Tag: Cloud

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StorageIO going Dutch: Seminar for Storage and I/O professionals

Data and Storage Networking Industry Trends and Technology Seminar

Greg Schulz of StorageIO in conjunction with or dutch parter Brouwer Storage Consultancy will be presenting a two day seminar for Storage Professionals Tuesday 24th and Wednesday 25th of May 2011 at Ampt van Nijkerk Netherlands.

Brouwer Storage ConsultanceyThe Server and StorageIO Group

This two day interactive education seminar for storage professionals will focus on current data and storage networking trends, technology and business challenges along with available technologies and solutions. During the seminar learn what technologies and management techniques are available, how different vendors solutions compare and what to use when and where. This seminar digs into the various IT tools, techniques, technologies and best practices for enabling an efficient, effective, flexible, scalable and resilient data infrastructure.

The format of this two seminar will be a mix of presentation and interactive discussion allowing attendees plenty of time to discuss among themselves and with seminar presenters. Attendees will gain insight into how to compare and contrast various technologies and solutions in addition to identifying and aligning those solutions to their specific issues, challenges and requirements.

Major themes that will be discussed include:

  • Who is doing what with various storage solutions and tools
  • Is RAID still relevant for today and tomorrow
  • Are hard disk drives and tape finally dead at the hands of SSD and clouds
  • What am I routinely hearing, seeing or being asked to comment on
  • Enabling storage optimization, efficiency and effectiveness (performance and capacity)
  • What do I see as opportunities for leveraging various technologies, techniques,trends
  • Supporting virtual servers including re-architecting data protection
  • How to modernize data protection (backup/restore, BC, DR, replication, snapshots)
  • Data footprint reduction (DFR) including archive, compression and dedupe
  • Clarifying cloud confusion, don’t be scared, however look before you leap

In addition this two day seminar will look at what are some new and improved technologies and techniques, who is doing what along with discussions around industry and vendor activity including mergers and acquisitions. Greg will also preview the contents and themes of his new book Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) for enabling efficient, optimized and effective information services delivery across cloud, virtual and traditional environments.

Buzzwords and topic themes to be discussed among others include:
E2E, FCoE and DCB, CNAs, SAS, I/O virtualization, server and storage virtualization, public and private cloud, Dynamic Infrastructures, VDI, RAID and advanced data protection options, SSD, flash, SAN, DAS and NAS, object storage, application optimized or aware storage, open storage, scale out storage solutions, federated management, metrics and measurements, performance and capacity, data movement and migration, storage tiering, data protection modernization, SRA and SRM, data footprint reduction (archive, compress, dedupe), unified and multi-protocol storage, solution bundle and stacks.

For more information or to register contact Brouwer Storage Consultancy

Brouwer Storage Consultancy
Olevoortseweg 43
3861 MH Nijkerk
The Netherlands
Telephone: +31-33-246-6825
Cell: +31-652-601-309
Fax: +31-33-245-8956
Email: info@brouwerconsultancy.com
Web: www.brouwerconsultancy.com

Brouwer Storage Consultancey

Learn about other events involving Greg Schulz and StorageIO at www.storageio.com/events

Ok, nuff said for now

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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Using Removable Hard Disk Drives (RHDDs)

Removable hard disk drives (RHDD) are a form of removable media which includes magnetic tape that address many common use cases. Usage scenarios include enabling bulk data portability for larger environments or for D2D backup where the media needs to be physically moved offsite for small and mid sized environments. RHDDs include among others those from Imation such as the Odyssey (which is what I use) and the Prostor RDX (OEMed by Imation and others). RHDD, tape along with other forms of portable media including those that use flash by being removable and portable presumable should have some extra packaging protection to safeguard against static shock in addition to supporting encryption capabilities.

Compared to disks including RHDD, tape for most and particularly larger environments should have an overall lower media cost for parking, preserving and when needed serving inactive or archived data (e.g. the changing roll of tape from day to back up to archive). Of course your real costs will vary by use in addition to how combined with data footprint reduction and other technologies.

A big benefit of RHDDs is that they are random meaning data can be searched and found quickly vs. tape media which has great sequential or streaming capabilities if you have a system that can support that ability. The other benefit of RHDD is that depending on their implementation, they should plug and play with your systems appearing as disk without any extra drivers or configuration or software tools making for ease of use. Being removable they can be used for portability such as sending data to a cloud or MSP as part of an initial bulk copy, or sending data offset or taking home as part of an offsite backup, data protection or BC/DR strategy as well as being used for archiving. The warning with RHDD is their cost per TByte will generally be higher than compared to tape as well as having to have a docking station or specific drive interface depending on specific product and configuration.

RHDD are a great compliment to traditional fixed or non removable disk, Hybrid Hard Disk Drive (HHDD) and Solid State Device (SSD) based storage as well as coexist with cloud or MSP backup and archive solutions. The smaller the environment the more affordable using RHDD become vs. tape for backup and archive operations or when portability is required. Even if using a cloud or managed service provider (MSP) backup provider, network bandwidth costs, availability or performance may limit the amount of data that can be moved in a cost effective way. For example placing an archive and gold or master copy of your static data on a RHDD that may be kept on site in a safe off-site place and then sending data that is routinely changed to the cloud or MSP provider (think full local and offsite plus partial full and incremental in the cloud).

By leveraging archiving and data footprint reduction (DFR) techniques including dedupe and compression, you can stretch your budget by sending less data to cloud or MSP services while using removable media for data protection. You would be surprised how many TBytes of data can be kept in a safe deposit box. For my own business, I have used RHDDs for several years to keep gold master copies as well as archives offsite as part of a disk to disk (D2D) or D2D2RHDD strategy. The data protection strategy is also complimented by sending active data to a cloud backup MSP (encrypted of course). It might be belt and suspenders, however it is also eating my own dog food practicing what I talk about and the approach has proven itself a few times.

Here are some related links to more material:
Removable disk drives vs. tape storage for small businesses
The pros and cons of removable disk storage for small businesses
Removable storage media appealing to SMBs, but with caveats
StorageIO Momentus Hybrid Hard Disk Drive (HHDD) Moments

Ok, nuff said for now

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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StorageIO Momentus Hybrid Hard Disk Drive (HHDD) Moments

This is the third in a series of posts that I have done about Hybrid Hard Disk Drives (HHDDs) along with pieces about Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and Solid State Devices (SSDs). Granted the HDD received its AARP card several years ago when it turned 50 and is routinely declared dead (or read here) even though it continues to evolve along SSD maturing and both expanding into different markets as well as usage roles.

For those who have not read previous posts about Hybrid Hard Disk Drives (HHDDs) and the Seagate Momentus XT you can find them here and here.

Since my last post, I have been using the HHDDs extensively and recently installed the latest firmware. The release of new HHDD firmware by Seagate for the Momentus XT (SD 25) like its predecessor SD24 cleaned up some annoyances and improved on overall stability. Here is a Seagate post by Mark Wojtasiak discussing SD25 and feedback obtained via the Momentus XT forum from customers.

If you have never done a HDD firmware update, its not as bad or intimidating as might be expected. The Seagate firmware update tools make it very easy, that is assuming you have a recent good backup of your data (one that can be restored) and about 10 to 15 minutes of time for a couple of reboots.

Speaking of stability, the Momentus XT HHDDs have been performing well helping to speed up accessing large documents on various projects including those for my new book. Granted an SSD would be faster across the board, however the large capacity at the price point of the HHDD is what makes it a hybrid value proposition. As I have said in previous posts, if you have the need for speed all of the time and time is money, get an SSD. Likewise if you need as much capacity as you can get and performance is not your primary objective, then leverage the high capacity HDDs. On the other hand, if you need a balance of some performance boost with capacity boost and a good value, then check out the HHDDs.

Image of Momentus XT courtesy of www.Seagate.com

Lets shift gears from that of the product or technology to that of common questions that I get asked about HHDDs.

Common questions I get asked about HHDDs include:

What is a Hybrid Hard Disk Drive?

A Hybrid Hard Disk Drive includes a combination of rotating HDD, solid state flash persistent memory along with volatile dynamic random access memory (DRAM) in an integrated package or product. The value proposition and benefit is a balance of performance and capacity at a good price for those environments, systems or applications that do not need all SSD performance (and cost) vs. those that need some performance in addition to large capacity.

How the Seagate Momentus XT differs from other Hybrid Disks?
One approach is to take a traditional HDD and pair it with a SSD using a controller packaged in various ways. For example on a large scale, HDDs and SSDs coexist in the same tiered storage system being managed by the controllers, storage processors or nodes in the solution including automated tiering and cache promotion or demotion. The main difference however between other storage systems, tiering and pairing and HHDDs is that in the case of the Momentus XT the HDD, SLC flash (SSD functionality) and RAM cache and their management are all integrated within the disk drive enclosure.

Do I use SSDs and HDDs or just HHDDs?
I have HHDDs installed internally in my laptops. I also have HDDs which are installed in servers, NAS and disk to disk (D2D) backup devices and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) along with external SSD and Removable Hard Disk Drives (RHDDs). The RHDDs are used for archive and master or gold copy data protection that go offsite complimenting how I also use cloud backup services as part of my data protection strategy.

What are the technical specifications of a HHDD such as the Seagate Momentus XT?
3Gbs SATA interface, 2.5 inch 500GB 7,200 RPM HDD with 32MB RAM cache and integrated 4GByte SLC flash all managed via internal drive processor. Power consumption varies depending what the device is doing such as initial power up, idle, normal or other operating modes. You can view the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB (ST95005620AS which is what I have) specifications here as well as the product manual here.


One of my HHDDs on a note pad (paper) and other accessories

Do you need a special controller or management software?
Generally speaking no, the HHDD that I have been using plugged and played into my existing laptops internal bay replacing the HDD that came with those systems. No extra software was needed for Windows, no data movement or migration tools needed other than when initially copying from the source HDD to the new HHDD. The HHDD do their own caching, read ahead and write behind independent of the operating system or controller. Now the reason I say generally speaking is that like many devices, some operating systems or controllers may be able to leverage advanced features so check your particular system capabilities.

How come the storage system vendors are not talking about these HHDDs?
Good question which I assume it has a lot to do with the investment (people, time, engineering, money and marketing) that they have or are making in controller and storage system software functionality to effectively create hybrid tiered storage systems using SSD and HDDs on different scales. There have been some packaged HHDD systems or solutions brought to market by different vendors that combine HDD and SSD into a single physical package glued together with some software and controllers or processors to appear as a single system. I would not be surprised to see discrete HHDDs (where the HDD and flash SSD and RAM are all one integrated product) appear in lower end NAS or multifunction storage systems as well as for backup, dedupe or other system that requires large amounts of capacity space and performance boost now and then.

Why do I think this? Simple, say you have five HHDDs each with 500GB of capacity configured as a RAID5 set resulting in 2TByte of capacity. Using as a hypothetical example the Momentus XT yields 5 x 4GByte or 20GByte of flash cache helps accelerate write operations during data dumps, backup or other updates. Granted that is an overly simplified example and storage systems can be found with hundreds of GByte of cache, however think in terms of value or low cost balancing performance and capacity to cost for different usage scenarios. For example, applications such as bulk or scale out file and object storage including cloud or big data, entertainment, Server (Citrix/Xen, Microsoft/HyperV, VMware/vSphere) and Desktop virtualization or VDI, Disk to Disk (D2D) backup, business analytics among others. The common tenets of those applications and usage scenario is a combination of I/O and storage consolidation in a cost effective manner addressing the continuing storage capacity to I/O performance gap.

Data Center and I/O Bottlenecks

Storage and I/O performance gap

Do you have to backup HHDDs?
Yes, just as you would want to backup or protect any SSD or HHD device or system.

How does data get moved between the SSD and the HDD?
Other than the initial data migration from the old HDD (or SSD) to the HHDD, unless you are starting with a new system, once your data and applications exist on the HHDD, it automatically via the internal process of the device manages the RAM, flash and HDD activity. Unlike in a tiered storage system where data blocks or files may be moved between different types of storage devices, inside the HHDD, all data gets written to the HDD, however the flash and RAM are used as buffers for caching depending on activity needs. If you have sat through or listened to a NetApp or HDS use of cache for tiering discussion what the HHDDs do is similar in concept however on a smaller scale at the device level, potentially even in a complimentary mode in the future? Other functions performed inside the HHDD by its processor includes reading and writing, managing the caches, bad block replacement or re vectoring on the HDD, wear leveling of the SLC flash and other routine tasks such as integrity checks and diagnostics. Unlike paired storage solutions where data gets moved between tiers or types of devices, once data is stored in the HHDD, it is managed by the device similar to how a SSD or HDD would move blocks of data to and from the specific media along with leveraging RAM cache as a buffer.

Where is the controller that manages the SSD and HDD?
The HHDD itself is the controller per say in that the internal processor that manages the HDD also directly access the RAM and flash.

What type of flash is used and will it wear out?
The XT uses SLC (single level cell) flash which with wear leveling has a good duty cycle (life span) and is what is typically found in higher end flash SSD solutions vs. lower cost MLC (multi level cell)

Have I lost any data from it yet?
No, at least nothing that was not my own fault from saving the wrong file in the wrong place and having to recover from one of my recent D2D copies or the cloud. Oh, regarding what have I done with the HDDs that were replaced by the HHDDs? They are now an extra gold master backup copy as of a particular point in time and are being kept in a safe secure facility, encrypted of course.

Have you noticed a performance improvement?
Yes, performance will vary however in many cases I have seen performance comparable to SSD on both reads and writes as long as the HDDs keep up with the flash and RAM cache. Even as larger amounts of data are written, I have seen better performance than compared to HDDs. The caveat however is that initially you may see little to marginal performance improvement however over time, particularly on the same files, performance tends to improve. Working on large tens to hundreds of MByte size documents I noticed good performance when doing saves compared to working with them on a HDD.

What do the HHDDs cost?
Amazon.com has the 500GB model for about $100 which is about $40 to $50 less than when I bought my most recent one last fall. I have heard from other people that you can find them at even lower prices at other venues. In the theme of disclosures, I bought one of my HHDDs from Amazon and Seagate gave me one to test.

Will I buy more HHDDs or switch to SSDs?
Where applicable I will add SSDs as well as HDDs, however where possible and practical, I will also add HHDDs perhaps even replacing the HDDs in my NAS system with HHDDs at some time or maybe trying them in a DVR.

What is the down side to the HHDDs?
Im generating and saving more data on the devices at a faster rate which means that when I installed them I was wondering if I would ever fill up a 500GB drive. I still have hundreds of GBytes free or available for use, however I also am able to cary more reference data or information than in the past. In addition to more reference data including videos, audio, images, slide decks and other content, I have also been able to keep more versions or copies of documents which has been handy on the book project. Data that changes gets backed up D2D as well as to my cloud provider including while traveling. Leveraging compression and dedupe, given that many chapters or other content are similar, not as much data actually gets transmitted when doing cloud backups which has been handy when doing a backup from a airplane flying over the clouds. A wish for the XT type of HHDD that I have is for vendors such as Seagate to add Self Encrypting Disk (SED) capabilities to them along with applying continued intelligent power management (IPM) enhancements.

Why do I like the HHDD?
Simple, it solves both business and technology challenges while being an enabler, it gives me a balance of performance for productivity and capacity in a cost effective manner while being transparent to the systems it works with.

Here are some related links to additional material:
Data Center I/O Bottlenecks Performance Issues and Impacts
Has SSD put Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) On Endangered Species List?
Seagate Momentus XT SD 25 firmware
Seagate Momentus XT SD25 firmware update coming this week
A Storage I/O Momentus Moment
Another StorageIO Hybrid Momentus Moment
As the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) continues to spin
Has SSD put Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) On Endangered Species List?
Funeral for a Friend
As the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) continues to spin
Seagate Momentus XT product specifications
Seagate Momentus XT product manual
Technology Tiering, Servers Storage and Snow Removal
Self Encrypting Disks (SEDs)

Ok, nuff said for now

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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Spring 2011 Server and StorageIO News Letter

StorageIO News Letter Image
Spring 2011 Newsletter

Welcome to the Spring 2011 edition of the Server and StorageIO Group (StorageIO) newsletter. This follows the Winter 2011 edition.

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

 

Click on the following links to view the Spring 2011 edition as an HTML or PDF or, to go to the newsletter page to view previous editions.

Follow via Goggle Feedburner here or via email subscription here.

You can also subscribe to the news letter by simply sending an email to newsletter@storageio.com

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

Cheers gs

Nuff said for now

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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Buzzword Bingo and Acronym Update V2.011

R U (e.g. Are you) JASSD about JACD or do you have a case of JAID and JACBUS?

Will RAID RAIN on your cloud parade?

For those who like to keep up on buzzwords (for buzzword bingo) and acronyms, perhaps even FTW (e.g. For the Win), here are some old and new, fun and real ones to ponder.

As to which are real or new, fun or old, I will leave that up to you.

  • BD = Business Development or Big Data or Backup Device
  • CEO = Chief Evangelist Officer or Change Everything Often
  • CJO = Chief Jailable Officer or anyone who is a legal Chief of a company
  • CMO = Creative Movie Officer or Chief Marketing Officer (same thing)
  • CNOC = Cloud network operations center
  • CPOP = Cloud point of presence aka cloud gateway, cloud appliance, cloud middle ware, cloud shims
  • DC = Direct Current or Diet Coke or Data Center
  • DTDS+ = Disaster Tolerant Disk Subsystem (Plus)
  • EMC = Entertaining Movie Creations
  • HP = Has printers and PCs
  • IBM = Itty Bitty Machine company or I Buy Mainframes
  • iHop = International House of pancakes or iPhone bouncing on floor
  • JACBUS = Just Another Cloud Backup Service
  • JACD = Just Another Cloud Device
  • JAFD = Just Another Flash Device
  • JAiD = Just Another iSCSI Device or Just Another iProduct Device
  • JAM = Producer of Tree size SRM tools or a U.S. concert promoter
  • JASSD = Just Another SSD
  • MIA = Missing In Action or airport code for Miami International Airport
  • MSP = My Storage Please or Minneapolis St. Paul Airport code
  • NetApp = Neat effective technology And product portfolio
  • PIROMA = Ask someone you know who has been in capacity planning
  • RAID = Redundant Array of Independent Disks or bug spray
  • RAIN = Redundant Array of Independent Nodes or something that falls from the clouds
  • RPD = Revenue prevention department: Groups, entities or management layers that get in the way of getting results done
  • Truth Squads = Teams representing various vendors or organizations that try to get you to see things their way
  • WATN = Where Are They Now: Former vendors or service providers that are now MIA
  • XaaS = Plug in what ever you like for X as a Service

Ok, nuff said and fun for now

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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The new Green IT: Efficient, Effective, Smart and Productive

Given the buzz about big data and conversations or confusion around clouds along with virtualizing virtually anything possible, Green IT has fallen off the Buzzword Bingo Bandwagon.

Green IT like so many other buzzwords and trends typically go through a hype cycle before getting tired, worn out, or disillusioned (see here and here). Often these buzzwords will go to Some Day Isle for some rest and recuperation before reappearing later as part of a second or third buzzword wave either making it to broad adoption which means the plateau of profitability (for vendors or vars) and productivity (for customers) or disappearing.

Some Day Isle for those not familiar with it is a visional or fictional place that some day you will go to, a wishful happy place so to speak that is perfect for hyperbole R and R. After some R and R, these trends, technologies or techniques often reappear well rested and ready for the next wave of buzz, FUD, hype and activity.

Keep in mind that industry adoption (e.g. everybody is talking about it) can differ from industry deployment (e.g. some people have actually paid for, deployed and using the technology) to broad customer adoption (e.g. many people are actually paying for, deploying and using the technology on a routine basis).

Confusion still reigns around Green IT not surprising given the heavy dose of Green Washing that has occurred.

Consequently Green IT themes or pitches often fall on deaf ears as people have either become numb or ignore the Green washing hype or FUD. For example many people will skip reading this post because the word Green is in the title assuming that it is another CO2 or related themed piece missing out on the other themes or messages here. Unfortunately as I have discussed in the past, there remains a Green Gap that results in missed opportunities for vendors, vars, service providers, IT organizations along with those who would like to see environmental benefits or change.

Another example of a Green gap is messaging around energy avoidance as being efficient vs. using energy in a more productive or effective manner (doing more work with the same or fewer resources) shown in the figure below.

Tiered Storage
Expanding focus from energy avoidance to energy usage effectiveness

In routine conversations with IT professionals it is clear that the Green Gap and thus missed opportunities will continue for some time until the business and economic values of efficient, effective, smart and productive IT are understood to have environmental benefits as a by product and thus being Green. Watch for more missed messaging around CO2 and related themes popular with so called Greenies (or if you prefer environmentalists) that miss the mark with most business and IT organizations.

Business and thus IT are driven by economics and as such will invest where they can reduce complexity and costs, become more efficient and effective while increasing productivity and reducing waste by working smarter. In other words, by changing how information services are delivered in a smarter more effective efficient manner maximizes what resources are used enabling more to be done in a denser footprint (budget, people staffing, management, power, cooling, floor space) that have positive environmental benefits. Put another way, a benefit for IT organizations to remove complexity results in lower costs, by becoming more efficient and effective reducing waste results in better productivity and fewer missed opportunities meaning enhanced profits. The net result is that environmental concerns get a free ride or being funded as a result of IT organizations improving their productivity which of course should have a business benefit.

Efficient and Optimized IT Wheel of Oppourtunity
Wheel of Opportunity: Various techniques and technologies for infrastructure optimization

Efficient and effective IT (aka the other Green IT) that links to common technology and business issues with the benefit of helping the environment can be accomplished using a combination approaches. The approaches for enabling an efficient, effective, smarter and productive IT environment includes from a generic perspective various technologies, techniques and best practices shown in the wheel of opportunity figure.

For example:

Here are some related links for additional reading:

Also check out my book for enabling efficient, effective and smart IT The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC) including a free sample chapter download here.

Ok, nuff said for now, go hug a tree, your computer, hybrid car, droid, ipad or whatever suits your needs.

Cheers gs

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

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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Is FCoE Struggling to Gain Traction, or on a normal adoption course?

Here is an article by Drew Robb over at Enterprise Storage Forum about Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and its state of adoption. Drews article includes comments and perspectives from myself around where FCoE is going and why it is on a long road and not a sprint for a short temporal technology play (e.g. not a quick passing fad or bandwagon trend).

If you measure FCoE adoption in months, sure, its been slow to gain adoption and deployment similar to how Ethernet, Fibre Channel (FC) and even iSCSI took time to evolve. Part of the time involved is for developing the standards, implementing the technology as well as expanding the capabilities of the new tools. Another part of the time required for technologies that are targeted to be around for a decade or more include ecosystem maturity, education not to mention customers being comfortable with along with having budget to buy the new items.

I have previously said that FCoE was in the trough of disillusionment and depending on your view, that could be either entering, exiting or there to stay. Not surprisingly some cheerleaders thought that saying FCoE was in the trough of disillusionment was being cynical, while some cynics were cheerleading.

My point around FCoE is that any technology or paradigm that goes through a hype cycle that will actually have long term legs or be around for years if not decades goes through a post initial hype disillusionment phase before reappearing. Technologies or trends that go through the trough of disillusionment that will eventually reappear sometimes go to Some Day Isle for rest and relaxation (R and R). Some Day Isle for those not familiar with it is a visional or fictional place that some day you will go to, a wishful happy place so to speak that is perfect for hyperbole R and R. After some R and R, these trends, technologies or techniques often reappear well rested and ready for the next wave of buzz, fud, hype and activity.

Certainly there have been and will continue to be more battles or matches tied to early deployments along with plenty of hype or FUD. After all, if FCoE were to simply pack up and go away like some cynics or naysayers suggest, what will they have to talk, blog, write or speak about? Similarly if FCoE magically goes mainstream tomorrow, the cheerleaders will have to find a new bandwagon or Shiny New Toy (SNT) to rally around.

Also as I have said in the past, its not if, rather when FCoE will be deployed in yours or your customers environment along with how and using what tools or technologies. Another question to pose around FCoE as a converged technology is will you use it in a true converged manner meaning adapting how server, storage and networking resources are managed including best practices? Or, will you use FCoE in a hybrid SAN or LAN mode using traditional SAN and LAN management practice and separate teams perhaps even battling over who owns the tools or technology.

Fwiw, in case you did not pick up on it from my previous posts, tips, articles and coverage in books, I think that FCoE has a very bright future as does NAS and iSCSI along with shared SAS as complimentary technologies when used for the applicable scenario.

What is your take, Is FCoE struggling to gain traction?

Is FCoE on a normal technology evolution path and timeline?

Is it too early to tell what the future holds for FCoE?

Is FCoE too little to late and if so why?

Ok, nuff said for now.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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StorageIO V20.11 (2011) events seminars and web casts schedule

The V20.11 (e.g. 2011 or follow up from V20.10) Server and StorageIO (StorageIO) out and about events schedule continues to evolve.

In the meantime, here are a few (actually a couple dozen) seminars and web casts currently on the event calendar for 2011 that I will be speaking or presenting at. Topics and themes include Server and Storage Optimization, Clouds, Virtualization, Data Protection Modernization (HA, BC, DR, Backup/restore) along with Data Footprint Reduction (DFR including archive, compression, dedupe), End to End (E2E) Management, efficient IT data centers (and storage) among other related items.

Later this summer watch for the release of my new book Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) as well as keep an eye on the StorageIO events page for additional events or details to appear. Also check out the news page for commentary on industry activities, announcements, trends or related topics in addition to the tips (or articles) page. You can also view videos, webinars and pod casts along with news letters containing links from while out and about during 2011 activities (or from past events).

WhenVenueEvent Name Location
Nov 10, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerLos Angeles, CA
Nov 8, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerSeattle, WA
Nov 3, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerDenver, CO
Nov 1, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerChicago, IL
Sept 29, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerMinneapolis, MN
Aug 4, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerSan Francisco, CA
Jul 28, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerHouston, TX
Jul 21, 2011 Event keynote Speaker: Data Center Summit: Virtualization, Business Continuity and Cloud ComputingRaleigh, NC
Jun 28, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerBoston, MA
June 23, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerNew York City
June 21, 2011 Event keynote Speaker: Data Center Summit: Virtualization, Business Continuity and Cloud ComputingTampa, FL
May 18, 2011Keynote: 2011 Virtualization Best PracticesIrvine, CA
May 12, 2011Keynote: 2011 Virtualization Best PracticesChicago, IL
May 10, 2011Keynote: 2011 Virtualization Best PracticesDallas, TX
May 5, 2011Keynote: 2011 Virtualization Best PracticesNew York, NY
May 3, 2011Keynote: 2011 Virtualization Best PracticesBoston, MA
Apr 28, 2011 Data Center Summit BC and DR Track Key note speaker: Protect, preserve and server your organizations essential applications and information services in an affordable mannerDallas, TX
Apr 12, 2011 Event keynote Speaker: Data Center Summit: Virtualization, Business Continuity and Cloud ComputingSt. Louis, MO
Mar 29, 2011WebcastCloud and Virtual BC/DRWebcast
Mar 24, 2011WebcastTapes Evolving Data Storage RoleWebcast
Mar 15, 2011Wildfire GrilleKeynote: Virtualization, storage and the enterprise cloudEden Prairie, MN
Feb 10, 2011 Guest participant – Enabling safe and secure SaaSOn demand eSeminar
Jan 31, 2011century CollegeCloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking: Industry TrendsMahtomedi MN
Jan 12, 2011 Presenter – E2E Awareness and insight for cloud, virtualized and legacy IT environments
See more here including viewing the webcast		Virtual event
More information

Watch here for more events updates and information as well as signup for the free StorageIO news letter here.

Nuff said for now, look forward to seeing as well as hearing from you while out and about during 2011.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

All Comments, (C) and (TM) belong to their owners/posters, Other content (C) Copyright 2006-2011 StorageIO and UnlimitedIO All Rights Reserved

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Cloud conversations: Loss of data access vs. data loss

Have you hugged your cloud or MSP lately?

Why give a cloud a hug and what does it have to do with loss of data access vs. loss of data?

First there is a difference between actually losing data and losing access to it.

Losing data means that you have no backup or copy of the information thus it is gone. This means there are no good valid backups, snapshots, copies or archives that can be used to restore or recover the information.

Losing access to data means that there is a copy of it somewhere however it will take time to make it usable (no data was actually lost). How long you have to wait until the data is restored or recovered will vary and during that time it may seem like data was lost.

Second, industry hype for and against clouds serves as a lighting rod for when things happen.

Lighting recently struck (or at least virtually) with some outages (see links below) including at Google Gmail.

Cloud crowd cheerleaders may need a hug to feel good while they or their technology get tossed about a bit. Google announced that they had a service disruption recently however that data was not lost, only loss of access for a period of time.

Lets take a step back before going forward.

With the Google Gmail disruption, following on previous incidents, true cynics and naysayers will probably jump on the anti cloud FUD feeding frenzy. The true cloud cynics will tell the skeptics all about cloud challenges perhaps never having had actually used any service or technology themselves.

Cloud crowd cheerleaders are generally a happy go lucky bunch with virtual beliefs and physical or real emotions. Cloud crowd cheerleaders have a strong passion for their technology or paradigm taking it various serious in some instances perceiving attacks or fud against cloud as an attack on them or their belief. Some cheerleaders will see this post as snarky or cynical (ok, get over it already).


Ongoing poll at StorageIOblog.com, click on the image to cast your vote.

Then there are the skeptics or interested audience who are not complete cynics or cheerleaders (those in the middle 80 percent of the above chart).

Generally speaking they want to learn more, understand issues to work around or take appropriate steps and institute best practices. They see a place for MSP or cloud services for some things to compliment what they are currently doing and tend to be the majority of audiences outside of special interest, vendor or industry trade groups.

Some additional thoughts, comments and perspectives:

  • Loss of data means you cannot get it back to a specific RPO (Recovery Point Objective or how much data you can afford to lose). Loss of access to data means that you cannot get to your data until a specific RTO (Recovery Time Objective).


Tiered data protection, RTO and RPOs, align technique and technology to SLO needs


RTO and RPOs

  • RAID and replication provide accessibility to data not data protection. The good news with RAID and replication or mirroring is if you make a change to the data it is copied or protected. The bad news is if it is deleted or corrupted that error or problem is also replicated.
  • Backup, snapshots, CDP or other time interval based techniques protect data against loss however may require time to restore, recovery or refresh from. A combination of data availability and accessibility along with time interval based protection are needed (e.g. the two previous above items should be combined). CDP should also mean complete, consistent, coherent or comprehensive data protection including data in application or VM buffers.
  • Any technology will fail either on its own or via human intervention or lack of configuration. It is not if rather when as well as how gracefully a failure along with fault isolation occurs and is remediate (corrected). There is generally speaking, no such thing as a bad technology, rather poor or inappropriate use, configuration or deployment of it.
  • Protect onsite data with offsite mediums including MSP or cloud backup services while keeping a local onsite copy. Why keep an onsite local copy when using a cloud? Simple, when you lose access to the cloud or MSP for extended periods of time, if needed you have a copy of data to work with (assuming it is still valid). On other hand, important data that is onsite needs to be kept offsite. Hence cloud and MSP should compliment what is done for data protection and vise versa. Thats what I do, is what you do?
  • The technology golden rule which applies to cloud and virtualization is whoever controls the management of the technology controls the gold. Leverage CDP, which is Commonsense Data Protection or Cloud Data Protection. Hops are great in beer (as well as some other foods) however they add latency including with networks. Aggregation can cause aggravation, not everything can be consolidated, however much can be virtualized.

Here are some related blog posts:

Additional links to related articles and commentary:

Closing thoughts and comments (for now) regarding clouds.

Its not if, rather when, where, why, how and with what will you leverage a cloud or MSP technologies, products, service, solution or architectures to compliment your environment.

How will cloud or MSP work for you vs. you working for it (unless you actually do work for one of them).

Dont be scared of clouds or virtualization, however look before you leap!

BTW, for those in the Minneapolis St. Paul area (aka the other MSP), check out this event on March 15, 2011. I have been invited to talk about optimizing your data storage and virtual environments and be prepared to take advantage of cloud computing opportunities as they mature.

Nuff said for now

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) at https://storageio.com/books
twitter @storageio

Posted on

What do you need when its time to buy a new server?

You have been told by someone or determined on your own that it is time for a new server, however what to get?

A blade server, rack mount, floor model, physical or virtual perhaps cloud?

How about one that is fully configured and accessorized to meet your specific environments needs?

There are several considerations involving what type of server or computer is needed to meet your specific needs or application requirements. Options include price, packaging, vendor preferences, blade center, freestanding, 1U rack mount, virtual and cloud support, with or without storage and networking, performance as well as power and cooling among other considerations.

Here is a link (PDF version here, may require registration) to an article that I put together to help determine your needs as well as consider various options for your next server.

Hope you find the information useful!

Nuff said for now

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) at https://storageio.com/books
twitter @storageio

Posted on

Winter 2011 Server and StorageIO News Letter

StorageIO News Letter Image
Winter 2011 Newsletter

 Welcome to the Winter 2011 edition of the Server and StorageIO Group (StorageIO) newsletter. This follows the Fall 2011 edition.

You can access this news letter via various social media venues (some are shown below) in addition to StorageIO web sites and subscriptions. Click on the following links to view the Winter 2011 edition as an HTML or PDF or, to go to the newsletter page to view previous editions.

Follow via Goggle Feedburner here or via email subscription here.

You can also subscribe to the news letter by simply sending an email to newsletter@storageio.com

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

Cheers gs

Nuff said for now

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

Posted on

What do VARs and Clouds as well as MSPs have in common?

What do VARs and Clouds as well as MSPs have in common?

Several things it turns out:

  • Some Value Added Resellers (VARS) (links to VAR related content and comments here, here and here) sell cloud services or solutions
  • Some VARs are also cloud or managed solutions providers (MSPs) themselves, thus some cloud or MSPs are VARs
  • Some VARs, cloud and MSPs compete on lowest or cheapest price
  • Some VARs, cloud and MSPs have diverse product offering portfolios
  • Some VARs, cloud and MSPs compete on value (e.g. not price)
  • Some VARs, cloud and MSPs value is in the trust, security and peace of mind that they provide to their client

For some, the value of a given VAR, cloud or MSP is the ability to shop around for a resource to get the lowest price.

For others, the value of a given VAR, cloud or MSP is the ability to get the best value which may not be the lowest price rather the most effective overall cost per services with trust, security, experience and peace of mind provided.

Value to often is confused with being cheap or lowest cost.

Value can also mean a higher price that includes more thus providing a better effective option (e.g. super size it).

On the other hand, higher priced should not be confused with always being a better product, service or solution.

You may find that the initial low cost requires other add on fees or activation charges, surcharges for use or activity along with optional services to make the solution useful all resulting in an overall higher amount to be paid.

Lowest cost may result in a bargain now and then if that fits your needs.

Value can also mean a better option providing an improved return on investment if a solution or service meets and exceeds your needs and expectations.

As an example, I recently switched from a cloud backup MSP (Mozy) not due to cost (costs would have gone down with their recent service plan
announcement) rather I needed more value and functionality. With my new cloud backup MSP I get more functionality and capability that I can continue to grow into even though the price per GByte is higher than with my previous provider. What made the change of positive is what I get in the higher fee per GByte that in the end, actually makes it more affordable, not cheaper, just better value and return on investment.

For some low cost is value while for others, value is more than lowest cost including what you get for a given fee including trust, security, service and experience among other items. Different people will have different requirements or needs for what is or is not value.

If you do not like the term value, then try price performer.

Bottom line for now, with VARs, MSPs and Cloud (Public or private) dont be scared, however look before you leap!

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

What have I been doing this winter?

Its been almost a month since my last post and want to say hello and let you know what I have been doing.

What I have been doing is:

  • Accumulating a long list of ideas for upcoming blog post, article, tips, webinars and other content.
  • Recording some podcasts, web casts doing interviews and commentary along with a few articles here and there.
  • Working with some new venues where if all comes together you should be seeing material or commentary appearing soon.
  • Filling some dates for the 2011 out and about events and activities page.
  • Doing research in several different areas as well as working with clients on various project activities, many of which that are NDA.
  • Getting some recently finished content ready to appear on the main web site as well as in the blog and other venues.
  • Attending vendor events and briefing sessions on solutions some of which are yet to be announced.
  • Enjoying the cold and snowy winter as best as can be (see some videos here) while trying to avoid cold and flue season.

In addition to the above, I have been trying to stay very focused on is getting my new book which is titled Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) wrapped up for a summer 2011 release. This is my third solo book project that is in addition to co writing or contributing to several other book projects.

Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking

Im doing the project the old fashioned way which means writing it myself as opposed to using ghost writers along with a traditional publishing house (CRC, same as my last book) all of which takes a bit more time. For anyone who has done a project like this you know what is involved. For those who have not it includes research, writing, editing, working with editors and copyeditors, subject matter experts doing initial reviews, illustrations and page layouts, markups, more edits and proofs. Then there are the general project management activities along with marketing and rollout plans, companion presentation material working with the publisher and others.

Anyway, hope you are all doing well, look forward to sharing more with you soon, now it is time to get back to work…

Nuff said for now

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC), Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC)
twitter @storageio

Posted on

Are you on the StorageIO IT Data Infrastructure industry links page?

Hey IT data infrastructure vendors, VARs or service providers, are you on the Server and StorageIO IT industry interesting links page?

Dont worry, its free and no obligation!

There are no hidden charges or fees, you will not be obligated to pay a fee or subscribe to a service, or be called or contacted via a sales or account manager person to buy something. Nor will you be required to sign up for a annual or short term retainer, make a donation, honorarium, endowment, contribution, subsidy, renumerate or sponsor in any other manner directly or via indirect means including second, third, fourth or by way of other virtual means or physical means. This also means via other organizations, venues, institutes, associations, communities, events or causes. (Btw, that is some industry humor some will get however to others that feel it is poking fun of their lively hoods, too bad!)

Your contact information will not be sold, bartered, traded, borrowed or abused being kept confidential nor will you be called or bothered (contact me if somebody does reach out to you). However you may get an occasional Server and StorageIO newsletter sent to you via email (privacy and disclosure statement can be found here).

There is however one small caveat and that is no spamming and direct submissions on yours or your companies behalf. If you are a public relations firm feel free to submit on behalf of your own organization, however have your clients submit on their own (or use their identity when doing so on their own behalf).

Why do I make this links page and list available for free to those who read it, as well as to those who are on it?

Simple, I use it myself to keep a list of companies, firms or organizations that are involved with data infrastructures (servers, storage, I/O and networking, hardware, software, services) that I have come across and worth keeping track of that I also feel worth sharing with others.

Of course, if you feel compelled, you can always contact Server and StorageIO to discuss other services or simply buy one of my books including Resilient Storage Networks: Designing Flexible Scalable Data Infrastructures (Elsevier), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC) and coming summer 2011 Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC) at Amazon or one of the other many fine global venues.

 

Still interested, all you need to do is the following:

No SPAM submission please

Please do not submit via web or blog page unless you want your contact information known to others.

Send an email to links at storageio dot com that includes the following:

1. Your company name
2. Your company URL
3. Your company contact person (you or someone else) including:
Name
Title or position
Phone or Skype
Email
Optional twitter

4. Brief 40 character or less description of what you do, or solution categories (tip, avoid superlatives, see links page for ideas)

5. Optionally indicate to DND (Do Not Disturb) you with email newsletters, coverage or mentions.

Again, please, No Spam!

Its that simple.

Now its up to you to decide if you want to be included or not.

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