Nigel

A collection of 184 posts

Nigel

HP EVA lab tour video - this is good!

Last week at HP Tech Day in Colorado Springs, invitees were given a guided tour of the impressive HP StoprageWorks EVA tast lab.  Initially we were told "no cameras", but after being so impressed with the tour and facility, I badgered HP and they reversed their original decision and decided

FCoE

Why HP should buy Brocade

One of the rumours doing the rounds today is that Brocade are apparently up for sale [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470560542363315.html?mod=rss_Deals_and_Deal_Makers] or at least considering the possibility - I stress at the moment of writing this that it is pure speculation.  Clearly

FCoE

Why HP should buy Brocade

One of the rumours doing the rounds today is that Brocade are apparently up for sale [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125470560542363315.html?mod=rss_Deals_and_Deal_Makers] or at least considering the possibility - I stress at the moment of writing this that it is pure speculation.  Clearly

FCoE

FCoE: Unovering the CNA - Deep Dive

Continuing with my current theme of Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and at the request of several people, this post will take a close look at Converged Network Adapters (CNA). Now then, there is no easy way to put this, but to do justice to a topic like this will require

FCoE

FCoE: Unovering the CNA - Deep Dive

Continuing with my current theme of Fibre Channel over Ethernet, and at the request of several people, this post will take a close look at Converged Network Adapters (CNA). Now then, there is no easy way to put this, but to do justice to a topic like this will require

FCoE

FC: recapping FC flow control

Amid all the discussion of FCoE and the many requests to cover more aspects and underlying technologies, I thought it probably a good idea to take a step back for a moment and recap flow control in native FC networks.  After all, FCoE is almost a transplant of FCP onto

FCoE

FC: recapping FC flow control

Amid all the discussion of FCoE and the many requests to cover more aspects and underlying technologies, I thought it probably a good idea to take a step back for a moment and recap flow control in native FC networks.  After all, FCoE is almost a transplant of FCP onto

FCoE

FCoE: Real world deployment video...

In keeping with my current focus of attempting to shed some light on FCoE and help people learn and realise some of the beneits, the link below is to a video that Cisco will be putting up tomorrow (10am PDT). Its an interview with Sr Director of IT at the

FCoE

FCoE: Real world deployment video...

In keeping with my current focus of attempting to shed some light on FCoE and help people learn and realise some of the beneits, the link below is to a video that Cisco will be putting up tomorrow (10am PDT). Its an interview with Sr Director of IT at the

FCoE

FCoE: Cables and the likes....

Ewan Leith (@ewantoo) asked if I could whip something up re cables and infrastructure required for FCoE (DCE/CEE).  So here goes. I think there has been a lively discussion on FCoE over the last 24-48 hours and it would be good to keep it going…… Before I start I’

FCoE

FCoE: Cables and the likes....

Ewan Leith (@ewantoo) asked if I could whip something up re cables and infrastructure required for FCoE (DCE/CEE).  So here goes. I think there has been a lively discussion on FCoE over the last 24-48 hours and it would be good to keep it going…… Before I start I’

FCoE

FCoE Lesson #1

Following on from Hu Yoshidas apparent blunder over FCoE and lossy networks [http://blogs.hds.com/hu/2009/09/san-volume-controller-revisited.html], I thought I’d do my bit to clear things up and shed some light.  Knowing a thing or two about FCoE I’m regularly amazed at how little

FCoE

FCoE Lesson #1

Following on from Hu Yoshidas apparent blunder over FCoE and lossy networks [http://blogs.hds.com/hu/2009/09/san-volume-controller-revisited.html], I thought I’d do my bit to clear things up and shed some light.  Knowing a thing or two about FCoE I’m regularly amazed at how little

Nigel

Not your grandmothers "enterprise"

UPDATE: I have removed this post due to glaring innacuracies - I trusted my engineer (never again!!) and didnt do my background checking.  Apologies and no harm intended.

Nigel

Not your grandmothers "enterprise"

UPDATE: I have removed this post due to glaring innacuracies - I trusted my engineer (never again!!) and didnt do my background checking.  Apologies and no harm intended.

Dynamic Provisioning

HDP - Response to Marc Farley

Below are some notes to the above videos (especially for those in quiet offices who can’t watch the video yet). I posted the video in response to Marc Farleys recent video and comments [http://www.storagerap.com/2009/06/hds-catastrophic-storage-management.html] on Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning, as well as other

Dynamic Provisioning

HDP - Response to Marc Farley

Below are some notes to the above videos (especially for those in quiet offices who can’t watch the video yet). I posted the video in response to Marc Farleys recent video and comments [http://www.storagerap.com/2009/06/hds-catastrophic-storage-management.html] on Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning, as well as other

Nigel

SATA in a USP V. As rare as hens teeth

This post is for anyone interested in Hitachi storage who feels like they’ve had enough HAM [javascript:void(0);/*1244054677436*/] for a lifetime and just wants a taste of something different for a change…. One of the projects I’m currently working on involves deploying a new USP V

Nigel

SATA in a USP V. As rare as hens teeth

This post is for anyone interested in Hitachi storage who feels like they’ve had enough HAM [javascript:void(0);/*1244054677436*/] for a lifetime and just wants a taste of something different for a change…. One of the projects I’m currently working on involves deploying a new USP V

Nigel

USP V Clustering - initial thoughts

Some very early thoughts on yesterdays clustered storage arrays announcement - Hitachi High Availability Manager, or HAM for short. Where I come from in the world, "ham" is pig meat.  Let's hope this doesn't turn out to be a technology that resembles slapping lipstick on a pig, in an attempt

Nigel

USP V Clustering - initial thoughts

Some very early thoughts on yesterdays clustered storage arrays announcement - Hitachi High Availability Manager, or HAM for short. Where I come from in the world, "ham" is pig meat.  Let's hope this doesn't turn out to be a technology that resembles slapping lipstick on a pig, in an attempt

Nigel

USP V: Unofficial manual (early draft for download)

UPDATE:  Version 0.003. Updated info on Hitachi, HDS, HP and Sun Corrected some typos, clarified some points and corrected some mistakes. v0.002 updates: Updated content includes section on RAID6 contributed mainly by Devang Panchigar at http://storagenerve.com/ as well as content on RAID1 and HDP 42MB Page

Nigel

USP V: Unofficial manual (early draft for download)

UPDATE:  Version 0.003. Updated info on Hitachi, HDS, HP and Sun Corrected some typos, clarified some points and corrected some mistakes. v0.002 updates: Updated content includes section on RAID6 contributed mainly by Devang Panchigar at http://storagenerve.com/ as well as content on RAID1 and HDP 42MB Page

Nigel

Symmetrix V-Max

Since I'm recovering on the couch from a small operation and therefore with time to spare I thought Id join the throng in commenting on Symmtrix V-Max....For perspective – At the time of writing, I don’t work for EMC and I don’t work for any of their competitors.

Nigel

Symmetrix V-Max

Since I'm recovering on the couch from a small operation and therefore with time to spare I thought Id join the throng in commenting on Symmtrix V-Max....For perspective – At the time of writing, I don’t work for EMC and I don’t work for any of their competitors.