HPE Storage Integrations bring together the best of Microsoft and Data Storage Innovations

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When things come together, like the world for an Olympics or World Cup, you can see the value and benefits of integration.  Likewise, the HPE Storage Solutions for Microsoft effort has a number of integrations that have been developed to bring together and integrate HPE Storage products with a range of Microsoft applications and technologies.  Here’s the latest list and current versions.

PowerShell

HPE has two traditional PowerShell toolkits that enable script-based management of our Tier 0/1 enterprise storage platforms. HPE Alletra 6000 and Nimble Storage PowerShell Toolkit 3.4.0 was released this past May 2021, and the Primera/3PAR PowerShell Toolkit 3.1 came out June 2021.  Keep a look out for a combined ‘HPE Storage PowerShell Toolkit’ which will bring together the separate toolkits, simplifying usage and enabling more standardized syntax and workflows.

An innovative addition to the PowerShell toolkits is the new HPE DSCC PowerShell Toolkit. This released June 2021 but continues to get attention, in technical training and team member blogs, not only because it enables Microsoft shops to use a familiar approach to manage storage resources through the very new cloud-based HPE GreenLake Block Storage system, but maybe more so because it’s the first step towards Microsoft and HPE hybrid cloud management.

Storage Windows Toolkit

This integration was formerly known as the Nimble Windows Toolkit, and was created to contain important Microsoft-workload oriented integration elements for HPE Nimble arrays. Modules in the current package include: VSS for Microsoft Exchange, SQL and Hyper-V, iSCSI (Nimble Connection Service) and Fibre Channel connection management, Nimble Setup Manager (NSM) management – initial configuration wizard for Nimble Storage, and a PowerShell Module.  The latest version, HPE Storage Windows Toolkit 7.1.1 was released May, 2021, and is available through the HPE InfoSight page to registered HPE Nimble customers.

Windows Admin Center

Windows Admin Center or ‘WAC’ is it’s called, is the popular new on-prem dashboard for managing Windows Servers, clusters and HCI, bridging the admin of on-prem with Azure-based resources. WAC extensions are plug-ins that help simplify the monitoring and management of infrastructure by directly integrating managed resources into the dashboard. HPE has developed and maintains WAC extensions for both Servers and Storage systems, and HPE Storage products leverage both packages, with a WAC Server Extension that supports the HPE Apollo 4200 systems, as well as a WAC Storage Extension supporting the HPE 3PAR, HPE Primera and most recently HPE Nimble storage systems.  Our current WAC Server Extension is version 1.4 and there’s a v1.5 planned for April extending support to the HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10+ systems. Regarding the Storage Extension, the current version 1.1 was released in 2021, with a v1.2 in the roadmap to add HPE MSA and HPE Alletra systems support.

System Center

This is Microsoft’s venerable management product that has been in the market for almost 20 years, enabling administration of Microsoft products within datacenter environments. Our traditional integration into this product area is OneView for System Center 10.1. It is a bundle of integrations connecting with various parts of System Center including Operations Manager (SCOM) and VM Manager (SCVMM), as well as with the OneView product. It was updated only last November adding Windows 2022 support among other things.  However, based on our analysis we’ve seen mostly the integration with SCOM getting the most usage. So the plan is to put this traditional code into maintenance mode, and to now focus on a new streamlined package, SCOM-HPE Storage Integration Kit 5.4 which is centered on just the SCOM integration.

Keep an eye on all the various solutions spanning the spectrum of Microsoft workloads on the HPE Storage solutions for Microsoft solution page at www.HPE.com/Storage/Microsoft