Virtual Instruments tool optimises storage networks for private clouds

Virtual Instruments has introduced tools to monitor and optimise the performance of Fibre Channel storage area networks. The system comprises new analysis software called VirtualWisdom 3.0, plus an eight-port hardware device which can 'tap' 8GB Fibre Channel networks, replicating the traffic on the SAN for analysis without affecting it.

The software is in effect a network behaviour analysis (NBA) tool for SANs. NBA is an increasingly popular way of monitoring and optimising the performance of Ethernet networks, but has not previously been widely available for Fibre Channel. It works by analysing network traffic to see how it travels across the network and measure application response times; this enables it to spot problems and also deviations from the norm which could indicate an impending problem.

Because the SANs that underlie the world's data centres and private cloud infrastructures have often grown organically, trouble-shooting them can be a major headache, said Alex D’Anna, head of customer services at Virtual Instruments. In addition, he said, the complexity of those SANs – compounded by the addition of both storage and server virtualisation – has led other areas of the business to treat storage as the prime suspect whenever there are application performance issues.

He said that's because, while there are many tools to analyse application performance between the servers and the users, once a problem has been tracked to the server layer it has been much harder to analyse it from there on. By analysing SAN traffic, VirtualWisdom makes it easier both to locate the real source of a problem, and to optimise the storage network for best application and cloud performance, he added.

Virtual Instruments said that the software supports all Fibre Channel switches and devices, regardless of supplier, and can plug into popular monitoring frameworks to give a unified view of the network and systems infrastructure. “IT roles that look across all aspects of the virtualised data centre have the potential to become the next hot IT job,” added John W. Thompson, the company's president and CEO.