I'm a huge fan or rsync as a migration tool, but FreeNAS is ZFS-centric so I decided to take a shot at using some of the native tools to move data. I'm not sold on it for daily use, but ZFS Send and Receive is awfully useful for "internal" maintenance tasks like moving datasets and rebuilding pools. Since this kind of migration isn't well-documented online, I figured I would … [Read more...] about Migrating Data With ZFS Send and Receive
replication
Storage Changes in VMware vSphere 5.1
As I have done since version 3.5, I'm charting the storage changes in VMware's latest release of vSphere, 5.1. Detailed at VMworld but not released as of this writing, vSphere 5.1 is lauded for eliminating the "vTax" and bringing features like replication, a revised backup application, and shared-nothing vMotion. Unlike version 5, which included many new technical storage … [Read more...] about Storage Changes in VMware vSphere 5.1
Virtual Machine Mobility: Of What, and to Where and in What State?
Mobility of virtual machines is a sticky wicket. As open systems infrastructure becomes increasingly virtualized, administrators and managers wish to use the technology to balance workload, ease migration, and provide better availability. Although technology is improving, actually moving virtual machines is not always a piece of cake. Let's lay down a baseline of information so … [Read more...] about Virtual Machine Mobility: Of What, and to Where and in What State?
Storage Changes in VMware vSphere 5
VMware officially launched their next-generation (version 5) enterprise server virtualization product line this week under the "vSphere 5" name. As I've been doing for the last few major VMware releases, I'm focusing this post on the storage changes present in vSphere 5. For more information on earlier updates, see my articles: Storage Fixes in VMware ESX Server 3.5 Update … [Read more...] about Storage Changes in VMware vSphere 5
EMC Atmos Versus VMware VDC-OS: Will The Real Cloud Strategy Please Stand Up?
As I guessed on Friday, EMC has officially announced their Maui Atmos software layer today, calling it the "industry's first COS (cloud-optimized storage) offering", "a new era for IT", and "a new category of storage." So the new era for IT is a cloud with globally-distributed object stores with policy management? Great! But I thought the new era for IT was a cloud with … [Read more...] about EMC Atmos Versus VMware VDC-OS: Will The Real Cloud Strategy Please Stand Up?