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JUNE 2008 |
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FEATURES |
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TOOLS, TRENDS & ANALYSIS |
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COLUMNS |
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Find out more about this month's Storage Magazine advertisers by clicking on the company names below to contact them and request more information on their products and services. |
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December 2006 |
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Hot technologies for 2007
by Alan Radding
Storage magazine's editors reviewed technology developments, product introductions and storage standards to come up with this short list of must-have technologies for 2007. We believe iSCSI SANs, hardware-based tape encryption, high-capacity disk drives, virtualization and thin provisioning will have the greatest impact on enterprise storage environments. |
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SAN consolidation strategies
by Jacob Gsoedl
As islands of SANs proliferate in companies, the cost of storage can soar. Sound SAN design strategies allow companies to reduce the number of SAN islands, strengthen a primary SAN, make storage easier to manage and provide more data protection. |
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Configuring storage for ERP
by Marc R. Duvoisin
The "crown jewels" of corporate data are typically maintained within enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. But for many storage managers, ERP is a minefield of critical information and competing priorities. In this first installment of a three-part series, we look at ways to protect ERP data while improving performance. |
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Host-based replication
by Jerome M. Wendt
There are three distinct architectures of host-level replication software: Windows-only file system, multi-OS file system and multi-OS blocklevel products. Each alternative offers specific features that make it a better fit for some types of data protection. |
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November 2006 |
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Big pay for storage jobs
by Rich Castagna
Storage professionals report the highest average salaries in the four years that Storage magazine has conducted its Storage Salary Survey. See how industry, location, education, company size and management responsibilities can affect the size of your paycheck. |
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Automate data migration
by Jerome M. Wendt
Moving seldom-accessed data from primary storage to less-costly storage not only saves money, but can also improve the performance of applications. Hierarchical storage management (HSM) software can help automate the migration of files, but HSM products vary in the way they approach the task. So it's important to identify the requirements of an HSM product before making a choice. |
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Apps to classify and find data
by Greg Forest
Data classification may seem like an arcane art, but a growing set of information classification and management products make sorting through your company's data easier than ever. These tools provide the foundation for litigation discovery, cost reduction, record management and retention, archiving, deduplication and usage control. |
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HBAs go virtual
by Jerome M. Wendt
The newest host bus adapters (HBAs) offer many new features, but the most important might be N_Port ID Virtualization, which lets you assign different worldwide names to each virtual server and determine which apps run on specific hardware. |
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October 2006 |
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The right way to provision storage
by Alan Radding
Provisioning storage is still mostly a manual job, but solid planning, including the right interested parties and some improved tools, can help ease the chore. Follow these provisioning best practices to gain greater performance and higher disk utilization. |
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Long-term archiving
by Logan G. Harbaugh
With some legislative requirements mandating data be kept for as long as 70 years, your organization needs an archiving plan that defines what data needs to be kept and why. But don't overlook how you'll restore old data when it needs to be accessed. |
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How to manage encryption keys
by Logan G. Harbaugh
Encryption is an effective way to secure data. But managing encryption keys can be a major undertaking. While there are no encompassing key management tools available yet, some apps can help you keep track of proliferating encryption keys. |
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September 2006 |
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Backup SLAs: The art of diplomacy
by Stephen Foskett
Negotiating backup service-level agreements (SLAs) can be one of the toughest elements of transitioning IT from a mere technology competence center to a real part of the business. Detailing what a backup service will provide, and figuring out how to measure and report on these promises, will greatly improve enterprise storage operations. |
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CDP: Look before you leap
by Marc Staimer
Some pundits have postulated that continuous data protection (CDP) will replace backup. But is that just new technology hyperbole or is CDP a must-have technology? |
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Backup-to-disk performance tuning
by Craig Everett
Disk-based backup can lower costs, reduce complexity and add scalability. But to achieve top performance, you'll need to do lots of benchmarking and watch for poorly configured production storage. |
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Backups are not archives
by W. Curtis Preston
While it's possible to restore data from old backups, you shouldn't use them as archives. Leading storage expert W. Curtis Preston details the differences between the two technologies and explains why you need an e-mail archiving program. |
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Three ways to outsource backups
by Stephen Foskett and Michael Tobin
Getting third-party help for backup--through insourcing, online backup or hosted backup services--can improve a storage group's productivity, consistency and efficiency. |
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Database archiving software
by Jerome M. Wendt
There are two good reasons to archive database data: to improve the performance of production systems and to reclaim expensive primary storage space. Archiving apps are now compelling alternatives to application-based archiving and manual procedures. |
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September 2006 |
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Anatomy of an upgrade: Veritas NetBackup 6.0
by Jo Maitland
Veritas NetBackup 6.0 is a significant revision of the popular backup application but, like many new software versions, it has had its share of bugs. Did Symantec release Version 6.0 too soon, or did users fail to plan properly? |
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Storage apps keep Exchange running 24/7
by Alan Radding
E-mail has earned mission-critical status among enterprise applications, and reliable storage systems are the key to keeping it up and running. Storage managers need to understand Microsoft Exchange's unique requirements to ensure its high availability. |
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Disaster recovery: Test, test and test some more
by Jacob Gsoedl
Storage managers in New Orleans thought their disaster recovery (DR) plans were solid. Hurricane Katrina showed them otherwise. These dramatic stories are testimony that a DR plan is worthless unless it's been tested, updated and then tested again. |
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August 2006 |
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Virtualization: Tales from the trenches
by Ray Lucchesi
We profile five companies that have deployed, or are currently testing, storage virtualization and analyze their implementation experiences. The storage pros behind these efforts tell us how the products they chose are working in their production environments. |
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A step-by-step approach to data classification
by Greg Forest
The most common shortcoming of a data classification project is the perception that it can be completed through technical analysis at the storage layer without engaging business users. While discovering and analyzing storage is part of the process, good classification requires engaging business users or their IT representatives. |
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Choosing the right VTL
by Jerome M. Wendt
Disk is increasingly a key part of the backup process, and many companies are taking the virtual tape library (VTL) route to disk-based backup. But all VTLs aren't the same. Find out the key differences among VTL products, and how they might work in your shop. |
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Automate data recovery
by Greg Schulz
Policy-based storage management can automate the data recovery process. But you need to know what types of policies various products support, where the policy manager resides and what it's capable of doing. |
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Data migration: Proceed with caution
by Jerome M. Wendt
This first of a three-part series on data migration products focuses on host-level data migration products. Data migration apps can automate, centralize and simplify data migrations while ensuring data integrity. |
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July 2006 |
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The best way to expand a SAN
by Jacob Gsoedl
Building a new SAN or extending an existing SAN requires careful planning to strike the right balance between performance, cost, scalability, high availability and ease of management. Read how to determine what architecture is best for your company's storage access needs. |
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What's holding up ILM?
by Alan Radding
While vendors work to fill in the gaps in the information lifecycle management stack and connect the pieces, IT and business units must hammer out a manageable set of policies to drive the ILM process in their organizations. |
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Cut data down to size
by Arun Taneja
With today's extreme data growth rates, adding disk-based protection is no longer an option but a requisite. Data reduction can help ease growth pains by paring down the data that goes to disk. There are many products with data-reduction capabilities available, but the technologies they use vary widely. |
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Real disaster recovery testing
by Bill Peldzus
You have a disaster recovery plan in place, but how often does it get tested? We describe what parts of a plan should be tested, suggest a few wrinkles that can make your tests more effective and point out some DR-related activities that are often overlooked. |
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Backup apps: More choices beyond the big three
by Jerome M. Wendt
With numerous applications and a variety of hardware and software platforms, a single enterprise backup software product may not suffice for many companies. A bevy of backup applications that aren't as well-known as "the big three" may be better architected to handle new requirements. |
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June 2006 |
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Storage growth drives buying plans
by Rich Castagna
The results from our exclusive semi-annual Purchasing Intentions Survey are in. Storage growth is a key concern for storage managers, as additional capacity has a ripple effect that touches many other components in the storage environment. |
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What your DR plan should protect
by Mike Casey
If you have a disaster recovery plan in place, you're a step ahead of many other companies. But you need to assess your plan to ensure critical data is being protected properly and that you're not wasting resources by providing too much protection for less-important data. |
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Scaling storage
by Vic Dery & Ashish Nadkarni
"Scalability" is often defined as the ability of a storage system to support more or higher capacity hard drives. But adding capacity is only part of the scalability picture. To address scalability most effectively, you have to consider how additional capacity will affect other elements in the environment, as well as the performance of hosts and their applications. |
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Is encryption enough?
by Alan Radding
Encrypting data at rest is definitely a reliable security measure, but it should be considered only one component of an effective storage security plan. |
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Lock up data with fixed-content storage
by Jerome M. Wendt
For most companies, fixed-content storage requirements are simple: Store the data securely, do it cheaply and provide fast access. With more data subject to external and internal audits, content-addressed storage products are becoming the preferred storage medium for long-term protection of fixed content. |
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May 2006 |
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Single-pane storage management
by Jacob Gsoedl
Managing a heterogeneous storage environment means juggling a hodgepodge of vendor-specific tools. Some vendors are working toward a consolidated management console, but standards are needed for single-pane storage management to become a reality. |
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Creating storage tiers for backup services
by Mike Drapeau
Tiered storage is a familiar concept, but the idea of data backup service tiers is relatively new. By matching backup services to the value of data, storage shops can improve overall backup performance and create a more cost-effective data protection environment. |
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Keep end-user storage in check
by Alan Radding
With free e-mail services offering up to 2GB of storage, it's tough to convince corporate e-mail users that mailbox limits are needed. But companies are realizing that user storage quotas are a necessary evil. |
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Vendor support falls short
by Robert L. Stevenson
A recent survey from TheInfoPro shows that storage vendors' support of their products is still a sore point among users. The good news is that some vendors are finally paying attention. |
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April 2006 |
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Big three apps adjust to disk-based backup
by Jerome M. Wendt
EMC's NetWorker, IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager and Symantec's Veritas NetBackup are still the leaders for enterprise backup. But as more and more shops back up to disk, the big three have had to adapt to the new requirements of disk-based backup. |
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Finding Data
by Rich Castagna
Archiving applications are increasingly being used to minimize online data stores and to meet compliance requirements. Most of those archivers include search features, but the capabilities vary widely. Understanding how these search tools work will help you find the best fit for your company. |
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