New StorSimple features: bandwidth templates, controller management, email settings

We're happy to announce the availability of the following features in Microsoft Azure StorSimple:

• Ability to specify bandwidth templates that allow the user to throttle bandwidth usage
• Ability to restart, shut down, and power on the two controllers in the StorSimple 8000 series arrays
• Ability to configure email addresses for notification alerts

Bandwidth templates:You can configure multiple time-of-day schedules to tier the data from the StorSimple device to the cloud. You can create, modify, delete, and save these schedules as templates. These bandwidth templates can then be applied across volume containers to control the bandwidth consumed by your StorSimple device when performing operations involving the cloud. You now have the ability to:

• Specify schedules that customize bandwidth usage.
• Centralize management and reuse schedules across multiple appliances in a seamless manner.

Controller management:You can now manage the dual controllers on your 8000 series StorSimple appliances from the Azure StorSimple service. If you need to shut down the controllers for hardware maintenance purposes, you can initiate this from the Maintenance page on the Device tab of the StorSimple Manager service. You can also power on a shutdown controller or restart a powered-on controller.Note: Restarting a controller or shutting down your StorSimple device is not required as part of normal system operation.Email settings:If you want to send device health and other monitoring alerts to specific email addresses, you can enable them in Alert Settings on the Configure page on the Device tab of the StorSimple Manager service. You can configure a maximum of 20 email addresses per device. These settings can be changed at any time.Note: To use the bandwidth templates and controller management features, you need to first install the device update that is available on the Maintenance page on the Device tab of the StorSimple Manager service.