Manage

Manage

Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.

• 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

• 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

• Hyper-V storage best practices to optimize your virtual environment

  Microsoft expert Brien Posey walks through the best storage tips and features to make the most out of a Hyper-V environment.Continue Reading

• How OpenStack Storage fits in the larger open source OpenStack picture

  IDC analyst Ashish Nadkarni explains how OpenStack Storage's Swift and Cinder fit into the larger open source OpenStack cloud computing platform.Continue Reading

• How OpenStack Block Storage differs from traditional block storage

  OpenStack Block Storage differs from integrated stacks of traditional block storage, says IDC analyst; it's more akin to storage virtualization.Continue Reading

• File storage and management issues growing, but mostly under control

  Our latest survey finds the biggest problem with file storage and management is backup. Learn how respondents are managing file storage.Continue Reading

• 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

• 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

• 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

  Continue Reading

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• Understanding storage performance metrics

  Learn how to accurately measure storage performance metrics in your data storage system, and discover why your results may differ from vendor benchmark numbers.Continue Reading

• data life cycle management (DLM)

  Data life cycle management (DLM) is a policy-based approach to managing the flow of an information system's data throughout its life cycle: from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.Continue Reading

• data lifecycle management

  Data life cycle management (DLM) is a policy-based approach to managing the flow of an information system's data throughout its life cycle: from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.Continue Reading

• data life cycle management

  Data life cycle management (DLM) is a policy-based approach to managing the flow of an information system's data throughout its life cycle: from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.Continue Reading

• 10 Gigabit Ethernet for iSCSI storage, NAS storage still hinges on cost

  While 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) offers greater bandwidth for iSCSI storage or NAS storage, IT shops still have to justify upgrade costs with their needs.Continue Reading

• NDMP (Network Data Management Protocol)

  NDMP (Network Data Management Protocol) is an open protocol used to control data backup and recovery communications between primary and secondary storage in a heterogeneous network environment.Continue Reading

• storage management

  ADSTAR Distributed Storage Management (ADSM) is a collective term for IBM's family of high-end software that helps a customer manage the storage devices (such as mainframe storage, PC disk drives, and Zip drives) that are scattered around the ...Continue Reading

• Data storage capacity planning: How to estimate your storage requirements

  SMBs should ask themselves these five questions to help them get started with their data storage capacity planning.Continue Reading

• Data storage management strategies: Managing logical unit numbers (LUNs)

  This tip explores the background of LUNs in an SMB data storage environment, the different LUN features vendors have to offer and how to determine what type of LUN is best for you.Continue Reading

• EDRM: Best practices when preparing for an e-discovery request

  We list the nine stages of the Electronic Discovery Reference Model (EDRM), and tell you why the preservation and collection stage is so important to data storage pros.Continue Reading

• Green storage best practices control costs, increase energy efficiency

  Green storage best practices control power and cooling costs, and increase energy efficiency in your data center. Tiered storage, consolidating storage arrays, solid-state drives (SSDs) and MAID can help.Continue Reading

• How many bytes for...

  This page provides tables and other information about how many bytes are required (how much computer storage) for various information objects or purposes; it also summarizes some facts that have been gathered about how much information exists in the...Continue Reading

• How to size a SAN

  If your DAS storage infrastructure has reached its limits, or your existing SAN is out of date or just plain end-of-life, your first step will be to know what your storage requirements are.Continue Reading

• How to calculate available disk space on a RAID 5

  Storage management expert Ashley D'Costa answers a reader's question: "How do I calculate the disk space available on my RAID 5?"Continue Reading

• NAS management software specifications

  Network attached storage (NAS) appliances and gateways must be configured and managed using NAS management software that allows administrators to allocate space, manage RAID and storage behaviors, perform routine maintenance, and other tasks. ...Continue Reading

• How to choose the correct RAID level

  This tip offers nine things to consider when deciding which RAID level is right for your organization's needs.Continue Reading

• LUN management at the heart of SAN configuration

  LUNs are the basic vehicle for delivering storage, but provisioning SAN storage isn't just a matter of creating LUNs or volumes; the SAN fabric itself must be configured so that disks and their LUNs are matched to the appropriate servers. Proper ...Continue Reading

• What is unstructured data and how is it different from structured data in the enterprise?

  Expert Pierre Dorion talks about unstructured data and its impact on the data enterprise.Continue Reading

• What are some of the best practices for managing the growth of unstructured data?

  It starts with corporate policies around data management ...Continue Reading

• The winners of Storage magazine's Products of the Year were surprising

  Storage Bin: The winners of Storage magazine's Products of the Year were surprising, as so few of them were big-name storage vendors. Here's Steve Duplessie's take on the subject.Continue Reading

• information life cycle management (ILM)

  Information life cycle management (ILM) is a comprehensive approach to managing the flow of an information system's data and associated metadata from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.Continue Reading

• information lifecycle management

  Information life cycle management (ILM) is a comprehensive approach to managing the flow of an information system's data and associated metadata from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.Continue Reading

• information life cycle management

  Information life cycle management (ILM) is a comprehensive approach to managing the flow of an information system's data and associated metadata from creation and initial storage to the time when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.Continue Reading

• storage area management

  Storage area management (SAM) is a still-evolving set of procedures, services, and standards for comprehensively managing the infrastructure of a storage area network (SAN), including all components within all servers, the disk arrays, the tape ...Continue Reading

• HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management)

  HSM (Hierarchical Storage Management) is policy-based management of file backup and archiving in a way that uses storage devices economically and without the user needing to be aware of when files are being retrieved from backup storage media.Continue Reading

• Issues/benefits of offline, online and Nearline® storage

  Graham Irving shares on some of the considerations involved in offline, nearline and online storage.Continue Reading