This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides a basic introduction to the IBM System Storage® N series, virtualization, and VMware 5.x. It explains how to use the N series with VMware vSphere 5 environments and the benefits of doing so. Examples are given on how to install and set up VMware ESXi server with the N series.

The IBM System Storage N series used as a storage foundation offers unified storage solutions that provide industry-leading technologies in the areas of storage efficiencies, instantaneous virtual machine and datastore cloning for virtual servers and virtual desktops, and virtual data center backup and business continuance solutions.

The information provided can be also be used as a foundation to create dynamic cloud solutions, making full use of underlying storage features and functions. This book provides a blueprint for how clients can create a virtualized infrastructure/storage cloud that will help to address current and future data storage business requirements.

This edition includes information about the Virtual Storage Console (VSC), which is another N series software product that works with VMware. VSC provides local backup and recovery capability with the option to replicate backups to a remote storage system by using SnapMirror relationships. Backups can be performed on individual virtual machines or on datastores. You have the option of updating the SnapMirror relationship as part of the backup on a per job basis. Similarly, restores can be performed at a data-store level or individual virtual machine level.

IBM System Storage N series in conjunction with VMware vSphere 5 helps complete the virtualization hierarchy by providing both a server and storage virtualization solution. Although this configuration can further assist with other areas of virtualization, networks, and applications, these areas of virtualization are not covered in detail in this book.

This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center.

Roland Tretau is an Information Systems professional with over 15 years experience in the IT industry. He holds Engineering and Business Masters degrees, and is the author of many storage related IBM Redbooks publications. Roland’s areas of expertise range from project management, market enablement, managing business relationships, product management, and consulting, to technical areas including operating systems, storage solutions, and cloud architectures.

Salahaldean Alamayri is an IT Professional holding two Masters degrees (an MBA and an MSEE) with both management  and technical backgrounds that span over a decade in the Information Technology industry. He has gained embedded systems experience, storage, and backup and recovery technologies experience, and additional background in database design, performance tuning, recovery, and security. He received multiple awards for his contributions in these fields.

Christian Prediger Appel is a Server Specialist with GTS IBM in Brazil who has been working with networking, storage, and server components since 2000. Christian worked for an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and a server management company before joining IBM in 2005, where he now works in designing, implementing, and managing projects, and is an instructor of server technologies. He is focusing on virtualization and cloud technologies and holds certifications from Microsoft, Citrix, VMware, and IBM, as a Certified IT Specialist.

João Marcelo Barros de Almeida is an IT Specialist at IBM Brazil who has extensive experience in operating systems and server virtualization, designing, installing, administering and supporting several environments. He is a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) and Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), and has worked in the IT industry for 12 years.

Andre Luis Giglioli is a NetApp Certified Professional in Brazil who supports business partners around the world. Andre has focal account and subject matter expertise and has over two years of experience with storage NetApp / N series. He works with projects such as deployment and implementation of storage environments. He attended the Hall of Fame IBM 2012 for customer recognition, which he currently supports.

William Luiz de Souza is a Technical Leader at IBM Brazil SO Delivery with over 10 years experience in the IT industry. He holds Systems Information and Business Masters degrees, and has the IBM IT Specialist Level 2 certification. He is also author of other Redbooks publications and Redpaper™ publications. William is experienced and certified in Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix solutions with IBM System x® platforms.

Thanks to the following people for their contributions to this project:

Bertrand Dufrasne
IBM International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center

Uwe Heinrich Mueller, Uwe Schweikhard
IBM Germany

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