Champions Corner

Converting Storage Ports from FC-SCSI to FC-NVMe: A Practical Implementation Guide

By Avinash Kumar Kushwaha posted 11 days ago
Introduction As business applications grow and data volumes increase, organizations need faster and more responsive storage systems. Traditional storage communication methods, such as Fibre Channel SCSI (FC-SCSI) , have been dependable for many years, but they were designed at a time when storage technology was much slower than it is today. Because of this, they cannot fully take advantage of modern high-speed flash storage. NVMe over Fibre Channel (FC-NVMe) is a newer approach that allows organizations to use faster storage technology without replacing their existing Fibre Channel network. It helps applications access data more quickly, ...

Seamless Upgrade of Google Distributed Cloud (software only) on Bare-Metal with Cassandra StatefulSet workloads Backed by Hitachi VSP Storage system

By Prasanta Dey posted 14 days ago
Introduction Managing distributed cloud environments on bare-metal infrastructure can be challenging, especially when integrating enterprise storage for stateful workloads. The setup consists of Google Distributed Cloud (software only) on Bare-Metal where Cassandra statefulset is running with persistent volume from Hitachi VSP storage systems. The volumes from VSP storage systems are provisioned by CSI Driver HSPC (v3.16.1). In this blog, we walk through the process of deploying Google Distributed Cloud (software only) on Bare-Metal and creating a StatefulSet (running Cassandra) with volumes provisioned by CSI Driver HSPC (v3.16.1). Upgrade the ...

NVMe Cleanup Process: Converting Storage Ports from FC-NVMe to FC-SCSI

By Avinash Kumar Kushwaha posted 20 days ago
Introduction FC-NVMe has become a key protocol in modern enterprise storage due to its high performance and low latency. However, certain environments owing to legacy applications, OS or driver limitations, multipathing needs, or vendor recommendations may still require reverting to SCSI based connectivity. This article provides a concise, professional guide to perform FC-NVMe cleanup and switching storage ports from FC-NVMe to FC-SCSI , ensuring smooth host discovery of LUNs and uninterrupted operations. FC-SCSI versus FC-NVMe FC-SCSI Fibre Channel – Small Computer System Interface (FC-SCSI) is the traditional approach ...

Building an AI Assistant with Azure AI Foundry

By Koustab Bose posted 20 days ago
Artificial intelligence is transforming how we build software, automate tasks, and interact with digital tools. If you’ve ever wanted to add an intelligent chatbot or helper tool to your applications, you no longer need to architect everything from scratch. Azure AI Foundry provides an integrated suite for deploying and managing AI models, running evaluations and safety checks, enabling vector search with grounded data, and hosting LLMs securely. This article outlines the process of creating an AI assistant on Azure and embedding it within a Python-based application. Software Stack: Azure AI Foundry (For Assistant, LLM) Python and Flask ...

Resilient Infrastructure with VCF 9: Stretched Cluster Using Hitachi VSP and Global Active Device (GAD)

By Jaydeep Malode posted 12-05-2025
Resilient Infrastructure with VCF 9: Stretched Cluster Using Hitachi VSP and Global Active Device (GAD)   Introduction In today’s always-on digital landscape, enterprise IT teams are under pressure to deliver high availability, seamless scalability, and operational efficiency . VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0 rises to the occasion with  native support for Fibre Channel (FC)-based VMFS storage using Hitachi VSP and stretched cluster capabilities . When paired with Hitachi Global-Active Device (GAD) replication, organizations gain a resilient, enterprise-grade solution for mission-critical workloads across geographically ...

Migration Methodology: VMware to Hyper-V with Hitachi Storage

By Shih Chieh Cheng posted 11-26-2025
Introduction Migrating enterprise workloads between virtualization platforms is no longer rare—it's a necessity for organizations chasing flexibility, cost savings, and modernization. This post distills the newly released implementation guide, Cross-Platform Virtual Machine Migration , into a concise, step-by-step journey. The scenario simulates an “existing” VMware vSphere cluster running on an older Hitachi VSP F700 storage system, migrating into a modern Microsoft Hyper-V failover cluster powered by the latest Hitachi VSP One Block 28. Orchestration is handled by System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), demonstrating how legacy environments ...

Accelerating Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization Migration with Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform One Block High End

By Jeff Chen posted 11-24-2025
The evolution of enterprise storage is redefining how organizations approach virtualization and workload consolidation. the new VSP One Block High End storage platform from Hitachi sets a benchmark for performance and scalability, delivering dramatically higher IOPS, ultra low latency, and exceptional throughput. These capabilities enable businesses to run denser virtual machine environments, accelerate application responsiveness, and consolidate workloads with confidence. For customers migrating VMware VMs to OpenShift Virtualization, this next-generation storage provides the foundation for seamless transitions, ensuring that mission-critical workloads achieve ...

Now Hitachi VSP One Storage could speak Azure: Expanding Hybrid Cloud Options

By Hossein Heidarian posted 11-18-2025
Now Hitachi VSP One Storage could speak Azure : Expanding Hybrid Cloud Options   Azure Local integrated with Hitachi VSP One Block: The Best of Both Worlds     Introduction   Enterprises increasingly rely on hybrid cloud strategies to balance agility with control, compliance, and predictable performance. A t Ignite today , Microsoft announce d the public preview of Azure Local ’s support of Hitachi VSP One Block alongside Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) , giving organizations more flexibility in how they design and scale their infrastructure.   This integration ...

Elevating Enterprise with Hitachi VSP One Block: Microsoft Azure Local Welcomes Your SAN

By Shih Chieh Cheng posted 11-18-2025
Author: Jeff Cheng, Technical Product Manager   Today at Microsoft Ignite, a new chapter begins for hybrid cloud. Azure Local now supports external SAN storage —giving enterprises the freedom to keep proven SAN practices while adopting Azure’s cloud operating model. Hitachi Vantara and Microsoft have been preparing for this moment together, validating the experience in preview and designing adoption paths that make modernization practical, not painful. And the SAN at the center? Hitachi VSP One Block.   The News in One Minute Microsoft : Azure Local adds support for external SAN, building on advanced Windows Server storage ...

Why Hitachi CSI + SUSE Virtualization Is Your Ticket to Unbreakable, Cloud-Native Power

By Shih Chieh Cheng posted 11-07-2025
Unifying Virtualization and Containers with VSP One Enterprise-grade storage for a Kubernetes-first virtualization stack As a product manager at Hitachi Vantara, I love when our engineers turn complex into effortless. Subhash just did exactly that with a crisp walkthrough of  Hitachi VSP One Block Storage certified for SUSE Virtualization (the enterprise evolution of the open-source Harvester HCI). If you want the nuts and bolts—validated versions, the operator flow, and test results—start with his post and come back here for the strategy view. ( community.hitachivantara.com ) ...

Hitachi VSP One Block Storage Achieves Certification for SUSE Virtualization

By Subhash Chandra Rao Sindhe posted 10-31-2025
VSP One Block Storage Achieves Certification for SUSE Virtualization Delivering seamless enterprise storage integration for SUSE’s Kubernetes-based virtualization platform. We’re excited to announce that Hitachi Vantara’s Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) One Block has been officially validated and certified for SUSE Virtualization - the enterprise edition of the Harvester HCI solution. This certification reinforces our commitment to delivering enterprise-grade storage integration across modern virtualization and Kubernetes environments. Learn more about the official certification on the SUSE Partner Certification & Solutions. ...

Modern Data Center Demands and the Case for NVMe/TCP with Hitachi VSP and Cisco UCS

By Arvin Jami posted 10-27-2025
In today’s enterprise and cloud infrastructures, achieving high throughput, low latency, and efficient scale-out is increasingly critical. Storage bottlenecks are often the culprit—especially in virtualization, AI/ML, analytics, and database workloads where I/O demands are intense. Traditional SANs (Fibre Channel or iSCSI) have served well, but newer protocols such as NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) promise lower latency, improved parallelism, and better use of NVMe SSDs/disaggregated storage. Among NVMe-oF transports, NVMe/TCP provides an attractive trade-off: leveraging existing TCP/IP networks rather than requiring specialized fabrics such as RDMA (RoCE). ...

Large-Scale VM Migration using VMware Live Site Recovery 9.0.3 and Hitachi VSP One Block 20 in a Stretched Cluster Environment

By Artendu Meher posted 10-23-2025
Introduction This blog presents a detailed overview of a large-scale VM migration involving 1,000 virtual machines using VMware vSphere 9.0, VMware Live Site Recovery (VLSR) 9.0.3, and Hitachi VSP One Block 20, implemented within a stretched storage cluster environment. The project highlights how advanced orchestration, robust replication, and highly available storage infrastructure can enable seamless workload mobility across geographically dispersed data centers. By combining the automation and failover capabilities of VLSR with the high performance and redundancy of VSP One Block 20, this migration strategy demonstrates a resilient, scalable, ...

Preparing for the Sunset of vVols in VMware Environments

By Jaydeep Malode posted 10-15-2025
Preparing for the Sunset of vVols in VMware Environments Broadcom’s release of VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 marks the beginning of the end for vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols), as they move to phase out support for the feature. What was announced by Broadcom? The new  VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0  comes with a long list of What's New VCF 9.0 also the Deprecation of VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) in VCF 9.0 and VVF 9.0 "How will this change affect your environment?" For current vVols users, the path forward is narrowing—and before exploring alternatives, it’s important to understand the full impact of Broadcom’s announcement. ...

Best Practices for Configuring NVMe-TCP on ESXi Hosts with Hitachi VSP One Block 20 Series Storage

By Payel Sarkar posted 09-12-2025
Introduction: NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP) is becoming increasingly popular as it delivers high performance and scalability over standard Ethernet networks. When deployed with VMware ESXi and Hitachi VSP One Block 20 Series storage, it can support critical workloads efficiently. However, in ESXi 8.0U3f and earlier builds, default configurations may lead to performance delays. Additionally, presenting many namespaces across multiple subsystems can result in excessive NVMe controllers, straining ESXi resources during outage recovery. This blog explains and highlights the issues, root causes, and best practice recommendations to optimize NVMe/TCP with Hitachi ...

Kerberos Authentication Setup for VMware ESXi NFS 4.1 with Hitachi VSP One File

By Monidipa Halder posted 08-26-2025
Kerberos Authentication Setup for VMware ESXi NFS 4.1 with Hitachi VSP One File Introduction As organizations scale their virtual infrastructure, enforcing secure and centralized authentication becomes a critical part of storage management. This blog highlights how Kerberos authentication with NFS 4.1 enables secure, identity-verified access from VMware ESXi to Hitachi Vantara VSP One File systems. By implementing the krb5 model, enterprises can achieve secure NFS communication through Kerberos-based identity validation, offering a balance between strong security and optimal performance for production workloads. Why Use Kerberos ...

10G iSCSI Mutual CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol) configuration in RHEL 9.x with Virtual Storage Platform One Block 20

By Srabasti Paul posted 08-18-2025
Introduction To secure iSCSI connections , Mutual CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol) can be used to authenticate iSCSI initiators and targets. In this blog, we'll explore how to configure iSCSI Mutual CHAP on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9.x (RHEL 9.x) using Virtual Storage Platform One Block 20. What is CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol)? CHAP is an authentication protocol that verifies the identity of a user or a host to a remote entity. Unlike simple password-based methods, CHAP never sends the actual password over the network. Instead, it uses a challenge-response mechanism to ensure secure authentication. ...

Hitachi Vantara Storage Automation: Ansible Playbooks

By Chao Ho Chu posted 08-12-2025
Introduction Automating storage management tasks improves efficiency, reduces operational risk, and ensures consistent results. Hitachi Vantara maintains several repositories with Ansible playbooks designed for different environments: VSP One Block repo – General block storage tasks for VSP One Block systems HIQ repo – Hitachi iQ integration for AI analytics platform Oracle VSP repo – Oracle RAC storage provisioning SAP HANA repo – SAP HANA storage provisioning Below are quick references Repository Description Playbook Highlights hv-playbooks-vspone-block VSP One Block ...

Flexible IO (FIO) installation and execution in Redhat Linux

By Malaya Acharya posted 08-11-2025
Introduction Flexible IO Tester (FIO) is a benchmarking and workload simulation tool for Linux/Unix. The   typical use of FIO is to write a job file matching the I/O load one wants to simulate. FIO is used to write data on both block devices and file systems. Hardware and Software Used   Items and Version Software Fio-3.35 OS Red Hat Enterprise Linux release 8.2 Server HP DL380 Gen 10 FIO installation Steps in Linux Download the latest version of FIO from following link:              https://git.kernel.dk/cgit/fio/ ...

Hitachi TrueCopy pair create using Ansible

By Anup Paul posted 08-08-2025
Introduction: Ansible is an open-source automation tool that makes smooth IT tasks like application deployment, cloud provisioning, and system configuration. As it operates without requiring any agents, that’s making it lightweight and easy to use. Ansible uses playbooks, written in YAML, to define automation tasks in a human-readable format and reduces complexity. Hitachi VSP One Block Storage Modules provides a comprehensive set of Ansible modules for managing Hitachi VSP One series systems. Ansible Playbooks provides a simple, repeatable, and automated way to manage IT infrastructure and applications. Hitachi TrueCopy using Ansible: Hitachi TrueCopy ...