News

SAN, NAS, solid state, RAID

October 27, 2009 27 Oct'09
What you should know about flash memory in storage

A tiered storage array with flash at its apex would deliver a much better balance of capacity, performance and value than flash sledgehammer systems devised to exert brute storage performance force on all IOs. But neither SPEC or TPC benchmarks have...
October 20, 2009 20 Oct'09
Unilever cuts fabric problems by 50% with NetWisdom

Multinational Unilever has cut fabric errors in half and now manages annual data growth of 50% on its 5 PB SAN Virtual Instruments' NetWisdom product.
October 07, 2009 07 Oct'09
Ad agency uses 3PAR InServ to support server virtualisation project and reduce capacity purchases

Internet advertising agency TrafficBroker chooses a 3PAR InServ SAN with tiered storage and thin provisioning over 'bells and whistles' of rival Compellent.
October 02, 2009 02 Oct'09
HDS, EMC out as Suncorp cuts storage costs by 40% with NetApp cloud play

Suncorp has created an internal cloud based on vSphere and NetApp products and says it is approaching 65% storage utilisation, has trimmed storage costs by 40% and will likely not need data centre space it built for future use.

September 30, 2009 30 Sep'09
Oxford Archaeology CIO not buying dedupe hype; finds open storage more valuable technology

Oxford Archaeology CIO Chris Puttick talks about why he believes data deduplication is an over-hyped technology, and why open storage is the most valuable technology in storage.
September 19, 2009 19 Sep'09
SAN implementation drives storage consolidation at TVS Motor

For Indian manufacturing leader TVS Motor, its storage area network (SAN) provides the ideal boost to turbo-charge ERP. A look at how a SAN upgrade and storage virtualization helped TVS Motor cope with business growth.
September 16, 2009 16 Sep'09
SAN solution enables storage consolidation at CIBIL

Credit Information Bureau (India) Ltd (CIBIL) used a SAN solution-backed storage consolidation initiative to deal with spiraling data growth. The SAN also helps CIBIL reduce its storage management costs.
September 14, 2009 14 Sep'09
SAN for storage consolidation at Spencer's Retail

ERP implementation requirements made Spencer's Retail opt for storage consolidation with a storage area network (SAN). We take a look at the initiative.
September 14, 2009 14 Sep'09
Software RAID vs hardware RAID: Pros and cons

Choosing between software RAID and hardware RAID depends on what you need to do and cost. Hardware RAID costs more, but will be free of software RAID's performance limitations.
August 25, 2009 25 Aug'09
IBM, Brocade at risk as WA Health seeks new 8-Gig fibre channel SAN

West Australia’s Health Department is weighing native fiber channel and fibre channel over IP as it plans new SANs and adoption of 8Gb/sec fibre channel and acquire new SANs.

August 24, 2009 24 Aug'09
Solid-state drives, disk poised to change data storage market

Chris Mellor says disruptive technologies aren't common in the storage market, but solid-state drives and disk technology seem ready to make a difference. Will cloud storage be the next culprit?
August 17, 2009 17 Aug'09
Hard disk drive specifications guide: What to look for when buying disk storage

Seek times, latency, data transfer rates, error correction codes and cache are important hard disk drive specifications. Learn the key features of hard disks drives so you can specify the right one for your data centre.
August 03, 2009 03 Aug'09
SATA, SCSI and SAS: Which drive is right for your storage environment?

Learn the key differences between SATA, SCSI and SAS technologies in terms of performance so you can decide which types of drives are most suitable for your environment.
July 22, 2009 22 Jul'09
Storage roundup: Former NetApp UK director to head up Isilon EMEA sales, City of London data centre

Storage roundup: Former NetApp UK director to head Isilon EMEA sales; City of London data centre host expands in the square mile; Infortrend offers EonStor Plus disk bundle service.
July 16, 2009 16 Jul'09
Solid-state drives, 2.5-inch drives boost IOPS without wasting capacity

Small form factor hard disk drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) are becoming attractive ways companies can boost IOPS without wasting capacity.
July 13, 2009 13 Jul'09
Which RAID level has the best price-to-performance comparison?

Configuring disk in RAID arrays brings a variety of benefits, most notably data protection and I/O performance. But which RAID level wins in terms of price vs. performance?
July 08, 2009 08 Jul'09
ITV switches channel from Apple Xsan to Nexsan SATABeast Xi

ITV switches from Apple Xsan to Nexsan SATABeast Xi with MAID technology to improve data storage needs, as well as space, and power and cooling issues.
July 07, 2009 07 Jul'09
BlueArc challenges NetApp in the enterprise with Mercury 50, Mercury 100 network-attached storage (N

With NetApp distracted by Data Domain and late delivering Ontap with clustered NAS capabilities, BlueArc targets the enterprise NAS market with Mercury 50, Mercury 100 NAS systems.
July 06, 2009 06 Jul'09
Council adds solid-state drive (SSD) tier to Compellent SAN for new HillingdonFirst residents' card

London Borough of Hillingdon installs solid-state drive (SSD) storage to its Compellent SAN to support Oracle databases in rollout of new HillingdonFirst residents' card system.
June 30, 2009 30 Jun'09
Will Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) bring a fabric switch product shakedown?

Many network switch vendors won't provide deep Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) functionality, so will storage-area network (SAN) fabric management be dominated by Brocade, Cisco Systems and IBM?
June 17, 2009 17 Jun'09
Dell bundles software with new SAN

Dell has announced a new SAN and Microsoft Storage Server Appliance and says it expects both will help it to win more business from vendors of larger arrays.
June 09, 2009 09 Jun'09
The impact of server virtualisation on storage and backup environments

Early adopters of server virtualisation share their experiences with the technology. Learn how to avoid backup and load-balancing challenges, and surprise licensing costs.
June 01, 2009 01 Jun'09
RAID 6 vs RAID 10: Choosing the best RAID level for your organisation

Compare RAID 6 vs RAID 10. What is the best RAID level for your organisation: RAID 6's capacity utilisation and protection against two disk failures or RAID 10's faster rebuild times?
May 27, 2009 27 May'09
Defining storage-area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS) and unified storage

Network-attached storage (NAS), storage-area networks (SANs) and unified storage provide storage capacity not directly attached to servers, but use different protocols for data.
May 21, 2009 21 May'09
IBM writes software to improve data placement on solid-state drives

IBM adds solid-state drive support to Data Facility Storage Management Subsystem (DFSMS); will add SSD-specific data placement and monitoring capabilities to software.
May 13, 2009 13 May'09
Branding firm LFH uses Overland Storage Snap Server to mirror data

Branding firm LFH implements disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) backup using Overland Storage Snap Server. Byte-level replication and snapshot capability were factors in choosing NAS.
April 13, 2009 13 Apr'09
How to define RAID levels

Defining RAID; explaining mirroring, striping and parity; and the difference between RAID levels.
March 23, 2009 23 Mar'09
How to troubleshoot SATA hard drive connections and issues

SATA drives and fast parallel ATA drives vary in several key respects. This checklist can help you with SATA drive installation or troubleshooting.
March 04, 2009 04 Mar'09
LUN storage and its role in SAN management

Explore logical unit number (LUN) storage and its role in SAN management. Learn how to create a LUN, how to share a LUN, and find out about LUN provisioning and LUN masking.
February 25, 2009 25 Feb'09
Virtualisation: A remedy for hard times

Technical teams need re-assess how they optimise their environment. Virtualization --with its reduction in the physical footprint in terms of space, power and cooling -- can help.
February 24, 2009 24 Feb'09
How to make iSCSI connections in Hyper-V

Learn the tools and commands you need to make iSCSI connections in Hyper-V - without the iscsicli.exe command line tool.
February 05, 2009 05 Feb'09
ISCSI and SAN interconnections

This WAN overview focuses on how to connect SANs over a distance, as well as storage compatibility and data optimisation.
February 05, 2009 05 Feb'09
Solid-state cache set to speed up server data access

Vendors are trying to harness read/write capabilities of solid-state cache or flash data cache to smooth PC transfer bottlenecks; Sun looks to lead with cache support in server OS
February 03, 2009 03 Feb'09
NetApp explains StoreVault deletion

Net App will launch new product bundles for small business in a month, after today deleting its StoreVault products.
January 21, 2009 21 Jan'09
How virtualisation affects backups

Server virtualisation presents us with a new problem in the backup arena. How do we capture information, and what strategy do we adopt? SMBs have three main options: Backup at the host level, backup within the virtual machine and backup via snapshot...
January 15, 2009 15 Jan'09
Navigating host bus adapters, zoning and LUNs

When implementing a SAN, you need to watch for pitfalls. Martin Taylor at the Royal Horticultural Society tells you how to navigate HBAs, zoning and LUNs.
January 05, 2009 05 Jan'09
Tiered storage steps up its game

Tiered storage that matches data types to Fibre Channel, SATA and SAS disk according to performance needs is rapidly gaining ground as a feature of storage subsystems
November 27, 2008 27 Nov'08
How to get the most from thin provisioning your storage

Thin provisioning lets you share storage space that's allocated but unused. The savings come about because you need fewer disks because you're wasting less of them.
November 24, 2008 24 Nov'08
Why are EMC, HP and IBM so tentative about clustered NAS filers?

The biggest storage vendors obviously see a huge opportunity in the rise of unstructured data. Yet for some reason, they're not taking aim at the leaders in HPC and clustered filer storage market, DataDirect Networks and Isilon.
November 19, 2008 19 Nov'08
How to evaluate and purchase a SAN

The Royal Horticultural Society's network manager Martin Taylor guides users through the process of evaluating and purchasing a SAN.
November 12, 2008 12 Nov'08
Sun places big bet on open storage arrays

Sun is betting that its bargain-priced open source, multiprotocol arrays will kickstart the open storage revolution. The "pile it high and sell it cheap" strategy worked in retail. It's working in servers. Will it work in storage?
November 05, 2008 05 Nov'08
Core Blimey -- Do we still need edge switches?

While the average SAN is rapidly growing in size, the percentage of SAN fabrics that measure hundreds of ports still remains small. The days of the core-edge fabric for large enterprises may be numbered.
October 07, 2008 07 Oct'08
IT distributor upgrades its storage... twice!

Sydney IT distributor Distribution Central explains its rocky upgrade path from DAS to NAS and beyond.
October 06, 2008 06 Oct'08
Council opts for tiered Compellent SAN to cut staff and power costs

Hillingdon borough replaces Sun SAN with Compellent mixed FC/SATA arrays.
September 25, 2008 25 Sep'08
Storage array makers not following EMC's lead on flash solid state drives

Storage array manufacturers are copycats, except when it comes to flash solid state drives. In this area, storage array makers haven't yet followed the innovator, EMC. Why?
September 17, 2008 17 Sep'08
The end of storage virtualisation?

Is "classical" storage virtualisation still relevant?
September 16, 2008 16 Sep'08
More SAN capacity is not always better

Focusing on the storage capacity an environment needs, rather than how you might go about presenting that capacity or how the application will use it, is a recipe for disaster.
September 10, 2008 10 Sep'08
SSDs no silver bullet for server hard drive I/O problems

Servers won't be able to exploit the speed of solid state drives without operating system modifications. Standards are also needed.
September 03, 2008 03 Sep'08
Systems administrators make the best SAN administrators

Learn why systems administrators were the first SAN administrators, and why systems admins are often the best SAN admins.
September 03, 2008 03 Sep'08
3PAR CEO: Storage needs to become a utility

3PAR CEO David Scott says that storage giants EMC, HDS and NetApp are unprepared for utility computing and virtualisation.
September 02, 2008 02 Sep'08
REVIEW: FreeNAS

Ian Yates reviews FreeNAS, a cut of open source operating system FreeBSD that turns old PCs or servers into network attached storage appliances.
August 27, 2008 27 Aug'08
Despite what you've heard, flash notebook era hasn't begun yet

Even though notebook makers are starting to incorporate SSDs, the real flash notebook era won't begin until we have faster Windows boot times and flash costs drop significantly.
August 19, 2008 19 Aug'08
ISP boosts storage with NetApp buy

Perth ISP Westnet turned to NetApp to help it cope with growth.
August 08, 2008 08 Aug'08
Pivot3 consolidates physical servers onto storage arrays

Pivot3's IP SAN offers Serverless Computing, which eliminates the need for application servers by running them as guests on its storage arrays.
August 08, 2008 08 Aug'08
Clariion array update blurs line between EMC platforms

A bigger, faster Clariion with advanced features, which first appeared in the Symmetrix line, has industry observers wondering about the increasing overlap between EMC systems.
August 04, 2008 04 Aug'08
SSDs making inroads into enterprise computing

For now, vendors are promoting SSDs as a Tier 0 of storage, a place to store the data that an application must access most frequently. Since this is work that might otherwise be done by 10,000 or 15,000 RPM FC, SCSI or SAS drives, in a sense SSDs ...
July 31, 2008 31 Jul'08
EMC Clariion array gets major refresh with SSDs and thin provisioning

EMC's Clariion CX-4 will include support for flash SSDs, thin provisioning, disk spindown, and an architecture for mixing Fibre Channel and iSCSI.
July 10, 2008 10 Jul'08
FCoE no threat to iSCSI SAN makers, says LeftHand exec

Larry Cormier, vice president of worldwide marketing for LeftHand Networks, explains why FCoE is not a threat and why iSCSI SANs may be the killer app for server virtualisation.
July 08, 2008 08 Jul'08
The bigger the SAN, the greater the risk it will crumble

When a SAN grows out of control, the SAN administrator can feel like they're caught in a web of switches and fibre devices.
June 23, 2008 23 Jun'08
When should hard drive capacity be part of the purchasing equation?

When it comes to purchasing disc drives for consolidated storage, a key question is whether the additional benefits of the best currently available products are justified. Or are they an unnecessary expense?
June 16, 2008 16 Jun'08
Unified NAS storage plugs business continuity leaks for water company

A utility overhauls its storage infrastructure as part of a disaster recovery initiative, and by deploying NetApp NAS filers in lieu of tape backup, reduces data recovery times from a week to just minutes.
June 12, 2008 12 Jun'08
Copan CEO: Putting spindown on disk arrays isn't MAID

Mark Ward, CEO of Copan, isn't worried about EMC or HDS offering technology similar to Copan's MAID because, he says, layering spindown onto traditional disk arrays is like putting lipstick on a pig.
May 29, 2008 29 May'08
How to buy an entry-level iSCSI SAN

Has your small business reached the point at which it needs a SAN? If so, this guide to simple SANs will make it easier to navigate your first purchase.
May 23, 2008 23 May'08
Managed services provider adopts Dell EqualLogic

Secure hosting company manageNET has adopted EqualLogic product to support its move into virtualised hosting.
May 09, 2008 09 May'08
Rein in NAS with file virtualisation

File virtualisation can reduce storage TCO and increase availability, as we explain in this feature on the technique.
May 06, 2008 06 May'08
Bulky backups spur Council to consolidate, centralise

Local authority's move to centralised backups and a mixed NAS/SAN storage infrastructure results in faster, more efficient backups because less backup traffic goes over the network than before.
April 23, 2008 23 Apr'08
Separating storage networking marketing from reality

SearchStorageUK writer takes one of SNIA's storage networking courses and learns about SAN, NAS and how to avoid storage vendor lock-in.
April 18, 2008 18 Apr'08
3Com's SAN push stalls

3Com's plan to push into storage has stalled, with localisation of its SAN on the back burner.
April 18, 2008 18 Apr'08
Optimising iSCSI SANs with the right Ethernet switch

iSCI SANS are now within the reach of many small businesses. Here's how to make sure the SAN works best, by optimising the supporting network.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
EMC to buy Iomega

Capping weeks of rumours, EMC has announced it is acquiring Iomega.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
The AA saves £34 million a year with NetApp iSCSI SAN

Car breakdown service, The AA swaps out EMC and HP/Compaq Fibre Channel SAN for NetApp iSCSI storage, halving IT costs and slashing storage staff from 16 to one.
April 09, 2008 09 Apr'08
Xiotech unveils self-healing storage systems at SNW

Xiotech's Emprise storage systems use a proprietary technology to reduce heat and vibration. Xiotech claims that an Emprise system will incur zero service events over five years.
April 03, 2008 03 Apr'08
UK debut for storage compression appliance

Ocarina claims a tenfold reduction of file data on primary storage. Alpha-testing UK photo sharing site set to put appliance into production
April 03, 2008 03 Apr'08
Nimbus adds solid state to 10 GigE iSCSI NAS systems

Nimbus Data expands 10 Gigabit Ethernet capability and adds solid-state drives to IP storage systems that support iSCSI, NFS and CIFS.
March 26, 2008 26 Mar'08
No-maintenance array aims to eliminate hard drive swaps

SAID - a Self-managing Array of Identical Disks - will self heal and are aimed at giving three to five years of maintenance free performance
March 26, 2008 26 Mar'08
Security provider picks Pillar over EMC on cost

Dell shop chooses tiered SATA drives in Pillar Axiom mid-range array over Clariion SAN as storage for rapidly expanding Oracle 10g databases.
March 14, 2008 14 Mar'08
EMC gives Centera a software refresh

EMC has tweaked the software for its Centera archiving system with an emphasis on handling more pieces of data rather than sheer bulk of information stored.
March 03, 2008 03 Mar'08
UK storage startup boosts US market presence

iSCSI SAN software specialists Stormagic adds US storage industry consultant to its team in a push to break into the SME market stateside.
February 28, 2008 28 Feb'08
NetApp ships new StoreVault iSCSI SAN

The S550 iS CSI SAN goes for just over $5,000 for 12 TB capacity; storage vendors rally around Windows Server 2008.
February 27, 2008 27 Feb'08
Animal charity opts for clustered NAS over iSCSI SAN

Animal charity The Blue Cross has deployed an 11-site clustered NAS product over an EMC Clariion iSCSI SAN in an £18,000 project, reflecting the appeal of NAS to SMEs.
February 17, 2008 17 Feb'08
NAS product specifications

NAS is so easy to install and manage that NAS sprawl is a common problem. This is why NAS is often a prime candidate for consolidation initiatives. Learn how to purchase NAS appliances with an eye toward NAS storage consolidation.
February 17, 2008 17 Feb'08
VMware, LeftHand offer iSCSI SAN as virtual machine

Channel partners will bundle LeftHand's virtual SAN appliance with VMware licenses for an ESX infrastructure that can run on one piece of physical hardware.
February 13, 2008 13 Feb'08
HP exec: Storage blades may replace disk arrays in data center

An HP storage executive predicts that storage blades -- storage devices using the form factor and plug-and-play philosophy of blade servers - may replace disk arrays in the next 18 months
February 13, 2008 13 Feb'08
Telco picks EMC Celerra over HP on "value for money"

HTK deploys an EMC Celerra for combined SAN/NAS access and affordability over its existing HP SAN.
February 12, 2008 12 Feb'08
HP pondering storage blades to cut arrays out of the data centre

Hewlett Packard has begun to contemplate blade storage architectures that the company feels could replace dedicated storage arrays.
February 04, 2008 04 Feb'08
Horticultural Society puts tiered storage into action

The Royal Horticultural Society uses tiered storage automation to keep its picture library updated with the most frequently accessed images while also reducing power consumption.
February 03, 2008 03 Feb'08
Desire to virtualise drives Austcorp to its first iSCSI SAN

Complications arising from direct attach storage, a desire to virtualise and a network expenditure surprise all contributed to Austcorp's new SAN purchase.
January 23, 2008 23 Jan'08
HDS sales chief quits

Scott Genereux, executive vice president and general manager of worldwide sales, marketing, and support at HDS has quit after 15 years to join DataDirect Networks.
January 16, 2008 16 Jan'08
New Year – New Resolutions

Here are some ideas to consider for storage New Year's resolutions.
December 05, 2007 05 Dec'07
Fibre in the storage diet's fine for Oztion

Online auctioneer Oztion has upgraded from direct-attach storage to a fibre channel SAN, defying vendor predictions that small businesses will favour IP storage.
November 28, 2007 28 Nov'07
Pros and cons of iSCSI for SMBs

The introduction of iSCSI has started a shift in SMB storage. This article discusses the benefits of iSCSI for SMBs and how to make it work.
November 12, 2007 12 Nov'07
How to integrate iSCSI and Fibre Channel, and make it work

Learn about eight best practices for integrating iSCSI into a Fibre Channel SAN, as well as best deployment practices for iSCSI.
November 06, 2007 06 Nov'07
LeftHand adds hardware to iSCSI SANs

LeftHand makes its iSCSI SAN software available on two prepackaged appliances; sources indicate the hardware comes from Dell.
October 29, 2007 29 Oct'07
NetApp releases $3K iSCSI SAN

NetApp is continuing a push down-market with the release of the S300, the latest SMB iSCSI SAN in its StoreVault line.
October 29, 2007 29 Oct'07
Virtual appliance lets users convert DAS to iSCSI SAN

NetApp is continuing a push down-market with the release of the S300, the latest SMB iSCSI SAN in its StoreVault line.
October 21, 2007 21 Oct'07
HP will give you your old, broken disk

If the disk in your laptop dies, HP want to give it back to you ... for a price.
October 16, 2007 16 Oct'07
HDS makes SME play

Hitachi Data Systems has announced a new iSCSI SAN for smaller businesses.
October 16, 2007 16 Oct'07
Download NAS Upgrades Buying Guide: Chapter 2 -- NAS management software

You asked for it, so here it is -- a printable version of our NAS Buying Guide.
October 03, 2007 03 Oct'07
Storage Basics Part 3: Getting the most out of iSCSI

The Storage Basics series continues, with a look at how to get the most out of iSCSI.
October 02, 2007 02 Oct'07
Storage Basics Part 2: What is iSCSI?

Day two of our storage basics special explains iSCSI.