Way back in the 1990's, UNIX admins delighted in upgrading from NFSv2 to NFSv3. Then NFSv4 came around and ... crickets. Now VMware has become the first major/useful/mainstream application for NFSv4.1, so the floodgates are open! But are they? A Little History A long, long time ago, when Sun was the dominant server company and x86 was still a desktop CPU, computers needed … [Read more...] about vSphere 6: NFS 4.1 Finally Has a Use?
pNFS
Is Storage the Killer App for Software-Defined Networking?
Software Defined Networking (SDN) has always looked a bit like a solution in search of a problem, at least in the enterprise data center. But there are lots of potential applications that need a dynamic and scalable network. In my mind, storage is chief among these, since scalability and flexibility has always been extremely difficult to achieve. As I have written before, … [Read more...] about Is Storage the Killer App for Software-Defined Networking?
Scaling Storage At The Client
All three of the array-scaling approaches I discussed last week preserve traditional client protocols for connectivity, an admirable goal to be sure. But the inflexibility of these protocols holds the storage industry back, often requiring extreme efforts to achieve simple goals like continuous availability. Attempts to evolve protocols to be more flexible have met with a great … [Read more...] about Scaling Storage At The Client
Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, January 7, 2011
It's been a slow week (the holidays) and a crazy one. I've started pouring out the thin provisioning series, with 10 posts so far, as well as launching a new video "talk show" about enterprise IT. And I've got a new post over at SearchStorage, too. Whew! My State of the Art Thin Provisioning series Storage is Not Getting Cheaper Thin Provisioning: Attacking Storage … [Read more...] about Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, January 7, 2011
Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, November 5, 2010
This regular series features highlights from the week. Enterprise technology VMware Info: rant : Why do I have to log into your Knowledgebase? Customers embracing Vblocks, but VCE sales harmony a work in progress An Introduction to the Force10 S25N Predictions For Storage Networking In 2011 Inter-Fabric Traffic in UCS Thoughts on pNFS Has HP Got the 'X … [Read more...] about Back From the Pile: Interesting Links, November 5, 2010