Category: Data footprint and proliferation reduction

Data footprint reduciton including archiving (email, database, files), compression (on-line and device based), de-duplicaiton (aka single instance storage, commonality factoring, differencing, etc.).

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Announcing SAS SANs for Dummies book, LSI edition

There is a new (free) book that I’m a co-author of along Bruce Grieshaber and Larry Jacob (both of LSI) along with foreword by Harry Mason of LSI and President of the SCSI Trade Association titled SAS SANs for Dummies compliments of LSI.

SAS SANs for Dummies, LSI Edition

This new book (ebook and print hard copy) looks at Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and how it can be used beyond traditional direct attached storage (DAS) configurations for support various types of storage mediums including SSD, HDD and tape. These configuration options include as entry-level SAN with SAS switches for small clusters or server virtualization, or as shared DAS as well as being a scale out back-end solution for NAS, object, cloud and big data storage solutions.

Here is the table of contents (TOC) of SAS SANs for Dummies

Chapter 1: Data storage challenges

  • Storage Growth Demand Drivers
  • Recognizing Challenges
  • Solutions and Opportunities

    • Chapter 2: Storage Area Networks

  • Introducing Storage Area Networks
  • Moving from Dedicated Internal to Shared Storage

    • Chapter 3: SAS Basics

  • Introducing the Basics of SAS
  • How SAS Functions
  • Components of SAS
  • SAS Target Devices
  • SAS for SANs

    • Chapter 4: SAS Usage Scenarios

  • Understanding SAS SANs Usage
  • Shared SAS SANs Scenarios including:
    • SAS in HPC environments
    • Big data and big bandwidth
    • Database, e-mail, back-office
    • NAS and object storage servers
    • Cloud, wen and high-density
    • Server virtualization

    Chapter 5: Advanced SAS Topics

  • The SAS Physical Layer
  • Choosing SAS Cabling
  • Using SAS Switch Zoning
  • SAS HBA Target Mode

    • Chapter 6: Nine Common Questions

  • Can You Interconnect Switches?
  • What Is SAS Cable Distance?
  • How Many Servers Can Be In a SAS SAN?
  • How Do You Manage SAS Zones?
  • How Do You Configure SAS for HA?
  • How Does SAS Zoning Compare to LUN Mapping?
  • Who Has SAS Solutions?
  • How Do SAS SANs Compare?
  • Where Can You Learn More?

    • Chapter 7: Next Steps

  • SAS Going Forward
  • Next Steps
  • Great Take Away’s

    • Regardless of if you are looking to use SAS as a primary SAN interface, or leverage it for DAS or implementing back-end storage for big-data, NAS, object, cloud or other types of scalable storage solutions, check out and get your free copy of SAS SANs for Dummies here compliments of LSI.

    SAS SANs for Dummies, LSI Edition

    Click here to ask your free copy of SAS SANs for Dummies compliments of LSI, tell them Greg from StorageIO sent you and enjoy the book.

    Ok, nuff said.

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Dell is buying Quest software, not the phone company Qwest

    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)

    For those not familiar with Quest, they are a software company not to be confused with the telephone communications company formerly known as Qwest (aka now known as centurylink).

    Both Dell and Quest have been on software related acquisition initiatives that past few years with Quest having purchased vKernel, Vizoncore (vRanger virtualization backup), BakBone (who had acquire Alavarii and Asempra) for traditional backup and data protection among others. Not to be out done, as well as purchasing Quest, Dell has also more recently bought Appassure (Disclosure: StorageIOblog site sponsor) for data protection, Sonicwall and Wyse in addition to some other recent purchases (ASAP, Boomi, Compellent, Exanet, EqualLogic, Force10, InsightOne, KACE, Ocarina, Perot, RNA and Scalent among others).

    What does this mean?
    Dell is expanding the scope of their business with more products (hardware, software), solution bundles, services and channel partnering opportunities Some of the software tools and focus areas that Quest brings to the Dell table or portfolio include:

    Database management (Oracle, SQLserver)
    Data protection (virtual and physical backup, replication, bc, dr)
    Performance monitoring (DCIM and IRM) of applications and infrastructure
    User workspace management (application delivery)
    Windows server management (migrate and manage, AD, exchange, sharepoint)
    Identify and access management (security, compliance, privacy)

    What does Dell get by spending over $2B USD on quest?

  • Additional software titles or product
  • More software developers for their Software group
  • Sales people to help promote, partner and sell software solutions
  • Create demand pull for other Dell products and services via software
  • Increase its partner reach via existing Quest VARs and business partners
  • Extend the size of the Dell software and intellectual property (IP) portfolio
  • New revenue streams that compliment existing products and lines of business
  • Potential for better rate of return on some of its $12B USD in cash or equivalence

    Is this a good move for Dell?
    Yes for the above reasons

    • Is there a warning to this for Dell?
    Yes, they need to execute, keep the Quest team focused along with their other teams on the respective partners, products and market opportunities while expanding into new areas. Dell needs to also leverage Quest to further its cause in creating trust, confidence and strategic relationships with channel partners to reach new markets in different geographies. In addition, Dell needs to articulate its strategy and positioning of the various solutions to avoid products being perceived as competing vs. complimenting each other.

    Additional Dell related links:
    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)
    Dell Storage Forum 2011 revisited
    Dude, is Dell doing a disk deal again with Compellent?
    Data footprint reduction (Part 2): Dell, IBM, Ocarina and Storwize
    Post Holiday IT Shopping Bargains, Dell Buying Exanet?
    Dell Will Buy Someone, However Not Brocade (At least for now)

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)

    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)

    Recently I was asked by Dell to moderate and host their North America storage customer advisory panel (CAP) session (twitter #storagecap) that followed their 2012 storage forum (see comments about 2011 storage forum here) event in Boston (Disclosure Dell covered my trip to Boston).

    This was an interesting event in many ways because it was a diverse group some of whom were long-time EqualLogic and Compellent (both before and post acquisition) customers of various size or customers of Dell who have yet to buy storage from them.

    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)
    Click on above image for video feed

    Beyond the diversity of types of customers and their relationship with Dell, what also made this event interesting was that it was live streamed with professional produced video and audio in addition to twitter and other social media coverage. However what made the event even more interesting IMHO was the fact that being a live event (watch replay here) in video with audio as well as on twitter, the attendees were urged to speak freely with conversation among themselves providing feedback and commentary for Dell.

    Sure there were songs of praise when and were deserved, however unlike some made for social media vendor events that tend to be closer to sales pitches, this event also included some tough love feedback and comments for Dell, their products, services and events planner.


    Dell Storage CAP illustrators aka @ThinkLink

    Oh, did I mention that other than some members from the Dell social media team (@dell_storage) who were in the room to help facilitate and coordinate the event itself, the real discussions were free and independent of Dell employees (other than to remind not to avoid going into NDA land while live on the video and audio feed). Dell had @ThinkLink doing live illustrations capturing as images the discussion themes, topics and points of interests during the events that you can see examples of in the following images.

    Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)Dell Storage Customer Advisory Panel (CAP)

    Dell Flickr images from the Storage CAP session

    Kudos to Dell for having the courage, conviction and confidence to have a customer advisory panel event live streamed, that also allowed the attendees to speak their mind free of a script or talking points guide. The session included having each participant taking a turn of putting themselves in the general managers chair and saying what they would do, why, and how they would address customers and prospects.
    After all, its one thing to sit in the cheap seats, playing arm-chair quarterback saying what you want, it’s another saying why you need it, what the priority and impact are or would be and how to get the message to the customer. Some of the topics covered included Appassure for data protection, Compellent, EqualLogic and other recent acquisitions, products, service, support and community forums.

    Thanks to all who participated including @ThinkLink (illustrators), Dell Storage social media team (@dell_storage), Alison Krause (@AlisonDell), Gina Rosenthal (@gminks), Michelle Richard (@meesh_says) and particularly the participants Pete Koehler (@petergavink), Roger Lund (@rogerlund), Luigi Danakos (@nerdblurt), Dan Marbes (@danmarbes), Jeff Hengesbach (@jeffhengesbach), Steve Mickeler (@shmick), Ed Aractingi (@earactingi) and Dennis Heinle (@dheinle).

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    EPA Energy Star for data center storage draft 3 specification

    US EPA Energy Star for Data Center StorageUncle SAM wants you to be energy efficient and effective with optimized data center storage

    The U.S. EPA is ready to release DRAFT 3 of the Energy Star for data center storage specification and has an upcoming web session that you can sign up for if are not on their contact list of interested stake holders. If you are not familiar with the EPA Energy star for data center storage program, here is some background information.

    Thus if you are interested, see the email and information below, signup and take part if so inclined as opposed to saying that you did not have a chance to comment.

    Dear ENERGY STAR® Data Center Storage Manufacturer or Other Interested Party:

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would like to announce the release of the Draft 3 Version 1.0 ENERGY STAR Specification for Data Center Storage. The draft is attached and is accompanied by a cover letter and Draft Test Method. Stakeholders are invited to review these documents and submit comments to EPA via email to storage@energystar.gov by Friday, July 27, 2012.

    EPA will host a webinar on Wednesday, July 11, 2012, tentatively starting at 1:00PM EST. The agenda will be focused on elements from Draft 3, Product Families, and other key topics. Please RSVP to storage@energystar.gov no later than Tuesday, July 3, 2012 with the subject "RSVP – Storage Draft 3 specification meeting."

    If you have any questions, please contact Robert Meyers, EPA, at Meyers.Robert@epa.gov or (202) 343-9923; or John Clinger, ICF International, at John.Clinger@icfi.com or (202) 572-9432.

    Thank you for your continued support of the ENERGY STAR program.

    For more information, visit: www.energystar.gov

    This message was sent to you on behalf of ENERGY STAR. Each ENERGY STAR partner organization must have at least one primary contact receiving e-mail to maintain partnership. If you are no longer working on ENERGY STAR, and wish to be removed as a contact, please update your contact status in your MESA account. If you are not a partner organization and wish to opt out of receiving e-mails, you may call the ENERGY STAR Hotline at 1-888-782-7937 and request to have your mass mail settings changed. Unsubscribing means that you will no longer receive program-wide or product-specific e-mails from ENERGY STAR.

     

     

     

    Ok, you have been advised, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    NetApp on rough ground, or a diamond in the rough?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    In case you missed it, NetApp announced their most recent quarterly earnings a few weeks ago which in themselves were not bad. However what some of their competition jumping up and down for joy while others are scratching their heads is the forward-looking guidance given by NetApp.

    NetApp can be seen as being on rough ground given their forward-looking guidance over the next year which could be seen as either very conservative, or an admission that they are not growing as fast as some of their competitors are challenging them.

    Reading between the lines, looking at various financial and other resources in addition to factoring in technology items, there is more to NetApp then meets the eye and current stock price or product portfolio.

    For example, NetApp is sitting on over $4 Billion USD cash that they could use for an acquisition, buying back stock, launching a major sales and marketing initiative to expand into new or adjacent markets or other activities. Speaking of acquisitions, NetApp has done some in the past including Spinnaker, which is now integrated with Ontap (e.g. clustering), Topio, Decru (security encryption) and Onaro (DCIM and IRM management software tools). More recently, NetApp has acquired Bycast (archiving and policy storage management software), Akorri (capacity management and DCIM and IRM software) and Engenio. NetApp is also maintaining good margins via both direct, channel and OEM activities while launching new products such as the channel and SMB focused FAS 2220.

    Its arguable depending upon your point of view (or who you for or are a fan of) if NetApp has all the right product pieces now, in the works, or on their radar for acquisitions. Assuming that NetApp has the pieces, they also need to move beyond selling simply what is on the truck or what is safe and comfortable or perhaps easy to sell. This is not to say that NetApp is not being effective in selling what they have and pushing the envelope, however keeping in mind who their main competitor is, the old sales saying of being able to sell ice to an Eskimo comes to mind.

    Two companies on parralel tracks offset by time: EMC and NetApp

    In the case of NetApp, when the competition makes an issue about scalibility or performance of their flagship storage systems FAS and Ontap storage software, change the playing field leveraging all the tools in their portfolio. NetApp like EMC before them is figuring out how to sell via different channels or venues their complete portfolio with a mix of direct, channel and OEM. After all, it seems like only yesterday that EMC was trying to figure out where and when to sell CLARiiON (e.g. now VNX) as opposed to avoiding competing with the Symmetrix (aka now the VMAX) not to mention expanding from a direct to channel and OEM model. Perhaps NetApp can continue to figure out how to leverage more effectively the Engenio E series for big bandwidth beyond their current OEMs. NetApp can also leverage their existing partners who have embraced Bycast (aka StorageGrid) while finding new ones.

    The reality is that NetApp is being challenged by EMC who is moving down market into some of NetApp’s traditional accounts along with in the scale-out NAS and big data sectors. This is where NetApp can leverage their technical capabilities including people combined with some effective sales and marketing execution to change the playing field vs. responding to EMC and others.

    NetApp has many of the pieces, parts, products, people, programs and partners so now how can they leverage those to expand both their revenues, as well as support margin to grow the business, unless they are looking to be acquired.

    I still subscribe that NetApp and EMC are two similar companies on parallel tracks offset by time, by about a decade or decade and a half.

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Thus, IMHO NetApp is a diamond in the rough, granted I am guessing EMC and some others do not see it that way. However, there was a time when EMC was seen as a diamond in the rough while others discounted that notion, particularly an Itty Bitty Manufacturing company from New York who is now focusing on services among other things.

    Keep in mind however, diamonds can also be lost or taken as well as there can be fake gems.

    Here are some related links:
    Unified storage systems showdown: NetApp FAS vs. EMC VNX
    Two companies on parallel tracks moving like trains offset by time: EMC and NetApp
    NetApp buying LSI’s Engenio Storage Business Unit

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Green IT deferral blamed on economic recession might be result of green gap

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    I recently saw a comment somewhere that talked about Green IT being deferred or set aside due to lack of funding because of ongoing global economic turmoil. For those who see Green IT in the context of the green washing efforts that requiring spending to gain some benefits that I can understand. After all, if your goal is to simply go and be or be seen as being green, there is a cost to doing that.

    With tight or shrinking IT budgets, there are other realities and while organizations may want to do the right thing helping the environment, however that is often seen as overhead to financial conscious management.

    On the other hand, turn the green washing messaging off or at least dial-it back a bit as has been the case the past couple of years.

    Expand the Green IT discussion or change it around a bit from that of being seen or perceived as being green by energy efficiency or avoidance to that of effectiveness, enhanced productivity, doing more with what you have or with less and there is a different opportunity.

    That opportunity is to meet the financial and business goals or requirements that as a by-product help the environment. In other words, expand the focus of Green IT to that of economics and improving on resource effectiveness and the environment gets a free ride, or, Green gets self-funded.

    The Green and Virtual Data Center Book addressing optimization, effectivness, productivity and economics

    The challenge is what I refer to as the Green Gap, which is the disconnect between what is talked about (e.g. messaging) and thus perceived to be Green IT and where common IT opportunities exist (or missed opportunities have occurred).

    Green IT or at least the tenants of driving efficiency and effectiveness to use energy more effectively, address recycling and waste, removable of hazardous substance and other items continues to thrive. However, the green washing is subsiding and overtime organizations will not be as dismissive of Green IT in the context of improving productivity, reducing complexity and costs, optimization and related themes tied to economics where the environment gets a free ride.

    Here are some related links:
    Closing the Green Gap
    Energy efficient technology sales depend on the pitch
    EPA Energy Star for Data Center Storage Update
    Green IT Confusion Continues, Opportunities Missed!
    How to reduce your Data Footprint impact (Podcast)
    Optimizing storage capacity and performance to reduce your data footprint
    Performance metrics: Evaluating your data storage efficiency
    PUE, Are you Managing Power, Energy or Productivity?
    Saving Money with Green Data Storage Technology
    Saving Money with Green IT: Time To Invest In Information Factories
    Shifting from energy avoidance to energy efficiency
    Storage Efficiency and Optimization: The Other Green
    Supporting IT growth demand during economic uncertain times
    The new Green IT: Efficient, Effective, Smart and Productive
    The other Green Storage: Efficiency and Optimization
    The Green and Virtual Data Center Book (CRC Press, Intel Recommended Reading)

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    How much SSD do you need vs. want?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    I have been getting asked by IT customers, VAR’s and even vendors how much solid state device (SSD) storage is needed or should be installed to address IO performance needs to which my standard answer is it depends.

    I also am also being asked if there is rule of thumb (RUT) of how much SSD you should have either in terms of the number of devices or a percentage; IMHO, the answer is it depends. Sure, there are different RUTs floating around based on different environments, applications, workloads however are they applicable to your needs.

    What I would recommend is instead of focusing on percentages, RUTs, or other SWAG estimate’s or PIROMA calculations, look at your current environment and decide where the activity or issues are. If you know how many fast hard disk drives (HDD) are needed to get to a certain performance level and amount of used capacity that is a good starting point.

    If you do not have that information, use tools from your server, storage or third-party provider to gain insight into your activity to help size SSD. Also if you have a database environment and are not familiar with the tools, talk with your DBA’s to have them run some reports that show performance information the two of you can discuss to zero in hot spots or opportunity for SSD.

    Keep in mind when looking at SSD what is that you are trying to address by installing SSD. For example, is there a specific or known performance bottleneck resulting in poor response time or latency or is there a general problem or perceived opportunity?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Is there a lack of bandwidth for large data transfers or is there a constraint on how many IO operations per second (e.g. IOPS) or transaction or activity that can be done in a given amount of time. In other words the more you know where or what the bottleneck is including if you can trace it back to a single file, object, database, database table or other item the closer you are to answering how much SSD you will need.

    As an example if using third-party tools or those provided by SSD vendors or via other sources you decide that your IO bottleneck are database transaction logs and system paging files, then having enough SSD space capacity to fit those in part of the solution. However, what happens when you remove the first set of bottlenecks, what new ones will appear and will you have enough space capacity on your SSD to accommodate the next in line hot spot?

    Keep in mind that you may want more SSD however what can you get budget approval to buy now without having more proof and a business case. Get some extra SSD space capacity to use for what you are confident can address other bottlenecks, or, enable new capabilities.

    On other hand if you can only afford enough SSD to get started, make sure you also protect it. If you decide that two SSD devices (PCIe cache or target cards, drives or appliances) will take care of your performance and capacity needs, make sure to keep availability in mind. This means having extra SSD devices for RAID 1 mirroring, replication or other form of data protection and availability. Keep in mind that while traditional hard disk drive (HDD) storage is often gauged on cost per capacity, or dollar per GByte or dollar per TByte, with SSD measure its value on cost to performance. For example, how many IOPS, or response time improvement or bandwidth are obtained to meet your specific needs per dollar spent.

    Related links
    What is the best kind of IO? The one you do not have to do
    Is SSD dead? No, however some vendors might be
    Speaking of speeding up business with SSD storage
    Has SSD put Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s) On Endangered Species List?
    Why SSD based arrays and storage appliances can be a good idea (Part I)
    EMC VFCache respinning SSD and intelligent caching (Part I)
    SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments Part I: Spinning up to speed on SSD

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Only you can prevent cloud data loss

    Storage I/O trends

    Some of you might remember the saying from Smokey the bear, only you can prevent forest fires and for those who do not know about that, click on the image below.

    The reason I bring this up is that while cloud providers are responsible (see the cloud blame game) is that it is also up to the user or consumer to take some ownership and responsibility.

    Similar to vendor lock-in, the only one who can allow vendor lock in is the customer, granted a vendor can help influence the customer.

    The same theme applies to public clouds and cloud storage providers in that there is responsibility of providers along with government and industry regulations to help protect consumers or users. However, there is also the shared responsibility of the user and consumer to make informed decisions.

    What is your perspective on who is responsible for cloud data protection?

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Spring (May) 2012 StorageIO news letter

    StorageIO News Letter Image
    Spring (May) 2012 News letter

    Welcome to the Spring (May) 2012 edition of the Server and StorageIO Group (StorageIO) news letter. This follows the Fall (December) 2011 edition.

    You can get access to this news letter via various social media venues (some are shown below) in addition to StorageIO web sites and subscriptions.

    Click on the following links to view the Spring May 2012 edition as an HTML or PDF or, to go to the news letter page to view previous editions.

    You can subscribe to the news letter by clicking here.

    Enjoy this edition of the StorageIO newsletter, let me know your comments and feedback.

    Nuff said for now

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)
    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Various cloud, virtualization, server, storage I/O poll’s

    The following are a collection of on-going industry trends and perspectives poll’s pertaining to server, storage, IO, networking, cloud, virtualization, data protection (backup, archive, BC and DR) among other related themes and topics.

    In addition to those listed below, check out the comments section where additional poll’s are added over time.

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Here is a link to a poll as a follow-up to a recent blog post Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD? (also check these posts pertaining to storage arrays and SSD and flash SSD’s emerging role).

    Poll: Are large storage arrays day’s numbered?

    Poll: What’s your take on magnetic tape storage?

    Poll: What do you think of IT clouds?

    Poll: Who is responsible for cloud storage data loss?

    Poll: What are the most popular Zombie technologies?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What’s your take on OVA and other alliances?

    Poll: Where is most common form or concern of vendor lockin?

    Poll: Who is responsible for, or preventing vendor lockin?

    Poll: Is vendor lockin a good or bad thing?

    Poll: Is IBM V7000 relevant?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What is your take on EMC and NetApp on similar tracks or paths?

    Poll: What’s your take on RAID still being relevant?

    Poll: What do you see as barriers to converged networks?

    Poll: Who are you?

    Poll: What is your preferred converged network?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What is your converged network status?

    Poll: Are converged networks in your future?

    Poll: What do you think were top 2009 technologies, events or vendors?

    Poll: What technologies, events, products or vendors did not live up to 2009 predictions?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Poll: What do you think of IT clouds?

    Poll: What is your take on the new FTC blogger disclosure guidelines?

    Poll: Is RAID dead?

    Poll: When will you deploy Windows 7? Note: I upgraded all my systems to Windows 7 during summer of 2011

    Poll: EMC and Cisco VCE, what does it mean?

    Poll: Is IBM XIV still relevant?

    Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Note: Feel free to share, use and make reference to the above poll’s and their results however please remember to attribute the source.

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD?

    Storage I/O trends

    An industry trends and perspective.

    .

    Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD? Short answer NO not yet.
    There is still a place for traditional storage arrays or appliances particular those with extensive features, functionality and reliability availability serviceability (RAS). In other words, there is still a place for large (and small) storage arrays or appliances including those with SSDs.

    Is there a place for newer flash SSD storage systems, appliances and architectures? Yes
    Similar to how there is a place for traditional midrange storage arrays or appliances have found their roles vs. traditional higher end so-called enterprise arrays. Think as an example  EMC CLARiiON/VNX or HP EVA/P6000 or HDS AMS/HUS or NetApp FAS or IBM DS5000 or IBM V7000 among others vs. EMC Symmetrix/DMX/VMAX or HP P10000/3Par or HDS VSP/USP or IBM DS8000. In addition to traditional enterprise or high-end storage systems and midrange also known as modular, there are also specialized appliances or targets such as for backup/restore and archiving. Also do not forget the IO performance SSD appliances like those from TMS among others that have been around for a while.

    Is the role of large storage systems changing or evolving? Yes
    Given their scale and ability to do large amounts of work in a dense footprint, for some the role of these systems is still mission critical tier 1 application and data support. For other environments, their role continues to evolve being used for high-density tier 2 bulk or even near-line storage for on-line access at scale.

    Storage I/O trends

    Does this mean there is completion between the old and new systems? Yes
    In some circumstances as we have seen already with SSD solutions. Some will place as competing or replacements while others as complementing. For example in the PCIe flash SSD card segment EMC VFCache is positioned is complementing Dell, EMC, HDS, HP, IBM, NetApp, Oracle or others storage vs. FusionIO who positions as a replacement for the above and others. Another scenario is how some SSD vendors have and continue to position their all-flash SSD arrays using either drives or PCIe cards to complement and coexist with other storage systems in an environment (e.g. data center level tiering) vs. as a replacement. Also keep in mind SSD solutions that also support a mix of flash devices and traditional HDDs for capacity and cost savings or cloud access in the same solution.

    Does this mean that the industry has adopted all SSD appliances as the state of art?
    Avoid confusing industry adoption or talk with industry and customer deployment. They are similar, however one is focused on what the industry talks about or discusses as state of art or the future while the other is what customers are doing. Certainly some of the new flash SSD appliance and storage startups such as Solidfire, Nexgen, Violin, Whiptail or veteran TMS among others have promising futures, some of which may actually be in play with the current SSD market shakeout and consolidation.

    Does that mean everybody is going SSD?
    SSD customer adoption and deployment continues to grow, however so too does the deployment of high-capacity HDDs.

    Storage I/O trends

    Do SSDs need HDDs, do HDDs need SSDs? Yes
    Granted there are environments where needs can be addressed by all of one or the other. However at least near term, there is a very strong market for tiering and mix of SSD, some fast HDDs and lots of high-capacity HDDs to meet various needs including performance, availability, capacity, energy and economics. After all, there is no such thing, as a data or information recession yet budgets are tight or being reduced. Likewise, people and data are living longer.

    What does this mean?
    If there, were no such thing as a data recession and budgets a non-issue, perhaps everything could move to all flash SSD storage systems. However, we also know that people and data are living longer along with changing data life-cycle patterns. There is also the need for performance to close the traditional data center IO performance to space capacity gap and bottlenecks as well as store and keep data longer.

    There will continue to be a need for a mix of high-capacity and high performance. More IO will continue to gravitate towards the IO appliances, however more data will settle in for longer-term retention and continued access as data life-cycle continue to evolve. Watch for more SSD and cache in the large systems, along with higher density SAS-NL (SAS Near Line e.g. high capacity) type drives appearing in those systems.

    If you like new shiny new toys or technology (SNTs) to buy, sell or talk about, there will be plenty of those to continue industry adoption while for those who are focused on industry deployment, there will be a mix of new, and continued evolution for implementation.

    Related links
    Industry adoption vs. industry deployment, is there a difference?

    Industry trend: People plus data are aging and living longer

    No Such Thing as an Information Recession

    Changing Lifecycles & Data Footprint Reduction
    What is the best kind of IO? The one you do not have to do
    Is SSD dead? No, however some vendors might be
    Speaking of speeding up business with SSD storage
    Are Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s) getting too big?
    IT and storage economics 101, supply and demand
    Has SSD put Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s) On Endangered Species List?
    Why SSD based arrays and storage appliances can be a good idea (Part I)
    Researchers and marketers don’t agree on future of nand flash SSD
    EMC VFCache respinning SSD and intelligent caching (Part I)
    SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments Part I: Spinning up to speed on SSD

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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    More storage and IO metrics that matter

    It is great to see more conversations and coverage around storage metrics that matter beyond simply focusing on cost per GByte or TByte (e.g. space capacity). Likewise, it is also good to see conversations expanding beyond data footprint reduction (DFR) from a space capacity savings or reduction ratio to also address data movement and transfer rates. Also good to see is increase in discussion around input/output operations per section (IOPs) tying into conversations from virtualization, VDI, cloud to Sold State Devices (SSD).

    Other storage and IO metrics that matter include latency or response time, which is how fast work is done, or time spent. Latency also ties to IOPS in that as more work arrives to be done (IOPS) of various size, random or sequential, reads or writes, queue depths are an indicator of how well work is flowing. Another storage and IO metric that matters is availability because without it, performance or capacity can be affected. Likewise, without performance, availability can be affected.

    Needless to say that I am just scratching the surface here with storage and IO metrics that matter for physical, virtual and cloud environments from servers to networks to storage.

    Here is a link to a post I did called IO, IO, it is off to storage and IO metrics we go that ties in themes of performance measurements and solid-state disk (SSD) among others. Also check out this piece about why VASA (VMware storage analysis metrics) is important to have your VMware CASA along with Windows boot storage and IO performance for VDI and traditional planning purposes.

    Check out this post about metrics and measurements that matter along with this conversation about IOPs, capacity, bandwidth and purchasing discussion topics.

    Related links on storage IO metrics and SSD performance
    What is the best kind of IO? The one you do not have to do
    Is SSD dead? No, however some vendors might be
    Storage and IO metrics that matter
    IO IO it is off to Storage and IO metrics we go
    SSD and Storage System Performance
    Speaking of speeding up business with SSD storage
    Are Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s) getting too big?
    Has SSD put Hard Disk Drives (HDD’s) On Endangered Species List?
    Why SSD based arrays and storage appliances can be a good idea (Part I)
    IT and storage economics 101, supply and demand
    Researchers and marketers dont agree on future of nand flash SSD
    EMC VFCache respinning SSD and intelligent caching (Part I)
    SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments Part I: Spinning up to speed on SSD
    SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments Part II: The call to duty, SSD endurance
    SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments Part III: What type of SSD is best for you?
    SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments Part IV: What type of SSD is best for your needs

    Ok, nuff said for now

    Cheers Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

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    Part V: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue

    This is the fifth in a five-part series around the recent IBM PureSystems announcements. You can view the earlier post here.

    So what about vendor or technology lock in?
    So who is responsible for vendor or technology lock in? When I was working in IT organizations, (e.g. what vendors call the customer) the thinking was vendors are responsible for lock in. Later when I worked for different vendors (manufactures and VARs) the thinking was lock in is what was caused by the competition. More recently I’m of the mind set that vendor lock in is a shared responsibility issue and topic. I’m sure some marketing wiz or sales type will be happy to explain the subtle differences of how their solution does not cause lock in.

    Vendor lock in can be a shared responsibility. Generally speaking, lock in, stickiness and account control are essentially the same, or at least strive to get similar results. For example, vendor lock in too some has a negative stigma. However vendor stickiness may be a new term, perhaps even sounding cool thus it is not a concern. Remember the Mary Poppins song a spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down? In other words, sometimes changing and using a different term such as sticky vs. vendor lock in helps make the situation taste better.

    So what should you do?
    Take a closer look if you are considering converged infrastructures, cloud or data centers in a box, turnkey application or information services deployment platforms. Likewise, if you are looking at specific technologies such as those from Cisco UCS, Dell vStart, EMC Vblock (or via VCE), HP, NetApp FlexPod or Oracle (ExaLogic, ExaData, etc) among others, also check out the IBM PureSystems (Flex and PureApplication). Compare and contrast these converged solutions with your traditional procurement and deployment modes including cost of acquiring hardware, software, ongoing maintenance or service fees along with value or benefit of bundled tools. There may be a higher cost for converged systems in some scenarios, however compare on the value and benefit derived vs. doing the integration yourself.

    Compare and contrast how converged solutions enable, however also consider what constraints exists in terms of flexibility to reconfigure in the future or make other changes. For example as part of integration, does a solution take a lowest common denominator approach to software and firmware revisions for compatibility that may lag behind what you can apply to standalone components. Also, compare and contrast various reference architectures with different solution bundles or packages.

    Most importantly compare and evaluate the solutions on their ability to meet and exceed your base requirements while adding value and enabling return on innovation while also being cost-effective. Do not be scared of these bundled solutions; however do your homework to make informed decisions including overcoming any concerns of lock in or future costs and fees. While these types of solutions are cool or interesting from a technology perspective and can streamline acquisition and deployment, make sure that there is a business benefit that can be addressed as well as enablement of new capabilities.

    So what does this all mean?
    Congratulations to IBM with their PureSystems for leveraging their DNA and roots bundling what had been unbundled before cloud and stacks were popular and trendy. IBM has done a good job of talking vision and strategy along lines of converged and dynamic, elastic and smart, clouds and other themes for past couple of years while selling the pieces as parts of solutions or ala carte or packaged by their ISVs and business partners.

    What will be interesting to see is if bladecenter customers shift to buying PureFlex, which should be an immediate boost to give proof points of adoption, while essentially up selling what was previously available. However, more interesting will be to see if net overall new customers and footprints are sold as opposed to simply selling a newer and enhanced version of previous components.

    In other words will IBM be able to keep up their focus and execution where they have sold the previous available components, while also holding onto current ISV and BP footprint sales and perhaps enabling those partners to recapture some hardware and solution sales that had been unbundled (e.g. ISV software sold separate of IBM platforms) and move into new adjacent markets.

    Here are some links to learn more:
    Various IBM Redbooks and related content
    The blame game: Does cloud storage result in data loss?
    What do you need when its time to buy a new server?
    2012 industry trends perspectives and commentary (predictions)
    Convergence: People, Processes, Policies and Products
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    The function of XaaS(X) Pick a letter
    Hard product vs. soft product
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    Part I: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part II: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part III: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part IV: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part V: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

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    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

    Here are some links to learn more:
    Various IBM Redbooks and related content
    The blame game: Does cloud storage result in data loss?
    What do you need when its time to buy a new server?
    2012 industry trends perspectives and commentary (predictions)
    Convergence: People, Processes, Policies and Products
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    The function of XaaS(X) – Pick a letter
    Hard product vs. soft product
    Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011
    Part I: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part II: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part III: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part IV: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Part V: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
    Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking

    Ok, so what is next, lets see how this unfolds for IBM and their partners.

    Nuff said for now.

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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    Going dutch and other Spring 2012 StorageIO activities

    Spring 2012 StorageIO traveling out and about events are underway with activities already having occurred in New York City along with several online live and recorded web casts that you can find here and backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving. Other upcoming events and traveling to various venues include Dallas (SNW), San Francisco, Washington DC, Nijkerk Netherlands and Las Vegas among others you can see here. Themes and topics of these and other events include data center convergence, infrastructure optimization, data protection modernization, data protection for virtual and cloud environments, performance and capacity planning, metrics that matter and strategy among others.

    Greg in action Nijkerk Storage Seminar

    For those of you in the Netherlands, or elsewhere in Europe, I’m going to be doing a two-day seminar for storage professionals along with for those involved in strategy, architecture and related data infrastructure topics on May 7 and 8. On May 9, I will be doing a deep dive companion seminar. You can learn more about these seminars being organized by Brouwer Consultancy in Nijkerk Netherlands by visiting their site here which includes agenda and related information.

    Watch for more events, seminars, webinars and virtual trade shows by visiting the StorageIO events page.

    Drop me a note if you would like to schedule or arrange for a seminar or event near you.

    Ok, nuff said for now, see you out and about

    Cheers
    Gs

    Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

    twitter @storageio

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2012 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved