SanDisk has announced a new version of their FlashSoft caching software designed for use in virtual environments. Already available for Windows and Linux, the new product supports VMware vSphere 5.0 and later. FlashSoft installs in the host OS, without the need for agent software installed in the VMs. FlashSoft is also SSD independent, working with all SSDs and interfaces to deliver VM acceleration. The cache can be up to 2TB and the flash storage can be combined in any RAID configuration. The net result is an increase of 2-4X application performance on virtual machines.
SanDisk has announced a new version of their FlashSoft caching software designed for use in virtual environments. Already available for Windows and Linux, the new product supports VMware vSphere 5.0 and later. FlashSoft installs in the host OS, without the need for agent software installed in the VMs. FlashSoft is also SSD independent, working with all SSDs and interfaces to deliver VM acceleration. The cache can be up to 2TB and the flash storage can be combined in any RAID configuration. The net result is an increase of 2-4X application performance on virtual machines.
Like other caching options, FlashSoft puts frequently accessed hot data on the flash storage tier within the server. The SanDisk solution though offers more control though in that for each virtual machine, admins can select specific virtual disks for acceleration, offering a performance boost for users or applications that need it most. INtelligent caching also lets FlashSoft provide 2-3X greater VM density because the cache ignores redundant virtual desktop data, ideal for VDI environments. From a resource perspective, FlashSoft does require 140MB of RAM to operate, but the RAM and CPU requirements remain static, even when large numbers of VMs are present.
Outside of performance and density gains within VMware, SanDisk also highlights the deep integration within the hypervisor. Since FlashSoft is installed in the hypervisor, no additional components or modules are required and no agents are installed in the guest VMs. As a result, configuration and administration are performed through the native hypervisor interface. FlashSoft also provides full support for all standard virtualization features including high availability, virtual machine migration, snapshot clones and linked clones.
Pricing and Availability
FlashSoft for virtual machine environments is available now with an MSRP of $3,900 per server. FlashSoft for Linux ($3,500) and Windows ($3,000) are also available.
