Consolidation
Nexsan going Public? Not a chance - May 6, 2008
Storage hardware and software vendor Nexsan Corp. is trying to raise $80.5 million in an initial public offering (IPO) after suffering through a decade of unprofitability.
"We have not been profitable in any fiscal period since we were formed," Nexsan stated in papers filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nexsan was founded in 1999 and has recorded $21.9 million in net losses since July 2004.
Nexsan's decision to go public is surprising because the current market climate is "inhospitable," The 451 Group analysts Henry Baltazar and Brenon Daly wrote in a report issued May 1, a week after the IPO filing. Nexsan, a specialist in storage and digital archiving, is billing itself as a "green" storage vendor with systems offering high density and energy efficiency. (Compare storage products.)
Nexsan cautioned investors in its SEC filing that it faces stiff competition from Dell, EMC, IBM, Sun and several other big storage vendors.
"We have a history of losses, and we may not achieve profitability in the future," Nexsan wrote in the SEC filing. "We face intense competition from a number of established companies and expect competition to increase in the future, which could prevent us from increasing our revenue and end user base." Say one VAR from recent Storage Conference "only Stevie Wonder would buy their stock, besides the product is marginal at best."
Nexsan's product releases over the past year or so include an appliance for smaller organizations and branch offices that lets them archive and retrieve as many as 20 million documents and a joint venture with Reldata Inc. that combined their network-attached storage, iSCSI and Fibre Channel technologies.
Customers use Nexsan hardware and software to store and preserve e-mail, office documents, medical images, and digital video and audio files, The 451 Group noted. Long-term storage of fixed content is a big priority for Nexsan these days.
"[Nexsan] was a pioneer in the disk-to-disk backup space and helped lead the push toward the development of inexpensive storage systems leveraging high-capacity, low-cost disk drives," The 451 Group said. "More recently, Nexsan has moved deeper into digital archiving for unstructured data. Interestingly, it describes itself ... as a 'fixed content' specialist. Although this product line contributes less than 10% of revenue, the company is staking its future on the opportunity in this market."
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
Data Storage profits are up? - May 6, 2008
Compellent joined other storage companies including EMC and Commvault in reporting a strong first quarter despite a down economy. The company’s revenues more than doubled year over year to $18.3 million, growth of 107% over the first quarter of 2007 and 9% over the previous quarter.
The company also is still a ways from profitability, and lost $1.2 million last quarter despite the increased revenue. CEO Phil Soran said on the company’s earnings call that this is because Compellent is growing and is adding operating expenditures such as salaries for new employees. Soran said he expects Compellent to be profitable by the second half of this year.
With the rest of the country in financial turmoil, how are storage companies staying strong? “Storage is the last thing that gets cut from the IT budget,” was Soran’s answer. I would also imagine it’s because storage has always been a conservative market–it doesn’t have as far to fall as some other markets.
Another thing benefitting Compellent, according to Soran, is the acquisition of midrange disk array competitor EqualLogic by Dell. It’s been well-publicized that EqualLogic channel partners have been wary of the deal, if not downright alienated by it, because of Dell’s poor reputation in the channel. Soran declined to give any specific numbers around how many channel partners have defected or how much new business it accounts for, but volunteered anecdotally that Compellent is seeing more large EqualLogic channel partners looking its way as a result of the Dell deal.
Still, Soran says the company has a ways to go when it comes to gaining that mind share. Echoing some of NetApp’s statements when it rebranded itself earlier this year, Soran said Compellent does well when companies look at its products but often doesn’t get brought to the table.
I also asked him whether or not Compellent is seeing significant business as a tier-2 disk array in large shops. He said yes, but also declined to break out any numbers.
Soran attributed Compellent’s growth to the attractiveness of its consolidation and thin provisioning features in a down economy, similar to the power and capacity savings that have reportedly kept money flowing in to Data Domain’s coffers. But Soran said Compellent’s chief competitor remains EMC, which doesn’t yet offer many of the features he was referring to–and EMC also reported a stronger-than-expected first quarter.
“They have a good brand,” Soran said.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-protection.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, NetApp, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Key words: DR BC Replication De-Dup iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant LTO Backup Exc NetBackup Legato TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare
An Effective Disaster Recovery Strategy for Branch Offices - April 12, 2008
Tampa Florida -- The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season will start early this year, the second time in five years a storm will formed before June 1. As a result, experts are again predicting an above average hurricane year, estimating that there is a 74 percent chance a category three or higher storm will hit the U.S. mainland.
While the chance your business will be affected by a major natural disaster or terrorist attack is slim, other causes of unplanned downtime such as a hardware component failure, fire, power outage or surge, network attack or even human error are more prevalent. It is important to ensure your company has a reliable strategy for getting the business up and resuming normal business operations, no matter what the cause. Without a disaster recovery strategy the consequences to your business could be paramount. According to the Wall Street Journal, 92 percent of small businesses that experience significant data loss due to a major disaster go out of business within five years. You don't want to become part of this statistic.
With mission-critical data growth exploding in the small to midsized enterprise (SME) market-much of it on the edge of the network in branch offices-traditional disaster recovery solutions may not be enough to ensure business continuity throughout your entire organization.
Complete Restoration Disaster Recovery
In order to protect all company data regardless of physical location and to ensure business continuity across the entire organization, SMEs need to deploy a complete disaster recovery solution that integrates local backups and remote off-site vaulting in a single solution. Using a complete and integrated solution allows your organization to restore entire systems quickly, and get them back in the production environment as soon as possible after experiencing downtime. A complete bare metal restoration solution restores systems from the ground up-including the operating system (Windows, Linux, Solaris, etc.), business applications (Exchange, SQL, Oracle, Novell, etc.), user profiles and data files, in addition to reformatting drives.
The following details what SMEs should look for in a complete disaster recovery solution that protects their data center as well as data and systems in remote offices.
Quick Recovery
When it comes to quick recoveries and an SME's ability to resume normal business operations after experiencing downtime, the stakes couldn't be higher. Simply put, if customers are inconvenienced by not being able to visit a retail location, access a Website, email a sales rep, or receive requested information in a timely manner-regardless of the reason-they will move on to a competitor. The availability of services and products at headquarters and in branch offices is absolutely vital to the health of the company, making quick restoration of the IT systems that run the business a top priority. Minutes do matter.
Most SMEs do not realize that quick restores not only rely on recovering lost data, but also rely on rebuilding damaged or lost servers and workstations. Operating systems need to be restored, drives need to be reformatted, business applications need to reinstalled, data needs to be recovered and user profiles need to be restored. End users cannot do their job unless workstations and servers are returned to their normal state before downtime occurred. This takes time.
The most effective disaster recovery solutions speed up the systems recovery process by automating this process through scripting. Automatic bare metal restore allows administrators to perform a complete systems restoration to an existing system or to a new system with different hardware. While it typically takes a seasoned IT veteran a full day or longer to completely restore a system manually, there are disaster recovery solutions that allow staffers with little IT training to recover a complete system in less than an hour.
Off-Site Backups and Vaulting
In an effort to protect against data center outages and regional natural disasters, it is essential that SMEs implement off-site backups and a remote vaulting system that store data and system information at least 150 miles away. Tape rotation at a warehouse across town, a common approach of SMEs, does not provide the same level of off-site protection since the facility will most likely be impacted by the same disruption. The best backup and recovery solutions incorporate both local and off-site backups in one package. After first performing a local backup in the branch office, the solution replicates data to an off-site location where it is stored in a data vault and is easily recoverable.
Because bandwidth and server requirements could affect performance for end users, it is essential that SMEs deploy a solution that incorporates electronic data synchronization to off-site vaults. By only sending data that is new or has changed since the last backup, the solution requires less resources and dramatically reduces the amount of data that has to be sent over the WAN. This allows backups to be completed more quickly, efficiently and reliably. In the same vein, synchronization technology enables administrators to pause and re-engage in the middle of a backup if a connection is disrupted during the data transfer, preventing administrators from ever having to manually restart a transfer.
Vendor Neutral
When a disaster hits and remote offices are pulled off-line, SMEs don't always have the luxury of being able to replace their servers with the exact model or even the same brand. Often, they must make a quick replacement with what is available. Because of this, it is important that the company's disaster recovery solution is able to restore systems to different hardware. For example, an HP server needs to be able to be restored on a Dell box if that is what is available. This also gives SMEs flexibility with their purchasing decisions, allowing them to choose hardware that is the best suited for specific business needs and budget rather than letting interoperability inhibit choice.
Point-in-Time Recovery
Giving customers the ability to restore systems to a set point in time is an essential element of a complete disaster recovery solution. This is especially useful if a single system crashes and a database needs to be synched up with other end users. Email is another example. Point-in-time recovery allows administrators to recover deleted emails or files as needed or restore systems to a point in time within the past 30 days.
Simple Management
Most SMEs do not have the IT and staffing resources to dedicate to backup management and monitoring, making it essential that any disaster recovery solution be easy to use and automate as much manual process as possible. This is especially true on the edge of the network in branch offices where often there is no full-time IT administrator and a business staff member is typically tasked with starting the backup process each night.
It doesn't have to be this way. SMEs can make sure their disaster recovery solution is managed consistently from a central management console, giving a trained and dedicated administrator at headquarters complete access and visibility into the backup cycle. In addition, the solution needs to automate basic tasks, including the recovery process. This can help streamline IT management, prevent human errors and take business continuity responsibility off the shoulders of untrained business staff.
Scalability
Complete restoration solutions also need to be scalable to allow SMEs to expand their disaster recovery strategy in line with the business. It seems strange to think that a company can over-protect its IT systems, but it is nearly impossible to protect every server all of the time. SMEs need to determine what systems need to be protected and how fast they need to be recovered. Deploying a scalable disaster recovery solution that is flexible is a good start, as growing companies' needs can change quickly.
Some providers price their solutions on a per gigabyte of user data basis in conjunction with time-to-recovery needs. This ensures that SMEs are getting exactly what they require at an affordable price and that the IT budget is directly tied to the needs of the business.
Security
Another feature that SMEs may need is encryption technology that secures data as it is in transit and while being backed up and restored. Industry and government regulations are getting tighter every year, forcing companies-especially growing businesses-to plan for future compliance requirements, making it essential that all sensitive data is properly encrypted from the outset.
It is vital that SMEs take into account remote office computing when implementing their business continuity strategy, relying on a robust and complete disaster recovery solution that enables efficient backups and quick restores. Administrators need to ensure that they are able to manage the backup and recovery process from a central location, conduct complete restorations and recover systems to different hardware. Only then can SMEs be truly prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws their way.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-protection.php
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
Best Practices in backing up VMware using VTLs and De-Dupe - April 4, 2008
It's can be said that a server virtualization project may actually an infrastructure redesign project. In areas related to storage and data protection, the impact can be dramatic both in terms of the volume of data and in the operations to support and protect it. Backup is a particular case in point.
Fundamentally, there are two approaches to backup in VMware environments: the first is to mimic the traditional physical server backup approach by installing backup client software on each VM and backing them up individually. The second is to perform image-level backups of virtual disks using either VMware's snapshot capability or a third party. More and more, this second method is being enhanced by mounting snapshots to a VMware Consolidated Backup proxy server for final backup via a traditional backup application.
Besides the integration and coordination effort required, another important consideration is the increase of the volume of data created by virtual environments. The standard use of configuration templates for creating virtual machines results in numerous cookie-cutter VMs of a particular class that are nearly identical. Backing up and storing the myriad copies of nearly redundant data consumes significant storage, a fact that has certainly not escaped data de-duplication product vendors.
There are at least three ways that de-duplication technology can be leveraged in a VMware Virtual Iron vs Virual Machine backup infrastructure:
For the traditional backup within a VM approach, both EMC's Avamar and Symantec's NetBackup PureDisk offer VMware clients that de-duplicates data within a VM prior to sending it across the network.
The storing of aggregated snapshots is, of course, a prime target for de-duplication making NAS storage platforms that offer de-duplication, like EMC Data Domain and NetApp, NEC and Exagrid may be attractive options.
Finally, if data is ultimately being backed up via traditional backup applications, VTL platforms that incorporate de-duplication, such as Overland Storage, Diligent, FalconStor, HDS, Quantum, and Sepatonmay be worth considering.
Or ask your local reseller for advice. Each approach offers its own benefits and trade-offs, but in any case, the opportunity for dramatic data reduction -- and therefore dramatic storage savings -- will only increase as virtualization continues to expand throughout the enterprise.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Sencilo Solutions
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee, Cape Coral, and Pembroke Pines.
Is Quantum blasting pass Data Domain in Data De-dup Market? - April 4, 2008
De-duplication eliminate redundant data to improve space and power efficiencies for really green storage
Miami Florida NetApp Inc. on Tuesday announced that the de-dupe adoption rate among its customers has tripled since November 2007, reaching more than 3,500 systems and 100 petabytes (PB) of raw storage capacity.
The storage vendor claimed that more than 1,000 customers have deployed de-dup across all tiers of data, including primary, backup and archival data. Companies like Data Domain Quantum Sepaton vs Falcon Stor Exagrid are not growing close to this.
De-duplication technology, which plays an important role in virtualized environments, is quickly gaining traction among customers who are struggling with data proliferation. Look for EMC Diligent and IBM to join in.
Now customers can eliminate redundant data quickly to improve space and power efficiencies, as well as to reduce the amount of raw storage required. Unlike other Disk to disk or D2D technologies.
NetApp claimed that it is the only major storage and data management vendor to embed de-duplication technology across its entire line of storage systems and to provide an end-to-end solution. Magic Quadrant by Gartner and Awarding winning no doubt. So why LTO-4 tape?
Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions and Storage Veteran of 25 years said there is a definite trend in the market today toward virtualizing storage environments.
"De-duplication is just one example. Organizations are embracing de-duplication because of the efficiencies it provides their organizations [and] significantly reducing the amount of physical capacity that must be purchased and managed," she said.
Dexma Inc., a company that creates and hosts mortgage-lending software for financial institutions, has used de-duplication to expand its data storage management capabilities.
By combining NetApp and VMware Inc. offerings, the company has created a virtual environment that enhances storage provisioning and increases its ability to more easily scale its storage system to meet its data management needs.
Since the installation of NetApp deduplication in September 2007, Dexma has recovered much of its previously utilized disk space.
This has freed up crucial disk space to be used by other applications, according to the David Waterhouse, the company's senior systems administrator.
"We were able to decrease our storage requirements for our customer file retention by 35%," Waterhouse said. "This has had a direct effect on our bottom line."
De-duplication, which is free of charge to customers as an inherent feature in all NetApp storage systems, will also be free when it is extended to NetApp's virtual tape library (VTL) offering later this year.
The de-duplication option for NearStore VTL will dramatically reduce the cost of storing backups on disk by providing effective storage capacities that are greater than today's systems, according to the vendor.
Patrick Rogers, NetApp vice president of solutions marketing, said de-duplication has become a core element of his company's storage offerings as more customers grapple with growing amounts of data.
While the technology helps customers control growth, Rogers said it's apparent that customers are rethinking their traditional data-backup approaches as VTL becomes more prevalent.
He said recent hardware and software updates introduced in March have more than doubled the maximum usable storage capacity of NearStore VTL and increased write-compressed performance by up to 20%, enabling enterprise customers to protect more data in less time.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-area-network.php
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
Quantum Wins Another Major Account vs. Data Domain in the De-Dupe Race - April 2, 2008
Orlando Florida --Quantum Corp. the leader in cost-effective and scalable disk-based backup solutions D2D with byte-level data de-duplication, today announced that.............................at the request of Bill Anderson the CEO of Exagrid bandrews@exagrid.com we have been asked to remove this post.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-data-deduplication.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in Cost Cutting storage, security and managed services solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, Data Domain, EMC, Hitachi, Symantec, HDS, IBM, Commvault, Xiotech and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, storage virtualization installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral Green Simpana Offerings Projects: BC DR planning Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ SSD Solid state disk SANmelody FalconStor tier zero Xiotech ISE nx4 ax4 greenBytes ZFS Sun Top 10 ROBOBak managed services hosting cloud grid Datacore Compellent compellant equallogic lefthand networks don't buy storage stop buying storage itguardian cherub networks Arkeia Network Backup appliance Data Recovery Backup Health IT Healthcare IT Digital Hospital Allscripts
Migrating Data from Direct Attached Storage (DAS) to SAN - March 29, 2008
Orlando Florida - After you go through the purchasing and deployment process to implement your new storage area network (SAN), you'll need to migrate all of your data to the new platform and switch off the old file servers or arrange some downtime to remove those redundant direct-attached disks.
When migrating your data from direct-attached storage (DAS) to iSCSI or FC SAN, consider the following: how to move the data from file servers; how to move your database-type information; and whether to go to that final mile and host operating systems on the SAN, so your servers don't need any local disks at all.
Moving the data from file servers is perhaps the easiest task to manage, but it takes the longest. "Historically, Fibre Channel (FC) been the de facto SAN connection, but many small and midsized businesses (SMBs) opt for an iSCSI-based solution that connects to the network over Ethernet and effectively joins the domain for security purposes", states Brian McCarthy CEO of Sencilo Solutions and Storage Veteran of over 25 years. This allows you to create shares on the SAN just as you'd create a share by using your workstation Computer Management snap-in to create remote shares on a Windows-based server.
Before moving anything, see what users are mapping to over and above the drive letters that you've assigned through policies or login scripts. If you're lucky, you're in a business where the users are given everything they need and never go searching for other secret places to stash their files. Once all of your users are logged off the affected systems, change the share permissions so that they either have no access -- or at best read-only access. Then, use Robocopy to move the files from the server to the SAN. Re-mapping the login scripts will allow your users to carry on working the next day as if nothing had happened. The shares will all look the same and the permissions they had when the files were on the server will be the same when the files are on the SAN with products from NetApp or MDI of Lake Mary, Florida.
Database servers are a little bit more complex, and can be time-consuming because of the preparatory steps that you need to take. Depending on the type of SAN you are deploying, connecting the server to the storage network is a matter of additional Ethernet ports or FC host bus adapters (HBA). How the servers and the SAN are physically connected doesn't matter for this article. However, the way that all the storage on the network is presented to the server does. Each SAN vendor does it a little differently, but the bottom line is that either the reseller will have taught you how to create and configure logical unit numbers (LUNs), or they'll have done an initial setup for you. Setting up LUNs doesn't take long and can be as quick as half a dozen clicks through a browser interface. Once created, the server will automatically pick them up in the Disk Management snap-in. All you need to do is to give them a drive letter and format them.
The next step is to research the best or supported way to move a database from one drive letter to another. In the case of Microsoft Exchange and SQL databases, this can be done from either the command line or from the graphical user interface. After the migration of the information, you'll need to schedule additional downtime to decommission the unused local disks from the server.
For Web servers and other applications that don't actually have any data that's kept on local disks, booting the server from networked storage could be a good option for you. "Boot from SAN" is a term that might strike fear in many people, but it's really nothing to be afraid of. There are two very good reasons for looking at this particular technology. First, an operating system and application rarely need more than 30 GB of space to run. Disks from server vendors these days are up to four or five times that size. That's a lot of wasted space that you really can't use for anything else. Second, leaving disks in the server to generate heat when there's more than enough space in the SAN, isn't particularly ecological. iSCSI and FC networks are far quicker and more resilient than they were some years ago, so the FUD -- fear, uncertainty and doubt -- around booting from the SAN is now simply irrelevant. Moving from local disks to a SAN is not a complex operation either. DDChanger is an application that will take the operating system on local disks and push it up to a bootable LUN on the server.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-area-network.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade
Midmarket Enterprises embrass iSCSI SANs vs. FC SANs - March 29, 2008
Jacksonville Florida - Storage networks allow disparate storage resources to be centralized and organized within the data center. The available storage can then be centrally managed and allocated to users or applications. Fibre Channel (FC) has been the dominant storage area network (SAN) architecture for years, but its high cost and management complexity have deterred many SMBs from adopting this SAN technology.
Internet SCSI, or ISCSI, addresses these SAN problems by carrying SCSI commands and storage traffic over existing IP networks. Transporting "SCSI over IP" leverages ubiquitous Ethernet networks, and that translates to lower costs, easier maintenance and simpler management, which in turn makes SAN deployment more attractive to SMBs. This article examines the basics of iSCSI, enumerates deployment roadblocks and anticipates future trends.
Understanding iSCSI SANs
The development of iSCSI is a good example of problem-solving by using existing technologies in new ways. "Traditional FC storage networks use the SCSI command set, carrying SCSI storage commands over physical FC infrastructures" say Andy Mapp CTO of Sencilo Solutions of Lakeland Florida. As developers sought ways to overcome the cost, configuration and management complexities associated with FC networks, it made sense to place SCSI commands across other network architectures. Thus, iSCSI is SCSI block-storage access that is mapped to run across an IP network -- almost universally an Ethernet network. Although the iSCSI standard was ratified in 2003, iSCSI technology has only recently started receiving broad attention.
iSCSI SANs offers several benefits to an organization; cost, labor/management, and reach. The ubiquitous nature of Ethernet means that IP networks can be deployed quickly and easily in organizations of all sizes. Ethernet is also readily understood, so IT personnel can deploy and maintain an IP environment without specialized FC SAN training. It's not necessary to hire more IT personnel to implement and manage the SAN. Where FC SANs are typically small islands of technology located in a data center, the use of IP networks also gives iSCSI a global reach leading from a LAN to a WAN and onto the Internet -- allowing storage to be located almost anywhere.
"Although the terms "iSCSI" and "storage over IP" are often used interchangeably, this is technically incorrect", says Mapp of Sencilo Solutions. While iSCSI may be the dominant subset of IP storage, there are other IP storage technologies to consider, such asFCIP (Fibre Channel over IP) for exchanging data between FC networks across the Internet and iFCP (Internet Fibre Channel protocol) for extending FC networks across the Internet.
Debunking common IP network myths
The low cost of iSCSI is usually its strongest selling point, but the issue of iSCSI cost is a bit more complicated than people think. People buy iSCSI because they want a cheaper alternative to FC. "Users have $2,000 Windows servers that they'd love to put on a SAN, but they can't afford to spend $2,000 more to connect them to a Fibre Channel SAN," says Stephen Fosk. Leveraging an existing Ethernet network can indeed be far less expensive than deploying and interfacing to a new FC SAN, but businesses will ultimately spend capital on iSCSI storage arrays or specialized iSCSI adapters to enhance a server's connectivity.
The IP network itself is often a point of confusion. While iSCSI will certainly work over an existing Ethernet network using hardware, storage and software already on hand, it's vital to keep iSCSI traffic off the main production network. Not only can iSCSI traffic congest an everyday network, it's necessary to keep sensitive corporate data segmented from the general user population. "It is a SAN, and you don't want data essentially 'leaking out' of the data center," Fosk says.
Right now, the "sweet spot" for iSCSI is the midmarket. Where iSCSI is most readily embraced is in a Windows storage environment by organizations that have not previously implemented a SAN -- typically SMBs. However, iSCSI is also making inroads in the enterprise within the department or large workgroup where it can serve as primary storage to support Exchange, Oracle databases, VMware, and other block applications. Larger enterprises are even adopting iSCSI as secondary or even tertiary storage. "It's being used as an alternative to direct attached, Fibre Channel SAN attached, or even NAS [network attached storage]," says Greg Schulz, founder and senior analyst with the StorageIO Group.
Implementing iSCSI SANs
It takes three components to establish an iSCSI SAN: a network, a target and an initiator. The network component is relatively easy; virtually any IP network, such as Ethernet, will work. ISCSI is ideally suited to Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) and faster deployments, but it's crucial to keep the iSCSI SAN separate from the production LAN through a VLAN. Either that, or implement a different LAN segment and switch just for the iSCSI SAN. This separates storage and user traffic, and reins storage within the SAN.
The "target" is basically a storage destination. In the early days of iSCSI, routers were popular targets, allowing iSCSI hosts to access FC storage. Although this approach is still a viable transition technology, it has largely been abandoned, due to the availability of dedicated hardware and software products. Hardware iSCSI targets include dedicated storage arrays from vendors such as Nexsan, MDI and Hitachi Data Systems.
Today it is increasingly common to use a software-based iSCSI target running on a PC -- turning the server and its storage into an iSCSI target. Many open source products can be applied to Linux and BSD environments. Commercial software can also be employed, including iSCSI Storage Server for Windows from FalconStor Software Inc., SANmelody from DataCore Software Corp. and Microsoft's iSCSI target software, released as part of Windows Storage Server.
We should emphasize that there is no such thing as an iSCSI hard drive; any disk, such as SATA, in a server or array fitted with target software can be treated as "iSCSI storage." According to Schulz, "You can roll your own iSCSI storage, or you can redeploy a server to be an iSCSI array."
Each system that will access iSCSI storage will also need a hardware or software "initiator." Today, free iSCSI initiator software is already available for download with Windows 2000, Windows 2003 and Windows XP Pro. Software is the most popular initiator choice. "The majority, maybe 90% to 95% of all iSCSI implementations, involve a software initiator," Schulz says. Hardware initiators are also available as controller cards from many FC and TCP/IP offload engine (TOE) controller vendors, such as QLogic Corp. and Broadcom Corp.
Areas of concern
Most analysts and users agree that iSCSI is easier to deploy and manage than FC -- especially in the IP network and initiator. Some training and configuration may be needed to optimize iSCSI targets, but this depends on the target. A dedicated iSCSI array may demand more training and management than an iSCSI server deployed in-house. Ultimately, an iSCSI storage administrator will still need to be concerned with LUNs, volumes, provisioning and other common SAN issues. Pilot deployments can often help organizations identify potential problem areas and determine the tangible value of iSCSI.
Network architecture and performance is also critical to iSCSI. The technology is not tolerant of network interruptions, and an iSCSI array can easily crash as a result of interruptions or bottlenecks. Consequently, an iSCSI implementation should include an aluation of network performance and reliability. Old or outdated hardware components should be overhauled to improve network performance or ease bottlenecks, and failover measures should be deployed wherever possible to ensure network reliability. Typically, iSCSI is not recommended for use in large transactional environments where performance is critical.
ISCSI storage performance is also related to the number of spindles (drives) available in the network. you can achieve excellent iSCSI storage performance by load balancing more storage nodes (clustering) rather than placing more drives into fewer large iSCSI boxes. "Most high-end iSCSI arrays balance I/O across many more spindles than a Fibre Channel array," Foskett says. "If you look at the performance tests, you'll see that iSCSI outperforms Fibre Channel [due to the design of the storage array]."
The future of iSCSI SANs
ISCSI will have to find a way to flourish in the shadow of NAS, which is currently easier to deploy and manage -- particularly when coupled with virtualization techniques from companies like Compellent, MDI, and NetApp. But analysts say that iSCSI has a bright future in the SMB and enterprise, mainly because there is so much potential for growth. According to Foskett, about 80% of all servers (primarily low-end Windows servers) are not connected to shared storage, so iSCSI can expand shared storage dramatically by interconnecting that untapped wealth of storage.
The eventual move to 10 GigE and faster wireless networking standards will also impact iSCSI further in the future, enabling additional bandwidth for iSCSI and ultimately challenging the dominance of FC. "We're just scratching the tip of the iceberg with iSCSI," Schulz says. "[The year] 2008 is when I think iSCSI will really start to come into its prime." ***
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-area-network.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
SAN-based storage virtualization: Five benefits - March 23, 2008
Storage virtualization is getting a lot of press these days, but it isn't new. Host-based volume managers have long enabled nondisruptive extension, reduction and migration of application data independent of the disk storage. Soon after the emergence of host-based volume managers, storage left the host, and we connected to external cached disk arrays, which hid the messy details of SCSI targets, controllers and RAID protection from the servers. Not long after that, we installed storage area networks (SANs), further virtualizing the connectivity to storage. No, virtualization is not new; it's what modern storage systems are all about!
Even with all the storage virtualization benefits we enjoy today, there are still several storage management problems left unsolved. Storage customers complain that it's tough to migrate data from one storage platform to the next and that the administrative burden of storage systems is still too manual and difficult. These challenges mean that storage teams have to spend all day keeping the system running, instead of optimizing it.
SAN-based storage virtualization holds the promise of addressing these problems, enabling you to improve your customer's data management and deliver storage efficiencies. Empowering customers to migrate and manage data quickly means that they will be more inclined to refresh aging technology. This tip covers five value propositions for SAN storage virtualization.
1.) Single point of administration: Customers understand that a little friendly competition between storage vendors can help reduce the price of storage; SAN virtualization can be implemented in multi-vendor storage environments, so if a potential customer doesn't run the brand of storage equipment that you offer, converting them to a SAN virtualization setup could open the door to storage hardware sales. SAN-based storage virtualization provides this benefit by virtue of the fact that all of the SAN storage is provisioned to the virtualization device, so from that point on, all of the storage administration occurs at the virtualization layer from manufactures like Brocade StorageX.
2.) Nondisruptive data migration: Many customers do not replace their storage arrays when the lease or support expires or when the products are fully depreciated -- not because it is cheaper to keep the storage (the manufacturers make sure it's not), but because it is very difficult to migrate to the next storage platform. Without storage virtualization, migrations often require application outages and lots of sweat equity. These efforts are extremely difficult to coordinate across the various teams and business units involved. With SAN virtualization, the storage team can execute disk array swap-outs without impacting anyone else. This capability brings benefits to storage managers and VARs alike; migrations suddenly become not only possible but easy enough to make them worthwhile, allowing storage managers to take advantage of the declining cost of storage and bringing VARs an opportunity to sell new storage.
3.) Information lifecycle management (ILM): Customers want to know that they are putting their application data on the most appropriate tier of storage. Data access patterns are a key criterion in determining where to put the data. Often, a single business application or database has certain regions of data that are frequently accessed and require high-performance storage, while other regions are rarely accessed and could exist on more cost-effective storage. Because SAN virtualization tools sit between the server and the storage hardware, they have awareness of the access patterns. If the virtualization engine can use this access pattern information and leverage its online migration features, it may be possible to transparently relocate frequently accessed data to more expensive, high-performance storage and move less frequently accessed data to less expensive storage, bringing true ILM within reach.
4.) Improved allocation efficiencies Storage managers know that improving asset utilization is a quick way to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) for their department. One of the common causes of low utilization is that the application teams demand more storage than they need. This may be because the process for requesting more storage is too slow; on the other hand, it could be because the application is new and there's not enough history to properly plan for growth. Storage virtualization promises to solve both problems. In the first case, the pace of deployment can be improved when all storage, regardless of brand or type, has a single administrative interface for allocation. And capacity planning challenges could be alleviated with thin provisioning services in the virtualization layer, which allow pre-allocation of storage and shared free space across applications optimizing unused disk, which is the most expensive storage asset.
5.) Heterogeneous replication One of the huge challenges associated with maintaining agnosticism among disk array vendors is disaster recovery replication. Most array-based storage replication is not heterogeneous, meaning that the production and disaster recovery frames must be of the same brand and often of the same type. Host-based replication options are heterogeneous, but management is cumbersome when a large number of hosts have replicated data. SAN virtualization can split the difference, providing a single method of replication for multiple types of storage arrays and a limited number of management points.
Storage virtualization in all of its forms has been providing benefits to businesses for years; yet there are still some challenges that remain. It's easy to see that SAN-based virtualization holds a lot of promise for the industry. Discuss these value propositions with your customers to open their minds to the possibilities of SAN virtualization for manufactures like EMC, NetApp, Compellent, MDI, and Hitachi.
For more information please call (407) 265-6293 or visit us at: http://www.sencilo.com/storage-software.php
About Us
Sencilo Solutions is a Florida-based integrator specializing in storage and security solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, EMC, Juniper Networks, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP. Its technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer.
Sencilo has offices throughout Florida including: Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland and Cape Canaveral
Offerings Projects: Replication De-Dup De-Dupe iSCSI SAN NAS VMware Security EMC NetApp HP IBM Quantum Compliance VTL Data Domain vs Gartner Magic Quadrant Quadrent LTO Backup Exc Pure Disk NetBackup Networker TSM Commvault BakBone D2D D2D2T compare cloud data deduplication thin provisioning DXi Global Compression DDX virtual tape library Data Reduction SEPATON FALCON compare Celerra CLARiiON Equallogic Dell NS20 NS40 CX4 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar DLD3 1500 D3 Storwiz storage compression data Ocarina Networks A-SIS compare Sepaton infopro BlueArc OnStor Microsoft Unified Storage data protection StorageX Brocade FAQ
VMware ESX networking: Best Practices - Tips and Tricks - March 11, 2008
Networking with VMware ESX virtual servers has a number of special considerations. This runbook will walk you through physical server-based configuration options, VLAN tagging and MAC addresses and system administrator considerations.
Basic networking for rack and blade servers
VMware ESX Server provides flexibility for optimizing configurations and virtual networking architectures to meet many different requirements. But configuration flexibility can be a double-edged sword because basic network architectures with VMware can become bewildering in the face of so many options. Thus network administrators should become familiar with basic networking options for VMware on blade and rack servers to optimize their ESX networks.
Tower and rackmount servers require a minimum of five network adapters. Because blade servers and chassis have a limited number of uplink ports from the chassis to the distribution/core switches, network administrators should configure trunking of the uplink ports from the chassis switches and implement 802.1q VLAN tagging with a minimum of 1 GB per second for the network.
System administrators can configure ESX to use multiple Ethernet ports. Both an active and standby configurations should be implemented in case of primary port failure. Also, network administrators should team port configurations with multiple load balancing configurations based on the source port IT, a hash of the source MAC address, and IP-based hash of the source and destination.
To watch for network failures, monitor the link state of the adapter, and use beaconing to look upstream within the network. On the same note, ports can be configured to notify switches in the network that a port has been reconfigured, so the ARP tables are updated; this will minimize other errors.
For a more detailed explanation of virtual switches, physical and virtual NICs and MAC addresses, download chapter five of Virtualization with VMware ESX Server, made available to TechTarget readers by Syngress publishing. This chapter, which covers virtual networking, provides enough detail that "both the beginner and possibly the advanced ESX administrator" will find it useful, vs. Virtual Iron vs. Virtual Servers.
Configure and implement VLANs on VMware VI3
Virtual LANs (VLAN) are not new and most network architects and administrators know the ins and outs of configuring them for traditional infrastructures. But configuring VLANs for using VMware VI3 is a different story. Procedures that worked without virtualization, don't work with virtualization. Thus, before seting up VLANs, network administrators need to know a few things:
How many physical NICs are required?
Which VLAN a new virtual server will call home, and
How VLANs work.
When most networking pros talk about building VLANs with VMware VI3, they are usually referring to VLAN trunks. However, there are three other types of VLAN configurations VI3 uses: virtual switch tagging (VST), external switch tagging (EST) and virtual guest tagging (VGT). VLAN tagging allows for connecting a VLAN directly to a guest virtual machine. Administrators should become familiar with what VST, EST and VGT are and how to use them.
Virtual switch tagging, or VST is usually the best option for a guest VM, but it depends on the individual business's needs. With VST, VLAN trunks are used. The physical switch treats the ESX server's switch like a physical switch, tagging traffic appropriately as it passes across the trunk to the server's NICs. The ESX server then uses the tags to direct the traffic to its port.
EST or VGT can be more appropriate options if your organization's servers plug into distribution layer switches, which connect to a core switch. Here, using VST tagging would be impossible. You would need to use EST tagging.
Additionally, if a particular virtual machine needs to be on several VLANs simultaneously, then VGT makes more sense. You'll need guest OS support for VLAN drivers, and this situation is common in UNIX and UNIX-like operating systems, such as Solaris, OpenBSD and certain Linux distros.
Network redundancy
Virtualization expert Brian McCarthy of Sencilo Solutions of Tampa Florida discusses why provisioning for networking redundancy for the ESX service console port is important. He suggests having a minimum of two interfaces assigned to the ESX service console port. VirtualCenter 2.5 will warn you if you only have one interface assigned, earlier version of VirtualCenter do not.
The error message, in VirtualCenter2.5, will cause the cluster indicator error symbol to be present indefinitely from the missing interface with ESX 3.01 and 3.02 hosts, and most likely 3.5 hosts as well. This is important because If your virtual servers encounter a new or additional error, you probably wouldn't notice right away. Use a teamed vSwitch for a virtual machine network that does not need redundancy (such as a test network) and reconfigure it on the network and within VirtualCenter to be on the same network as the service console port to resolve this problem.
Disconnected network adapters
If you're making physical-to-virtual migrations with ESX, then it's handy to know that you can configure the virtual server to have its network adapter disconnected at power-on. You'll see be able to see the virtual hardware inventory from the guest operating system, but it will show as if the network was unplugged. With an offline VM, you can configure your IP addressing and DNS information, although you won't be able to test the IP addresses.
This option is useful because in certain cases having a candidate virtual machine on the network and performing its intended tasks too soon can cause a variety of errors, such as duplicate IP addresses, virtual machine applications picking up data simultaneously with another live system, formatting issues from a newer version of the business system feeding results to another system, and so on.
Networking in ESX offers great flexibility, but with flexibility comes room for error. With this tip and the important links scattered throughout you should have a good roadmap on how and why to configure networking for your virtual servers for optimal redundancy, speed, and availability, tailored to your computing environment's specific needs.
We are a Florida based integrator specializing in storage, security and networking solutions. Sencilo delivers a comprehensive portfolio of products from best-of-breed hardware and software from multiple manufacturers including VMware, Hitachi, Symantec, Barracuda Networks, and HP.
Our technical expertise is known throughout the storage and security industry. Our clients include leading corporations, major financial institutions, top universities, government facilities, as well as small to medium size businesses. Sencilo's professional services include consulting, integration, project management, installation, maintenance and knowledge transfer. With office throughtout Florida including Orlando, St. Petersburg, Miami, Jacksonville, Daytona Beach, Lake Mary, Lakeland, Gainesville. Call us at (407) 265-6293 or visit us www.sencilo.com
