Pure Storage has announced several new updates to their FlashArray 300 series of MLC NAND-based storage arrays and the Purity software that manages them. The Purity 2.5 management software update highlights include iSCSI support via 10GbE, ZeroSnap snapshots, and vCenter web client plugin. While all of the new features add breadth to the Pure Storage offerings, the support for iSCSI gives Pure access to new markets including SMBs, SMEs, data centers and others that have standardized on Ethernet in lieu of Fibre Channel which Pure offers now.
Pure Storage has announced several new updates to their FlashArray 300 series of MLC NAND-based storage arrays and the Purity software that manages them. The Purity 2.5 management software update highlights include iSCSI support via 10GbE, ZeroSnap snapshots, and vCenter web client plugin. While all of the new features add breadth to the Pure Storage offerings, the support for iSCSI gives Pure access to new markets including SMBs, SMEs, data centers and others that have standardized on Ethernet in lieu of Fibre Channel which Pure offers now.
ZeroSnap Snapshots
ZeroSnap is Pure’s new snapshot tool which is aptly named as it’s designed to take up to a thousand snapshots per minute with no planning required and no performance hit to the array. Snapshots are actually more akin to clones in this case, as snapshots show up as new volumes with full capabilities to mount, read, write and snapshot again. The snapshots are also independent, but they’re deduped and compressed for minimum hit to the array and reduced writes to the flash.
VMware vCenter Web Client Plugin
Pure already offered a comprehensive interface for their arrays; now they’ve integrated with vCenter to make FlashArray easier to administer. The plugin automates many storage administration tasks like datastore creation while providing more visibility into capacity utilization and performance globally and on a per datastore level. The FlashArray 300 series has also been VMware-Ready Certified and is VAAI-enabled, ensuring top performance under vSphere.
Pricing and Availability
The Pure Storage Purity Operating Environment (Purity) 2.5 updates are in beta now and will be made available to customers with a current maintenance agreement for no charge; availability is expected this fall. The iSCSI hardware option will be available at the same time with no price difference from the current Fibre Channel offering.
