Virtual Iron Adds iSCSI

Virtual Iron Software released version 3.5 of its enterprise-class virtualization platform this week. This comes mere months after the previous release, version 3.1, last December.

Virtual Iron version 3.5 aims to “bring enterprise-class virtualization capabilities to the mainstream,” Mike Grandinetti, chief marketing officer, told ServerWatch.

To do so, version 3.5 offers support for iSCSI storage. It can delivers network storage capabilities over standard Ethernet networks, enabling enterprises to “use IP-based connectivity to share storage,” Grandinetti said.

Version 3.5 supports Fibre Channel as well as mixed environments where the two are side-by-side, Grandinetti said. As iSCSI is a single networking technology for clients, servers and storage, it is often more cost-effective than Fibre Channel SAN on a per-port basis.

With this version, organizations no longer need to run Virtualization Manager and Virtualization Services on boxes separate from the virtual servers themselves. This design aims to simplify deployment and eliminate network configuration steps, as well as save on hardware costs. Hardware discovery and deployment on the virtualized nodes is automatic.

The third major enhancement to Virtual Iron is LDAP support. Virtual Iron also supports Microsoft Active Directory and OpenLDAP.

Version 3.5 is a available as a free download. Grandinetti said organizations can run up to 16 cores for free, perpetually.

A multiserver version is available for those that need more. It is priced at $499 per socket.