Storage

Big data storage architecture: Categories, strengths and use cases

We explore distributed nodes, scale-out NAS, all-SSD arrays and object storage as choices for a storage architecture for big data. Continue Reading

By

• Phil Goodwin, IDC

Fact or fiction? Flash SSD storage is faster than HDD storage

The general perception of SSD storage is that it's always faster than HDD storage. Marc Staimer examines whether that's actually true. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

How does storage thin provisioning work with Hyper-V automatic trim?

Learn how Windows Server 2012 R2's automatic trim feature frees up capacity from thinly provisioned virtual hard disks. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

August 2013: Cloud-based disaster recovery

Storage magazine's August issue examines cloud-based disaster recovery, how to set up storage to work with Hyper-V virtual machines and looks at mobile device backup. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Security top concern in online file sharing and collaboration

As the online file-sharing and collaboration market grows, so does the opportunity for users and hackers to damage the data and reputation of firms. Continue Reading

By

• Terri McClure

Problems with using SSDs for write caching and how to avoid them

Marc Staimer looks at using SSDs for write caching and explains why most storage SSD caching is write-through and not write-back. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

Why is persistent cache important?

Leah Schoeb, partner with Evaluator Group, discusses the importance of persistent cache in this Expert Answer. Continue Reading

By

• Leah Schoeb, Evaluator Group

Use Windows Server 2012 R2's Storage QoS feature to boost performance

Learn how the new Storage QoS feature in Windows Server 2012 R2 can boost storage performance and make the best use of capacity. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Best practices for SSD technologies

No longer a luxury item for well-heeled data centers, SSD technologies are more affordable than ever and come in a variety of form factors with a choice of deployment options. Continue Reading

By

• Dennis Martin, Demartek

July 2013: Get the most out of solid-state storage

Storage magazine's July issue explores solid-state technology options, explains how to take control of file sync and share, and looks at the impact of LTFS. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

How cloud providers are using NAND flash technology today

Leah Schoeb, senior partner with Evaluator Group, discusses how cloud providers are using flash today in this Expert Answer. Continue Reading

By

• Leah Schoeb, Evaluator Group

Managing data with an object storage system

Use this guide to understand everything you need to know about object storage systems as they gain popularity in big data and cloud environments. Continue Reading

Making sense of software-defined storage

Use this guide to help understand what vendors mean by 'software-defined storage,' what experts think of it and how to use it in your environment. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/essentialguide/Software-defined-storage-Making-sense-of-the-data

Storage technology learning materials RSS feed is moving!

As of July 1, the Storage technology learning materials RSS feed will be moving off of the Pheedo platform. Instead, please bookmark the following URL to make sure you continue to receive our content: http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/rss/Storage-technology-learning-materials.xml Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

News and trends in the storage industry RSS feed is moving!

As of July 1, the News and trends in the storage industry RSS feed will be moving off of the Pheedo platform. Instead, please bookmark the following URL to make sure you continue to receive our content: http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/rss/News-and-trends-in-the-storage-industry.xml Continue Reading

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LUN storage: Working with a SAN's logical unit numbers

This guide provides a complete picture of LUN implementations, including best practices for LUN mapping and management. Continue Reading

How Windows Server 2012 R2 will change storage management

Microsoft MVP Brien Posey explains how new features in Windows Server 2012 R2, such as native tiering and deduplication, affect storage management. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Hadoop clusters: Benefits and challenges for big data analytics

Brien Posey explains how Hadoop clusters can be extremely beneficial to large amounts of unstructured data, but aren't ideal for all environments. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Top tips for OpenStack Swift object storage use

Senior cloud architect Beth Cohen offers tips on how to use OpenStack Swift object storage in the most efficient and economical ways. Continue Reading

By

• Carol Sliwa

June 2013: Archiving to improve data storage efficiency

Storage magazine's June issue explores data archiving technology for effective storage management, converged systems and Quality Awards for backup and recovery software. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

How to align laptop flash drive partitions in Windows

Marc Staimer outlines how to ensure that your laptop flash drive partitions are aligned properly in this Expert Answer. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

RAID alternatives: Will erasure codes rule?

Learn why the reliability of RAID technologies could be related to the increased use of erasure coding by both new and established storage vendors. Continue Reading

By

• Jon Toigo

Data durability guarantees shouldn't be big concern with cloud storage

Data durability guarantees of cloud storage providers shouldn't be a big point of concern for customers; they're too tough to measure and enforce. Continue Reading

By

• Carol Sliwa

Can object storage systems be used with file-based apps?

Learn how to use applications such as Microsoft Exchange or SQL Server with object storage systems on the back end. Continue Reading

By

• George Crump

How can host-based and array-based data replication techniques be compared?

Learn the benefits and drawbacks to host-based and array-based replication methods to determine which one better suits your environment. Continue Reading

By

• George Crump

As a backup target, when is VTL better than NAS?

Eric Slack of Storage Switzerland says that, as a backup target, a VTL might be a better choice than NAS. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Slack, Evaluator Group

Storage thin provisioning: Comparing implementation types

Analyst Erick Slack explains how to create a thin volume, migrate from thick to thin provisioning and determine when to use thin provisioning. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Slack, Evaluator Group

Feature highlights of EMC's ViPR

Dave Raffo, senior news director at SearchStorage, highlights some features of EMC's newly announced ViPR software-defined storage platform. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Raffo-EMCs-ViPR-first-step-in-defining-software-defined-st

Schulz: ViPR aimed at service providers, enterprise storage

Greg Schulz of Storage IO urges IT administrators to take a look beyond EMC's marketing and view ViPR as a tool to help bridge servers to storage. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Schulz-ViPR-aimed-at-service-providers-enterprise-storage

10 ways to improve virtual server storage

Virtual server storage operations can have a profound effect on the storage network. Here are 10 ways to help ensure that your storage yields its best I/O for the VMs it supports. Continue Reading

By

• David Davis

MRAM technology likely choice as post-flash solid-state storage

NAND flash-based storage is becoming a common alternative, but NAND flash could soon be replaced by newer forms of non-volatile memory like MRAM technology. Continue Reading

By

• Mike Matchett, Small World Big Data

May 2013: Virtual server storage

Storage magazine's latest issue provides 10 ways to speed up virtual server storage. Also in this issue: backup appliances and our latest Storage Purchasing Intentions survey. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Manufacturing NAND flash chips

NAND flash chips are made in fabrication plants known as fabs. Market oversupply or undersupply can cause manufacturers to alter production plans. Continue Reading

By

• Carol Sliwa

Hyper-V 3.0’s virtual Fibre Channel feature explained

Microsoft MVP Brien Posey walks users through the process of establishing virtual Fibre Channel connectivity from a virtual machine to SAN storage. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

PowerShell tutorial: Managing Windows Storage Spaces

This PowerShell tutorial shows users how to fully interact with Windows Storage Spaces, which will help them script the storage provisioning process. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

What is erasure coding?

These expert definitions provide a brief history of erasure coding and I/O contention. Learn how these terms affect not only your data, but your storage environment. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Pros and cons of backup tape encryption

Independent backup expert Brien Posey outlines what's good and what's bad about backup tape encryption in this tip. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Top 5 VMware terms you should know

A complete guide to the top five most-searched VMware terms on Storage Media Group sites Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/guides/Top-5-VMware-terms-Frequently-searched-definitions

Vblock vs. Flexpod: Comparing integrated stacks

Explore definitions, product comparisons and market statistics to understand and determine which integrated stack is right for your environment. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/guides/FlexPod-vs-Vblock-A-comparison-of-the-integrated-stacks

Making the switch to VHDX

Microsoft MVP Brien Posey explains the benefits of using the VHDX format, and provides step-by-step video instructions on how to convert VHD files to VHDX files. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Storing data in the cloud: Primary and near-line data

Wayne Pauley, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, explores storing data in the cloud, such as primary storage and near-line data, and how to evaluate gateways. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Five LUN storage questions for pros

Learn what expert Brien Posey has to say to storage administrators about five questions they have about LUN storage in their environments. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Streaming large video files in today's big data environments

Solid-state drives are a good choice for streaming large video files. Other factors to consider include cost and how often video will be accessed. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Top 5 VMware terms you should know

The Storage Media Group compiled definitions for the five VMware terms most searched by our readers. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/guides/Top-5-VMware-terms-Frequently-searched-definitions

IBM SmartCloud Enterprise–Object Storage cloud plans expansion

IBM SmartCloud Enterprise–Object Storage cloud service plans to expand and offer customers 99.999% availability with three or more copies of data. Continue Reading

By

• Carol Sliwa

Backup challenges: Slow backup and recovery, growing capacity demands

Our recent survey data indicates slow backup and recovery, growing capacity demands and virtual server backup remain IT pain points. Continue Reading

By

• Andrew Burton and John Hilliard

April 2013: Rethinking storage architectures

Storage magazine's latest issue describes alternatives to traditional storage systems. Also in this issue: cloud backup and keeping tabs on disk usage. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Solving SQL VSS writer problems during backup

Backup expert Brien Posey explains how to solve common SQL VSS writer problems users can face during SQL database backups. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Survey finds cloud storage implementation growing but cautious

Cloud storage implementation by users ranges from backup and DR to tiering. We reveal the most-used cloud storage applications and access methods. Continue Reading

Microsoft VHDX format: Understanding benefits, conversion process

Virtualization expert David Davis explains how the new VHDX format in Windows Server 2012 has improved environments, and how to convert old VHD files. Continue Reading

By

• David Davis

March 2013: 10 tips for surviving a disaster

In Storage magazine's latest issue, Jon Toigo lists 10 key points to help you build a DR plan. Also in this issue: PCIe flash storage and Quality Awards for enterprise-class arrays. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Tegile Zebi HA2800 Storage Array

The Tegile Zebi HA2800 multiprotocol array can be used as an all-flash system or in front of a pool of hard drives as a hybrid array. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

NexGen Storage Inc. n5-150 Storage System

IT admins using the NexGen Storage n5-150 Storage System can guarantee performance to each app and isolate workloads from one another on the SAN. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

February 2013: 2012 Products of the Year

Storage magazine's latest issue reveals the winners of our annual Products of the Year competition. Also in this issue: storage for virtual servers and storage networking. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

2012 Products of the Year winners

Find out the 14 best data storage products in Storage magazine's/SearchStorage.com's 2012 Products of the Year competition. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/guides/Best-data-storage-products-2012-Products-of-the-Year

The king of all backup jobs: Backing up the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the ultimate backup job, preserving petabytes of Internet data and created from turning physical files into digital ones. Continue Reading

By

• John Hilliard, TechTarget

Can shared storage be used with Hadoop architecture?

Storage expert John Webster discusses three ways to use shared storage together with Hadoop architecture in this Ask the Expert answer. Continue Reading

By

• John Webster, Evaluator Group

How to access cloud storage: Transfer, retrieval not so simple

Public cloud data access is straightforward, but data transfer to another provider or in-house could leave users on their own, analyst warns. Continue Reading

By

• Carol Sliwa

RHEV 3.1 storage: Functionality and considerations

Virtualization expert Sander van Vugt explains how RHEV storage works and discusses some of the new storage features in version 3.1. Continue Reading

By

• Sarah Wilson, Associate Site Editor

Ten questions to help compare cloud storage services

Cloud storage expert Arun Taneja suggests 10 questions to help you successfully compare cloud storage services. Continue Reading

By

• Arun Taneja, Taneja Group

Products of the Year 2012 finalists

We reveal the 52 data storage systems finalists that stood out in the Storage magazine/SearchStorage.com 2012 Products of the Year competition. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

Data storage companies focus on flash M&A potential

Our 'Mergers and Acquisitions 2012' slideshow reviews which data storage companies made significant purchases in the industry last year and why. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/photostory/2240175817/Data-storage-companies-focus-on-flash-MA-p

Data storage companies focus on flash M&A potential

Find out which data storage companies have made significant flash storage purchases and why. Continue Reading

January 2013: The truth about solid-state storage performance

Storage magazine's latest issue looks at how vendors calculate their solid-state storage performance specs. Also in this issue: storage tiering and Quality Awards for NAS systems. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Should you believe vendors’ jaw-dropping solid-state performance specs?

The benefits of solid-state storage are clear -- cool running, space-saving and blistering performance. But just how “blistering” is that performance? Data storage vendors toss previously unheard of numbers around, like millions of IOPS, to show the speed of their hybrid and all-solid-state drive arrays … but are they really that fast? We take a look at how the vendors get their numbers, and what numbers are meaningful for your environment.
Storage tiering’s been around for a while, but has recently received a boost from solid-state. We look at who’s doing what with automated tiering and describe some of the tiering specs that will be most important to you.

And for the seventh year, users register their satisfaction (or disappointments) with midrange and enterprise-class network-attached storage (NAS) systems in the latest installment of our Quality Awards for NAS. Continue Reading

December 2012: Hot technologies for 2013

Storage magazine's latest issue explores which techs will reshape storage in the coming year. Also in this issue: the state of backup dedupe and Quality Awards for tape libraries. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

What you need to know about improving iSCSI performance

Storage expert Dennis Martin discusses how technologies like Data Center Bridging, CHAP, IPsec and iSCSI offload adapters affect iSCSI performance. Continue Reading

By

• Dennis Martin, Demartek

November 2012: Storage pros are rewarded

Storage magazine's latest issue offers data points from our annual Salary Survey. Also in this issue: file storage focuses on scalable NAS and our Purchasing Intentions survey. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

Understanding unified storage architecture

Randy Kerns explains that there's more than one way to build a unified storage architecture in this Storage Decisions 2012 TechTalk. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Understanding-unified-storage-architecture

Storage infrastruggle: Jon Toigo on today's data management issues

In this video tip series, Jon Toigo outlines the seven most important data management issues that make up what he calls the 'storage infrastruggle.' Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/guides/Storage-infrastruggle-Jon-Toigo-on-todays-data-management

Comparing SLC SSD with DRAM SSD when it comes to IOPS

Find out how DRAM SSD and SLC SSD compare when it comes to IOPS and if you need a DRAM solution in this Expert Response from Marc Staimer. Continue Reading

By

• Marc Staimer, Dragon Slayer Consulting

Data management techniques more important than ever

In this Storage Decisions Chicago 2012 video, Jon Toigo discusses data management techniques that can help you control the data in your environment. Continue Reading

— http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Enforce-data-management-techniques-to-keep-up-with-data-gr

October 2012: Slimmer storage

Storage magazine's latest issue explores data reduction technologies for primary storage. Also in this issue: virtualization and DR, and software speeds up SSDs. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

September 2012: Cloud storage for mobile devices

Storage magazine's latest issue explores new ways to deliver, protect and back up mobile data. Also in this issue: Virtual server backup and Quality Awards for midrange arrays. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

The storage-for-VDI equation: Capacity, IOPS, TCO, ROI and persistency

A virtual desktop project can bring savings and efficiency to IT operations, but storage for VDI is a complex issue, and the wrong choices can hobble the project. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

August 2012: All-solid-state arrays

Storage magazine's latest issue delves into the emerging all-flash storage array market. Also in this issue: Efficient storage techniques and cloud disaster recovery. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage

Third-party tools help with VMware monitoring for storage

Third-party tools provide a single interface to help IT shops monitor the performance of storage, servers and network traffic in VMware environments. Continue Reading

Advantages of using an object storage system

Learn the advantages of implementing an object storage system in your data storage environment. Continue Reading

By

• Jacob Gsoedl

July 2012: Flash!

Find out how flash can pump up virtual desktop performance in Storage's July issue. Also in this issue: Tuning storage for database apps and building a 10 GigE storage network. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

Persistent VDI vs. non-persistent VDI and their effect on storage resources

Learn the difference between persistent VDI and non-persistent VDI, how they affect storage and which one carries advantages in terms of capacity and backup requirements. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Citrix StorageLink integrates SAN with virtualization environment

Find out what benefits Citrix StorageLink delivers to Citrix XenServer, such as access to advanced features on the storage array, offloading of storage operations to the array, and more. Continue Reading

By

• Sander van Vugt

Protecting petabytes: Best practices for big data backup

How do you protect the massive data sets? Learn the best practices and products used for big data backup disaster recovery. Continue Reading

By

• Todd Erickson

June 2012: Object-based storage

Storage's June issue tells why object-based storage is the future of enterprise storage. Also in this issue: configuring storage for virtual desktops and our latest Quality Awards. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

SAN backup and recovery

Moving data can complicate your backup efforts. In this tip, you’ll learn backup goals for SAN environments and backup methods to achieve those goals. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Define SSD: Top terms you need to know

How do you define SSD? Check out this list of important SSD terms. The list includes terms you should know and some that may seem obscure. Continue Reading

By

• Ed Hannan

May 2012: Cloud archiving

Storage's May issue explores cloud archiving services and how they can work in your data shop. Also in this issue: DAS and the results of our Storage Purchasing Intentions survey. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

Various cloud gateway options and use cases

Arun Taneja explains why a cloud gateway is essential for cloud storage, and drills into the various types of cloud gateways on the market today. Continue Reading

By

• Arun Taneja, Taneja Group

Five data protection guidelines for business continuity

Storage expert Jon Toigo offers data protection guidelines to help storage admins achieve the best possible results when protecting data in their care. Continue Reading

By

• Jon Toigo

April 2012: Integrated cloud backup

Storage's April issue explains how to integrate a cloud backup service with your current backup and DR ops. Also in this issue: managing storage for virtual servers and big data. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

RAID with SSD: A primer

While RAID is still a storage standard, questions remain about RAID’s relevance with SSDs. This tip will explore the basics of using RAID with SSD. Continue Reading

By

• Mark Peters

Choose an integrated stack for efficiency, easy storage implementation

An integrated stack bundles servers, storage and networking in a preconfigured product and is easy to install and manage. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Slack, Evaluator Group

Storage Decisions University

Storage Decisions University is a new always-on learning environment designed to provide learning content to you, the storage decision maker, affected by daily storage and backup challenges. Continue Reading

— Storage Decisions University

March 2012: Get the most out of solid-state storage

Storage's March issue describes how solid-state storage is changing the data center. Also in this issue: virtual I/O for storage networks and Quality Awards: Enterprise Arrays. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

February 2012: 2011 Products of the Year

Storage magazine's February issue offers our 2011 Products of the Year awards in six categories. Also in this issue: new tape technologies and how storage stacks stack up. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

Best data storage products 2011

The 2011 Products of the Year recognizes the best storage products in backup and DR software/services, backup hardware, networking and more. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

How to implement storage virtualization technology at the server level

Learn about storage virtualization technology at the server-, or host, level, including info on products from Virsto, VMware, DataCore, LeftHand and FalconStor. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Slack, Evaluator Group

January 2012: Pick the right DR site

Storage magazine's January issue helps you determine the best recovery site setup for your money. Also in this issue: backing up remote site data and Quality Awards for NAS. Continue Reading

— SearchStorage.com

Block-level storage virtualization: Reasons to implement it

Learn about the reasons to implement block-level storage virtualization, in Part 1 of a four-part series. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Slack, Evaluator Group

I/O performance in need of a fix

Despite technological advances, unacceptable I/O performance could hold the entire industry back. Here are some solutions that have materialized. Continue Reading

By

• Arun Taneja, Taneja Group

Enterprise storage trends: SSDs, capacity optimization, auto tiering

Several enterprise storage trends are emerging at big and small storage vendors. Find out why certain technologies are trending and what they can do for your storage environment. Continue Reading