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VirtuCache

VirtuCache

Software to improve storage performance of VMware VMs in a non-disruptive fashion.

VirtuCache is storage software that you install in a VMware host. Then you assign it some amount of storage media (RAM, SSD, PMEM) from the ESXi host. Finally, you apply VirtuCache caching policy to Datastores or VMs. VirtuCache will then automatically cache all VM reads and writes to this in-host cache media. By doing so VirtuCache improves the performance of applications running in VMs, improves VM boot times, allows increased VM densities, reduces the time it takes to backup / restore VMs, reduces time to provision VMs, reduces build times (dev/ops), and provides all the other benefits that result from improved storage performance.

VirtuCache deployment is seamless, in the sense that applications or end users don’t realize that all the data is now read from and written to the in-host cache media, instead of backend SAN storage. Deploying VirtuCache doesn’t require any storage, network, or host reconfiguration (other than installing VirtuCache and assigning RAM/Flash/PMEM to it).

It is extremely easy to deploy and manage. You can choose to evaluate VirtuCache by registering for VirtuCache download here.

VirtuCache is the only host side caching software to support ESXi 7.x. It is also certified by VMware.

Click here for technical details around how VirtuCache caches reads and writes, syncs writes to backend storage appliance, and protects against data loss in case of host failure.

Versus other host side caching software.

We are the only host side caching software on the market currently. All the others we used to compete with like VMware’s vFlash Read Cache (VFRC), Infinio, PernixData, Sandisk Flashsoft, and Samsung ProximalData are end-of-lifed.

Versus SSD based storage appliances and hyper-converged infrastructure(HCI).

  • Unlike an upgrade to HCI or SSD based arrays, in the case of VirtuCache, you don’t need to replace your existing storage appliance or network.
  • VirtuCache is higher performing than SSD based storage appliances because the SSD/RAM/PMEM is right on the motherboard of the VMware host CPU that consumes hot data, and this cache media is connected to the host CPU over a dedicated PCIe/NVME/Memory bus. Versus in the case of storage appliances, where the SSD is behind a shared storage network and storage controllers.

  • If you choose to use host RAM as cache media with VirtuCache, then there is no equal in performance, just because storage appliances and hyper-converged boxes do not and cannot use large amounts of RAM in the storage IO path.

  • VirtuCache is similar to HCI in the sense that high-speed storage is back in the host.

  • Unlike HCI, VirtuCache only moves the performance tier to the VMware host, the capacity tier stays in the backend array, so you still get the advantage that traditional SAN storage infrastructure has over HCI, that you can scale and do maintenance on storage and compute independently of each other.

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