DroboPro Firmware Update Targets VMware Installations

Since the inaugural Tech Field Day, I've been focused on getting a Drobo storage device for my personal virtualization lab. When I had my previous post on considering the Drobo devices that offer iSCSI connectivity, I was secretly drooling while mine was on its way to me.

Once it arrived, I quickly set it up and got started with the DroboPro device. I'll admit, I'm a pretty cheap guy; I would have purchased the DroboElite model. For my DroboPro device, the firmware that arrived on the unit was 1.1.3. Just days after my device had shipped, Data Robotics had released the 1.1.4 firmware for the DroboPro unit.

In the Release Notes for the 1.1.4 firmware, there are specific mentions of performance improvements for VMware installations. I did a quick test with PassMark's BurnInTest software before and after the new firmware, and the improvements were definitely noticed. The 1.1.4 firmware is installed via a manual firmware upgrade. This process is documented in the manual firmware upgrade instructions document.

The DroboPro firmware updates and Drobo Dashboard software are available as downloads from the Data Robotics support site. Fig. 1 shows the Drobo Dashboard software with the updated firmware.

Figure 1. The updated firmware and software versions are displayed in the Drobo Dashboard interface. (Click image to view larger version)

If you are using a DroboPro or DroboElite unit for test or tier-appropriate virtualization storage, it is worth the time to keep the firmware up to date. While the DroboElite was just released, there will likely be an update for this unit at some point as well.

Posted by Rick Vanover on 12/23/2009 at 12:47 PM