Gestalt IT

Microsoft Adds Data Deduplication to NTFS in Windows 8

January 11, 2012 By Stephen Foskett Leave a Comment

The next version of Microsoft Windows Server includes integrated data deduplication technology. Microsoft is positioning this as a boon for server virtualization and claims it has very little performance impact. But how exactly does Microsoft’s de-duplication technology work?

Filed Under: Server Virtualization, Storage Tagged With: CSV, data deduplication, deduplication, Enterprise storage, Everything, File System, Gestalt IT, Hyper-V, I/O, Microsoft, NTFS, performance, Personal, Rick Vanover, server, Terabyte home, Virtual Storage, Windows 8

The Terrifying True Story Of Virtual Machine Mobility

January 4, 2012 By Stephen Foskett Leave a Comment

Virtualization of server, network, and storage services illuminates the link between physical resources and functional applications. A running virtual machine can instantly move from one server, network adapter, HBA, or LUN to another. And when it happens, traditional components have no idea how to react.

Filed Under: Server Virtualization, Storage Tagged With: Enterprise storage, Ethernet, features, Gestalt IT, hypervisor, mobility, NAT, NPV, QoS, thin provisioning, Virtual Storage, vxlan

BYO(a)D Reaction

December 7, 2011 By Bill Hill Leave a Comment

The other day (Nov 16, 2011 to be exact), my fellow nerd and Tech Field Day delegate, Tom Hollingsworth crafted a great blog post on the new movement in IT, and business in general… Bring Your Own (Apple) Device to work. If you have not read the post yet… you gotta check it out.

Filed Under: Desktop, Featured Tagged With: Bring Own Device, BYOD, gestaltit, IT, Systems

ESXi 5.0–1.5 Hour Boot Time During Upgrade

December 6, 2011 By Bill Hill Leave a Comment

I have to say, I am quite shocked that I am on the tail end of waiting 1.5 hours for an ESXi 5.0 upgrade to complete booting. Seriously… 1.5 hours. I have been waiting for some time to get some ESXi 5.0 awesomeness going on in my environment. vCenter has been sitting on v5 for [...]

Filed Under: Server Virtualization Tagged With: fail, gestaltit, iSCSI, slow-boot, Systems, vSphere 5

Are You a Hypervisor Hugger or a Storage Stalwart?

November 14, 2011 By Stephen Foskett Leave a Comment

The time has come to take sides on the core question of storage for virtual servers: Do you want storage intelligence to live in the hypervisor or the array? Most administrators are already lining up on one side or the other, unintentionally casting their vote while the rest flounder. But the storage industry must wake up and embrace the divide.

Filed Under: Featured, Server Virtualization, Storage Tagged With: Atomic Test and Set, Computer history, DAS, Enterprise storage, features, Gestalt IT, hypervisor, JBOD, LUN, Microsoft, NAS, NFS, ODX, Policy-Driven Storage, SAN, Storage DRS, VAAI, VASA, vCenter, Virtual Storage, vmware, VMworld, vSphere

vSphere 5–PXE Installation Using vCenter Virtual Appliance

September 27, 2011 By Bill Hill 2 Comments

With the release of VMware’s vSphere 5 product, the addition of the vCenter Virtual Appliance has been a welcome addition to management options. However, vCenter Virtual Appliance includes DHCP and TFTP functions that can be used for a PXE installation environment. Read on for instructions on using the vCenter Virtual Appliance as a PXE host for ESXi host installations!

Filed Under: All, Featured, Server Virtualization, Top Story Tagged With: ESXi, gestaltit, PXE, Systems, virtual center, vSphere 5

NetApp Deduplication An In-depth Look

September 26, 2011 By Joerg Hallbauer Leave a Comment

There has been a lot of discussion lately about the NetApp deduplication technology, especially on twitter. We had a lot of misinformation and FUD flying around, so I thought that a blog entry that takes a close look at the technology was in order.

Filed Under: All, Storage Tagged With: flash, Flash Cache, NetApp, SSD, tiered storage

Trust. It is an interesting thing in Active Directory.

September 23, 2011 By Derek Schauland Leave a Comment

This week has been interesting, mainly in that I was reminded about the simple things in Active Directory and how much harder they become when you dont pay them enough attention. Replication is much like Ron Burgundy – kind of a big deal. If you do not pay enough attention to replication between domain controllers in Active Directory, bad things happen.

Filed Under: All, Desktop, Server Virtualization Tagged With: active directory, Domain Trust Relationships, Gestalt IT, Microsoft, Technet, Windows 7, Windows Client

Micron Bursts Into the PCIe SSD Market

September 22, 2011 By Stephen Foskett Leave a Comment

PCIe SSDs like Micron’s new P320h offer mindbending performance and enterprise class reliability. Although expensive, these devices are in an entirely different league from any other storage option. Micron promises to bring the PCIe P320h to market at nearly $15 per gigabyte, a substantial discount over other PCIe SSD competitors.

Filed Under: All, Storage Tagged With: C300, Crucial, Enterprise storage, Fusion-IO, Gestalt IT, ioDRIVE DUO, LSI, Micron, OCZ, P300, P320h, pcie, RAIN, RAISE, RamSan-70, RealSSD, SandForce, SLC, SSD, tachIOn, Texas Memory Systems, Virident, Virtual Storage, WarpDrive, Z-Drive

EMC FAST and NetApp FlashCache a Comparison

September 21, 2011 By Joerg Hallbauer 3 Comments

This article is intended to provide the reader with an introduction to two technologies, EMC FAST and NetApp FlashCache. Both of these technologies are intended to improve the performance of storage arrays, while also helping to bend the cost curve of storage downward.

Filed Under: All, Featured, Storage, Top Story Tagged With: EMC, FAST, Flash Cache, NetApp, SSD, tiered storage