Image by Getty Images via Daylife

     Users of NetBackup’s PureDIsk feature set may have gotten over the hump of the pain, but for the majority, they have ignored Symantec’s product because of complexity of software installation, software configuration, and performance configuration/tuning for a specific storage configuration. 

     Why does this matter?  Because today InQuinox is announcing the release of the SD3, a NetBackup PureDisk Appliance.  By announcement I mean general availability of this product.  So what does this mean for customers?  Typically, InQuinox (known for industry leading consulting services for Symantec products) is engaged to profile NetBackup installations, make recommendations for sizing and configuration of PureDisk, and ultimately contracted for the deployment and tuning of the PureDisk configuration.  While rich in consulting hours, many of the tasks are solved by the SD3 appliances.  These appliances are configured in a few different configurations (SD3-T1, SD3-T4, SD3-T32, & SD3-T96 – data sheet) based on performance and capacity requirements.  These appliances are pre-built with PureDisk installed (licensing offered via InQuinox or other sources, including Symantec), pre-configured with information from a customer’s NetBackup environment and shipped almost plug-n-play to the customer site.  With minimal onsite configuration, validation, and testing these appliances can be up and running in significantly less time then a services engagement.  The T1 and T4 versions of the appliances use captive storage configurations,  The T32 and T96 configurations are powered by ATRATO disk storage (which I’ve covered in the past).  The appliance itself is sourced as a powerful Corvalent hardware platform.  This isn’t just a “install PureDisk”  on a platform with storage play, InQuinox has put time and engineering effort into having options such as remote office solutions, ruggedized solutions, HA configurations, and scalability within the product models.

     Another great thing about this synergy of products simplifying PureDisk, is the recent announcement that PureDisk will be supported for BackUp Exec as well, which opens up a huge potential marketplace.  Claims of storage reduction via implementations of PureDisk are estimated between 40% and 90% depending on the implementation, backup policies, and application types.  For more information on PureDisk, support matrix, and features see Symantec’s website.

Updated: InQuinox Press Release: http://www.inquinox.com/media/news_release_10142009.php

Image by Joe Penniston via Flickr

     Have to give a short shout out to Disney for the recent launch of DisneyDigitalBooks.com  Disney Publishing released an online version of more than 500 books available as a service online.  Each membership looks like it supports up to three children.  The best quote came out of the New York Times business section by someone I know very well.

“For parents, this isn’t going to replace snuggle time with a storybook,” said Yves Saada, vice president of digital media. “We think you can have different reading formats co-existing together.”

     I like the idea of multiple learning platforms, and I was a big fan the the Disney books growing up, so I’m looking forward to seeing this site gain major traction.  Check it out, they have a limited evaluation, and the annual subscription is at a great price point.  For the full NYT article look here.

Image via Wikipedia

     Time for an update about storage protocols, I say protocols, because the transport layer is something that is in flux right now.  NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and FCOE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) are storage PROTOCOLS!  It is pretty important to understand this as base knowledge when discussing storage connectivity to a VMWare environment.  So what does this mean for you.

     Recent published White Paper from VMWare shows in little detail the testing they did for these protocols.  However, this assumes that ALL storage and storage solutions are equal, which we all know NOT to be the case.  The white paper can be found here.  So let me first explore what they tested, and then we can look at some changes to the components.

The Storage:

     So I have when a software company does things like this, they take a “storage server” and emulate different storage protocols in order to test them.  This configuration used 9 disks, how it was configured, what type of “storage server” wasn’t disclosed, and how the LUNs were emulated wasn’t disclosed either.  So I can’t really make too many judgments, because they will end up being assumptions and we all know what you get from that.  I can however say that this was not “purpose built” and seemed to have been thrown together for this test, most likely using some Linux distribution.  The problem with this approach is it doesn’t take into account the massive development that a storage vendor has gone through either with hardware or software to get the most out of a protocol.

The performance:

     Looking just at the basic configuration, comparing GigE ethernet (with any protocol) compared to 4Gb FC doesn’t seem like a fare test.  Looking closely, VMware really was trying to prove out scalability regardless of storage protocol.  They also pointed out clearly that not using the VMFS might have a significant impact on performance, but they excluded it in order to not give a block level device an advantage over NFS mounted storage.  They also clearly pointed out that an update to this White paper was needed in order to consider 8Gb FC and 10GigE, which I think will be a much closer comparison of technologies.  If you look at the differences in performance, 4Gb FC was almost exactly 4x the performance of any of the 1Gb Ethernet used in the test, which I would expect.  It also showed that the packet size/block size was a significant differentiator because of the extra processing that needs to occur with a 1500MTU packet limitation on GigE.

The Point:

     The point is simple, why even bother putting out a “White Paper” that really proves nothing, well, it does prove something.  When using basic volumes iSCSI and NFS have pretty much equal performance over a single GigE connection.  NFS has more of a CPU overhead (minimally) then software initiator based iSCSI, and if you are counting clock cycles, then you really need to go with iSCSI or FC HBAs.  I would have rather seen NFS compared to VMFS over the iSCSI connections, that would have at least compared similar access functionality.

      So changes I would like to see, compare 1Gb FC to GigE for these protocols.  Use the best of breed NAS, iSCSI, and FC arrays for these tests (oh that would create a field day for us out here in the stoblogosphere).  Compare like functionality, NFS offers shared access, VMFS offers shared access.  In any case, someone has to write something over there, I would have named this What Paper, “VMWare 4.0 Scales Regardless of Storage Protocol”.

Comments always welcome.

Image via Wikipedia

     I am sitting on a plane from Charlotte to NYC, which airport in the NYC area isn’t important, but how I’m getting there and where I’ve come from right now is.  I’m on my 3rd airline in 48 hours, and will end up in my 4th city.  We talk about green initiatives in IT, the automotive industry, our homes, and our businesses, but I haven’t heard too much about a “green” airplane, maybe because we’d all feel safer knowing that our flights weren’t dependent on solar power or leftover frying oil.   That tangent done, there are many things “green” going on in the world of today.  Denver is about to open it’s first LEEDs compliant apartment building (rating to be determined).  DOE/NREL is in the process of breaking ground for a new LEEDs Platinum campus in Golden, CO.  Business parks all over the U.S. have “green” roofs that support plant life, and not only cool the building but now help support the failing business I’ve had of rooftop lawn mowing services.  Oh, in case you haven’t noticed, this is going to be a rant of rants.  If you think I’m serious please see the latest entry in wiki for serious.

     Let’s be honest, though, some businesses don’t give a crap about being “green”.  A major content delivery company’s IT Director literally said he’d support the burning of whale oil in power plants if it meant it was cheaper to his bottom line.  Ok, maybe it was dirty coal, but you get the point.  I don’t need the Sea Sheppard crew coming and launching an attack on my whale oil power plant, I‘m sure they are already upset about me clubbing a baby seal, which if you’ve never done give it a try, it is much more enjoyable then spilling oil in the ocean, or hunting the Bald Eagle, which taste like chicken in case you’re wondering.

     So here I am heading to one of the more congested cities in the US, and I’m thinking does anyone really give a crap about “greening” IT.  No, I say, they really don’t!  Not for the purpose of spending more money to save the environment, the “green” story they want to hear is how this product, any product will take up less footprint, use less energy, and require less cooling!  Why, not to keep the polar ice caps from melting, but because building a new data center, bringing in new cooling systems, and dropping more circuits costs too much money, oh and electricity, regardless of getting it from the SUN or the WIND, still seems to be going up in price.  If they could buy a product, at a reasonable cost, that was cheaper to run, cooler to run, but killed 20 sea turtles to make, I think we’d still have a lot of takers, maybe even a line, they are slow and easy to catch anyway.

     I like car analogies, does someone really go out and buy a hybrid to reduce greenhouse gasses? No, they want better MPG (Km/L for our metric folks) Why?  Gas isn’t going away, and will only go up in price and it will be cheaper to run a hybrid with that regenerative breaking and electric assist stuff, the only problem is, hybrids are so darn expensive, you have to do a ton of driving just to break even, let alone save money over the traditional fossil burning beasts.

     So where is this rant going?  I’m working on a few opportunities right now where actual rack space, cooling, and electrical needs are critical components because the locations this hardware is going to be going is limited on all of them, oh and the budget is tight too, oh and high performance is critical as well.  It is like the old triangle of IT, where you really can’t ever get all the sides, you have to compromise somewhere.  I told them I’ve got a storage system, very inexpensive (can’t say cheap because that dilutes the value), super fast, gives energy back to the grid, and as a by product of running it, cools the data center, however, once you buy it, you and your family will spend the rest of eternity in Purgatory.  I have had 10,000 units ordered to date, some with conditional P.O.s however, because they want to make sure they are on the other side of Purgatory from their spouses.  I’m looking for investors, my "angel investor” has fallen.

     So, why does any of this matter?  I really don’t know, I’m tired, I’m stuck on a plane, and I have a bunch of readers that typical want something funny, or angry, or inflammatory out of me.  Automakers, try running whale oil in the engines, not like we don’t have a shortage of whales right now.  Airlines, I sign up for the first all solar commercial flight, Iccarus we learned nothing from you.  Baby seals, I do like you guys, but I have a weird whack-a-baby seal fetish lately.  Oh and I hate Soy beans, so there.

Image by global oneness project via Flickr

There is a story about a sales call that I did that has been passed around enough that I heard it as almost a legend the other day.  I am exaggerating a bit, but I was asked if I knew who the people were in the story.  Well, it my story, so with a little litterary license and changing names, dates, and places to protect everyone other then me, I will tell a story of the “How to get thrown out of an account in a few easy steps!”

     In a land not so far away, a sales region near you, there was a team, a team that legends are made from.  This team worked for a start-up storage company, a company on the path to greatness!  This company was little, but in the dawn of explosive growth, this team was new to each other, but fought like they had been in battle for ever side by side.  The typical battle was hard to get into, but once in the fight we were pretty much unbeatable.  The team was Steven (me) and Sean (name changed to protect Sean, oops).

     One day, this mighty team was introduced into an account by a weak partner, strong in revenue, but weak in the ability to do anything other then cause trouble.  What kind of trouble?  Registration issues, bringing in multiple storage vendors into the same account, and not being able to close even the easiest of deals.  This account was a simple, let’s parade our list of vendors by the Director of IT, of what?, a Zoo.  Yes that is right, lions, bears, elephants, etc. Zoo. 

     So we do our awesome “dog & pony” show, but the questions being asked are too clearly directed, both by our partner and by the customer.  We were getting sloppy second sales meetings vibes.  Towards, the end of the meeting, Sean and I are getting a bit jaded about the opportunity, and figure let’s at least enjoy our meeting at the Zoo.  This is how the conversation went:

Sean: (to IT Director) “Hey before we get out of here, any chance we could feed a lion?”

IT Director: (laughs) “No, but maybe you’d like to feed a giraffe?”

Sean: “Nah, a lion would be much more fun, how about a monkey?”

Steven: “Forget a monkey or giraffe, any chance I could club a baby seal?”

all: (silence)

IT Director: (in his head – did he really say he wants to club a seal?)

Sean: (in his head – STEVEN!!!! he doesn’t know you are sarcastic and kidding)

Steven: “I mean I’m pretty quick, I will be able to grab it before it sinks!”

IT Director: “Here let me show you guys to the door.”

     Needless to say, we didn’t win the deal, as the legend stands, we were physically thrown out of the Zoo, and a permanent ban is in place.  My name in on the PETA most wanted list, and Sean has to get family members to buy dog food since he is shunned in the animal community as well.  The real events, how it happened, where it happened, well kiddos, that is why it has become a sales legend.  The moral of the story, no matter how badly you want to club a baby seal, asking to do so will loose you the storage deal.