For enterprises / end users, re-sellers, system integrator and partners, VMware integration with the Storage array is one of the important factors while making the storage buying decisions. vCenter plug-in removes the need to switch between traditional array specific management UI and vCenter to manage the datastores. Vital Labs created a completely reusable framework and software components for quickly building vCenter plug-ins. for various storage arrays. Our components are well tested and readily usable and will reduce the development and test time significantly. Using vCenter plug-in, you can view the status of your datastore in real time, and the associated volumes, I/O and capacity usage for each datastore, residing on your Storage array. The wizards allows creating a new datastore, creating and configuring volumes on the array, setting the size & performance profile, configuring access control, protection schedules, viewing the volume specifics, resizing, cloning datastore, taking snapshot, viewing replication schedules etc.

1. vCenter Plug-in Solution for Storage Vendors
A case study
9/13/2013

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.................................................................................................................................3
Requirement ...........................................................................................................................................3
Implementation approach......................................................................................................................4
Benefits ...................................................................................................................................................4
About Vital Labs......................................................................................................................................4

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Executive Summary
Only NetApp, EMC, Dell, HDS, IBM, HP, Nimble and may be few more Storage vendors have vCenter
Plug-ins. There are 300+ other storage vendors who do not.
For enterprises / end users, resellers, partners and integrators, VMware integration with the Storage
array is one of the important factors while making the storage buying decisions.
vCenter plug-in removes the need to switch between traditional array specific management UI and
vCenter to manage the datastores.
Using vCenter plug-in, you can view the status of your datastore in real time, and the associated
volumes, I/O and capacity usage for each datastore, residing on your Storage array. The wizards
allows creating a new datastore, creating and configuring volumes on the array, setting the size &
performance profile, configuring access control, protection schedules, viewing the volume specifics,
resizing, cloning datastore, taking snapshot, viewing replication schedules etc.
Vital Labs created a completely reusable framework and software components for quickly building
vCenter plug-ins. for various storage arrays. Our components are well tested and readily usable and
will reduce the development and test time significantly.
Get your vCenter plug-in today. Talk to us: sales@vitallabs.in | +91 – 855 301 301 3.
Requirement
The high level business and technology requirements were the following:
 Align with VMware Plug-In User Interface Guidelines: Use Java and Flex libraries to create and
package UI and server extensions (e.g. plug-ins) to vSphere Web Client 5.1.0.
NOTE: C# .NET based APIs are deprecated. Older plug-ins which was developed, using anything
but Flex & Java, would need to be migrated if new APIs introduced in vSphere Web Client SDK
5.1 are to be used. Refer here.
vCenter plug-ins from 5.0 and earlier will NOT WORK with vSphere 5.1.
 Enable Storage management from vCenter; build the functionality and feature set to include the
following*:
- Discovery and mapping of storage arrays, Monitoring Storage
- End-to-end discovery of VMs, ESX servers and their Storage
- Storage Provisioning and management for VMFS, RDM and NFS
- Fast clones of VMs with or without VMware View integration
- Backup reporting
- Automated virtual infrastructure reporting
- Mass replication of VMs at a data store level
- Integration with security software
[*Work is in progress for some of the functionality]

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Implementation approach
The plug-in development follows the high level architecture approach as in the diagram below.
 Development environment uses the
Spring Tools Suite and the FlexBuilder
plug-in for the Eclipse IDE. vSphere Web
Client SDK is included in the Dev
environment.
 Development environment is built for
developing Java-based web applications
and creating services compatible with
the vSphere Web Client Virgo server
framework.
 A vCenter Server is required to connect
the vSphere Web Client.
 Development of user interface (UI) layer
having elements such as such as menus,
navigation elements, data portlets, and
commands.
 Development of Java services layer to
communicate with vCenter Server and
other parts of the vSphere environment.
We would be happy to share more technical details and documentation with you. Please send an
email to sales@vitallabs.in .
Benefits
VMware is the dominant choice of virtualization platform. The VMware administrators want to
manage storage using VMware tools and terminology.
VMware has defined a large number of storage integration APIs, which not only covers the
traditional block storage, but file-based (NFS) storage as well and improves management and
performance.
vCenter Plug-ins provides a single pane of glass for administering both storage and VMware servers.
About Vital Labs
Vital Labs builds ecosystem integration products & solutions for Storage & Virtualization start-ups &
mid size ISVs.
Our capabilities are:
- Application Integration with Storage Systems
- Storage Management Tools
- VMware Plug-ins / Virtualization Integration
- Microsoft Hyper-V Integration
Write to us on sales@vitallabs.in or call us on +91 – 855 301 301 3.
Please visit our website http://www.vitallabs.in for more details.
Follow these links: Our Services | About Us | Contact Us | Technology.