Tintri Expands Analytics Software, Adds 3D NAND To Improve Virtual Machine-Aware Storage

Tintri on Tuesday expanded its virtual machine-aware storage platform with new analytics capabilities to better help customers scale their storage platforms for cloud infrastructures.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company also supported its new scale-out capabilities with new all-flash arrays based on high-density 3D NAND flash capacity.

Tintri increased the analytics capabilities of its software for cloud environments with the introduction of its new Tintri Global Center Advanced management application, said Chuck Dubuque, director of products and solution marketing for the vendor.

[Related: Tintri Gets $125M In New Funding, Preps For IPO, New Channel Push]

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

The new application adds scale-out capabilities to Tintri's current Tintri Global Manager, which allows virtual machines to be handled across up to 32 Tintri VMstore nodes without the need to set up LUNs, Dubuque told CRN.

Tintri Global Center Advanced now allows the capacity of multiple VMstore nodes to be pooled, with the capacity of those pools managed automatically according to workload requirements, he said.

The software also looks at how active a virtual machine is to ensure that busier virtual machines get the extra time needed for successful migration. The software also looks at how provisional virtual machines impact migration, he said.

Tintri Global Center Advanced also looks at the impact of data snapshots and clones.

"When looking at copies of data, migration recommendations will be based on what is the most cost-effective way to migrate based on performance requirements," he said. "The virtual machines keep their snapshots when migrating from one array to another. They also retain their policies regarding quality of service, replication and data protection. It's a very intelligent way to manage the issues."

Tintri Global Center Advanced will initially work in an advisory mode by checking twice a day for potential issues and sending alerts, Dubuque said.

"For instance, it might alert the administrator that next week, this pool will run out of capacity," he said. "This will let the user decide whether to do a migration, and which files to move. It provides a full picture of what to do before the migration."

By year-end, Tintri Global Center Advanced will have the ability to automatically manage the migrations if the user allows it, Dubuque said. "For now, it's just gathering data," he said. "But Tintri is collecting user feedback and phone-home data to set up automation."

Tintri also introduced Tintri Analytics, a Software-as-a-Service application that takes advantage of up to three years of data growth information to help predict capacity and performance requirements up to six months in advance, Dubuque said.

"Customers with aggressive workloads may have enough capacity, but may find the bottleneck is in their controllers," he said. "This application helps justify setting aside the budget to address coming issues with capacity or performance, and not have to make decisions in emergency mode."

Tintri Analytics also lets customers do simulations based on changing storage requirements, Dubuque said. "For instance, if a customer opens a new call center with 100 users, they can use the software to see what they may need to get the required capacity and performance," he said.

To meet the capacity requirements of future cloud-based architectures, Tintri has also expanded the capacity of its VMstore series with three new models. These new 2U VMstore all-flash storage arrays feature low-cost, high-density 3D NAND, and come in capacities of 17 TBs to 308 TBs.

Adding analytics to Tintri's virtual machine-aware storage technology is a good move for the company, said Aaron Cardenas, CEO and founder of P1 Technologies, a Hermosa Beach, Calif.-based solution provider and Tintri channel partner.

"If Tintri's software can profile virtual machine use in OpenStack, VMware or other environments, users will get a better look at what they need in terms of storage capacity and performance," Cardenas told CRN. "This really expands the reach of Tintri's virtual machine-aware storage."

The fact that Tintri is also adding 3D NAND flash technology to its array line shows the power of the vendor's software in being able to manage virtual machine migration and management across the full range of storage media, whether its spinning disks, solid-state storage or 3D NAND, Cardenas said.

"Tintri allows a mix of storage technologies when scaling up capacity," he said. "So now customers can work with hybrid, flash and 3D NAND all in the same clusters to move virtual machines to whatever technology is best for them."