Looking beyond Long Distance VMotion…
First post in a while, but this should be changing in the near future.
Back from VMworld 2009, there was a topic that interested me: Long Distance VMotion. However, when looking at the technology behind it, it left me wanting more.
What more could I be looking for? Datacenter VMotion.
How does this differ from Long Distance VMotion? Datacenter VMotion would be a combination of Long Distance VMotion and migrating the storage live as well (Long Distance Storage VMotion?). If storage is already replicated to the second location, it would just be a matter of syncing the changed blocks of the VM to the second location. One click, all VMs (or at least critical VMs), migrate to the second location to complete the Datacenter VMotion.
Geaux Virtual 
Did you attend TA3105? We showed EXACTLY a tech we’re working on that does that.
(Chad from EMC here).
Chad Sakac
September 6, 2009 at 11:01 am
I did not get a chance to attend TA3105, but I will be looking for the slides once they appear on vmworld.com.
jguidroz
September 6, 2009 at 11:12 am
Its difficult to imagine the scale of a migration a customer will face when a storage array, hosting hundreds or thousands of VMs, is due to be replaced (say end of lease or depreciation schedule).
DataMotion allows for the non disruptive migration of datastores. Now there is a sizeable latency spike during the cutover (say 7-10 seconds) so it is best to coordinate the activity for a period of lower activity (if that exists).
DM is functional today (via CLI) as it is built off of shipping NetApp technology and will be available to the public with Data ONTAP 7.3.3 and will require Protection Manager to handle the migrations.
Vaughn Stewart
January 6, 2010 at 7:59 am