Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts

Primary storage devices

• Difference between parity groups

  SAN expert Greg Schulz discusses the differences between parity groups.  Continue Reading

• Sharing LUNs

  SAN expert Greg Schulz discusses the effectiveness of shared LUNs to speed up a NFS.  Continue Reading

• FC-AL topology in a SAN environment

  SAN expert Greg Schulz describes the FC-AL topology in a SAN environment.  Continue Reading

• SATA port multiplier vs. SATA multilane

  What is the difference between a SATA port multiplier and SATA multilane?  Continue Reading

• SAN security benefits

  SAN expert Greg Schulz discusses the security benefits of SAN technology.  Continue Reading

• Networked storage vs. direct attached storage

  SAN expert Greg Schulz describes the benefits of networked storage to a reader.  Continue Reading

• Optimum storage configuration for OLTP mode

  SAN expert Greg Schulz answers a reader's question: "How would I set up a storage configuration for optimum performance when in OLTP mode?"  Continue Reading

• Hard zoning vs. soft zoning

  SAN expert Greg Schulz explains the difference between hard and soft zoning.  Continue Reading

• Managing growing SANs

  SAN expert Greg Schulz explains how to manage a growing SAN.  Continue Reading

• Network connectivity for megastream Ethernet

  SAN expert Greg Schulz answers a reader's question: "Which type of network connectivity will work with a megastream Ethernet?"  Continue Reading

• EMC DMX vs. Centera

  SAN expert Greg Schulz answers a reader's question regarding EMC DMX vs. Centera storage devices.  Continue Reading

• NAS security 2

  NAS expert Randy Kerns answers a reader's question: How do I secure a network attached storage (NAS) box from physical attacks as well as network based attacks? I have found that disk encryption is useful where there is a physical insecurity like ...  Continue Reading

• Connecting a hard drive to NAS

  Our NAS expert Randy Kerns answers this question, posed by one of our readers: "How would I take an ordinary hard drive and create a network attached storage (NAS) hard drive instead of buying an external hard drive?"  Continue Reading

• Director vs. switch

  Storage expert Greg Schulz outlines things to consider when choosing switches for a SAN.  Continue Reading

• Upgrading high-end arrays

  We are currently using an HDS9960 array and are planning to upgrade early next year to another enterprise array. We're in the process of evaluating solutions from Sun/HDS, IBM and EMC. Are there any other vendors of high-end arrays that we should ...  Continue Reading