Storage management and strategy

Guide to LUN configuration and virtualisation

LUN storage configuration has long been a cornerstone of storage management. The LUN – a chunk of storage created from RAID partitions on a SAN – presents a logical volume of capacity to an individual server. That’s still relevant today in the era of virtualisation. Many users retain physical servers that need a one-to-one connection between host and LUN. But, the role of the LUN is also changing with the rise of server and desktop virtualisation. It now forms a container for the logical objects used by VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V etc. In this guide you will find all you need to know about LUNs, LUN configuration and management, including their use in virtualised environments. Continue Reading

LTFS tape NAS: What it is and how to build it

In storage, cost is everything. So, imagine a storage medium with the frugal cost profile of tape and access times of NAS. Well, it already exists. Since 2010 the Linear Tape File System (LTFS) has allowed access to tapes as if they are spinning disk. Part of the LTO-5 tape format, LTFS partitions the tape, with one containing indexing information for all the data on the cartridge and the other contains the actual data. Marry this capability to a hardware NAS protocol front end with a disk cache and you have the potential for rapid access to massive amounts of data held on tape. Tiered storage is now mainstream. We have super-rapid flash for virtual machines and their data; Fibre Channel and 15k SAS for other fast access use cases. After that there is high-capacity SATA for bulk data, but here is where LTFS could start treading on the toes of disk vendors. That’s because, in some cases, where the use profile of data requires long retention and infrequent but relatively quick access, LTFS tape now rivals large capacity SATA as a nearline store. Maybe that’s why LTFS has failed to set the world on fire; there are just too many disk vendors who see it as a threat. Nevertheless, LTFS is worth looking at. And in this ComputerWeekly.com Guide you’ll find articles on why LTFS should be taken seriously and explanations of how tape NAS works and who sells products. Continue Reading

EMC predicts return to double-digit sales growth

Storage giant's EMEA chief claims downbeat first quarter results are as bad as things will get for EMC, and that normal service will soon resume Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

VCE takes wraps off "hyper-converged" VxRacks to fast-track users to the cloud

EMC-owned converged infrastructure specialist expands portfolio of cloud-enabling platforms Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Donnelly, Senior Editor, UK

Load DynamiX adds OpenStack protocols to storage testing product

Storage testing and validation provider adds OpenStack Swift and Cinder support to existing protocols in its Enterprise version 2.6 hardware Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Docker storage 101: How storage works in Docker

Docker nails some of the shortcomings of virtualisation, but what about Docker container storage? Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Mobile device management (MDM) vs backup

MDM tackles the challenge of mobile devices flooding the enterprise, but it doesn’t mean you can stop worrying about mobile data protection Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

VM backup down as a priority while disaster recovery still tops to-do lists

Our survey finds VM backup increasingly “job done”, while disaster recovery, cloud storage, flash storage and mobility remain high priorities; but where is mobile backup? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Top five things you need to know about VMware Virtual Volumes

VMware’s Virtual Volumes (VVOLs) promise a revolution in storage for virtual machines, but what are the key things you need to know? Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

$/GB vs $/IOPS and how to compare enterprise storage pricing

While raw drive prices are pennies per GB, the actual cost of enterprise storage is much higher. Finding a baseline can save you money Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Symantec continues cloud investment in spite of poor Q3 results

Symantec has reported third quarter 2015 revenue of $1.64bn, a drop of 4% compared with $1.70bn over the same period in 2014 Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

How to combat VM sprawl

VMs are easy to create, but when unmanaged they proliferate around your infrastructure. Here, we explain VM sprawl and how to combat it Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Cloud storage: The top five things that go wrong – and how to avoid them

Cloud storage provides cost savings and ease of management, but there are pitfalls – and here are the top five things that can go wrong Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

Wellcome Trust builds 1,728-core grid for DNA analysis

The Wellcome Trust Centre has deployed a high-performance computing cluster based on Fujitsu servers Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

Amatis Networks waves goodbye to LUN woes and deploys Tintri hybrid flash

Managed service provider Amatis Networks deploys Tintri hybrid flash to slash latency and cut time-consuming LUN storage management overheads Continue Reading

Thin provisioning – hypervisor vs array

Thin provisioning can be done at the storage array or virtualisation hypervisor. We look at the pros and cons of each – or both Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Top five issues in VM backup

Virtual machine backup is a vital task for IT departments. But pitfalls abound. We look at the top five issues encountered in VM backup Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Key challenges in storage and virtualisation, and how to beat them

Server virtualisation brings benefits but increases storage-capacity needs. Here we survey the key challenges and what to do about them Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans
• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Interview: The IT powering animated movie-making

Video special effects require similar processing to oil and gas, but lack the budget, says head of technology at Illumination Mac Guff, Bruno Mahe Continue Reading

By

• Cliff Saran, Managing Editor

EMC buys out Cisco’s stakes in VCE as year-on-year revenue jumps 9%

Storage giant EMC has reported a 9% increase year on year for the third quarter of 2014, thanks to revenue rises across its divisions Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Why has HP split?

In this week’s Computer Weekly, HP has announced plans to split the company in two – we look at the reasons and assess the future prospects for the IT giant. We examine the best practice in security policy to support a bring your own device (BYOD) scheme for staff mobile technology. And we find out how one company moved its entire datacentre from Berlin to London. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

The IT challenges facing an independent Scotland

In this week’s Computer Weekly, as Scotland goes to the polls to vote on independence, we assess the IT challenges the country would face. We look at the products available in the fast-growing market for object storage. And we ask if it will be worth migrating to future version of Windows given the rise in mobile usage. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Microsoft adds StorSimple hybrid storage arrays to Azure cloud service

Azure users get more storage, archiving and disaster recovery from 1 August 2014 with Microsoft's StorSimple 8000 series hybrid storage arrays Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Airbus deploys modular datacentre strategy to boost HPC capacity

The aircraft manufacturer has deployed HP's performance optimised datacentres (PODs) to increase its high performance compute capabilities for its engineers Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

CW Europe - July 2014 Edition

In this issue of CW Europe we investigate how changing your storage can make the world of difference to your company’s carbon emissions. Continue Reading

Betting on World Cup success

In this week’s Computer Weekly, we talk to gambling site Betfair about the IT challenges of preparing for the football World Cup. We examine the strategy of cloud software pioneer Salesforce.com as it grows its role in the IT department. And we explain erasure coding – an emerging method for protecting storage hardware. Read the issue now. Continue Reading

Voice recording compliance: What it is and how to achieve it

Voice recording compliance is subject to the regulation by the FSA, PCI, and Data Protection and Freedom of Information Acts Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Backup vs replication, snapshots, CDP in data protection strategy

Best practice data protection strategy combines backup with snapshots, CDP and replication for different levels of recovery Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Facebook shares lessons learnt from deploying Raid in HDFS clusters

Facebook deployed Raid in large HDFS clusters to increase capacity and reduce data replication, but it faced many challenges Continue Reading

Erasure coding vs Raid as a data protection method

Erasure coding is mooted as a potential successor to Raid and backup software Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

HDS upgrades its mainframe-friendly VSP G1000 enterprise storage array

Hitachi Data Systems launches the Virtual Storage Platform G1000 enterprise storage array, which boosts capacity, performance and lifespan for the storage virtualisation platform. Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Data set to grow 10-fold by 2020 as internet of things takes off

IDC’s Digital Universe study predicts the world's data will amount to 44 zettabytes by 2020, 10% of it from the internet of things Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Cloud archive pros and cons and the questions to ask providers

A cloud archive offers a flexible and cost effective alternative to in-house archiving where maintenance is outsourced, but what are the key questions to ask a potential supplier Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Cloud storage options in Scandinavia

It has never been faster or cheaper to store data in the cloud and Scandinavian businesses have taken up cloud storage with gusto Continue Reading

By

• Jane Ruffino

CW500 Club in 2013

Computer Weekly's CW500 Club attracts the top IT leaders in the UK to talk to their peers about the topical challenges they face Continue Reading

By

• Computer Weekly Staff

Top 10 storage stories of 2013

Users tackle virtualisation and growth of data and suppliers battle over flash storage and software-defined storage, while big data and hyperscale emerge into the mainstream Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

What’s new in ISO 27001: 2103 for storage and backup?

This year, ISO 27001: 2013 was published, putting more emphasis on mapping risk to an ever-expanding and mobile IT infrastructure. But what is new in ISO 27001: 2013? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Business-defined storage will help reconnect businesses with IT, says Forrester

Business-defined storage and datacentres will make IT more business-centric, according to Forrester Continue Reading

By

• Caroline Baldwin, Freelance editor and journalist

Big data storage: Hadoop storage basics

Hadoop changes the game for enterprise storage. We look at how Hadoop crunches big data, its key storage requirements and survey the vendors Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Nirvanix failure – a blow to the cloud storage model?

Cloud storage firm Nirvanix has given customers a deadline to retrieve their data. Are the reasons for its failure specific to Nirvanix or a real blow to cloud storage overall? Continue Reading

By

• Simon Robinson, Principal Analyst

Cloud file-sharing for enterprise users

Cloud file-sharing services have become near-ubiquitous among enterprise users. We survey the risks, benefits and alternatives to Dropbox Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

The data fragmentation challenge

Few organisations have policies to guide where data should and should not be stored. The result: data fragmentation Continue Reading

By

• Tony Lock, Freeform Dynamics

What’s wrong with flash storage: And what will come after?

Flash storage has taken the enterprise by storm, but its days are numbered due to an unfavourable combination of technological obstacles and manufacturing economics Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

Inadequate datacentre infrastructure is a barrier to big data analytics

Inadequate datacentre infrastructure and siloed work practices are preventing UK enterprises from benefiting from big data analytics, shows study Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Users’ top datacentre pain points

Storage, network bandwidth, cost and scalability are among the biggest datacentre concerns, say users at Dell Enterprise Forum US Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

UCL turns to private cloud to solve its data storage woes

University College London is building a storage infrastructure in the cloud that will scale up to 100PB Continue Reading

Big data security: getting a grip on multiple data sources

Big data analyses multiple data points, but how do you ensure that ecosystem is secure? In this podcast, Mathieu Gorge, CEO of Vigitrust, outlines the key steps in achieving big data security Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Storage Through the Looking Glass

This analyst report aims to help you take a much needed step away from the technical detail of storage to create some strategic perspective. Continue Reading

Big data storage: Defining big data and the type of storage it needs

Big data storage: What is big data, what compute/storage system configurations are used for big data analytics, and what type of storage infrastructure does it require? Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Best practice in enterprise storage

Sean Sadler, head of infrastructure solutions at Kings College London, gives best practice advice on enterprise storage for big data. Continue Reading

How to tackle big data from a security point of view

Before leaping into big data, companies must be clear what they are trying to achieve, otherwise their investment will be wasted Continue Reading

By

• Peter Wood, First Base Technologies LLP

Businesses wasting billions storing unnecessary data

CIOs are urged to rethink their backup strategies following warnings that companies are wasting billions on unnecessary storage Continue Reading

By

• Bill Goodwin, Computer Weekly

Top 10 storage stories of 2012

Top storage stories from 2012 reflect the rapid pace of virtualisation, big data, the proliferation of mobile devices and new twists on storage technologies such as tape and RAID Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Data to grow more quickly says IDC’s Digital Universe study

IDC’s annual Digital Universe study finds data set to expand to 40 Zettabytes by 2020. Emerging markets and machine-generated data will account for increasing proportions of it. Continue Reading

By

• Antony Adshead, Storage Editor

Digitising the BFI National Archive

The BFI has the largest film archive in the world, with 200,000 films and nearly 900,000 TV shows in its collection. Of that, 75% is British. The institute is undergoing a major digitisation programme in under to preserve its wealth of social history and bring the archive’s treasures to millions. Continue Reading

By

• Kathleen Hall, TechTarget

Software-defined datacentres demystified

As datacentre managers increasingly rely on software and automation, what can a software-defined datacentre bring to the enterprise? Continue Reading

By

• Archana Venkatraman, Datacentre Editor

Cheshire Constabulary polices network with SolarWinds

Police force in Cheshire uses SolarWinds’ infrastructure monitoring tools to keep its IT out of trouble Continue Reading

Big Data Analytics

IDC explores the initial impact that Big Data is having on organisations, its impact on IT architectures, delivery models and future roadmaps. Continue Reading

The future of computing at IBM Zurich research labs

Chips powered by the sun and cooled by water are just some of the long-term research projects at IBM's Zurich labs Continue Reading

By

• Bryan Glick, Editor in chief

Tune Raid performance to get the most from your HDDs

Tune Raid performance at the storage controller to match application I/O demands to optimal hard drive (HDD) performance Continue Reading

By

• Martin Taylor

Guide to Windows Azure: Part 3 - How to configure local storage resources

Our Windows Azure tutorial series continues with an explanation of usage of local storage in Azure cloud services. Learn how to best configure local storage. Continue Reading

By

• Saranya Sriram

Storage Radio: Symantec CEO switch, Proximal Data releases AutoCache

In our latest Storage Radio podcast, join SearchStorage.com’s executive editor Ellen O’Brien and senior news editor Dave Raffo as they discuss the future of Symantec. Continue Reading

By

• John Hilliard, TechTarget

HPC storage requirements: Massive IOPS and parallel file systems

We survey the key vendors in HPC storage, where huge amounts of IOPS, clustering, parallel file systems and custom silicon provide storage for massive number crunching operations. Continue Reading

By

• Manek Dubash

Virtual machine storage optimisation methods explained

Virtual machine storage for virtual desktops and servers has to deal with heavy and random I/O patterns. We survey the key methods of optimising storage for virtual machines. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Big data storage management challenges and how to deal with them

Big data storage management is becoming an important concern. This tip will help you deal with your big data storage management challenges. Continue Reading

By

• Anuj Sharma

Richard Gere loves EMC, so it probably isn’t worried about NetApp haters

Our monthly wade through the slime of the storage blogosphere has found an EMC Symmetrix making Richard Gere look animated, and some rather odd Spam in NetApp’s back yard Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Bad Sectors – Dell, HP refresh storage ranges

Dell has announced new EqualLogic products, HP has announced a ‘storage federation’ and the VCE alliance has received a boost from a global partner. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

NetApp trials University alliance to tackle skills shortage

NetApp will try to introduce certifications in its products to the curricula of nine Australian universities, to address a shortage of people skilled in operating its products. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

EMC’s caveman creed, HP says FAST is its idea, Pillar crumbles

The storage blogosphere has thrown up a fascinating EMC video explaining how cave painting is like social media. Seriously. Also HP says EMC’s FAST is its idea. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Dell and EMC "Still get together when the kids are around"

EMC and Dell have reached an "amicable separation rather than a nasty divorce" and still get together when it's important, says EMC's marketing CTO Chuck Hollis. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Five types of tape for backup or archive

There are plenty of tape formats to choose from when you are looking for a backup or archival medium. Here are five of the most common formats to consider. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

How Google runs its storage and more from the storage blogs

Google has posted a paper that outlines its storage architecture, and that’s the choicest morsel in a month when the usual blogosphere protagonists have gone easy on each other. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

SMB storage: What can you outsource to cloud storage and backup services?

SMB storage: Cloud storage and backup offer many cost-saving advantages to SMBs, but drawbacks too, so what exactly can you outsource to the cloud right now? Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

HDS, NetApp and EMC all agree on big data

HDS, EMC and NetApp have all picked up on the same ‘Big Data” theme in recent blogs, but is NetApp struggling to ship enough FAS 3200 units to meet demand? Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Data migration projects: Avoid data migration errors with automation, orphaned storage remediation

Learn the top three things users should do when planning a data migration project, what data migration tools you should have, describe some of the most common data migration errors, and describe some storage environment challenges when migrating data. Continue Reading

Geoscience Australia selects IBM 3592 cartridges as its tape migration extends beyond ten years

Geoscience Australia selects IBM 3592 cartridges as its tape migration extends beyond ten years Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Performance metrics: Evaluating your data storage efficiency

Learn how performance metrics can evaluate the efficiency of your enterprise data storage resources in terms of capacity utilization, performance and data protection. Continue Reading

By

• Greg Schulz, The Server and StorageIO Group

Managing enterprise data storage more efficiently: Part 1

Storage managers must learn to improve storage efficiency though smarter spending, while taking steps to reduce operating expenditures during budget crunches. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Green storage best practices control costs, increase energy efficiency

Green storage best practices control power and cooling costs, and increase energy efficiency in your data center. Tiered storage, consolidating storage arrays, solid-state drives (SSDs) and MAID can help. Continue Reading

By

• James Damoulakis, GlassHouse Technologies

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. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

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. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

SNW Roundup: Sun adds data deduplication to VTL

Sun comes out with VTL Prime, a virtual tape library with FalconStor's data deduplication; Attune gets into file archiving; and SGI, Fujitsu and Dot Hill launch storage systems. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Isilon reveals turnaround plan

Clustered storage vendor vows to continue to spend on product development, sales and marketing, despite losing nearly $27 million (£13.5m) in its first year as public company. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

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. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

NetApp says flagging economy could boost its sales

The current economic downturn may actually help boost NetApp's appeal to storage users, according to company officials at its US Analyst Day Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Hot Spots: A new level of backup reporting

A bumper crop of backup reporting tools can provide invaluable insight into backup operations for you and the boss. Continue Reading

By

• Lauren Whitehouse

Data Domain makes remote office data deduplication push

Data Domain launches its smallest data deduplication appliance specifically built to reduce and back up data at remote offices. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Learn all about LUNs

A LUN is the unique address for a SCSI device or a virtual hard disk partition in a RAID configuration. This handbook tells how to manage and partition LUNs. Continue Reading

WAN/WAFS and remote offices

This overview of WAFS and remote offices looks into the role of cache and file limitations, and WAN optimisation. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

Archiving software purchase considerations

Archiving software must be able to support a wide range of file types, as well as quickly search through vast quantities of data. Continue Reading

Archiving software product specifications

Archive software provides many of the features we take for granted in modern archive systems, including index and search, data classification and migration, retention and deletion, litigation hold and even data reduction technologies, such as data deduplication. Continue Reading

Forestry firm picks Riverbed WAFS over Cisco

Cisco shop picks Riverbed after head-to-head performance testing between Riverbed's Steelhead appliance and Cisco's wide area application services card. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Archiving vendors beef up integration

CA, Autonomy and Prostor look to differentiate products in a sea of archiving and e-discovery compliance players. Continue Reading

By

• SearchStorage.com Staff

Tape encryption purchases Part Two: LTO-4 considerations

This chapter covers specific considerations for LTO-4 tape drives. After that, you'll find a series of specifications to help compare vendor products. Continue Reading

By

• SearchStorage ANZ staff

Happy Birthday to TechTarget ANZ

It's our first birthday and we offer you the rather small present of a roundup of the most-read stories across our sites over the last month. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Archive integration woes dog healthcare providers

Healthcare providers are getting up to speed with networked storage, but say integration of new storage systems with medical applications is still rocky. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

Riverbed extends WAFS to laptops

Steelhead Mobile installs on workstations without an onsite appliance. Users say they'd like to see better integration between the mobile and data centre versions of the product. Continue Reading

By

• Beth Pariseau, Senior News Writer

First in, best dressed?

Telephony company Link Communications Group bought storage from EqualLogic before the vendor had opened its doors in Australia. The company's Vice-President of Global Engineering explains why the organisation took this risky-looking move. Continue Reading

By

• Simon Sharwood

Capacity planning software specifications

Gauging storage needs over time is one of the biggest challenges faced by IT administrators, and a new generation of capacity planning tools is emerging to help forecast growth and utilization of storage resources, and even perform predictive modeling of the future storage environment based on historical data collected. The product snapshots in this chapter highlight key specifications for a cross-section of popular capacity planning software products. Continue Reading

Capacity planning tools require serious purchase consideration

Capacity costs money, and new disk acquisitions stand out as a notable part of every IT budget. The trick is to match new capacity with actual storage needs. Gauging storage needs over time is one of the biggest challenges faced by IT administrators, and a new generation of capacity planning tools is emerging to help forecast growth and utilization of storage resources. Consequently, the selection of a capacity planning tool must include a thorough consideration of your applications. It is also important to ensure that the tool is interoperable across all of your storage systems, while still meeting all of your analytical and reporting requirements. This chapter covers the specific considerations for dedicated capacity planning software. You'll find a series of specifications to help make on-the-spot product comparisons between vendors. Continue Reading