Broadcom’s acquisition of VMware is shaking things up in their product offerings and licensing structures. One of the most impacted areas is VMware’s vSAN, their storage virtualization technology.
With these changes, some businesses will see increased costs for their storage setups. Others are rethinking their virtualization strategies, contemplating a switch away from VMware, which often means changing their data storage as well. But migrating from vSAN isn’t just about finding a new provider; organizations need to ensure that any new storage solution can match vSAN’s capabilities. They have to plan migrations carefully to minimize downtime and protect against potential data loss.
The licensing game is changing too. VMware is shifting away from perpetual licenses to a subscription model. Under Broadcom, they’ve reduced the number of licenses, favoring bundles over standalone products. This means the free edition of the VMware vSphere ESXi hypervisor is gone, and vSAN Max, which was introduced just this year, will no longer be available separately.
Now, storage services are bundled into offerings like VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) or as add-ons based on capacity. While third-party storage will still be an option — with more support coming in late 2024 — organizations will still have to incorporate and pay for vSAN. If you want to set up management domain clusters, you need it. The goal is to create a clearer pricing and licensing approach, but this simplified structure means fewer vSAN editions, dropping from five to just one, and introducing capacity-based pricing.
Some companies may find themselves facing steeper expenses, as now there’s a minimum licensed capacity of 8TB per CPU for vSphere. In VCF, core licenses come with 1TB of raw capacity, but firms will pay subscriptions based on how many CPU cores they license. Also, businesses that previously used vSAN standalone must either transition to vSphere or VCF or find another storage solution.
VMware’s vSAN does combine local server storage and direct-attached storage into a single virtual pool, primarily to support VMware VMs. It allows any host within a vSAN cluster to access storage, improving efficiency and cutting costs. However, to move away from vSphere, organizations will need to handle their storage migration carefully.
For those planning to exit vSAN, they can choose between switching to a new virtualization provider or a third-party storage virtual SAN. Companies that already store data outside of VMware might find this transition easier based on how integrated VMware’s solutions are in their operations.
If you’re migrating to another virtualization platform, you’ll still have to shift your storage because running vSAN on its own isn’t an option anymore. This means setting up new servers and storage, then exporting the virtual disk files (VMDKs). IT teams will need to import these into new VMs, either manually or using tools from the new provider.
If businesses decide to move off vSAN but remain with VMware, this can be done, but vSAN will still be necessary for management. VMware’s vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) in VCF 9 allows for better integration with third-party storage options. Companies with large storage needs will find this particularly useful as they may not rely solely on vSAN.
Regardless of the chosen path, IT teams must ensure their hardware or cloud setup is properly configured. They’ll need sufficient storage for VMDK copies during migration and a clear understanding of both their current VMware and vSAN setups, as well as the new platform.
Switching platforms means considering differences in features, performance, and management tools. Some of these distinctions can be critical. Utilizing quality migration tools or consultants can help make the process smoother.
Thankfully, organizations looking to replace vSAN have numerous alternatives for storage virtualization. For instance, Datacore’s SANsymphony operates with any hypervisor, including VMware, and supports various storage types. StorMagic’s SvSAN is a hyper-converged platform that runs on all x86 servers and supports both VMs and containers. Nutanix presents a versatile storage architecture that functions across local, edge, and cloud settings, offering different deployment options.
StarWind provides a virtual SAN tailored for small to medium-sized enterprises, presenting a free “self-supported” version. For a full migration from VMware, Scale Computing touts that they can be over 25% cheaper than VMware. Verge IO offers a comprehensive migration solution, combining hardware and software to ease the transition. For those preferring mainstream hardware options, Dell vXRAIL and HPE SimpliVity offer hyper-converged systems that simplify VM management and storage.
