Data Storage Solutions for a Virtual Environment

What is hyperconverged infrastructure? Guide to HCI

Hyperconverged infrastructure is a software-centric architecture that tightly integrates compute, storage and virtualization resources in a single system that usually consists of x86 hardware. Continue Reading

By

• Stephen J. Bigelow, Senior Technology Editor

logical volume management (LVM)

Logical volume management (LVM) is a form of storage virtualization that offers system administrators a more flexible approach to managing disk storage space than traditional partitioning. Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati

Fibre Channel (FC) port types

A Fibre Channel port is a hardware pathway into and out of a node that performs data communications over an FC link. Continue Reading

By

• Robert Sheldon
• Todd Erickson

raw device mapping

Raw device mapping (RDM) enables disk access in a virtual machine (VM) in the VMware server virtualization environment and allows a storage logical unit number (LUN) to be connected directly to a VM from the storage area network (SAN). Continue Reading

By

• Rahul Awati
• Sue Troy

What are VMware vVols and how do they work?

VMware's new Virtual Volumes allow virtual machines and applications to be better allocated to storage. The feature is now available in beta. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

hyper-converged storage

Hyper-converged storage is a software-defined approach to storage management that combines storage, compute, virtualization and sometimes networking technologies in one physical unit that is managed as a single system. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey
• Rodney Brown, TechTarget
• Sarah Wilson, Associate Site Editor

Storage vMotion

Storage vMotion is a component of VMware vSphere that allows the live migration of a running virtual machine's (VM) file system from one storage system to another, with no downtime for the VM or service disruption for end users. Continue Reading

By

• Rich Castagna
• Francesca Sales

NetApp FlexPod

NetApp FlexPod is a reference architecture for server, storage and networking components that are pretested and validated to work together as an integrated infrastructure stack. Continue Reading

By

• Rodney Brown, TechTarget
• Sue Troy

Simplifying data storage technologies is hard

All-flash arrays and hyper-converged storage are two technologies that make it tough to simplify data storage technology. Continue Reading

By

• Rich Castagna

Storage pros see high demand in 2016 salary survey

Storage magazine has tracked storage salaries for 13 years, polling readers to gather data about pay, benefits and other influences on job satisfaction. Our 2016 salary survey shows demand for storage savvy IT pros is still high as reflected by the overall average salary of nearly $98,000. We look at how geography, education, experience and other factors affect storage salaries in our 2016 salary survey.

When virtual servers first appeared in data centers, storage generally wasn't up to the task. Today, most vendors have tuned their wares to better support virtual environments. But you still might have to get under the hood to fix a bottleneck or two. We'll tell you what to look for and how to fix it.

Few companies are ready to give up their on-premises storage resources in favor of cloud storage. Hybrid setups that integrate on-premises with the cloud are the most desirable arrangements and vendors are beginning to sit up and take notice.

 Continue Reading

EMC launches VxRail VSAN-based hyper-converged appliance

EMC replaces Vspex Blue with VxRail, integrating the new version of VMware's Virtual SAN software on four-node hyper-converged appliances. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Cost savings for virtualizing servers not yet reality

Though you've heard for years that virtualizing servers will save money, Jon Toigo argues that the cost of virtualization hasn't lowered. Continue Reading

By

• Jon Toigo

VMware EVO SDDC testers shoot for low storage cost

Reduced storage costs and better capacity scaling are key reasons EVO SDDC testers say they are interested in the hyper-converged private cloud stack. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

VMware prepares VSAN 6.1, promises dedupe next

VMware launches VSAN 6.1 and prepares beta for the next version of the hyper-converged software, which will finally deliver data deduplication. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

EMC Federation center stage as VMworld 2015 opens

With the future of EMC Federation in the air, the storage giant launches bundle for end user computing and updates its hybrid cloud package. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

What's the difference between EMC VNX series and ViPR?

Brien Posey explains how two of EMC's virtual storage products work and for what use cases they work best. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

What are protocol endpoints in vSphere VVOLs and how do they work?

VMware's new VVOLs feature allows storage functionality to be distributed on a per-VM basis. Protocol endpoints are integral to proper allocation. Continue Reading

By

• Tom Fenton, Taneja Group

Five ways VDI technology is affected by storage

Managing storage for your VDI infrastructure has progressed, but there are still some snags. Here are five ways to avoid VDI environment issues. Continue Reading

By

• Erin Sullivan, Senior Site Editor

PernixData FVP adds RAM compression to server-side storage cache

PernixData FVP's latest version compresses data on RAM, and its server-side caching software pools flash and memory resources. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Atlantis USX 2.0

Atlantis Computing's USX 2.0 claims the silver medal in the storage system software category in Storage magazine's Products of the Year competition. Continue Reading

By

• Carol Sliwa

HP OneView for VMware vCenter 7.4.2

HP OneView for VMware vCenter management software provides a complete look into virtual environments, spanning both physical and virtual layers. Continue Reading

By

• Sarah Wilson, Associate Site Editor

Best data storage products 2014: Products of the Year

A panel of users, analysts, consultants and Storage magazine and SearchStorage editors voted these 19 products the best of 2014. Continue Reading

Can I use NAS storage with my hyper-converged infrastructure?

Hyper-converged options aren't always compatible with shared storage, but some products have added capabilities to better leverage existing architecture. Continue Reading

By

• George Crump

What complications can arise when thin provisioning VMware storage?

Brien Posey dives into the complications users might run into with thinly provisioned VMware data stores and how to address them. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

With EVO: RAIL, VMware turns VSAN into a franchise

VMware's EVO: RAIL allows hardware vendors to build hyper-converged appliances running VSAN and other VMware software. Continue Reading

By

• Dave Raffo

Hypervisor comparison: VMware vs. Microsoft vs. Red Hat

VMware has had the dominant enterprise-class hypervisor, but there are others worth reviewing. This tip details how Microsoft and Red Hat compete. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

Hyper-V storage best practices to optimize your virtual environment

Microsoft expert Brien Posey walks through the best storage tips and features to make the most out of a Hyper-V environment. Continue Reading

By

• Brien Posey

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

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

VM storage to make room for more hypervisors

VM-aware and hyper-converged systems for VM storage mainly support VMware now, but wider support for other hypervisors is coming. 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

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

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

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

SSD for laptops and desktop computers: What type and how to install it

Adding SSD to laptop and desktop computers: What form factor, MLC or SLC, SATA or AHCI, and what are the key stages of installation? We answer your questions in this podcast. Continue Reading

Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)

VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) is a load balancing utility that assigns and moves computing workloads to available hardware resources in a virtualized environment.  Continue Reading

By

• Francesca Sales

Storage vMotion: Application and performance

In this tip, learn how Storage vMotion operates, its uses, its system requirements and the steps to take to perform a Storage vMotion. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Siebert

Block vs file for Hyper-V and VMware storage: Which is better?

Is block- or file-based storage better for Hyper-V and VMware virtual server environments? The answer depends on the precise needs of your virtual server environment. Continue Reading

By

• Chris Evans

Using SSD technology to support memory overcommitment in vSphere

Using SSD in a vSphere environment helps with memory overcommitment. Find out how memory overcommitment works and why SSD is better at supporting it than mechanical disk. Continue Reading

By

• Eric Siebert