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Learn to apply best practices and optimize your operations.

• 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

• Top 10 tips for tuning your storage network

  Storage performance issues are often not related to the storage system at all, but rather to the storage network that links servers to disk arrays. These 10 tips will help you find and fix the bottlenecks in your storage network infrastructure. Continue Reading

• Data migration process best practices

  A data migration process can be challenging and complicated. Check out these best practices before you begin a data migration process in your SMB. Continue Reading

• Clustered NAS: How to choose the right clustered NAS system

  Finding the right clustered NAS (or scale-out NAS) system means knowing your storage needs. Learn the questions to ask when evaluating your requirements and the latest offerings. 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

• 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

• Create a storage service for your company

  Often maligned (but more often misunderstood), the ITIL framework can help transform your storage environment into an efficient storage service organization.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

• Improving storage efficiency in data storage equipment a complex task, but getting easier

  The process of improving the storage efficiency and power consumption of data storage equipment is a complicated one, with a variety of factors to consider.Continue Reading

• SRM tools: Choosing the right storage resource management tool for storage provisioning

  SRM tools offer capacity reporting, including change management and chargeback, but can be pricey and complicated. Here's what you should know before you invest in SRM tools.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

• ADSTAR Distributed Storage Management (ADSM)

  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

• iSCSI storage: How to leverage RAID and ensure server uptime

  Learn how RAID can be used with iSCSI storage, as well as how iSCSI storage systems can be configured for high availability to eliminate single points of failure.Continue Reading

• Mastering NAS management: A network-attached storage case study

  Simply having a series of NAS devices is not an efficient way to manage your data. Find out how some companies are mastering NAS management.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

• Getting started with cloud archiving: Tips for smaller businesses

  Data archiving should be implemented into all data storage environments, and cloud archiving may be the best cost-effective ways for SMBs to go about doing this.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

• iSCSI SANs in a virtual server environment: Five best practices

  Storage experts offer best practices on how to maximize iSCSI SAN performance and efficiency in virtual server environments, where the protocol has found its biggest audience.Continue Reading

• RAID data storage tutorial: RAID strategies for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs)

  In this tutorial on RAID data storage for SMBs, learn about RAID data protection is changing, how to choose the correct RAID level, and optimizing RAID storage for your business.Continue Reading

• Creating a data center migration plan

  Your five-step data center migration plan should include an IT assessment, relocation analysis and design, a data migration plan, risk identification and a relocation strategy.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

• Building a private storage cloud: Essential components

  A NAS cluster, commodity servers and an object/metadata management layer are just some of the essential components needed to build your own private storage cloud.Continue Reading

• Leverage existing network-attached storage and block storage for better data storage management

  Learn data storage management practices to better leverage your existing NAS and block storage and improve access to both types of storage.Continue Reading

• Avoid data migration project failure: Five best practices

  Learn why data migration projects can fail, and how five best practices, such as deduplicating data and documenting the process, can help you avoid cost overruns or delays.Continue Reading

• Data migration strategies and best practices

  Data migration can be a complicated process. Learn how to make your data migrations seamless.Continue Reading

• How to select a storage resource management (SRM) tool

  SRM tools can help you evaluate and leverage your storage infrastructure. Learn the best practices for selecting an SRM tool and how SRM technology can reclaim orphaned storage.Continue Reading

• Network-attached storage (NAS) performance issues with SMBs can be avoided with proper planning

  SMBs often run into NAS performance issues and unexpected problems, which can often be avoided with proper planning.Continue Reading

• Common places for data storage bottlenecks in your IT infrastructure

  While easing enterprise data storage performance bottlenecks can require a mix of storage tools and IT expertise, identifying the most common areas for storage bottlenecks can be the first step in troubleshooting them.Continue Reading

• Maximizing your enterprise data storage capacity: Improve efficiency and utilization

  Learn how to maximize your enterprise data storage capacity by improving efficiency and increasing utilization of storage systems using a tiered storage approach; storage resource management (SRM), data classification and data migration tools; and ...Continue Reading

• Enterprise data storage configuration tools: Trends and best practices

  Data storage configuration tools are getting easier to use as vendors improve the built-in element managers of storage devices, their storage resource management software and other tools.Continue Reading

• Tips for an effective data deduplication implementation

  When implementing data deduplication into a storage environment, users need to know their data, test vendor dedupe claims with their actual data and avoid deduping compressed data.Continue Reading

• Best practices for solid-state drive storage technology

  SSD best practices center on identifying I/O-intensive applications so that data storage technology can provide the greatest benefit to IT organizations.Continue Reading

• Data classification best practices for tiered storage

  Classifying data for tiered storage may sound simple, but it's not. Learn best practices for effective tiered storage, including capacity planning and data archiving technology.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

• Best practices for effective thin provisioning

  Thin provisioning allows storage capacity that has been allocated to various apps or servers, but not actually consumed, to be shared. This allows you to use less disk capacity.Continue Reading

• Controlling unstructured file data storage growth: Five storage reduction tips

  By its nature, unstructured file data storage is uncontrolled and a quite unruly. Here are five tips on how to reduce your file data storage growth.Continue Reading

• Data storage provisioning best practices

  Best practices for data storage provisioning start with the need for the many stakeholders to communicate and coordinate so the process will be effective. The team approach will also help with the establishment of policies and rules, as well as tool...Continue Reading

• Storage best practices for virtual server environments

  Measuring and tuning storage performance has grown more challenging with the proliferation of virtual servers. Learn how RiskMetrics Group has adapted to its changing environment, and best practices for managing storage in virtual server ...Continue Reading

• Fibre Channel SAN versus iSCSI SAN: Cost and scalability considerations

  Buying a new block-based storage array can be tough decision for data storage managers at SMBs. In the second part of our series on Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage area networks (SANs), we will discuss the cost and scalability considerations of each...Continue Reading

• How to determine a NAS system's scalability

  This tip covers scalability limitations of a network-attached storage (NAS) system, including maxed managed file limits, IOPS and throughput limits, and capacity limits. It can help you avoid application outages that occur when storage reaches ...Continue Reading

• SMB storage strategy tutorial

  Developing an effective storage strategy for the data center can be crucial for SMBs. Check out this guide for tips on developing an effective data center strategy, including information on outsourcing storage, cost-effective data security measures ...Continue Reading

• Pros and cons of storage capacity management tools

  Learn what storage capacity management tools can and can't do by looking at the operational problems they're attempting to solve.Continue Reading

• GUIs are nice, but don't overlook command-line interfaces: BEST PRACTICES

  While command-line tools may have their roots in Unix environments, they've come a long way and can be used in the same manner to accomplish many tasks on multiple storage platforms.Continue Reading

• Storage Tutorials

  Storage learning guides take you step by step through the storage buying process and list the best practices you need to be aware of before starting any technology upgrade or implementation.Continue Reading

• Best practices for Fibre Channel switching environments

  To find the best switch for your Fibre Channel SAN, you'll need to determine the application throughput and I/O for sizing that SAN.Continue Reading

• Applying ITIL best practices to storage explained

  More and more storage managers are embracing the ITIL framework of best practices.Continue Reading

• What software tools do you use to manage your storage systems?

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• Data migration tips

  Data moves. Or, it has to be moved when you're refreshing array technology, merging storage resources with an acquired company or shifting data around to more economical tiers. Data migration is a common task, but it's often a difficult one. We ...Continue Reading

• NAS best practices: Avoid file management nightmares by planning

  The good news is that you can get a NAS box up and running in 20 minutes. The bad news is that deploying your second, third and fourth NAS system creates a file management nightmare.Continue Reading

• Realizing benefits of storage consolidation sometimes easier said than done

  When done right, storage consolidation will reduces machine count and increases storage utilization. Just be sure to invest in vendor support, since problems stemming from consolidating a storage infrastructure will have a deep impact.Continue Reading

• How to create Tier 0 storage by leveraging solid-state drive technology

  With prices of solid-state drive (SSD) technology dropping, companies are starting to use SSD technology in a high-performance tier of storage called Tier 0.Continue Reading

• Best practices for getting the most out of an iSCSI SAN

  One best practice overrides all others when deploying an iSCSI SAN. An IT organization must separate the storage traffic, physically or logically, from the ordinary LAN traffic.Continue Reading

• Automate storage management

  IT process automation tools provide workflows that can help automate manual storage management processes. The real value is when these workflow engines are integrated with storage management apps to not only guide administrators through the process,...Continue Reading

• How to create an RFP for NAS

  Creating an RFP will help you boil your NAS vendor choices down to a manageable few. And your NAS RFP should include one technology: thin provisioning.Continue Reading

• Tips for creating LUNs

  LUNs are the cornerstone of a server's relationship with its attending storage platform. This article details what you need to consider when creating LUNs.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

• NAS system planning strategies

  Implementing a NAS environment requires a lot of planning. This tip tells you why location, power and allocation are vital to consider when installing a NAS.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

• Hot Storage Skills

  As storage becomes more complex and costly, businesses are seeking storage professionals who can architect various tiers of networked storage, document what they've done, and help their business units select the type of storage that best supports ...Continue Reading

• Handbook: Best practices for SAN expansion

  Best practices for SAN expansion include options for integrating SAN and NAS or iSCSI and Fibre Channel, evaluating capacity planning tools, as well as upgrading switches, disk arrays and HBAs.Continue Reading

• Comparing different backup strategies

  Review the primary options for backup including direct, network and SAN, and determine which solution is best for your backup strategy.Continue Reading

• Companies try green storage strategies to reduce power consumption

  Storage administrators are trying to mitigate the growing problems of power cost and availability by turning to green storage -- a broad mix of technologies and tactics intended to reduce power consumption not only in the data center but across the ...Continue Reading

• How to create a SAN performance baseline

  To understand SAN performance and what is normal SAN behavior, you must have a performance baseline.Continue Reading

• How to integrate iSCSI and Fibre Channel, and make it work

  Although companies of every size are embracing iSCSI SAN technology because of its lower cost and relative simplicity, there are situations where iSCSI and Fibre Channel coexistence makes sense. Here are eight best practices for integrating iSCSI ...Continue Reading

• How data deduplication works

  Chapter one of our data deduplication handbook takes you under the hood to show how data deduplication works so you can maximize the efficiency of this data reduction technology.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

• How to select a storage capacity planning tool

  To select a storage management and capacity planning tool, first calculate how much storage is available and how much of your total storage capacity is actually being used.Continue Reading

• Best Practices: Finding the logic in volume managers

  Host-based volume managers (also known as logical volume managers) are the most underrated or underutilized components in storage ecosystems. Here are seven reasons why they deserve some respect.Continue Reading

• How useful are storage benchmarks?

  Most storage vendors like to tout how well their gear performed on benchmark tests, but the results may not always be as they first appear. The benchmarking process can be easily manipulated because of the large number of variables that influence ...Continue Reading

• Top 10 tips for capacity management

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• Best practices for expanding or replacing disk arrays

  No matter how much storage capacity you squeeze into a disk array, eventually it will run out of room. Tiered storage tactics and data deletion policies can help you stay one step ahead, but no matter what, you'll periodically need additional ...Continue Reading

• How to reduce response time in a SAN

  When it comes to storage area network (SAN) metrics and measurements, such as bandwith, input/output per second (IOPS) and utilization, more is usually better. However, when it comes to response time and latency (the amount of time it takes to ...Continue Reading

• Ten tips to meet data compliance audits

  Here are 10 tips that will help you prepare for, and master, the inevitable data compliance audits.Continue Reading

• How to choose an e-discovery tool

  Here is a list of factors to consider when choosing an e-discovery tool.Continue Reading

• How to write an archiving program RFP

  With so many archiving systems on the market, putting together a request for proposal (RFP) for an archiving program for structured, semistructured or unstructured data is a key step. It's equally important that your team is well-prepared to ...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

• IBM washes hands of IceCube storage project

  IBM is spinning out its long overdue next-generation storage system, code-named IceCube, and is seeking $15 million in funding to commercialize the product.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

• Iron Mountain buys Accutrac for records management

  Continuing its effort to reinvent itself as an online backup and records management company, Iron Mountain announces its second acquisition in this market in as many months.Continue Reading

• What to expect from a storage audit

  This tip outlines the three main types of storage audits, what you stand to gain from each type and offers insight into the audit process.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

• Data retrieval strategies: Document management software overview

  This overview focuses on the role of document management software in data storage and how it can mitigate risk for the enterprise.Continue Reading

• Data retrieval strategies: Retrieving data from archives overview

  This overview highlights some of the key issues involved with retrieving data from archives, such as data security, indexing and searching, and data retention.Continue Reading

• What are SAS, SATA, Fibre Channel and FATA disk drives? When will there be an iSCSI disk drive?

  Well, with the right marketing and packaging, we could say there's already an iSCSI disk drive today...Continue Reading

• Why do enterprise storage arrays cost so much when hard drives are so cheap?

  Why the cost of an enterprise storage array costs so much more than the hard drives inside it.Continue Reading

• Best Practices: Balance workloads with RAID types

  Vendors will tell you how beautifully parity-based RAID works in their storage subsystems, making it almost unnecessary to use any type of striped/mirrored RAID protection. But if you don't match the workload profile of the application to how ...Continue Reading

• Specifications for storage capacity planning products

  Gauging storage needs over time is one of the biggest challenges faced by IT administrators, and a new generation of capacity planning tools is emerging to help forecast growth and utilization of storage resources, and even perform predictive ...Continue Reading

• How data deduplication eases storage requirements

  Storage administrators are struggling to handle spiraling volumes of documents, audio, video, images and large email attachments. Adding storage is not always the best solution, and many companies are turning to data reduction technologies such as ...Continue Reading

• Justifying your storage staffing

  Three things to consider when calculating staffing levels to get beyond staffing per terabyte.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

• 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

• Data storage quiz

  So you say you're an expert when it comes to backup or RAID or SANs? That's nice, but you have to admit there's just something about the well-rounded storage techie that makes him/her a hot commodity. Take our Data storage quiz and see how you stack...Continue Reading

• Data storage quiz cheat sheet

  If you must peek and cheat, here are the answers to our Data storage quiz.Continue Reading

• SAN consolidation strategies

  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.Continue Reading

• Data storage technologies quiz

  Sit down, grab a pencil and some paper, and list what you think are the top 10 data storage technologies of 2006. Then, take our quick quiz to see how many match up to our top 10 picks.Continue Reading

• Keep end-user storage under control

  With free email services offering up to 2 GB of storage, it's tough to convince corporate email users that mailbox limits are needed. But companies are realizing that user storage quotas are a necessary evil.Continue Reading

• Capacity planning: Reclaim orphaned storage

  This tip takes a look at how to maximize your storage capacity utilization by finding orphaned data and storage that can in turn be re-allocated for another productive use.Continue Reading

• How to improve SAN utilization

  Improve the utilization of your SAN in terms of performance, capacity and availability. These tips can be applied in principal to FC, iSCSI or InfiniBand block-based SANs, as well as NFS or CIFS file-based NAS environments.Continue Reading