As a first-time user, the primary goals are simply to see the product in action, to determine its capabilities, and then to determine the requirements. This document will focus on providing you a functional pair of instances, both on VMware, sharing a volume, and configured for high availability. This basic setup will allow you to test the key features of SoftNAS® while providing a baseline for your production requirements.
SoftNAS® operates within the VMware virtualization environment, typically on a VMware host that is dedicated as a NAS storage server. VMware virtualization provides the broadest range of device and resources, resulting in superior management and administration. And because SoftNAS runs within VMware, it inherits all the features and support that comes from VMware, including vCenter and other administration tools.
VMware vSphere client is a familiar entity in on-premise storage environments. It is considered the principal administrative interface for vCenter Server and ESXi environments. After downloading and installing VMware vSphere, ensure that the most recent version of this client has been installed.
Please review the VMware vSphere System Requirements for more details on recommended settings for the SoftNAS® VM.
SoftNAS® provides the following applicable products:
Product | About | Purchase |
---|---|---|
SoftNAS® BYOL | SoftNAS® solves many problems like: bulk data transfers, Lift & Shift of applications and data to the cloud, saving customers money on expensive cloud storage costs and data integration and digital transformation. | Obtain the OVA from our website. |
Email Buurst Sales to obtain your license. |
There are numerous considerations when creating any storage solution, and SoftNAS® is no exception. Dependent on the use case, the expected performance levels, the platform you select, and much more, one configuration of SoftNAS® will look much different from the rest. For the purposes of a basic proof of concept deployment (or POC), many of these elements might seem irrelevant, but they are not. For a POC to be of value, it must provide insight into not only the product but also what you intend to use it for. If your POC is not designed to provide you a baseline of the functionality you expect in a production environment, then it may be a wasted exercise.
To ensure your instance meets your needs, the following considerations are key:
In order to assist you during the creation of the POC, we will be providing information on the key considerations listed above as they arise in the creation process. |
As we are creating a highly available deployment on VMware, there are a few requirements specific to setting up high availability through SoftNAS®. SnapReplicate™ can be performed as described in SnapReplicate™, and requires only two nodes.
Setting up SNAP HA™ in any VMWare virtualized environment requires the following:
Of the above considerations, the primary difference between VMware instances and Cloud based instances is the requirement of a third SoftNAS VM as HA controller. |