Access "Honestly, do you really know what storage virtualization is?"
This article is part of the Vol. 1 No. 4 June 2002 issue of Is storage virtualization ready for the masses?
One of the most confusing topics in IT today is storage virtualization. Even though the concept has been around for years in forms such as virtual memory in operating systems, virtual reality, tape virtualization and virtualization using logical volume managers, users continue to be perplexed by the many vendor announcements of "new" virtualization products. At the root of the confusion is the fact that vendors have defined the concept of virtualization in different ways to sell their own products, and then hyped the concept with religious fervor. "In the last year or so, virtualization has been the most abused and misunderstood word in the computer field," says Thomas Brosnan, director of data center planning at Convergys, a Lake Mary, FL-based billing and customer care company. Brosnan has been using virtualization for several years to manage Convergys' 278TB of storage. The confusion is compounded by vendors who proclaim that their virtualization solutions are "true virtualization," in the same way that resaligious zealots refer to their god as the only "... Access >>>
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Utility Storage-What's the Use?
Buzzword alert: the latest word to loom from storage marketers' lexicon is utility.
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Delete old data ... really
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Sometimes the delete key isn't enough - you need the electronic equivalent of a shredder.
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Non-blocking architecture
Non-blocking architecture
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Snapshots save time and data
by Julie Ryan
This powerful technology comes in several flavors - find out which one is right for you.
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Making Sense of EMC's Centera
April's unveiling by EMC of Centera, has people thinking how best to pigeonhole this decidedly different array.
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Surprise! cheap disks cure slow backup
by W. Curtis Preston
Why new ATA/IDE arrays, which are cheaper than tape libraries, might be a better bet for backup.
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Veritas Broadens Offerings
The company is actively moving to try to parlay its dominant market positions onto even higher ground.
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Compaq Clarifies WideSky Position
"We are not a member of the WideSky program, we never have been, and we do not believe it is in the best interest of our customers," Sorenson says.
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Midrange NAS Gains Functionality
Slowly but surely, the features found in high-end NAS boxes are finding their way to cheaper devices.
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Now, That's a Cluster!
Lawrence Livermore National Labs is pushing the envelope with a new storage cluster that mates 115TB of networked disk with a massive cluster of 600 dual Pentium 4 servers.
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Utility Storage-What's the Use?
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Honestly, do you really know what storage virtualization is?
by Charles T. Clark
Confused by the virtualization hype? We decode the marketspeak.
- First Storage Benchmark Released
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Virtualization has a credibility problem
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Although virtualization has found its way into some corners of enterprise computing, storage managers are not rushing to implement it. Here's why.
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Tape Automation for the Masses
For most IT shops, backup still happens the old-fashioned way: from the host to a direct-attached standalone tape drive.
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DLT Cartridges
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Will SAN File Systems Play Larger Management Role?
Typical SAN file systems are being positioned to play a more prominent storage management role.
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A first-hand look at what one company at the World Trade Center went through to restore operations.
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SAN switches get smarter
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As storage networks become larger and more complex, smarter switches are one way to manage that complexity.
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Tape libraries automate backup
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Everything you need to know about tape libraries.
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Honestly, do you really know what storage virtualization is?
by Charles T. Clark
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Columns
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Real problems, virtual solutions
by Mark Schlack
Real problems, virtual solutions
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Security - from a storage perspective
Storage Bin - Security - from a storage perspective.
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A further look at business continuance volumes.
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Scalable SANs start with good switch links
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Scalable SANs start with good switch links
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Real problems, virtual solutions
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