Category: Power and Cooling

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Server Storage I/O Cables Connectors Chargers & other Geek Gifts

Server Storage I/O Cables Connectors Chargers & other Geek Gifts

server storage I/O trends

This is part one of a two part series for what to get a geek for a gift, read part two here.

It is that time of the year when annual predictions are made for the upcoming year, including those that will be repeated next year or that were also made last year.

It’s also the time of the year to get various projects wrapped up, line up new activities, get the book-keeping things ready for year-end processing and taxes, as well as other things.

It’s also that time of the year to do some budget and project planning including upgrades, replacements, enhancements while balancing an over-subscribed holiday party schedule some of you may have.

Lets not forget getting ready for vacations, perhaps time off from work with some time upgrading your home lab or other projects.

Then there are the gift lists or trying to figure out what to get that difficult to shop for person particular geek’s who may have everything, or want the latest and greatest that others have, or something their peers don’t have yet.

Sure I have a DJI Phantom II on my wish list, however also have other things on my needs list (e.g. what I really need and want vs. what would be fun to wish for).

DJI Phantom helicopter drone
Image via DJI.com, click on image to learn more and compare models

So here are some things for the geek or may have everything or is up on having the latest and greatest, yet forgot or didn’t know about some of these things.

Not to mention some of these might seem really simple and low-cost, think of them like a Lego block or erector set part where your imagination will be your boundary how to use them. Also, most if not all of these are budget friendly particular if you shop around.

Replace a CD/DVD with 4 x 2.5″ HDD’s or SSD’s

So you need to add some 2.5" SAS or SATA HDD’s, SSD’s, HHDD’s/SSHD’s to your server for supporting your VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM, Xen, OpenStack, Hadoop or legacy *nix or Windows environment or perhaps gaming system. Challenge is that you are out of disk drive bay slots and you want things neatly organized vs. a rat’s nest of cables hanging out of your system. No worries assuming your server has an empty media bay (e.g. those 5.25" slots where CDs/DVDs or really old HDD’s go), or if you can give up the CD/DVD, then use that bay and its power connector to add ones of these. This is a 4 x 2.5" SAS and SATA drive bay that has a common power connector (molex male) with each drive bay having its own SATA drive connection. By each drive having its own SATA connection you can map the drives to an on-board available SATA port attached to a SAS or SATA controller, or attach an available port on a RAID adapter to the ports using a cable such as small form factor (SFF) 8087 to SATA.

sas storage enclosuresas sata storage enclosure
(Left) Rear view with Molex power and SATA cables (Right) front view

I have a few of these in different systems and what I like about them is that they support different drive speeds, plus they will accept a SAS drive where many enclosures in this category only support SATA. Once you mount your 2.5" HDD or SSD using screws, you can hot swap (requires controller and OS support) the drives and move them between other similar enclosures as needed. The other thing I like is that there are front indicator lights as well as by each drive having its own separate connection, you can attach some of the drives to a RAID adapter while others connected to on-board SATA ports. Oh, and you can also have different speeds of drives as well.

Power connections

Depending on the type of your server, you may have Molex, SATA or some other type of power connections. You can use different power connection cables to go from one type (Molex) to another, create a connection for two devices, create an extension to reach hard to get to mounting locations.

Warning and disclosure note, keep in mind how much power you are drawing when attaching devices to not cause an electrical or fire hazard, follow manufactures instructions and specification doing so at your own risk! After all, Just like Clark Grizzwald in National Lampoon Christmas Vacation who found you could attach extension cord to splitters to splitters and fan-out to have many lights attached, you don’t want to cause a fire or blackout when you plug to many drives in.


National Lampoon Christmas Vacation

Measuring Power

Ok so you do not want to do a Clark Grizzwald (see above video) and overload a power circuit, or perhaps you simply want to know how many watts, amps or quality of your voltage is.

There are many types of power meters along with various prices, some even have interfaces where you can grab event data to correlate with server storage I/O networking performance to do things such as IOP’s per watt among other metrics. Speaking of IOP’s per watt, check out the SNIA Emerald site where they have some good tools including a benchmark script that uses Vdbench to drive hot band workload (e.g. basically kick the crap out of a storage system).

Back to power meters, I like the Kill A Watt series of meters as they give good info about amps, volts, power quality. I have these plugged into outlets so I can see how much power is being used by the battery backup units (BBU) aka UPS that also serve as power surge filters. If needed I can move these further downstream to watch the power intake of a specific server, storage, network or other device.

Kill A Watt Power meter

Standby and backup power

Electrical power surge strips should be a given or considered common sense, however what is or should be common sense should be repeated so that it remains common sense, you should be using power surge strips or other devices.

Standby, UPS and BBU

For most situations a good surge suppressor will cover short power transients.

APC power strips and battery backup
Image via APC and model similar to those that I have

For slightly longer power outages of a few seconds to minutes, that’s where battery backup up (BBU) units that also have surge suppression comes into play. There are many types, sizes with various features to meet your needs and budget. I have several of theses in a couple of different sizes not only for servers, storage and networking equipment (including some WiFi access points, routers, etc), I also have them for home things such as satellite DVR’s. However not everything needs to stay on while others simply need to stay on long-enough in order to shutdown manually or via automated power off sequences.

Alternate Power Generation

Generators are not just for the rich and famous or large data center, like other technologies they are available in different sizes, power capacity, fuel sources, manual or automated among other things.

kohler residential generator
Image via Kohler Power similar to model that I have

Note that even with a typical generator there will be a time gap from the time power goes off until the generator starts, stabilizes and you have good power. That’s where the BBU and UPS mentioned above comes into play to bridge those time gaps which in my cases is about 25-30 seconds. Btw, knowing how much power your technology is drawing using tools such as the Kill A Watt is part of the planning process to avoid surprises.

What about Solar Power

Yup, whether it is to fit in and be green, or simply to get some electrical power when or where it is not needed to charge a battery or power some device, these small solar power devices are very handy.

solar charger
Image via Amazon.com
solar battery charger
Image via Amazon.com

For example you can get or easily make an adapter to charge laptops, cell phones or even power them for normal use (check manufactures information on power usage, Amps and Voltage draws among other warnings to prevent fire and other things). Btw, not only are these handy for computer related things, they also work great for keeping batteries on my fishing boat charged so that I have my fish finder and other electronics, just saying.

Fire suppression

How about a new or updated smoke and fire detection alarm monitor, as well as fire extinguisher for the geek’s software defined hardware that runs on power (electrical or battery)?

The following is from the site Fire Extinguisher 101 where you can learn more about different types of suppression technologies.

Image via Fire Extinguisher 101
  • Class A extinguishers are for ordinary combustible materials such as paper, wood, cardboard, and most plastics. The numerical rating on these types of extinguishers indicates the amount of water it holds and the amount of fire it can extinguish. Geometric symbol (green triangle)
  • Class B fires involve flammable or combustible liquids such as gasoline, kerosene, grease and oil. The numerical rating for class B extinguishers indicates the approximate number of square feet of fire it can extinguish. Geometric symbol (red square)
  • Class C fires involve electrical equipment, such as appliances, wiring, circuit breakers and outlets. Never use water to extinguish class C fires – the risk of electrical shock is far too great! Class C extinguishers do not have a numerical rating. The C classification means the extinguishing agent is non-conductive. Geometric symbol (blue circle)
  • Class D fire extinguishers are commonly found in a chemical laboratory. They are for fires that involve combustible metals, such as magnesium, titanium, potassium and sodium. These types of extinguishers also have no numerical rating, nor are they given a multi-purpose rating – they are designed for class D fires only. Geometric symbol (Yellow Decagon)
  • Class K fire extinguishers are for fires that involve cooking oils, trans-fats, or fats in cooking appliances and are typically found in restaurant and cafeteria kitchens. Geometric symbol (black hexagon)

Wrap up for part I

This wraps up part I of what to get a geek V2014, continue reading part II here.

Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

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Part II 2014 Server Storage I/O Geek Gift ideas

Part II 2014 Server Storage I/O Geek Gift ideas

server storage I/O trends

This is part two of a two part series for what to get a geek for a gift, read part one here.

KVM switch

Not to be confused with a software defined network (SDN) switch for the KVM virtualization hypervisor, how about the other KVM switch?

kvm switch
My KVM switch in use, looks like five servers are powered on.

If you have several servers or devices that need a Keyboard Video Mouse connection, or are using A/B box or other devices, why not combine using a KVM switch. I bought the Startech shown above from Amazon which works out to be under $40 a port (connection) meaning I do not have to have Keyboards, Video monitors or Mouse for each of those systems.

With my KVM shown above, I have used the easy setup to name each of the ports via the management software so that when a button is pressed, not only does the applicable screen appear, also a graphic text message overlay tell me which server is being displayed. This is handy for example as I have some servers that are identical (e.g. Lenovo TS140s) running VMware that a quick glance can help me verify I’m on the right one (e.g. without looking at the VMware host name or IP). This feature is also handy during power on self test (POST) when the servers physical or logical (e.g. VMware, Windows, Hyper-V, Ubuntu, Openstack, etc..) identity is known. Another thing I like about these is that on the KVM switch there is a single VGA type connector, while on the server end there is a VGA connector for attaching to the monitor port of the device, and a break out cable with USB for attaching to server to get Keyboard and Mouse.

Single drive shoe box

Usually things are in larger server or storage systems enclosures, however now and then there is the need to supply power to a HDD or SSD along with a USB or eSATA interface for attaching to a system. These are handy and versatile little aluminum enclosures.

single drive sata enclosuredisk enclosure

Note that you can now also find these types of cables that can do same or similar function for in side a server connection (check out this cable among others at Amazon)

USB-SATA cable

It would be easy to assume that everybody would have these by now particular since everybody (depending on who you listen to or what you read) has probably converted from a HDD to SSD. However for those who have not done an HDD to SSD, or simply a HDD to newer HDD conversion, or that have an older HDD (or SSD) lying around, these cables come in very handy. attach one end (e.g. the SATA end) to a HDD or SSD and the other to a USB port on a laptop, tablet or server. Caveat however with these is that they generally only have power (via USB) for a 2.5″ type drive so for a larger more power-hungry 3.5″ device, you would need a different powered cable, or small shoe box type enclosure.

eSATA cable
(Left) USB to SATA and (Right) eSATA to SATA cables

Mophie USB charger

There are many different types of mobile device chargers available along with multi-purpose cables. I like the Mophie which I received at an event from NetApp (Thanks NetApp) and the flexible connector I received from Dyn while at AWS re:Invent 2014 (Thanks Dyn, I’m also a Dyn customer fwiw).
power chargerpower cable
(Left) Mophie Power station and (Right) multi-connector cable

The Mohpie has USB connector so that you can charge it via a charging station or via a computer, as well as attach a USB to Apple or other device connector. There is also a small connector for attach to other devices. This is where the dandy Dyn device comes into play as it has a USB as well as Apple and many other common connectors as shown in the figure below. Google around and I’m sure you can find both for sale, or as giveaways or something similar.

SAS SATA Interposer

sas interposerserver storage power
(Left) SAS to SATA interposer (Right) Molex power with SATA connector to SAS

Note that the above are intended for passing a SAS signal from a device such as HDD or SSD to a SAS based controller that happens to have SATA mechanical or keyed interfaces such as with some servers. This means that the real controller needs to be SAS and the attached drives can be SATA or SAS keeping in mind that a SATA device can plug into a SAS controller however not vise versa. You can find the above at Amazon among other venues. Need a dual-lane SAS connector as an alternative to the one shown above on the right, then check this one out at Amazon.

Need to learn more about the many different facets of SAS and related technologies including how it coexists with iSCSI, Fibre Channel (FC), FCoE, InfiniBand and other interfaces, how about getting a free copy of SAS SANs for Dummies?

SAS SANS for dummies

There are also these for doing board level connections

esata connectorsata to esata cablesata male to male gender changer
Some additional SAS and SATA drive connectors

In the above on the left are a female to female SATA cable with a male to male SATA gender changer attached to be used for example between a storage device and the SATA connector port on a servers motherboard, HBA or RAID controller. In the middle are shown some SATA female to female cables, as well as a SATA to eSATA (external SATA) cable (middle), and on the right are some SATA Male to SATA Male gender changes also shown being used on the left in the above figures.

Internal Power cable / connectors

If you or your geek are doing things in the lab or other environment adding and reconfiguring devices such as some of those mentioned above (or below), sooner or later there will be the need to do something with power cables and connectors.

power meter
Various cables, adapters and extender

In the above figure are shown (top to bottom) a SATA male to molex, SATA female to SATA male and to its right SATA female to Molex. Below that are two SATA females to Molex, below that is a SATA male to dual Molex and on the bottom is a single SATA to dual SATA. Needless to say there are many other combinations of connectors as well as different genders (e.g. Male or Female) along with extenders. As mentioned above, pay attention to manufacturers recommend power draw and safety notices to prevent accidental electric shock or fire.

Intel Edison kit for IoT and IoD

Are you or your geek into the Internet of Things (IoT) or Internet of Devices (IoD) or other similar things and gadgets? Have you heard about Intel’s Edison breakout board for doing software development and attachment of various hardware things? Looking for something to move beyond a Raspberry Pi system?

Intel Edison boardIntel Edison kits
Images via Intel.com

Over the hills, through the woods WiFi

This past year I found Nanostation extended WiFi devices that solved a challenge (problem) which was how to get a secure WiFi signal up to a couple hundred yards through a thick forest between some hill’s.


Image via UBNT.com, check out their other models as well as resources for different deployments

The problem was it was to far and too many tree’s with leaves use a regular WiFi connection and too far to run cable if I did not need to. I found the solution by getting a pair of the Nanostation M2 putting them into bridge mode, then doing some alignment with their narrow beam antennas to bounce a signal through the woods. For those who simply need to go a long distance, these devices can be reconfigured to go several km’s line of sight. Click on the image above to see other models of the Nanostation as well as links to various resources on how they can be used for other things or deployments.

How about some software

  • UpDraft Backup – This is a WordPress blog plugin that I use to back up my entire web including the templates, plug-ins, MySQL database and all other related components. While my dedicated private server gets backed up by my service provider (Bluehost), I wanted an extra detail of protection along with a copy placed at a different place (e.g. at my AWS account). Updraft is an example of an emerging class of tools for backing up and protecting cloud based and cloud born data. For example EMC recently acquired cloud backup startup Spanning who has the ability of protecting Salesforce, Google and other cloud based data.
  • Visual ESXtop – This is a great free tool that provides a nice interface and remote access for doing ESXtop functions normally accomplished from the ESXi console.
  • Microsoft Diskspd – If you or your geek is into server storage I/O performance and benchmark that has a Windows environment and looking for something besides Iometer, have them download the Microsoft Diskspd free utility.
  • Futuremark PCmark – Speaking of server storage I/O performance, check out Futuremark PCmark which will give your computer a great workout from graphics and video to compute, storage I/O and other common tasks.
  • RV Tools – Need to know more about your VMware virtual environment, take a quick inventory or something else, then your geek should have a copy of RV Tools from Robware.
  • iVMControl – For that vgeek how wants to be able to do simple VMware tasks from an iPhone, check out iVMControl tools. Its great, I don’t use it a lot, however there are times where I don’t need to or want to use a tablet or PC to reach my VMware environment, that’s when this virtual gadget comes into play.

Livescribe Digital Pen and Paper

How about a Livescribe digital pen and paper? Sure you can use a PC, Apple or other tablet, however some things are still easier done on a traditional paper and virtual pen. I got one of these about a year ago and use it for note taking, mocking up slides for presentations and in some cases have used this for creating figures and other things. It would be easy to see and place the Livescribe and a Windows or other tablet as an either or competitive however for me, I still see where they are better together addressing different things, at least for now.

livescribe digital penlivescribe digital pen

(Left) using my Livescribe and Echo digital pen (Right) resulting exported .Png

Tip: I you noticed in the above left image (e.g. the original) the lines in the top figure, compared to the lines in the figure on the right are different. If you encounter your livescribe causing lines to run on or into each other it is because your digital pen tip is sticking. It’s easy to check by looking at the tip of your digital pen and see if the small red light is on or off, or if it stays on when you press the pen tip. If it stays on, reset the pen tip. Also when you write, make sure to lift up on the pen tip so that it releases, otherwise you will get results like those shown on the right.

livescribe digital penlivescribe digital pen
(Left) Livescribe Digital Desktop (Middle) Imported Digital Document (Right) Exported PNG

Also check out this optional application that turns a Livescribe Echo pen like mine into a digital tablet allowing you to draw on-screen with certain applications and webinar tools.

Some books for the geek

Speaking of reading, for those who are not up on the No SQL and alternative SQL based databases including Mongo, Hbase, Riak, Cassandra, MySQL, add Seven Databases in Seven Weeks to your liust. Click on the image to read my book review of it as well as links to order it from Amazon. Seven Databases in Seven Weeks (A Guide to Modern Databases and the NoSQL Movement) is a book written Eric Redmond (@coderoshi) and Jim Wilson (@hexlib), part of The Pragmatic Programmers (@pragprog) series that takes a look at several non SQL based database systems.

seven database nosql

Where to get the above items

  • Ebay for new and used
  • Amazon for new and used
  • Newegg
  • PC Pit stop
  • And many other venues

What this all means

Note: Some of the above can be found at your favorite trade show or conference so keep that in mind for future gift giving.

What interesting geek gift ideas or wish list items do you have?

Of course if you have anything interesting to mention feel free to add it to the comments (keep it clean though ;) or feel free to send to me for future mention.

In the meantime have a safe and happy holiday season for what ever holiday you enjoy celebrating anytime of the year.

Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

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Part II: Revisiting re:Invent 2014, Lambda and other AWS updates

server storage I/O trends

Part II: Revisiting re:Invent 2014 and other AWS updates

This is part two of a two-part series about Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent 2014 and other recent cloud updates, read part one here.

AWS re:Invent 2014

AWS re:Invent announcements

Announcements and enhancements made by AWS during re:Invent include:

  • Key Management Service (KMS)
  • Amazon RDS for Aurora
  • Amazon EC2 Container Service
  • AWS Lambda
  • Amazon EBS Enhancements
  • Application development, deployed and life-cycle management tools
  • AWS Service Catalog
  • AWS CodeDeploy
  • AWS CodeCommit
  • AWS CodePipeline

AWS Lambda

In addition to announcing new higher performance Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) compute instances along with container service, another new service is AWS Lambda. Lambda is a service that automatically and quickly runs your applications code in response to events, activities, or other triggers. In addition to running your code, Lambda service is billed in 100 millisecond increments along with corresponding memory use vs. standard EC2 per hour billing. What this means is that instead of paying for an hour of time for your code to run, you can choose to use the Lambda service with more fine-grained consumption billing.

Lambda service can be used to have your code functions staged ready to execute. AWS Lambda can run your code in response to S3 bucket content (e.g. objects) changes, messages arriving via Kinesis streams or table updates in databases. Some examples include responding to event such as a web-site click, response to data upload (photo, image, audio, file or other object), index, stream or analyze data, receive output from a connected device (think Internet of Things IoT or Internet of Device IoD), trigger from an in-app event among others. The basic idea with Lambda is to be able to pay for only the amount of time needed to do a particular function without having to have an AWS EC2 instance dedicated to your application. Initially Lambda supports Node.js (JavaScript) based code that runs in its own isolated environment.

AWS cloud example
Various application code deployment models

Lambda service is a pay for what you consume, charges are based on the number of requests for your code function (e.g. application), amount of memory and execution time. There is a free tier for Lambda that includes 1 million requests and 400,000 GByte seconds of time per month. A GByte second is the amount of memory (e.g. DRAM vs. storage) consumed during a second. An example is your application is run 100,000 times and runs for 1 second consuming 128MB of memory = 128,000,000MB = 128,000GB seconds. View various pricing models here on the AWS Lambda site that show examples for different memory sizes, times a function runs and run time.

How much memory you select for your application code determines how it can run in the AWS free tier, which is available to both existing and new customers. Lambda fees are based on the total across all of your functions starting with the code when it runs. Note that you could have from one to thousands or more different functions running in Lambda service. As of this time, AWS is showing Lambda pricing as free for the first 1 million requests, and beyond that, $0.20 per 1 million request ($0.0000002 per request) per duration. Duration is from when you code runs until it ends or otherwise terminates rounded up to the nearest 100ms. The Lambda price also depends on the amount of memory you allocated for your code. Once past the 400,000 GByte second per month free tier the fee is $0.00001667 for every GB second used.

Why use AWS Lambda vs. an EC2 instance

Why would you use AWS Lambda vs. provisioning an Container, EC2 instance or running your application code function on a traditional or virtual machine?

If you need control and can leverage an entire physical server with its operating system (O.S.), application and support tools for your piece of code (e.g. JavaScript), that could be an option. If you simply need to have an isolated image instance (O.S., applications and tools) for your code on a shared virtual on-premises environment then that can be an option. Likewise if you have the need to move your application to an isolated cloud machine (CM) that hosts an O.S. along with your application paying for those resources such as on an hourly basis, that could be your option. Simply need a lighter-weight container to drop your application into that’s where Docker and containers comes into play to off-load some of the traditional application dependencies overhead.

However, if all you want to do is to add some code logic to support processing activity for example when an object, file or image is uploaded to AWS S3 without having to standup an EC2 instance along with associated server, O.S. and complete application activity, that’s where AWS Lambda comes into play. Simply create your code (initially JavaScript) and specify how much memory it needs, define what events or activities will trigger or invoke the event, and you have a solution.

View AWS Lambda pricing along with free tier information here.

Amazon EBS Enhancements

AWS is increasing the performance and size of General Purpose SSD and Provisioned IOP’s SSD volumes. This means that you can create volumes up to 16TB and 10,000 IOP’s for AWS EBS general-purpose SSD volumes. For EBS Provisioned IOP’s SSD volumes you can create up to 16TB for 20,000 IOP’s. General-purpose SSD volumes deliver a maximum throughput (bandwidth) of 160 MBps and Provisioned IOP SSD volumes have been specified by AWS at 320MBps when attached to EBS optimized instances. Learn more about EBS capabilities here. Verify your IO size and verify AWS sizing information to avoid surprises as all IO sizes are not considered to be the same. Learn more about Provisioned IOP’s, optimized instances, EBS and EC2 fundamentals in this StorageIO AWS primer here.

Application development, deployed and life-cycle management tools

In addition to compute and storage resource enhancements, AWS has also announced several tools to support application development, configuration along with deployment (life-cycle management). These include tools that AWS uses themselves as part of building and maintaining the AWS platform services.

AWS Config (Preview e.g. early access prior to full release)

Management, reporting and monitoring capabilities including Data center infrastructure management (DCIM) for monitoring your AWS resources, configuration (including history), governance, change management and notifications. AWS Config enables similar capabilities to support DCIM, Change Management Database (CMDB), trouble shooting and diagnostics, auditing, resource and configuration analysis among other activities. Learn more about AWS Config here.

AWS Service Catalog

AWS announced a new service catalog that will be available in early 2015. This new service capability will enable administrators to create and manage catalogs of approved resources for users to use via their personalized portal. Learn more about AWS service catalog here.

AWS CodeDeploy

To support code rapid deployment automation for EC2 instances, AWS has released CodeDeploy. CodeDeploy masks complexity associated with deployment when adding new features to your applications while reducing human error-prone operations. As part of the announcement, AWS mentioned that they are using CodeDeploy as part of their own applications development, maintenance, and change-management and deployment operations. While suited for at scale deployments across many instances, CodeDeploy works with as small as a single EC2 instance. Learn more about AWS CodeDeploy here.

AWS CodeCommit

For application code management, AWS will be making available in early 2015 a new service called CodeCommit. CodeCommit is a highly scalable secure source control service that host private Git repositories. Supporting standard functionalities of Git, including collaboration, you can store things from source code to binaries while working with your existing tools. Learn more about AWS CodeCommit here.

AWS CodePipeline

To support application delivery and release automation along with associated management tools, AWS is making available CodePipeline. CodePipeline is a tool (service) that supports build, checking workflow’s, code staging, testing and release to production including support for 3rd party tool integration. CodePipeline will be available in early 2015, learn more here.

Additional reading and related items

Learn more about the above and other AWS services by actually truing hands on using their free tier (AWS Free Tier). View AWS re:Invent produced breakout session videos here, audio podcasts here, and session slides here (all sessions may not yet be uploaded by AWS re:Invent)

What this all means

AWS amazon web services

AWS continues to invest as well as re-invest into its environment both adding new feature functionality, as well as expanding the extensibility of those features. This means that AWS like other vendors or service providers adds new check-box features, however they also like some increase the depth extensibility of those capabilities. Besides adding new features and increasing the extensibility of existing capabilities, AWS is addressing both the data and information infrastructure including compute (server), storage and database, networking along with associated management tools while also adding extra developer tools. Developer tools include life-cycle management supporting code creation, testing, tracking, testing, change management among other management activities.

Another observation is that while AWS continues to promote the public cloud such as those services they offer as the present and future, they are also talking hybrid cloud. Granted you have to listen carefully as you may not simply hear hybrid cloud used like some toss it around, however listen for and look into AWS Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), along with what you can do using various technologies via the AWS marketplace. AWS is also speaking the language of enterprise and traditional IT from an applications and development to data and information infrastructure perspective while also walking the cloud talk. What this means is that AWS realizes that they need to help existing environments evolve and make the transition to the cloud which means speaking their language vs. converting them to cloud conversations to then be able to migrate them to the cloud. These steps should make AWS practical for many enterprise environments looking to make the transition to public and hybrid cloud at their pace, some faster than others. More on these and some related themes in future posts.

The AWS re:Invent event continues to grow year over year, I heard a figure of over 12,000 people however it was not clear if that included exhibiting vendors, AWS people, attendees, analyst, bloggers and media among others. However a simple validation is that the keynotes were in the larger rooms used by events such as EMCworld and VMworld when they hosted in Las Vegas as was the expo space vs. what I saw last year while at re:Invent. Unlike some large events such as VMworld where at best there is a waiting queue or line to get into sessions or hands on lab (HOL), while becoming more crowded, AWS re:Invent is still easy to get in and spend some time using the HOL which is of course powered by AWS meaning you can resume what you started while at re:Invent later. Overall a good event and nice series of enhancements by AWS, looking forward to next years AWS re:Invent.

Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

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What does server storage I/O scaling mean to you?

What does server storage I/O scaling mean to you?

Scaling means different things to various people depending on the context or what it is referring to.

For example, scaling can me having or doing more of something, or less as well as referring to how more, or less of something is implemented.

Scaling occurs in a couple of different dimensions and ways:

  • Application workload attributes – Performance, Availability, Capacity, Economics (PACE)
  • Stability without compromise or increased complexity
  • Dimension and direction – Scaling-up (vertical), scaling-out (horizontal), scaling-down

Scaling PACE – Performance Availability Capacity Economics

Often I hear people talk about scaling only in the context of space capacity. However there are aspects including performance, availability as well as scaling-up or scaling-out. Scaling from application workloads perspectives include four main group themes which are performance, availability, capacity and economics (as well as energy).

  • Performance – Transactions, IOP’s, bandwidth, response time, errors, quality of service
  • Availability – Accessibility, durability, reliability, HA, BC, DR, Backup/Restore, BR, data protection, security
  • Capacity – Space to store information or place for workload to run on a server, connectivity ports for networks
  • Economics – Capital and operating expenses, buy, rent, lease, subscription

Scaling with Stability

The latter of the above items should be thought of more in terms of a by-product, result or goal for implementing scaling. Scaling should not result in a compromise of some other attribute such as increasing performance and loss of capacity or increased complexity. Scaling with stability also means that as you scale in some direction, or across some attribute (e.g. PACE), there should not be a corresponding increase in complexity of management, or loss of performance and availability. To use a popular buzz-term scaling with stability means performance, availability, capacity, economics should scale linear with their capabilities or perhaps cost less.

Scaling directions: Scaling-up, scaling-down, scaling-out

server and storage i/o scale options

Some examples of scaling in different directions include:

  • Scaling-up (vertical scaling with bigger or faster)
  • Scaling-down (vertical scaling with less)
  • Scaling-out (horizontal scaling with more of what being scaled)
  • Scaling-up and out (combines vertical and horizontal)

Of course you can combine the above in various combinations such as the example of scaling up and out, as well as apply different names and nomenclature to see your needs or preferences. The following are a closer look at the above with some simple examples.

server and storage i/o scale up
Example of scaling up (vertically)

server and storage i/o scale down
Example of scaling-down (e.g. for smaller scenarios)

server and storage i/o scale out
Example of scaling-out (horizontally)

server and storage i/o scale out
Example of scaling-out and up(horizontally and vertical)

Summary and what this means

There are many aspects to scaling, as well as side-effects or impacts as a result of scaling.

Scaling can refer to different workload attributes as well as how to support those applications.

Regardless of what you view scaling as meaning, keep in mind the context of where and when it is used and that others might have another scale view of scale.

Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

Posted on

September October 2014 Server and StorageIO Update Newsletter

September and October 2014

Hello and welcome to this joint September and October Server and StorageIO update newsletter. Since the August newsletter, things have been busy with a mix of behind the scenes projects, as well as other activities including several webinars, on-line along with in-person events in the US as well as Europe.

Enjoy this edition of the Server and StorageIO update newsletter and watch for new tips, articles, StorageIO lab report reviews, blog posts, videos and podcasts along with in the news commentary appearing soon.

Cheers gs

Industry Trends and Perspectives

Storage trends

In September I was invited to do a key-note opening presentation at the MSP area CMG event. Theme for the September CMG event was "Flash – A Real Life Experience" with a focus of what people are doing, how testing and evaluating including use of hybrid solutions as opposed to vendor marketing sessions. My session was titled "Flash back to reality – Myths and Realities, Flash and SSD Industry trends perspectives plus benchmarking tips and can be found here. Thanks to Tom Becchetti an the MSP CMG (@mspcmg) folks for a great event.

There are many facets to hybrid storage including different types of media (SSD and HDD’s) along with unified or multi-protocol access. Then there are hybrid storage that spans local and public clouds. Here is a link to an on-line Internet Radio show via Information Week along with on-line chat about Hybrid Storage for Government.

Some things I’m working with or keeping an eye on include Cloud, Converged solutions, Data Protection, Business Resiliency, DCIM, Docker, InfiniBand, Microsoft (Hyper-V, SOFS, SMB 3.0), Object Storage, SSD, SDS, VMware and VVOL among others items.

Commentary In The News

StorageIO news

A lot has been going on in the IT industry since the last StorageIO Update newsletter. The following are some StorageIO industry trends perspectives comments that have appeared in various venues. Cloud conversations continue to be popular including concerns about privacy, security and availability. Here are some comments at SearchCloudComputing: about moving on from cloud deployment heartbreak.

Nand flash Solid State Devices (SSD) continue to increase in customer deployments, over at Processor, here are some here are some comments on Incorporating SSD’s Into Your Storage Plan. Also on SSD, here are some perspectives making the Argument For Flash-Based Storage. Some other comments over at Processer.com include looking At Disaster Recovery As A Service, tips to Avoid In Data Center Planning, making the most of Enterprise Virtualization, as well as New Tech, Advancements To Justify Servers. Part of controlling and managing storage costs is having timely insight, metrics that matter, here are some more perspectives and also here.

Over at SearchVirtualStorage I have some comments on how to configure and manage storage for a virtual desktop environment (VDI) while over at TechPageOne there are perspectives on top reasons to switch to Windows 8. 

Some other comments and perspectives are over at EnterpriseStorageForum including Top 10 Ways to Improve Data Center Energy Efficiency. At InfoStor there are comments and tips about Object Storage, while at SearchDataBackup I have some perspectives about Symantec being broken up.

View other industry trends comments at the here

Tips and Articles

Recent Server and StorageIO tips and articles appearing in various venues include over at SearchCloudStorage a series of discussion often asked question pieces:

Are you concerned with the security of the cloud?
Is the cost of cloud storage really cheaper?
What’s important to know about cloud privacy policy?
Are more than five nines of availability really possible?
What to look for enterprise file sync-and-share app?
How primary storage clouds and cloud backup differ?
What should I consider when using SSD cloud?
What is difference between a snapshot and a clone?

View other recent as well as past tips and articles here

StorageIOblog posts

Recent StorageIOblog posts include:

View other recent as well as past blog posts here

In This Issue

  • Industry Trends Perspectives
  • Commentary in the news
  • Tips and Articles
  • StorageIOblog posts

    • Events & Activities

    September 25, 2014
    MSP CMG – Flash and SSD performance

    October 8-10, 2014
    Nijkerk Netherlands Brouwer Seminar Series

    November 11-13, 2014
    AWS re:Invent Las Vegas

    View other recent and upcoming events here

    Webinars

    November 13 9AM PT
    BrightTalk – Software Defined Storage

    November 11 10AM PT
    Google+ Hangout Dell BackupU

    November 11 9AM PT
    BrightTak – Software Defined Data Centers

    October 16 9AM PT
    BrightTalk – Cloud Storage Decision Making

    October 15 1PM PT
    BrightTalk – Hybrid Cloud Trends

    October 7 11AM PT
    BackupU – Data Protection Management

    September 18 8AM CT
    Nexsan – Hybrid Storage

    September 18 9AM PT
    BrightTalk – Converged Storage

    September 17 1PM PT
    BrightTalk – DCIM

    September 16 1PM PT
    BrightTalk – Data Center Convergence

    September 16 Noon PT
    BrightTalk – BC, BR and DR

    September 16 1PM CT
    StarWind – SMB 3.0 & Microsoft SOFS

    September 16 9AM PT
    Google+ Hangout – BackupU – Replication

    September 2 11AM PT
    Dell BackupU – Replication

    Videos and Podcasts

    Docker for Smarties
    Video: Docker for Smarties

    StorageIO podcasts are also available via and at StorageIO.tv

    From StorageIO Labs

    Research, Reviews and Reports

    Enterprise 12Gbps SAS and SSD’s
    Better Together – Part of an Enterprise Tiered Storage Strategy
    In this StorageIO Industry Trends Perspective thought leadership white paper we look at how enterprise class SSD’s and 12Gbps SAS address current and next generation tiered storage for virtual, cloud, traditional Little and Big Data environments. This report includes proof points running various workloads including Database TPC-B, TPC-E, Microsoft Exchange in the StorageIO Labs along with cache software comparing SSD, SSHD and HDD’s. Read the  white paper  compliments of Seagate 1200 12Gbs SAS SSD’s.

    Seagate SSD White Paper

    Resources and Links

    Check out these useful links and pages:
    storageio.com/links
    objectstoragecenter.com
    storageioblog.com/data-protection-diaries-main/
    storageio.com/ssd
    storageio.com/ssd

    Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    April and May 2014 Server and StorageIO Update newsletter


    Server and StorageIO Update newsletter – April and May 2014

    Welcome to the April and May 2014 edition of the StorageIO Update (newsletter) containing trends perspectives on cloud, virtualization and data infrastructure topics.

    The good news is that while spring is running late (as is this newsletter ;) here in the Stillwater MN area as well as other parts of the world, both are finally here. To say that a lot has been going on and things busy would be an understatement, however that is probably also the situation with you as well. So what has been going on during April and May 2014?

    Industry and Technology Updates

    Sony and Fujifilm (with their partner IBM) are trading marketing and proof of concept (POC) lab material in the efforts to show tape is still alive for data storage. Sony announced a month or so ago that it was moving the bar to 185TB per tape (without dedupe). Not to be out done, Fujifilm announced in late May that they in conjunction with IBM have a POC for a 154 TB LTO in the works.

    Greg Schulz Storage I/OGreg Schulz on break
    On the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) front, Seagate released a new 6TB device that they claim to be fast. I asked Seagate to send me one of the drives to see how fast it really is vs. their claims. While I have not completed all tests yet, what I can tell you is that the 6TB 3.5" 12Gbps SAS 7.2K RPM drive is like an american football linebacker or fullback. Its big, bulky, high-capacity, resilient with 10 to the 15 bit error rate (higher than normal high-capacity HDD’s) and fast.

    Sure the 6TB HDD is not in the speed race of a quick SSD or SSHD or 15K, however I was surprised at just how fast it is for its space capacity. Watch for a follow-up review in the not so distant future and if a WD 6TB drive were to show up on my door step can give some perspectives on that as well.

    As for SSD, they are following the trend paths of tape and HDD’s of increasing in space capacity, coming down in price and improving on resiliency. While I see HDD and even tape surviving for some time, granted in different roles, I’m also a firm believer that flash SSD in some form are in your future. The question is how much, when, where, with what and from whom. Needless to say there is plenty of SSD related hardware and software activity occurring in the StorageIO labs ;).

    Vendors and revenue earnings, is there storage slowdown?

    In other industry news and activity, vendor quarterly earnings are out and there is mixed information (see this recent post of if there is an information recession). IBM is one of those who have announced lowered storage related revenues as NetApp had mixed results (as did other vendors). In addition IBM is officially saying they are finally dropping the NetApp (FAS/ONTAP) based N series (was originally reported a week or so ago via Bloomberg). Note that IBM will continue to OEM NetApp E series (e.g. Engenio based). Some of you might remember (or do a Google search) that IBM indicated a few years back that it was De emphasizing the N series or moving away from it. Perhaps this time they really mean it while NetApp could move to embrace those VAR’s and IBM business partners to sell NetApp vs. IBM branded versions of the product. Here are some more perspectives appearing in SearchStorage. Watch for more about NetApp in a future follow-up post.

    In some other industry news, you might remember back in the February StorageIO update newsletter there was mention of Avago buying LSI. Now Avago is selling the flash business of LSI to Seagate for about $450M USD in the ongoing flash dance for cache and cash.

    Staying busy is a good thing

    What have I been doing during April and May 2014 to stay busy besides getting ready for spring and summer fun including in and around the water?

    • Attended NAB 2014 in Las Vegas where it is not just about archiving pertaining to data storage
    • Presented backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving including a keynote at the SNIA DSI conference
    • Was back in Las Vegas to attend EMCworld, I have some updates in the works from that event
    • Presented several BrightTalk Webinars (see events below) with more coming up in June
    • Release of new ITP white paper and StorageIO lab proof points with more in the works
    • More videos and pod casts, technology reviews including servers among other things
    • Participated including keynote at a vendor neutral archiving event in Europe
    • Providing industry commentary in different venues (see below) along with some writing
    • Not to mention various client consulting projects
    • Remember, work hard play hard, play hard and work hard!

    Whats in the works?

    Several projects and things are in the works that will show themselves in the coming weeks or months if not sooner. Some of which are more proof points coming out of the StorageIO labs involving software defined, converged, cloud, virtual, SSD, data protection and more.

    Speaking of Software Defined, join me for a free BrightTalk Webinar on June 12 on the many faces and facets of virtualization and software defined storage. Learn more about that event here as well as in the activities section down below.

    Watch for more StorageIO posts, commentary, perspectives, presentations, webinars, tips and events on information and data infrastructure topics, themes and trends. Data Infrastructure topics include among others cloud, virtual, legacy server, storage I/O networking, data protection, hardware and software.

    Enjoy this edition of the StorageIO Update newsletter and look forward to catching up with you live or online while out and about this spring.

    Ok, nuff said (for now)

    Cheers gs

    April and May 2014 Industry trend and perspectives

    Tips, commentary, articles and blog posts

    StorageIO Industry Trends and Perspectives

    The following is a synopsis of some StorageIOblog posts, articles and comments in different venues on various industry trends, perspectives and related themes about clouds, virtualization, data and storage infrastructure topics among related themes.

    StorageIO comments and perspectives in the news

    StorageIO in the news

    SearchStorage: Comments on IBM dropping N series, NetApp is still OEM to IBM
    InfoStor: Comments on Software Defined Storage: 10 Things You Need to Know
    SearchDataBackup: Comments about buying guides for enterprise Hard Disk Drives (HDD)
    SearchDataBackup: Conversation about data protection modernization
    InfoStor: Comments on cloud storage, 10 things you need to know
    InfoStor: Comments on Data Archiving: Life Beyond Compliance
    NetworkComputing: Comments on Sorting Through Storage Industry Hype
    StateTech: Comments on Secure Erasing HDDs and SSDs including planning in advance
    SNIA: Comments on CDMI Cloud Management Conformance Testing
    EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on Hybrid Cloud Storage Tips
    NetworkComputing: Comments on Sorting Through Storage Industry Hype

    StorageIO tips and articles appearing in various venues

    StorageIO tips and articles

    Via InformationSecurityBuzz:  Dark Territories MH370 Do You Know Where Your Information Is? We still dont know 100% where the missing Malaysian airlines flight 370 is which amplifies the fact that there are still dar territories or gaps in coverage in this large world. Likewise there are gaps in coverage in many IT environments yet tools and technologies are available to gain better situational awareness and insight.

    Via The Virtualization Practice: This piece looks at the EMC ViPR V1.1 and SRM V3.0 (Software Defined Storage Management) announcements from earlier this year, along with links to earlier announcement and technology analysis. Note that EMC announced May 5, 2014 ViPR 2.0 along with their new Elastic Cloud Storage Appliance (ECS) among other enhancements at EMC World. Additional perspectives on ViPR 2.0, Elastic Cloud Storage Appliance and EMCworld announcement summary analysis can be found here in this video (with text) that I did (produced via TechTarget) while at EMCworld 2014. Watch for more coverage of ViPR 2.0 and other related new as well as updated items from EMCworld 2014 in upcoming posts, articles and commentary.

    Via InfoStor: Data Archiving: Life Beyond Compliance. Today many people think or assume based on what they hear that Archiving is only for regulatory archiving. Meanwhile some of you may remember a time before the regulatory compliance era of the early 2000s when Archiving was used as a general purpose tool, technology and solution to many IT data management storage challenges. This piece I did over at InfoStor looks at Data Archiving: Life Beyond Compliance and how Archiving is also a key technology that are part of Data Footprint Reduction (DFR) that also includes compression, dedupe, thin provisioning amount other techniques and tools. Here is a related Email Archiving piece (beyond compliance) from over at StateTech along with Practical tips in a piece over at VMware Communities.

    StorageIO video and audio pod casts

    StorageIOblog postStorageIOblog post
    Video conversation with Rob Emsley of EMC and me discussing data protection modernization moving beyond the product pitch!(Via TechTarget SearchDataBackup). In this conversation Rob and me talk about various aspects of data protection modernization including finding and fixing problems at the source, accidental architectures, using new (and old) things in new ways, rethinking data protection. However the conversation is a discussion about the topics, issues, trends, what can be done as opposed to a product pitch infomercial. Check out this video blog (vblog) of Rob and me via TechTarget SearchDataBackup, then weigh in with your comments.

    audioSNIA DSI David Dale
    Audio Podcast: Data Storage Innovation Conversation with SNIA Wayne Adams and David Dale
    In this episode, SNIA Chairman Emeritus Wayne Adams and current Chairman David Dale join me in a conversation from the Data Storage Innovation (DSI) 2014 conference event. DSI is a new event produced by SNIA targeted for IT professionals involved with data storage related topics, themes, technologies and tools spanning hardware, software, cloud, virtual and physical. In this conversation, we talk about the new DSI event, the diversity of new attendees who are attending their first SNIA event, along with other updates. Some of these updates include what is new with the SNIA Cloud Data Management Initiative (CDMI), Non Volatile Memory (think flash and SSD), SMIS, education and more. Listen in to our conversation in this podcast here as we cover cloud, convergence, software defined and more about data storage.

    audiocash coleman cleardb
    Audio Podcast: Catching up with Cash Coleman talking ClearDB, cloud database and Johnny Cash
    In this episode from the SNIA DSI 2014 event I am joined by Cashton Coleman (@Cash_Coleman). Cashton (Cash) is a Software architect, product mason, family bonder, life builder, idea founder along with Founder & CEO of SuccessBricks, Inc., makers of ClearDB. ClearDB is a provider of MySQL database software tools for cloud and physical environments. We talk about ClearDB, what they do and whom they do it with including deployments in cloud’s as well as onsite. For example if you are using some of the Microsoft Azure cloud services using MySQL, you may already be using this technology. However, there is more to the story and discussion including how Cash got his name, how to speed up databases for little and big data among other topics. Check out ClearDB and listen in to the conversation with Cash podcast here.

    audio
    Audio Podcast: Matt Vogt talks VMware vCOP in his first ever podcast
    In this episode from the Computex Rethink your Datacenter for 2017 planning and strategy event I am joined by Matt Vogt (@MattVogt). Matt is a Principal Architect with Computex Technology Solutions as well as certified VMware specialist and fellow vExpert. We talk about the role of automation for performance and capacity optimization along with how VMware vCop plays an important role. Listen in to learn more about how to gain insight and situational awareness to make informed decisions for your data infrastructure environment with Matt. Check out Matt’s blog here at blog.mattvogt.net and listen in to the podcast here.

    StorageIO audio podcasts are also available via
    and at StorageIO.tv

    StorageIOblog posts and perspectives

    StorageIOblog post

  • Is there an information or data recession, are you using less storage (with polls)
  • Lenovo TS140 Server and Storage IO Review Part I here and Part II here
  • Nand flash SSD server storage I/O conversations: See more SSD stories here
  • Data Protection Diaries: March 31 World Backup Day is Restore Data Test, read more here
  • March 2014 StorageIO Update Newsletter: Click here to read more

    • StorageIO White Papers, Solution Briefs and StorageIO Lab reports

    White Paper

    New White Paper: Solid State Hybrid Drives (SSHD)
    Enterprise SSHD and Flash SSD – Better Together – Part of an Enterprise Tiered Storage Strategy The question to ask yourself is not if flash Solid State Device (SSD) technologies are in your future. Instead the questions are when, where, using what, how to configure and related themes. SSD including traditional DRAM and NAND flash-based technologies are like real estate where location matters; however, there are different types of properties to meet various needs.

    This means leveraging different types of NAND flash SSD technologies in different locations in a complementary and cooperative aka hybrid way. In this StorageIO Industry Trends Perspective thought leadership white paper we look at how enterprise class Solid State Hybrid Drives (SSHD) and how they address current and next generation tiered storage for virtual, cloud, traditional Little and Big Data infrastructure environments. This includes providing proof points running various workloads including Database TPC-B, TPC-E and Microsoft Exchange in the StorageIO Labscomparing SSHD, SSD and different HDDs. Read more in this StorageIO Industry Trends and Perspective (ITP) white paper compliments of Seagate Enterprise Turbo SSHD. Read the companion blog post here that includes more proof points for large file transfer performance.

    Remember to check out our objectstoragecenter.com page where you will find a growing collection of information and links on cloud and object storage themes, technologies and trends from various sources.

    If you are interested in data protection including Backup/Restore, BC, DR, BR and Archiving along with associated technologies, tools, techniques and trends visit our storageioblog.com/data-protection-diaries-main/ page. For those who follow SSD and related technologies, we have organized a series of items at storageio.com/ssd.

    StorageIO events and activities

    Server and StorageIO seminars, conferences, web cats, events, activities

    The StorageIO calendar continues to evolve, here are some recent and upcoming activities including live in-person seminars, conferences, keynote and speaking activities as well as on-line webinars, twitter chats, Google+ hangouts among others.

    June 12, 2014The Many Facets of Virtual Storage and Software Defined Storage VirtualizationWebinar
    9AM PT
    June 11, 2014The Changing Face and Landscape of Enterprise StorageWebinar
    9AM PT
    May 14, 2014Brouwer Storage ConsultancyKeynote – Healthcare Vendor Neutral Archiving SymposiumNijkerk Netherlands
    May 5-7, 2014EMC WorldLas Vegas
    April 23, 2014SNIA DSI EventKeynote: Enabling Data Infrastructure Return On Innovation – The Other ROIbackup, restore, BC, DR and archiving
    April 22, 2014SNIA DSI EventThe Cloud Hybrid “Homerun” – Life Beyond The Hypebackup, restore, BC, DR and archiving
    April 16, 2014Open Source and Cloud Storage – Enabling business, or a technology enabler?Webinar
    9AM PT
    April 9, 2014Storage Decision Making for Fast, Big and Very Big Data EnvironmentsWebinar
    9AM PT

    Click here to view other upcoming along with earlier event activities. Watch for more 2014 events to be added soon to the StorageIO events calendar page. Topics include data protection modernization (backup/restore, HA, BC, DR, archive), data footprint reduction (archive, compression, dedupe), storage optimization, SSD, object storage, server and storage virtualization, big data, little data, cloud and object storage, performance and management trends among others.

    Vendors, VAR’s and event organizers, give us a call or send an email to discuss having us involved in your upcoming pod cast, web cast, virtual seminar, conference or other events.

    StorageIO Update Newsletter Archives

    Click here to view previous StorageIO Update newsletters (HTML and PDF versions) at www.storageio.com/newsletter. Subscribe to this newsletter (and pass it along) by clicking here (Via Secure Campaigner site). View archives of past StorageIO update news letters as well as download PDF versions at: www.storageio.com/newsletter

    Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    Is there an information or data recession? Are you using less storage? (With Polls)

    Is there an information or data recession? Are you using less storage? (With Polls)

    StorageIO industry trends

    Is there an information recession where you are creating, processing, moving or saving less data?

    Are you using less data storage than in the past either locally online, offline or remote including via clouds?

    IMHO there is no such thing as a data or information recession, granted storage is being used more effectively by some, while economic pressures or competition enables your budgets to be stretched further. Likewise people and data are living longer and getting larger.

    In conversations with IT professionals particular the real customers (e.g. not vendors, VAR’s, analysts, blogalysts, consultants or media) I routinely hear from people that they continue to have the need to store more information, however they’re data storage usage and acquisition patterns are changing. For some this means using what they have more effectively leveraging data footprint reduction (DFR) which includes (archiving, compression, dedupe, thin provision, changing how and when data is protected). This also means using different types of storage from flash SSD to HDD to SSHD to tape summit resources as well as cloud in different ways spanning block, file and object storage local and remote.

    A common question that comes up particular around vendor earnings announcement times is if the data storage industry is in decline with some vendors experience poor results?

    Look beyond vendor revenue metrics

    As a back ground reading, you might want to check out this post here (IT and storage economics 101, supply and demand) which candidly should be common sense.

    If all you looked at were a vendors revenues or margin numbers as an indicator of how well such as the data storage industry (includes traditional, legacy as well as cloud) you would not be getting the picture.

    What needs to be factored into the picture is how much storage is being shipped (from components such as drives to systems and appliances) as well as delivered by service providers.

    Looking at storage systems vendors from a revenue earnings perspective you would get mixed indicators depending on who you include, not to mention on how those vendors report break of revenues by product, or amount units shipped. For example looking at public vendors EMC, HDS, HP, IBM, NetApp, Nimble and Oracle (among others) as well as the private ones (if you can see the data) such as Dell, Pure, Simplivity, Solidfire, Tintri results in different analysis. Some are doing better than others on revenues and margins, however try to get clarity on number of units or systems shipped (for actual revenue vs. loaners (planting seeds for future revenue or trials) or demos).

    Then look at the service providers such as AWS, Centurlylink, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft Rackspace or Verizon (among others) you should see growth, however clarity about how much they are actually generating on revenues plus margin for storage specific vs. broad general buckets can be tricky.

    Now look at the component suppliers such as Seagate and Western Digital (WD) for HDDs and SSHDs who also provide flash SSD drives and other technology. Also look at the other flash component suppliers such as Avago/LSI whose flash business is being bought by Seagate, FusionIO, SANdisk, Samsung, Micron and Intel among others (this does not include the systems vendors who OEM those or other products to build systems or appliances). These and other component suppliers can give another indicator as to the health of the industry both from revenue and margin, as well as footprint (e.g. how many devices are being shipped). For example the legacy and startup storage systems and appliance vendors may have soft or lower revenue numbers, however are they shipping the same or less product? Likewise the cloud or service providers may be showing more revenues and product being acquired however at what margin?

    What this all means?

    Growing amounts of information?

    Look at revenue numbers in the proper context as well as in the bigger picture.

    If the same number of component devices (e.g. processors, HDD, SSD, SSHD, memory, etc) are being shipped or more, that is an indicator of continued or increased demand. Likewise if there is more competition and options for IT organizations there will be price competition between vendors as well as service providers.

    All of this means that while IT organizations budgets stay stretched, their available dollars or euros should be able to buy (or rent) them more storage space capacity.

    Likewise using various data and storage management techniques including DFR, the available space capacity can be stretched further.

    So this then begs the question of if the management of storage is important, why are we not hearing vendors talking about software defined storage management vs. chasing each other to out software define storage each other?

    Ah, that’s for a different post ;).

    So what say you?

    Are you using less storage?

    Do you have less data being created?

    Are you using storage and your available budget more effectively?

    Please take a few minutes and cast your vote (and see the results).

    Sorry I have no Amex or Amazon gift cards or other things to offer you as a giveaway for participating as nobody is secretly sponsoring this poll or post, it’s simply sharing and conveying information for you and others to see and gain insight from.

    Do you think that there is an information or data recession?

    How about are you using or buying more storage, could there be a data storage recession?

    Some more reading links

    IT and storage economics 101, supply and demand
    Green IT deferral blamed on economic recession might be result of green gap
    Industry trend: People plus data are aging and living longer
    Is There a Data and I/O Activity Recession?
    Supporting IT growth demand during economic uncertain times
    The Human Face of Big Data, a Book Review
    Garbage data in, garbage information out, big data or big garbage?
    Little data, big data and very big data (VBD) or big BS?

    Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    Nand flash SSD NVM SCM server storage I/O memory conversations

    Updated 8/31/19
    Server Storage I/O storageioblog SDDC SDDI Data Infrastructure trends

    The SSD Place NVM, SCM, PMEM, Flash, Optane, 3D XPoint, MRAM, NVMe Server, Storage, I/O Topics

    Now and then somebody asks me if I’m familiar with flash or nand flash Solid State Devices (SSD) along with other non-volatile memory (NVM) technologies and trends including NVM Express (NVMe).

    Having been involved with various types of SSD technology, products and solutions since the late 80s initially as a customer in IT (including as a lunch customer for DEC’s ESE20 SSD’s), then later as a vendor selling SSD solutions, as well as an analyst and advisory consultant cover the technologies, I tell the person asking, well, yes, of course.

    That gave me the idea as well as to help me keep track of some of the content and make it easy to find by putting it here in this post (which will be updated now and then).

    Thus this is a collection of articles, tips, posts, presentations, blog posts and other content on SSD including nand flash drives, PCIe cards, DIMMs, NVM Express (NVMe), hybrid and other storage solutions along with related themes.

    Also if you can’t find it here, you can always do a Google search like this or this to find some more material (some of which is on this page).

    HDD, SSHD, HHDD and HDD

    Flash SSD Articles, posts and presentations

    The following are some of my tips, articles, blog posts, presentations and other content on SSD. Keep in mind that the question should not be if SSD are in your future, rather when, where, with what, from whom and how much. Also keep in mind that a bit of SSD as storage or cache in the right place can go a long way, while a lot of SSD will give you a benefit however also cost a lot of cash.

    • How to Prepare for the NVMe Server Storage I/O Wave (Via Micron.com)
    • Why NVMe Should Be in Your Data Center (Via Micron.com)
    • NVMe U2 (8639) vs. M2 interfaces (Via Gamersnexus)
    • Enmotus FuzeDrive MicroTiering (StorageIO Lab Report)
    • EMC DSSD D5 Rack Scale Direct Attached Shared SSD All Flash Array Part I (Via StorageIOBlog)
    • Part II – EMC DSSD D5 Direct Attached Shared AFA (Via StorageIOBlog)
    • NAND, DRAM, SAS/SCSI & SATA/AHCI: Not Dead, Yet! (Via EnterpriseStorageForum)
    • Non Volatile Memory (NVM), NVMe, Flash Memory Summit and SSD updates (Via StorageIOblog)
    • Microsoft and Intel showcase Storage Spaces Direct with NVM Express at IDF ’15 (Via TechNet)
    • MNVM Express solutions (Via SuperMicro)
    • Gaining Server Storage I/O Insight into Microsoft Windows Server 2016 (Via StorageIOblog)
    • PMC-Sierra Scales Storage with PCIe, NVMe (Via EEtimes)
    • RoCE updates among other items (Via InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) December Newsletter)
    • NVMe: The Golden Ticket for Faster Flash Storage? (Via EnterpriseStorageForum)
    • What should I consider when using SSD cloud? (Via SearchCloudStorage)
    • MSP CMG, Sept. 2014 Presentation (Flash back to reality – Myths and Realities – Flash and SSD Industry trends perspectives plus benchmarking tips)– PDF
    • Selecting Storage: Start With Requirements (Via NetworkComputing)
    • PMC Announces Flashtec NVMe SSD NVMe2106, NVMe2032 Controllers With LDPC (Via TomsITpro)
    • Exclusive: If Intel and Micron’s “Xpoint” is 3D Phase Change Memory, Boy Did They Patent It (Via Dailytech)
    • Intel & Micron 3D XPoint memory — is it just CBRAM hyped up? Curation of various posts (Via Computerworld)
    • How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do (Part I)?
    • How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do with VMware? (Part II)
    • I/O Performance Issues and Impacts on Time-Sensitive Applications (Via CMG)
    • Via EnterpriseStorageForum: 5 Hot Storage Technologies to Watch
    • Via EnterpriseStorageForum: 10-Year Review of Data Storage
    • Via CustomPCreview: Samsung SM961 PCIe NVMe SSD Shows Up for Pre-Order
    • StorageIO Industry Trends Perspective White Paper: Seagate 1200 Enterprise SSD (12Gbps SAS) with proof points (e.g. Lab test results)
    • Companion: Seagate 1200 12Gbs Enterprise SAS SSD StorgeIO lab review (blog post part I and Part II)
    • NewEggBusiness: Seagate 1200 12Gbs Enterprise SAS SSD StorgeIO lab review Are NVMe m.2 drives ready for the limelight?
    • Google (Research White Paper): Disks for Data Centers (vs. just SSD)
    • CMU (PDF White Paper): A Large-Scale Study of Flash Memory Failures in the Field
    • Via ZDnet: Google doubles Cloud Compute local SSD capacity: Now it’s 3TB per VM
    • EMC DSSD D5 Rack Scale Direct Attached Shared SSD All Flash Array Part I (Via StorageIOBlog)
    • Part II – EMC DSSD D5 Direct Attached Shared AFA (Via StorageIOBlog)
    • NAND, DRAM, SAS/SCSI & SATA/AHCI: Not Dead, Yet! (Via EnterpriseStorageForum)
    • Here’s why Western Digital is buying SanDisk (Via ComputerWorld)
    • HP, SanDisk partner to bring storage-class memory to market (Via ComputerWorld)
    • Non Volatile Memory (NVM), NVMe, Flash Memory Summit and SSD updates (Via StorageIOblog)
    • Microsoft and Intel showcase Storage Spaces Direct with NVM Express at IDF ’15 (Via TechNet)
    • PMC-Sierra Scales Storage with PCIe, NVMe (Via EEtimes)
    • Seagate Grows Its Nytro Enterprise Flash Storage Line (Via InfoStor)
    • New SAS Solid State Drive First Product From Seagate Micron Alliance (Via Seagate)
    • Wow, Samsung’s New 16 Terabyte SSD Is the World’s Largest Hard Drive (Via Gizmodo)
    • Samsung ups the SSD ante with faster, higher capacity drives (Via ITworld)
    • PMC Announces Flashtec NVMe SSD NVMe2106, NVMe2032 Controllers With LDPC (Via TomsITpro)
    • New SATA SSD powers elastic cloud agility for CSPs (Via Cbronline)
    • Toshiba Solid-State Drive Family Features PCIe Technology (Via Eweek)
    • SanDisk aims CloudSpeed Ultra SSD at cloud providers (Via ITwire)
    • Everspin & Aupera reveal all-MRAM Storage Module in M.2 Form Factor (Via BusinessWire)
    • Intel, Micron Launch “Bulk-Switching” ReRAM (Via EEtimes)
    • Exclusive: If Intel and Micron’s “Xpoint” is 3D Phase Change Memory, Boy Did They Patent It (Via Dailytech)
    • Intel & Micron 3D XPoint memory — is it just CBRAM hyped up? Curation of various posts (Via Computerworld)
    • NVMe: The Golden Ticket for Faster Flash Storage? (Via EnterpriseStorageForum)

    server I/O hirearchy

    • What should I consider when using SSD cloud? (Via SearchCloudStorage)
    • MSP CMG, September 2014 Presentation (Flash back to reality – Myths and Realities Flash and SSD Industry trends perspectives plus benchmarking tips) – PDF
    • Selecting Storage: Start With Requirements (Via NetworkComputing)
    • Spot The Newest & Best Server Trends (Via Processor)
    • Market ripe for embedded flash storage as prices drop (Via Powermore (Dell))
    • 2015 Tech Preview: SSD and SMBs (Via ChannelProNetworks )
    • How to test your HDD, SSD or all flash array (AFA) storage fundamentals (Via StorageIOBlog)
    • Processor: Comments on What Abandoned Data Is Costing Your Company
    • Processor: Comments on Match Application Needs & Infrastructure Capabilities
    • Processor: Comments on Explore The Argument For Flash-Based Storage
    • Processor: Comments on Understand The True Cost Of Acquiring More Storage
    • Processor: Comments on What Resilient & Highly Available Mean
    • Processor: Explore The Argument For Flash-Based Storage
    • SearchCloudStorage What should I consider when using SSD cloud?
    • StorageSearch.com: (not to be confused with TechTarget, good site with lots of SSD related content)
    • StorageSearch.com: What kind of SSD world… 2015?
    • StorageSearch.com: Various links about SSD
    • FlashStorage.com: (Various flash links curated by Tegile and analyst firm Actual Tech Media [Scott D. Lowe])
    • StorageSearch.com: How fast can your SSD run backwards?
    • Seagate has shipped over 10 Million storage HHDD’s (SSHDs), is that a lot?
    • Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD?
    • Can we get a side of context with them IOPS and other storage metrics?
    • Cisco buys Whiptail continuing the SSD storage I/O flash cash cache dash
    • EMC VFCache respinning SSD and intelligent caching (Part I)
    • Flash Data Storage: Myth vs. Reality (Via InfoStor)
    • Have SSDs been unsuccessful with storage arrays (with poll)?
    • How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do (Part I)?
    • How many IOPS can a HDD, HHDD or SSD do with VMware? (Part II)
    • I/O Performance Issues and Impacts on Time-Sensitive Applications (Via CMG)

    server storage i/o memory hirearchy

    • Spiceworks SSD and related conversation here and here, profiling IOPs here, and SSD endurance here.
    • SSD is in your future, How, when, with what and where you will be using it (PDF Presentation)
    • SSD for Virtual (and Physical) Environments: Part I Spinning up to speed on SSD (Via TheVirtualizationPractice), Part II, The call to duty, SSD endurance, Part III What SSD is best for you?, and Part IV what’s best for your needs.
    • IT and storage economics 101, supply and demand
    • SSD, flash and DRAM, DejaVu or something new?
    • The Many Faces of Solid State Devices/Disks (SSD)
    • The Nand Flash Cache SSD Cash Dance (Via InfoStor)
    • The Right Storage Option Is Important for Big Data Success (Via FedTech)

    server storage i/o nand flash ssd options

    • Viking SATADIMM: Nand flash SATA SSD in DDR3 DIMM slot?
    • WD buys nand flash SSD storage I/O cache vendor Virident (Via VMware Communities)
    • What is the best kind of IO? The one you do not have to do
    • When and Where to Use NAND Flash SSD for Virtual Servers (Via TheVirtualizationPractice)
    • Why SSD based arrays and storage appliances can be a good idea (Part I)
    • Why SSD based arrays and storage appliances can be a good idea (Part II)
    • Q&A on Access data more efficiently with automated storage tiering and flash (Via SearchSolidStateStorage)
    • InfoStor: Flash Data Storage: Myth vs. Reality (Via InfoStor)
    • Enterprise Storage Forum: Not Just a Flash in the Pan (Via EnterpriseStorageForum)

    SSD Storage I/O and related technologies comments in the news

    The following are some of my commentary and industry trend perspectives that appear in various global venues.

    Storage I/O ssd news

    • Comments on using Flash Drives To Boost Performance (Via Processor)
    • Comments on selecting the Right Type, Amount & Location of Flash Storage (Via Toms It Pro)
    • Comments Google vs. AWS SSD: Which is the better deal? (Via SearchAWS)
    • Tech News World: SANdisk SSD comments and perspectives.
    • Tech News World: Samsung Jumbo SSD drives perspectives
    • Comments on Why Degaussing Isn’t Always Effective (Via StateTech Magazine)
    • Processor: SSD (FLASH and RAM)
    • SearchStorage: FLASH and SSD Storage
    • Internet News: Steve Wozniak joining SSD startup
    • Internet News: SANdisk sale to Toshiba
    • SearchSMBStorage: Comments on SanDisk and wireless storage product
    • StorageAcceleration: Comments on When VDI Hits a Storage Roadblock and SSD
    • Statetechmagazine: Boosting performance with SSD
    • Edtechmagazine: Driving toward SSDsStorage I/O trends
    • SearchStorage: Seagate SLC and MLC flash SSD
    • SearchWindowServer: Making the move to SSD in a SAN/NAS
    • SearchSolidStateStorage: Comments SSD marketplace
    • InfoStor: Comments on SSD approaches and opportunities
    • SearchSMBStorage: Solid State Devices (SSD) benefits
    • SearchSolidState: Comments on Fusion-IO flash SSD and API’s
    • SeaarchSolidStateStorage: Comments on SSD industry activity and OCZ bankruptcy
    • Processor: Comments on Plan Your Storage Future including SSD
    • Processor: Comments on Incorporate SSDs Into Your Storage PlanStorage I/O ssd news
    • Digistor: Comments on SSD and flash storage
    • ITbusinessEdge: Comments on flash SSD and hybrid storage environments
    • SearchStorage: Perspectives on Cisco buying SSD storage vendor Whiptail
    • StateTechMagazine: Comments on all flash SSD storage arrays
    • Processor: Comments on choosing SSDs for your data center needs
    • Searchsolidstatestorage: Comments on how to add solid state devices (SSD) to your storage system
    • Networkcomputing: Comments on SSD/Hard Disk Hybrids Bridge Storage Divide
    • Internet Evolution: Comments on IBM buying flash SSD vendor TMS
    • ITKE: Comments on IBM buying flash SSD vendor TMSStorage I/O trends
    • Searchsolidstatestorage: SSD, Green IT and economic benefits
    • IT World Canada: Cloud computing, dot be scared, look before you leap
    • SearchStorage: SSD in storage systems
    • SearchStorage: SAS SSD
    • SearchSolidStateStorage: Comments on Access data more efficiently with automated storage tiering and flash
    • InfoStor: Comments on EMC’s Light to Speed: Flash, VNX, and Software-Defined
    • EnterpriseStorageForum: Cloud Storage Mergers and Acquisitions: What’s Going On?

    Check out the Server StorageIO NVM Express (NVMe) focus page aka www.thenvmeplace.com for additional related content. nterested in data protection, check out the data protection diaries series of posts here, or cloud and object storage here, and server storage I/O performance benchmarking here. Also check out the StorageIO events and activities page here, as well as tips and articles here, news commentary here, along out newsletter here.

    Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    February 2014 Server StorageIO Update Newsletter Data Infrastructure Insights


    Welcome to the February 2014 edition of the StorageIO Update (newsletter) containing trends perspectives on cloud, virtualization and data infrastructure topics. Its winter here in North America and specifically in the Stillwater Minnesota to say that there is plenty of snow and cold would be an understatement. However in a few months instead of dealing with -20F or -40F wind chills, it will be 100F head index, thus the saying of if you don’t like the weather, either leave or wait a bit as it will change.

    In case you missed the December 2013 StorageIO holiday greeting which was in place of the normal newsletter you can view that here. In the absence of the regular December and January StorageIO Update newsletters, this is a larger edition to get caught up. However not to worry as there is more content and items in the wings for March.

    2013 wrapped up with a flurry of industry activity including some acquisitions (Avago buying LSI and Seagate acquiring Xyratex among others). Likewise 2014 so far is continuing the momentum living up to the mantra that while there may be economic challenges, there is no such thing as a data or information recession.

    		Greg Schulz StorageIO
    Watch for future posts, commentary, perspectives and other information down the road (and in the not so distant future) pertaining to information and data infrastructure topics, themes and trends across cloud, virtual, legacy server, storage, networking, hardware and software. Also check out our backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving (Under the resources section on StorageIO.com) for various presentation, book chapter downloads and other content.

    Enjoy this edition of the StorageIO Update newsletter and keep in mind, at least here in North America spring is just around the corner with summer not to far off either.

    Ok, nuff said (for now)

    Cheers gs

    StorageIO Industry Trends and PerspectivesIndustry trends tips, commentary, articles and blog posts
    What is being seen, heard and talked about while out and about

    The following is a synopsis of some StorageIOblog posts, articles and comments in different venues on various industry trends, perspectives and related themes about clouds, virtualization, data and storage infrastructure topics among related themes.

    StorageIO in the newsRecent StorageIO comments and perspectives in the news

    SearchSMBStorage: Comments on Lenovo EMC Iomega new SMB NAS products
    ChannelProSMB: Comments on what the future holds for HDDs
    NetworkAsia: Comments on WORM disk and tape
    SeaarchSolidStateStorage: Comments on SSD industry activity and OCZ bankruptcy
    EnterpriseStorageForum: Comments on software defined storage
    Ironmountain: Comments on storage efficiency in small businesses
    PC Today: Comments on best practices
    PC Today: Commnets on How to recover lost data
    PC Today: Comments on Virtualization 101, understand context which virtualization is used
    PC Today: Comments on going paperless
    PC Today: Optimize Now – Comments on optimize to improve IT productivity
    Processor: Comments on Know Which Emerging Technologies Could Make An Impact
    Processor: Comments on Backup Problems – What To Do Before & After Issues Arise
    Processor: Comments on Know When & When Not To Replace Servers
    Processor: Comments on Enterprise Backup Solutions Buying Tips
    Processor: Comments on Server Trends, Technologies Reshape The Industry

    StorageIO tips and articles Recent StorageIO tips and articles in various venues

    Information Security Buzz: How Secure Is Your Data Storage?
    SearchStorage: Bridging the gap: Choosing storage-over-distance network technology 
    SearchEnterpriseWAN: Wide area network resiliency best practices 
    StateTech: 5 Tips for Factoring Software into Disaster Recovery Plans
    BizTech: How to Turn Storage Networks into Better Performers
    InfoStor: The Many Variations of RAID Storage

    StorageIOblog postRecent StorageIOblog posts and perspectives

  • Server Storage I/O Network Benchmark Winter Olympic Games – Click to read more
  • Removing complexity and cost to drive return on innovation – Click to read more
  • StorageIO data infrastructure links page updated (1,200+ entries) – Click to read more
  • Welcome to Data Protection Diaries – Visit www.storageioblog.com/data-protection-diaries-main/
  • Data Protection Diaries series – My data protection needs and wants – Click to read more
  • Until focus expands to data protection, backup is staying alive! – Click to read here
  • IT and data center sustainability, the other convergence zone – Click to read more
  • Lenovo buys IBM’s xSeries server business, what about EMC? – Click to read more
  • Securing your information assets and data, what about storage? – Click to read more
  • Dell Inspiron 660 i660, Virtual Server Diamond in the rough? – Click to read more
  • Book review: Rethinking Enterprise Storage by Marc Farley – Click to read more
  • Some Windows Server Storage I/O related commands – Click to read more
  • IoD, IoT, IoE, IoS, IoP, IoU and IoX are in your future – Click to read more
  • Goodbye 2013, hello 2014, predictions past, present and future – Click to read more
  • Small Medium Business (SMB) IT gains respect, what about SOHO? – Click to read more
  • Seasons Greetings, Happy Holidays 2013 from StorageIO – Click to read more
  • Server virtualization nested and tiered hypervisors – Click to read more

    • Remember to check out our objectstoragecenter.com page where you will find a growing collection of information and links on cloud and object storage themes, technologies and trends from various sources.

    Server and StorageIO seminars, conferences, web cats, events, activities StorageIO activities (out and about)

    Seminars, symposium, conferences, webinars
    Live in person and recorded recent and upcoming events

    The StorageIO calendar continues to evolve, here are some recent and upcoming activities.

    March 13, 2014 BrightTalkBusiness Resiliency (BR), Business Continuity (BC) and Disaster Recovery (DR) ManagementWebinar
    9AM PT
    March 12, 2014 BrightTalkHybrid Clouds – Bridging the Gap between public and private environmentsWebinar
    9AM PT
    February 18, 2014 BrightTalkNetworking with your Servers and Storage – Cloud, virtual and physical environmentsWebinar
    9AM PT
    January 28, 2014 Backup.UData Protection for Hybrid Environments 201Backup.U
    Google+ hangout
    January 23, 2014 DataCenter
    Acceleration    		Building and Managing the Sustainable Datacenter – Driving efficiency, productivity, effectiveness and economicsLive chat
    11AM PT
    January 15, 2014 BrightTalkModernizing Data Protection For Cloud, Virtual and Physical EnvironmentsWebinar
    11AM CT
    January 14, 2014 Backup.UData Protection for Hybrid Environments 101Backup.U
    Online Webinar
    December 12, 2013 Backup.UData Protection for Cloud 201Backup.U
    Google+ hangout
    December 6, 2013
    Code42    		Panelist – Endpoint Data Management
    Protecting the Perimeter of the Internet of Things    		(Replay)
    1PM CT
    Web Based
    December 3, 2013 Backup.UData Protection for Cloud 101Backup.U
    Online Webinar

    Click here to view other upcoming along with earlier event activities. Watch for more 2014 events to be added soon to the StorageIO events calendar page. Topics include data protection modernization (backup/restore, HA, BC, DR, archive), data footprint reduction (archive, compression, dedupe), storage optimization, SSD, object storage, server and storage virtualization, big data, little data, cloud and object storage, performance and management trends among others.

    Vendors, VAR’s and event organizers, give us a call or send an email to discuss having us involved in your upcoming pod cast, web cast, virtual seminar, conference or other events.

    Thank you to the current StorageIoblog.com site sponsor advertisers

    Druva (End Point Data Protection)

    EMC (EMC Community Network)
    Unitrends (Enterprise backup solution and management tools)
    Veeam (VMware and Hyper-V virtual server backup and data protection tools).

    Contact StorageIO to learn about sponsorship and other partnership opportunities.

    Click here to view previous StorageIO Update newsletters (HTML and PDF versions). Subscribe to this newsletter (and pass it along) click here to subscribe to this news letter. View archives of past StorageIO update news letters as well as download PDF versions at: www.storageio.com/newsletter.

    Thank you for reading this edition of the StorageIO Update Newsletter.

    Ok, nuff said

    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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    StorageIO data infrastructure industry vendors links page updated with over 1,200 entries

    Storage I/O trends

    StorageIO data infrastructure industry vendors links page updated with over 1,200 entries

    Is your company, organization or one that you are a fan of, or represent listed on the StorageIO industry links page?

    The StorageIO industry links page has been updated with over thousand different industry related companies, vendors, vars, trade groups, part and solution suppliers along with cloud and managed service providers. The common theme with these industry links is information and data infrastructures which means severs, storage, IO and networking, hardware, software, applications and tools, services, products and related items for traditional, virtual and cloud environments.

    The industry links page is accessed from the StorageIO main web page via the Tools and Links menu tab, or via the URL https://storageio.com/links. An example of the StorageIO industry links page is shown below with six different menu tabs in alphabetical order.

    storage I/O and data infrastructure cloud, virtual and software defined links

    Know of a company, service or organization that is not listed on the links page, if so, send an email note to info at storageio.com. If your company or organization is listed, contact StorageIO to discuss how to expand your presence on the links page and other related options.

    Visit the updated StorageIO industry links page and watch for more updates, and click here to learn more about the links page.

    Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    IT and data center sustainability, the other convergence zone

    Storage I/O trends

    IT and data center sustainability convergence

    Recently Hailey Lynne McKeefry (@HaileyMcK), Editor in Chief over at Data Center Acceleration (@DataAccelerate) reached out for a conversation about well, data center themes and topics. Given Hailey’s background in covering technology as well as business supply chain we somehow ended up talking about business, IT and data center sustainability. Hailey wrote a piece about Driving for Datacenter Sustainability and in addition I was honored to be an invited guest for a live on-line chat yesterday (you can view the conversation here).

    Excerpt from Haileys piece:

    Too often, sustainability efforts in the datacenter are written off as feel-good, public relations efforts. In reality, green is about economics — and done well, it can save the datacenter tons of cash.

    "You mention green, and datacenter managers run or cringe and roll their eyes, because there’s been so much green washing done in the past few years," said Greg Schulz, founder of IT consultancy StorageIO. "It’s really about green economics, though, and getting more work done with the same budget."

    Read more of Hailey’s piece here

    Many different faces of IT and data center sustainability

    Granted, when you here the term sustainability, IT and data centers you may think of different things depending on your view or area of focus.

    For some it will be Green or environmental focused such as use of renewable and EH&S themes, recycling among others Related to the previous item some will see sustainability as being tied to energy, either tied to cost, availability/accessibility, standby or alternative and renewable Yet for others, it will mean business continuance (BC), disaster recovery (DR), business resiliency (BR), high availability or reliability availability service (RAS) among others Then the economics concerns of keeping the business running to discuss top and bottom line concerns.

    Otoh, if your focus is on one of the above or a subset of one of them, you might not view the other areas as being tied to sustainability.

    It data center sustainability

    Likewise, you might even want to not be included in another other, let alone share your area with others. For example if your focus is on security you may not want to see or hear that data protection is part of sustainability, not to mention backup/restore, bc, dr and so forth.

    Learning, education and knowledge sustainability

    Part of sustainability is also continuing to learn about new things not only in your field or focus area, also in adjacent spaces.

    Keep in mind that there is more of a data center or information factory than just a building or facility with power, cooling as there are the technologies, tools, people, process, delivery/distribution network, warehouse for storing raw and finished material, metrics and management that all go into delivering the product which is information services.

    Hence there are many aspects to IT and data center sustainability and thus think more pragmatically about sustaining information factories, however lets also be realistic and not jump the shark by declaring everything as sustainable ;).

    Check out the live talk chat that we had yesterday over at Data Center Acceleration by clicking here.

    Some related more reading:
    Green IT, Green Gap, Tiered Energy and Green Myths
    The new Green IT: Efficient, Effective, Smart and Productive
    Saving Money with Green IT: Time To Invest In Information Factories
    PUE, Are you Managing Power, Energy or Productivity?
    Green IT deferral blamed on economic recession might be result of green gap
    IT and storage economics 101, supply and demand
    The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) – Intel Recommended Reading List
    Driving for Datacenter Sustainability
    Live Chat 01/23: Building the Sustainable Datacenter

    Ok, nuff said

    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 2006-2014

    Posted on

    Goodbye 2013, hello 2014, predictions past, present and future

    Storage I/O trends

    Good by 2013 and hello 2014 along with predictions past, present and future

    First, for those who may have missed this, thanks to all who helped make 2013 a great year!

    2013 season greetings

    Looking back at 2013 I saw a continued trend of more vendors and their media public relations (PR) people reaching out to have their predictions placed in articles, posts, columns or trends perspectives pieces.

    Hmm, maybe a new trend is predictions selfies? ;)

    Not to worry, this is not a wrapper piece for a bunch of those pitched and placed predictions requests that I received in 2013 as those have been saved for a rainy or dull day when we need to have some fun ;) .

    What about 2013 server storage I/O networking, cloud, virtual and physical?

    2013 end up with some end of year spree’s including Avago acquiring storage I/O and networking vendor LSI for about $6.6B USD (e.g. SSD cards, RAID cards, cache cards, HBA’s (Host Bus Adapters), chips and other items) along with Seagate buying Xyratex for about $374M USD (a Seagate suppliers and a customer partner).

    Xyratex is known by some for making the storage enclosures that house hard disk drive (HDD’s) and Solid State Device (SSD) drives that are used by many well-known, and some not so well-known systems and solution vendors. Xyratex also has other pieces of their business such as appliances that combine their storage enclosures for HDD and SSD’s along with server boards, along with a software group focus on High Performance Compute (HPC) Lustre. There is another part of the Xyratex business that is not as well-known which is the test equipment used by disk drive manufacturers such as Seagate as part of their manufacturing process. Thus the Seagate acquisition moves them up market with more integrated solutions to offer to their (e.g. Seagate and Xyratex) joint customers, as well as streamline their own supply chain and costs (not to mention sell equipment to the other remaining drive manufactures WD and Toshiba).

    Storage I/O trends

    Other 2013 acquisitions included (Whiptail by Cisco, Virident by WD (who also bought several other companies), Softlayer by IBM) along with various mergers, company launches, company shutdowns (cloud storage Nirvanix and SSD maker OCZ bankruptcy filing), and IPO’s (some did well like Nimble while Violin not so well), while earlier high-flying industry darlings such as FusionIO are now the high-flung darling targets of the shareholder sock lawsuit attorneys.

    2013 also saw the end of SNW (Storage Network World), jointly produced by SNIA and Computerworld Storage in the US after more than a decade. Some perspectives from the last US SNW held October 2013 can be found in the Fall 2013 StorageIO Update Newsletter here, granted those were before the event was formal announced as being terminated.

    Speaking of events, check out the November 2013 StorageIO Update Newsletter here for perspectives from attending the Amazon Web Services (AWS) re:Invent conference which joins VMworld, EMCworld and a bunch of other vendor world events.

    Lets also not forget Dell buying itself in 2013.

    StorageIO in the news

    Click on the following links read (and here) more about various 2013 industry perspectives trends commentary of mine in various venues, along with tips, articles, newsletters, events, pod cast, videos and other items.

    What about 2014?

    Perhaps 2014 will build on the 2013 momentum of the annual rights of pages refereed to as making meaningless future year trends and predictions as being passe?

    Not that there is anything wrong with making predictions for the coming year, particular if they actually have some relevance, practicality not to mention track record.

    However that past few years seems to have resulted in press releases along with product (or services) plugs being masked as predictions, or simply making the same predictions for the coming year that did not come to be for the earlier year (or the one before that or before that and so forth).

    On the other hand, from an entertainment perspective, perhaps that’s where we will see annual predictions finally get classified and put into perspectives as being just that.

    Storage I/O trends

    Now for those who still cling to as well as look forward to annual predictions, ok, simple, we will continue in 2014 (and beyond) from where we left off in 2013 (and 2012 and earlier) meaning more (or continued):

    • Software defined "x" (replace "x" with your favorite topic) industry discussion adoption yet customer adoption or deployment question conversations.

    • Cloud conversations shifted from lets all go to the cloud as the new shiny technology to questioning the security, privacy, stability, vendor or service viability not to mention other common sense concerns that should have been discussed or looked into earlier. I have also heard from people who say Amazon (as well as Verizon, Microsoft, Blue host, Google, Nirvanix, Yahoo and the list goes on) outages are bad for the image of clouds as they shake people’s confidences. IMHO people confidence needs to be shaken to that of having some common sense around clouds including don’t be scared, be ready, do your homework and basic due diligence. This means cloud conversations over concerns set the stage for increased awareness into decision-making, usage, deployment and best practices (all of which are good things for continued cloud deployments). However if some vendors or pundits feel that people having basic cloud concerns that can be addressed is not good for their products or services, I would like to talk with them because they may be missing an opportunity to create long-term confidence with their customers or prospects.

    • VDI as a technology being deployed continues to grow (e.g. customer adoption) while the industry adoption (buzz or what’s being talked about) has slowed a bit which makes sense as vendors jump from one bandwagon to the new software defined bandwagon.

    • Continued awareness around modernizing data protection including backup/restore, business continuance (BC), disaster recovery (DR), high availability, archiving and security means more than simply swapping out old technology for new, yet using it in old ways. After all, in the data center and information factory not everything is the same. Speaking of data protection, check out the series of technology neutral webcast and video chats that started last fall as part of BackupU brought to you by Dell. Even though Dell is the sponsor of the series (that’s a disclosure btw ;) ) the focus of the sessions is on how to use different tools, technologies and techniques in new ways as well as having the right tools for different tasks. Check out the information as well as register to get a free Data Protection chapter download from my book Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press) at the BackupU site as well as attend upcoming events.

    • The nand flash solid state devices (SSD) cash-dash (and shakeout) continues with some acquisitions and IPO’s, as well as disappearances of some weaker vendors, while appearance of some new. SSD is showing that it is real in several ways (despite myths, fud and hype some of which gets clarified here) ranging from some past IPO vendors (e.g. FusiuonIO) seeing exit of their CEO and founders while their stock plummets and arrival of shareholder investor lawsuits, to Violins ho-hum IPO. What this means is that the market is real, it has a very bright future, however there is also a correction occurring showing that reality may be settling in for the long run (e.g. next couple of decades) vs. SSD being in the realm of unicorns.

      • Storage I/O trends

    • Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Devices (IoD) may give some relief for Big Data, BYOD, VDI, Software Defined and Cloud among others that need a rest after they busy usage that past few years. On the other hand, expect enhanced use of earlier buzzwords combined with IoT and IOD. Of course that also means plenty of questions around what is and is not IoD along with IoT and if actually relevant to what you are doing.

    • Also in 2014 some will discover storage and related data infrastructure topics or some new product / service thus having a revolutionary experience that storage is now exciting while others will have a DejaVu moment that it has been exciting for the past several years if not decades.

    • More big data buzz as well as realization by some that a pragmatic approach opens up a bigger broader market, not to mention customers more likely to realize they have more in common with big data than it simply being something new forcing them to move cautiously.

    • To say that OpenStack and related technologies will continue to gain both industry and customer adoption (and deployment) status building off of 2013 in 2014 would be an understatement, not to mention too easy to say, or leave out.

    • While SSD’s continue to gain in deployment, after the question is not if, rather when, where, with what and how much nand flash SSD is in your future, HDD’s continue to evolve for physical, virtual and cloud environments. This also includes Seagate announcing a new (Kinetic) Ethernet attached HDD (note that this is not a NAS or iSCSI device) that uses a new key value object storage API for storing content data (more on this in 2014).

    • This also means realizing that large amounts of little data can result in back logs of lots of big data, and that big data is growing into very fast big data, not to mention realization by some that HDFS is just another distributed file system that happens to work with Hadoop.

    • SOHO’s and lower end of SMB begin to get more respect (and not just during the week of Consumer Electronic Show – CES).

    • Realization that there is a difference between Industry Adoption and Customer Deployment, not to mention industry buzz and traction vs. customer adoption.

    server storage I/O trends

    What about beyond 2014?

    That’s easy, many of the predictions and prophecies that you hear about for the coming year have also been pitched in prior years, so it only makes sense that some of those will be part of the future.

    • If you have seen or experienced something you are more likely to have DejaVu.
    • Otoh if you have not seen or experienced something you are more likely to have a new and revolutionary moment!
    • Start using new (and old) things in new ways vs. simply using new things in old ways.
    • Barrier to technology convergence, not to mention new technology adoption is often people or their organizations.
    • Convergence is still around, cloud conversations around concerns get addressed leading to continued confidence for some.
    • Realization that data infrastructure span servers, storage I/O networking, cloud, virtual, physical, hardware, software and services.
    • That you can not have software defined without hardware and hardware defined requires software.
    • And it is time for me to get a new book project (or two) completed in addition to helping others with what they are working on, more on this in the months to come…

    Here’s my point

    The late Jim Morrison of the Doors said "There are things known and things unknown and in between are the doors.".

    The doors via Amazon.com
    Above image and link via Amazon.com

    Hence there is what we know about 2013 or will learn about the past in the future, then there is what will be in 2014 as well as beyond, hence lets step through some doors and see what will be. This means learn and leverage lessons from the past to avoid making the same or similar mistakes in the future, however doing so while looking forward without a death grip clinging to the past.

    Needless to say there will be more to review, preview and discuss throughout the coming year and beyond as we go from what is unknown through doors and learn about the known.

    Thanks to all who made 2013 a great year, best wishes to all, look forward to seeing and hearing from you in 2014!

    Ok, 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 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    Fall 2013 StorageIO Update Newsletter

    Storage I/O trends

    Fall 2013 StorageIO Update Newsletter

    Welcome to the Fall 2013 (joint September and October) edition of the StorageIO Update (newsletter) containing trends perspectives on cloud, virtualization and data infrastructure topics. It is fall (at least here in north America) which means conferences, symposium, virtual and physical events, seminars, webinars in addition to normal client project activities. Starting with VMworld back in late August, that event occurred in San Francisco which kicked off the fall (or back to school) season of activity. VMworld was followed with many other events including in-person along with virtual or on-line such as webinars, Google+ hangouts among others, not to mention all the briefings for vendor product announcements and updates. Check out the industry trends perspectives articles, comments and blog posts below that covers some activity over the past few months.

    VMworld 2013
    Congratulations to VMworld on the 10th anniversary of the event. With the largest installment yet of a VMworld in terms of attendance, there were also many announcements. Here are a synopsis of some of those announcements which of course included plenty of software defined marketing (SDM).

    CMG and Storage Performance
    During mid-September I was invited to give an industry trends and perspectives presentation to the Storage Performance Council (SPC) board. The SPC board were meeting in the Minneapolis area and I gave a brief talk about Metrics that Matter and importance of context with focus on applications. Speaking of the Minneapolis area, Tom Becchetti (@tbecchetti) organized a great CMG event hosted over at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. I gave a discussion around Technolutionary, technology evolution and revolution, using old and new things in new ways.

    Check out our backup, restore, BC, DR and archiving (Under the resources section on StorageIO.com) for various presentation, book chapter downloads and other content.

    SNW Fall 2013 Long Beach
    Talking about traveling, there was a quick trip out to Long Beach for the fall 2013 edition of Storage Networking World (SNW) where I had some good meetings and conversations with those who were actually there. No need to sugar coat it, likewise no need to kick sand in its face. Plain and simple, SNW is not the event it used to be has been a common discussion theme for several years which I had set my expectation accordingly.

    Some have asked me why I even spent time, money and resources to attend SNW?

    My answer is that I had some meetings to attend to, wanted to see and meet with others who were going to be there, and perhaps even say goodbye to an event that I have been involved with for over a decade.

    Does that mean I’m all done with SNW?

    Not sure yet as will have to wait and see what SNIA and IDG/Computerworld the event co-owners and producers put together for future events. However there are enough other events and activities to pick up the slack which is part of what has caused the steady decline in events like SNW among others.

    Perhaps it is time for SNIA to partner with another adjacent yet like-minded organization such as CMG to collaborate and try doing something like what was done in the early 2000s? That is SNIA providing their own seminars along with others such as myself who involved with both CMG, SNW and SNIA to beef up or set up a storage and I/O focused track at the CMG event.

    Beyond those items mentioned above, or in the following section, there are plenty of interesting and exciting things occurring in the background that I cant talk about yet. However watch for future posts, commentary, perspectives and other information down the road (and in the not so distant future).

    Enjoy this edition of the StorageIO Update newsletter.

    Ok, nuff said (for now)

    Cheers gs

    StorageIO Industry Trends and PerspectivesIndustry trends perspectives and commentary
    What is being seen, heard and talked about while out and about

    The following is a synopsis of some StorageIOblog posts, articles and comments in different venues on various industry trends, perspectives and related themes about clouds, virtualization, data and storage infrastructure topics among related themes.

    Storage I/O trends

    InfoStor: Perspectives on Data Dynamics file migration tool (Read more about StorageX later in this newsletter)
    SearchStorage: Perspectives on Data Dynamics resurrects StorageX for file migration
    SearchStorage: Perspectives on Cisco buying SSD storage vendor Whiptail

    Recent StorageIO Tips and Articles in various venues:

    21cIT:  Why You Should Consider Object Storage
    InfoStor:  HDDs Are Still Spinning (Rust Never Sleeps)
    21cIT:  Object Storage Is in Your Future, Even if You Use Files
    21cIT:  Playing the Name Game With Virtual Storage
    InfoStor:  Flash Data Storage: Myth vs. Reality
    InfoStor:  The Nand Flash Cache SSD Cash Dance
    SearchEnterpriseWAN:  Remote Office / ROBO backup and data protection for networking Pro’s
    TheVirtualizationPractice:  When and Where to use NAND Flash SSD for Virtual Servers
    FedTech:  These Data Center (DCIM) Tools Can Streamline Computing Resources

    Storage I/O posts

    Recent StorageIO blog post:

    Seagate Kinetic Cloud and Object Storage I/O platform (and Ethernet HDD)
    Cloud conversations: Has Nirvanix shutdown caused cloud confidence concerns?
    Cisco buys Whiptail continuing the SSD storage I/O flash cash cache dash
    WD buys nand flash SSD storage I/O cache vendor Virident
    EMC New VNX MCx doing more storage I/O work vs. just being more
    Is more of something always better? Depends on what you are doing
    VMworld 2013 Vmware, server, storage I/O and networking update (Day 1)
    EMC ViPR software defined object storage part II

    Check out our objectstoragecenter.com page where you will find a growing collection of information and links pertaining to cloud and object storage themes, technologies and trends.

    Brouwer Storage Consultancy

    StorageIO in Europe (Netherlands)
    Spent over a week in the Netherlands where I presented three different seminar workshop sessions organized by Brouwer Storage Consultancy who is celebrating their 10th anniversary in business. These sessions spanned five full days of interactive discussions with an engaged diverse group of attendees in the Nijkerk area who came from across Holland to take part in these workshops.

    Congratulations to Gert and Frank Brouwer on their ten years of being in business and best wishes for many more. Fwiw those who are curious StorageIO will be ten years young in business in about two years.

    StorageIO Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Some observations from while in Europe:

    Continued cloud privacy concerns amplified by NSA and suspicion of US-based companies, yet many are not aware of similar concerns of European or UK-based firms from those outside those areas. While there were some cloud concern conversations over the demise of Nirvanix, those seemed less so then in the media or US given that at least in Holland they have seen other cloud and storage as a service firms come and go already. It should be noted that the US has also seen cloud and storage as a service startups come and go, however I think sometimes we or at least the media tends to have a short if not selective memory at times.

    In one of our workshops sessions we were talking about service level objectives (SLO), service level agreements (SLA), recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO) among other themes. Somebody mentioned why the focus of time in RPO and questions why not a transactional perspective which I thought was a brilliant question. We had a good conversation in the group and concurred that while RPO is what the industry uses, that there also needs to be a transactional state context tie to what is inferred or assumed with RPO and RTO. Thus the importance of looking beyond just the point in time, however the importance of a transactional context or state, such as not just the time, however to a given transactional point.

    Note that transactional could mean database, file system, backup or data protection index or catalog, meta data repository or other entity. This is where some should be jumping up and down like Donkey in Shrek wanting to point out that is exactly what RTO and RPO refer to which would be great. However all to often what is assumed is not conveyed, thus those who don’t know, well, they assume or simply don’t know what others.

    StorageIO Industry Trends and Perspectives

    Data Dynamics StorageX 7.0 Intelligent Policy Based File Data Migration – There is no such thing as a data or information recession . Likewise, people and data are living longer as well as getting larger. These span various use cases from traditional to personal or at work productivity. From little to big data content, collaboration including file or document sharing to rich media applications all of which are leveraging unstructured data. For example, email, word processing back-office documents, web and text files, presentations (e.g. PowerPoint), photos, audio and video among others. These macro trends result in the continued growth of unstructured Network Attached Storage (NAS) file data.

    Thus, a common theme is adding management including automated data movement and migration to carry out structure around unstructured NAS file data. More than a data mover or storage migration tool, Data Dynamics StorageX is a software platform for adding storage management structure around unstructured local and distributed NAS file data. This includes heterogeneous vendor support across different storage system, protocols and tools including Windows CIFS and Unix/Linux NFS.
    (Disclosure DataDynamics has been a StorageIO client). Visit Data Dynamics at www.datadynamicsinc.com/

    Server and StorageIO seminars, conferences, web cats, events, activities StorageIO activities (out and about)

    Seminars, symposium, conferences, webinars
    Live in person and recorded recent and upcoming events

    Announcing: Backup.U brought to you by Dell

    Some on-line (live and recorded) events have include an ongoing series tied to data protection (Backup/restore, HA, BC, DR and Archiving) called Backup.U organized and sponsored by Dell Data Protection Software that you can learn more about at the landing page www.software.dell.com/backupu (more on this in a future post). In addition to data protection, some other events and activities including a BrightTalk webinar on storage I/O and networking for cloud environments (here).

    In addition to the above, check out the StorageIO calendar to see more recent and upcoming activities.

    Watch for more 2013 events to be added soon to the StorageIO events calendar page. Topics include data protection modernization (backup/restore, HA, BC, DR, archive), data footprint reduction (archive, compression, dedupe), storage optimization, SSD, object storage, server and storage virtualization, big data, little data, cloud and object storage, performance and management trends among others.

    Vendors, VAR’s and event organizers, give us a call or send an email to discuss having us involved in your upcoming pod cast, web cast, virtual seminar, conference or other events.

    If you missed the Summer (July and August) 2013 StorageIO update newsletter, click here to view that and other previous editions as HTML or PDF versions. Subscribe to this newsletter (and pass it along)

    and click here to subscribe to this news letter. View archives of past StorageIO update news letters as well as download PDF versions at: www.storageio.com/newsletter

    Ok, 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)

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved

    Posted on

    EMC New VNX MCx doing more storage I/O work vs. just being more

    Storage I/O trends

    It’s not how much you have, its how storage I/O work gets done that matters

    Following last weeks VMworld event in San Francisco where among other announcements including this one around Virtual SAN (VSAN) along with Software Defined Storage (SDS), EMC today made several announcements.

    Today’s EMC announcements include:

    • The new VNX MCx (Multi Core optimized) family of storage systems
    • VSPEX proven infrastructure portfolio enhancements
    • Availability of ViPR Software Defined Storage (SDS) platform (read more from earlier posts here, here and here)
    • Statement of direction preview of Project Nile for elastic cloud storage platform
    • XtremSW server cache software version 2.0 with enhanced management and support for VMware, AIX and Oracle RAC

    EMC ViPREMC XtremSW cache software

    Summary of the new EMC VNX MCx storage systems include:

    • More processor cores, PCIe Gen 3 (faster bus), front-end and back-end IO ports, DRAM and flash cache (as well as drives)
    • More 6Gb/s SAS back-end ports to use more storage devices (SAS and SATA flash SSD, fast HDD and high-capacity HDD)
    • MCx – Multi-core optimized with software rewritten to make use of threads and resources vs. simply using more sockets and cores at higher clock rates
    • Data Footprint Reduction (DFR) capabilities including block compression and dedupe, file dedupe and thin provisioning
    • Virtual storage pools that include flash SSD, fast HDD and high-capacity HDD
    • Block (iSCSI, FC and FCoE) and NAS file (NFS, pNFS, CIFS) front-end access with object access via Atmos Virtual Edition (VE) and ViPR
    • Entry level pricing starting at below $10,000 USD

    EMC VNX MCx systems

    What is this MCx stuff, is it just more hardware?

    While there is more hardware that can be used in different configurations, the key or core (pun intended) around MCx is that EMC has taken the time and invested in reworking the internal software of the VNX that has its roots going back to the Data General CLARRiON EMC acquired. This is similar to an effort EMC made a few years back when it overhauled what is now known as the VMAX from the Symmetric into the DMX. That effort expanded from a platform or processor port to re-architecting and software optimizing (rewrite portions) to leverage new and emerging hardware capabilities more effectively.

    EMC VNX MCx

    With MCx EMC is doing something similar in that core portions of the VNX software have been re-architected and written to take advantage of more threads and cores being available to do work more effectively. This is not all that different from what occurs (or should) with upper level applications that eventually get rewritten to leverage underlying new capabilities to do more work faster and leverage technologies in a more cost-effective way. MCx also leverages flash as a primary medium with data than being moved (256MB chunks) down into lower tiers of storage (SSD and HDD drives).

    Storage I/O trends

    ENC VNX has had in the past FLASH Cache which enables SSD drives to be used as an extension of main cache as well as using drive targets. Thus while MCx can and does leverage more and faster core as would most any software, it is also able to leverage those cores and threads in a more effective way. After all, it’s not just how many processors, sockets, cores, threads, L1/L2 cache, DRAM, flash SSD and other resources, its how effective you use them. Also keep in mind that a bit of flash in the right place used effectively can go a long way vs. having a lot of cache in the wrong place or not used optimally that will end up costing a lot of cash.

    Moving forward this means that EMC should be able to further refine and optimize other portions of the VNX software not yet updated to make further benefit of new hardware platforms and capabilities.

    Does this mean EMC is catching up with newer vendors?

    Similar to more of something is not always better, its how those items are used that matters, just because something is new does not mean its better or faster. That will manifest itself when they are demonstrated and performance results shown. However key is showing the performance across different workloads that have relevance to your needs and that convey metrics that matter with context.

    Storage I/O trends

    Context matters including type and size of work being done, number of transactions, IOPs, files or videos served, pages processed or items rendered per unit of time, or response time and latency (aka wait or think time), along with others. Thus some newer systems may be faster on paper, powerpoint, WebEx, You tube or via some benchmarks, however what is the context and how do they compare to others on an apples to apples basis.

    What are some other enhancements or features?

    Leveraging of FAST VP (Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools) with improved MCx software

    Increases the effectiveness of available hardware resources (processors, cores, DRAM, flash, drives, ports)

    Active active LUNs accessible by both controllers as well as legacy AULA support

    Data sheets and other material for the new VNX MCx storage systems can be found here, with software options and bundles here, and general speeds and feeds here.

    Learn more here at the EMC VNX MCx storage system landing page and compare VNX systems here.

    What does then new VNX MCx family look like?

    EMC VNX MCx family image

    Is VNX MCx all about supporting VMware?

    Interesting that if you read behind the lines, listen closely to the conversations, ask the right questions you will realize that while VMware is an important workload or environment to support, it is not the only one targeted for VNX. Likewise if you listen and look beyond what is normally amplified in various conversations you will find that systems such as VNX are being deployed as back-end storage in cloud (public, private, hybrid) environments for use with technologies such as OpenStack or object based solutions (visit www.objectstoragecenter.com for more on object storage systems and access)..

    There is a common myth that the cloud and service providers all use white box commodity hardware including JBOD for their systems which some do, however some are also using systems such as VNX among others. In some of these scenarios the VNX type systems are or will be deployed in large numbers essentially consolidating the functions of what had been done by even larger number of JBOD based systems. This is where some of you will have a DejaVu or back to the future moment from the mid 90s when there was an industry movement to combine all the DAS and JBOD into larger storage systems. Don’t worry if you are not yet reading about this trend in your favorite industry rag or analyst briefing notes, however ask or look around and you might be surprised at what is occurring, granted it might be another year or two before you read about it (just saying ;).

    Storage I/O trends

    What that means is that VNX MCx is also well positioned for working with ViPR or Atmos Virtual Edition among other cloud and object storage stacks. VNX MCx is also well positioned for its new low-cost of entry for general purpose workloads and applications ranging from file sharing, email, web, database along with demanding high performance, low latency with large amounts of flash SSD. In addition to being used for general purpose storage, VNX MCx will also complement data protection solutions for backup/restore, BC, DR and archiving such as Data Domain, Avamar and Networker among others. Speaking of server virtualization, EMC also has tools for working with Hyper-V, Xen and KVM in addition to VMware.

    If there is an all flash VNX MCx doesn’t that compete with XtremIO?

    Yes there are all flash VNX MCx just as there have been all flash VNX before, however these will be positioned for different use case scenarios by EMC and their partners to avoid competing head to head with XtremIO. Thus EMC will need to be diligent in being very clear to its own sales and marketing forces as well as those of partners and customers of what to use when, where, why and how.

    General thoughts and closing comments

    The VNX MCx is a good set of enhancements by EMC and an example of how it’s not as important of how more you have, rather how you can use it to be more effective.

    Ok, nuff said (fow 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)

    All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2024 Server StorageIO and UnlimitedIO LLC All Rights Reserved