Software Defining Your Storage

There is a lot of talk in the technology industry of “software defining”, the idea that elements of our technology stack, traditionally based on a hardware appliance can be abstracted from it and made available as a software-only appliance that can be installed on any hardware.  But why? Wouldn’t you rather your key assets were… Read more »

The Renaissance of Data ONTAP

The genesis of NetApp, initially known as Network Appliance is ONTAP or Data ONTAP.  NetApp developed the ONTAP “storage operating system” to run on their original filer platforms.  It’s amazing to think the underlying technology from 1992 still drives the majority of their storage platforms today.  How has ONTAP managed to survive so long and… Read more »

The need for self-describing secondary data

As primary data becomes ever more portable, we need to ensure that our backups have the same levels of flexibility to be moved, stored and used wherever we need them.  Why is this important, and what features should we look out for? Data Protection in a Multi-Cloud World The Need for APIs in Storage and… Read more »

Can the WekaIO Matrix file system be faster than DAS?

There’s a standard adage in the storage industry.  If you want lower latency and better performance, then move storage closer to the processor.  Typically, this means implementing DAS – Direct Attached Storage – and eliminating a shared network.  So how can WekaIO Matrix, a distributed scale-out file system claim to be better than DAS yet… Read more »

Pure Storage ObjectEngine for Flash-based Backup

Back in August 2018, Pure Storage announced the acquisition of StorReduce, a start-up company with a nifty data de-duplication engine.  That technology has been put to good use and now appears in ObjectEngine, a backup-to-flash data protection solution. StorReduce As previously highlighted, I looked at StorReduce in 2015 and was quite positive about the technology. … Read more »

VAST Data launches with new scale-out storage platform

“Build it and they will come” they say, or at least, something similar.  So, Vast Data has built a new scale-out storage platform and hopes that customers will flock to adopt it.  It’s 2019 – do we need another scale-out storage architecture? Amelioration I’m sure when we reflect on products that have gone before, we… Read more »

Pure Storage announces NVMe-oF support for FlashArray

Pure Storage recently announced support for NVMe over Fabrics on FlashArray.  The technology is implemented by an upgrade to Purity (the platform O/S) and installation of RDMA-capable Ethernet NICs.  Pure has chosen to go with Ethernet as the first NVMe fabric offering, while other vendors have chosen the Fibre Channel route.  How has this choice… Read more »

Exploiting secondary data with NDAS from NetApp

Occasionally a technology leaps out at you, not for the current capabilities, but for potential future value.  That’s a feeling I had when I heard about NDAS or NetApp Data Availability Services.  At first glance, NDAS looks like nothing more than a simple backup-to-cloud tool, but dig into how the data is managed and you… Read more »

Podcast #3 – Chris & Matt review the SFD18 presenters

Here’s a little extra podcast Matt Leib and I recorded this afternoon in preparation for Storage Field Day 18.  You can tell this wasn’t recorded in a studio, but actually Matt’s hotel room!  Matt preps coffee in his mini-Nespresso device while we discuss each of the presenting vendors. The discussion is ad-hoc, off the cuff… Read more »

The Need for APIs in Storage and Data Protection

The idea of programmatically managing infrastructure provides capabilities to scale, manage and control technology much more effectively than can be achieved through manual methods.  But the use of APIs means so much more than simply providing an interface that can be automated.  APIs introduce greater efficiency and accountability into storage platforms.  We look at how… Read more »

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Latest

  • Technology First? Requirements First!

    As more an observer of the technology industry these days, something struck a chord with me as I listened to a recent podcast recording.  Paul Stringfellow hosts a weekly podcast called Tech Interviews.  In Episode 77, he spoke to Matt Watts from NetApp on “cloud first” as a strategy.  The TL;DR of the discussion is… Read more »

  • HDD Capacity Threshold Reaches 15TB

    Western Digital has announced what is currently the largest capacity hard drive available on the market today.  The Ultrastar DC HC620 has 15TB of capacity in a helium-filled 3.5″ form-factor.  This is a 7% increase (or obviously 1TB) over the 14TB drive announced in October 2017. Incremental The new capacity drive looks more like an… Read more »

  • IBM Buys Red Hat

    Probably the biggest talking point this week is the announcement that IBM intends to buy Red Hat Inc, purveyor of the open source Red Hat operating system and an entire ecosystem of products around it.  The acquisition is interesting, firstly because of the attention it has garnered, but also for the implications to public cloud,… Read more »

  • Database Replication is Hard

    I can only feel sympathy for the team at GitHub, after they suffered an outage recently, due to issues with database replication.  The problem was caused by a mere 43-second break in network connectivity.  We’ve all been there – keeping replicated data in sync is a thankless task and one that can be a nightmare… Read more »

  • Evolving Enterprise Storage Buying Models

    One of the most tedious of tasks I’ve had to undertake over the years has been the planning and deployment of new storage technology.  In that respect, I’m not referring to the physical installation, but rather the process of capacity planning, sourcing and agreeing terms on new storage capacity.  Increasingly, internal businesses consume storage on-demand… Read more »

  • Building a modern data platform – exploiting the cloud

    This is a guest post by Paul Stringfellow from Gardner Systems and was originally posted at “Building a modern data platform – exploiting the cloud” where you can also find Paul’s “Tech Interviews” podcast. No modern data platform would be complete if we didn’t talk about the use of public cloud. Public cloud can play a very… Read more »

  • Building a modern data platform – Out on the edge

    This is a guest post by Paul Stringfellow from Gardner Systems and was originally posted at “Building a modern data platform – Out on the edge” where you can also find Paul’s “Tech Interviews” podcast. In this series so far we have concentrated on the data under our control in our datacentres and managed clouds and protected… Read more »

  • Building a modern data platform – Prevention (Office365)

    This is a guest post by Paul Stringfellow from Gardner Systems and was originally posted at “Building a modern data platform – Prevention (Office365)” where you can also find Paul’s “Tech Interviews” podcast. In this series so far, we have looked at getting our initial foundations right and ensuring we have insight and control of our data… Read more »

  • Building a modern data platform – Control

    This is a guest post by Paul Stringfellow from Gardner Systems and was originally posted at “Building a modern data platform – Control” where you can also find Paul’s “Tech Interviews” podcast. In the first parts (here and here) of this series we have looked at ensuring the building blocks of our platform are right… Read more »