I’ve been watching enterprise IT for over 20 years now, and I’ve seen some radical changes. In the server space, one of the biggest shifts was the form factor of the servers: From tower to rack-mount to blades. But what makes a blade server anyway? Let’s consider this for a moment, as we watch … [Read more...]
Eight Unresolved Questions About FCoE
February 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It's not going to be this easy to bridge Fibre Channel and Ethernet! Before the holidays, I posed a question on Google+ that generated quite a bit of interest and feedback. Now that it has settled down a bit I’d like to summarize the unresolved elements to make FCoE truly a world-class … [Read more...]
Microsoft Adds Data Deduplication to NTFS in Windows 8
January 11, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Windows 8 server editions will include a filter driver for NTFS for data deduplication 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 … [Read more...]
Thin Provisioning: Playing the Telephone Game
February 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
One of the topics I've often written and spoken about is thin provisioning. This series of 11 articles is an edited version of my thin provisioning presentation from Interop New York 2010. I hope you enjoy it! I began by introducing the core problem: Storage isn’t getting any cheaper due … [Read more...]
Every Company Is Gunning For Someone Else
December 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Everyone has a target on their backs, but they all aim in different directions One of the amusing aspects of being self-employed is watching all the giants battle it out. Every company is gunning for someone, but the amazing thing is that they rarely point their sights directly at each other: … [Read more...]
What is Application Performance Monitoring?
December 9, 2010 by Leave a Comment
IT needs application monitoring: Gauges alone won't get you to your destination! Remember what it was like to drive without a GPS? Sure, it’s possible, but a good GPS takes it to a whole new level. Need gas? A Denny’s Grand Slam? A detour around traffic? You’ve got it! And when the kids … [Read more...]
Caringo Bulks Up CAStor For Cloud Services
November 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment
You may not know Caringo, but you have probably heard of cloud storage, EMC Centera, and Dell DX. Read on to learn the link! Now that the hype of “cloud everything” is subsiding, organizations are getting down to work deploying cloud storage to do actual useful tasks. The march from CAS to … [Read more...]
IBM’s Storwize V7000: 100% SVC; 0% Storwize
October 19, 2010 by 1 Comment
Today, IBM alerted the world that they had not fallen asleep at the wheel by kicking out an awfully-impressive midrange storage array, the Storwize V7000. This seems like an excellent device, filled with proven engineering borrowed from the successful SAN Volume Controller (SVC) line of storage … [Read more...]
Four Fundamental Best Practices for Enterprise IT
September 29, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Every technician develops a set of tools and practices that serve them well. In this post, I present my best practices for enterprise IT. Although many people are cynical about the whole idea of best practices, I’m a believer. I think that such beasts do exist, just that too many companies, … [Read more...]
The Enterprise IT Acquisition Game
September 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The players are lining up for the biggest acquisition game enterprise IT has witnessed in a while Today is the (a?) day of reckoning in the 3Par saga, with Dell widely expected to make a counter-offer higher than HP’s bid. But this mega deal, like the Data Domain war before it, sends a strong … [Read more...]