How to do storage virtualization right
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Although storage virtualization technology is fairly new, it's quickly gaining traction in the enterprise. In 2006, 20% of 1,017 companies surveyed by Forrester Research had adopted storage virtualization. By 2009, 50% of those enterprises expect to.
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(Source: SEPATON) ESG Lab reviews SEPATON's enterprise-class virtual tape library systems to validate backup/restore performance of over 17TB per hour, dramatically accelerating data protection.  In addition, SEPATON's DeltaStor de-duplication software exceeded company claims of 50:1 de-dupe ratios to help companies mitigate growing disk storage costs. Uncover more "outstanding" results in the full report.
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Decide to do something about portable data storage now rather than later. Let your auditors and risk management staff know that 4GB dip sticks are here, and 1.6TB gel disks are around the corner.
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MSA line gets makeover Hewlett-Packard has reworked its low-end storage line to make some new systems more virtualization friendly for SMBs and remote offices.â¦
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Virtualization looks tasty, but VMware is so scary -- let's shack up with another also-ran!
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Virtualization on the Mac is a fairly new phenomenon, and getting here took some doing. Columnist Richard Hoffman explains.
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Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 handles the new server chips optimized for virtualization, takes regular backups snapshots, is easier to use and costs less, says reviewer Jonathan Hassell.
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The pervasiveness of large files and even virtualization technology are driving data overload and forcing corporate IT leaders to find ways to centralize storage.
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(Source: Computerworld)  When it comes to storage systems, small and medium-sized businesses have had their share of challenges. Even when some storage vendors have tried to address the unique needs of the SMBs, it has been with underpowered versions of their enterprise-class products. The advent of unified network storage, exemplified by the DellTM PowerVaultTM NX1950, has dramatically altered the SMB landscape by combining iSCSI and NAS capabilities in a single, highly functional package that delivers simplified management and enhanced scalability at a cost-efficient price point.
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Setting up a file server doesn't need to be complicated. read more
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(Source: Network Appliance)  Deduplication and other emerging storage optimization technologies help companies quickly drive down storage costs and simplify data storage management. Learn how you can: reduce storage capacity requirements by as much as 95%, implement deduplication transparently without affecting performance, and lower your total disk storage and data center costs.
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Server virtualization software is gaining more and more users. But many are finding that there's a shortage of IT workers with virtualization skills, forcing them to adopt self-teaching strategies.
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(InfoWorld) - Managing transportation logistics is all about handling scale. As transportation management services firm Transplace added consumer goods companies such as Del Monte, Office Depot, Home Depot, Auto Zone, and DirecTV as customers, it needed to quickly bring server capacity online. Already planning a hardware refresh to support continued growth, CTO Vince Biddlecomb decided to bring in server virtualization at the same time so that he'd have a more scalable, flexible platform for that anticipated growth. Biddlecomb uses EMC VMware on his Sun servers mainly to support Oracle databases and J2EE applications on BEA's WebLogic Web server. He liked the fact that the technology was operating system- and hardware-agnostic, as his datacenter supports a range of technologies. And he found the virtualization approach to be less complex than, for example, running his Oracle databases on an IBM Power6-based System p 570 server, which he had considered initially. "We have all 12 instances sit on two logical partitions. We can configure the CPU and memory for each, and share when they are not busy," Biddlecomb says. But adopting virtualization required a deeper investment in datacenter hardware, Biddlecomb discovered, because virtualization changes the fundamental character of what is being supported. "You look at it as a pool of memory and CPUs. You just drop a couple VMs to increase capacity," he says. But treating servers as instances of capacity from a large pool of resources means that pool has to be kept available and running well. To do so, Biddlecomb discovered he needed to beef up the network I/O capabilities of the physical servers to avoid network traffic contention across the VMs sharing those ports. "We put more NICs in to them, since there is more network activity going on," he says. He also discovered he needed to beef up his SAN storage to support all the VMs that began to be created and to provide sufficient failover capacity in case of failure. "You can very quickly suck up 500GB or 1TB of storage for the VMs," Biddlecomb says. Although you no longer need storage in the servers themselves, you need more storage in the SAN, and that storage tends to be costlier. The more fine-grained your servers, the more storage you need, Biddlecomb notes. He likes to have more, smaller virtual servers so that each has a specific purpose that lets it be added or deleted easily without worrying about other applications that could be affected. But with 20GB of overhead for each virtual server, that approach can quickly eat up storage. Altogether, the use of virtualization roughly doubles the cost of a physical server, Biddlecomb says. He spends about $12,000 for a Dell server with extra NICs, plus $6,000 for VMware, and $5,000 for the associated enterprise storage. Because he had already planned to replace all his servers, there was no additional sticker shock from the fact that all physical servers needed CPUs from the same family, but most enterprises would require a complete server refresh. "You need to commit to building that infrastructure," he says. Biddlecomb also notes that the CPU-family restriction will limit how he can deploy virtualization in the future, and force him to forgo incremental technology improvements until the next server refresh. He's already been forced to do so: "We'll stick with our Intel servers even though the AMD [Barcelona-class Opteron] servers look to be better for memory management." One way he will work around that limitation in the future is to put physical servers into one of two clusters, one inside the DMZ and one outside. That way, he can stage his hardware refreshes by cluster, rather than do everything at once. Ultimately, Biddlecomb sees the use of virtualization as cost-neutral when it comes to the hardware side. "But you get a large savings in administration," he says. He has about 120 virtual servers spread out over 30 servers, administered by just two people. Virtualization special report Case study: Credit Suisse Case study: Nationwide Insurance Case study: Purdue University Case study: Stonebridge Bank
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Hitachi Data Systems has announced a new enterprise storage lineup to include features such as a virtualisation which allows customers to manage up to 32Petabytes of internal and external storage.
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Virtualises storage for its utility data centre Carphone Warehouse has tapped storage newbie 3PAR for 24TB of virtualised disk storage.â¦
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(Source: Brocade)  Download this free eBook and learn new ways to regain control over the growing amount of file data in your enterprise. See how you can optimize file management projects without disrupting users&or your weekends. And learn how File Area Networks (FANs) can help you centralize file consolidation, migration, replication, and failover. Key topics include how to configure a virtualized, location-independent view of your file data-as well as the basics of creating a reliable FAN that maximizes your IT resources while improving file access. Download this eBook and start streamlining your file management projects today!
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TechWeb - Look for SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 applications to run as a virtualized guest on Longhorn, for starters.