To derive maximal benefit from system virtualization, storage virtualization, as implemented in a SAN, is a necessary prerequisite. The mobility of a virtual machine (VM) and its data plays an important role in daily operational tasks from load balancing with VMotion™ and VMware Distributed Resource Manager (DRS) to system testing. The issues of availability and mobility really rise to the forefront in a disaster recovery scenario: The image of files stranded on a server that is not functional does not make a great poster for high availability.

For SMB and remote office sites, LeftHand Networks Virtual SAN Appliance opens the door to leverage inexpensive direct attached storage via an iSCSI SAN on ESX Servers in a secure, cost-effective, and fail-safe environment.