DataStream software version 2.5 introduces flash optimization technology, FlashFit, which analyzes application workloads and prescribes a recommended ratio of flash to spindled media. FlashFit looks at the relative age of data in aggregate or per virtual machine (VM), and indicates how much is consuming flash storage.
Coho Data claims FlashFit could be used to complement automated flash tiering in DataStream arrays.
“It lets you characterize how problematic a given workload is to the host. It’s almost like being able to associate a cost to a given VM,” Warfield said.
Russ Fellows, a storage analyst with Boulder, Colo.-based Evaluator Group, said Coho Data made significant “under the hood” changes with the new software.
“They’ve increased the namespace to support millions more objects. They used to distribute the data on a host-based system, but now it’s on a per VMware Virtual Machine Disk basis. If you have 10 VMs on the same host, you can access them all on the same host, but they are distributed on different back-end DataStream nodes,” Fellows said.
