Storage arrays are big, expensive, and difficult to manage. Plus, concentrating storage in a single device puts everything at risk if there is an outage. So why buy a storage array at all? Arrays do a few things very well, and this often makes up for the difference, on balance. Storage Arrays Accelerate Performance One of the most important advancements in data storage in … [Read more...] about Storage Arrays Do A Few Things Very Well
Gestalt IT
Who Will Support SMB 3.0, and Which Features Will They Support?
I'm really thrilled about the improvements Microsoft is making to the core SMB protocol in Windows Server 2012. But it won't really matter if nobody but Microsoft supports the new protocol. So I like to call out to all the enterprise storage vendors: Let me hear your support for SMB3.0! What We Know so Far Obviously, Microsoft is going to support SMB 3.0 in a big way. … [Read more...] about Who Will Support SMB 3.0, and Which Features Will They Support?
SMB 3 is Going to be Huge, in both Scope and Impact
Microsoft is about to release the third major revision to their ubiquitous network storage protocol, SMB. Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V 3 will really highlight this technology, and I predict it will transform the way people think about networked storage for Windows systems. But SMB 3 is big in another way, too: there are tons of new features, and not all will be implemented … [Read more...] about SMB 3 is Going to be Huge, in both Scope and Impact
Is SolidFire out in Left Field, or Are They Playing a Whole New Ballgame?
When I say “cloud storage”, you probably think of Amazon S3: Big, slow, cheap, and distributed. That's probably why the people I talk to about SolidFire usually start shaking their heads and denouncing the company. After all, who would be crazy enough to create an all flash storage array for cloud storage applications? But maybe it's not so crazy; maybe SolidFire is simply … [Read more...] about Is SolidFire out in Left Field, or Are They Playing a Whole New Ballgame?
Microsoft Adds Data Deduplication Savings Evaluation Tool to Windows Server 8 Beta
The latest beta of the server version of Microsoft's forthcoming Windows 8 operating system includes a handy tool related to the new data deduplication feature. DDPEVAL will test a given dataset using the new deduplication and compression engine and report the savings to be expected. And it works even on non-Windows 8 systems! Windows Server 8 Data Deduplication Review For … [Read more...] about Microsoft Adds Data Deduplication Savings Evaluation Tool to Windows Server 8 Beta