In today’s world of smartphones and tablets, we are used to having a plethora of options at our fingertips instantly, so recently when I was unable to easily transfer music from my MP3 player to my smartphone I just gave up. This same frustration can live in your datacenter – managing multiple generations of storage on different versions of firmware can make updates seem too time-consuming or complex. My fairytale ending came when all of my music automatically appeared on my latest smartphone with a software upgrade, and now I believe in magic! Now close your eyes and imagine the same ease of use and streamlined management in your datacenter with the latest software releases from EqualLogic.
Our new Dell Storage Update Manager uses a “wizard-like approach” with an intuitive workflow design that guides you to help simplify the update process and also tracks the status of your updates. Storage Update Manager will be available later this summer and can help you analyze your current Dell EqualLogic storage configurations to determine which components, if any, can or need to be updated. It provides an outline of all components that require updating and the estimated time to complete the process, and then will help guide you through your update. Storage Update Manager targets PS Series groups running PS Series firmware version 5.0.x and higher or FS Series firmware version 3.x.x or higher, and can also update disk drive firmware* and language packs.
The new Dell EqualLogic Adapter for VMware vCenter Operations Manager integrates EqualLogic storage with the vCenter Operations Management Suite and assimilates EqualLogic storage metrics in its operations management tasks, no wand-waving required. As part of the HIT/VMware, the EqualLogic Adapter helps VMware administrators gain a “crystal –ball view” with comprehensive insights on the capacity, performance and health of EqualLogic storage through alerts and metrics provided by the adapter. Available within a few weeks, the EqualLogic Adapter also enables administrators to perform long-term data-driven capacity planning and efficient root-cause analysis of problems on physical EqualLogic resources, all from within the confines of VMware’s virtual environment.
You can simply download this software at no additional cost for EqualLogic customers with a valid support contract and you are on your way to a streamlined storage environment (no top hat or glitter dust required). We are always interested in your datacenter dragons or fairytale endings. Follow us at @Dell_Storage, and keep us up to date on all your datacenter quests.
*Excludes SED disk drives and FS Series disk drives
