NetApp has quietly released an updated version of their Virtual Storage Console Software (you will need a NetApp Now account to access).

Here is the announcement:

The Virtual Storage Console software is a single vCenter Server plug-in that provides end-to-end virtual machine lifecycle management for VMware environments running NetApp storage. The plug-in provides the following capabilities:

• Storage configuration and monitoring using the Monitoring and Host Configuration capability (previously called the Virtual Storage Console capability)
• Datastore provisioning and virtual machine cloning using the Provisioning and Cloning capability
• Backup and recovery of virtual machines and datastores using Backup and Recovery capability

Note: Use of various capabilities in VSC requires the purchase of one or more NetApp software licenses. For more information on required software licenses, see the NetApp Virtual Storage Console 2.1 for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide (HTML, PDF).

New Features:

Virtual Storage Console 2.1 includes the following enhancements:

• The Virtual Storage Console capability is renamed Monitoring and Host Configuration to better describe what it is used for.
• Monitoring and Host Configuration offers faster discovery, and the discovery now runs as a background task.
• An updated version of the mbralign program that corrects problems with the mbralign version in Virtual Storage Console 2.0.1.
• Monitoring and Host Configuration panels display only the resources associated with the selection in the vCenter Client Inventory panel.
• Support for VMware View 4.6 in the Provisioning and Cloning capability.
• Support for saving BIOS settings when cloning from template in the Provisioning and Cloning capability.
• Enabled sense key codes and added domain user support in the Provisioning and Cloning capability.
• Bug fixes for all VSC capabilities; see the Release Notes (HTML, PDF) for details.

I would like to thank Vaughn Stewart for the heads-up on the new release. If you would like more in-depth details of the release you can find it on his blog.