Tintri introduces next-generation of VM-aware storage functionality

Tintri, Inc. has announced the release of version 2.0 of the Tintri Operating System (OS). Tintri OS 2.0 introduces advanced data management features that allow IT to more efficiently manage virtualized workloads across globally distributed environments, and provides new levels of VM agility to meet the dynamic resource requirements of the software-defined data center. A central component of Tintri OS 2.0 is the new ReplicateVM™ software which enables per-VM replication. ReplicateVM is an industry-first for per-VM array-side data replication and builds on Tintri snapshot and cloning technology.

The Tintri unique, VM-aware approach to storage for virtualized environments eliminates the cost and complexity associated with legacy storage systems, which were built for physical – not virtualized – infrastructure. As IT organizations embrace the concepts of more software-defined infrastructure, they need storage platforms that understand and automatically adapt to application workloads. Extending beyond software-defined storage, the Tintri VM-aware file system operates natively at the VM or vDisk level, eliminating the need for LUNs, volumes, tiers, or other legacy storage constructs.

Tintri OS 2.0 enables a much greater degree of operational flexibility by removing the need for pre-planning and greatly increases VM mobility with highly efficient replication. With the click of a mouse, administrators can easily and efficiently replicate individual VMs between multiple Tintri VMstore™ systems, streamlining VM availability for data protection, development testing, business intelligence reporting and other use cases where access to VMs across multiple systems or locations is desirable.

The implementation of data replication functionality in the latest Tintri OS further demonstrates how the Tintri VM-centric architecture enables new levels of simplicity and efficiency over traditional legacy storage approaches. With granularity at an individual VM-level, rather than at a LUN or volume level, only the exact required data is replicated. Data protection policies can be set on a per-VM basis, and individual VMs can be protected or restored with just a few mouse clicks. Tintri inline de-duplication and compression also applies to all data being replicated, greatly reducing WAN bandwidth consumption and improving overall performance.

Impact on Use Cases
Enterprises have widely deployed Tintri to support a wide variety of use cases including Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), workload consolidation and test and development projects. The new Tintri OS 2.0 brings a number of new capabilities that will further help customers meet an even broader set of solution requirements:

Enterprise Applications
Test & development – Tintri per-VM replication capability enables efficient duplication of production applications or databases to test environments where development engineers can perform testing on production data without fear of disrupting operations. Replicated VM snapshots can be cloned on the second system, creating full-performance, yet space-efficient clone VMs for testing.

Business analytics – Running detailed business analytics applications or extracting data from a large database for reporting purposes can potentially impact production database workloads. Tintri per-VM, network efficient replication efficiently replicates these VMs to a second environment which allows the analytical and reporting work to be conducted without any impact to the production environment

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Highly efficient replication of persistent desktops – Manual pool or persistent desktops are often created from a few base image VMs and may require different protection policies depending on each user’s requirements. Tintri per-VM data management enables administrators to quickly create space-efficient clones on remote VMstore systems.

Remote clone VM creation and distribution of VM images – In virtual environments, there is a need to create space efficient clones for VDI, test and development, business intelligence, and many other uses. Tintri per-VM data management capabilities enable the creation of VMs anywhere from a single source. Tintri remote cloning, which leverages native per-VM replication, allows VMs to be cloned across a WAN at high throughput, while preserving space efficiency on remote VMstore systems.

Data Protection and Disaster Recovery
Data protection - As IT environments become increasingly virtualized, protecting application data contained in VMs is a critical part of a datacenter data protection plan. However, data protection policies are unique to each application, requiring customization on a per VM basis. Tintri per-VM snapshots combined with per-VM replication bring new levels of efficiency to data protection in virtual environments.

Disaster recovery - Enterprises have had to overhaul their disaster recovery plans in recent years as they adapt to new challenges posed by cloud-based / virtualized infrastructures. Storage is a big part of this equation, with a growing need to ensure that the most critical data is safe and accessible at all times. With Tintri, data centers can now efficiently protect their most critical VM data and quickly bring up VMs from any location on demand as necessary.