May 19, 2012

Storage for Virtual Environments Seminar, Seattle, WA

I'm updating my slides and preparing for another seminar!

The next date in my Storage for Virtual Environments seminar series is rapidly approaching, and I hope to see my Pacific Northwest readers there! I’ve made even more changes to the seminar content, adding more about vSphere 5 and including new VAAI and partition alignment info. There’s never enough time for everything I want to cover, of course.

Seminar: Storage for Virtual Environments, Cleveland OH

The view from my Toronto hotel was awesome, but not as great as the conversation with seminar attendees

The next date in my Storage for Virtual Environments seminar series is rapidly approaching, and I hope to see my Ohio readers there! I’ve made major changes to the seminar content recently, updating it with vSphere 5 news and rearranging the whole thing. I still feel like there’s not enough time to get to everything, but it’s a start!

The Deletion Dilemma

Deletion of data is not a high priority for most IT shops, but this ought to change

When was the last time you deleted data? Even at home, where we have autonomy and authority over our own data, many of us are digital pack rats. But at work? Never! No one ever deletes anything! Let’s talk about why this is.

Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, April 8, 2011

This regular series features highlights from the week. Read my thoughts concerning HDS following their “blogger day” in London. Also, my good friend W. Curtis Preston announced more Backup Central Live! dates; you really ought to go see him!

W. Curtis Preston Announces More Backup Central Live!

My friend W. Curtis Preston kicked off his Backup Central Live! event series earlier this year, and I was pleased to be able to attend in Santa Clara. Curtis has spent years educating IT pros about data protection, and let me tell you, although I’ve seen him present dozens of times, Curtis was really in his element here. He held the packed room enthralled, and the vendor sponsors I talked to were very pleased about the event!

Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, March 11, 2011

This regular series features highlights from the week. My writing:
How Will Thunderbolt Affect Enterprise Storage?
Introducing Storage for Virtual Environments (From My Seminar)

Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, March 4, 2011

I spent this week at the 2011 Microsoft MVP Summit in Redmond, WA. It was an excellent trip, full of great information that I can’t talk about: Microsoft is the only company I have an NDA with! But I can say that no one should count that company out. Although Apple, Google, and Facebook (?!) get all the attention, Microsoft is making some good moves. The Kinnect and Windows Phone 7 show that innovation and creativity is alive and well in Redmond!

Introducing Storage for Virtual Environments (From My Seminar)

Server virtualization is the first step to a new IT paradigm

Next Thursday I will present my new-for-2011 Storage for Virtual Environments seminar. I hit on an interesting twist while working on the content: Virtual environments pose a challenge but also create an opportunity for storage people. Virtual environments are very demanding of storage features and performance, but we have the necessary tools in our arsenal. We just have to use them!

See W. Curtis Preston’s Backup Central Live!

The Backup Central Live! crew does a great job putting together a professional event

Last week, after the Exec Event in Palo Alto, I joined my friend W. Curtis Preston for his first Backup Central Live! event. Curtis has spent years educating IT pros about data protection, this was the first week of a new series of self-produced events. And let me tell you, although I’ve seen him present dozens of times, Curtis was really in his element here. He held the packed room enthralled, and the vendor sponsors I talked to were very pleased about the event!

VMware ESX FCoE CNA Compatibility in Plain English

Converged Networking Adapters like this QLogic 8242 are all the rage, but which are supported in VMware ESX and which have the broadest coverage of DCB features?

VMware has one awesome hardware compatibility list, but its thoroughness can be daunting. It’s fairly easy to search for a specific piece of hardware, but it’s difficult to tell what’s supported in a general sense. I’ve boiled down certain key hardware categories into a general plain-english list of what’s in and out of the ESX HCL. Let’s kick things off with FCoE CNAs.