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.
Microsoft
Microsoft Adds Data Deduplication to NTFS in Windows 8
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 impact. But how exactly does Microsoft’s de-duplication technology work?
The Myths of Standardization
I certainly benefit from standardization of the world around me, and I welcome interoperability and interchangeability as well as the price and product selection advantages. But I am not blithely focused on standardization above all else. I will happily use a proprietary solution if the alternative is inelegant, ineffective, or insufficient.
Are You a Hypervisor Hugger or a Storage Stalwart?
The time has come to take sides on the core question of storage for virtual servers: Do you want storage intelligence to live in the hypervisor or the array? Most administrators are already lining up on one side or the other, unintentionally casting their vote while the rest flounder. But the storage industry must wake up and embrace the divide.
I’m a Microsoft MVP and VMware vExpert for 2011!
I sincerely appreciate receiving these awards, and thank Microsoft and VMware for their faith in me. I also sincerely appreciate the contribution and feedback I get from the technical community around me, and thank you just as much for these awards. I would not have received them without the readers of my blog, the attendees at my seminars, and the vast community that I interact with on a daily basis. Thank you!
