplifies file restoration from backup media and virtual snapshot capability for Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service
Support for Microsoft Windows 2008, making it easy for organizations to migrate to the next generation of Windows storage and clients, without user or application downtime

Data Manager version 2.5 improves storage reporting and forecasting in large file storage environments and introduces new cost savings analysis capabilities to help businesses better understand areas for potential cost reduction in their environment. In addition to providing detailed information such as file age, types of files, and which resources are being consumed, Data Manager 2.5 can project potential cost savings of storage tiering policies based on actual customer data.

F5 ARX with Data Management Operating System version 5.0 and Data Manager version 2.5 will be available in May 2009.

F5 Networks Preparing New File Virtualization Software and Hardware Products

October 6, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

File virtualization specialist F5 Networks is set to announce a pair of new products next week for moving and managing unstructured data.

The first of the planned products is the F5 ARX4000, a switch that provides global namespace and data management policies through an operating system common across all ARX models. The ARX4000 is also the first of the company’s file virtualization switches to support 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) networking.

The second new offering is the F5 Data Manager, a software-based management platform that runs on a Windows machine and interfaces directly with all file storage devices and ARX switches. The Data Manager gathers file storage statistics and provides graphical reporting and trending functions, all of which is designed to help customers plan for future growth.

Nigel Burmeister, director of product marketing at F5 Networks, says the ARX4000 fills a scalability and performance gap in the company’s current product line, while the Data Manager will give customers more control over how they manage and grow capacity for file storage.

The Data Manager software interfaces with back-end file systems and F5’s ARX file virtualization switches to monitor data in both physical and virtual environments. Data Manager collects a range of statistics, including file type, age, size, and more, using an optional File System Inventory Module (FSIM). The software rounds up that information and generates cumulative reports across a customer’s entire virtual infrastructure.

Customers can now download a free, 40-day trial version of Data Manager. The base price for the software is $1,500 and the cost of the FSIM is $10,000. The ARX4000, also available now, can support approximately two billion files and features 12 1GbE ports or two 10GbE ports in a 4U-high rack for $185,000.

Another Study Predicts Huge and Rapid Virtualization Market Growth

April 7, 2008 by Robin Wauters Leave a Comment

Application Delivery Networking provider F5 Networks today released the results of another survey that shows the storage virtualization market is set to grow rapidly. The online study reveals the percentage of U.S. enterprises that use storage virtualization solutions will more than double from 21 % to 47 % in the next few years.

The survey of 324 medium- and large-enterprise IT organizations in the U.S. and Europe was conducted in February and found that a primary driver for enterprise interest in storage virtualization is reduction in operating expense and capital investment. Underscoring their interest in reducing costs, respondents indicated that 20 % of IT labor is spent on storage-related activities such as provisioning, backup, and moving data.

“We continue to see enterprise storage requirements grow at a remarkable rate, particularly for file-based, unstructured data,” said Steve Bishop, CTO at VeriStor Systems. “As a solutions provider specializing in advanced data storage and virtualization architectures, VeriStor is constantly seeking ways to help our customers reduce storage costs, improve resource utilization, and simplify storage administration. Technologies such as F5’s Intelligent File Virtualization are key to enabling those types of solutions.”

Other findings from the survey included:

Respondents stressed the need for storage virtualization solutions to work with a heterogeneous storage infrastructure. Sixty-three percent of U.S. companies rated this as important or very important.
Respondents showed a strong interest in solutions that address file-based storage — with 80 percent of respondents who are planning to deploy storage virtualization confirming this as part of their plan.
Existing storage virtualization users reported high success rates. Eighty-six percent of all U.S. companies reported achieving at least one or more of their original goals.

For additional survey information and results, please download the PDF from the following location: www.f5.com/pdf/news/20080404-state-of-storage-virtualization.pdf.

[Source: press release]