The key to realizing the benefits of networked storage and enabling users to effectively take advantage of their network storage resources and infrastructure is storage management software that includes virtualization capability.

Volume Manager Based Virtualization (VMV) offers the small and mid-size businesses many benefits, such as the ability to consolidate storage resources, reduce complexity, reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and increase Return on Investment (ROI).

iQstor VMV feature allows any server to see a large repository of available data as though it was directly attached. It allows users to add storage and to dynamically manage storage resources as virtual storage pools instead of managing individual physical disks. iQstor Storage Virtualization feature enables virtual volumes to be created, expanded, deleted, moved or selectively presented regardless of the underlying storage subsystem. It simplifies storage provisioning thus reducing administrative overhead which contributes directly to the TCO.

iQstor Volume Manager Based Virtualization is a layer of abstraction that:

• enables virtualization across multiple heterogeneous hosts and storage devices
• supports virtual volume partitioning and expansion
• supports LUN mapping to present storage based on host/user preferences
• increases efficiency and utilization of storage capacity in a SAN environment
• supports virtual volumes created across multiple storage devices
• enables IT administrators to manage larger number of storage devices
• eliminates downtime attributed to scaling storage (adding additional hard disks) and expanding volumes
• enables IT administrators to deploy all disk capacity
• intelligently allocates storage capacity as needed
• centrally manages storage devices
   

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The features offered by VMV include:

• LUN Masking
• LUN Mapping
• Abstraction – Physical to logical
• On-line creation of storage pool and virtual disk
• On-line non-disruptive expansion of storage pool and virtual disk

The application of VMV technology allows small and mid-size businesses to achieve significantly improved economies of scale and operational efficiencies, while delivering superior service to their customers. The architecture shown in Figure 1 depicts how VMV creates virtualized disk pools (Vdisks) from the SAN attached disk drives.

• Flexibility and Intelligent Storage Provisioning
  As shown in the diagram above, the SAN servers share the virtualized storage pool that is presented by VMV. Data is not restricted to a certain hard disk – it can reside in any virtual drive. Through VMV and iQstor’s Storage SAN Manager software, an IT administrator can easily and efficiently allocate the right amount of storage to each server (LUN masking) based on the needs of users and applications. VMV can also present a virtual disk that is mapped to a host LUN or a server (LUN mapping). VMV storage allocation is a flexible, intelligent, and non-disruptive storage provisioning process.
  
   
• Storage Consolidation and Cost Control
  Under the control of VMV, storage resources are consolidated, optimized and used to their fullest extent versus traditional non-SAN environments which only utilize about half of their available storage capacity. Consolidation of storage resources also results in reduced costs in overhead, allowing effective data storage management with less manpower.
  
   
• Virtual Disk Volume Expansion
  VMV enables IT professionals to easily expand or create a virtual disk on a per file system basis. If an attached server requires additional storage space, either an existing virtual disk can be expanded, or an additional virtual disk can be created and assigned to the server. The process of adding or expanding virtual disk volumes is non-disruptive with no system downtime.