Problem solve
Get help with specific problems with your technologies, process and projects.
Problem solve
Get help with specific problems with your technologies, process and projects.
Advanced RAID functions
Part one introduced you to hot swapping, online capacity expansion and online RAID level migration. Part two exposes you to N-way mirroring, splitting and hiding and more. Continue Reading
The differences between Veritas Volume Manager and EMC SRDF
What are the benefits of increasing storage on my 6 GB hard drive?
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What is an intelligent switch?
Enterprise-class RAID functions: What they are and when to use them
This column explains these less familiar enterprise-class RAID features, starting with a set of features that ensure system uptime and flexibility. Continue Reading
Top 10 tips on storage management
Jamie Gruener offers his top 10 pieces of advice for storage managers.Continue Reading
Is it possible to implement a cluster with NAS technology?
Software mirroring vs. hardware mirroring
Point: What topics should user acceptance testing cover?
How to document a SAN
Effective SAN documentation will keep your systems up and running even if your entire staff gets hit by a bus.Continue Reading
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What is a NAS head?
The differences between iFCP and FCIP?
What are the pros and cons of micro-zoning?
Advantages of ATA and SATA disk drives
FCIP vs. iFCP
Mark Farley discusses the difference between iFCP and FCIP.Continue Reading
Three kinds of storage virtualization
What is a high availability VPN?
What is the difference between FCP, FCIP and iFCP?
What is the fastest SAN on the market?
Configuring your first SAN: Creating your LUNs
Configuring your first SAN: Usable versus raw storage
Making it a simple transition from NAS to SAN
Pros, cons of host-based technology for data migration
There are a number of good reasons to use host-based technologies for data migrations, and some bad ones. This tip covers both.Continue Reading
How to assign LUNs in a SAN
How WWNs are associated with LUNs
Six steps to improving disk throughput
In Windows 2000, while the disk system is the logical suspect in performance degradation, it's not the only possible culprit--it may mean you need more memory.Continue Reading
Calculating parallel availability
What to consider when calculating availability
NAS vs. Windows file server
CD-ROM vs. DVD for long term storage
Name servers in a multi-switch SAN fabric
How many storage admins do you need?
When creating your dedicated storage management group, there are better ways to determine staff levels than relying on a simplistic metric based on the number of terabytes per manager.Continue Reading
Creating an iSCSI SAN using only Ethernet switches
Set up persistent binding on an HBA
In this Ask the Expert Q&A, SAN expert Chris Poelker gives you the code to set up persistent binding on an HBA for a Unix host.Continue Reading
The best way to connect a NAS to a SAN
What is write order fidelity?
What is the format of WWN?
RAID-2 isn't being used much anymore
What causes slow startup in Windows 2000
Failure to keep your service packs up-to-date is one reason Win2000 can be slow to startup. Find out in this tip how the problem has been corrected.Continue Reading
Using NAS for database storage
This tip takes a look at online yellow page company YP.Net, and shows how their CTO optimized the company's database for high performance, and why he chose NAS storage over SAN.Continue Reading
Why port zoning is more important
Which switches to consider for iSCSI SANs
Which switch is best for an iSCSI SAN? Chris Poelker helps you determine the options.Continue Reading
The difference between volume and a LUN
The difference between Veritas Volume Replicator and Storage Replicator
An expert's recommendation for a SAN failover method
How FC-AL and FC-SW switches are implemented
SAN vs. NAS file sharing
The best practices of storage management
If you're going to try new technologies, you need to implement them with new processes and procedures to maximize their benefits. This tip will show you how.Continue Reading
Defining critical storage management functions
In this tip, expert Brett Cooper lists several leading areas critical to managing the day-to-day storage environment and a highlights a few improvements of current processes.Continue Reading
Troubleshooting Fibre Channel host bus adapters in PCs
Installing HBAs to connect a desktop system to a SAN doesn't always go smoothly. This tip will help you get the HBA working in short order.Continue Reading
iSCSI, FC, zoning and speed
RDCs and SDCs: How to replicate data between clustered nodes
Backup and availability experts describe the difference between using a replicated data cluster (RDC) versus a shared data cluster (SDC), and why one is better.Continue Reading
Set up RAID on tape
How do you get better tape performance? Why not try setting up a tape RAID system? This tip explains how to get it done.Continue Reading
Make sure you inventory your tapes
Some advice on conducting periodic inventories of your tapes.Continue Reading
Questions a CIO should ask when considering consolidation, Part 1
How will you implement RAID?
Different ways and tradeoffs for each.Continue Reading
SAN migration and implementation
How and where to use snapshot technology
Discover the differences among snapshot, clone and snapclone.Continue Reading
Data management, the next major vendor battleground
Bits & Bytes: Storage expert Randy Kerns explores the importance of lifecycle data management and why vendors need to deliver a timely and effective solution.Continue Reading
How to secure NFS access to NAS devices
Bits & Bytes: Security expert Vijay Ahuja discusses several approaches to prevent unwarranted user access to NAS devices, when made via the Network File System (NFS).Continue Reading
Which SAN cache do you need?
Beware of data loss in cache.Continue Reading
Fibre Attached Storage products
How to determine the number of HBAs per server
Comparing SCSI and ATA drives
Bits & Bytes: Author of "The Backup Book" continues his comparision series by looking at SCSI vs. ATA drives.Continue Reading
The advantages of serial ATA over parallel ATA
Bits & Bytes: Author of "The Backup Book" Dorian Cougias breaks down the benefits of serial ATA as the storage industry transitions off of parallel ATA.Continue Reading
Five rules for migrating from DAS to SAN
Migrating your data from a DAS storage environment to a SAN can be a difficult process. Here are five rules every storage manager should follow.Continue Reading
Prepare a tech-support checklist
What should be on that list.Continue Reading
Disk and tape on the same HBA? Think again.
Don't connect tape and disk to the same HBA in a SAN.Continue Reading
Shared file systems: An overview
At their core, shared file systems let multiple users access the same files at the same time. Learn about the different products in this space and the categories they fall into.Continue Reading
The pros and cons of a single vendor environment
Storage assessment tools
If I want to do a storage assessment what tools would I need? Are there any hidden areas that I need to watch out for?Continue Reading
What to consider when evaluating file systems
Looking to file systems to provide better file management and heterogeneous support for your networked storage resources? Analyst Jamie Gruener shares how to go about your search.Continue Reading
Simplify your storage management process
Using IDE architecture
Calculating costs of SAN and NAS
Dos and don'ts of SAN cabling
Fiber optic cable is one of the simplest parts of a SAN and one of the most time-consuming to troubleshoot. Here's how to insall and troubleshoot it.Continue Reading
Backup basics: Three backup plans -- ten tape backup
Backup basics: Three backup plans -- ten tape backupContinue Reading
Direct access storage device (DASD) maximum speed
The primary role of an HBA
How to set up a poor man's SAN
Problems with dynamic disk information under Windows
SAN booting tricks
What you need to know to set up a SAN -- Part 1
SAN disk sharing and server access
SAN speed and server accommodation
SD2003: The pros and cons of content-addressed storage (CAS)
File location independence, authenticity of your files, and the elimination of redundancy are just a few of the benefits of content-addressed storage (CAS) as cited by Arun Taneja.Continue Reading
Using SRM for backup
Storage managers aren't just looking for storage resource management (SRM) tools to help with primary storage allocation anymore -- but also for secondary storage purposes.Continue Reading
The myth of the nines
The nines of reliability is a theory that refers to the percentage of time a system is running. But the theory's flaw is that it doesn't consider the timing of a system outage.Continue Reading
What do you need to consider when selecting a transmission medium?
SAN traffic and trunking
How do I document my SAN, Part 1
How to calculate availability
DR planning phase three: Implementation
This is the third of four parts of a mini-tutorial covering the disaster recovery planning process, covering the final phase, which you can refer to as Plan Implementation.Continue Reading
The guidelines of data retention
Bits & Bytes: Have you ever wondered how long you need to keep your data? Bill Oliver goes over the rules of data retention.Continue Reading
Audit your SAN's security risks
This tip describes checklists for auditing the security of your storage area networks (SANs).Continue Reading
The benefits of WORM disk
New read-once write-many (WORM) disk is gaining regulatory acceptance. Read about the two WORM disk leaders, EMC's Centera and Net App's SnapLock here.Continue Reading
What to do when HDLM creates an error
Which is better for HA, shared storage or disk data replication?
Questions to ask when making storage purchase decisions, part 2
Sharing tapes and disks over the same HBA not a best practice