The virtualization space seems a little light on technical content lately. There are plenty of event announcements and white paper or webinar promotions, but few posts on, you know, how stuff works. Here's the incomparable Gabrie Van Zanten to change that, with a deep look at iSCSI configuration … [Read more...]
EMC denies big server biz plans … but IS building servers
May 25, 2012 by 1 Comment
So EMC's not going to become a server vendor even though, as Chris Mellor points out, they showcased some very nice purpose-built server hardware at EMC World. And even though Jeremy Burton admitted they were, kinda, making and selling servers. Why? He observed: "Server vendors put DAS … [Read more...]
NPV and NPIV
May 24, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Tony Bourke really stirred up a hornets' nest with this one! Who would have thought that "storage NAT" would be so controversial? NPIV and NPV are among the two most ill-named of acronyms I’ve come across in IT, especially since they sound very similar, yet do two fairly different things. NPIV is … [Read more...]
So Your Boss Thinks You’re Stupid – Converged Infrastructure
May 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
An interesting thought about converged infrastructure. As Dwayne says: The issue that I have with converged infrastructure is that it’s solving a problem that these companies helped to create via itbloodpressure.com … [Read more...]
Virtually Pragmatic?
May 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Martin "Storagebod" Glassborow suggests two reasons EMC reversed course on virtualizing behind the VMAX: Maintaining margin on controllers and adapting to a flash-filled world. Both are reasonable ideas... The speed of change in the spinning rust market appears to be slowing, certainly the … [Read more...]
An introduction to Storage DRS
May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
I'm not sure that everyone would agree that Storage DRS is the most exciting new feature in vSphere 5, but it's certainly in the top 10. Here's Duncan Epping's overview of Storage DRS and datastore clusters. Nice video too! vSphere 5.0 introduces many great new features, but everyone will probably … [Read more...]
Cisco’s Storage Trap by Brad Casemore
May 22, 2012 by 1 Comment
We have long wondered if Cisco would move into storage. As Brad points out here, there's no easy way for them to do it without a major rift forming, as happened with UCS, HP, and Dell. Buying NetApp would work, as would buying a smaller storage company and trying to compete in the open market. But … [Read more...]
The Last of the Dinosaurs? – Storagebod
May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
EMC introduced their biggest, baddest Symmetrix today. Much of the commentary was the typical "speeds and feeds" regurgitation, but Martin "Storagebod" Glassborow didn't disappoint with his coverage. "Last of the Dinosaurs" pretty much sums up Martin's (and my own) opinion on this … [Read more...]
Storage in Cloud is Not the Centre of The Universe
May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
"Cloud" isn't just a fancy term for a big datacenter, or even a multi-tenant one. Cloud is different, and it demands a different kind of storage. Chris Evans takes up this point in context of today's EMC World announcement of the Symmetrix VMAX 40K, a "monster of a storage array". For the last … [Read more...]
What’s the Difference Between Compression, Deduplication, and Single-Instance Storage?
May 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Compression is old news, but it's still relevant. Single-instance storage seems to have come and gone. Then there's data deduplication. So what's the difference? Here's my own piece from the IBM Storage Community blog comparing the three. When I talk about the various state-of-the-art capacity … [Read more...]