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Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.

• How does the I/O blender effect impact flash performance?

  Howard Marks discusses what exactly causes the I/O blender effect and how it can mess with your flash performance in this Storage Decisions clip. Continue Reading

• Move away from the LUN for storage snapshots

  Howard Marks discusses creating storage snapshots, the move to virtual workloads and the death of the LUN. Continue Reading

• Do customer-managed data encryption keys work with sync and share?

  Most sync-and-share products encrypt data, but a growing number of vendors are handing data encryption key management over to customers. Continue Reading

• Use policy-based automation to maximize your flash investment

  Storage automation tools offer a wide range of functionality that can benefit shops using flash storage alongside traditional disk. Continue Reading

• Four tips to maximize the lifespan of your flash memory storage

  The lifespan of flash memory storage is not the hot-button issue it once was, but you should perform these tasks to prolong the life of your drives. Continue Reading

• Becoming familiar with VM-aware storage

  As with any product still in its infancy, an exact definition for virtual machine-aware storage can be difficult to nail down. In simple terms, VM-aware storage is an appliance that vendors build specifically with virtual machines in mind in ...Continue Reading

• Hyper-converged storage systems=Storage + Compute + Networking

  Hyper-converged storage systems are preconfigured and integrated clusters of servers that share their internal storage. They boast convenience and flexibility, allowing rapid deployment of applications like databases and virtual desktop ...Continue Reading

• Solid-state storage technology isn't just about speed

  Solid-state storage technology can enhance performance and reduce costs across the entire IT environment.Continue Reading

• Putting too much stock in VDI IOPS could lead to project failure

  It's important to provide enough IOPS for users to complete tasks without latency in VDI environments, but according to Brian Madden, trying to predict how many IOPS is arbitrary.Continue Reading

• Seamless data movement is the next key all-flash storage array feature

  Find out why seamless data movement between all-flash and hard disk storage arrays will be the next significant trend that will drive adoption.Continue Reading

• How does RDMA work and why is it advantageous with flash?

  Remote Direct Memory Access is a good way to reduce latency in flash environments and works with InfiniBand and some Ethernet connections.Continue Reading

• Essential guide to hybrid flash arrays

  Hybrid flash arrays are growing in popularity, surpassing all-flash. This essential guide dives into hybrid array use cases, tips and precautions.Continue Reading

• What should you consider before deploying an all-flash storage array?

  What is the one hidden gotcha that you'd advise users about if they were shopping for an all-flash storage array?Continue Reading

• How much control do you have over caching in all-flash storage arrays?

  How much control do you have with all-flash storage arrays? How much control do you have over how arrays handle your data? Do you control the caching?Continue Reading

• What you should know about using flash to complement DRAM

  George Crump discusses emerging technology that enables using flash as memory, why it matters and its applicable use cases.Continue Reading

• Maximize hybrid cloud benefits, avoid pitfalls for your organization

  There are several ways to implement hybrid cloud strategy in your organization, and this technical handbook is a practical guide for combining an on-premise, internal cloud and partnering with a public cloud provider. To get the promised benefits of...Continue Reading

• Should traditional data centers start using OpenStack Swift and Cinder?

  If your IT department has the skills set, OpenStack object or block storage might be a good idea, analyst George Crump said.Continue Reading

• What are the best ways to manage multiple cloud providers?

  While using a single cloud provider can leave your data center vulnerable, a multi-cloud plan may require a more complex management strategy.Continue Reading

• How do hardware profiles work in Microsoft Virtual Machine Manager?

  The Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager allows the creation of hardware profiles, which help to provision virtual storage. Brien Posey explains how to use the tool.Continue Reading

• Cloud-based disaster recovery: Just add data for instant recovery

  Cloud-based disaster recovery (DR) is shaping up as a killer app for the cloud. It’s cheaper than other DR arrangements, can be implemented quickly and recoveries can be lightning fast. It’s a pretty direct route to solid data protection, but ...Continue Reading

• EMC, Dell and NetApp top NAS storage systems satisfaction survey

  Our ninth annual survey collected user feedback regarding the service and reliability of NAS storage systems.Continue Reading

• What are the most obvious object storage use cases for my system?

  Object storage is latency-prone, making it a bad option for production data, but there are several areas where it's incredibly useful.Continue Reading

• Archiving methods: Smart meta tags, archive in place and FLAPE

  Jon Toigo outlines several archiving techniques, the technologies that make them run smoothly, and explains why data classification is crucial.Continue Reading

• Virtual flash caching increases SSD efficiency for VMware, Hyper-V

  To get the greatest benefit from virtual flash caching, you need to understand how your hypervisor uses the cache and then add flash storage.Continue Reading

• Configure and manage storage for a virtual desktop environment

  The unique workloads and demands of virtual desktops require a rethinking of the supporting storage systems.Continue Reading

• File storage capacity key to new NAS purchase

  Thinking of making a new NAS purchase? Learn the requirements of your storage peers and the criteria they use to evaluate a storage vendor.Continue Reading

• The case for cloud storage: Cloud considerations and strategies

  Before deploying your cloud storage project, learn about cloud storage use cases, how to do a cloud cost analysis and keeping data safe in the cloud.Continue Reading

• Best practices for persistent VDI storage

  Persistent desktops might be attractive to users, but can be difficult to store. Use these tips to better handle capacity and performance challenges.Continue Reading

• Redundant cloud storage ensures high availability

  Redundant cloud storage gateways and redundant WAN links help companies avoid protection gaps that could result in outages or data loss.Continue Reading

• Keys to a painless data migration process

  Moving data from array to array has always been a difficult process, but new techs and techniques make your data migration process easier than ever.Continue Reading

• How do VMware thin provisioning alerts work?

  VSphere allows users to set up custom alarms to alert them when capacity or memory is low. Learn how they can be especially helpful when using thin provisioning.Continue Reading

• Are there any downsides to using VMware thin provisioning?

  Storage should be monitored carefully when using VMware's thin provisioning feature to avoid slower performance and potentially maxing out capacity.Continue Reading

• Primary data storage options for the cloud

  With hybrid clouds, gateways and object technology, the cloud can now be considered an effective primary data storage option.Continue Reading

• Cloud storage challenges and choices

  Our comprehensive e-book tackles the cloud storage challenges and business decisions that surround cloud storage investments, and breaks them into three areas of concentration: architecture, availability and return on investment.
  
  Get ...Continue Reading

• Switching cloud storage service providers comes at a cost

  Analyst George Crump explains the best way to deal with the upfront costs and security issues that come with switching cloud storage providers.Continue Reading

• Three considerations to ensure data storage efficiency

  Vendors often claim their products cut out storage inefficiency, but administrators can make a difference as well with some planning.Continue Reading

• Three cloud storage use cases for primary storage

  In many cases, cloud storage is used as an archive or for backup, but that doesn't mean it isn't useful for primary storage.Continue Reading

• Most valuable storage metrics describe performance, capacity

  Analyst Greg Schulz categorizes some notable storage metrics to help users determine which ones are most beneficial to their environment.Continue Reading

• How big data and Hadoop will change storage management

  Big data analytics creates some challenges for storage managers, but effective integration into a storage environment can make them less daunting.Continue Reading

• Six things that can wreck storage system performance

  Performance bottlenecks can occur in different places in a storage system. Here's how to identify and eliminate them.Continue Reading

• How do storage scalability and elasticity differ?

  Scalability has long been an important storage characteristic, but elasticity is becoming more significant. Learn how the two vary.Continue Reading

• The critical role of archiving systems

  Archiving data is more important than ever; it ensures proper data retention, saves space and eases the backup burden.Continue Reading

• Next-generation data storage will help IT managers do their jobs

  When storage managers are asked about their challenges, data growth always tops the list. Next-generation storage technology could make a difference.Continue Reading

• Where should the iSCSI initiator run in a Hyper-V environment?

  Learn what Microsoft expert Brien Posey has to say about when and how to use an iSCSI initiator when using Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V.Continue Reading

• How can I prevent rogue access to an iSCSI Cluster Shared Volume?

  Expert Brien Posey explains how to create a secure connection for iSCSI-attached Cluster Shared Volumes in Hyper-V R2.Continue Reading

• legacy storage

  Legacy storage is traditional storage hardware that is older and sometimes no longer sold by its vendor.Continue Reading

• Working with OpenStack storage: Tips on Cinder, Swift and the cloud

  This guide explores the block, object and cloud storage offerings from OpenStack, one of the most sought-after open source storage platforms.Continue Reading

• Five top new Windows Server 2012 R2 features for storage management

  The latest version of Microsoft's flagship server OS offers a bevy of new storage management features.Continue Reading

• How does VMware VDPA work with VMware's vSAN?

  VSphere Data Protection Advanced is currently the primary product for backing up VMs running on VMware's vSAN. Brien Posey explains how it works.Continue Reading

• What hardware should be used in a VMware Virtual SAN environment?

  The compatibility of VMware vSANs with hardware is flexible, but there are some requirements. Find out which hardware to use and which to avoid.Continue Reading

• Planning and management for a software-defined storage architecture

  Jon Toigo offers implementation tips to help users avoid vendor lock-in and get top performance from their software-defined storage environments.Continue Reading

• production data

  Production data is data that is persistently stored and essential to completing day-to-day business tasks and processes.Continue Reading

• Six areas your storage SLA should cover

  What's covered in an SLA can vary, but a contract covering these six areas is designed to help both companies and providers meet their service goals.Continue Reading

• Examining the future of the RAID volume

  Expert Jon Toigo provides a set of tips to answer key questions regarding RAID's place in today's storage world, and whether it will be replaced.Continue Reading

• Implementing new technology: Software-defined storage

  Jon Toigo explains how to set up software-defined storage products in an environment so users can achieve the best performance and capacity.Continue Reading

• Object storage systems in demand for big data, archiving

  Object storage system use cases are growing, and their unique metadata capabilities are a good match for big data environments.Continue Reading

• The state of storage network architecture

  Storage networks are struggling with virtualized server environments and flash storage. Your company's storage network may need a major upgrade.Continue Reading

• Managing cloud storage: Tools to control your deployment

  Whether your company is using public, hybrid or a private storage cloud, you need tools to manage, monitor and keep track of the stored data.Continue Reading

• How does a scale-out NAS environment affect storage management?

  Phil Goodwin explains how scale-out NAS systems simplify storage management through a single point of control and by combating performance problems.Continue Reading

• 2013 Salary-Survey Results Member-Exclusive Download on SearchStorage.com

  The 2013 Salary-Survey Results on SearchStorage.comContinue Reading

• Are SSDs necessary to perform analytics on big data efficiently?

  Storage expert Phil Goodwin explains how SSDs can speed up analytics, but solid-state technology is only needed in certain types of environments.Continue Reading

• Data loss concerns with write caching products

  George Crump of Storage Switzerland discusses how data loss issues can be mitigated in write caching products.Continue Reading

• Enhance RAID by leveraging storage virtualization

  According to expert Jon Toigo, RAID doesn't have to be on its way out, as long as it's supplemented with other technologies.Continue Reading

• Three key strategies to prevent RAID failure

  In this tip, analyst Jon Toigo shares several ways storage admins can proactively prevent the failure of RAID arrays.Continue Reading

• What is the top storage challenge with in-memory databases?

  Wikibon CTO David Floyer said the greatest challenge with an in-memory database from a storage perspective is recovery in the event of a problem.Continue Reading

• Exablox OneBlox 3308

  OneBlox has a global namespace for data access from multiple servers, as its object-based file system presents itself as a NAS box to applications.Continue Reading

• Cloud storage investment tips

  Continue Reading

• Choosing storage for streaming large files in big data sets

  Learn how to select storage that can both scale and perform to effectively stream large files in big data environments.Continue Reading

• Facebook storage: Reviews vary for Blu-ray cold storage, M.2 SSD plans

  Facebook's plans to use Blu-ray discs for cold storage, 'netbook-class' M.2 SSD for booting Web servers draw mixed reviews from analysts, IT pros.Continue Reading

• Big file storage scales for large data applications

  There are two sides to the big data story: analytics using vast numbers of small files, and dealing with storage for really big files.Continue Reading

• Server SAN infrastructure model of Google, Facebook poised to spread

  Wikibon senior analyst predicts that the server SAN infrastructure model of Google, Facebook, Amazon could spread to enterprise IT, service providers.Continue Reading

• Curbing data storage capacity demand

  Analyst Jon Toigo's series of tips on common data reduction approaches will help IT pros make better use of their capacity.Continue Reading

• Comparing performance and cost of DRAM vs. NAND

  George Crump of Storage Switzerland compares the performance and cost of DRAM to NAND flash in this Expert Answer.Continue Reading

• How NAND flash degrades and what vendors do to increase SSD endurance

  Storage Switzerland senior analyst Eric Slack digs into the technical aspects of SSD cell degradation and how vendors are increasing SSD endurance.Continue Reading

• External storage might make sense for Hadoop

  Using Hadoop to drive big data analytics doesn't necessarily mean building clusters of distributed storage; a good old array might be a better choice.Continue Reading

• Building a better archival storage strategy

  This guide walks through important tips and considerations regarding storage archive design strategies and technologies.Continue Reading

• Crafting a data lifecycle management strategy to control capacity

  Jon Toigo explains how an information lifecycle management strategy helps classify data so it can live on the most appropriate storage.Continue Reading

• cache algorithm

  A cache algorithm is a detailed list of instructions that decides which items should be discarded in a computer's cache of information.Continue Reading

• Hyper-V deployment: Focus on scalability and storage clarification

  Expert Brien Posey says to use private cloud strategy decisions when working with Hyper-V to focus on scalability and storage classification issues.Continue Reading

• Data archiving system selection dependent on features, capabilities

  Once you've determined the specific data archiving needs of your organization, you'll have to sift through existing products to find the best fit.Continue Reading

• How to create a successful data archiving strategy

  A good archiving process provides the automation needed to deliver the necessary application granularity while minimizing the impact to IT operations.Continue Reading

• Martin: Future nonvolatile memory technologies

  In this segment of his Storage Decisions presentation, Dennis Martin of Demartek discusses future nonvolatile memory technologies.Continue Reading

• Data storage systems: 2013 Storage Products of the Year finalists

  These 52 data storage systems products are finalists for the Storage magazine/SearchStorage.com 2013 Products of the Year awards.Continue Reading

• How to avoid wasted disk storage capacity

  Jon Toigo explains how hierarchal storage management and other technologies can help make the most of disk capacity.Continue Reading

• Alternatives to RESTful API for accessing object storage

  This tip examines other options for connecting to object storage when an application isn't compatible with the RESTful API.Continue Reading

• Is there a difference between traditional tiering and sub-LUN tiering?

  Sub-LUN tiering can help with performance in some environments, but according to analyst Jon Toigo, it can also get complicated with growing capacity.Continue Reading

• Four SSD best practices for efficient virtual machine storage

  Learn how server-side implementations of SSD differ from storage-side, and how to get the ultimate performance boost in virtual environments.Continue Reading

• Top considerations for deep archive design

  Jon Toigo explains how to determine what data should be archived and the most efficient way to migrate it for long-term storage.Continue Reading

• Tackling long-term data archiving: Three crucial factors

  Jon Toigo offers insights on storage options for deep archives, and the ways they affect data integrity and potential technology issues.Continue Reading

• Data storage performance tips: Best ways to improve your data center

  Find out which of the most talked about performance tips of 2013 are the best ways to improve your data center.Continue Reading

• hard zoning

  Hard zoning is used to allocate resources and control access in a storage-area network (SAN).Continue Reading

• Storage infrastructure management is still elusive

  There's more to managing storage than ensuring performance and scalability. New architectures are doing a better job of managing storage resources.Continue Reading

• Target audience to determine big data storage solutions in M&E area

  Wikibon CTO predicts object-based systems will be popular as big data storage solutions; advises tape for long-form video files, disk for short clips.Continue Reading

• Five questions to ask when choosing a data archiving technology

  Many factors need to be considered when determining what the right archiving platform is for you. Jon Toigo highlights the most important in this tip.Continue Reading

• read cache

  A read cache is a computer storage component that temporarily keeps a copy of data from a slower permanent storage location in order to accelerate the fulfillment of future requests for the data.Continue Reading

• Get ready for the 12 Gbps SAS drive

  New 12 Gbps SAS technology will usher in SSDs, HDDs and HBAs according to the SCSI Trade Association president.Continue Reading

• Big data storage challenges associated with rich media files

  Scale-out network-attached storage (NAS) is the primary technology to handle big data needs in the media and entertainment (M&E) space. Using scale-out NAS for rich media files can provide crucial advantages such as scalability, data protection and ...Continue Reading

• HA storage (high-availability storage)

  High-availability storage (HA storage) is a storage system that is continuously operational or provides at least 99% uptime.Continue Reading

• Big data storage and analytics

  There are two basic types of big data analytics—synchronous and asynchronous—but both have big data storage appetites and specialized needs.Continue Reading

• Big data storage challenges eased by metadata, caching and compression

  Systems that provide fast access to metadata, caching and heavy compression help ease media-rich big data storage challenges, Wikibon CTO says.Continue Reading