Looking for your input on the following topic...You can reply here or directly to me at andrewh@netapp.com
Would you or your customers find value in a NetApp interface that provides a common CLI for multi-path management ? The idea is that this CLI would be layered over native vendor provided multi-path management - so things such as DM-MP in Linux, MPxIO in SUN, etc.. but have a uniform interface across those platforms.
This concept of a NetApp "multi-path wrapper" would leverage the vendor OS drivers / stack for multi-path management, but would be a thin management layer (CLI/ API) for common management, extractiing the benefits of OS provided M/P services but enabling common management through a common CLI.
If you would find value in such an offering, would you see it as an extension of existing products
- such as SNAPDrive, so through one tool, a user could provision storage to the host AND manage pathing configuration
Or as an extension of existing multi-path management products
- such as the ONTAP DSM, which is an extension for path management that NetApp provides for Fibre Channel and iSCSI SAN configurations.
Appreciate your time and thoughts on this matter.
Andy