Storage News
EMC has it's head in the Clouds - Cloud Storage that is! - May 6, 2008
Mozy, Inc., part of the Cloud Infrastructure and Services Division of EMC (NYSE:EMC), today announced the release of MozyHome for Mac, the industry's first unlimited online backup service for the Mac. Mac users in the home can now safely and cost-effectively back up all of their digital information over the Internet. With more than 700,000 total users worldwide and 6.2 billion files backed up, Mozy is the leading online backup service of choice for consumers and small businesses.
"Mozy is honoring its roots by augmenting its service to consumers and small businesses," said Vance Checketts, chief operating officer for Mozy. "We've had more than 43,000 individuals participate in our public beta and have devoted thousands of hours of development to this new MozyHome for Mac release."
Designed as a consumer service, MozyHome for Mac offers 2 gigabytes of online backup absolutely free with no expiration date, or $4.95 a month for unlimited online backup capacity. Mozy automatically protects all computer files including photos, music, videos and financial documents from data loss in the event of hard drive crash, accidental deletion, natural disaster or theft. All files are encrypted with 448-bit Blowfish encryption and the encrypted files are transferred via a 128-bit SSL connection the same encryption used for online banking during the backup process for extra security. After the initial backup, Mozy only backs up incremental changes to files and folders, meaning subsequent backups run extremely fast. In addition to the most recent backup, Mozy keeps 30 days worth of file versions as well. In the event of data loss, files may be recovered via the Mozy client software, downloaded from the Mozy website, or by ordering the files on a set of DVDs from Mozy.
"I had just completed my transition from Tiger to Leopard when my hard drive crashed," said Donald Malm, who participated in the MozyHome for Mac beta. "The restore of all my data from Mozy was completed without a single error. My Quicken data was exactly where I had left off the day before the crash. Never have I made a better purchasing decision since I started in the insurance and financial system design industry 52 years ago."
Later this summer, Mozy will release a business version of its Mac service to enhance its MozyPro and MozyEnterprise offerings. More than 20,000 business customers already trust Mozy to back up their data, and Mozy is currently backing up more than 7.5 petabytes, the equivalent to 7.8 million gigabytes, across multiple data centers. Businesses interested in an online backup service for the Mac can sign up to be notified at www.mozy.com/mac/probeta.
With the addition of the MozyHome for Mac service, EMC offers Mac users the industry's most robust backup and recovery options. Other data protection offerings for Mac users include EMC Retrospect for Macintosh and EMC LifeLine software.
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 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
Is Symantec up for sale? - May 6, 2008
John Thompson must have known the question was coming. The Symantec CEO certainly heard the rumors. So when he was asked Wednesday night during his company’s earnings conference call about selling off parts of his company, Thompson couldn’t have been clearer.
“Contrary to popular rumor, we have no plans to divest of anything,” he said. “None.”
The rumors mainly involved the storage products that Symantec acquired from Veritas three years ago. And they were widely circulated. According to an Associated Press earnings preview story that ran this week:
Analysts are particularly interested in the possible sales of backup and recovery software product NetBackup and the company’s non-Windows Data Center Foundation, which comprises of storage and server management products.
Several technology bellwethers, including IBM, Hewlett-Packard and EMC have been named as potential buyers for Symantec’s storage products, including NetBackup. One executive from HP who did not wish to be known is quoted as saying "he has meet with John (Thompson) and it's all but signed."
AP could have added two other bellwethers who have been mentioned as suitors of all or some of the Symantec storage products - Oracle and Microsoft.
From the tone of Thompson’s voice when he answered the question, he’s not happy with the rumors. Yet Symantec is at least partially to blame. There have been frequent reorganizations since it bought Veritas, usually accompanied by layoffs. Symantec admitted a large layoff in April but would not give details. This left the door open for scared Symantec employees, disgruntled former employees and opportunistic competitors to attempt to fill in the details. And Symantec execs have talked about getting rid of poor performing units on previous earnings calls.
But Wednesday’s call was upbeat. Symantec reported outstanding results all around, and storage was front and center. Email archiving, backup, and storage management were among the product segments that posted double-digit year over year growth. Thompson and COO Enrique Salem talked of a bright future for Net Backup 6.5, Backup Exec 12, and Storage Foundation. They emphasized Symantec’s encryption and virtualization capabilities and gushed about three hot storage areas where Symantec has hardly been a pioneer: data deduplication, continuous data protection and software as a service (SaaS).
Symantec’s earnings were impressive in current economic conditions, although with 53 percent of its revenue from international sales, it took advantage of favorable foreign exchange rates against the dollar. Symantec gained share from its major rival EMC on the backup front, with 11 percent year-over-year growth compared to EMC’s 8 percent growth.
The question now is whether the strong storage performance will prompt Symante execs to forget about spinning off any pieces, or will it only add to the value of a possible sale? Thompson’s take is nothing is for sale. Despite what you might have heard.
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
It's not will Sun get out of the Storage Market, but when? - May 6, 2008
When Sun revealed its open source storage push this week, some in the industry wondered about its business model. In other words, how can Sun make money on open source storage products?
Then Sun reported its earnings Thursday night, and it became clear that its storage business isn’t exactly rolling in dough these days anyway.
Sun’s storage products generated $530 million in revenue last quarter, down 5.4 percent from a year ago and $100 million short of its target. Big-ticket items such as tape libraries and high-end disk systems were down in a quarter in which EMC and IBM reported increases. Server revenue also fell short by $100 million, making it a disastrous period for the new combined servers and storage unit.
Overall, Sun lost $34 million in the quarter compared to a profit of $67 million the year before. On the earnings call, Sun execs said they would be restructuring to the tune of 1,500 to 2,500 layoffs.
Can open source save this sinking ship? Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz seems to think so, and he certainly hopes so. Open source was a common theme of his earnings call, with open storage getting its share of attention with statements such as: “We have a great variety of new Open Storage innovations [entering] the market within the next few quarters.”
Schwartz didn’t talk too much about how Sun will make money on open storage, except to emphasize how it would save money on R&D by having a common open platform for all of its servers and storage systems. Layoffs are expected to save Sun between $100 million and $150 million a year, although it’s not clear how much of the reduction will be in storage. Sun continues to the the butt for most jokes remarked a Sun reseller at SNW.
It remains to be seen what the quality of open storage products will be, but Sun has little to lose. It’s tried a lot of things over the years to jumpstart storage sales, including paying $4.1billion for tape library market leader StorageTek. Nothing has worked. Sun OEMs systems from Hitachi Data System, LSI and Dot Hill and usually has less success than other vendors who sell the same systems. For a while Sun planned its storage future around the 6920 midrange system, which it billed as a virtualization product and an EMC Clariion killer. Customers yawned, and Sun sold the technology to HDS last year.
Now its storage plans revolve around a large DAS system called Thumper and open source software. Considering its track record, things can’t really get much worse, can they?
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. It's 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
Why is VMware and LeftHand offering a iSCSI SAN, Customers are asking? - April 5, 2008
Orlando Florida -- LeftHand Networks Inc.'s Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA) today becomes the first software-only storage device named to VMware's hardware compatibility list. The two companies' mutual channel partners will begin selling the VSA packaged with VMware's Infrastructure Acceleration Kits this week.
The bundles of 2 TB VSA licenses with VMware's small and medium-sized business (SMB) license packages turn an iSCSI SAN into a virtual machine running on the same physical server as virtualized applications, eliminating the need to support separate storage devices in small environments. "VMware is showing it means to take the value of the hypervisor well beyond server virtualization with this release," said Mark Bowker, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst. "This shows a new way for virtualization to leverage the same hardware platforms." Wants VSA to support more than 2 TB of storage At least one user would like to see the VSA support more storage. "I'd definitely like to see them expand beyond 2 TB," said Pat O'Day, chief technology officer of IT infrastructure service provider BlueLock LLC, which is planning to offer its smaller clients prepared packages of server hardware with the VSA bundles. "You can always set up SAN/iQ on a server, but some clients have older disk shelves and are looking for an economical way to turn them into an iSCSI SAN." BlueLock uses the VSA to save space in its data center, further compressing its iSCSI SAN environment by loading VMware and the VSA on Hewlett-Packard c-Class blade server chassis. Using VSA this way turns HP's SB40c blades into networked storage for VMs running on direct-attached server blades. O'Day said he's hoping to see HP break the hard-coded relationships between server blades and SB40c blades in the chassis, so he can also use Storage VMotion to move VSAs around. O'Day added, "The only thing I don't have with this setup right now is the ability to have the same redundancy for my storage as I do for my virtual servers." Christopher Kalos, network manager for medical publishing company Jobson Medical Information LLC, said he recently installed a VSA on the same box as VMware hosts at a small branch office to eliminate the need for on-site IT staff and tape backups. "We can give this environment true remote support this way," he said. Backups are snapshots sent through LeftHand's replication to a secondary site for disaster recovery. Staff at the company's headquarters can log in and manage all the storage and server software remotely. Cost and remote support were the two main factors in Kalos's decision to put in the VSA. "It cost us about $6,000 for the VSA, and the cheapest module of LeftHand's software otherwise is still about $13,000," he said.
But not all VMware and Storage VARs are buying it, I have seen primary testing from some early production systems and I have to say, customers are not seeing value. When you can purchase a SAN that goes way beyond 2TBs, say Brian McCarthy President of Sencilo Solutions. We sell SAN storage from the top manufactures in the world including HDS, EMC and NetApp, for under $5,000 for 2TBs. By the time you add up the VMware and Lefthand licenses, plus the cost of HP storage you will pay by 3 to 4x the cost of a SAN. Oh by the way who are you going to call for support, VMware, Lefthand or HP when the trouble starts, McCarthy asks? McCarthy goes on to say, rumors are all saying if Lefthand is not bought by the end of 2008 their investors will close them down, so watch for a firesale.
Like O'Day, Kalos said the single-box approach cut down on the redundancy of the system. "If I want to do maintenance on the box, I can't do it whenever I want like I can with the full LeftHand SANs where I can use the two-way replication [between servers] and failover," he said. Because of the limitations of the VSA approach, one analyst said it's a good idea to go with the full iSCSI SAN if possible. "For very small businesses and branch offices, this is a very good solution," said Chris Wolf of the Burton Group "But if users have the resources and physical space to do a full SAN, that's definitely what they should be doing." McCarthy from Sencilo agrees with Chris completely on that point.
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
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
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
NetApp certified with VMware Infrastructure 3 - March 23, 2008
NetApp has announced that its StoreVault S500 has been certified to work with VMware Infrastructure 3 from VMware Inc.
The combination of StoreVault with VMware Infrastructure provides SMBs (small and medium-sized businesses) with infrastructure virtualization strategies that better manage storage and server resources, NetApp said. This announcement further expands the joint collaboration between VMware and NetApp to provide combined consolidation solutions, NetApp said on Monday.
Available immediately, the StoreVault S500 helps customers benefit from combining storage with infrastructure virtualization, NetApp of Sunnyvale, California said. VMware Infrastructure allows SMB customers to optimize and manage their IT infrastructure by allowing a single hardware platform to run multiple virtual machine instances simultaneously, maximizing hardware efficiency, the company said. When the StoreVault S500 is deployed in VMware environments, it can simplify storage management concerns such as resources, data backup and recovery, and capacity provisioning, NetApp added.
Data growth challenges create a number of headaches for SMBs through data loss, backup, and recovery, NetApp said. Many IT environments of SMBs consist of many servers with DAS (direct attached storage), and as a result there is an increasing interest among SMBs to realize the same benefits that enterprise data centers have, but on a smaller scale, the company said. Severing the physical dependencies between servers and storage will achieve better returns on both server and storage resources, NetApp added.
StoreVault, a NetApp division, is focused on delivering data storage solutions tailored to the needs of SMBs. StoreVault combines enterprise-proven technology from NetApp, a provider of unified storage solutions for today�s data-intensive enterprise, with the scalability, simplicity, security, and affordability required by SMBs, StoreVault said.
VMware is a provider of virtual infrastructure software for industry-standard systems. Companies use VMware solutions to simplify their IT environments, and to fully use their existing computing investments and respond faster to changing business demands, VMware said.
Virtualization is useful to businesses of all sizes and not just Fortune 500 companies, VMware of Palo Alto, California said. IT managers in SMBs face the same pressures as data center operators when solving storage and server management issues, while having fewer resources to address the problems, the company said. The certifying of StoreVault with VMware will enable smaller firms to meet their budgetary and reliability needs, VMware added.
Ahearn, Jasco + Company, an accounting and financial services firm based in south Florida, had older equipment, DAS, and the inability to scale resources every day, NetApp said. Ahearn, Jasco + Company�s infrastructure consisted of multiple servers running separate applications for more than 35 employees, the company said. Many of their servers were legacy systems using DAS that were performance-bound by their disks, which, consisted mainly of single drives without RAID (redundant array of independent disks), it said. As a result, performance was slow while data redundancy and fault tolerance were major concerns, NetApp added.
Many SMBs, like Ahearn, Jasco + Company, realize that DAS is inefficient, painful to grow, and unable to meet growing storage performance demands, according to Altek Computer Group, a value-added reseller (VAR) based in Miami. There exists an opportunity to help Ahearn, Jasco + Company revolutionize their server and storage environment and boost performance by either virtualizing their resources or by creating a centralized storage pool that can be accessed by virtual machines, Altek said.
With the tax season approaching, Ahearn, Jasco + Company had to address its need for increased storage, which in the past resulted in adding storage to individual systems in chunks, which led to some servers being underutilized, NetApp said. Ahearn, Jasco + Company decided that adding more DAS was not a viable option due to the low price-performance ratio, high expense, and, most importantly, downtime and disruption to employees during the important tax season, the company said.
Ahearn, Jasco + Company needed to upgrade its entire IT infrastructure on a limited budget, the firm said. It became almost impossible to understand the storage sprawl happening in its environment, it said. Ahearn, Jasco + Company required a unified view of all of its resources to improve server and storage allocation, the firm said. Ahearn, Jasco + Company was also concerned about backup, as it relied on tape devices that were slow and did not guarantee disaster recovery, which needed to be fixed with hurricane season coming, Ahearn, Jasco + Company added.
The StoreVault S500 provided Ahearn, Jasco + Company with an enterprise-proven storage technology platform from NetApp that was affordable and easy to use, NetApp said. The StoreVault S500 allows storage to be added or allocated on-the-fly without disruption to operations, the company said. The StoreVault S500 also enables faster backup and recovery for a higher degree of data reliability, it said. With a single purchase, Ahearn, Jasco + Company gained greater flexibility to grow and respond to future data storage needs without additional investment, NetApp added.
The VMware Infrastructure simplifies the storage environment just as StoreVault, NetApp said. The VMware Infrastructure optimizes the use of hardware assets and creates a solution that allows new server, application, and storage capacity to be provided at a moment�s notice, the company said.
SMBs like Ahearn, Jasco + Company combine blade servers running VMware Infrastructure to StoreVault storage systems for greater reliability, flexibility, and affordability, NetApp said. Multiple VMware virtual machines run on a consolidated hardware platform and access dedicated storage on StoreVault, the company said. The StoreVault S500 meets the storage needs for any new or existing workloads, and VMware Infrastructure allows entire virtual machines to be backed up, moved, and replicated with zero downtime, the company said. Ahearn, Jasco + Company also reduced rack space, lowered energy costs, and created a far more flexible environment, while improving data reliability rates and disaster recovery times, NetApp added.
Ahearn, Jasco + Company has modernized its server and storage environment while meeting its budget requirements, the firm said. The combination of StoreVault and VMware Infrastructure has provided the firm with a complementary technology solution that solved its business problems, Ahearn, Jasco + Company said.
Ahearn, Jasco + Company now has a network storage infrastructure that will last three to five years with the prospect of future scalability at a cost that is next to nothing, the accounting firm said. StoreVault and VMware Infrastructure have provided Ahearn, Jasco + Company with a powerful formula to improve its storage and server utilization and manage its capacity for future investment, Ahearn, Jasco + Company said. The StoreVault Advanced Protection Architecture and RAID-DP have also provide enterprise-class security and data protection functionality at a price that fits its budget, Ahearn, Jasco + Company added.
StoreVault sees a trend for SMBs to look for smarter, more reliable alternatives to the traditional way of handling storage, and iSCSI (Internet SCSI) SAN (storage area network) and infrastructure virtualization are getting attention, StoreVault said. The relationship with VMware is designed to bring added value to IT generalists within SMBs that are tasked with taming storage and infrastructure management with a limited budget, StoreVault said. Ahearn, Jasco + Company is a great example of one way VMware Infrastructure can be brought into play for SMBs with the StoreVault storage platform, StoreVault added.
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, Daytona Beach, Miami, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Orlando, Hialeah, St. Augustine, Gainesville, Ocala, Palm Coast, Clearwater, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Maitland, Cape Canaveral
Other Projects: DR BC 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 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 CX3-20 CX3-40 CX3-80 FAS2050 FAS3050 Xiotech Nexsan Avamar CX4
