Next week, I head to Redmond Washington for the annual Microsoft MVP Summit. This is always a fantastic event, full of technical information (sadly, much under NDA) and great people. I look forward to learning more about Windows Server storage technologies like ReFS, Storage Spaces, SMB 2.2, and more.
Personal
Reminiscing About the Cubix ERS, My First Bladed Server System
The Cubix ERS/FT was a great little system at the time. It really improved availability and performance of my cc:Mail system and cleaned up the data center at the same time. Although not quite as flexible as a modern blade server system, the Cubix ERS should go down in history as a worthy predecessor.
Virtualization Field Day 2 – Silicon Valley
February 23 and 24 is Gestalt IT Virtualization Field Day 2. This is significant in many ways, but is especially poignant for me because I will not be there. For the first time, the “geekherd’s crook†at Tech Field Day will be wielded by someone other than me, though I remain as involved as ever behind the scenes.
Sony 55-210 OSS Tele-Zoom Lens: Hands-On Review
Although certainly not the fastest lens (optically or workflow-wise) the SEL55210 is a screaming bargain at $399. The lens is light and compact enough to bring along “just in caseâ€, something that can’t be said of many, SLR tele-zoom lenses. Once it finally focuses, image quality is excellent and the built-in Optical SteadyShot makes it usable even in low light conditions.
The Four Horsemen of Storage System Performance: Get Smart
The Four Horsemen of storage system performance cannot be denied, but they do offer a clear path forward. Storage systems must improve in many different areas, from spindles and drives to caching and I/O bottlenecks. But above all else, storage systems must become smarter in order to become faster, and this requires greater insight into the true nature of the data stream being stored. All storage performance developments, from the laptop to the enterprise, boiled down to adaptations to the demands of the Four Horsemen.
