Manage
Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.
Manage
Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.
Networking server-based storage
Direct-attached or server-based storage is gaining renewed attention as emerging techs offer ways to pool and share this scalable storage resource. Continue Reading
Complete guide to Hadoop technology and storage
Learn how Apache Hadoop works, some of its benefits and drawbacks, and what it means for big data and cloud storage. Continue Reading
Erasure coding tradeoffs include additional storage, disk update needs
Erasure coding tradeoffs include requirement for additional data storage, need to update extra disks for redundancy purposes, UC professor cautions. Continue Reading
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Future of data storage: Addressing traditional architecture problems
Storage expert Phil Goodwin discusses the main issues with traditional primary storage options and how those issues are being addressed. Continue Reading
Erasure coding brings trade-off of resilience vs. performance
IT's decision on using erasure coding in storage rests on data importance, durability more than amount of data, says storage consultant Marc Staimer. Continue Reading
Wikibon CTO: Erasure coding can help reduce data backup costs
Erasure coding can help reduce the data needed for backups and lower the cost of backup and recovery over the traditional approach, Wikibon CTO says.Continue Reading
Accelerate the performance of virtual machines with flash technology
Learn where to implement flash in your environment to tackle virtual machine performance issues.Continue Reading
How essential is a Hadoop infrastructure to a big data environment?
Expert Jon Toigo explains why Hadoop and big data are frequently used together, but argues that Hadoop has a number of downfalls.Continue Reading
Storage considerations for a big data infrastructure
Jon Toigo discusses what big data is, the popularity of object storage and how to determine the best storage for a big data infrastructure.Continue Reading
Big data storage architecture: Categories, strengths and use cases
We explore distributed nodes, scale-out NAS, all-SSD arrays and object storage as choices for a storage architecture for big data.Continue Reading
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Managing storage for virtual environments: A complete guide
Find best practices, top tips and the most effective tools for managing storage in virtual environments in this essential guide.Continue Reading
How to allocate and configure virtual machine storage
Two key tasks of a virtual server implementation are determining how much storage will be needed to support the system, and how to handle the initial provisioning and configuration of the virtual storage. The complexity of shared storage, ...Continue Reading
Configuring Hyper-V storage
New storage features in Windows Server and Hyper-V make storage configuration and maintenance easier for Microsoft–based virtual environments.Continue Reading
Windows Storage Spaces
Windows Storage Spaces is a feature in Microsoft Windows Server 2012 that is used to virtualize and provision storage.Continue Reading
Best practices for SSD technologies
No longer a luxury item for well-heeled data centers, SSD technologies are more affordable than ever and come in a variety of form factors with a choice of deployment options.Continue Reading
Virtual data protection: Seeing is believing
Virtual data protection is hard, but could be easier if you had a better view into what's going on. Learn how to increase visibility into your virtualization protection solution.Continue Reading
How Windows Server 2012 R2 will change storage management
Microsoft MVP Brien Posey explains how new features in Windows Server 2012 R2, such as native tiering and deduplication, affect storage management.Continue Reading
Hadoop clusters: Benefits and challenges for big data analytics
Brien Posey explains how Hadoop clusters can be extremely beneficial to large amounts of unstructured data, but aren't ideal for all environments.Continue Reading
FlexPod architecture: Top five things you should know
FlexPods may seem like an easy way to implement storage and a hypervisor at once, but Brien Posey explains there are several things to consider first.Continue Reading
Does RAID have a place in object-oriented storage environments?
Expert Brien Posey explains whether RAID technology can bring any benefits to an object storage environment.Continue Reading
Top tips for OpenStack Swift object storage use
Senior cloud architect Beth Cohen offers tips on how to use OpenStack Swift object storage in the most efficient and economical ways.Continue Reading
Tiering storage: Best practices to promote efficiency
Storage expert Jon Toigo explains how to effectively use storage tiering to boost efficiency and ultimately cut storage costs.Continue Reading
RAID alternatives: Will erasure codes rule?
Learn why the reliability of RAID technologies could be related to the increased use of erasure coding by both new and established storage vendors.Continue Reading
Can object storage systems be used with file-based apps?
Learn how to use applications such as Microsoft Exchange or SQL Server with object storage systems on the back end.Continue Reading
Storage considerations for a Hadoop implementation
Storage Switzerland analyst Colm Keegan explains how to determine whether a SAN or NAS should be used as primary storage with Hadoop.Continue Reading
10 ways to improve virtual server storage
Virtual server storage operations can have a profound effect on the storage network. Here are 10 ways to help ensure that your storage yields its best I/O for the VMs it supports.Continue Reading
Software-defined storage: Answering frequently asked questions
Russ Fellows, a senior analyst at Evaluator Group, breaks down the concept of software-defined storage, its benefits and the vendors who offer it.Continue Reading
Manufacturing NAND flash chips
NAND flash chips are made in fabrication plants known as fabs. Market oversupply or undersupply can cause manufacturers to alter production plans.Continue Reading
PowerShell tutorial: Managing Windows Storage Spaces
This PowerShell tutorial shows users how to fully interact with Windows Storage Spaces, which will help them script the storage provisioning process.Continue Reading
I/O contention (input/output contention)
I/O contention (input/output contention), occurs when virtual machines compete for I/O resources because there is a limited storage bandwidth.Continue Reading
Five LUN management basics
IT expert Brien Posey discusses five fundamental ideas storage professionals must understand when dealing with LUN management.Continue Reading
Streaming large video files in today's big data environments
Solid-state drives are a good choice for streaming large video files. Other factors to consider include cost and how often video will be accessed.Continue Reading
Expert offers top tips on Amazon S3 vs. Azure storage
Consultant Marc Staimer offers practical advice on comparing Amazon S3 and Windows Azure Storage with use cases for enterprise IT shops in mind.Continue Reading
IBM SmartCloud Enterprise–Object Storage cloud plans expansion
IBM SmartCloud Enterprise–Object Storage cloud service plans to expand and offer customers 99.999% availability with three or more copies of data.Continue Reading
How is Hadoop infrastructure improving?
John Webster describes how changes to HDFS and the NameNode can help to improve Hadoop infrastructure.Continue Reading
Can shared storage be used with Hadoop architecture?
Storage expert John Webster discusses three ways to use shared storage together with Hadoop architecture in this Ask the Expert answer.Continue Reading
Top tips for doing a cloud storage cost analysis
Arun Taneja breaks the cloud storage cost analysis process into three categories: monthly storage pricing, transaction charges and cost of bandwidth.Continue Reading
StorSimple set to boost Microsoft cloud strategy
Should you believe vendors’ jaw-dropping solid-state performance specs?
The benefits of solid-state storage are clear -- cool running, space-saving and blistering performance. But just how “blistering” is that performance? Data storage vendors toss previously unheard of numbers around, like millions of IOPS, to show the...Continue Reading
Download Storage Decisions 2012: Resource Guide
Conquer 2013 with our most educational articles from 2012 including advice from expert Storage Decisions Seminars speakers.Continue Reading
VDI image management: Combating performance and capacity problems
Managing one VDI image makes sense, but unless the desktops are locked down, it creates capacity and performance problems over time.Continue Reading
How will 10 GbE impact iSCSI speed?
The adoption of 10 gigabit Ethernet has ramped up iSCSI speed and resulted in a smaller performance gap between iSCSI and Fibre Channel.Continue Reading
Brian Madden: Why VDI performance improvements don’t rest on SSD alone
VDI expert Brian Madden argues that SSD alone is not a panacea for VDI performance issues and that sharing images to save capacity is a bad idea.Continue Reading
What to expect when using HDFS in Hadoop architecture
Analyst John Webster details issues with Hadoop architecture and what users can expect from Hadoop Version 2.0.Continue Reading
Understanding big data analytics and data warehousing
Understanding big data analytics, and how it differs from data warehousing, depends on time to information, content complexity and cost.Continue Reading
Comparing scale-out and object-based storage systems
Scale-out and object-based storage systems are both built for scaling, but metadata characteristics are the difference maker.Continue Reading
Data management techniques more important than ever
In this Storage Decisions Chicago 2012 video, Jon Toigo discusses data management techniques that can help you control the data in your environment.Continue Reading
How are FCoE switches used in the data center?
Adoption of FCoE switches is dependent on Data Center Bridging Capability Exchange Protocol (DCBx) switch technology, says storage expert Marc Staimer.Continue Reading
How Hyper-V storage migration has improved in version 3.0
Storage expert Brien Posey compares VMware Storage vMotion and Hyper-V Live Storage Migration, with a look at how they work.Continue Reading
The storage-for-VDI equation: Capacity, IOPS, TCO, ROI and persistency
A virtual desktop project can bring savings and efficiency to IT operations, but storage for VDI is a complex issue, and the wrong choices can hobble the project.Continue Reading
Server virtualization and storage management: Better integration, specialized tools
Virtualization and storage management still presents challenges, but nowadays it provides tighter integration and more effective management tools.Continue Reading
I/O performance, storage infrastructure lead big data issues list
ESG senior analyst Terri McClure looks at the latest big data issues relating to I/O, Hadoop and storage sprawl.Continue Reading
Scalable storage systems: Examining scale-out NAS
Scale-out NAS systems can accommodate data growth simply by adding more capacity and processing power.Continue Reading
vSphere 5 storage: New storage management functionality, vSphere Storage Appliance
In this interview, find out more about new vSphere 5 storage features and how they compare to vSphere 4’s, how the new vSphere Storage Appliance works, and the latest on vStorage APIs.Continue Reading
Cloud Data Management Interface
Cloud Data Management Interface (CDMI) is a Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) industry standard that defines the interface that applications will use to create, retrieve, update and delete data elements from the cloud.Continue Reading
Five data protection guidelines for business continuity
Storage expert Jon Toigo offers data protection guidelines to help storage admins achieve the best possible results when protecting data in their care.Continue Reading
Capacity allocation efficiency explained
Jon Toigo provides tips on how to improve capacity allocation efficiency. Successful allocation prevents storage-related downtime and associated costs.Continue Reading
Choose an integrated stack for efficiency, easy storage implementation
An integrated stack bundles servers, storage and networking in a preconfigured product and is easy to install and manage.Continue Reading
Configuring SSD storage for virtual desktops
Learn what value can be gained from combining SSD storage with virtual desktop infrastructures in this tip from Mark Peters.Continue Reading
Top 10 enterprise data storage terms from SearchStorage.com
Our list of the top 10 data storage terms allows IT pros to dig deeper into popular storage industry terminology.Continue Reading
Calculating ROI for storage virtualization is tricky
Calculating ROI for storage virtualization is difficult because it’s tough to determine soft costs associated with migrating data and managing disk arrays.Continue Reading
VMware Inc. vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) 5
vCenter Site Recovery Manager 5 is the first hypervisor-level replication product on the market. It can also automatically move virtual machines to a primary site after a failover.Continue Reading
Managing storage in a Citrix environment
In this podcast, find out how Citrix XenServer storage management functionality compares with that of VMware and Hyper-V environments.Continue Reading
managed storage
Managed storage is the process of offloading an organization’s data storage requirements to an outside managed service provider.Continue Reading
“Big data” conspiracy theories abound
Could the latest and greatest buzzword in the storage biz be killing off some of the most useful storage technologies around?Continue Reading
vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness improve view into arrays in VMware environments
The new vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) improve visibility into storage arrays that support VMware environments. In this tip, find out how VASA can help admins better manage storage.Continue Reading
storage capacity planning
The goal of storage capacity planning is to predict how much storage an organization will require so that just enough disk space can be purchased to meet the needs of users and applications.Continue Reading
Control VDI costs for storage by careful configuration planning
Address virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) storage issues and costs by focusing on IOPS and configuration.Continue Reading
Hospital system addresses IBM SVC performance, stability problems with alternative configuration
Spectrum Health breaks up IBM SVC eight-node cluster, taking uncommon tiered approach to improve stability and performance of storage virtualization system.Continue Reading
storage stack
A storage stack, also called an integrated stack, is a bundled storage product that include servers, networking components and server virtualization software. Continue Reading
Hyper-V storage: Managing storage for a Hyper-V environment
In this podcast interview, Dennis Martin discusses Hyper-V storage best practices and tools and techniques to support and improve storage management in a Hyper-V environment.Continue Reading
Best storage for virtual servers: Pros and cons of FC, iSCSI and NAS
Virtual servers need a good shared data storage system. All major networked storage protocols work with virtual machines, but some are better than others in certain environments.Continue Reading
Understanding Big Data analytics
Explore the four technology regions associated with Big Data analytics in our technical report.Continue Reading
VDI best practices: Making VDI cost-effective for SMBs
Learn how to make VDI cost effective for your company and get VDI best practices in this tip.Continue Reading
Storage performance management: 10 storage system performance tips
Need some help with your storage performance management? These 10 effective, but often overlooked, tips will help you get the most out of your storage arrays and networks.Continue Reading
vSphere Storage I/O Control: What it does and how to configure it
vSphere’s Storage I/O Control enables segmentation of I/O demands by data store, to enable finer-grained I/O prioritization. Find out how Storage I/O Controls works.Continue Reading
New trends in storage
Storage technologies may sometimes seem a little stodgy and out of date, but there’s plenty of technical development going on at both the big storage vendors and smaller upstarts.Continue Reading
Storage management solutions for efficient data storage
Numerous techs promise more efficient use of storage resources. This guide highlights storage management solutions you can use in your environment.Continue Reading
Storage management for virtualized servers
Storage and virtual server management can now go hand-in-hand with new tools that offer single-console control of both storage and virtual servers.Continue Reading
How to build an efficient data storage environment
Explore the areas you should consider when it comes to building an efficient data storage environment and learn the latest developments in storage efficiency tools.Continue Reading
Tips for implementing an automated storage tiering strategy
Learn about the different vendors that offer inter-array tiering in their products, and determine if it is the right automated storage tiering strategy for your environment.Continue Reading
10 quick and easy ways to boost storage performance
Don't let capacity concerns or virtualized servers bog down the performance of your storage systems. Here are 10 ways to pump up the performance of your storage arrays and networksContinue Reading
SAN virtualization: Products and best practices for storage virtualization
Learn how to best implement SAN virtualization in our collection of top articles on storage virtualization products and best practices.Continue Reading
SAN booting alternatives for data storage managers
SAN booting and server virtualization are fueling the trend toward diskless servers. Learn about the move from internal to external storage, as well as other booting alternatives.Continue Reading
Managing storage in a VDI environment
The success of a VDI environment is dependent on user experience, and storage may be the area that has the biggest impact on users. Find out what steps to take to properly manage your VDI environment.Continue Reading
Data migration best practices for SMBs
Learn about the data migration tools, techniques, and services available to small- and medium-sized organizations.Continue Reading
NAS best practices: Tips on small business NAS devices
We’ve gathered our top tips and articles to highlight some NAS best practices SMBs should keep in mind before decided to implement a NAS system.Continue Reading
Efficient data storage: A guide for storage managers
Our efficient data storage guide offers storage managers tips they can use to save money, reduce their data footprint and get more out of their data storageContinue Reading
Virtual server tutorial: Managing a server virtualization environment
This virtual server tutorial evaluates network storage options for virtual servers, describes the VMware vStorage APIs and discusses VMware virtual servers.Continue Reading
Data management guidelines: Four records retention issues to address
These data management guidelines will help you to determine what you should keep when implementing records retention for e-discovery and litigation purposes.Continue Reading
SAN performance best practices: More ways to avoid bottlenecks
There are several ways you can fine-tune and improve your SAN performance. Follow our five tips to avoid data storage bottlenecks and improve SAN efficiencyContinue Reading
Five ways to improve your storage networks
These five tips will help you fine-tune your storage networks. Learn what you can do to improve your storage network performance, efficiency and resiliency.Continue Reading
Top five tips for managing storage in a virtual server environment
Server virtualization and virtual desktops can make managing data in a virtual server environment hard. These five tips can help you manage virtual servers.Continue Reading
Hybrid cloud storage
Hybrid cloud storage products provide the best of both worlds -- local storage that's tightly integrated with off-site cloud storage services.Continue Reading
Data storage best practices: Top five storage management answers
We've collected our top five Ask the Expert answers of 2010 to help you learn about data storage best practices for data storage management.Continue Reading
Data storage trends 2011: Predictions of hot data storage technologies
Explore this expert FAQ as three analysts weight in and tell us what they think are the hottest data storage technologies and data storage trends for 2011.Continue Reading
iSCSI SAN best practices for small businesses
New to the world of iSCSI SAN storage or buying your first iSCSI SAN? Learn iSCSI SAN best practices in this guide for small businesses.Continue Reading
Six tips for buying a used storage system
Are you thinking of buying second-hand data storage equipment to save money? Read these six tips before you buy a used storage system.Continue Reading
Records retention management: Arm yourself against regulatory scrutiny
Learn how to build a records retention management system that protects you against regulatory scrutiny, satisfies e-discovery requests and manages capacity.Continue Reading
Implementing ITIL: Getting started with ITIL v3 service management
Are you implementing ITIL v3 service management? Discover five phases of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library process and the benefits of ITIL.Continue Reading