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VMware vSphere Storage Appliance was a software-based shared storage solution that enables high availability and automation in vSphere without shared storage hardware (for more information see this post). In 2014, VMware has announced the End of Availability of all vSphere Storage Appliance versions, effective April 1, 2014. All support and maintenance for vSphere Storage Appliance 5.5 will be unaffected and will continue to follow the Enterprise Infrastructure Support Policy. The End of General Support life date for customers with vSphere Storage Appliance 5.5 remains September 19, 2018.

In a previous post I asked if Could VSAN replace VSA? And in most cases could be true… but what about very small enviroments? With VSA was possible realize a cluster with only two, but VSAN require at least three node.

One solution could came from StorMagic that recently have collaborates with VMware in order to deliver a 2-node highly available storage solution.

But do you really need a 2-node cluster? Usually no, but there are some specific user cases, like the Remote Offices or Branch Offices (ROBO scenario) where you may need some local infrastructure, and a 2-node hyper-converged solution could be great (and cheap).

“IT administrators in remote and branch office environments have several pressing challenges today, including: ensuring availability and uptime, maximizing server and storage utilization, reducing cost and complexity, simplifying and centralizing management and minimizing deployment costs,” said Gaetan Castelein, senior director, Storage and Availability at VMware. “By combining VMware vSphere Remote Office Branch Office withStorMagic SvSAN, we anticipate a robust and highly available solution that addresses all these requirements using just two servers, thereby minimizing hardware costs in ROBO environments.”

ROBO-StorMagic

Also, VMware has improved the ROBO licences with also an advanced edition that is really rich, with most of the Enterprise Plus features! VMware ROBO has a per VM license (with pack of 25 VMs) and StorMagic has a per capacity license, so it’s easy pay on what you really need, in those cases.

For more information see also:

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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.