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3PAR Simplifies Linux Deployment For Utility Data Center

3PAR, a provider of utility storage, announced 3PAR Virtual Copy DBA for Linux as its latest solution for maximizing the value of Linux in the datacenter. Using 3PAR Virtual Copy DBA and 3PAR InServ Storage Servers, users can now deploy Linux-based applications more simply, more economically and more reliably. 3PAR Virtual Copy DBA for Linux is available immediately.

Attractive price/performance is propelling rapid Linux growth in the datacenter. Yet users who are unable to manage their Linux environments simply and reliably risk losing the promised efficiencies of Linux deployment. 3PAR not only allows for rapid Oracle recovery on Linux, but also enables simple, on-demand Linux server provisioning.

"Linux is a strategic platform for our rapidly growing business," said Myles Trachtenberg, CTO at Fresh Direct, New York City's leading online grocer. "We were attracted to 3PAR because the InServ Storage Server lets us scale Oracle more simply and because 3PAR Virtual Copy DBA will allow us to recover Oracle quickly and affordably."

With 3PAR Virtual Copy DBA for Linux, users maintain high availability for their Oracle 9i/Linux environment by instantly recovering data after accidental deletions or corruptions. Virtual Copy DBA intelligently takes a non-disruptive and consistent snapshot of an entire Oracle data set. Snapshots from dozens of points in time can be kept online economically, allowing immediate recovery without going to tape and without extended log playback. Based on 3PAR Virtual Copy technology, Virtual Copy DBA snapshots created from Oracle databases require no capacity reservations and consume raw capacity only for changed data.

3PAR moves any Linux deployment closer to a true utility computing environment, where applications can be quickly scaled up or down based on demand. Using the InServ Storage Server, customers can centrally store and test a "golden image" set of Linux operating system and application images. Then, based on the application demands at a given time, users can commission an additional Linux host instantly from a virtual copy of the appropriate OS/application base image set. Consuming almost no additional capacity, each server's snapshot of the base image set can then be customized if needed. 3PAR takes the challenge and cost out of flexibly scaling and provisioning Linux applications on demand.

"One of 3PAR's customers is a major investment bank managing scores of Linux servers using 3PAR Virtual Copy," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst of the Enterprise Strategy Group. "The operational and capital investment required to manage these hosts has been greatly reduced."

No longer do administrators need to rebuild servers one-by-one every time they need to provision additional processing for their users or replace failed servers. On-demand server provisioning is another benefit of moving to utility storage. "3PAR Virtual Copy DBA for Linux allows Linux customers to deploy a rock solid Utility Computing environment in the datacenter," said David Scott, president and CEO of 3PAR.

3PAR also removes the complexity and expense of provisioning capacity to Linux applications. Because Linux is less mature than other operating systems, customers are often forced to either spend considerable effort configuring and upgrading capacity for Linux hosts or purchase expensive commercial volume managers. With 3PAR's integrated volume management and thin provisioning, users can provision finely-tailored storage volumes once for an application's lifetime with no planning and minimal configuration effort. This capability eliminates the need for host-based volume managers and the need to re-provision storage upon growth. 3PAR Thin Provisioning also offers dedicate-on-write technology that allows users to over-allocate physical storage. Users purchase storage capacity only for written data.