Kayo fs

Kayo FS provides file-level shared access to a SAN volume from multiple physical host servers and is designed specifically to provide a cost-effective shared LUN solution for Hyper-V virtual machines and VMware Server virtual machines. Kayo FS simplifies storage management in virtual environments by allowing all Hyper-V and VMware Server virtual machines to be stored on a single shared LUN, while allowing virtual machines to be moved independently among physical host servers. Kayo FS provides VMFS-like functionality for Microsoft Hyper-V, and eliminates the need to create a separate storage LUN for each virtual machine when configuring Hyper-V for quick migration.

How do I use Kayo FS with Hyper-V?

Kayo FS provides functionality similar to that provided by VMFS in the VMware virtualization suite.

Kayo FS installs easily on each physical host server. Each of the physical servers needs to have access to a volume on a shared LUN on an iSCSI or Fibre Channel storage array. Kayo is compatible with any iSCSI or Fibre Channel Storage hardware. An iSCSI target from a Windows Unified Data Storage Server can also be used for the shared LUN.
The shared volume is formatted with Kayo FS, and is used to store all of the .vhd files for Hyper-V. Although Hyper-V allows a given virtual machine to be running on only one virtual machine at a time, all physical hosts have access to the .vhd files on the shared volume. When Quick Migration is used, the virtual machine is moved from one host to another, but there is no need to change anything at the storage layer.
Without Kayo FS, Quick Migration can still be used, but during the migration access to the entire storage LUN is moved from one physical host to the other host. All virtual machines on that LUN will be migrated. Hence, in order to migrate virtual machines independently, each needs to be stored on a separate storage LUN. Kayo FS greatly simplifies storage management by allowing all machines to be stored on a single shared LUN.

How do I use Kayo with VMware Server?

VMware Server installs on top of a Windows host and cannot be used with VMware’s VMFS.
Kayo allows all of the VMDK files for VMware servers to be stored on a shared SAN LUN that is available to all host servers.  This allows any virtual machine to be opened on any host.  VMware Server does not support Live Migration of virtual machines across hosts, but VMs can easily be moved simply by shutting down a virtual machine on one host and restarting it on the other host.

How does Kayo FS differ from Melio FS?

Kayo FS is designed specifically to simplify storage management for small Hyper-V or VMware Server virtualization environments. Like VMware’s VMFS (when used with ESX), it allows multiple physical host servers to have shared access at the file level to a shared volume containing virtual machine files.
Kayo FS is not designed to provide shared read/write access to application data, or to manage storage for large virtualization environments.

Melio FS is an advanced enterprise clustered file system that provides concurrent read write access to data on a shared volume over a SAN fabric. When used with LaScala clustered volume manager, it provides advanced storage management capabilities for large physical and virtual environments.  Like Kayo FS, Melio FS and LaScala can be used to provide a shared LUN for Hyper-V virtual machines.  Sanbolic recommends the use of Melio FS in large virtualization environments.  Melio FS can also be used to provide shared access to application data from physical or virtual Windows servers (including servers running on VMware ESX).  This provides increased flexibility, improved high availability options, and the ability to scale out many applications by having multiple servers working with a single copy of data.

Upgrading from Kayo FS to Melio FS

You may upgrade Kayo installations to Melio at anytime. To do this simply go to add/remove programs and uninstall Kayo from all systems then run the Melio FS installer. Enter your new Melio Licenses key during the installations or afterwards in the Melio Configuration tool. If you already have a volume formatted with Kayo FS there is no need to reformat your volume. No data is destroyed in the upgrade process. However, in some occasions you may need to restart your computer. Please note that it is not possible for a machine to join a cluster with different license type. That is, if you have a cluster of machines running full version of Melio, a machine with the trial version won't be able to join it, and vice versa.

How is Kayo FS licensed and sold?

Kayo FS is Sanbolic, Inc.’s first and only software offering to be available direct via the Sanbolic web site. After having registered for a free trial of the software on Sanbolic.com, Kayo FS can be purchased with a credit card. One license is necessary per host server, licenses are available in bundles of five for USD $1499.
Is all I need Kayo? What about Sanbolic’s other software products?
All of Sanbolic’s other products, such as Melio FS, LaScala, and SILM are designed to stand alone. However, because no two SANs are alike, a combination of our products might fit your SAN needs best. If you are considering our clustered file systems, like Kayo, you may want to also consider LaScala.

What kind of support is included with Kayo FS?

Support for Kayo FS will be via email to support@sanbolic.com. One year of email support is included. There will be no phone support available directly from Sanbolic, Inc.

I am a Value Added Reseller (VAR). How can my clients benefit from Kayo FS?

Please refer to the related Sanbolic documents in the right-hand margin of this page for additional product information. You may also purchase Kayo FS for in-house use, with the idea of providing additional guidance and support for Kayo FS clients. If your clients’ needs for more feature-rich SAN software evolves, you may advise your clients to license other Sanbolic software offerings. Other software for SAN solutions are only offered via Sanbolic Channel Sales Partners.

Please visit the Melio FS and LaScala product pages for more information about these products.

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