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BostonTechGuy
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vSAN vs ScaleIO - 2017

Hello,

Customer is currently looking to abandon couple PBs of SAN.  Its currently out of warranty and the company is going in a new direction for storage.  On the table is vSAN and ScaleIO.  What has been the feeling of both of these technologies?

At the 30K foot level they appear to be competitors but my very quick review shows they really are not.

Our environment is global and large.  Block is "not" a requirement for majority of the VMs. SAN just typically has less headaches direct attaching over fiber.  Prod and Dev are different environments. Plus the organization is Memory and Storage dependent not CPU.  Also not a tech company.. this is "think-tank" style organization with global presence.  Globally about 6K VMs.  Physical servers are about same size as well.  And yes.. using ScaleIO with non-Vmware systems is on the table but not a requirement.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

BTG

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bottkars
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Duncan, sorry to correct you, but ScaleIO is everything but an  iSCSI based solution.

ScaleIO is a complete Software defined storage stack, indroducing a low-latency protocoll, aka ScaleIO Protocol.

The ScaleIO Block Device Drivers are Kernel MOde Drivers that can be integrated in a ESX Servers

For Management, it is completely integrated into vSphere and also introduced vVOLS in the latest 2.0.1

The big difference is that ScaleIO Supports different OS´s for Staorage Client and STorage Server Nodes form VMware to Hyper-V, OpenStack, Linux and Containerized Environments, Bare-Metal or Virtual, where VSAN is a Best Fit for VMware Environments.

ScaleIO, as you pointed out, is a Scalable SOlution that Scales beyond thousands of Nodes.

Having that said, if you go VMware Only, VSAN is the Perfect fit.

For that one might consider VSAN Ready Nodes or VMware Rail Appliances Pre-Configured.

For everything else, one might have a look at ScalIO, wich is not a virtualized iSCSI Solution.

visit my Vmware Workstation/Fusion Powershell Toolkit https://github.com/bottkars/vmxtoolkit https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/vmxtoolkit

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depping
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the big difference is this: ScaleIO is a virtualized iSCSI based scale out storage system vSAN is a software defined storage solution integrated with vSphere A completely different solution from a management / architecture point of view

BostonTechGuy
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Duncan,

Thank you very much for replying to my post.

After my review with DellEMC and VMware we have come to conclusion that it will be an "AND" conversation.  We are going to use ScaleIO where it makes sense and vSAN where it makes sense.  To your point, they are indeed completely different.

Thanks,

Boston TechGuy

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bottkars
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Duncan, sorry to correct you, but ScaleIO is everything but an  iSCSI based solution.

ScaleIO is a complete Software defined storage stack, indroducing a low-latency protocoll, aka ScaleIO Protocol.

The ScaleIO Block Device Drivers are Kernel MOde Drivers that can be integrated in a ESX Servers

For Management, it is completely integrated into vSphere and also introduced vVOLS in the latest 2.0.1

The big difference is that ScaleIO Supports different OS´s for Staorage Client and STorage Server Nodes form VMware to Hyper-V, OpenStack, Linux and Containerized Environments, Bare-Metal or Virtual, where VSAN is a Best Fit for VMware Environments.

ScaleIO, as you pointed out, is a Scalable SOlution that Scales beyond thousands of Nodes.

Having that said, if you go VMware Only, VSAN is the Perfect fit.

For that one might consider VSAN Ready Nodes or VMware Rail Appliances Pre-Configured.

For everything else, one might have a look at ScalIO, wich is not a virtualized iSCSI Solution.

visit my Vmware Workstation/Fusion Powershell Toolkit https://github.com/bottkars/vmxtoolkit https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/vmxtoolkit
depping
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You are right, there is that option as well. (still you will need to manage those devices presented through the block driver right?)

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danielleitcs
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If you are looking for additional information, you might also find this direct comparison between VMware vSAN and ScaleIO from the IT Central Station user community to be helpful.

As another example, this Cloud Solution Architect writes in his IT Central Station review that he looked at ScaleIO, but that vSAN "increases the performance of the virtual machines and reduces the TCO for storage deployment." You can read the rest of his review here.

Good luck with your research.

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