News

Storage

February 23, 2009 23 Feb'09
Sectors - NetApp, EMC square off again!

Our weekly storage blog roundup finds yet another EMC/NetApp brawl in cyberspace.
February 19, 2009 19 Feb'09
Don't let your VM world suffer from server sprawl

Virtualisation brings many advantages, but virtual server sprawl can create storage and data protection headaches. Quocirca principal analyst Simon Perry urges vendors to address it at VMWorld Europe 2009.
February 18, 2009 18 Feb'09
Change control management

Change control management is an integral part of any IT strategy. However, it often goes unused or is misused when implemented.
February 17, 2009 17 Feb'09
Sectors - EMC accuses rivals of virtualisation snowjob

This week's roundup of the storage blogosphere finds EMC accusing everyone else of offering 'Frankenstorage' when they try to virtualise. But the monster fights back ...

February 16, 2009 16 Feb'09
Law firm ditches tape for the cloud

Law firm Middletons has given up on tape and instead adopted a cloud storage provider for its archival needs.
February 16, 2009 16 Feb'09
Auckland University's virtualised disaster recovery regime

Learn how Auckland University is using virtualisation and offsite replication in its new disaster recovery strategy.
February 12, 2009 12 Feb'09
Incremental vs. differential backup: A comparison

In this Storage Basics on incremental vs differential backup, we explore the benefits and drawbacks of each of these backup strategies
February 11, 2009 11 Feb'09
IT efficiency through data classification, consolidation and control

Storage shops with growing data stores in tough economies can save money and leverage existing systems by classifying data, consolidating data and better controlling the infrastructure.
February 10, 2009 10 Feb'09
Sectors - NetApp says EMC Centera loses data, gets slapped by blogosphere

NetApp has tried to smear EMC, starting a blogosphere brawl which embroiled Symantec but may have left egg on its face.
February 10, 2009 10 Feb'09
Sectors – NetApp says EMC Centera loses data, gets slapped by blogosphere

NetApp has tried to smear EMC, starting a blogosphere brawl which embroiled Symantec but may have left egg on its face.

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 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 04, 2009 04 Feb'09
Backup priorities: Knowing your environment

Whether your backup environment is small or large, two metrics to examine are the presence of recurring failures and tape drive performance.
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.
February 03, 2009 03 Feb'09
"Sectors" - GDrive details revealed

This week's roundup of storage blogs includes possible details of Google's storage-as-a-service play.
February 02, 2009 02 Feb'09
Server virtualisation and backup

Server virtualisation brings efficiencies but changes the game for backup, putting snapshots, storage infrastructure and licensing issues on the agenda
February 02, 2009 02 Feb'09
Student Loans Company to get payback on IBM SAN implementation

Student Loans Company kicks out HP EVA storage and replaces it with tiered IBM SAN with virtualisation layer and thin provisioning.
January 29, 2009 29 Jan'09
Recovery plans essential for data loss prevention

If you lose a laptop or USB stick that contains sensitive employee data, do you know what to do next?
January 28, 2009 28 Jan'09
A comparison of data deduplication products

This SearchStorageUK data deduplication product guide outlines the key dividing lines between products, including hardware vs. software, source vs. target, inline vs. post-process and the data-reduction algorithm used.
January 28, 2009 28 Jan'09
Three ways to add capacity to an existing environment

Sooner or later, you'll have to increase storage capacity. Will you buy more or stretch your existing systems? Find out your options so you'll be prepared when the time comes.
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 14, 2009 14 Jan'09
The realities of virtual tape libraries

VTLs are a bit like losing coins in the car: You know they're between the seat and the handbrake, but you can't see them.
January 09, 2009 09 Jan'09
Cisco, Brocade Fibre Channel strategies differ

With two successive quarterly dips in revenue, has Cisco neglected 8 gigabit Fibre Channel and been premature with its FCoE roadmap?
January 08, 2009 08 Jan'09
Documenting backup and storage practices

Most people working in technology know that writing documentation related to the processes that drive backup and storage are the cornerstones of a successful IT environment. However, most of those technology pros don't enjoy documentation and often ...
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
January 05, 2009 05 Jan'09
Five hot storage technologies for 2009 (and five flops)

Which storage technologies will make a difference in 2009? And which will disappoint? Read our annual predictions to learn how the future might unfold.
December 16, 2008 16 Dec'08
Service provider hooks up commodity storage with Seanodes

Aenigma, an application hosting and cloud service provider based in London, found Seanodes' hardware-agnostic product more affordable than HP/ LeftHand Networks.
December 15, 2008 15 Dec'08
How to plan for a disaster-free storage Christmas

How to ensure preparedness in storage, backup and disaster recovery for the holidays, when many organisations operate only skeleton storage staff.
December 10, 2008 10 Dec'08
The slow, gradual death of tape

Tape is an amazingly efficient use of data centre space. But it will die off because users decide to stop writing data to tape and put it on disk or optical disks instead.
December 10, 2008 10 Dec'08
For server virtualisation, Microsoft bets against VMotion

In competing against VMware, Microsoft seems to be betting that at the low to middle end of the market, it makes more sense to utilise planned downtime when data migration is necessary instead of paying the additional cost of VMotion or Storage ...
December 09, 2008 09 Dec'08
EMC, Dell renew their vows

EMC and Dell have extended their partnership until 2013, with Dell now also reselling EMC’s Celerra products
December 09, 2008 09 Dec'08
Backups at Christmas

Here are some tips for making sure your backup environment works through the holidays when staffing is at a minimum and your normal backup administrators may not be working.
December 03, 2008 03 Dec'08
Accidental deletion of virtualised data soaring

IT staff are losing track of virtual machines and inadvertently erasing data, according to a data recovery firm.
December 01, 2008 01 Dec'08
"Sectors"

SearchStorage ANZ Editor Simon Sharwood tracks down storage news and views from around the web - updated with free book offer!
November 28, 2008 28 Nov'08
Spectrum dusts off old tape drive to help Astronauts

NASA has turned to a Perth company to recover data from Apollo 11's moon dust sensor.
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 27, 2008 27 Nov'08
New SNIA ANZ chair revealed

The Storage Networking Industry Association for Australia and New Zealand has announced its new Chair.
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 24, 2008 24 Nov'08
Reliance Australia relies on tape for future archival needs

Water valve company Reliance Australia has adopted a new tape library to preserve its LTO-x collection.
November 20, 2008 20 Nov'08
Australian Catholic University plans realtime disk backup over the WAN

AARNet's gigabit speed network will make it possible for the Australian Catholic University to use realtime disk-to-disk backup.
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 18, 2008 18 Nov'08
Buying too much hardware is a mistake, especially when it comes to tape drives

Some storage environments buy too many tape drives because their backups aren't finishing in time. Others buy too many drives for the amount of data they're backing up. Either way, a lot of hardware on the floor goes unused.
November 18, 2008 18 Nov'08
Seven free or open source backup tools

Looking for some new backup software? On a budget? This review of seven free and/or open source backup tools could be what you need!
November 14, 2008 14 Nov'08
SNIA ANZ Chairman steps aside

A change of career means change at SNIA.
November 13, 2008 13 Nov'08
Gartner's vision for the future of storage

Gartner's Dave Russel says FCoE may be slow to emerge, in this Q&A with editor Simon Sharwood.
November 12, 2008 12 Nov'08
Police force recruits CommVault for centralised backup

Devon & Cornwall Police found its previous backup supplier guilty of poor support and licencing chaos when its backup system became unreliable and time-consuming to manage.
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 10, 2008 10 Nov'08
Host-based replication vs. array-based replication for backup and disaster recovery

When creating remote replicas for business continuity, the decision to deploy a host- or a storage-based solution depends on the platform being replicated and the applications.
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 30, 2008 30 Oct'08
Taxi firm hails email archiving savings from Mimosa NearPoint

Learn how Addison Lee contained Microsoft Exchange server sprawl and shortened backup windows by choosing Mimosa NearPoint email archiving.
October 30, 2008 30 Oct'08
How to select a storage reseller

Experienced storage pros share advice on how to find the right storage reseller for your storage project.
October 29, 2008 29 Oct'08
Three ways to backup and restore under VMware

Backing up a virtualised environment is tricky - but we have three ways to make it work!
October 28, 2008 28 Oct'08
SNIA: Recovery is more important than backup

SNIA's Chairman Jacob Van der Eyk explains the organisation's belief that continuous data protection has a lot to offer storage users.
October 27, 2008 27 Oct'08
How long until backups are just a nearline copy?

Many organizations that have deployed server virtualization will invest in new backup processes in order to avoid a technology refresh.
October 27, 2008 27 Oct'08
How to create an email archiving and retention policy

Every business needs an email retention and archiving policy. We explain how to start developing this important strategy.
October 24, 2008 24 Oct'08
OEM relationship between Dell and EMC coming to an end

(Opinion) With Dell's Clariion sales decline and the building blocks that Dell's PS engineers could use, it's only a matter of time before the Dell-EMC OEM relationship ends.
October 24, 2008 24 Oct'08
Users wary after Plasmon buyout threatens headquarters move to US

UK users of Plasmon optical archiving products are wondering how the company's buyout and rumored move to the US will affect their product support.
October 22, 2008 22 Oct'08
For storage vendors and storage users, recession = retrenchment

In a recession, storage suppliers should be focussing on how they can deliver real savings. Storage users should spend to cut existing costs rather than investing to earn more money in the future.
October 21, 2008 21 Oct'08
Determining the fan-out ratio: Port queue depth, IOPS and throughput

Determining the optimum number of hosts that a storage administrator should connect per storage port is more complicated than it seems.
October 21, 2008 21 Oct'08
IBM hopes third party SoFS interest grows

Got a few million files? Then IBM has a file system for you, and hopes that third party backup software vendors see the value of its massive scalability.
October 17, 2008 17 Oct'08
User reports dedupe ratios of up to 450:1 at Storage Expo

Associated Newspapers and CB Richard Ellis make significant deduplication gains using Data Domain and FalconStor data deduplication products
October 16, 2008 16 Oct'08
Configuration, provisioning storage skills in short supply on VMware projects

According to users at Storage Expo, the key challenge for many storage managers today may be ensuring that their storage engineers know how to configure and provision storage for a virtualised server environment.
October 13, 2008 13 Oct'08
How to troubleshoot Exchange server backups and restores

Having trouble managing Exchange Server backup and restore? We explain the most common problems and how to fix them.
October 10, 2008 10 Oct'08
Evaluating Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and Ethernet protocols for network virtualisation

Chris Mellor judges the three candidate protocols for a converged data centre networking platform: Fibre Channel, InfiniBand and Ethernet.
October 09, 2008 09 Oct'08
Britannia gets 40:1 data reduction in DR site move via double dedupe

Building society dedupes deduped data at disaster recovery site and achieves deduplication ratios of up to 40:1.
October 09, 2008 09 Oct'08
Is solid state disk reliable?

Part two of our solid state feature looks at the reliability of solid state drives and their role in enterprise storage.
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.
October 06, 2008 06 Oct'08
Streamlining storage processes will help admins survive economic crisis

Things are going to get tough for storage professionals. However, the rate of data growth is still increasing and the requirements for data compliance aren't going to change. The bottom line is that to survive, storage administrators must become ...
September 29, 2008 29 Sep'08
How to select the proper backup reporting tool

Backup reporting tools can show a backup administrator how the backup environment is actually performing, rather than relying on perceived performance. But how does one select the proper reporting tool?
September 25, 2008 25 Sep'08
Brocade SAN data migration helps Council dodge WEEE

The WEEE waste directive hindered Surrey Council from adding SAN capacity. Brocade's Data Migration Manager helped it re-use IBM kit and avoid time-consuming LAN-based copy methods.
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 19, 2008 19 Sep'08
How to avoid a data deduplication fiasco

If a storage administrator doesn't have a solid understanding of data deduplication, there's a good chance the deployment of this technology will be a wasted one.
September 19, 2008 19 Sep'08
REVIEW: Sun OpenSolaris for storage

Sun says its OpenSolaris is an ideal storage platform. Tory Skyers installed it and found it capable, but needing plenty of experience to get results.
September 18, 2008 18 Sep'08
NHS trust treats DAS sprawl with FalconStor/Nexsan iSCSI SAN

An iSCSI-based SAN helps an NHS Trust to connect 100 sites to two mirrored datacentres, resolving a difficult situation of data growth as well as the problem of managing DAS at the 100 remote locations.
September 17, 2008 17 Sep'08
The end of storage virtualisation?

Is "classical" storage virtualisation still relevant?
September 16, 2008 16 Sep'08
Healthcare trust tackles backup malady with D2D2T

Wolverhampton PCT bins Symantec Backup Exec and Microsoft NT Backup and opts for Bakbone Netvault: Backup in a D2D2T move that sees it slash backup windows and management time.
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 04, 2008 04 Sep'08
FIRST LOOK: Google Chrome

Google's Chrome browser arrived yesterday. TechTarget ANZ Editor Simon Sharwood spent several hours working in the browser and filed this assessment.
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
Call centre operator seeks 25-year archive

The call centre operator charged with providing a national health care service is looking for an archive that can store audio files for 25 years.
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
Deduplication helps firm expand data centre into two hot sites

CMC Markets achieves data reduction averaging 15:1 as part of live replication project using Data Domain deduplication hardware.
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 27, 2008 27 Aug'08
Storage security ignored, says SNIA security lead

The Chair of SNIA's Security Technical Working Group says that security professionals don't understand how to make storage a part of a defence-in-depth strategy.
August 26, 2008 26 Aug'08
Sydney school reinvents its backup regimes

IT staff at Sydney's Macarthur Anglican School share the challenge of managing some very important data, explain how narrow their backup window has become and share their new backup regime.
August 25, 2008 25 Aug'08
Five ways to create a more efficient backup infrastructure

Learn how to optimize your backup infrastructure.
August 19, 2008 19 Aug'08
Thin provisioning makes server virtualisation more efficient

In recent years, server virtualisation has probably had the single largest impact on storage. Organisations have moved a high percentage of direct attach storage servers to a consolidated virtual environment, with NAS storage or a SAN to support it.
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 19, 2008 19 Aug'08
Making the move from tape backup to disk backup

The industry is moving from tape-based backup to disk-based protection. Here's how to plan your own transition to the brave new world!
August 13, 2008 13 Aug'08
Storage vendors' earnings show array makers healthiest

(Opinion) -- More than 40 storage vendors have reported their quarterly results in the past month or so, and a picture is emerging of companies that are in Olympics-style shape at one end of the scale and intensive care ward occupants at the other. ...
August 12, 2008 12 Aug'08
A backup administrator should never be a single point of failure

Many companies with longtime gurus as their backup administrators fall into the problem of becoming completely dependent on them. Such companies need to either hire some low-level techicians to grow into the guru's role, or clone the guru.
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 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 07, 2008 07 Aug'08
SaaS provider turns to Atempo Live Backup for laptop backup

Managed service provider Adept4 chose Live Backup to provide remote continuous data protection for customers' laptops, and because its bare metal restore feature let them offer a disaster recovery service.
August 05, 2008 05 Aug'08
Open source backup tool adds support for Windows, Oracle

Zmanda's open source backup tool now covers Windows and Oracle, at a very attractive price indeed!
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 ...