FlashArray: Pure Storage VMware vSphere Plugin 4.X. My favorites features. Latest updates.
[ NOTE: machine translation with the help of DeepL translator without additional proofreading and spell checking ]
After updating the vSphere Plugin PowerShell Update Script the other days, I had to realize that some of the new features of Plugin Version 4.X completely passed me by. I took the time over the weekend to take a closer look at these new features and publish my personal highlights in a compact form.
If you are still running Purity 5.3.9 or older on your FlashArrays, you can use the PowerShell script (see here: UPDATED FlashArray: vSphere plugin PowerShell update script) to update to the latest plugin version to take advantage of the new version's features.
As you can see in the linked post, in the past it was not so easy to install plugin version 4, because in the standard the plugin was only possible in version 3 for vSphere Web Client Flex (Flash-based) in Purity via push installation from the controllers. This version was not compatible with vSphere Client HTML5. Since Purity 5.3.10/6.0.2, the plugin 4.3.1 or newer is now available on the controllers by default.
If you are still using the old vSphere Web Client Flex, you can also upgrade this version to the current latest version 3.1.3 (August/2019) via the PowerShell script.
The detailed release notes can be found in the Pure Technical Services Portal: Release Notes: Pure Storage Plugin for the vSphere Client.
Essentially, it should be said that the latest version of the plugin (4.4.0) is supported on vSphere 6.5U2 and Purity 4.10 or later. An official VMware certification (incl. vSphere 6.7 & 7) for the integration is given.
My personal highlights of the 4.X Plugin
With Purity 6, other "new major features" were added in addition to Purity Files, including ActiveDR. ActiveDR enables application protection over long geo-distances - in short, instant asynchronous replication with almost zero RPO/RTO. Management of this functionality has now been integrated into the vSphere plugin over time following Purity release.
Let me start with the highlights retroactive to version 4.2.0:
Pure1 Integration: it is now possible to actively register FlashArrays through the Pure1 REST API in the plugin (especially helpful if you have a large number of FlashArrays). The integration then also provides additional valuable metrics/features (system load, smart provisioning/balancing of new volumes between all available FlashArrays, tagging) which are not available with the direct connection.
HINT: short teaser. The configuration of the plugin with Pure1 Authentication will also be online soon in the form of a VLOG.
With 4.3.0 came the official vSphere 7 support:
Provisioning of new volumes directly via the GUI wizard in Pods for ActiveCluster (preparing ActiveDR, which is also based on Pods).
Volume Groups can be assigned directly in the wizard.
IOPS/bandwidth limits can be assigned for datastores/volumes or volume groups.
The latest version (4.4) then brought the following new features in September:
Provisioning of new datastores directly for "Continues Replication"/ActiveDR incl. display of ActiveDR Insights like LAG time, replication direction, target/source pods and much more.
Likewise, it is now possible to snapshot individual VMDKs when using vVols.
In the screenshots above a snapshot with the suffix "vSpherePlugin" was created.
Since I was already frequently asked about RBAC support (Role-Based Access Control) of the plugin: here there is no news on my request when this will be supported. However, it is being worked on, since one is accustomed from Pure Storage to get functional-valid features at hand ... nothing "immature" is thrown on the market.
More info - Links
All officially published setting options in the GUI but also CLI can be read via the "on-board" user guides of the Pure Storage systems.
Click on "Help" in the Purity main menu.
The User Guide is structured like the main menu and can be opened downwards. A search function is also integrated - within here you can also search for keywords.
WEB: Pure Storage (Pure1) support portal - Ticket system and support *(requires registered FlashSystems)
PHONE: Pure Storage phone support: GER - (+49) (0)800 7239467; INTERNATIONAL - (+1) 650 7294088
WEB: Pure Storage OFFICIAL blog