Storage Management Strategies for the CIO
Access "IBM unveils storage tank"
This article is part of the Vol. 2 No. 9 November 2003 issue of Expanding SANs: How to scale today's storage networks
For all the sweat, dollars and frustration that storage professionals have invested in implementing storage area networks (SANs), it's still not clear that SANs are delivering the full payback for these efforts. SAN File System Architecture Clients participating in SAN File System retrieve data in a two-part process. Clients equipped with the virtual file system request data from the metadata server, which provides a file's physical location, and issues locks. With that information, clients retrieve data from SAN-attached disks directly over the Fibre Channel SAN. Sure, compared to direct-attached storage (DAS), SANs are easy to scale, and they deliver consolidated management and backup, without sacrificing performance. But at the same time, says Brian Truskowski, IBM general manager for storage software, "whenever I talk to customers, they report that they're not really getting the maximum benefit" from their SAN. Helping storage administrators get more from their SANs was the stated intent of IBM Corp. when it announced its Storage Tank product last month,... Access >>>
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What's Inside
Features
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Most Tape Libraries Have Too Much Horsepower
Are your tapes too fast?
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IBM unveils storage tank
With SANs growing, should you be thinking of how to leverage them for files? SAN FS, IBM's new clustered file system, is one option and we examine it in detail. Is enterprise IT ready for SAN FS and will IBM be ready to meet the needs of enterprises?
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Startups Have Bigger, Faster Alternatives to Traditional NAS
NAS startups beating on the big boys
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Defragmenting Disks Falls by the Wayside
The deal on disk fragmenting
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Sane strategies for SAN growth
What's the right way to design storage networks for growth? There's no simple answer to that question, but understanding the implications of storage- or network-centric approaches will help you make the right choices.
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Most Tape Libraries Have Too Much Horsepower
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A New Way to Balance Performance
by Mark Schlack
Athletic shoe maker balances performance
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Roomier Backup Arrays-Sort of
D2D for those hungry for backup
- NAS Gateways Make IT Sweat
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Too many SAN islands
by Jeff Moad
One of the main challenges to growing SANs is the proliferation of independent SAN islands. We look at how and why a multinational financial services company consolidated many islands into larger ones, but stopped short of a single, unified SAN.
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New directions for switches
With all of the recent acquisitions and new partnerships forming this year, finding the right Fibre Channel switch for you is even more confusing. This article will help you chose the right one.
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A New Way to Balance Performance
by Mark Schlack
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Columns
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Creating a model for data backup capacity
by James Damoulakis
Creating a model for backup capacity will assist you in forecasting your storage needs for a given budget cycle. This way, you can consolidate your storage purchases and save big bucks.
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Money machine for storage startups heating up again
Storage Bin: Amazing but true: The money machine for storage startups is heating up again, but there doesn't seem to be too much correspondence between funding and potentially useful products.
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Creating a comprehensive data storage automation plan
by Jon Oltsik
Vendors keep creating new acronyms, but are they doing you any good? Ignore the hype and develop a methodical plan toward a comprehensive storage automation plan to ensure success.
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Insurance company tests its ability to recover
by Darryl Brooks
It's been two years since Sept. 11. In this article, an insurance company tests its ability to recover from a similar disaster. How would your company fare?
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Bullying vendors and voiceless users
by Mark Schlack
Bullying vendors and voiceless users
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Snapshot: Server disk drives
Which is your standard server disk drive?
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Creating a model for data backup capacity
by James Damoulakis
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