How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Storage Automation
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Gestalt IT, Virtual Storage on 09. Feb, 2009 | Comments
The first storage performance horseman is spindles: If you don’t have enough disk units, performance will suffer. I have been laying out storage on enterprise arrays since the dark ages, and one of the first lessons I learned was allocating data to avoid hotspots. I remember spending hours back in the 1990’s hunched over custom Excel spreadsheets [...]
Top Ten Innovative Enterprise Storage Hardware Products
Posted by Stephen in Computer history, Enterprise storage on 15. Nov, 2008 | Comments
Looking around at the enterprise storage landscape, it is plain that certain archetypes rule: Monolithic enterprise arrays, dual-controller modular arrays, standard-sized hard disk units, NAS servers, tape libraries. Are these really the optimal designs for storage in our modern open systems world?
On the contrary, I suggest that the enterprise storage world we know was shaped [...]
Storage Changes in VMware ESX 3.5 Update 3
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage on 07. Nov, 2008 | Comments
Just over three months after releasing Update 2 for ESX 3.5, VMware has released Update 3. That last Update brought major storage changes like VSS support, hot VMFS extension, Storage VMotion across Fibre Channel and iSCSI, and support for 10 Gb Ethernet and 8 Gb FC support.
For more information on Update 2, see my article, Storage [...]
Is Flash A Disk Or A Cache?
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage on 22. Oct, 2008 | Comments
There is a battle shaping up in the enterprise storage industry. On one side are those who see flash storage as an upgrade for the disk drive, and on the other are those who see it as a cache between the CPU and the drive. It’s a fundamental difference of opinion – flash chips can [...]
Storage Virtualization Charlotte: Thoughts and Reactions
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Personal, Virtual Storage on 21. Oct, 2008 | Comments
I’ve just finished my day in Charlotte on my Storage Virtualization Seminar tour for TechTarget. We had another great crowd – everyone seemed interested even if some were shy about speaking up. I was especially pleased to see the optimism about the city’s post-Wachovia future.
Comments at the event focused on management, with my concerns about [...]
SSD: So Close and Yet So Far
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage on 15. Oct, 2008 | Comments
Solid state (NAND flash) storage is all the rage right now, but there are many lingering questions regarding its true performance, reliability, and cost. But no question is more important in determining its ultimate usefulness than that of location: Where should flash storage be placed to maximize return on investment?
Storage companies have argued that flash [...]
Compellent Does Enterprise SSD Right
Posted by Stephen in Enterprise storage, Virtual Storage on 13. Oct, 2008 | Comments
Yes! Compellent has just announced at Storage Networking World that they’ll be adding enterprise solid state drives (SSDs) to their excellent fully-virtualized storage arrays. Why is this worth shouting about? Simply because their automated block-based tiered storage architecture ought to be able to really take full advantage of the performance offered by SSDs. If you’ll [...]
