Watch out for those consolidation pitfalls, Part 2

Watch out for those consolidation pitfalls, Part 2

What are some of the common pitfalls of data consolidation?

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CLICK HERE for Part 1.

3. Fabric problems can be caused by:

a. Missing devices
b. Unstable connections
c. Incorrect zoning configurations
d. Incorrect switch configurations

4. Storage Devices need to be certified or tested to insure that there are no:

a. Physical issues between switches and devices
b. Incorrect storage software configurations

5. Hosts -- operating systems (revision level, patches, etc.) will they allow for:

a. Correct host bus adapter installation (what else is sharing that internal bus on your system, will it cause performance bottlenecks?)

b. Correct device driver installation (especially in Unix/Linux -- is your kernel source needed to recompile a compatible driver?)

c. Correct device driver configuration (some HBA's might require a windows system to allow you to see the configuration bios setup, which might be a trick if you've gone ahead and installed it in your Solaris box) .

6. Storage management applications

Incorrect installation and configuration of the storage devices that applications or host systems are referencing, i.e., the volumes are not the right ones or they are configured wrong.

7. Shared file systems and NAS

a. An excellent white paper by Andre Franklin at Sistina Software covers a lot of the basics for the issues surrounding a solution that involves data sharing on the file system level.

b. NAS, in my opinion, is best done when the NAS devices storage is part of a SAN and by using file server technology that is infinitely more scalable and able to deliver performance than a NAS appliance with dedicated storage. But, the discussion delves into the SAN vs. NAS battle that I won't go into here.

Editor's note: Do you agree with this expert's response? If you have more to share, post it in one of our .bphAaR2qhqA^0@/searchstorage>discussion forums.


This was first published in December 2003