Today technology has progressed offering many new functions and ways to deliver. Initially it was primarily an in-house capability. A customer first had to train two-three IT staff, then provide the necessary hardware at the archiving site and then for the DR site. Next came the professional services to set up the system and hands-on train their staff to this new environment.
Budgets were then established for the installation then, of course, annual Maintenance charges (usually 20% of the initial sale). Of course software upgrades due to Microsoft or the vendor also needed to be considered. True, tried and tested ZANTAZ now owned by Autonomy and their Idol search engine who has had its challenges integrating it into EAS in place of Alta vista and Mimosa (now owned by Iron Mountain).
Then along came "hosted or cloud solutions." This solution did not require any of the above but a monthly per user charge. Global Relay the leader in this field at about $10/user month and Red Condor a recent start up delivering a mature archiving solution at only $4/user/month. Hosted solutions are making good progress securing the customers email as the email is kept on the providers location not the customers. Acceptance is slow coming but as new things usually do.
Both have their benefits depending on the situation.
NavigateStorage invites you to discuss your challenges with Email, files, Instant Messaging. Give us a call 978-318-9000 or write.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
AutoVirt - NavigateStorage finds a jewel
Consolidation projects mean moving data from many to fewer devices. This means that you must schedule maintenance windows, migrate the data manually, and reapply client shortcuts after migration. This can take weeks! Get up and running with AutoVirt and schedule your consolidation project to run in less than one day - without maintenance windows.
Read about how A&W in Canada meet Success with File Virtualization.
Then contact us 1-978-318-9000 or ask for more info on the webpage NavigateStorage
Read about how A&W in Canada meet Success with File Virtualization.
Then contact us 1-978-318-9000 or ask for more info on the webpage NavigateStorage
NavigateStorage offers Assureon from Nexsan
Why would anyone store dozens or even hundreds of copies of the exact
same file? They wouldn’t. And yet that is exactly what many businesses
are doing.
NavigateStorage says Assureon is a better way - a way that greatly reduces management headaches and minimizes storage consumption.
Assureon from Nexsan gives organizations the ability to keep only one copy of each file stored, regardless of how many users write that file to storage. Assureon uses single instance store technology, a function of Content Addressed Storage, to identify duplicate files and store only a single copy of a file. This deduplication process is performed automatically with Assureon and is transparent to the user. By intelligently transferring and storing a single instance of any archived file, Assureon dramatically reduces storage consumption, network bandwidth and overall cost.
Assureon is designed around the Content Addressed Storage (CAS) object storage model. CAS technology produces a unique digital identifier or fingerprint for all objects, based on their content. This object storage model stores files, images, recordings, email, and so on, as objects with a unique universal identifier. This fingerprint provides the unique CAS address that is used to store, retrieve and verify the integrity of the archived file. In an object model, the archived physical object is completely separate from the logical location or application. This approach simplifies management and allows greater scalability over traditional file system models. Administrators can now be relieved of performing typical storage housekeeping tasks, such as formatting file systems, creating volumes and binding LUNs (logical unit numbers).
Please call us at 978-318-9000, visit our website or write.
same file? They wouldn’t. And yet that is exactly what many businesses
are doing.
NavigateStorage says Assureon is a better way - a way that greatly reduces management headaches and minimizes storage consumption.
Assureon from Nexsan gives organizations the ability to keep only one copy of each file stored, regardless of how many users write that file to storage. Assureon uses single instance store technology, a function of Content Addressed Storage, to identify duplicate files and store only a single copy of a file. This deduplication process is performed automatically with Assureon and is transparent to the user. By intelligently transferring and storing a single instance of any archived file, Assureon dramatically reduces storage consumption, network bandwidth and overall cost.
Assureon is designed around the Content Addressed Storage (CAS) object storage model. CAS technology produces a unique digital identifier or fingerprint for all objects, based on their content. This object storage model stores files, images, recordings, email, and so on, as objects with a unique universal identifier. This fingerprint provides the unique CAS address that is used to store, retrieve and verify the integrity of the archived file. In an object model, the archived physical object is completely separate from the logical location or application. This approach simplifies management and allows greater scalability over traditional file system models. Administrators can now be relieved of performing typical storage housekeeping tasks, such as formatting file systems, creating volumes and binding LUNs (logical unit numbers).
Please call us at 978-318-9000, visit our website or write.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
AutoMAID™ Energy Saving Technology
Nexsan's evolutionary AutoMAID (Automatic Massive Array of Idle Disks) energy saving technology transparently places disk drives into an idle state to vastly reduce power and cooling costs. AutoMAID delivers the cost-effecdtive benefits of MAID 2.0 without the limitations of slow access times and special host software.
AutoMAID is granular to an individual drive or RAID set and offers multiple levels of energy savings. AutoMAID is user selectable enabling users to determine the right level of response time performance to energy savings. AutoMAID is the first MAID 2.0 architecture that supports VTL, full file format D2D and standard high performance RAID implementations.
LISTEN to this brief summary from NEXSAN. Contact NavigateStorage to see how competitively price this solution can be.
AutoMAID is granular to an individual drive or RAID set and offers multiple levels of energy savings. AutoMAID is user selectable enabling users to determine the right level of response time performance to energy savings. AutoMAID is the first MAID 2.0 architecture that supports VTL, full file format D2D and standard high performance RAID implementations.
LISTEN to this brief summary from NEXSAN. Contact NavigateStorage to see how competitively price this solution can be.
Email Archiving and Nexsan Assureon
Solutions for Email Archiving Businesses large and small are facing numerous challenges today in managing their growing repositories of email, including:
* Email required to be preserved and proven unalterable for many years based on new compliance regulations
* Exploding volume of email to archive Troublesome retrieval of email from traditional tape or optical archives when required for legal discovery or compliance
* Limited available storage space means that users must periodically either delete email or archive it offline
* Nexsan's Assureon storage appliances provide safe, cost-effective means to archive the growing volumes of email, yet keep them online and rapidly retrievable.
Businesses can now keep a complete archive of all their employees' email messages without requiring them to regularly clean out their email inbox and decide which messages to keep in order to free up space. At the same time, Assureon appliances dramatically reduce the time required to backup current, active email by offloading archived email into a separate repository. Other benefits include:
* Ensuring email contents are unalterable by permanently saving the messages into a WORM Compliant disk archive
* Immediately access, search, and retrieve the complete email archive
* Reduce email server license costs by offloading email to a separate archive sooner
NavigateStorage, a NEXSAN Partner believes that depending on what email archive application you use, the Assureon storage appliance can be set up and in use within one hour. Preloaded software features simple browser-based management and built-in "drag-and-drop" file management.
For pricing and details contact Jim at NavigateStorage and click on "More Info" on the NEXSAN webpage.
* Email required to be preserved and proven unalterable for many years based on new compliance regulations
* Exploding volume of email to archive Troublesome retrieval of email from traditional tape or optical archives when required for legal discovery or compliance
* Limited available storage space means that users must periodically either delete email or archive it offline
* Nexsan's Assureon storage appliances provide safe, cost-effective means to archive the growing volumes of email, yet keep them online and rapidly retrievable.
Businesses can now keep a complete archive of all their employees' email messages without requiring them to regularly clean out their email inbox and decide which messages to keep in order to free up space. At the same time, Assureon appliances dramatically reduce the time required to backup current, active email by offloading archived email into a separate repository. Other benefits include:
* Ensuring email contents are unalterable by permanently saving the messages into a WORM Compliant disk archive
* Immediately access, search, and retrieve the complete email archive
* Reduce email server license costs by offloading email to a separate archive sooner
NavigateStorage, a NEXSAN Partner believes that depending on what email archive application you use, the Assureon storage appliance can be set up and in use within one hour. Preloaded software features simple browser-based management and built-in "drag-and-drop" file management.
For pricing and details contact Jim at NavigateStorage and click on "More Info" on the NEXSAN webpage.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Nexsan Assureon
To insure that your archived data - email, files, even Sharepoint are compliant - tamper-proof then NavigateStorage recommends you let them tell you about Nexan's Assureon.
Assureon is a Secure Online Disk Archive
* Compliant-level privacy, integrity and longevity
* Self-auditing, self-healing file management technology
* Enterprise class manageability, scalability and energy efficiency
* Affordable: enterprise class archive to meet your needs at a price to meet your budget
Privacy – Integrity – Longevity
Most storage systems provide you "hope" - hope about your data privacy, integrity and longevity. But there is some data that demands guarantees.
Can you guarantee a file. . . has not been tampered with? is safe from prying eyes? is not corrupted over time?
What you need is a storage system that is as secure as a safe deposit box and as easy to access as your wallet. Nexsan’s Assureon online disk storage archive provides the privacy, integrity and longevity of a digital safe deposit box with the high speed access of disk drive technology.
Assureon assures Privacy Assureon ensures the privacy of data with innovative security features:
* Data Separation and SecurityEvery user or department can have their files in their own virtual safe deposit box. Within Assureon, your data is logically and physically separate from the rest of the data ensuring privacy and security.
* Access Audit TrailAssureon establishes an unalterable audit trail for the life of an archived file. Every time a file is accessed, a record is kept of who accessed it and when it was accessed.
Assureon assures IntegrityAssureon ensures the integrity of data with next generation self-auditing and self-healing technology
* Fingerprint & IntegrityWhen data is archived, it is assigned its own unique fingerprint that stays with the file through its life cycle. If a single byte ever changes, the fingerprint will change. Revolutionary safeguards have been put into place to ensure that a file will retain its exact fingerprint through its life cycle.
* Self-Auditing and Self-HealingAssureon continually monitors files for fingerprint discrepancies protecting against tampering, viruses, corruption, accidental or deliberate deletion and theft. If discrepancies are discovered, Assureon notifies you and automatically self-heals the file.
Let's discuss your needs. And if you also need an archiving solution we have them too. Mimosa,
Zantaz, Global Relay and Red Condor.
Assureon is a Secure Online Disk Archive
* Compliant-level privacy, integrity and longevity
* Self-auditing, self-healing file management technology
* Enterprise class manageability, scalability and energy efficiency
* Affordable: enterprise class archive to meet your needs at a price to meet your budget
Privacy – Integrity – Longevity
Most storage systems provide you "hope" - hope about your data privacy, integrity and longevity. But there is some data that demands guarantees.
Can you guarantee a file. . . has not been tampered with? is safe from prying eyes? is not corrupted over time?
What you need is a storage system that is as secure as a safe deposit box and as easy to access as your wallet. Nexsan’s Assureon online disk storage archive provides the privacy, integrity and longevity of a digital safe deposit box with the high speed access of disk drive technology.
Assureon assures Privacy Assureon ensures the privacy of data with innovative security features:
* Data Separation and SecurityEvery user or department can have their files in their own virtual safe deposit box. Within Assureon, your data is logically and physically separate from the rest of the data ensuring privacy and security.
* Access Audit TrailAssureon establishes an unalterable audit trail for the life of an archived file. Every time a file is accessed, a record is kept of who accessed it and when it was accessed.
Assureon assures IntegrityAssureon ensures the integrity of data with next generation self-auditing and self-healing technology
* Fingerprint & IntegrityWhen data is archived, it is assigned its own unique fingerprint that stays with the file through its life cycle. If a single byte ever changes, the fingerprint will change. Revolutionary safeguards have been put into place to ensure that a file will retain its exact fingerprint through its life cycle.
* Self-Auditing and Self-HealingAssureon continually monitors files for fingerprint discrepancies protecting against tampering, viruses, corruption, accidental or deliberate deletion and theft. If discrepancies are discovered, Assureon notifies you and automatically self-heals the file.
Let's discuss your needs. And if you also need an archiving solution we have them too. Mimosa,
Zantaz, Global Relay and Red Condor.
Labels:
Nexsan Assureon
NEC Storage
SAN, NAS, disaster recovery, non-disruptive backup, and more
Accelerating deployment of broadband Internet and IT in business has been rapidly driving corporations toward global business collaboration with partners all over the world. Needless to say, the amount of accumulated data in a company is exploding. In this day and age, for corporations to strengthen their competitiveness, they have to find out how to strategically leverage the growing data.
NEC Storage provides the answer for your new storage strategy with a wide array of products, including NEC Storage D series of storage products for storage area networks and NEC Storage NAS Series for network-attached storage.
Visit NavigateStorage - We sell a wide variety of vendors and solutions including Data De-Dup, SAN's, NAS, DR, and more
Labels:
NEC Storage
Stonefly's StoneFusion from NavigateStorage
The award-winning StoneFusion® Intelligent Network Storage Platform (NSP), StoneFly's patent-pending baseline storage networking architecture, reduces the total cost of ownership by lowering management costs and increasing storage utilization.
By adding block level storage intelligence to the IP networking core, StoneFusion powered Storage Concentrators deliver all the benefits of managed SANs, including increased storage utilization through resource consolidation, storage provisioning, access control, volume management, and feature-rich managed storage supporting advanced storage services including clustering, mirroring, and snapshotting.
At the core of StoneFusion is a robust storage virtualization engine that enables provisioning of physical storage resources in to virtual storage volumes. These logical volumes are presented to the host as normal SCSI disks, using industry standard hardware and software iSCSI initiators. With StoneFusion the power of IP SAN centralization is at your fingertips.
Why not let NavigateStorage tell you more and learn your challenges. Then offer a solution. Call Jim at 978-315-9000
By adding block level storage intelligence to the IP networking core, StoneFusion powered Storage Concentrators deliver all the benefits of managed SANs, including increased storage utilization through resource consolidation, storage provisioning, access control, volume management, and feature-rich managed storage supporting advanced storage services including clustering, mirroring, and snapshotting.
At the core of StoneFusion is a robust storage virtualization engine that enables provisioning of physical storage resources in to virtual storage volumes. These logical volumes are presented to the host as normal SCSI disks, using industry standard hardware and software iSCSI initiators. With StoneFusion the power of IP SAN centralization is at your fingertips.
Why not let NavigateStorage tell you more and learn your challenges. Then offer a solution. Call Jim at 978-315-9000
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Nexsan Technologies - SATABeast Xi
Nexsan Technologies - SATABeast Xi: "SATABeast Xi with AutoMAID™ Energy Saving Technology
SATABeast Xi is a high performance, high capacity RAID storage system with the energy saving benefits of MAID 2.0 (Massive Array of Idle Disks). SATABeast Xi employs Nexsan's revolutionary AutoMAID energy saving technology to transparently place disk drives into an idle state vastly reducing power and cooling costs. AutoMAID delivers the cost-effecdtive benefits of MAID 2.0 without the limitations of slow access times and special host software.
AutoMAID is granular to an individual drive or RAID set and offers multiple levels of energy savings. AutoMAID is user selectable enabling users to determine the right level of response time performance to energy savings. AutoMAID is the first MAID 2.0 architecture that supports VTL, full file format D2D and standard high performance RAID implementations."
Connect NavigateStorage for more information. 978-318-9000.
SATABeast Xi is a high performance, high capacity RAID storage system with the energy saving benefits of MAID 2.0 (Massive Array of Idle Disks). SATABeast Xi employs Nexsan's revolutionary AutoMAID energy saving technology to transparently place disk drives into an idle state vastly reducing power and cooling costs. AutoMAID delivers the cost-effecdtive benefits of MAID 2.0 without the limitations of slow access times and special host software.
AutoMAID is granular to an individual drive or RAID set and offers multiple levels of energy savings. AutoMAID is user selectable enabling users to determine the right level of response time performance to energy savings. AutoMAID is the first MAID 2.0 architecture that supports VTL, full file format D2D and standard high performance RAID implementations."
Connect NavigateStorage for more information. 978-318-9000.
Nexsan released DeDupe Speed witn Green
Nexsan, a leading storage system provider, today announced that it has released the DeDupe SG® ("Speed with Green") 2.0 solution. Nexsan's next generation of energy-efficient file storage systems are designed for data protection and disaster recovery applications that require high-performance deduplication. Integrating the latest version of the FalconStor File-Interface Deduplication System (FDS), the Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 is the first LAN-based deduplication system to offer high availability. As part of the most recent enhancements, Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 features support for Symantec's OpenStorage (OST) protocol, which accelerates data ingestion speeds for the increased performance and efficiency that today's mid-sized enterprises need.
The Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 offers redundant appliances to provide continuous data access and automatic backup application failover, raising the bar for data deduplication solutions. To dramatically increase backup speeds and reduce the complexity of recovery during a disaster, the redundant appliances offer backup server connections of up to 5.4 terabytes per hour and support for Symantec OST.
"Data deduplication technology addresses the issue of burgeoning data growth, which is a key challenge for storage administrators," said Lauren Whitehouse, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Adoption rates for data deduplication technology are growing because it delivers greater storage efficiency and improves the economics of disk-based backup. This technology should be at the heart of any data management strategy."
The Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 improves operational efficiency by leveraging the green capabilities inherent in Nexsan's industry-leading AutoMAID® technology. This energy-saving technology transparently places disk drives into their most energy-efficient state without affecting backup performance, making DeDupe SG 2.0 systems extremely power efficient.
"Nexsan has a unique capability and one that we believe is a first in the industry: power-managed deduplication," said George Crump, senior analyst at Storage Switzerland. "In the past, because of the deployment strategies of other solutions, all the drives needed to remain active for the deduplication process to work effectively. The Nexsan solution is designed so that the backup can be completed, deduplication cleanup processes performed, and the system be ready to be spun down soon after the backup completes."New features of the Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 include:
* Redundant appliances for high availability
* Automatic backup application failover
* Symantec OST support for additional efficiency and performance
* Support for industry-leading backup software solutions, including NetBackup
* Replication support for up to 150 remote sites
* Further automation of storage management processes
* Optional 10-Gigabit Ethernet connections
The Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 offers redundant appliances to provide continuous data access and automatic backup application failover, raising the bar for data deduplication solutions. To dramatically increase backup speeds and reduce the complexity of recovery during a disaster, the redundant appliances offer backup server connections of up to 5.4 terabytes per hour and support for Symantec OST.
"Data deduplication technology addresses the issue of burgeoning data growth, which is a key challenge for storage administrators," said Lauren Whitehouse, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "Adoption rates for data deduplication technology are growing because it delivers greater storage efficiency and improves the economics of disk-based backup. This technology should be at the heart of any data management strategy."
The Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 improves operational efficiency by leveraging the green capabilities inherent in Nexsan's industry-leading AutoMAID® technology. This energy-saving technology transparently places disk drives into their most energy-efficient state without affecting backup performance, making DeDupe SG 2.0 systems extremely power efficient.
"Nexsan has a unique capability and one that we believe is a first in the industry: power-managed deduplication," said George Crump, senior analyst at Storage Switzerland. "In the past, because of the deployment strategies of other solutions, all the drives needed to remain active for the deduplication process to work effectively. The Nexsan solution is designed so that the backup can be completed, deduplication cleanup processes performed, and the system be ready to be spun down soon after the backup completes."New features of the Nexsan DeDupe SG 2.0 include:
* Redundant appliances for high availability
* Automatic backup application failover
* Symantec OST support for additional efficiency and performance
* Support for industry-leading backup software solutions, including NetBackup
* Replication support for up to 150 remote sites
* Further automation of storage management processes
* Optional 10-Gigabit Ethernet connections
NavigateStorage is in it's 10th year and specializes in Storage, Backup, EMail Archiving and Anti- Virus/Malware.
"SSD vs. HDD when fixing performance problems
NavigateStorage recently read George's article regarding high performance problems and HDD vs. SSD, I found it quite informative and wanted to share it with you.
George Crump, Contributor
02.16.2010
As SearchStorage.com's recent Storage Priorities survey shows, data storage managers are making moves toward solid-state storage and solid-state drives (SSDs), with 14% of 360 survey respondents planning to implement them this year and nearly 40% planning to evaluate them this year (in addition to the 7% who already have them in place). Those numbers mean that right now, many of your customers could use help in comparing SSD vs. HDD and determining what value they'd get from implementing SSD to fix performance problems. This is a role that's tailor-made for an integrator and represents an excellent value-add opportunity for you.
While SSD represents a premium in storage capacity, it's well worth it if it improves storage response time to users and critical applications. According to Jim Handy, SSD analyst at Los Gatos, Calif.-based market research firm Objective Analysis, who was interviewed for a story on SearchStorage.com, SSD is 20 times more costly than hard disk drives (HDDs) on a cost-per-gigabyte basis.
But, the same story points out, comparing SSD vs. HDD in terms of cost per input/output operations per second (IOPS), the equation looks decidedly different. According to Mark Teter, chief technology officer (CTO) at Advanced Systems Group, "flash is almost 140 times faster than the fastest HDD." For companies whose revenue is tied to a high I/O on important applications, not implementing SSD could actually cost them money in a clearly measurable way. Beyond that, SSD vendors have plenty of examples of how their technologies have helped with customer retention and increased productivity.
That said, don't assume that SSD is a bullet-proof answer. When a customer comes to you with a performance concern, resist the urge to sell them a whole new storage system -- and, instead, put on your trusted advisor hat. As we discuss in our Visualizing SSD Readiness guide, there are specific steps you can take to determine whether your customer can benefit from the addition of SSD.
The first and probably simplest step, when checking application performance issues, is to test the CPU utilization of the HDD that the application is running on. If the CPU utilization is on average greater than 50%, more than likely the application is CPU-bound rather than storage I/O-bound. But if the CPU utilization rate is below 50%, the CPU is most likely waiting on something. (The lower the rate is, the more likely this is true.) Oftentimes, that's an indication of a storage performance bottleneck.
If your customer's CPU utilization rate is below 50%, the next step is to determine where the performance problems are coming from. In this situation, a utility like PerfMon or third-party tools can help you figure this out.
Using one of these tools, the first parameter to look at is something called queue depth. The queue, as it relates to storage, is essentially the number of pending I/O requests to the storage system. The queue depth is affected by the number of drives in a RAID configuration; the more drives there are in the RAID configuration, the more I/O requests can be handled at the same time. If a RAID configuration consistently shows a queue depth, you can reduce that depth by approximately a unit of one with each drive that you add. As long as there is queue depth, adding drives should improve performance.
But, adding drives to reduce queue depth can lead to a few problems. The first is that the drive count can become quite high and, of course, quite expensive. If adding a few extra drives to the RAID group can return performance to an acceptable level, then this can be a cost-effective way to solve the performance problem. However, if it takes 50 or 100 additional drives to reduce queue depth to an acceptable level, it could break your customer's budget.
Secondly, there is also a concern around capacity waste. In most cases, the application does not need all these drives to store the data. It needs them to generate performance. As a result, terabytes of capacity may go unused, further reducing the ROI of a disk-based solution. (Comparatively, in most cases, one SSD can outperform even a high number of disks, do so less expensively and without wasting terabytes of capacity.)
The third problem with adding HDDs to reduce queue depth is that it might not solve the storage bottleneck problem. If queue depth is zero but storage is still the bottleneck, then you have a latency issue. In that case, the only option is a faster drive.
Utilities like PerfMon and others will help you identify problems with disk latency, which refers to the time it takes for a drive to find the requested data and send that data back out the I/O channel. When measuring response time, to identify problems, look for anything that is averaging consistently above 5 to 10 milliseconds per second.
On mechanical HDDs with disk latency problems, there are two options. The first is to offer your customers faster drives, but for the last 10-plus years we have been stuck at 15,000-rpm drives, so while your customer may see an improvement with this approach they likely have already tried that as a solution. The alternative to a faster drive is to make the response time of the drive faster by making sure the data is on the outer edge of the disk's platter, a technique called short stroking. This essentially means formatting only the outer part of the drive. While this does increase performance, it also wastes a lot of disk capacity -- as much as two-thirds of the total capacity of the drive.
If your customer doesn't yet have 15,000-rpm HDDs, buying them and then short-stroking them is going to be an expensive option. With SSD, on the other hand, response time is often all but eliminated and done so at a significantly lower cost.
The challenge with SSD is to know what to look for. The simple test is to know what processor utilization is on the servers that are hosting the application of file servers that are serving the data. If it is low, it's time to break out utilities to look at the queue depth and response time parameters. If queue depth or response time is high, more than likely SSD will make a dramatic improvement to the customer's environment.
About the author
George Crump is president and founder of Storage Switzerland, an IT analyst firm focused on the storage and virtualization segments. With 25 years of experience designing storage solutions for data centers across the United States, he has seen the birth of such technologies as RAID, NAS and SAN. Prior to founding Storage Switzerland, George was chief technology officer at one of the nation's largest storage integrators, where he was in charge of technology testing, integration and product selection. Find Storage Switzerland's disclosure statement here.
NavigateStorage offers a full line of storage from many vendors. Contact us at 978-318-9000 or write us. You can read the full article here.
George Crump, Contributor
02.16.2010
As SearchStorage.com's recent Storage Priorities survey shows, data storage managers are making moves toward solid-state storage and solid-state drives (SSDs), with 14% of 360 survey respondents planning to implement them this year and nearly 40% planning to evaluate them this year (in addition to the 7% who already have them in place). Those numbers mean that right now, many of your customers could use help in comparing SSD vs. HDD and determining what value they'd get from implementing SSD to fix performance problems. This is a role that's tailor-made for an integrator and represents an excellent value-add opportunity for you.
While SSD represents a premium in storage capacity, it's well worth it if it improves storage response time to users and critical applications. According to Jim Handy, SSD analyst at Los Gatos, Calif.-based market research firm Objective Analysis, who was interviewed for a story on SearchStorage.com, SSD is 20 times more costly than hard disk drives (HDDs) on a cost-per-gigabyte basis.
But, the same story points out, comparing SSD vs. HDD in terms of cost per input/output operations per second (IOPS), the equation looks decidedly different. According to Mark Teter, chief technology officer (CTO) at Advanced Systems Group, "flash is almost 140 times faster than the fastest HDD." For companies whose revenue is tied to a high I/O on important applications, not implementing SSD could actually cost them money in a clearly measurable way. Beyond that, SSD vendors have plenty of examples of how their technologies have helped with customer retention and increased productivity.
That said, don't assume that SSD is a bullet-proof answer. When a customer comes to you with a performance concern, resist the urge to sell them a whole new storage system -- and, instead, put on your trusted advisor hat. As we discuss in our Visualizing SSD Readiness guide, there are specific steps you can take to determine whether your customer can benefit from the addition of SSD.
The first and probably simplest step, when checking application performance issues, is to test the CPU utilization of the HDD that the application is running on. If the CPU utilization is on average greater than 50%, more than likely the application is CPU-bound rather than storage I/O-bound. But if the CPU utilization rate is below 50%, the CPU is most likely waiting on something. (The lower the rate is, the more likely this is true.) Oftentimes, that's an indication of a storage performance bottleneck.
If your customer's CPU utilization rate is below 50%, the next step is to determine where the performance problems are coming from. In this situation, a utility like PerfMon or third-party tools can help you figure this out.
Using one of these tools, the first parameter to look at is something called queue depth. The queue, as it relates to storage, is essentially the number of pending I/O requests to the storage system. The queue depth is affected by the number of drives in a RAID configuration; the more drives there are in the RAID configuration, the more I/O requests can be handled at the same time. If a RAID configuration consistently shows a queue depth, you can reduce that depth by approximately a unit of one with each drive that you add. As long as there is queue depth, adding drives should improve performance.
But, adding drives to reduce queue depth can lead to a few problems. The first is that the drive count can become quite high and, of course, quite expensive. If adding a few extra drives to the RAID group can return performance to an acceptable level, then this can be a cost-effective way to solve the performance problem. However, if it takes 50 or 100 additional drives to reduce queue depth to an acceptable level, it could break your customer's budget.
Secondly, there is also a concern around capacity waste. In most cases, the application does not need all these drives to store the data. It needs them to generate performance. As a result, terabytes of capacity may go unused, further reducing the ROI of a disk-based solution. (Comparatively, in most cases, one SSD can outperform even a high number of disks, do so less expensively and without wasting terabytes of capacity.)
The third problem with adding HDDs to reduce queue depth is that it might not solve the storage bottleneck problem. If queue depth is zero but storage is still the bottleneck, then you have a latency issue. In that case, the only option is a faster drive.
Utilities like PerfMon and others will help you identify problems with disk latency, which refers to the time it takes for a drive to find the requested data and send that data back out the I/O channel. When measuring response time, to identify problems, look for anything that is averaging consistently above 5 to 10 milliseconds per second.
On mechanical HDDs with disk latency problems, there are two options. The first is to offer your customers faster drives, but for the last 10-plus years we have been stuck at 15,000-rpm drives, so while your customer may see an improvement with this approach they likely have already tried that as a solution. The alternative to a faster drive is to make the response time of the drive faster by making sure the data is on the outer edge of the disk's platter, a technique called short stroking. This essentially means formatting only the outer part of the drive. While this does increase performance, it also wastes a lot of disk capacity -- as much as two-thirds of the total capacity of the drive.
If your customer doesn't yet have 15,000-rpm HDDs, buying them and then short-stroking them is going to be an expensive option. With SSD, on the other hand, response time is often all but eliminated and done so at a significantly lower cost.
The challenge with SSD is to know what to look for. The simple test is to know what processor utilization is on the servers that are hosting the application of file servers that are serving the data. If it is low, it's time to break out utilities to look at the queue depth and response time parameters. If queue depth or response time is high, more than likely SSD will make a dramatic improvement to the customer's environment.
About the author
George Crump is president and founder of Storage Switzerland, an IT analyst firm focused on the storage and virtualization segments. With 25 years of experience designing storage solutions for data centers across the United States, he has seen the birth of such technologies as RAID, NAS and SAN. Prior to founding Storage Switzerland, George was chief technology officer at one of the nation's largest storage integrators, where he was in charge of technology testing, integration and product selection. Find Storage Switzerland's disclosure statement here.
NavigateStorage offers a full line of storage from many vendors. Contact us at 978-318-9000 or write us. You can read the full article here.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Global Relay and IMAP
User of Lotus for email can benefit from the advantages of Global Relay if they use IMAP.
Let us till you more. Contact NavigateStorage via our "request info" on our website. Or call 978-318-9000 or write.
Labels:
Global Relay and IMAP
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Windows Management Sooftware
Windows Management Software:
Migrating Windows Data usually means IT works the weekend.
AutoVirt's Management software for Windows storage makes that a thing if the pastby allowing you to migrate while your users do their work.
AutoVirt is a software platform for Windows that provides storage management control from a web-based console. Use AutoVirt to automate and expedite:
* Data Measurement
* Copying
* Migration
* Replication
* Archiving
AutoVirt provides:
* A solution for managing unstructured Windows file data
* A way to extend the native functionality of inexpensive, commodity Windows hardware
* Integration with mainframe NAS devices, including NetApp and EMC Celerra
* Out-of-band runtime operations, with no client agents
* An intelligent client referral service with perpetual support for client UNC names and embedded links
Installing a global namespace.
Many organizations have hesitated to insert a global namespace because the conversion is often a laborious, manual process. Most global namespaces, including Microsoft DFS, require UNC names to be changed upon implementation, one at a time. The AutoVirt global namespace model is different. AutoVirt provides automated namespace creation and support of pre-existing UNC names. During installation, AutoVirt automatically inventories the file server environment to create a complete map. Administrators use this map to designate which file servers will receive client referrals through the global namespace. When a file server is selected for AutoVirt management, the map of its contents – from root to leaf-level folders – is automatically stored in the namespace. The automated file server inventory makes it possible for AutoVirt to support indefinitely the pre-existing UNC names – even after the file servers they once referenced have crumbled to dust.
Contact NavigateStorage and let us tell you more. Trials and quotes are available. Why not take advantage of this technological break through. Call us at 978-318-9000 or write today.
Migrating Windows Data usually means IT works the weekend.
AutoVirt's Management software for Windows storage makes that a thing if the pastby allowing you to migrate while your users do their work.
AutoVirt is a software platform for Windows that provides storage management control from a web-based console. Use AutoVirt to automate and expedite:
* Data Measurement
* Copying
* Migration
* Replication
* Archiving
AutoVirt provides:
* A solution for managing unstructured Windows file data
* A way to extend the native functionality of inexpensive, commodity Windows hardware
* Integration with mainframe NAS devices, including NetApp and EMC Celerra
* Out-of-band runtime operations, with no client agents
* An intelligent client referral service with perpetual support for client UNC names and embedded links
Installing a global namespace.
Many organizations have hesitated to insert a global namespace because the conversion is often a laborious, manual process. Most global namespaces, including Microsoft DFS, require UNC names to be changed upon implementation, one at a time. The AutoVirt global namespace model is different. AutoVirt provides automated namespace creation and support of pre-existing UNC names. During installation, AutoVirt automatically inventories the file server environment to create a complete map. Administrators use this map to designate which file servers will receive client referrals through the global namespace. When a file server is selected for AutoVirt management, the map of its contents – from root to leaf-level folders – is automatically stored in the namespace. The automated file server inventory makes it possible for AutoVirt to support indefinitely the pre-existing UNC names – even after the file servers they once referenced have crumbled to dust.
Contact NavigateStorage and let us tell you more. Trials and quotes are available. Why not take advantage of this technological break through. Call us at 978-318-9000 or write today.
Friday, February 26, 2010
iQstor - We Make Storage Intelligent and Affordable
iQstor - We Make Storage Intelligent and Affordable:
iStorage Systems for SMB and SME
The SMB and SME market is insufficiently addressed by existing storage solutions. Enterprise-level systems offer more capability than is necessary and have high initial acquisition costs. iQstor storage solutions are ideal for Storage Administrators at small and mid-sized businesses looking for storage solutions that offer:
* Enterprise class high availability features with no single point of failure
* SAN ready connectivity using Fibre Channel or iSCSI interface
* Server independent SRM software, including storage virtualization, snapshot, volume copy, capacity management, storage provisioning and remote replication
* Storage capacity from 2TB to over 480TB
NavigateStorage has 10 years experience matching our customers' needs with the right vendor for the short term needs of the customer. Visit us or call 978-318-9+000
iStorage Systems for SMB and SME
The SMB and SME market is insufficiently addressed by existing storage solutions. Enterprise-level systems offer more capability than is necessary and have high initial acquisition costs. iQstor storage solutions are ideal for Storage Administrators at small and mid-sized businesses looking for storage solutions that offer:
* Enterprise class high availability features with no single point of failure
* SAN ready connectivity using Fibre Channel or iSCSI interface
* Server independent SRM software, including storage virtualization, snapshot, volume copy, capacity management, storage provisioning and remote replication
* Storage capacity from 2TB to over 480TB
NavigateStorage has 10 years experience matching our customers' needs with the right vendor for the short term needs of the customer. Visit us or call 978-318-9+000
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Windows File
NavigateStorage, a 10 year solutions company, annonces that AutoVirt has come out of stealth with a real first class solution for Windows data.
AutoVirt is a software platform for Windows that provides storage management control from a web-based console.
Use AutoVirt to automate and expedite:
Data Measurement
Copying
Migration
Replication
Archiving
AutoVirt provides:
A solution for managing unstructured Windows file data, a way to extend the native functionality of inexpensive, commodity Windows hardware
Integration with mainframe NAS devices, including NetApp and EMC Celerra
Out-of-band runtime operations, with no client agents
An intelligent client referral service with perpetual support for client UNC names and embedded links.
Let us show you more. Demos, maybe trials and more for serious. Call Jim at 978-318-9000.
AutoVirt is a software platform for Windows that provides storage management control from a web-based console.
Use AutoVirt to automate and expedite:
Data Measurement
Copying
Migration
Replication
Archiving
AutoVirt provides:
A solution for managing unstructured Windows file data, a way to extend the native functionality of inexpensive, commodity Windows hardware
Integration with mainframe NAS devices, including NetApp and EMC Celerra
Out-of-band runtime operations, with no client agents
An intelligent client referral service with perpetual support for client UNC names and embedded links.
Let us show you more. Demos, maybe trials and more for serious. Call Jim at 978-318-9000.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
RELDATA 9240i Unified Storage System
RELDATA’s 9240i is a feature-rich, software-centric unified storage system for virtualized cloud computing environments in mid-market organizations. The 9240i is powered by the RELvos 2.4 virtualization software, consolidates SAN and NAS on a single, easy-to-use x86-based platform.
The RELDATA 9240i/RELvos unified storage solution delivers integrated iSCSI SAN, NAS and WAN replication functions on a single virtualized platform for best-in-class performance. The system delivers enterprise-class functionality, yet is easy to implement, operate and manage. Customers can independently scale disk storage capacity, SAN/NAS/WAN replication storage services, and network performance without application disruption. This “pay-as-you-grow” design eliminates the need for forklift upgrades — and the downtime they cause — and liberates customers from vendor lock-in and the associated predatory pricing for additional disk capacity.
The 9240i includes an industry standard high performance storage controller, RELvos virtualization operating system and integrated Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk storage. Capacity can be expanded by adding RELDATA disk arrays or pooling existing resources. The 9240i is available for 1 GbE and/or 10 GbE infrastructures. With the 9240i, IT managers are able to set up iSCSI SANs that can scale to multiple petabytes of capacity and support hundreds of servers with performance rivaling FC SANs, giving them plenty of headroom for future storage growth.
NavigateStorage is ready to tell you more. In addition demonstrations and quotes are readily available. Please write or call 978-318-9000
The RELDATA 9240i/RELvos unified storage solution delivers integrated iSCSI SAN, NAS and WAN replication functions on a single virtualized platform for best-in-class performance. The system delivers enterprise-class functionality, yet is easy to implement, operate and manage. Customers can independently scale disk storage capacity, SAN/NAS/WAN replication storage services, and network performance without application disruption. This “pay-as-you-grow” design eliminates the need for forklift upgrades — and the downtime they cause — and liberates customers from vendor lock-in and the associated predatory pricing for additional disk capacity.
The 9240i includes an industry standard high performance storage controller, RELvos virtualization operating system and integrated Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk storage. Capacity can be expanded by adding RELDATA disk arrays or pooling existing resources. The 9240i is available for 1 GbE and/or 10 GbE infrastructures. With the 9240i, IT managers are able to set up iSCSI SANs that can scale to multiple petabytes of capacity and support hundreds of servers with performance rivaling FC SANs, giving them plenty of headroom for future storage growth.
NavigateStorage is ready to tell you more. In addition demonstrations and quotes are readily available. Please write or call 978-318-9000
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
RELDATA - Unified storage solutions that deliver iSCSI SAN, NAS and WAN replication
RELDATA - Unified storage solutions that deliver iSCSI SAN, NAS and WAN replication: "Storage
'Why RELDATA Storage?'
We operate today in an extremely data-intensive environment.
NavigateStorage and RELDATA deliver a new breed of virtual enterprise-wide data storage and replication infrastructure based on a single pool of shared storage. RELDATA data storage and replication solutions are simplifying unstructured data management in distributed IT infrastructures and dramatically reduce total cost of ownership.
RELDATA Unified Storage Systems.
RELDATA’s 9240i Unified Storage System delivers integrated iSCSI SAN, NAS and WAN replication functions on a single virtualized platform that delivers best-in-class performance. The system is easy to implement, operate, and manage, yet delivers enterprise-class functionality. Customers can independently scale disk storage capacity, SAN/NAS/WAN replication storage services, and network performance without application disruption. This 'pay-as-you-grow' design eliminates the need for forklift box upgrades — and the downtime it causes — and liberates customers from vendor lock-in and the associated predatory pricing for additional disk capacity.
Give us a shout @978-318-9000 or write us an email
'Why RELDATA Storage?'
We operate today in an extremely data-intensive environment.
NavigateStorage and RELDATA deliver a new breed of virtual enterprise-wide data storage and replication infrastructure based on a single pool of shared storage. RELDATA data storage and replication solutions are simplifying unstructured data management in distributed IT infrastructures and dramatically reduce total cost of ownership.
RELDATA Unified Storage Systems.
RELDATA’s 9240i Unified Storage System delivers integrated iSCSI SAN, NAS and WAN replication functions on a single virtualized platform that delivers best-in-class performance. The system is easy to implement, operate, and manage, yet delivers enterprise-class functionality. Customers can independently scale disk storage capacity, SAN/NAS/WAN replication storage services, and network performance without application disruption. This 'pay-as-you-grow' design eliminates the need for forklift box upgrades — and the downtime it causes — and liberates customers from vendor lock-in and the associated predatory pricing for additional disk capacity.
Give us a shout @978-318-9000 or write us an email
Global Relay Communications | Highlights | Why Global Relay?
Global Relay Communications Highlights Why Global Relay?:
High Performance Systems
The technology that powers the email & IM archive and the monitoring systems exemplifies our greatest strength. Where most archiving and monitoring systems are based solely on database technology, Global Relay's system infrastructure is based on a hybrid database/search engine core (similar to Google), which enables it to achieve unsurpassed search, retrieval and monitoring speed capabilities. A typical online search is less than three seconds. This translates into unsurpassed productivity while conducting search, retrieval and monitoring activities.
Global Relay is a recommended Gartner hosted solution when viewing there magic quadrant.
Contact NavigateStorage and learn more or give it a non-envasive spin.
High Performance Systems
The technology that powers the email & IM archive and the monitoring systems exemplifies our greatest strength. Where most archiving and monitoring systems are based solely on database technology, Global Relay's system infrastructure is based on a hybrid database/search engine core (similar to Google), which enables it to achieve unsurpassed search, retrieval and monitoring speed capabilities. A typical online search is less than three seconds. This translates into unsurpassed productivity while conducting search, retrieval and monitoring activities.
Global Relay is a recommended Gartner hosted solution when viewing there magic quadrant.
Contact NavigateStorage and learn more or give it a non-envasive spin.
Monday, February 22, 2010
NEC Storage D8-20 : SAN | NEC: Products | NEC
NEC Storage D8-20 : SAN NEC: Products NEC:
Building block architecture is adopted for the first time in the industry.
The D8 Series can be upgraded like accumulating blocks by adopting building block architecture. Host ports, cache memory and disk capacity can be increased in accordance with the increase of the task. The resources within the storage can be virtualized and distributed dynamically to the tasks. Starting with the minimum cost, expandable to midrange or even high-end class, the D8 can maintain the best size for the company's requirement.
Let NavigateStorage show you more.
Building block architecture is adopted for the first time in the industry.
The D8 Series can be upgraded like accumulating blocks by adopting building block architecture. Host ports, cache memory and disk capacity can be increased in accordance with the increase of the task. The resources within the storage can be virtualized and distributed dynamically to the tasks. Starting with the minimum cost, expandable to midrange or even high-end class, the D8 can maintain the best size for the company's requirement.
Let NavigateStorage show you more.
NEC Storage D8-20 : SAN | NEC: Products | NEC
NEC Storage D8-20 : SAN NEC: Products NEC:
Building block architecture is adopted for the first time in the industry.
The D8 Series can be upgraded like accumulating blocks by adopting building block architecture. Host ports, cache memory and disk capacity can be increased in accordance with the increase of the task. The resources within the storage can be virtualized and distributed dynamically to the tasks. Starting with the minimum cost, expandable to midrange or even high-end class, the D8 can maintain the best size for the company's requirement.
Let NavigateStorage show you more.
Building block architecture is adopted for the first time in the industry.
The D8 Series can be upgraded like accumulating blocks by adopting building block architecture. Host ports, cache memory and disk capacity can be increased in accordance with the increase of the task. The resources within the storage can be virtualized and distributed dynamically to the tasks. Starting with the minimum cost, expandable to midrange or even high-end class, the D8 can maintain the best size for the company's requirement.
Let NavigateStorage show you more.
Kaspersky "the best"
Kaspersky anti-virus protects you from the Phishing and Malware sites that you wouldn't otherwise know were attempting to steal from you.
At the same time, the Kaspersky Security Network allows your computer to report when it discovers a threat that hasn't been seen before. All 250 million Kaspersky users benefit from our combined knowledge!
Kaspersky features include:
Protects from viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware
Scans files, email, and internet traffic
Protects Instant Messengers
Protects From Unknown Threats
Analyzes and closes Internet Explorer vulnerabilities
Disables links to malware sites / phishing sites
Global Threat Monitoring (Kaspersky Security Network)
Blocks all types of keyloggers
Automatic Database Updates
Free Technical Support
Contact NavigateStorage for more info
At the same time, the Kaspersky Security Network allows your computer to report when it discovers a threat that hasn't been seen before. All 250 million Kaspersky users benefit from our combined knowledge!
Kaspersky features include:
Protects from viruses, Trojans, worms, spyware, adware
Scans files, email, and internet traffic
Protects Instant Messengers
Protects From Unknown Threats
Analyzes and closes Internet Explorer vulnerabilities
Disables links to malware sites / phishing sites
Global Threat Monitoring (Kaspersky Security Network)
Blocks all types of keyloggers
Automatic Database Updates
Free Technical Support
Contact NavigateStorage for more info
Nexsan
"Nexsan iSeries™ Overview
Nexsan iSeries™ is the perfect solution for server virtualization, databases, file storage, data consolidation and multiple data storage requirements where performance and scalability are a must and simple IP deployment is desired.
All storage services are embedded onto the Nexsan iSeries including virtualization, snapshots, replication, mirroring, data migration and more. Users have the ability to create and control 1000s of virtual volumes supporting multiple applications and storage pools simultaneously.
By reliably incorporating SAS and SATA in the same storage system, users no longer have to choose between a performance or capacity driven iSCSI SAN system. Separate storage pools can be created for the needs of different applications from databases to backup.
With an all-inclusive Tier 1 feature set combined with industry leading performance, reliability and energy efficiency, Nexsan iSeries is delivering the iSCSI SAN you need...at a price to meet your budget.
Visit NavigateStorage and request info, configurations, price or just advice.
Call Jim at 978-318-9000 or email.
Nexsan iSeries™ is the perfect solution for server virtualization, databases, file storage, data consolidation and multiple data storage requirements where performance and scalability are a must and simple IP deployment is desired.
All storage services are embedded onto the Nexsan iSeries including virtualization, snapshots, replication, mirroring, data migration and more. Users have the ability to create and control 1000s of virtual volumes supporting multiple applications and storage pools simultaneously.
By reliably incorporating SAS and SATA in the same storage system, users no longer have to choose between a performance or capacity driven iSCSI SAN system. Separate storage pools can be created for the needs of different applications from databases to backup.
With an all-inclusive Tier 1 feature set combined with industry leading performance, reliability and energy efficiency, Nexsan iSeries is delivering the iSCSI SAN you need...at a price to meet your budget.
Visit NavigateStorage and request info, configurations, price or just advice.
Call Jim at 978-318-9000 or email.
Best Anti-Virus Software Internet Security - Kaspersky Lab
Best Anti-Virus Software Internet Security - Kaspersky Lab:
What is Kaspersky Open Space Security?
NavigateStorage a premier partner since 2007
Kaspersky Open Space Security is a suite of products that offers security coverage for all types of network endpoints, from mobile devices to servers. Incoming and outgoing data traffic - including email, web traffic and network interactions - is scanned for malicious content and administration is simplified by using a set of powerful administration tools."
What is Kaspersky Open Space Security?
NavigateStorage a premier partner since 2007
Kaspersky Open Space Security is a suite of products that offers security coverage for all types of network endpoints, from mobile devices to servers. Incoming and outgoing data traffic - including email, web traffic and network interactions - is scanned for malicious content and administration is simplified by using a set of powerful administration tools."
StoneFly OptiSAN for High Availability
StoneFly OptiSAN for High Availability:
StoneFly's new Voyager IP SANs were designed to offer active/active controllers, improved redundancy, high-availability and fast performance - at a lower price point.
Using high-performance storage interconnects, the Voyager product family is designed for enterprise environments looking for a versatile SAN for primary and secondary storage applications. With support for SAS, SATA, and SSD drives for online transaction processing, database, email, disk based archives, disk to disk backup, virtual servers and other core applications. The cornerstone of the Voyager is our storage virtualization engine, which offers quad-core processing power, dedicated iSCSI Cache, and our StoneFusion storage management operating system.
For Disaster Recovery and more ask for more INFO at http://www.navigatestorage.com/stonefly.html
Jim @ 978-318-9000
StoneFly's new Voyager IP SANs were designed to offer active/active controllers, improved redundancy, high-availability and fast performance - at a lower price point.
Using high-performance storage interconnects, the Voyager product family is designed for enterprise environments looking for a versatile SAN for primary and secondary storage applications. With support for SAS, SATA, and SSD drives for online transaction processing, database, email, disk based archives, disk to disk backup, virtual servers and other core applications. The cornerstone of the Voyager is our storage virtualization engine, which offers quad-core processing power, dedicated iSCSI Cache, and our StoneFusion storage management operating system.
For Disaster Recovery and more ask for more INFO at http://www.navigatestorage.com/stonefly.html
Jim @ 978-318-9000
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