Blog Archives

NAS vs. Object: HA w/o the headaches

Some systems are born with high availability, others have it thrust upon them. This seems to be the case when discussing the High Availability (HA) features of traditional NAS systems vs those of object storage systems. HA refers to the

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NAS vs. Object: Performance – Thinly Provisioned NAS

Network Attached Storage (NAS) filers were originally designed to be a central repository that provides fast access to frequently changing files on primary storage. NAS also makes it simple to add more storage capacity over existing Ethernet networks. However, the

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What Exactly is Software Defined Storage?

Software-Defined Storage (SDS) separates the storage software from the storage hardware. The result should be a model that allows organizations to buy storage hardware systems from multiple vendors that address specific use cases but have the ability to operate, not

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NAS vs. Object: Protecting High File Count Systems

The modern data center today is faced with storing, managing and protecting an ever-increasing torrent of data, most of which needs to be stored for indefinite periods of time due to various government rules, regulations and laws. File counts have

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Does SDS Kill the SAN?

Software Defined Storage promises adventurous IT professionals increased flexibility and potentially easier management of storage resources. And in many cases SDS delivers on that promise. But what about the legacy storage hardware and software already in the data center? Do

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Not all “Inline” Dedupe is actually Inline – and it matters

Those considering the purchase of a storage system that advertises deduplication as a feature need to know what real inline dedupe is, because it matters quite a bit. According to the online SNIA dictionary, there are two types of deduplication:

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NetApp Finally Pivots

Last month I attended Storage Field Day 9, which included a two-hour presentation at NetApp headquarters. My summary statement of what I learned from the briefing is that NetApp is pivoting. By that I mean that they seem to have

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The Problems with VMware Snapshots

There are generally three ways we create snapshots in this world: copy-on-write, redirect-on-write, and VMware’s way. As a result, you should delete VMware snapshots as soon as possible – preferably within a few minutes of their creation. A previous post

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Snapshot 101: Copy-on-write vs Redirect-on-write

There are two very different ways to create snapshots: copy-on-write and redirect-on-write. If IT is considering using the snapshot functionality of their storage system, it is essential to understand which type of snapshot it creates and the pros and cons

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