Tips

Tips

• vStorage APIs for Multipathing: How the APIs work

  While using vStorage APIs for Multipathing improves storage efficiency, improper configuration and compatibility problems can affect their operation. Find out how the APIs work.  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

• Automated storage tiering options for your environment

  Automated storage tiering (AST) is an integrated feature in many appliances, but there are several different options to choose from.  Continue Reading

• Should you bypass the hypervisor for storage I/O?

  Passing storage I/O through a hypervisor can seem inefficient, so does it make sense to bypass the hypervisor and allow virtual machines to mount data storage directly?  Continue Reading

• Cloud service-level agreement shields data from outages

  With cloud outages still frequent and unpredictable, a cloud service-level agreement provides added protection for organizations looking to safeguard their data.  Continue Reading

• VMware’s vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI): How they work and which arrays support them

  The vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) offload storage tasks from the virtual server host to the storage array. Find out which vendors support them and how to disable them.  Continue Reading

• Storage vMotion: Application and performance

  In this tip, learn how Storage vMotion operates, its uses, its system requirements and the steps to take to perform a Storage vMotion.  Continue Reading

• Hyper-V P2V conversion process and storage considerations

  Learn how to perform a Hyper-V P2V conversion, and find out how to best handle iSCSI- and Fibre Channel-based storage for Hyper-V guest machines  Continue Reading

• Storage thin provisioning benefits and challenges

  Storage thin provisioning requires transparency into your storage environment and an understanding of how the technology works. We detail the benefits and challenges.  Continue Reading

• Using SSD technology to support memory overcommitment in vSphere

  Using SSD in a vSphere environment helps with memory overcommitment. Find out how memory overcommitment works and why SSD is better at supporting it than mechanical disk.  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

• FCoE SAN multi-hop technology primer

  FCoE SAN is growing in popularity, but the lack of multi-hop switching support remains a problem. Find out what vendors and users are doing to improve FCoE performance.  Continue Reading

• How to avoid VDI boot storm problems using SSD

  Learn about the two ways to use solid-state drives (SSDs) to avoid a VDI boot storm problem, including putting certain files on SSD and using SSD as a caching layer.  Continue Reading

• The impact of SSD technology on the network and CPU

  SSD technology can have a noticeable effect on the network and CPU utilization. Learn how increased traffic loads can change the bottlenecks in your environment.  Continue Reading

• SSD caching vs. primary storage for data placement

  SSD caching and primary storage are the two main ways to implement solid-state storage technology with respect to data placement. We explain both strategies.  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage options: Public vs. private vs. hybrid cloud storage

  Cloud storage options include public cloud, private cloud and hybrid cloud storage. We weigh their scalability, security, performance, reliability and cost.  Continue Reading

• Using NAS storage devices in a virtualized server environment

  Are NAS storage devices a fit for a virtual server environment? We list factors in choosing these devices, and explain their impact on your storage systems.  Continue Reading

• Storage area network basics you need to know before you buy a SAN

  Before you buy a SAN for your SMB, be sure to review these storage area network basics first.  Continue Reading

• Thin provisioning storage benefits

  This tip provides an overview of thin provisioning storage, some of its benefits, and potential downsides.  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 efficiency  Continue Reading

• ATA over Ethernet protocol overview for data storage managers

  The ATA over Ethernet (AoE) protocol, backed by Coraid, is used by some data storage managers for low-cost, high-volume storage. Learn 10 AoE protocol facts  Continue 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

• RAID technology advances with wide striping and erasure coding

  Discover why technology like wide striping, storage virtualization and erasure coding is changing our assumptions about RAID technology and data protection.  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

• Getting started with an iSCSI storage system: An iSCSI primer

  A lot of SMBs are realizing that iSCSI is a good fit for them. Find out what you need to get started with your first iSCSI storage system.  Continue Reading

• Is PCIe SSD right for you? Deploying PCI Express SSD devices

  Learn about the PCI Express (PCIe) solid-state drive (SSD) market, how and where to deploy PCIe SSD in your environment, and challenges with the technology.  Continue Reading

• Unified storage plays important role in data storage environments

  Find out how unified storage works, benefits of the technology, possible challenges with a unified storage architecture and the future of unified networking  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

• How to increase your iSCSI SAN's performance

  Read this tip to learn about how to increase your iSCSI SAN's performance and learn other iSCSI SAN troubleshooting tips.  Continue Reading

• Design your SAN for high availability

  How, and at what cost.  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

• Incorporating an iSCSI storage system into your Ethernet network

  iSCSI storage systems have many benefits for SMBs. Here's what you need to know before incorporating iSCSI into your existing Ethernet network.  Continue Reading

• Choosing a SAN technology: Fibre Channel vs. iSCSI

  In part three of our series, we examine several misconceptions about FC vs. ISCSI SANs and how to choose the right SAN technology for your SMB.  Continue Reading

• iSCSI storage area networks explained

  In part two of our series, we examine the features of an iSCSI SAN to help you decide if it's the best SAN technology for your SMB.  Continue Reading

• Understanding data deduplication for primary storage

  When applying data deduplication to primary storage should you use inline deduplication or post-processing deduplication? What data selection criteria should you use when deciding to apply deduplication technology to your primary storage?  Continue Reading

• The anatomy of a SAN: Fibre Channel SAN explained

  In part one of our series, we examine the features of a Fibre Channel SAN to help you decide if it's the best SAN technology for your SMB.  Continue Reading

• Erasure codes: The foundation of RAID 6 arrays

  RAID 6 arrays offer users better data protection because they utilize erasure codes that make them more reliable than current conventional parity solutions.  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

• Dynamic storage tiering options

  Find out why you should deploy dynamic storage tiering, and learn about the various DST product categories and how to choose the right one for your environment.  Continue Reading

• Data reduction techniques for primary data storage systems

  Learn about the most popular data reduction techniques for your primary data storage systems.  Continue Reading

• Self-healing systems and RAID technology

  Find out how Atrato, DataDirect Networks, Panasas and Xiotech use RAID technology in self-healing systems and also deal with hard disk drive (HDD) failures.  Continue Reading

• Affordable shared storage options for VMware vSphere

  In order to use many of the advanced features in VMware vSphere, you need a shared storage device. This tip offers a list of the most common shared storage options from different vendors.  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

• Unified storage benefits, implementation and challenges

  Unified storage, or multiprotocol systems, enable block and file data to be stored in a single system. Learn how to implement, deploy and manage a unified storage system.  Continue Reading

• The components that make up a well-balanced data storage system

  Learn about the various components in your data storage system including server architecture, HBAs, SAN components and external disks and disk controllers.  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

• iSCSI in VMware environments: Best practices

  Learn why you should treat iSCSI as a storage network, consider using only software initiators in iSCSi and why VMware vSphere 4 is a perfect fit for iSCSI.  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

• Solid-state drives vs. hard disk drives: How to justify the cost of an SSD

  Learn about the best use cases for solid-state drives (SSDs) and why applications that directly impact revenue are a perfect fit for the technology.  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

• Tiered storage: A look at internal and external tiered storage models

  Tiered storage tools can help organizations meet information lifecycle management (ILM) goals. Learn about the internal and external tiered storage tools available from 3PAR, EMC, HDS and IBM.  Continue Reading

• How to use flash-based SSDs in your environment

  We tell you how the combination of flash memory and SSDs can help your organization achieve higher performance levels, cut storage costs and improve green storage initiatives.  Continue Reading

• Choosing a NAS filer for small and medium-sized businesses

  Learn what a NAS filer is, if it's suitable for your SMB and how to choose the right one for your data storage environment.  Continue Reading

• Director switch comparison: Brocade DCX Backbone versus Cisco Systems MDS 9500

  Are you looking for director switch for your SAN? We compare the Brocade DCX Backbone and Cisco Systems MDS 9500 offerings in terms of latency, throughput and FCoE support.  Continue Reading

• Cloud storage pricing revealed: Hidden costs include data migration and access fees

  Learn more about the hidden costs of cloud storage, including data migration costs, storage and access fees, portable device handling fees and more.  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

• Data protection and data security for corporate laptops in SMBs

  As more people travel with corporate data in their laptops, how can you be sure that data in your SMB environment is secure? Follow these tips to ensure data security in laptops.  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

• 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

• Performance metrics: Evaluating your data storage efficiency

  Learn how performance metrics can evaluate the efficiency of your enterprise data storage resources in terms of capacity utilization, performance and data protection.  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

• Factors to consider when implementing Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)

  Learn the differences between implementing Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) and iSCSI, the costs of upgrading to FCoE and more.  Continue Reading

• Data storage for virtual environments: Pros and cons of DAS, NAS, and SAN

  Learn about the pros and cons of DAS, NAS, and SAN storage technologies for your virtual environment.  Continue Reading

• Addressing storage performance bottlenecks in enterprise data storage

  Learn how to address the various types of enterprise data storage performance bottlenecks, including server bottlenecks, storage system bottlenecks and I/O path bottlenecks.  Continue Reading

• Data archiving: Three key elements

  Whether you're using a consolidated or unified approach, learn why archiving software, storage hardware and management software should be part of any data archiving system.  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

• How to select a storage automation product

  Features to look for include a configuration management database with a scalable data collection mechanism, operationally focused reporting, a service portal and task automation.  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

• Choosing a storage system for data archiving

  Learn whether a unified, multiprotocol storage system or a consolidated storage system is best for archiving data in your business. Which one allows the index and content to share space, and eases management?  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

• Data retention policies and procedures for SMBs

  Data retention isn't just something larger enterprises can afford to worry about; it's also important for SMBs to have data retention policies and procedures in place.  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

• Guidelines for implementing virtualization in your storage infrastructure

  Virtualization is showing up in all layers of the storage infrastructure. Storage managers need to balance the benefits of virtualization against the complexity it brings. Here are some guidelines for implementing virtualization in your storage ...  Continue Reading

• SaaS shopping list for SMBs

  Storage-as-a-service (SaaS) companies have changed how they operate. Learn what to look for when shopping for an online data backup provider with this product features checklist.  Continue Reading

• SAN storage consolidation checklist

  Learn about the critical questions you need to ask and answer before considering a storage-area network (SAN) storage consolidation project.  Continue Reading

• Using NAS NFS with VMware ESX: Technology pros and cons

  NAS NFS can be an efficient network storage methodology when dealing with VMware ESX and thousands of virtual machines, but NAS performance can be an issue.  Continue Reading

• What you need from a third-party storage service provider

  Third-party data storage vendors can help SMBs with limited resources make strategic decisions and navigate data storage. This tip will help you make the important decisions that are involved in selecting third-party support.  Continue Reading

• Choosing a midrange network-attached storage (NAS) system

  Midrange network-attached storage (NAS) appliances can be an affordable solution for SMBs in today's do-more-with-less economic climate. Learn how to choose the NAS system that best fits your storage environment.  Continue Reading

• Wide stripe before you dive into SSD

  Storage managers should consider physical disk technologies before plunging into SSD for storage IO performance. One of the processes existing vendors provide is called wide striping. It's most often available inside storage subsystems from 3PAR, ...  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

• Fibre Channel SAN versus iSCSI SAN: Reliability and performance

  Buying a new block-based storage array can be tough decision for data storage managers at SMBs. In this first part of our series on Fibre Channel and iSCSI storage area networks (SANs), we'll compare the reliability and performance of these ...  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

• 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

• iSCSI vs. Fibre Channel for SMBs

  Deciding whether to use iSCSI or Fibre Channel to build your storage area network (SAN) can be crucial to effectiveness of the implementation. This tip discusses the pros and cons of iSCSI and Fibre Channel in the SMB market.  Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of solid-state drives for notebook computers

  A solid-state drive (SSD), like the name suggests, consists of flash memory, similar to what's in USB flash drives or Secure Digital media cards. This tip discusses the The pros and cons of solid-state drives in an SMB environment.  Continue Reading

• What are the key differences between SATA II vs. SATA I?

  New SATA II-based drives will make their way into the enterprise because of three features: port multipliers, port selectors and native command queuing.  Continue Reading

• High performance computing demands special backup approach

  For storage administrators, the increasing popularity of HPC servers translates into unique backup challenges.  Continue Reading

• Do you really need NAS?

  There are no short, hard-and-fast rules when it comes to determining if a small to midsized business (SMB) needs network-attached storage (NAS). In this tip, Tory Skyers discusses the advantages and disadvantages of networked storage in an SMB ...  Continue Reading

• MAID and other energy-saving storage technologies for SMBs

  The cost to power and cool data storage gear is eating up IT budgets. In this tip, Daniel Dern discusses eight ways that small to midsized businesses (SMBs) can keep storage energy costs down while addressing potential impacts on response time, ...  Continue Reading

• The pros and cons of thin provisioning

  Most storage area networks (SANs) have a section in their marketing material entitled "Thin Provisioning," but what is it, how does it work and why does it matter? In this tip, Mark Arnold discusses how thin provisioning can help with both the ...  Continue Reading

• Troubleshooting SAN performance issues

  SAN troubleshooting is tough because good design is not always obvious and Fibre Channel standards make interoperability a concern. This tip will review some common problem areas with SANs, describe how to diagnose problems and offer some ...  Continue Reading

• Moving from DAS to NAS

  As the volume of data and the number of users in SMBs grow, direct-attached storage (DAS) becomes harder to manage. In this tip, Rick Cook discusses how SMBs can benefit from adding storage to their existing networks in the form of NAS.  Continue Reading

• How to boot from a SAN

  Not too long ago, the idea of storing a server's operating system on the SAN was treated with skepticism. Now, with the growing adoption of iSCSI storage, some SMBs moving to networked storage are reconsidering having their servers boot from shared ...  Continue Reading

• How to consolidate NAS boxes

  By now, we all know that network-attached storage (NAS) can provide benefits for small-midsized businesses (SMBs). However, managing more than a few NAS devices quickly becomes a burden, swapping the value out of NAS simplicity. This tip discusses ...  Continue Reading

• Determining the number of drives in a RAID group

  How many drives in a RAID group will it take to give you the performance you need for a database or email or file server, or for that new VMware implementation?  Continue Reading

• Five ways to control RAID rebuild times

  Hard disk capacities are rapidly increasing, and so are RAID rebuild times. This article offers five tips for keeping RAID rebuilds reasonable.  Continue Reading