Data Infrastructure server storage I/O network Recommended Reading #blogtober

server storage I/O data infrastructure trends recommended reading list

Updated 7/30/2018

The following is an evolving recommended reading list of data infrastructure topics including, server, storage I/O, networking, cloud, virtual, container, data protection and related topics that includes books, blogs, podcast’s, events and industry links among other resources.

Various Data Infrastructure including hardware, software, services related links:

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

In addition to my own books including Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press 2017), the following are Server StorageIO recommended reading list items . The recommended reading list includes various IT, Data Infrastructure and related topics.

Intel Recommended Reading List (IRRL) for developers is a good resource to check out.

Duncan Epping (@DuncanYB), Frank Denneman (@FrankDenneman) and Neils Hagoort (@NHagoort) have released their VMware vSphere 6.7 Clustering Deep Dive book available at venues including Amazon.com. This is the latest in a series of Cluster and deep dive books from Frank and Duncan which if you are involved with VMware, SDDC and related software defined data infrastructures these should be on your bookshelf.

Check out the Blogtober list of check out some of the blogs and posts occurring during October 2017 here.

Preston De Guise aka @backupbear is Author of several books has an interesting new site Foolsrushin.info that looks at topics including Ethics in IT among others. Check out his new book Data Protection: Ensuring Data Availability (CRC Press 2017) and available via Amazon.com here.

Brendan Gregg has a great site for Linux performance related topics here.

Greg Knieriemen has a must read weekly blog, post, column collection of whats going on in and around the IT and data infrastructure related industries, Check it out here.

Interested in file systems, CIFS, SMB, SAMBA and related topics then check out Chris Hertels book on implementing CIFS here at Amazon.com

For those involved with VMware, check out Frank Denneman VMware vSphere 6.5 host resource guide-book here at Amazon.com.

Docker: Up & Running: Shipping Reliable Containers in Production by Karl Matthias & Sean P. Kane via Amazon.com here.

Essential Virtual SAN (VSAN): Administrator’s Guide to VMware Virtual SAN,2nd ed. by Cormac Hogan & Duncan Epping via Amazon.com here.

Hadoop: The Definitive Guide: Storage and Analysis at Internet Scale by Tom White via Amazon.com here.

Systems Performance: Enterprise and the Cloud by Brendan Gregg Via Amazon.com here.

Implementing Cloud Storage with OpenStack Swift by Amar Kapadia, Sreedhar Varma, & Kris Rajana Via Amazon.com here.

The Human Face of Big Data by Rick Smolan & Jennifer Erwitt Via Amazon.com here.

VMware vSphere 5.1 Clustering Deepdive (Vol. 1) by Duncan Epping & Frank Denneman Via Amazon.com here. Note: This is an older title, but there are still good fundamentals in it.

Linux Administration: A Beginners Guide by Wale Soyinka Via Amazon.com here.

TCP/IP Network Administration by Craig Hunt Via Amazon.com here.

Cisco IOS Cookbook: Field tested solutions to Cisco Router Problems by Kevin Dooley and Ian Brown Via Amazon.com here.

I often mention in presentations a must have for anybody involved with software defined anything, or programming for that matter which is the Niklaus Wirth classic Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs that you can get on Amazon.com here.

Seven Databases in Seven Weeks including NoSQL

Another great book to have is Seven Databases in Seven Weeks (here is a book review) which not only provides an overview of popular NoSQL databases such as Cassandra, Mongo, HBASE among others, lots of good examples and hands on guides. Get your copy here at Amazon.com.

Additional Data Infrastructure and related topic sites

In addition to those mentioned above, other sites, venues and data infrastructure related resources include:

aiim.com – Archiving and records management trade group

apache.org – Various open-source software

blog.scottlowe.org – Scott Lowe VMware Networking and topics

blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/virtual_pc_guy – Ben Armstrong Hyper-V blog

brendangregg.com – Linux performance-related topics

cablemap.info – Global network maps

CMG.org – Computer Measurement Group (CMG)

communities.vmware.com – VMware technical community and resources

comptia.org – Various IT, cloud, and data infrastructure certifications

cormachogan.com – Cormac Hogan VMware and vSAN related topics

csrc.nist.gov – U.S. government cloud specifications

dmtf.org – Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF)

ethernetalliance.org – Ethernet industry trade group

fibrechannel.org – Fibre Channel trade group

github.com – Various open-source solutions and projects

Intel Reading List – recommended reading list for developers

ieee.org – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

ietf.org – Internet Engineering Task Force

iso.org – International Standards Organizations

it.toolbox.com – Various IT and data infrastructure topics forums

labs.vmware.com/flings – VMware Fling additional tools and software

nist.gov – National Institute of Standards and Technology

nvmexpress.org – NVM Express (NVMe) industry trade group

objectstoragecenter.com – Various object and cloud storage items

opencompute.org – Open Compute Project (OCP) servers and related topics

opendatacenteralliance.org – Open Data Center Alliance (ODCA)

openfabrics.org – Open-fabric software industry group

opennetworking.org – Open Networking Foundation (ONF)

openstack.org – OpenStack resources

pcisig.com – Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) trade group

reddit.com – Various IT, cloud, and data infrastructure topics

scsita.org – SCSI trade association (SAS and others)

SNIA.org – Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA)

Speakingintech.com – Popular industry and data infrastructure podcast

Storage Bibliography – Collection of Dr. J. Metz storage related content

technet.microsoft.com – Microsoft TechNet data infrastructure–related topics

thenvmeplace.com – various NVMe and related tools, topics and links

thevpad.com – Collection of various virtualization and related sites

thessdplace.com – various NVM, SSD, flash, 3D XPoint related topics, tools, links

tpc.org – Transaction Performance Council benchmark site

vmug.org – VMware User Groups (VMUG)

wahlnetwork.com – Chris Whal Networking and related topics

yellow-bricks.com – Duncan Epping VMware and related topics

Additional Data Infrastructure Venues

Additional useful data infrastructure related information can be found at BizTechMagazine, BrightTalk, ChannelProNetwork, ChannelproSMB, ComputerWeekly, Computerworld, CRN, CruxialCIO, Data Center Journal (DCJ), Datacenterknowledge, and DZone. Other good sourses include Edtechmagazine, Enterprise Storage Forum, EnterpriseTech, Eweek.com, FedTech, Google+, HPCwire, InfoStor, ITKE, LinkedIn, NAB, Network Computing, Networkworld, and nextplatform. Also check out Reddit, Redmond Magazine and Webinars, Spiceworks Forums, StateTech, techcrunch.com, TechPageOne, TechTarget Venues (various Search sites, e.g., SearchStorage, SearchSSD, SearchAWS, and others), theregister.co.uk, TheVarGuy, Tom’s Hardware, and zdnet.com, among many others.

Where To Learn More

Learn more about related technology, trends, tools, techniques, and tips with the following links.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

The above is an evolving collection of recommended reading including what I have on my physical and virtual bookshelves, as well as list of web sites, blogs and podcasts worth listening, reading or watching. Watch for more items to be added to the book shelf soon, and if you have a suggested recommendation, add it to the comments below.

By the way, if you have not heard, its #Blogtober, check out some of the other blogs and posts occurring during October here as part of your recommended reading list.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

Cloud Conversations AWS Azure Service Maps via Microsoft

Cloud Conversations AWS Azure Service Maps via Microsoft

server storage I/O data infrastructure trends

Updated 1/21/2018

Microsoft has created an Amazon Web Service AWS Azure Service Map. The AWS Azure Service Map is a list created by Microsoft looks at corresponding services of both cloud providers.

Azure AWS service map via Microsoft.com
Image via Azure.Microsoft.com

Note that this is an evolving work in progress from Microsoft and use it as a tool to help position the different services from Azure and AWS.

Also note that not all features or services may not be available in different regions, visit Azure and AWS sites to see current availability.

As with any comparison they are often dated the day they are posted hence this is a work in progress. If you are looking for another Microsoft created why Azure vs. AWS then check out this here. If you are looking for an AWS vs. Azure, do a simple Google (or Bing) search and watch all the various items appear, some sponsored, some not so sponsored among others.

Whats In the Service Map

The following AWS and Azure services are mapped:

  • Marketplace (e.g. where you select service offerings)
  • Compute (Virtual Machines instances, Containers, Virtual Private Servers, Serverless Microservices and Management)
  • Storage (Primary, Secondary, Archive, Premium SSD and HDD, Block, File, Object/Blobs, Tables, Queues, Import/Export, Bulk transfer, Backup, Data Protection, Disaster Recovery, Gateways)
  • Network & Content Delivery (Virtual networking, virtual private networks and virtual private cloud, domain name services (DNS), content delivery network (CDN), load balancing, direct connect, edge, alerts)
  • Database (Relational, SQL and NoSQL document and key value, caching, database migration)
  • Analytics and Big Data (data warehouse, data lake, data processing, real-time and batch, data orchestration, data platforms, analytics)
  • Intelligence and IoT (IoT hub and gateways, speech recognition, visualization, search, machine learning, AI)
  • Management and Monitoring (management, monitoring, advisor, DevOps)
  • Mobile Services (management, monitoring, administration)
  • Security, Identity and Access (Security, directory services, compliance, authorization, authentication, encryption, firewall
  • Developer Tools (workflow, messaging, email, API management, media trans coding, development tools, testing, DevOps)
  • Enterprise Integration (application integration, content management)

Down load a PDF version of the service map from Microsoft here.

Where To Learn More

Learn more about related technology, trends, tools, techniques, and tips with the following links.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

On one hand this can and will likely be used as a comparison however use caution as both Azure and AWS services are rapidly evolving, adding new features, extending others. Likewise the service regions and site of data centers also continue to evolve thus use the above as a general guide or tool to help map what service offerings are similar between AWS and Azure.

By the way, if you have not heard, its Blogtober, check out some of the other blogs and posts occurring during October here.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

Microsoft Azure September 2017 Software Defined Data Infrastructure Updates

Microsoft Azure September 2017 Software Defined Data Infrastructure Updates

server storage I/O data infrastructure trends

Microsoft and Azure September 2017 Software Defined Data infrastructure Updates

September was a busy month for data infrastructure topics as well as Microsoft in terms of new and enhanced technologies. Wrapping up September was Microsoft Ignite where Azure, Azure Stack, Windows, O365, AI, IoT, development tools announcements occurred, along with others from earlier in the month. As part of the September announcements, Microsoft released a new version of Windows server (e.g. 1709) that has a focus for enhanced container support. Note that if you have deployed Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) and are looking to upgrade to 1709, do your homework as there are some caveats that will cause you to wait for the next release. Note that there had been new storage related enhancements slated for the September update, however those were announced at Ignite to being pushed to the next semi-annual release. Learn more here and also here.

Azure Files and NFS

Microsoft made several Azure file storage related announcements and public previews during September including Native NFS based file sharing as companion to existing Azure Files, along with public preview of new Azure File Sync Service. Native NFS based file sharing (public preview announced, service is slated to be available in 2018) is a software defined storage deployment of NetApp OnTAP running on top of Azure data infrastructure including virtual machines and leverage Azure underlying storage.

Note that the new native NFS is in addition to the earlier native Azure Files accessed via HTTP REST and SMB3 enabling sharing of files inside Azure public cloud, as well as accessible externally from Windows based and Linux platforms including on premises. Learn more about Azure Storage and Azure Files here.

Azure File Sync (AFS)

Azure File Sync AFS

Azure File Sync (AFS) has now entered public preview. While users of Windows-based systems have been able to access and share Azure Files in the past, AFS is something different. I have used AFS for some time now during several private preview iterations having seen how it has evolved, along with how Microsoft listens incorporating feedback into the solution.

Lets take a look at what is AFS, what it does, how it works, where and when to use it among other considerations. With AFS, different and independent systems can now synchronize file shares through Azure. Currently in the AFS preview Windows Server 2012 and 2016 are supported including bare metal, virtual, and cloud based. For example I have had bare metal, virtual (VMware), cloud (Azure and AWS) as part of participating in a file sync activities using AFS.

Not to be confused with some other storage related AFS including Andrew File System among others, the new Microsoft Azure File Sync service enables files to be synchronized across different servers via Azure. This is different then the previous available Azure File Share service that enables files stored in Azure cloud storage to be accessed via Windows and Linux systems within Azure, as well as natively by Windows platforms outside of Azure. Likewise this is different from the recently announced Microsoft Azure native NFS file sharing serving service in partnership with NetApp (e.g. powered by OnTAP cloud).

AFS can be used to synchronize across different on premise as well as cloud servers that can also function as cache. What this means is that for Windows work folders served via different on premise servers, those files can be synchronized across Azure to other locations. Besides providing a cache, cloud tiering and enterprise file sync share (EFSS) capabilities, AFS also has robust optimization for data movement to and from the cloud and across sites, along with management tools. Management tools including diagnostics, performance and activity monitoring among others.

Check out the AFS preview including planning for an Azure File Sync (preview) deployment (Docs Microsoft), and for those who have Yammer accounts, here is the AFS preview group link.

Microsoft Azure Blob Events via Microsoft

Azure Blob Storage Tiering and Event Triggers

Two other Azure storage features that are in public preview include blob tiering (for cold archiving) and event triggers for events. As their names imply, blob tiering enables automatic migration from active to cold inactive storage of dormant date. Event triggers are policies rules (code) that get executed when a blob is stored to do various functions or tasks. Here is an overview of blob events and a quick start from Microsoft here.

Keep in mind that not all blob and object storage are the same, a good example is Microsoft Azure that has page, block and append blobs. Append blobs are similar to what you might be familiar with other services objects. Here is a Microsoft overview of various Azure blobs including what to use when.

Project Honolulu and Windows Server Enhancements

Microsoft has evolved from command prompt (e.g. early MSDOS) to GUI with Windows to command line extending into PowerShell that left some thinking there is no longer need for GUI. Even though Microsoft has extended its CLI with PowerShell spanning WIndows platforms and Azure, along with adding Linux command shell, there are those who still want or need a GUI. Project Honolulu is the effort to bring GUI based management back to Windows in a simplified way for what had been headless, and desktop less deployments (e.g. Nano, Server Core). Microsoft had Server Management Tools (SMT) accessible via the Azure Portal which has been discontinued.


Project Honolulu Image via Microsoft.com

This is where project Honolulu comes into play for managing Windows Server platforms. What this means is that for those who dont want to rely on or have a PowerShell dependency have an alternative option. Learn more about Project Honolulu here and here, including download the public preview here.

Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) Kepler Appliance

Data Infrastructure provider DataOn has announced a new turnkey Windows Server 2016 Storage Spaces Direct (S2D) powered Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (e.g. productization of project Kepler-47) solution with two node small form factor servers (partner with MSI). How small? Think suitcase or airplane roller board carry on luggage size.

What this means is that you can get into the converged, hyper-converged software defined storage game with Windows-based servers supporting Hyper-V virtual machines (Windows and Linux) including hardware for around $10,000 USD (varies by configuration and other options).

Azure and Microsoft Networking News

Speaking of Microsoft Azure public cloud, ever wonder what the network that enables the service looks like and some of the software defined networking (SDN) along with network virtualization function (NFV) objectives are, have a look at this piece from over at Data Center Knowledge.

In related Windows, Azure and other focus areas, Microsoft, Facebook and Telxius have completed the installation of a high-capacity subsea cable (network) to cross the atlantic ocean. Whats so interesting from a data infrastructure, cloud or legacy server storage I/O and data center focus perspective? The new network was built by the combined companies vs. in the past by a Telco provider consortium with the subsequent bandwidth sold or leased to others.

This new network is also 4,000 miles long including in depths of 11,000 feet, supports with current optics 160 terabits (e.g. 20 TeraBytes) per second capable of supporting 71 million HD videos streamed simultaneous. To put things into perspective, some residential Fiber Optic services can operate best case up to 1 gigabit per second (line speed) and in an asymmetrical fashion (faster download than uploads). Granted there are some 10 Gbit based services out there more common with commercial than residential. Simply put, there is a large amount of bandwidth increased across the atlantic for Microsoft and Facebook to support growing demands.

Where To Learn More

Learn more about related technology, trends, tools, techniques, and tips with the following links.

What This All Means

Microsoft announced a new release of Windows Server at Ignite as part of its new semi-annual release cycle. This latest version of Windows server is optimized for containers. In addition to Windows server enhancements, Microsoft continues to extend Azure and related technologies for public, private and hybrid cloud as well as software defined data infrastructures.

By the way, if you have not heard, its Blogtober, check out some of the other blogs and posts occurring during October here.

Ok, nuff said, for now.
Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (and vSAN). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio.

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

September 2017 Server StorageIO Data Infrastructure Update Newsletter



Server StorageIO September 2017 Data Infrastructure Update Newsletter

Volume 17, Issue IX (September 2017)

Hello and welcome to the September 2017 issue of the Server StorageIO update newsletter.

With September being generally known as back to school month, the two September event bookends were VMware VMworld and Microsoft Ignite with many other things in between. Needless to say, a lot has happened in and around data infrastructure topic areas since the August newsletter (here if you missed it). Here is a post covering some of the things that I participated with during September including presentations at events in Las Vegas (VMworld), New York City (Wipro SDx Summit), SNIA SDC in Santa Clara, Fujifilm Executive Summitt in Seattle, Minneapolis/St. Paul CMG along with other activities.

Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials SDDI SDDC

One of the activities I participated in with while at VMworld in Las Vegas was a book signing event at the VMware bookstore of my new book Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press) available at Amazon.com and other global venues.

September has been a busy month pertaining data infrastructure including server storage I/O related trends, activities, news, perspectives and related topics, so let’s have a look at them.

In This Issue

Enjoy this edition of the Server StorageIO data infrastructure update newsletter.

Cheers GS

Data Infrastructure and IT Industry Activity Trends

Some recent Industry Activities, Trends, News and Announcements include:

The month started out with VMworld in Las Vegas (e.g. one of the event bookends for the month). Rather than a long list of announcements in this newsletter, check out this StorageIOblog post covering VMworld, VMware and Dell EMC and related news. As part of VMworld, VMware and Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced news about their partnership. AWS also had several other enhancements and new product announcements during september that can be found in this StorageIOblog post here.

AWS, Dell EMC and VMware were not the only ones making news or announcements during September. Startup NVMe based storage startup Apeiron has announced a Splunk appliance to boost log and analytics processing performance. Gigamon has extended its public cloud monitoring, insight awareness and analytics capabilities including support for Microsoft Azure.

For those looking for the latest new emerging data infrastructure vendors to watch, add Vexta to your list of NVMe based storage systems. Vexta talks a lot about NVMe particular for their backend (e.g. where data stored on NVM based devices accessed via NVMe), access of their storage system is via traditional Fibre Channel (FC) or emerging NVMe over fabric.

Long time data infrastructure server and storage vendor HDS (Hitachi Data Systems) is no more (at least in name) having re branded themselves as Vantara focusing on IoT and Cloud analytics besides their traditional data center focus. Vantara combines what was HDS, Hitachi Insight Group and Pentaho into a single unit effectively based in what was HDS as a new, repackaged, refocused business unit.

Another longtime data infrastructure solution and service provider IBM announced a new Linux only zSeries (ZED) mainframe solution. Some might think the Mainframe is dead, others that it can only run Linux as a virtual guest in a virtual machine. On the other hand some might recall that there are native Linux implementations on the ZED including Ubuntu among others.

Also note that while IBM zOS mainframe operating systems use FICON for storage access, native ZED Linux systems can use open systems based Fibre Channel (FC) e.g. SCSI command set protocols. Is the ZED based Linux for everybody or every environment? Probably not, however for those who have large-scale Linux needs, it might be worth a look to do a total cost of ownership analysis. If nothing else, do your homework, play your cards right and you might have some leverage with the x86 based server crowd when it comes to negotiating leverage.

Cloud storage gateway vendor Nasuni has landed another $38 Million USD in funding, hopefully that will enable them to start landing some new and larger customer revenues growing their business. Meanwhile storage startup Qumulo has announced extending their global file fabric name space to include spanning AWS.

Attala Systems has announced next generation software defined storage for data infrastructures for Telco environments. Percona has added an experimental release of their MySQL engine enhancing performance for high volume, write intensive workloads along with improved cost effectiveness.

Software defined storage vendor Datacore announced enhancements to support fast databases for online transaction processing (OLTP) along with analytics. Meanwhile Linux provider SUSE continues to expand its software defined storage story based around Ceph. Panasas has enhanced its scale out high performance cluster file system global name space for HPC environments with 20 PByte support. Another longtime storage vendor X-IO (formerly known as Xiotech) announced their 4th generation of their Intelligent Storage Element (ISE).

September wrapped up with Microsoft Ignite conference along with many updated, enhancements and new features for Azure, Azure Stack, Windows among others. Read more about those and other Microsoft September announcements here in this StorageIOblog post.

Check out other industry news, comments, trends perspectives here.

Server StorageIO Commentary in the news

Recent Server StorageIO industry trends perspectives commentary in the news.

Via CDW: Comments on Is Your Network About To Fail?
Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on Data Storage and Big Data Analytics
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Cloud FOMO (Fear of missing out)
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Building a Modern Data Strategy
Via InfoGoto: Comments on the future of Multi-Cloud Computing
Via InfoGoto: Comments on AI, Machine Learning and Data management
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Your riskiest data might be in plain sight
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Data Management Too Much To Handle
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Google Cloud Platform Gaining Data Storage Momentum
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Singapore High Rise Data Centers
Via InfoGoto: Comments on New Tape Storage Capacity
Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on 8 ways to save on cloud storage
Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on Google Cloud Platform and Storage

View more Server, Storage and I/O trends and perspectives comments here

Server StorageIOblog Posts

Recent and popular Server StorageIOblog posts include:

In Case You Missed It #ICYMI

View other recent as well as past StorageIOblog posts here

Server StorageIO Data Infrastructure Tips and Articles

Recent Server StorageIO industry trends perspectives commentary in the news.

Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on Who Will Rule the Storage World?
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Google Cloud Platform Gaining Data Storage Momentum
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Singapore High Rise Data Centers
Via InfoGoto: Comments on New Tape Storage Capacity
Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on 8 ways to save on cloud storage
Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on Google Cloud Platform and Storage

View more Server, Storage and I/O trends and perspectives comments here

Server StorageIO Recommended Reading (Watching and Listening) List

In addition to my own books including Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press 2017), the following are Server StorageIO recommended reading, watching and listening list items. The list includes various IT, Data Infrastructure and related topics.

Intel Recommended Reading List (IRRL) for developers is a good resource to check out.

Its October which means that it is also Blogtober, check out some of the blogs and posts occurring during October here.

Preston De Guise aka @backupbear is Author of several books has an interesting new site Foolsrushin.info that looks at topics including Ethics in IT among others. Check out his new book Data Protection: Ensuring Data Availability (CRC Press 2017).

Brendan Gregg has a great site for Linux performance related topics here.

Greg Knieriemen has a must read weekly blog, post, column collection of whats going on in and around the IT and data infrastructure related industries, Check it out here.

Interested in file systems, CIFS, SMB, SAMBA and related topics then check out Chris Hertels book on implementing CIFS here at Amazon.com

For those involved with VMware, check out Frank Denneman VMware vSphere 6.5 host resource guide-book here at Amazon.com.

I often mention in presentations a must have for anybody involved with software defined anything, or programming for that matter which is the Niklaus Wirth classic Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs that you can get on Amazon.com here.

Another great book to have is Seven Databases in Seven Weeks which not only provides an overview of popular NoSQL databases such as Cassandra, Mongo, HBASE among others, lots of good examples and hands on guides. Get your copy here at Amazon.com.

Watch for more more items to be added to the book shelf soon.

Events and Activities

Recent and upcoming event activities.

Nov. 2, 2017 – Webinar – Modern Data Protection for Hyper-Convergence
Sep. 21, 2017 – MSP CMG – Minneapolis MN
Sep. 20, 2017 – Webinar – BC, DR and Business Resiliency (BR) tips
Sep. 14, 2017 – Fujifilm IT Executive Summit – Seattle WA
Sep. 12, 2017 – SNIA Software Developers Conference (SDC) – Santa Clara CA
Sep. 7, 2017 – Wipro SDX – Enabling, Planning Your Software Defined Journey
August 28-30, 2017 – VMworld – Las Vegas

See more webinars and activities on the Server StorageIO Events page here.

Server StorageIO Industry Resources and Links

Useful links and pages:
Microsoft TechNet – Various Microsoft related from Azure to Docker to Windows
storageio.com/links – Various industry links (over 1,000 with more to be added soon)
objectstoragecenter.com – Cloud and object storage topics, tips and news items
OpenStack.org – Various OpenStack related items
storageio.com/downloads – Various presentations and other download material
storageio.com/protect – Various data protection items and topics
thenvmeplace.com – Focus on NVMe trends and technologies
thessdplace.com – NVM and Solid State Disk topics, tips and techniques
storageio.com/converge – Various CI, HCI and related SDS topics
storageio.com/performance – Various server, storage and I/O benchmark and tools
VMware Technical Network – Various VMware related items

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Multi-year Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert (and vSAN). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio.

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

August 2017 Server StorageIO Data Infrastructure Update Newsletter



Server StorageIO August 2017 Data Infrastructure Update Newsletter

Volume 17, Issue VII (Pre VMworld 2017)

Hello and welcome to the August 2017 issue of the Server StorageIO update newsletter.

Its end of summer season here in north america which means wrapping up holidays, vacations, back to school shopping (and going to school), as well as the start of the fall IT technology conference season. VMworld 2017 USA is this week in Las Vegas and there will be several announcements coming out of that event. Given all of the activity so far this month, I’m going to cover the VMworld and related topics in a special early September issue of this newsletter.

Speaking of VMworld 2017, if you are going to be there in Las Vegas, stop by the book store located in the community village area on Tuesday at 1PM I will be doing a book signing, meet and greet, stop by and say hello.

Thanks to all who participated in the recent thevPad top 100 vBloggers event, I am honored to have StorageIOblog listed in the top 100 vBlogs. Also congratulations to new and returning fellow Microsoft MVPs and VMware vExperts. There is a lot going on in the industry, lets get to it in this Server StorageIO Data Infrastructure Update Newsletter.

In This Issue

Enjoy this edition of the Server StorageIO update newsletter (pre VMworld edition).

Cheers GS

Data Infrastructure and IT Industry Activity Trends

Acronis announced True Image 2018 for home based data protection (backup), while Crashplan aka code42 announced they were getting out of the consumer, small office home office (SOHO) backup and data protection space to focus on the enterprise.

Cisco bought software defined storage converged infrastructure software vendor Springpath for about $320M USD. Cisco and Swiftstack (object storage software) also announced interoperability news with the UCS S32600 storage server platform.

GPU vendor NVIDIA announced Quadro Virtual Data Center workstation technology.

Meanwhile ioFABRIC announced their new Vicinity 3.0 software defined management solution.

Microsemi (remember PMC Sierra) announced release of its Flashtec PCIe controllers to help speed adoption deployment of SSDs including NVMe based.

Microsoft bought Cycle Computing to enhance Azure services, while also making Azure Blob storage tiering available as part of an ongoing public preview. For those not aware, Azure Blob is similar to what other services call objects. Get in on the public preview here. For those who live in a hybrid world where your environment and experience include both Windows and Linux, check out Windows Services for Linux here. With this service which can install onto an Windows 10 system along side Win32 (e.g. it co-exists, its not a virtual machine), you can choose from the Windows Store which Linux distro you want (e.g. Centos, Ubuntu, etc).

Need to learn, refresh or simply gain a better understanding of Microsoft PowerShell for software defined management of Windows, Azure and other environments? Check out this great post from Microsoft Blogs.

For those who work in a Windows or Azure environment, here are some useful icons for Powerpoint, Visio, PNG and SVG from Microsoft. With Microsoft Ignite coming up in September, watch for some interesting update enhancements to Windows Server from a server storage I/O perspective.

NextPlatform.com has an interesting article on Exascale Timeline for Storage and I/O systems worth a read. Panzura global name space and scale out software defined storage management software announced mobile client file sharing. After dropping their own cloud business, Verizon is now a virtual network services partner with Amazon.

Over at all flash array (AFA) SSD vendor Pure, revenues are growing closer to an annual $1B USD rate despite loss per share, Pure also announced a change in leadership with current CEO Scott Dietzen stepping aside for Charles Giancarlo to take the lead spot.

VMware has been talking about the continued increase in customer adoption and deployment of VSAN now they are showing they eat their own dog food. Check out this post here from VMware that shows how many and what size VSAN clusters they are using for various internal operations. Also on the VMware storage front, learn more about enhancements for large and small file allocation blocks with vSphere VMFS6.

With all of the pre and post VMworld related announcements, remember to check out the tools available over at the VMware flings site including vSphere HTML5 Web Client, HCIBench, vRealize Operations Export, VisualEsxtop, ESXi Embedded Host Client, VMware OS Optimization Tool and many others. Watch for VMworld coverage in the September newsletter along with posts at www.storageioblog.com

Check out other industry news, comments, trends perspectives here.

Server StorageIO Commentary in the news

Recent Server StorageIO industry trends perspectives commentary in the news.

Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on Who Will Rule the Storage World?
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Google Cloud Platform Gaining Data Storage Momentum
Via InfoGoto: Comments on Singapore High Rise Data Centers
Via InfoGoto: Comments on New Tape Storage Capacity

View more Server, Storage and I/O trends and perspectives comments here

Server StorageIOblog Posts

Recent and popular Server StorageIOblog posts include:

In Case You Missed It #ICYMI

View other recent as well as past StorageIOblog posts here

Server StorageIO Data Infrastructure Tips and Articles

Recent Server StorageIO industry trends perspectives commentary in the news.

Via NetworkWorld: Do you have an IT trade craft skills gap?

View more Server, Storage and I/O trends and perspectives comments here

Events and Activities

Recent and upcoming event activities.

Sep. 21, 2017 – MSP CMG – Minneapolis MN
Sep. 20, 2017 – Redmond Data Protection and Backup – Webinar
Sep. 14, 2017 – Fujifilm IT Executive Summit – Seattle WA
Sep. 12, 2017 – SNIA Software Developers Conference (SDC) – Santa Clara CA
Sep. 7, 2017 – WiPro – Planning Your Software Defined Journey – New York City
August 29, 2017 – VMworld – Las Vegas

See more webinars and activities on the Server StorageIO Events page here.

Server StorageIO Industry Resources and Links

Useful links and pages:
Microsoft TechNet – Various Microsoft related from Azure to Docker to Windows
storageio.com/links – Various industry links (over 1,000 with more to be added soon)
objectstoragecenter.com – Cloud and object storage topics, tips and news items
OpenStack.org – Various OpenStack related items
storageio.com/protect – Various data protection items and topics
thenvmeplace.com – Focus on NVMe trends and technologies
thessdplace.com – NVM and Solid State Disk topics, tips and techniques
storageio.com/converge – Various CI, HCI and related SDS topics
storageio.com/performance – Various server, storage and I/O benchmark and tools
VMware Technical Network – Various VMware related items

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Multi-year Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert (and vSAN). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio.

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

Hot Popular New Trending Data Infrastructure Vendors To Watch

Hot Popular New Trending Data Infrastructure Vendors To Watch

server storage I/O data infrastructure trends

Updated 1/21/2018

A common question I get asked is who are the hot popular new trending data infrastructure vendors to watch. This post looks at some data infrastructure vendors to watch and keep an eye on.

Keep in mind that there is a difference between industry adoption and customer deployment, the former being what the industry (e.g. Vendors, resellers, integrators, investors, consultants, analyst, press, media, analysts, bloggers or other influences) like, want and need to talk about. Then there is customer adoption and deployment which is what is being bought, installed and used.

Some Popular Trending Vendors To Watch

The following is far from an exhaustive list however here are some that come to mind that I’m watching.

Apcera – Enterprise class containers and management tools
AWS – Rolls our new services like a startup with size momentum of a legacy player
Blue Medora – Data Infrastructure insight, software defined management
Broadcom – Avago/LSI, legacy Broadcom, Emulex, Brocade acquisition interesting portfolio
Chelsio – Server, storage and data Infrastructure I/O technologies
Commvault – Data protection and backup solutions
Compuverde – Software defined storage
Data Direct Networks (DDN) – Scale out and high performance storage
Datadog – Software defined management, data infrastructure insight, analytics, reporting
Datrium – Converged software defined data infrastructure solutions
Dell EMC Code – Rexray container persistent storage management
Docker – Container and management tools
E8 Storage – NVMe based storage solutions
Elastifile – Scale out software defined storage and file system
Enmotus – MicroTiering that works with Windows, Linux and various cloud platforms
Everspin – storage class memories and NVDIMM
Excelero – NVMe based storage
Hedvig – Scale out software defined storage
Huawei – While not common in the US, in Europe and elsewhere they are gaining momentum
Intel – Watch what they do with Optane and storage class memories
Kubernetes – Container software defined management
Liqid – Stealth Colorado startup focusing on PCIe fabrics and composable infrastructure
Maxta – Hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) and software defined data infrastructure vendor
Mellanox – While not a startup, keep an eye on what they are doing with their adapters
Micron – Watch what they do with 3D XPoint storage class memory and SSD
Microsoft – Not a startup, however keep an eye on Azure, Azure Stack, Window Server with S2D, ReFS, tiering, CI/HCI as well as Linux services on Windows.
Minio – Software defined storage solutions
NetApp – While FAS/Ontap and Solidfire get the headlines, E series generates revenue, keep an eye on StorageGrid and AltaVault
Neuvector – Container management and security
Noobaa – Software defined storage and more
NVIDA – No longer just another graphics process unit based company
Pivot3 – An original HCI software defined players, granted, some of their competitors might not think so
Pluribus Networks – Software Defined Networks for Software Defined Data Infrastructures
Portwork – Container management and persistent storage
Rozo Systems – Scale out software defined storage and file system
Rubrik – Data Protection software, reminds me of a startup called Commvault 20 years ago.
ScaleMP – Composable scale out software defined servers
Storpool – Scale out software defined storage
Stratoscale – Software defined data infrastructure and hybrid solutions
SUSE – Linux distribution looking to expand their offerings, gain more insight
Tidalscale – Composable software defined data infrastructures
Turbonomic – Software Defined Management, insight, analytics and automation
Ubuntu – Known for their Linux distribution, check out their Metal as a Service (MaaS) technology
Veeam – Data protection and backup solutions
technology
Virtuozzo – Software defined storage and data infrastructure technologies
VMware – AWS, vSAN, NSX, Integrated Containers and much more
WekaIO – Scale out software defined storage and file system

Some Popular Trending Technology Trends

  • ARM, ASIC, FPGA, GPU servers among others
  • Converged Infrastructure (CI), Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI), Composable Infrastructure
  • Analytics, reporting, insight, machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), automation
  • Software Defined including Cloud, Virtual, Containers, Docker, kubernetes, mesos, serverless, micro services
  • Data protection, backup/restore, archive, security, business resiliency (BR), business continuance (BC), disaster recovery (DR)
  • Non-volatile memory (NMV), NVM Express (NVMe), storage class memories (SCM), persistent memory, nand flash, SSD

Where To Learn More

Learn more about related technology, trends, tools, techniques, and tips with the following links.

Data Infrastructures Protect Preserve Secure and Serve Information
Various IT and Cloud Infrastructure Layers including Data Infrastructures

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

There are always more hot popular new or trending data infrastructure vendors to watch, which ones are you keeping an eye on?

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

Announcing Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book by Greg Schulz

New SDDI Essentials Book by Greg Schulz of Server StorageIO

Cloud, Converged, Virtual Fundamental Server Storage I/O Tradecraft

server storage I/O data infrastructure trends

Update 1/21/2018

Over the past several months I have posted, commenting, presenting and discussing more about Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials aka SDDI or SDDC and SDI. Now it is time to announce my new book (my 4th solo project), Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book (CRC Press). Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials is now generally available at various global venues in hardcopy, hardback print as well as various electronic versions including via Amazon and CRC Press among others. For those attending VMworld 2017 in Las Vegas, I will be doing a book signing, meet and greet at 1PM Tuesday August 29 in the VMworld book store, as well as presenting at various other fall industry events.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book Announcement

(Via Businesswire) Stillwater, Minnesota – August 23, 2017  – Server StorageIO, a leading independent IT industry advisory and consultancy firm, in conjunction with publisher CRC Press, a Taylor and Francis imprint, announced the release and general availability of “Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials,” a new book by Greg Schulz, noted author and Server StorageIO founder.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials

The Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book covers physical, cloud, converged (and hyper-converged), container, and virtual server storage I/O networking technologies, revealing trends, tools, techniques, and tradecraft skills.

Data Infrastructures Protect Preserve Secure and Serve Information
Various IT and Cloud Infrastructure Layers including Data Infrastructures

From cloud web scale to enterprise and small environments, IoT to database, software-defined data center (SDDC) to converged and container servers, flash solid state devices (SSD) to storage and I/O networking,, the book helps develop or refine hardware, software, services and management experiences, providing real-world examples for those involved with or looking to expand their data infrastructure education knowledge and tradecraft skills.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book topics include:

  • Cloud, Converged, Container, and Virtual Server Storage I/O networking
  • Data protection (archive, availability, backup, BC/DR, snapshot, security)
  • Block, file, object, structured, unstructured and data value
  • Analytics, monitoring, reporting, and management metrics
  • Industry trends, tools, techniques, decision making
  • Local, remote server, storage and network I/O troubleshooting
  • Performance, availability, capacity and  economics (PACE)

Where To Purchase Your Copy

Order via Amazon.com and CRC Press along with Google Books among other global venues.

What People Are Saying About Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book

“From CIOs to operations, sales to engineering, this book is a comprehensive reference, a must-read for IT infrastructure professionals, beginners to seasoned experts,” said Tom Becchetti, advisory systems engineer.

"We had a front row seat watching Greg present live in our education workshop seminar sessions for ITC professionals in the Netherlands material that is in this book. We recommend this amazing book to expand your converged and data infrastructure knowledge from beginners to industry veterans."

Gert and Frank Brouwer – Brouwer Storage Consultancy

"Software-Defined Data Infrastructures provides the foundational building blocks to improve your craft in several areas including applications, clouds, legacy, and more.  IT professionals, as well as sales professionals and support personal, stand to gain a great deal by reading this book."

Mark McSherry- Oracle Regional Sales Manager

"Greg Schulz has provided a complete ‘toolkit’ for storage management along with the background and framework for the storage or data infrastructure professional (or those aspiring to become one)."
Greg Brunton – Experienced Storage and Data Management Professional

“Software-defined data infrastructures are where hardware, software, server, storage, I/O networking and related services converge inside data centers or clouds to protect, preserve, secure and serve applications and data,” said Schulz.  “Both readers who are new to data infrastructures and seasoned pros will find this indispensable for gaining and expanding their knowledge.”

SDDI and SDDC components

More About Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials
Software Defined Data Infrastructures (SDDI) Essentials provides fundamental coverage of physical, cloud, converged, and virtual server storage I/O networking technologies, trends, tools, techniques, and tradecraft skills. From webscale, software-defined, containers, database, key-value store, cloud, and enterprise to small or medium-size business, the book is filled with techniques, and tips to help develop or refine your server storage I/O hardware, software, Software Defined Data Centers (SDDC), Software Data Infrastructures (SDI) or Software Defined Anything (SDx) and services skills. Whether you are new to data infrastructures or a seasoned pro, you will find this comprehensive reference indispensable for gaining as well as expanding experience with technologies, tools, techniques, and trends.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials SDDI SDDC content

This book is the definitive source providing comprehensive coverage about IT and cloud Data Infrastructures for experienced industry experts to beginners. Coverage of topics spans from higher level applications down to components (hardware, software, networks, and services) that get defined to create data infrastructures that support business, web, and other information services. This includes Servers, Storage, I/O Networks, Hardware, Software, Management Tools, Physical, Software Defined Virtual, Cloud, Docker, Containers (Docker and others) as well as Bulk, Block, File, Object, Cloud, Virtual and software defined storage.

Additional topics include Data protection (Availability, Archiving, Resiliency, HA, BC, BR, DR, Backup), Performance and Capacity Planning, Converged Infrastructure (CI), Hyper-Converged, NVM and NVMe Flash SSD, Storage Class Memory (SCM), NVMe over Fabrics, Benchmarking (including metrics matter along with tools), Performance Capacity Planning and much more including whos doing what, how things work, what to use when, where, why along with current and emerging trends.

Book Features

ISBN-13: 978-1498738156
ISBN-10: 149873815X
Hardcover: 672 pages
(Available in Kindle and other electronic formats)
Over 200 illustrations and 70 plus tables
Frequently asked Questions (and answers) along with many tips
Various learning exercises, extensive glossary and appendices
Publisher: Auerbach/CRC Press Publications; 1 edition (June 19, 2017)
Language: English

SDDI and SDDC toolbox

Where To Learn More

Learn more about related technology, trends, tools, techniques, and tips with the following links.

Data Infrastructures Protect Preserve Secure and Serve Information
Various IT and Cloud Infrastructure Layers including Data Infrastructures

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

Data Infrastructures exist to protect, preserve, secure and serve information along with the applications and data they depend on. With more data being created at a faster rate, along with the size of data becoming larger, increased application functionality to transform data into information means more demands on data infrastructures and their underlying resources.

Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials: Cloud, Converged, and Virtual Fundamental Server Storage I/O Tradecraft is for people who are currently involved with or looking to expand their knowledge and tradecraft skills (experience) of data infrastructures. Software-defined data centers (SDDC), software data infrastructures (SDI), software-defined data infrastructure (SDDI) and traditional data infrastructures are made up of software, hardware, services, and best practices and tools spanning servers, I/O networking, and storage from physical to software-defined virtual, container, and clouds. The role of data infrastructures is to enable and support information technology (IT) and organizational information applications.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

Everything is not the same in business, organizations, IT, and in particular servers, storage, and I/O. This means that there are different audiences who will benefit from reading this book. Because everything and everybody is not the same when it comes to server and storage I/O along with associated IT environments and applications, different readers may want to focus on various sections or chapters of this book.

If you are looking to expand your knowledge into an adjacent area or to understand whats under the hood, from converged, hyper-converged to traditional data infrastructures topics, this book is for you. For experienced storage, server, and networking professionals, this book connects the dots as well as provides coverage of virtualization, cloud, and other convergence themes and topics.

This book is also for those who are new or need to learn more about data infrastructure, server, storage, I/O networking, hardware, software, and services. Another audience for this book is experienced IT professionals who are now responsible for or working with data infrastructure components, technologies, tools, and techniques.

Learn more here about Software Defined Data Infrastructure (SDDI) Essentials book along with cloud, converged, and virtual fundamental server storage I/O tradecraft topics, order your copy from Amazon.com or CRC Press here, and thank you in advance for learning more about SDDI and related topics.

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) Resources Are You Ready?

server storage I/O data infrastructure trends
Updated 6/29/17

What Is GDPR

If your initial response is that you are not in Europe and do not need to be concerned about GDPR you might want to step back and review that thought. While it is possible that some organizations may not be affected by GDPR in Europe directly, there might be indirect considerations. For example, GDPR, while focused on Europe, has ties to other initiatives in place or being planned for elsewhere in the world. Likewise unlike earlier regulatory compliance that tended to focus on specific industries such as healthcare (HIPPA and HITECH) or financial (SARBOX, Dodd/Frank among others), these new regulations can be more far-reaching.

Where To Learn More

Acronis GDPR Resources

  • Acronis Outlines GDPR position

Quest GDPR Resources

Microsoft and Azure Cloud GDPR Resources

Do you have or know of relevant GDPR information and resources? Feel free to add them via comments or send us an email, however please watch the spam and sales pitches as they will be moderated.

What This All Means

Now is the time to start planning, preparing for GDPR if you have not done so and need to, as well as becoming more generally aware of it and other initiatives. One of the key takeaways is that while the word compliance is involved, there is much more to GDPR than just compliance as we have seen in the part. With GDPR and other initiatives data protection becomes the focus including privacy, protect, preserve, secure, serve as well as manage, have insight, awareness along with associated reporting.

Ok, nuff said (for now…).

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Multi-year Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert (and vSAN). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio.

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

AWS S3 Storage Gateway Revisited (Part I)

server storage I/O trends

AWS S3 Storage Gateway Revisited (Part I)

This Amazon Web Service (AWS) Storage Gateway Revisited posts is a follow-up to the AWS Storage Gateway test drive and review I did a few years ago (thus why it’s called revisited). As part of a two-part series, the first post looks at what AWS Storage Gateway is, how it has improved since my last review of AWS Storage Gateway along with deployment options. The second post in the series looks at a sample test drive deployment and use.

If you need an AWS primer and overview of various services such as Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2), Elastic Block Storage (EBS), Elastic File Service (EFS), Simple Storage Service (S3), Availability Zones (AZ), Regions and other items check this multi-part series (Cloud conversations: AWS EBS, Glacier and S3 overview (Part I) ).

AWS

As a quick refresher, S3 is the AWS bulk, high-capacity unstructured and object storage service along with its companion deep cold (e.g. inactive) Glacier. There are various S3 storage service classes including standard, reduced redundancy storage (RRS) along with infrequent access (IA) that have different availability durability, performance, service level and cost attributes.

Note that S3 IA is not Glacier as your data always remains on-line accessible while Glacier data can be off-line. AWS S3 can be accessed via its API, as well as via HTTP rest calls, AWS tools along with those from third-party’s. Third party tools include NAS file access such as S3FS for Linux that I use for my Ubuntu systems to mount S3 buckets and use similar to other mount points. Other tools include Cloudberry, S3 Motion, S3 Browser as well as plug-ins available in most data protection (backup, snapshot, archive) software tools and storage systems today.

AWS S3 Storage Gateway and What’s New

The Storage Gateway is the AWS tool that you can use for accessing S3 buckets and objects via your block volume, NAS file or tape based applications. The Storage Gateway is intended to give S3 bucket and object access to on-premises applications and data infrastructures functions including data protection (backup/restore, business continuance (BC), business resiliency (BR), disaster recovery (DR) and archiving), along with storage tiering to cloud.

Some of the things that have evolved with the S3 Storage Gateway include:

  • Easier, streamlined download, installation, deployment
  • Enhanced Virtual Tape Library (VTL) and Virtual Tape support
  • File serving and sharing (not to be confused with Elastic File Services (EFS))
  • Ability to define your own bucket and associated parameters
  • Bucket options including Infrequent Access (IA) or standard
  • Options for AWS EC2 hosted, or on-premises VMware as well as Hyper-V gateways (file only supports VMware and EC2)

AWS Storage Gateway Three Functions

AWS Storage Gateway can be deployed for three basic functions:

    AWS Storage Gateway File Architecture via AWS.com

  • File Gateway (NFS NAS) – Files, folders, objects and other items are stored in AWS S3 with a local cache for low latency access to most recently used data. With this option, you can create folders and subdirectory similar to a regular file system or NAS device as well as configure various security, permissions, access control policies. Data is stored in S3 buckets that you specify policies such as standard or Infrequent Access (IA) among other options. AWS hosted via EC2 as well as VMware Virtual Machine (VM) for on-premises file gateway.

    Also, note that AWS cautions on multiple concurrent writers to S3 buckets with Storage Gateway so check the AWS FAQs which may have changed by the time you read this. Current file share limits (subject to change) include 1 file gateway share per S3 bucket (e.g. a one to one mapping between file share and a bucket). There can be 10 file shares per gateway (e.g. multiple shares each with its own bucket per gateway) and a maximum file size of 5TB (same as maximum S3 object size). Note that you might hear about object storage systems supporting unlimited size objects which some may do, however generally there are some constraints either on their API front-end, or what is currently tested. View current AWS Storage Gateway resource and specification limits here.

  • AWS Storage Gateway Non-Cached Volume Architecture via AWS.com

    AWS Storage Gateway Cached Volume Architecture via AWS.com

  • Volume Gateway (Block iSCSI) – Leverages S3 with a point in time backup as an AWS EBS snapshot. Two options exist including Cached volumes with low-latency access to most recently used data (e.g. data is stored in AWS, with a local cache copy on disk or SSD). The other option is Stored Volumes (e.g. non-cached) where primary copy is local and periodic snapshot backups are sent to AWS. AWS provides EC2 hosted, as well as VMs for VMware and various Hyper-V Windows Server based VMs.

    Current Storage Gateway volume limits (subject to change) include maximum size of a cached volume 32TB, maximum size of a stored volume 16TB. Note that snapshots of cached volumes larger than 16TB can only be restored to a storage gateway volume, they can not be restored as an EBS volume (via EC2). There are a maximum of 32 volumes for a gateway with total size of all volumes for a gateway (cached) of 1,024TB (e.g. 1PB). The total size of all volumes for a gateway (stored volume) is 512TB. View current AWS Storage Gateway resource and specification limits here.

  • AWS Storage Gateway VTL Architecture via AWS.com

  • Virtual Tape Library Gateway (VTL) – Supports saving your data for backup/BC/DR/archiving into S3 and Glacier storage tiers. Being a Virtual Tape Library (e.g. VTL) you can specify emulation of tapes for compatibility with your existing backup, archiving and data protection software, management tools and processes.

    Storage Gateway limits for tape include minimum size of a virtual tape 100GB, maximum size of a virtual tape 2.5TB, maximum number of virtual tapes for a VTL is 1,500 and total size of all tapes in a VTL is 1PB. Note that the maximum number of virtual tapes in an archive is unlimited and total size of all tapes in an archive is also unlimited. View current AWS Storage Gateway resource and specification limits here.

    AWS

Where To Learn More

What This All Means

As to which gateway function and mode (cached or non-cached for Volumes) depends on what it is that you are trying to do. Likewise choosing between EC2 (cloud hosted) or on-premises Hyper-V and VMware VMs depends on what your data infrastructure support requirements are. Overall I like the progress that AWS has put into evolving the Storage Gateway, granted it might not be applicable for all usage cases. Continue reading more and view images from the AWS Storage Gateway Revisited test drive in part two located here.

Ok, nuff said (for now…).

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Multi-year Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert (and vSAN). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio.

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

Part II Revisting AWS S3 Storage Gateway (Test Drive Deployment)

server storage I/O trends

Part II Revisiting AWS S3 Storage Gateway (Test Drive Deployment)

This Amazon Web Service (AWS) Storage Gateway Revisited posts is a follow-up to the AWS Storage Gateway test drive and review I did a few years ago (thus why it’s called revisited). As part of a two-part series, the first post looks at what AWS Storage Gateway is, how it has improved since my last review of AWS Storage Gateway along with deployment options. The second post in the series looks at a sample test drive deployment and use.

What About Storage Gateway Costs?

Costs vary by region, type of storage being used (files stored in S3, Volume Storage, EBS Snapshots, Virtual Tape storage, Virtual Tape storage archive), as well as type of gateway host, along with how access and used. Request pricing varies including data written to AWS storage by gateway (up to maximum of $125.00 per month), snapshot/volume delete, virtual tape delete, (prorate fee for deletes within 90 days of being archived), virtual tape archival, virtual tape retrieval. Note that there are also various data transfer fees that also vary by region and gateway host. Learn more about pricing here.

What Are Some Storage Gateway Alternatives

AWS and S3 storage gateway access alternatives include those from various third-party (including that are in the AWS marketplace), as well as via data protection tools (e.g. backup/restore, archive, snapshot, replication) and more commonly storage systems. Some tools include Cloudberry, S3FS, S3 motion, S3 Browser among many others.

Tip is when a vendor says they support S3, ask them if that is for their back-end (e.g. they can access and store data in S3), or front-end (e.g. they can be accessed by applications that speak S3 API). Also explore what format the application, tool or storage system stores data in AWS storage, for example, are files mapped one to one to S3 objects along with corresponding directory hierarchy, or are they stored in a save set or other entity.

AWS Storage Gateway Deployment and Management Tips

Once you have created your AWS account (if you did not already have one) and logging into the AWS console (note the link defaults to US East 1 Region), go to the AWS Services Dashboard and select Storage Gateway (or click here which goes to US East 1). You will be presented with three options (File, Volume or VTL) modes.

What Does Storage Gateway and Install Look Like

The following is what installing a AWS Storage Gateway for file and then volume looks like. First, access the AWS Storage Gateway main landing page (it might change by time you read this) to get started. Scroll down and click on the Get Started with AWS Storage Gateway button or click here.

AWS Storage Gateway Landing Page

Select type of gateway to create, in the following example File is chosen.

Select type of AWS storage gateway

Next select the type of file gateway host (EC2 cloud hosted, or on-premises VMware). If you choose VMware, an OVA will be downloaded (follow the onscreen instructions) that you deploy on your ESXi system or with vCenter. Note that there is a different VMware VM gateway OAV for File Gateway and another for Volume Gateway. In the following example VMware ESXi OVA is selected and downloaded, then accessed via VMware tools such as vSphere Web Client for deployment.

AWS Storage Gateway select download

Once your VMware OVA file is downloaded from AWS, install using your preferred VMware tool, in this case I used the vSphere Web Client.

AWS Storage Gateway VM deploy

Once you have deployed the VMware VM for File Storage Gateway, it is time to connect to the gateway using the IP address assigned (static or DHCP) for the VM. Note that you may need to allocate some extra VMware storage to the VM if prompted (this mainly applies to Volume Gateway). Also follow directions about setting NTP time, using paravirtual adapters, thick vs. thin provisioning along with IP settings. Also double-check to make sure your VM and host are set for high-performance power setting. Note that the default username is sguser and password is sgpassword for the gateway.

AWS Storage Gateway Connect

Once you successfully connect to the gateway, next step will be to configure file share settings.

AWS Storage Gateway Configure File Share

Configure file share by selecting which gateway to use (in case you have more than one), name of an S3 bucket name to create, type of storage (S3 Standard or IA), along with Access Management security controls.

AWS Storage Gateway Create Share

Next step is to complete file share creation, not the commands provided for Linux and Windows for accessing the file share.

AWS Storage Gateway Review Share Settings

Review file share settings

AWS Storage Gateway access from Windows

Now lets use the file share by accessing and mounting to a Windows system, then copy some files to the file share.

AWS Storage Gateway verify Bucket Items

Now let’s go to the AWS console (or in our example use S3 Browser or your favorite tool) and look at the S3 bucket for the file share and see what is there. Note that each file is an object, and the objects simply appear as a file. If there were sub-directory those would also exist. Note that there are other buckets that I have masked out as we are only interested in the one named awsgwydemo that is configured using S3 Standard storage.

AWS Storage Gateway Volume

Now lets look at using the S3 Storage Gateway for Volumes. Similar to deploying for File Gateway, start out at the AWS Storage Gateway page and select Volume Gateway, then select what type of host (EC2 cloud, VMware or Hyper-V (2008 R2 or 2012) for on-premises deployment). Lets use the VMware Gateway, however as mentioned above, this is a different OVA/OVF than the File Gateway.

AWS Storage Gateway Configure Volume

Download the VMware OVA/OVF from AWS, and then install using your preferred VMware tools making sure to configure the gateway per instructions. Note that the Volume Gateway needs a couple of storage devices allocated to it. This means you will need to make sure that a SCSI adapter exists (or add one) to the VM, along with the disks (HDD or SSD) for local storage. Refer to AWS documentation about how to size, for my deployment I added a couple of small 80GB drives (you can choose to put on HDD or SSD including NVMe). Note that when connecting to the gateway if you get an error similar to below, make sure that you are in fact using the Volume Gateway and not mistakenly using the File Gateway OVA (VM). Note that the default username is sguser and password is sgpassword for the gateway.

AWS Storage Gateway Connect To Volume

Now connect to the local Volume Storage Gateway and notice the two local disks allocated to it.

AWS Storage Gateway Cached Volume Deploy

Next its time to create the Gateway which are deploying a Volume Cached below.

AWS Storage Gateway Volume Create

Next up is creating a volume, along with its security and access information.

AWS Storage Gateway Volume Settings

Volume configuration continued.

AWS Storage Gateway Volume CHAP

And now some additional configuration of the volume including iSCSI CHAP security.

AWS Storage Gateway Windows Access

Which leads us up to some Windows related volume access and configuration.

AWS Storage Gateway Using iSCSI Volume

Now lets use the new iSCSI based AWS Storage Gateway Volume. On the left you can see various WIndows command line activity, along with corresponding configuration information on the right.

AWS Storage Gateway Being Used by Windows

And there you have it, a quick tour of AWS Storage Gateway, granted there are more options that you can try yourself.

AWS

Where To Learn More

What This All Means

Overall I like the improvements that AWS has made to the Storage Gateway along with the different options it provides. Something to keep in mind is that if you are planning to use the AWS Storage Gateway File serving sharing mode that there are caveats to multiple concurrent writers to the same bucket. I would not be surprised if some other gateway or software based tool vendors tried to throw some fud towards the Storage Gateway, however ask them then how they coordinate multiple concurrent updates to a bucket while preserving data integrity.

Which Storage Gateway variant from AWS to use (e.g. File, Volume, VTL) depends on what your needs are, same with where the gateway is placed (Cloud hosted or on-premises with VMware or Hyper-V). Keep an eye on your costs, and more than just the storage space capacity. This means pay attention to your access and requests fees, as well as different service levels, along with data transfer fees.

You might wonder what about EFS and why you would want to use AWS Storage Gateway? Good question, at the time of this post EFS has evolved from being internal (e.g. within AWS and across regions) to having an external facing end-point however there is a catch. That catch which might have changed by time you read this is that the end-point can only be accessed from AWS Direct Connect locations.

This means that if your servers are not in a AWS Direct Connect location, without some creative configuration, EFS is not an option. Thus Storage Gateway File mode might be an option in place of EFS as well as using AWS storage access tools from others. For example I have some of my S3 buckets mounted on Linux systems using S3FS for doing rsync or other operations from local to cloud. In addition to S3FS, I also have various backup tools that place data into S3 buckets for backup, BC and DR as well as archiving.

Check out AWS Storage Gateway yourself and see what it can do or if it is a fit for your environment.

Ok, nuff said (for now…).

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Multi-year Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert (and vSAN). Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Watch for the spring 2017 release of his new book "Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials" (CRC Press).

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

May 2017 Server StorageIO Data Infrastructures Update Newsletter

Volume 17, Issue V

Hello and welcome to the May 2017 issue of the Server StorageIO update newsletter.

Summer officially here in the northern hemisphere is still a few weeks away, however for all practical purposes it has arrived. What this means is that in addition to normal workplace activities and projects, there are plenty of outdoor things (as well as distractions) to attend to.

Over the past several months I have mentioned a new book that is due out this summer and which means it’s getting close to announcement time. The new book title is Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials – Cloud, Converged, and Virtual Fundamental Server Storage I/O Tradecraft (CRC PRess/Taylor Francis/Auerbach) that you can learn more about here (with more details being added soon). A common question is will there be electronic versions of the book and the answer is yes (more on this in future newsletter).

Data Infrastructures

Another common question is what is it about, what is a data infrastructure (see this post) and what is tradecraft (see this post). Software-Defined Data Infrastructures Essentials provides fundamental coverage of physical, cloud, converged, and virtual server storage I/O networking technologies, trends, tools, techniques, and tradecraft skills.

Software-Defined Data Infrastructures Essentials provides fundamental coverage of physical, cloud, converged, and virtual server storage I/O networking technologies, trends, tools, techniques, and tradecraft skills. From webscale, software-defined, containers, database, key-value store, cloud, and enterprise to small or medium-size business, the book is filled with techniques, and tips to help develop or refine your server storage I/O hardware, software, and services skills. Whether you are new to data infrastructures or a seasoned pro, you will find this comprehensive reference indispensable for gaining as well as expanding experience with technologies, tools, techniques, and trends.

Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials SDDI SDDC
ISBN-13: 978-1498738156
ISBN-10: 149873815X
Hardcover: 672 pages
Publisher: Auerbach Publications; 1 edition (June 2017)
Language: English

Watch for more news and insight about my new book Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials soon. In the meantime, check out the various items below in this edition of the Server StorageIO Update.

In This Issue

Enjoy this edition of the Server StorageIO update newsletter.

Cheers GS

Data Infrastructure and IT Industry Activity Trends

Some recent Industry Activities, Trends, News and Announcements include:

Flackbox.com has some new independent (non NetApp produced) learning resources including NetApp simulator eBook and MetroCluster tutorial. Over in the Microsoft world, Thomas Maurer has a good piece about Windows Server build 2017 and all about containers. Microsoft also announced SQL Server 2017 CTP 2.1 is now available. Meanwhile here are some my experiences and thoughts from test driving Microsoft Azure Stack.

Speaking of NetApp among other announcements they released a new version of their StorageGrid object storage software. NVMe activity in the industry (and at customer sites) continues to increase with Cavium Qlogic NVMe over Fabric news, along with Broadcom recent NVMe RAID announcements. Keep in mind that if the answer is NVMe, than what are the questions.

Here is a good summary of the recent OpenStack Boston Summit. Storpool did a momentum announcement which for those of you into software defined storage, add Storpool to your watch list. On the VMware front, check out this vSAN 6.6 demo (video) of stretched cluster via Yellow Bricks.

Check out other industry news, comments, trends perspectives here.

 

Server StorageIOblog Posts

Recent and popular Server StorageIOblog posts include:

View other recent as well as past StorageIOblog posts here

Server StorageIO Commentary in the news

Recent Server StorageIO industry trends perspectives commentary in the news.

Via EnterpriseStorageForum: What to Do with Legacy Assets in a Flash Storage World
There is still a place for hybrid arrays. A hybrid array is the home run when it comes to leveraging your existing non-flash, non-SSD based assets today.

Via EnterpriseStorageForum: Where All-Flash Storage Makes No Sense
A bit of flash in the right place can go a long way, and everybody can benefit from at least a some of flash somewhere. Some might say the more, the better. But where you have budget constraints that simply prevent you from having more flash for things such as cold, inactive, or seldom access data, you should explore other options.

Via Bitpipe: Changing With the Times – Protecting VMs(PDF)

Via FedTech: Storage Strategies: Agencies Optimize Data Centers by Focusing on Storage

Via SearchCloudStorage: Dell EMC cloud storage strategy needs to cut through fog

Via SearchStorage: Microsemi upgrades controllers based on HPE technology

Via EnterpriseStorageForum: 8 Data Machine Learning and AI Storage Tips

Via SiliconAngle: Dell EMC announces hybrid cloud platform for Azure Stack

View more Server, Storage and I/O trends and perspectives comments here

Events and Activities

Recent and upcoming event activities.

Sep. 13-15, 2017 – Fujifilm IT Executive Summit – Seattle WA

August 28-30, 2017 – VMworld – Las Vegas

Jully 22, 2017 – TBA

June 22, 2017 – Webinar – GDPR and Microsoft Environments

May 11, 2017 – Webinar – Email Archiving, Compliance and Ransomware

See more webinars and activities on the Server StorageIO Events page here.

Server StorageIO Industry Resources and Links

Useful links and pages:
Microsoft TechNet – Various Microsoft related from Azure to Docker to Windows
storageio.com/links – Various industry links (over 1,000 with more to be added soon)
objectstoragecenter.com – Cloud and object storage topics, tips and news items
OpenStack.org – Various OpenStack related items
storageio.com/protect – Various data protection items and topics
thenvmeplace.com – Focus on NVMe trends and technologies
thessdplace.com – NVM and Solid State Disk topics, tips and techniques
storageio.com/converge – Various CI, HCI and related SDS topics
storageio.com/performance – Various server, storage and I/O benchmark and tools
VMware Technical Network – Various VMware related items

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert (and vSAN). Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Watch for the spring 2017 release of his new book "Software-Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials" (CRC Press).

Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2023 Server StorageIO(R) and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved.

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links A to E

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links A to E

IT Data Center and Data Infrastructure Industry Resources

Updated 2/20/2018

Following are some useful Data Infrastructure IT Industry Resource Links A to E to cloud, virtual and traditional IT data infrastructure related web sites. The data infrastructure environment (servers, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, services, virtual, container and cloud) is rapidly changing. You may encounter a missing URL, or a URL that has changed. This list is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes (additions, changes, and retirement).

Disclaimer and note: URL’s submitted for inclusion on this site will be reviewed for consideration and to be in generally accepted good taste in regards to the theme of this site.

Best effort has been made to validate and verify the data infrastructure URLs that appear on this page and web site however they are subject to change. The author and/or maintainer(s) of this page and web site make no endorsement to and assume no responsibility for the URLs and their content that are listed on this page.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

Send an email note to info at storageio dot com that includes company name, URL, contact name, title and phone number along with a brief 40 character description to be considered for addition to the above data infrastructure list, or, to be removed. Note that Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC (e.g. StorageIO) does not sell, trade, barter, borrow or share your contact information per our Privacy and Disclosure policy. View related data infrastructure Server StorageIO content here, and signup for our free newsletter here.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

  • A3Cube    Computer I/O solution startup
  • AAPT   AAPT    AWS connect partner, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • abiquo.com    Cloud development and management tools
  • Above.net/Zayo Group    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • abrevity.com    eDiscovery, search, indexing, classification
  • accellion.com    File transfer tools
  • accessopt.com    Holographic storage
  • acinion.com    Video solutions
  • acopia.com    NAS aggregation and global name space (bought by F5)
  • acronis.com    Backup and data protection tools
  • acsacs.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • acs-inc.com    Hosting, outsourcing and managed services (Bought by Xerox)
  • actifio.com    Data protection solutions
  • active-circle.com    Data archiving and storage solutions
  • activestate.com    Stackato PaaS for cloud tools
  • adaptec.com    Adapters, iSCSI storage, data backup solutions (See PMC)
  • adesto.com    CBRAM startup
  • addonics.com    SSD storage solutions
  • adic.com    Backup, Dedupe and data protection solutions (Bought by Quantum)
  • adinfa.com        Energy and resource management tools
  • AdRem Netcrunch        Monitoring of Networks, Systems and Applications, DCIM
  • Adtran    Datacom and networking solutions
  • advancedvault.com    Business continuity solutions
  • advaoptical.com    Optical networking
  • afcom.com    Data center industry user group
  • aforesolutions.com    Cloud storage and infrasture management tools
  • agami.com    High performance NAS storage (Shutdown)
  • agilent.com    Host adapters and test equipment
  • agility.com    Optical solutions and components
  • agilysys.com    VAR
  • aiim.com    Archiving and records management trade group
  • ait.com    Cloud and web hosting
  • Ajubeo    Cloud and management solutions
  • akamai.com    Content distribution network (CDN)
  • akitio.com    Storage systems
  • akorri.com    Storage resource and capacity management
  • alacritech.com    Storage networking adapters for iSCSI
  • alacritus.com    Data Protection Software
  • alcatel.com    Networking and storage networking equipment
  • alliance-it.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • allstorage.nl    Storage services solution provider
  • amazon.com    Cloud compute and storage services
  • AmberPoint.com    SOA management tools
  • amcc.com    Storage networking components (aka JNI & 3ware Bought by LSI)
  • amd.com    Server and processor chips
  • americanfibersystems.com    Metropolitan storage networks and fiber bandwidth
  • amphenol.com    Storage Networking connectors and cables
  • Amplidata.com    Object and wide area based storage
  • ancot.com    Storage networking testing equipment
  • anixter.com    Networking components
  • Anobit.com    Memory components
  • ansi.org    American National Standards Institute
  • Anstor64.com    iSCSI storage software
  • anuesystems.com    SONET’/SDH and network test equipment
  • apc.com    Environmental and power systems and DCIM solutoins
  • apcon.com    Physical cabling and management
  • aperture.com    Data center tools including CMDB (Bought by Emerson)
  • appassue.com    SQL server and data protection tools (Bought by Dell)
  • Appcore    Cloud management tools
  • Appfirst    IT Ops, Development and DCIM monitoring and PKI metrics
  • appiq.com    Storage Management Software (Bought by HP)
  • appirio.com    Cloud and content tools and services
  • apple.com    Server and storage
  • apprenda.com    Grid and data management tools
  • Apprenda   Platform as a service tools
  • aprius.com    PCIe Server I/O virtualization (IOV) technology
  • aptare.com    Data protection management and backup reporting
  • arasan.com    IP Networking components
  • Archivas.com    Archiving and data management software (Bought by HDS)
  • arcmail.com    Email archiving
  • Arcplace    Data management archiving
  • arcsight.com    Compliance solutions
  • argent.com    Data center management and CMDB tools
  • ariodata.com    Scalable data storage and blade storage systems
  • aristanetworks.com    Networking technologies
  • aristoslogic.com    Storage controller technology (Bought by Adaptec)
  • Arkeia.com    Backup and data protection software (Bought by WD)
  • arkivio.com    Storage management and ILM software
  • arm.com    Microprocessor producer
  • armor247.com    SMB focused data protection solutions
  • arrow.com    Distributor
  • arsenaldigital.com    Managed backup service (Bought by IBM)
  • arxscan.com    SRM and file reporting software
  • asankya.com    Application delivery and cloud access
  • asciitable.com    Site containing the ASCII character set table
  • ashare.org    HVAC Engineers Association
  • asigra.com    Backup and data protection solutions
  • asnp.org    Association Storage Networking Professionals
  • asperasoft.com    High speed file and data transfer tools
  • astaro.com    Security tools
  • astutenetworks.com    iSCSI storage optimized for VMware
  • atempo.com    Backup Software
  • Atlantic Metro Communications    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • Atlantiscomputing    ILIO VDI and I/O optimization, cache tools
  • atmforum.com    ATM trade association
  • atrato.com    Storage systems
  • attachmate.com    IT management tools (bought Novell)
  • attotech.com    Storage networking adapters and gateways
  • Attunesystems.com    NAS and file virtualization (Assets bought by F5)
  • attunity.com    File and data movement tools
  • autonomy.com    Data management and cloud services (Bought by HP) –
  • autovirt.com    Storage automation tiering tools
  • avagotech.com    Semiconductor technologies
  • availl.com    Data movement and replication solutions
  • avamar.com    Dedupe, Backup and Restoration Solutions (Bought by EMC)
  • avanade.com    Var
  • avaya.com    Networking and communications
  • averesystems.com    NAS caching and automated tiering
  • avg.com    Security and anti-virus software
  • avnet.com    Distributor
  • www.avocent.com    Infrastructure resource management tools
  • axcient.com    Cloud data protection solutions
  • axiossystems.com    IRM and service management tools
  • axsone.com    Records and document management
  • axxana.com    Data protection and replication tools
  • Backblaze    Online and cloud backup storage
  • BackupAssist    Backup and Recovery software
  • backupify.com    Backup for google apps
  • BUMI    Backup and data protection tools
  • backupright.com    Online and cloud backup
  • Backula    Opensource Backup and data protection
  • bakbone.com    Backup Software (Bought by Quest bought by Dell)
  • balesio.com    File compression solutions
  • barracudanetworks.com    Networking devices, backup software
  • basho.com    NOSQL Database and object storage technology –
  • batblue.com    Cloud, application delivery networking services
  • Bestel   Bestel    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • Beyondtust    Vulnerability assessment and detection
  • bigswitch.com    Openflow based network switches
  • BitArmor.com    Data security software
  • bitcasa.com    Cloud storage and backup
  • Bitcentral    Video management solutions
  • Bitmicro    Solid state devices and other solutions
  • Blackbox    Data center infrastructure, DCIM, KVM and other solutions
  • BlackMESH    FedRAMP and DevOPs hosting
  • blade.org    Trade group for blade servers
  • bladelogic.com    Server management and discovery software
  • BladeNetwork.net    Server and storage blades (Bought by IBM)
  • Bladeroom    Data center and hosting
  • bladesystems.org    Industry trade group for blade servers and storage
  • bladetechnologies.net    Networking technologies
  • blockbridge.com    Elastic Storage Software and Tools
  • bluearc.com    High performance NAS enterprise class storage (Bought by HDS)
  • bluecoat.com    WAN optimization
  • bluecorenetworks.com    Networking infrastructure solutions
  • Bluehost    Web hosting, dedicated and virtual private servers
  • bluelock.com    Hosting, managed service and cloud provider
  • BlueOSS    Cloud and business inteligence solutions
  • www.bluestripe.com     Software for managing virtual data centers
  • bmc.com    Storage management software
  • bocada.com    Backup and management software
  • bowindustries.com    Tape media cleaning tools
  • box.net    Internet/web/cloud storage services
  • bphx.com    Legacy application transformation
  • bridgestor.com    Data reduction and storage optimization
  • Bridghead.com    Storage management software
  • broadband.com    Portal site for finding network bandwidth services
  • broadbandreports.com    Portal site for finding high speed internet access
  • broadcom.com    Storage networking component supplier
  • brocade.com    Switches, WAN gateways, software
  • brouwerconsultancy.com    Storage consultancy service
  • bswd.com    Brian Berg’s Storage Cornucopia web site
  • btiphotonics.com    WDM and Optical networking technologies
  • buffalotech.com    SMB and SOHO NAS storage
  • bustech.com    IBM Mainframe to open systems gateways (Bought by EMC)
  • bycast.com    Grid based fixed content, archive and object storage (Bought by NetApp)
  • c2c.com    Email archiving solutions
  • c2esoft.com    Data center operations and insight management tools
  • ca.com    Data management software
  • Computer Associates    Various data center, DCIM, data protection and other solution tools
  • call-recall.com    Optical storage
  • Canonical   Ubuntu Linux
  • carbonite.com    Cloud storage and backup
  • caringo.com    CAS archiving and object storage tools
  • casecentral.com    Cloud ediscovery
  • cassandra.apache.org    Data management and database alternative software
  • Apache Cassandra    NOSql Data Management tools
  • cassat.com    IRM management tools (Bought by CA)
  • Catalogic Software    Data protection and management tools
  • cataphora.com    Data management tools
  • catbird.com    VM security tools
  • caviumnetworks.com    Networking processors and chip technologies
  • cdproject.net    Carbon Disclosure Project
  • cdrive.com    VAR
  • cdw.com    VAR
  • celion.com    Network services for storage over distance
  • celona.com    Data migration tools
  • cemaphore.com    Messaging solutions
  • centos.org    Cluster Storage
  • centrepath.com    Storage management solutions (formerly Giant Loop)
  • centrify.com    Digital rights management for cloud, virtual, server, desktop and storage
  • Tier3/CenturyLink   Cloud, hosting and managed services
  • Centurylinkg/Savvis    Cloud and hosting solutions
  • Ceph   Cloud and object storage solutions
  • cert.org    Internet Security information
  • certesnetworks.com    Cloud security tools
  • certon.com    VAR
  • CFN Services    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • chelsio.com    High speed Ethernet adapters
  • chicorporation.com    Data protection, cloud and storage VAR
  • ciena.com    Optical networking
  • Cinenet    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • ciphermax.com    Data Storage Encryption Tools
  • cipheroptics.com    Storage networking security
  • ciprico.com    Storage systems (Bought by DotHill)
  • cirrustore.com    Backup data protection tools
  • cirtas.com    Cloud Storage Appliance – Added 6/9/10
  • cisco.com    Switches, WAN and Optical networking
  • Citrix.com    Virtualization solutions
  • ClearDB.com/.com    Local and distributed (GEO) MySQL database software and service
  • clearpace.com/.com    Large scale archive and data management tools
  • CleverSafe.com    Distributed object/esrasure storage
  • climatesaverscomputing.com    Green computing industry trade group
  • Clonix   Data cloning, duplication and protection tools
  • CloudByte   Scale-out and cloud storage
  • cloudera.com    Hadoop data storage and analytics tools
  • CloudFlare   CDN and Web Cache solutions
  • cloudfuzion.com    High performance servers
  • Cloudian   Cloud and object storage tools
  • Cloudphysics   Big data and virtualization tools
  • cloudreplica.com    Cloud data protection tools
  • cloudscaling.com    Open cloud platforms
  • Apache CloudStack   Open Source Cloud tools
  • cloudtp.com    Open cloud deployment solutions
  • CloudVelocity   Hybrid Cloud and data protection management solutins
  • cloverleafcomm.com    Storage Virtualization tools (Bought by DotHill)
  • clustrix.com    Storage software startup
  • cmg.org    Computer Measurement Group
  • cnt.com    Switches, WAN gateways, software (Bought by McData bought by Brocade)
  • Cobalt Iron   Data protection tools
  • code42.com    Cloud storage and backup aka Crashplan
  • Codenomicon.com    Data and security tools
  • cofio.com    Backup and data protection tools
  • CohesiveFT   Cloud solution and management tools
  • colliercomputing.com    VAR
  • colo-america.com    Co-location and hosting services

  • communities.vmware.com    VMware community
  • commvault.com    Data management software
  • comodo.com    Encryption tools
  • Comparitech    Consumer tech reviews
  • compellent.com    SMB Storage sub-systems and software – (Bought by Dell)
  • comptia.org    Computer and Technology Industry Association
  • compucom.com    VAR
  • computergamedesign.org    Computer game design
  • compuverde.com    Big data management tools and object storage
  • compuware.com    IT management and performance tools
  • condre.com    VAR/distributor
  • Condusiv   Data and storage management tools including Diskeeper
  • XO Communications    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • Connected Cloud    Cloud management tools
  • connectwise.com    IT automation tools
  • conres.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • consiliant.com    VAR
  • ConstantData.com    Real time data replication and mirroring
  • continuitysoftware.com    Replication and Snapshot data protection management
  • convirture.com    Cloud and virtualization tools
  • copansys.com    Secondary storage for backup and archiving (Assets Bought by SGI)
  • coraid.com    SATA over Ethernet storage
  • CoreSite    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • corevault.com    Cloud services
  • Cormant    DCIM and data center and infrastructure management tools
  • corning.com    Fiber optic cabling
  • corsair.com    SSD
  • corvis.com    Networking solutions
  • cPanel    Web, cloud and hosting management tools
  • crashplan.com    Cloud storage and backup aka Code42
  • creekpath.com    Storage management software
  • www.critical-links.com    Office in a box
  • crossroads.com    Storage routers and data protection management tools
  • Crosswalkinc.com    Clustered NAS storage (Ceased Operations)
  • crucial.com    Memory and SSD solutions
  • cru-dataport.com    Data Archive solutions
  • Crypto.com    Crypto resource site
  • www.ctera.com    Cloud storage appliance
  • Cumulus Networks    Open networking
  • curtisssd.com    SSD solution provider
  • cya.com    Document management and data protection
  • cyber-ark.com    Security data protection tools
  • cypress.com    Storage and networking components
  • dantz.com    Data protection and backup solutions (Aka Retrospect Bought by EMC, EMC sold off)
  • datacentertechnologies.com    Data management solutions (Bought by Symantec)
  • datacore.com    Storage management software
  • datadepositbox.com    Online backup and data protection
  • datadirectnetworks.com    Aka DDN Storage systems, SAN, NAS, Object and cloud
  • datadomain.com    Data Deduplication System (Bought by EMC)
  • Data Dynamics Inc    StorageX Data Movement, Migration and management
  • datafort.com    Online cloud backup
  • dataglobal.com    Data and storage management
  • Data Gravity    Big Data solutions
  • datagres.com    Cloud and application caching acceleration
  • dataguise.com/    Data security solutions
  • datalink.com    VAR
  • datallegro.com    Data warehouse storage solution (Bought by Microsoft)
  • datamirror.com    Data replication solutions
  • DataON Storage    Storage solutions
  • Datapipe    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • dataprotection.com    Vaultlogix data protection tools for cloud
  • DataRAM.com    SSD solutions
  • Data sales    Storage systems sales and leasing
  • dataslide.com    Hard rectangular disk (HRD)
  • datastor.com    Windows based backup data protection
  • datcollaborative.org    Data collaboration group and DAPL material
  • datoptic.com    Storage VAR
  • daymarksi.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • DBR360    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • ddifrontline.com    Security and access control
  • debian.org    Open source operating system
  • Debriefing software    Storage SRM tools
  • decru.com    Storage networking security solutions (Bought by NetApp)
  • Asempra.com    Data protection bought by Dell via Quest
  • dell.com    Storage networking equipment
  • Delphix    Storage, data management and data protection tools
  • demandtechnology.com    Demand technology software (performance software)
  • Denodo    Data virtualization tools
  • dexrexgear .com    Social media cloud storage
  • www.dey-sys.com    Open source software based sotrage
  • www.dh2i.com    Database virtualization software tools
  • digidata.com    Storage solutions
  • digistoresolutions.com    Archiving and data protection solutions
  • Digitalocular.com     Video data management tools
  • digitalreefinc.com    eDiscovery and compliance tools
  • digitiliti.com    Cloud and managed service backup
  • diligent.com    Virtual Tape Library (VTL) and Dedupe (Bought by IBM)
  • dimensiondata.com    VAR
  • Dimension Data    Hosting and managed services
  • dincloud.com    Cloud virtual desktop
  • directtextbook.com    Online book venue
  • discoverybox.net    Data protection for legal hold and compliance
  • diskkeeper.com    File and disk storage defragmentation (Condusiv)
  • Disklace.com    Disk storage optimization tools
  • dlink.com    Storage, network and cloud technologies
  • dmtf.org    Distributed Management Task Force
  • dnfstorage.com    iSCSI and hybrid storage (formerly Stonefly)
  • dothill.com    Distributed storage solutions
  • Doubletake.com    Data replication software
  • driveoncloud.com    Cloud drive online storage
  • drivesaversdatarecovery.com    Data protection and recovery
  • drobo.com    SMB and SOHO NAS storage
  • dropbox.com    Cloud storage and file sharing
  • druva.com    Backup, Storage, network and cloud technologies
  • dsireusa.org    Database of State Incentives and Renewable Energy
  • Dundas    Data Visualization and mobile dashboards
  • dvs.de    Digital video systems and storage
  • dynamicsolutions.com    Storage and data protection VAR
  • EaseUS    Backup, data protection and cloning tools
  • ecctek.com    Rugged data storage components
  • econnectix.com    Data and storage management solutions
  • eds.com    Data outsourcing and cloud provider (Bought by HP)
  • eere.energy.gov     U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) web site
  • egenera.com    Blade server and server virtualization management software
  • eginnovations.com    Application and infrastructure monitoring
  • egnyte.com    Cloud backup and data protection
  • eia.doe.gov/fuelelectric.html    Portal for electrical power generation, use and costs
  • emc.com    Storage sub-systems software
  • Emerson.com    DCIM IT Data center power, cooling and environmental management tools
  • Empired FlexScale    IT and business cloud solutions
  • emprisanetworks.com    Network management solutions (Bought by BMC)
  • emulex.com    Host bus adapters and embedded switches
  • enclarity.com    Healthcare CRM and analysis tools
  • encryptstick.com    USB based encryption device
  • enduradata.com    Data distribution and protection
  • energycenter.org    California Center for Sustainable Energy
  • energyshop.com    Portal for energy pricing and options
  • energystar.gov    United States EPA Energy Star web site
  • Enhance-tech.com    Storage VAR
  • enmotus.com    SSD storage tiering technology
  • Ensim   IT and cloud provisioning/management tools
  • enstratus.com    Amazon cloud computing management tools (Bought by Dell)
  • enterprisedb.com    Enterprise Database tools
  • epeat.net    Site for comparing desktop and related products
  • epic.com    Medical Information Technology software
  • equallogic.com    iSCSI storage systems (Bought by Dell)
  • Equinix, Inc.    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • equivio.com    Email data protection and retention
  • ericom.com    Desktop and VDI tools
  • esilicon.com    ASIC and custom silicon development
  • essextec.com    VAR
  • Eucalyptus    Open source cloud solutions
  • Evault.com    aka i365 – Remote (Cloud) backup service provider (Bought by Seagate)
  • Everspin Technologies    MRAM memories
  • evolvingsol.com    VAR
  • evostor.com    Storage startup
  • exablade.com    High performance application acceleration
  • Exablox    SMB storage solutions
  • Exabyte.com    Removable tape and robotics
  • exagrid.com    Backup Storage
  • exanet.com    Clustered NAS Storage (Bought by Dell aka FluidFileSystem)
  • exar.com    Server, Storage and Networking components
  • exavio.com    HD and SD data capture
  • exludus.com    Multi core optimize
  • Expand.com    Network and WAN optimization
  • Expertanalyticalsystems.com    Storage analysis tools
  • Exponential-e Ltd.    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • expresscomputersystems.com    Storage solutions VAR
  • extremenetworks.com    Networking switches

Where To Learn More

View additional NAS, NVMe, SSD, NVM, SCM, Data Infrastructure and HDD related topics via the following links.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

Visit the following additional data infrastructure and IT data center related links.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links F to J

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links F to J

IT Data Center and Data Infrastructure Industry Resources

Updated 2/20/2018

Following are some useful Data Infrastructure IT Industry Resource Links F to J to cloud, virtual and traditional IT data infrastructure related web sites. The data infrastructure environment (servers, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, services, virtual, container and cloud) is rapidly changing. You may encounter a missing URL, or a URL that has changed. This list is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes (additions, changes, and retirement).

Disclaimer and note: URL’s submitted for inclusion on this site will be reviewed for consideration and to be in generally accepted good taste in regards to the theme of this site.

Best effort has been made to validate and verify the data infrastructure URLs that appear on this page and web site however they are subject to change. The author and/or maintainer(s) of this page and web site make no endorsement to and assume no responsibility for the URLs and their content that are listed on this page.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

Send an email note to info at storageio dot com that includes company name, URL, contact name, title and phone number along with a brief 40 character description to be considered for addition to the above data infrastructure list, or, to be removed. Note that Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC (e.g. StorageIO) does not sell, trade, barter, borrow or share your contact information per our Privacy and Disclosure policy. View related data infrastructure Server StorageIO content here, and signup for our free newsletter here.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

  • f5.com    Networking solutions
  • fabric7.com    High speed networking
  • falconstor.com    Storage management software
  • FarStone.com    Backup and data protection software
  • fcoe.com    Web site pertaining to Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
  • fdr.com    Aka Innovation data protection tools
  • fedoraproject.org    Linux based operating system
  • Fiber Internet Center    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • FiberLight    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • fibrechannel.org    Fibre Channel Trade Group
  • filenet.com    File Management Solutions
  • FilesX.com    Backup and data protection software (Bought by IBM)
  • filetek.com    Data management solutions (Bought by SGI)
  • finisar.com    Test, Diagnostic, and Optic Transceivers
  • firescope.com    DCIM, IRM, PMDB, CMDB data solutions
  • First Communications    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • Firewall Technical    AWS Desktop, Server and Network Support
  • flashsoft.com    SSD cache software (Bought by SANdisk)
  • Flexiant    Cloud management tools
  • flexstar.com    Hardware testing equipment
  • FNT Software    Data Center and DCIM software tools
  • Folder Sizes    Disk Space Management software tools
  • force10.com    High speed networking (Bought by Dell)
  • forsythe.com    VAR
  • foundrynetworks.com    Networking switches (Bought by Brocade)
  • FreeNAS    ZFS based NAS storage software
  • frety.com    Site with links to various technologies
  • fueleconomy.gov    US Government site for energy efficiency
  • fujifilm.com    Data storage tape media
  • Fujitsu.com    Computers, disks, storage
  • fujitsu-siemens.com    Storage, VTL, storage management solutions
  • fulcrummicro.com    10Gb and high performance chips and cross bars
  • fusionio.com    PCIe based NAND/FLASH local SSD for internal server attachment
  • ioturbine.com    IO optimization driver software (Bought by FusionIO)
  • fusionstorm.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • FutureMark    PC Benchmarking and testing tools (PCMark and others)
  • gear6.com    Data performance acceleration NAS caching appliance (Bought by Violin)
  • Geist Global    Data Center and DCIM tools
  • geminare.com    Cloud and application migration and recovery tools
  • genie-soft.com    Backup and data protection tools
  • genstor.com    Storage solutions
  • gfi.com    SMB Email security and data protection
  • gigaspace.com    Grid application and data management middle ware
  • gladinet.com    Cloud storage access software
  • Global Capacity    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • globalstor.com    Data storage solutions
  • glodynetechnoserve.com    IT Management tools
  • gluster.com    Open source clustered file system (Bought by Redhat)
  • gogrid.com    Cloud IaaS and hosting services
  • goldengate.com    Data protection and management software (Bought by Oracle)
  • goodsync.com    Data protection solutions
  • Google    Various cloud services including Google Drive, Documents and others
  • graudata.com    Archive software tools
  • Gravitant    Cloud brokerage and management tools
  • green-bytes.com    ZFS based storage management solutions
  • Greenfield Software    DCIM software tools
  • greenliant.com    Nand flash SSD for embedded solutions
  • greenplum.com    Data warehouse storage solutions (Bought by EMC)
  • greenracksystems.com    VAR
  • gresham-storage.com    Virtual tape solutions (VTL sold to Tributary)
  • GridGain    in memory computing
  • gridironsystems.com    Big data and high performance appliance storage
  • gridstore.com    Clustered NAS storage
  • Global Telecom Technology, Inc. (GTT)    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • Apache Hadoop    Hadoop Big Data Tools
  • hastorage.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • www.hddfiresafe.com    Fire proof and water resistant storage systems
  • hds.com    Storage sub-systems and software
  • hermes-softlab.com    IT and virtualization software
  • Hibernia Atlantic    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • hifn.com    Optimization technology (Bought by Exar)
  • high-rely.com    Removable storage solutions
  • hi-stor.com    VAR
  • hitachigst.com    Hitachi Global Storage Technologies – Disk drives (Bought by WD)
  • Hotlink    Data protection, cloud and virtualization management tools
  • hp.com    Storage networking hardware and software
  • htch.com    Hutchinson technologies – disk drive components
  • huawei.com    Networking technologies
  • hydrastor.com    Multi-tenant clustered storage (NEC)
  • hyper9.com    Virtualization management tools (aka Inovawave)
  • hyperio.com    Storage and I/O performance monitoring for Windows
  • hytrust.com    Virtual infrastructure security tools
  • Hyve Solutions   Open Compute Project Servers and Storage
  • i365.com    Online cloud backup (Bought by Seagate e.g. Evault)

  • i3-groep.nl    Dutch ICT VAR
  • iarchive.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • iBackup    Online and cloud backup service
  • ibm.com    Storage networking hardware and software
  • Ibrix.com    Clustered and cloud storage software (Bought by HP)
  • Iceweb.com    Data storage solutions
  • icorps.com    IT outsourcing and consulting services
  • IDRIVE    Cloud storage backup
  • idt.com    Server, storage, memory, networking components
  • ieee.org    Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
  • ietf.org    Internet Engineering Task Force
  • iland    Cloud and virtualization services tools
  • illumita.com    IT Cloud solutions
  • Imation.com    Removable media, primary and archive storage (Bought Nexsan)
  • imperva.com    Data protection tools
  • imtpartners.com    Storage TCO modeling tool
  • Inboxer.com    Email and compliance risk management tools
  • Incentra.com    VAR (Bought by Datalink)
  • incipient.com    Storage management and virtualization (Assets bought by TMS)
  • indexengines.com    eDiscovery, search, indexing, classification
  • infineta.com    WAN optimization
  • infinibandta.org    InfiniBand Trade Organization
  • infinicon.com    InfiniBand Technology
  • Infinio    VMware NAS I/O acceleration cache
  • infinityio.com    Storage networking training
  • infocachecorp.com    Data discovery solutions VAR
  • InfoGuard.com    Data security solutions
  • infology.net    eDiscovery
  • Infortrend.com    RAID controllers
  • infostor.com    Magazine focused on storage and storage networking
  • infostreet.com    Cloud Desktop tools
  • Inktank    Ceph services
  • inmage.com    Data protection appliance
  • innovationdp.com    Data management software
  • inoc.com    Network Operations Center (NOC) service
  • Inovawave.com    Virtualization management tools (aka Hyper9)
  • Inphase-technologies.com    Holographic storage
  • inquinox.com    Data, dedupe and data protection management tools
  • inrange.com    Storage Networking Formerly Dataswitch (Bought by CNT Bought by McData Bought by Brocade)
  • insight.com    Value Added Reseller (VAR)
  • insynchq.com    Cloud storage, document sharing
  • intel.com    Host adapters and chips
  • intelipathsolutions.com    Virtual network connectivity (Aka Onpath)
  • intellimagic.net    Server performance, resource management software
  • IntelliProp    SAS and SATA storage
  • InterCloud    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • intermedia.net.com    Exchange email hosting service
  • Intermine.com    Storage management software
  • Internap.com    Cloud, managed services, hosting and colo
  • interscapetech.com    Cloud and storage tools / services
  • InterSOC.com    Security management tools
  • intersystems.com    Medical Information Technology software
  • intradyn.com    Storage and data protection for SMB (Part of Sony)
  • intransa.com    iSCSI storage
  • Intronis.com    Online, managed and cloud backup solutions
  • iolo.com    Desktop tuneup, protection tools
  • iomega.com    SMB iSCSI, NAS and other storage (Bought by EMC, Partnering with Lenovo)
  • iometer.org    Iometer performance benchmarking tool
  • Ion Computer    Server, storage and data center solutions
  • iosafe.com    Rugged and fire proof, water proof storage
  • IP Fabrics    SDN switch
  • iphouse.com    MSP, hosting and cloud services
  • iqstor.com    Storage for SMB environments
  • iri.com    Big data management tools
  • CoSort Company IRI    Data management and protection tools
  • ironmountain.com    Data archive, managed and cloud services
  • ironspeed.com    Mobile database tools
  • iSecure    Internet security and forensics services
  • isilon.com    Shared storage – (Bought by EMC)
  • iso.org    International Standards Organizations
  • iStor.com    iSCSI storage
  • IT-ERNITY    Data center and hosting services
  • ivivity.com    Storage virtualization technology
  • iwavesoftware.com    Heterogeneous storage automation software
  • ixia.com    Fibre Channel test equipment
  • IX Reach    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • ixsight.com    IT and IRM/SRA insight and data migration
  • JAM Software    Treesize SRM including for NAS
  • jdsu.com    Storage networking optics
  • Jeda Networks    Software defined network and storage management
  • jedec.org    Joint Electron Device Engineering Council
  • jmr.com    Storage systems
  • jni.com    Host bus adapters
  • joyent.com    Cloud infrasture tools
  • jumpbox.com    VM virtual appliance hosting
  • jumpbox.com    Virtualization solutions
  • jungledisk.com    Cloud storage, backup file sharing
  • juniper.net    Networking technologies

Where To Learn More

View additional NAS, NVMe, SSD, NVM, SCM, Data Infrastructure and HDD related topics via the following links.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

Visit the following additional data infrastructure and IT data center related links.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO. All Rights Reserved. StorageIO is a registered Trade Mark (TM) of Server StorageIO.

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links K to O

Data Infrastructure IT Industry Related Resource Links K to O

IT Data Center and Data Infrastructure Industry Resources

Updated 2/20/2018

Following are some useful Data Infrastructure IT Industry Resource Links K to O to cloud, virtual and traditional IT data infrastructure related web sites. The data infrastructure environment (servers, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, services, virtual, container and cloud) is rapidly changing. You may encounter a missing URL, or a URL that has changed. This list is updated on a regular basis to reflect changes (additions, changes, and retirement).

Disclaimer and note: URL’s submitted for inclusion on this site will be reviewed for consideration and to be in generally accepted good taste in regards to the theme of this site.

Best effort has been made to validate and verify the data infrastructure URLs that appear on this page and web site however they are subject to change. The author and/or maintainer(s) of this page and web site make no endorsement to and assume no responsibility for the URLs and their content that are listed on this page.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

Send an email note to info at storageio dot com that includes company name, URL, contact name, title and phone number along with a brief 40 character description to be considered for addition to the above data infrastructure list, or, to be removed. Note that Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC (e.g. StorageIO) does not sell, trade, barter, borrow or share your contact information per our Privacy and Disclosure policy. View related data infrastructure Server StorageIO content here, and signup for our free newsletter here.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

  • kaminario.com    Scale out high performance database server
  • kanbox.com    Chineese cloud provider
  • kaseya.com    IT Infrastructure resource management tools
  • kashya.com    Data Protection Solutions (Bought by EMC)
  • kastenchase.com    Data and information security solutions
  • kazeon.com    eDiscovery, search, indexing, classification (Bought by EMC)
  • kcura.com    eDiscovery tools
  • Kerstor.com    Cloud storage
  • kickfire.com    Business analytics tools
  • kineticd.com    Storage and data protection solutions
  • Kingston.com    Memory manufacturer
  • KLSecurity.com    Data protection solutions
  • komnetworks.com    Archiving solutions
  • k-par.com    Archiving solutions
  • ksplice.com    Linux management tools
  • Kubisys.com    Virtualization management tools
  • KVH Co. Ltd.    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • kvsinc.com    Email archiving and compliance software
  • lacie.com    Consumer, SOHO and SMB NAS and DAS storage (Bought by Seagate)
  • laconicsecurity.com    Cloud security and storage
  • lampertz.com    Environmental and data center protection
  • laurustech.com    Managed services provider
  • lecroy.com    Analyzers, probes and diagnostics
  • lefthandnetworks.com    iSCSI clustered storage (Bought by HP)
  • legato.com    Storage management software (Bought by EMC)
  • Lenovo   Servers, storage, workstations
  • Level 3 Communications    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • lexar.com    Flash memory
  • liebert.com    Data center power and cooling systems (Bought by Emerson)
  • Lightower    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • lightsand.com    SAN connectivity
  • likewise.com    Open backup software for macs/Linux/windows
  • liquidcomputing.com    High density servers
  • liquidcoolsolutions.com    Liquid cooled servers
  • Liquidware Labs   Desktop management solutions
  • livedrive.com    Cloud storage and backup
  • www.liveoffice.com    Cloud and Email hosting
  • LiveVault.com    Online cloud backup service (Bought by IronMountain)
  • locknet-inc.com    Security and network management
  • Lockstep.com    Backup and data protection tools
  • logicube.com    Hard drive copy tools
  • LoginVSI   VDI Testing solutions
  • losttapes.org    Portal pertaining to lost magnetic tape information
  • lsi.com    Storage and networking chips and controllers (Bought by Avago)
  • lto-technology.com    Information about LTO tape media
  • lucent.com    Networking components
  • lumigent.com    Compliance management tools
  • luminex.com    S390 IBM Mainframe to open systems gateways
  • luxtera.com    High speed network and storage interconnects
  • m5data.com    VAR
  • MagePlace Backup    Backup and data protection solutions
  • Maginatics.com    Storage for virtual environments
  • magma.com    PCIe and storage solutions
  • mainline.com    VAR
  • Maintech    Infrastructure services
  • maintech.com    IT Servers and solutions
  • Maldivica    Cloud and object storage gateway
  • ManageEngine    DCIM, data center and networking management
  • maponics.com    Mapping data solutions
  • MAPR   Hadoop and Big Data Tools

  • maranti.com    Storage systems
  • marconi.com    Networking equipment
  • marvell.com    Data storage components
  • Masergy    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • Mathon.com    eDiscovery
  • maxava.com    HA tools for IBM iSeries
  • maxell.com    Data storage media
  • maxim-ic.com    Data storage components and solutions
  • maxiscale.com    Web infrastructure scale out file system
  • Maxta   Virtualization storage
  • maxtor.com    Disk drives (Bought by Seagate)
  • maxxan.com    Storage systems (Now Ciphermax)
  • mcdata.com    Switches, WAN gateways, software (Bought by Brocade)
  • mediagateusa.com    HD Video streaming appliance
  • Meditech.com    Medical information technology software
  • Megaport    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • mellanox.com    Ethernet and InfiniBand technology
  • Memeo.com    Data and content management tools
  • Mendocino.com    CDP and data protection (Missing in Action)
  • metalogix.net    Sharepoint archiving solutions
  • methode.com    Storage networking transceivers
  • mezeo.com    Cloud storage management tools
  • micron.com    SSD storage solutions
  • micronet.com    Storage solutions
  • microsoft.com    Hyper-V virtualizaiton, Windows Storage Server, Azure Cloud, Storsimple, SkyDrive (aka OneDrive) and more
  • midwave.com    Var
  • Mimecast email management including archiving
  • Mimosasystems.com    Email protection and archiving (Bought by Iron Mountain)
  • mindtree.com    Testing services
  • Mirantis    OpenStack tools, downloads, service and support
  • Miray HDClone    Storage clone and data protection tools
  • mirra.com    SMB storage sharing
  • mobiuspartners.com    VAR
  • Modius    DCIM power, cooling and monitoring
  • moka5.com    VDI tools
  • MongoDB    Open source document optimized database
  • Monitis.com    IT Monitoring and services (applications, systems, clouds and more)
  • Monosphere.com    Storage planning and usage software (Bought by Quest)
  • moonwalk.com    HSM, ILM and data management software
  • morphlabs.com    Dense converged server platforms
  • mosaictec.com    Value added reseller (VAR)
  • mosys.com    High density memory components
  • mpstor.com    Cloud storage and orchestration software
  • msiinet.com    VAR
  • mti.com    European VAR
  • mtron.net    Solid state storage devices
  • My Digital SSD    SSD solutions
  • NAKIVO    Backup and data protection tools
  • napatech.com    Network tools and analysis
  • naspa.org    System administrator’s user group
  • nasuni.com    Cloud storage access appliance
  • ncino.com    Banking and financial deployment platform
  • ncipher.com    Data protection and security solutions (Bought by Thales)
  • ncompass-inc.com    VAR and services firm
  • ncr.com    Servers and storage solutions
  • ndci.com    Data conversion services
  • ndmp.org    Trade organization for NDMP backup protocol
  • neartek.com    VTL software (Bought by EMC)
  • nebulassolutions.com    Security and data protection
  • NEC.com    Servers and storage
  • neopathnetworks.com    Network file management solutions (Bought by Cisco)
  • neoscale.com    Storage networking security (Assets Bought by nCipher)
  • nephoscale.com    Cloud and object storage
  • NeptunesCloud.net    Cloud IaaS solutions
  • www.neptuny.com    Performance and capacity planning tools
  • nerc.com    North American Electrical Reliability Council
  • netcelera.com    WAN File system caching and acceleration
  • netcomm.com.au    Broadband service provider
  • netdirectsystems.com    VAR
  • neterion.com    High performance iSCSI and Ethernet 10Gb technology Bought by Exar)
  • netex.com    IP compression and channel extension
  • netezza.com    Big Data – Data warehouse storage solutions (Bought by IBM)
  • Netgear.com    SOHO and SMB storage and networking
  • NetIQ    Data center, security, identify and data protection management
  • netlist.com    Memory solutions
  • netoptics.com    Network monitoring
  • netronome.com    Network and I/O optimization technology
  • netspi.com    Network security and digital forensics
  • networkappliance.com    Storage sub-systems, management software
  • networkgeneral.com    Network and application monitoring
  • networkinstruments.com    Network test and diagnostic and performance monitoring
  • netwrix.com    Enterprise systems management tools
  • netxen.com    High performance 10Gb Ethernet chips and NICs
  • neuwingenergy.com    Energy management organization
  • neuxpower.com    File compression and data reduction
  • Neverfailgroup.com    HA software
  • nevex.com    Caching and application acceleration
  • newboundary.com    IT policy management and IRM tools
  • newisys.com    Storage enclosures
  • newrelic.com    Web, cloud and application management
  • nexenta.com    ZFS based storage management solutions
  • nexgenstorage.com    Storage with PCIe flash card
  • nexsan.com    SAS/SATA and MAID storage subsystems (Bought by Imaiton)
  • nextio.com    SSD and application acceleration solutions
  • NexusMN / Computex    VAR (e.g. Formerly Nexus MN and Stratos – now Computex)
  • nfpa.org    National Fire Protection Association
  • nicira.com    Software defined networking and IOV (Bought by VMware)
  • nimblestorage.com    Converged iSCSI SAN, backup and DR
  • nimbula.com    Cloud and application orchestration management tools
  • Nimbusdata.com    iSCSI storage
  • nirvanix.com    Cloud storage provider (Ceased operations)
  • njvc.com    Cloud and technology service provider
  • Nylte    DCIM software tools
  • noggin.intel.com/rr/    Intel Recommended Reading List
  • noliosoft.com    Cloud application management tools
  • Norlight.com    Data communications and services
  • nortel.com    Networking products
  • nortelnetworks.com    Optical networking
  • northernsoft.com    Medical software
  • novastor.com    Backup and cloud data protection tools
  • Novell.com    Server software vendor (Bought by Attachmate)
  • Novuscg.com    Storage management and services (Bought by IBM)
  • Nomura Research Institute (NRI)    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • nsic.org    National Storage Industry Consortium
  • ntp.com    Storage Management Software
  • NTT Communications Corporation    AWS connect parter, Hosting/cloud/access services
  • numarasoftware.com    IT Resource management, asset tracking tools
  • numonyx.com    SSD memory solutions
  • nutanix.com    Converged server and storage VM platform
  • nvelo.com    Caching IO performance tools
  • nvidia.com    Graphics and visualization tools
  • ocarinanetworks.com    Data reduction and compression tools (Bought by Dell)
  • ocztechnology.com    SSD drives and PCIe cards (Bought by Toshiba after bankruptcy)
  • offsitebackups.com    Online and cloud backup solutions
  • olixir.com    Removable storage for backup and data protection
  • omneon.com    Archiving and fixed content storage solutions
  • onapp.com    Cloud, CDN and storage tools
  • onaro.com    Storage and Storage Network Management (Bought by NetApp)
  • onlinebackupsearch.com    Various online backup reviews
  • oblinecourses.com    Various online education courses for various topics
  • onpathtech.com    Physical layer networking
  • onstor.com    Clustered NAS storage including NAS gateways (Bought by LSI)
  • Ontrack.com    Email and data protection software
  • OO Software   Windows management and data protection tools
  • opalis.com    Virtual data center management tools
  • OpenCompute   OpenCompute consortium
  • opendatacenteralliance.org    Open Data Center Alliance
  • open-e.com    iSCSI and NAS storage
  • Open.IO    Application aware object and bulk scale out software defined storage
  • openfabrics.org    Open Fabric Alliance
  • OpenNebula    Open source cloud software
  • opennetworking.org    Open Networking Foundation
  • OpensourceSystems.com    Data storage solutions
  • OpenStack   Open source cloud compute and storage software
  • opnet.com    Application and network performance management
  • Opsware.com    Network and storage management (HP)
  • Optica Tech.    Server and storage connectivity including FICON
  • opticatech.com    Mainframe and ESCON encryption
  • oracle.com    Data management software, hardware and services (Bought Sun/STK and others)
  • Ortera.com    Performance monitoring and management
  • OSNEXUS   Quantstor ZFS based Storage management solutions
  • Outsource Data Recovery   Data Recovery services
  • overlandstorage.com    Tape and backup, data retention, NAS solutions
  • owncloud.org    Cloud infrastructure tools

Where To Learn More

View additional NAS, NVMe, SSD, NVM, SCM, Data Infrastructure and HDD related topics via the following links.

Additional learning experiences along with common questions (and answers), as well as tips can be found in Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials book.

Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials Book SDDC

What This All Means

Visit the following additional data infrastructure and IT data center related links.

Links A-E
Links F-J
Links K-O
Links P-T
Links U-Z
Other Links

Ok, nuff said, for now.

Gs

Greg Schulz – Microsoft MVP Cloud and Data Center Management, VMware vExpert 2010-2017 (vSAN and vCloud). Author of Software Defined Data Infrastructure Essentials (CRC Press), as well as Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and twitter @storageio. Courteous comments are welcome for consideration. First published on https://storageioblog.com any reproduction in whole, in part, with changes to content, without source attribution under title or without permission is forbidden.

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