Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Roger Lund Day 1 Overview at Dell

 

We started off the afternoon at Dell, Talking about the Dell Acquisitions and Solutions, then diving into Scalable Storage Systems, and then Equallogic.

Below is my overview.

 

Some existing information on Dell Acquisitions.

http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/newsroom-acquisitions

 http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/data-center/228300266/12-dell-acquisitions-and-what-theyve-brought-to-the-company.htm?pgno=2

 

 

More information on the Dell Scalable File System. Including Dell PowerVault NX3500 Unified Storage Platform, and Dell EqualLogic FS7500 system

 http://www.dellstorage.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1578

More information on the Dell Equallogic San’s.

http://www.equallogic.com/products/default.aspx?id=5621

More information on the PS6010 and PS6510

http://www.equallogic.com/products/ps6010-series.aspx?id=8945&slider6010=1

Also make sure to check out Tech Field Day’s blog post.

Blog post link:

Dell Presents at Tech Field Day 7

 

Until Next Time!

 

 

Roger Lund

Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Day 1 Overview -The Symantec Backup Appliance Overload!

 

My Thoughts on our Mid Morning visit at Symantec.

 

My two cents are, these are great for remote sights, and offices. But, I wish we could run these with the same licensing, as below, but within a virtual appliance.

 

Check out the Tech Field Day video also.

 

More info.

“Symantec Backup Exec 3600 Appliance

Backup Exec 3600 Appliance provides Backup Exec software and optimized hardware integrated into a single affordable backup solution from the industry leader in Backup – Symantec. Easily protect both physical and virtual environments while reducing storage costs and improving backup performance through integrated deduplication. Reduce business downtime with V-Ray technology that recovers data through a single pass backup in second”

Link to appliance http://www.symantec.com/business/backup-exec-3600-appliance

“Licenses Included with the Backup Exec 3600 Appliance :

• •Backup Exec 2010 R3 Server
• •Agent for Windows Systems (AWS)
• •Remote Agent for Linux Systems (RALUS)
• •Remote Agent for Mac Systems (RAMS)
• •Agent for Microsoft Exchange
• •Agent for Microsoft Active Directory
• •Agent for Microsoft SQL
• •Agent for Microsoft SharePoint
• •Agent for Oracle (Linux/Windows)
• •Agent for Lotus Domino
• •Deduplication Option
• •Agent for VMware Virtual Infrastructures
• •Agent for Microsoft Hyper-V”

 

“NetBackup Appliances

Symantec understands the shifting needs of the data center and offers the NetBackup appliances as an additional option for customers to simplify deployment and maintenance of marketing-leading NetBackup and NetBackup deduplication.

The NetBackup appliances are ideal for customers looking for turnkey solutions for their organization. The appliances enable efficient, storage-optimized data protection for the data center, remote office and virtual environments.

Product Families

Symantec's NetBackup Appliance family consists of two series:

• NetBackup 5200 series - a single-vendor enterprise backup appliance with deduplication
  • 5200: enterprise backup appliance with 32TB storage
  • 5220: enterprise backup appliance with expandable storage starting at 4TB.
• NetBackup 5000 series - a scalable deduplication appliance for the enterprise
  • 5000: global deduplication pool scalable from 16TB to 96TB
  • 5020: global deduplication pool scalable from 32TB to 192TB “

Video Demo

Link to appliances http://www.symantec.com/business/theme.jsp?themeid=nbu-appliance

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Roger Lund

Tech Field Day 7 -- Austin : Day 1 Our first stop at SolarWinds

 

Below I overview the first stop at Austin on Tech Field Day 7.

My Self Giving a Overview of Stop one, at Tech Field Day 7.

 

Check out the Tech Field Day video also.

 

SolarWinds presents at Tech Field Day 7 from Stephen Foskett on Vimeo.

 

More information on SolarWinds http://www.solarwinds.com/products/virtualization-management.aspx

A couple of of products discussed.

 

“SolarWinds Virtualization Manager takes you from the early stages of virtualization deployment and all the way to implementation of private cloud initiatives and IT-as-a-Service. Our unified approach to VMware® capacity planning, VM sprawl control, performance monitoring, configuration management, and chargeback automation makes it easy to take control of your virtualized environment—regardless of whether you manage as few as fifty virtual machines or a corporate cloud the size of a small planet.”

 

Live Demo http://virtualization.demo.solarwinds.com/

“Storage management in a virtualized environment used to be a real nightmare. But not any longer! SolarWinds Storage Manager optimizes the performance and capacity of your physical and virtual storage infrastructure and delivers visibility and insight into how your storage infrastructure maps to your virtualized environment. And unlike element management tools from storage hardware vendors, Storage Manager gives you a comprehensive view into the real-time status of your entire multi-vendor SAN—through a single pane of glass.”

Live Demo http://storage.demo.solarwinds.com/

 

Enjoy

 

Roger Lund

Dell Storage Forum 2011– Dell DX Object Based Storage Lab Setup

 

Earlier on my other blog http://itblog.rogerlund.net , I posted a blog post on Dell DX object based storage, with regards to the hands on labs at Dell Storage Forum 2011.

Here is the video , if you missed it..

 

 

 

Well, I wanted to show what was running the labs, and give you some more information on the architecture on Dell DX object based storage.

 

As a overview, of what OSD is

 

“ Object storage device

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An Object-based Storage Device (OSD) is a computer storage device, similar to disk storage but working at a higher level. Instead of providing a block-oriented interface that reads and writes fixed sized blocks of data, an OSD organizes data into flexible-sized data containers, called objects. Each object has both data (an uninterpreted sequence of bytes) and metadata (an extensible set of attributes describing the object). The command interface to the OSD includes commands to create and delete objects, write bytes and read bytes to and from individual objects, and to set and get attributes on objects. The OSD is responsible for managing the storage of objects and their metadata. The OSD implements a security mechanism that provides per-object and per-command access control.

Several research projects have explored object storage and implemented prototype systems with various semantics. The early research spawned a standardization effort that lead to a standard OSD command set for SCSI.”

Here is Dell’s introduction to their product.

 

“

What is object storage?

Object storage is the intelligent evolution of disk storage - creating, storing and distributing variable-sized data objects, and their associated metadata, rather than simply placing blocks of data on tracks and sectors. Each object has its rich metadata inextricably linked to it, enabling long-term preservation while ensuring data remains safe and accessible over time.

Simple architecture
A flat-address-space design removes file-system complexity and the need to manage LUNs and RAID groups.

Cost-effectiveness
Automated management, SATA and near-line SAS based storage and modular scaling approach offers low total cost of ownership.

Metadata
By incorporating metadata into objects, you can apply preservation, retention and deletion policies, lower management resources, and facilitate enhanced discovery.

Enhanced scalability
An extremely large number of available addresses means a common pool of storage can support literally billions of objects.”

Taken from http://www.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/storage/dell-dx/pd.aspx?refid=dell-dx&cs=555&s=biz

 

Here are some resources form the Dell DX Object based Storage webpage.

“Dell DX Object Storage Spec Sheet

Dell DX Object Storage Platform - Remote Replication Configuration

Dell DX Object Storage Platform - Remote Synchronous Replication Configuration

Dell DX Object Storage Platform - Advanced Storage Node Configuration “

Towards the end of the Dell Storage Forum’s 2011 event, I got some time to look at the rack running the above labs., enjoy! 

 

 

 

I hope you enjoyed this blog post.

 

Thanks!

 

 

Roger L

You Tube Channel!

I have created, or rather, decide to use my you tube channel. Please ignore the dance video... I was put up to it…… @edsai


You'll see a collection of all the video's related to both blogs, and user groups there in the future.

Check it out!

You Tube Channel


Thanks!


Roger Lund

Dell Storage forum 2011 - Dell Equallogic Hands on lab Design Overview.

I had a chance to get a moment with Will Urban Twitter Linkedin to go over the Dell Equallogic hands on lab at Dell Storage Forum.




Thanks again Will!

I would love to get Will's feedback on the take away's from building a lab like this.

Roger L

Dell Storage forum 2011 - Commvault Design Overview.

I had a chance at Dell Storage forum 2011 to sit down with Commvault and talk through a design overview on Simpana 9 . I wouldn't call it a deep drive, but it was good overview, and involved white boarding.






More info below, Taken from http://www.commvault.com/simpana.html#t-3

Corporate & Product Information

• Simpana 9 Datasheet (PDF)
• Simpana 9 Product Brochure (PDF)
• Corporate Brochure (PDF)
• Corporate Fact Sheet (PDF)

Modern Data Management

Datasheets

• Backup & Recovery Product Overview (PDF)
• CommVault Simpana SnapProtect (PDF)
• Generation 3 Deduplication (PDF)
• Simplified Migration & Reporting (PDF)
• Simpana Storage Resource Management (PDF)
• CommVault Simpana Software for Cloud Storage: Key Benefits Extending data and information management to the Cloud (PDF)

Whitepapers

• Combining the Manageability and Efficiency of CommVault Simpana Software With the Speed of Native Snapshots (PDF)
• Protecting Data More Effectively in Remote Office and Branch Office Environments (PDF)
• Unlocking the Value of Global Deduplication for Enterprise Data Managemen (PDF)
• Journey to the Center of Corporate Information Ecosystems (PDF)
• Simpana Software – A Unique Cloud-Enabled Platform (PDF)

Data Reduction

Datasheets

• Simpana Archive for Microsoft Exchange (PDF)
• Simpana Archive for IBM Lotus Domino Server Mailboxes (PDF)
• Simpana Archive for Microsoft SharePoint (PDF)
• Simpana Archive for File Systems and NAS (PDF)
• Generation 3 Deduplication (PDF)
• CommVault Simpana SnapProtect (PDF)

Whitepapers

• Journey to the Center of Corporate Information Ecosystems (PDF)
• Backup=Archive:  Can You Tell the Difference? (PDF)
• To ILM or Not to ILM, That is the Question! (PDF)

Virtual Server Protection

Datasheets

• Scalable Data Management Options for VMware Environments with CommVault® Simpana® 9 Software (PDF)
• Scalable Data Management Options for Microsoft Hyper-V Environments with CommVault® Simpana® 9 Software (PDF)
• Scalable Data Management Options for Citrix XenServer with CommVault® Simpana® 9 Software (PDF)
• CommVault Simpana Software for Cloud Storage: Key Benefits Extending data and information management to the Cloud (PDF)

Whitepapers

• CommVault Virtually Perfect Protection (PDF)
• Simpana Software – A Unique Cloud-Enabled Platform (PDF)

Information Governance

Datasheet

• Content Director Product Datasheet (PDF)

Whitepapers

• Managing IT Workflow For eDiscovery
• The Fast Track to Enterprise Search and eDiscovery (PDF)
• Raising the Bar for eDiscovery Document Review Efficiencies (PDF)
• Universal Search Yields Maximum Business Value (PDF)
• eDiscovery for Ostriches: Don't Bury Your Head in the Sand (PDF)
• CommVault: Addressing eDiscovery and Legal Hold Requirements with CommVault (PDF)
• Journey to the Center of Corporate Information Ecosystems (PDF)

Microsoft Solutions

Datasheets

• Simpana Archive for Microsoft Exchange (PDF)
• Simpana Archive for Microsoft SharePoint (PDF)

Enterprise Applications

Datasheets

• Simpana Archive for IBM Lotus Domino Server Mailboxes (PDF)
• Simpana Archive for File Systems and NAS (PDF)

Whitepaper

• Top Use-Cases for Replication Demand Integration with Backup and Restore Capabilities (PDF)

Man, that is a ton of resources....


Enjoy!


Roger Lund

Resign your Virtual Network, with Cisco 1000V and VSG

Not long ago, I wrote on designing a VMware Environment for a lab. See A Secure budget VMware LAB Environment - Step one - Design

Well, today I am going to show glimpse of another method of using your existing VMware environment, to build out multiple Network's, while using the same pre existing VMware environment.

This will be using the Cisco 1000v , and Cisco VSG product line. These , you will see me write up on at a later date, on my other blog.

Here are some advantages I came up with over the previous design,  or just about any physically segmented data center.



Nexus 1000v & VSG technology advantages:

• Allows virtual zone/role based access control, and resource allocation to define multiple networks/environments within a shared VMware Environment.
• Provides industry standard compliance, and simplified network management & operations within a virtual environment.
• Provides HA and Standard VMware features without the additional costs of a physically separated Environment.
• Enables Virtual Service Datapath (vPath), Network Analysis Module (NAM), Virtual Application Acceleration (vWAAS)

I would love some feedback, both from a design side, and presentation side.


Roger L

VMworld 2011, Call for Papers, you tell me what you want to see.

I will be attending VMworld 2011 this year, and I am considering submitting a paper, so I can speak. But, I want you to tell me what you want to see. Then what? I'll write up a blog with top requests, and we can vote. I'll set a date on the 28th to get the info to me, and the 29th to Vote. Then I'll have to do some writing...

Let's get it rolling!

D me on twitter, rogerlund or e-mail me lundrog@gmail.com , parent of rogerlund@rogerlund.net and the rest.

Roger L.

EDIT: No feedback, Therefor I will assume no one has any requests that have not been covered, so I will see you at the event!

A Secure budget VMware LAB Environment - Step one - Design

I recently was challenged with designing a VMware Environment for a team within a existing network.



I had some requirements.

I needed to keep the cost low, meaning I could propose some license costs, but I had to use existing backed storage and server's with a little ram.

I had ten users that needed to use Visual Studio with dual monitor's within Windows 7 , but had older computer resources. Staff needed a Environment to that was separated from Production. Staff had a SQL requirement to use in conjunction with Visual Studio in a separated Environment.

I had the following hardware.

A FC San in main Environment.
A VMware View cluster in main Environment


A Hardware Pool with the following.

A Dell MD100 with 14 300GB 10k disk, & PCIe Hardware Raid card.
Two Dell 2950's.
A Dell 2850.
A Dell 2650.

I decided to take the 2850 and make it a openfiler box, connected to the Dell MD1000.

I perposed,the following new hardware for the Lab.

Additional Ram for the three hosts, and the open filer box. I would recommend NFS for ease of use.
A SMB Switch, with enough ports, that has Jumbo Frame and LACP support. The switch had to support the proper VLAN's for the Lab. NFS, iSCSI, etc.
VMware vSphere, vCenter and Windows Licensing.


No redundant requirements ( IE switch, or storage at this time ) , backup's were decided to be done outside of this scope.

My Thought process was to take the above hardware and create the needed environment, the challenge was to deliver the VMware View performance and VMware vSphere cluster performance with the above hardware. Additionally, I needed to provide a segmented secure network, with controlled access in and out.

In this first configuration, I recommended a configuration using a firewall both internal to the segmented network, but going into the main Network.

To me this is a secure solution, but in this case the view desktop's would be on the main domain, and need to be VLAN'D separately off. This would require VLAN access security, as well as a firewall configuration. 

    To get the VMware View desktop's access into the segmented network, routes would need to be fined.

In this configuration I setup two Trunked ports from the Segmented Network, into the VMware View Hosts. This allows the VMware View Desktop's to be on the Segmented domain.
This would require configuration of Etherchannel on the switches, and a separated vSwitch/vDS that the interfaces would be plugged into on each host. Additionally, a recommendation of using a 1000v Cisco vSwitch with VLAN security, or vShield zones.

Thoughts on each? Other recommendations? Any recommendations to improve each of the above? I'd love to see some comments. Which would you pick, and why?

DM me, or e-mail me.

If you want to see my Prof of Openfiler concept, See my Post:

Lab Powered by vSphere OpenFiler And NFS - A view from Veeam Monitor

Next:  backup planning.


UPDATE: To clarify some below questions.

The VMware view host server's on the right diagram are FC connected to a Enterprise San. the desktop's will not saturate the San in term's of I/O.
I also made the recommendation to max the memory on one of the two server's.

The openfiler box is using raid 10, with 1 hot spare.

A VMware essentials bundle was recommend for in the lab. A cluster will be defined, as two hosts are vmotion compatible.

Roger L

vBusy - tools on my mind.

I've been extremely busy with the holiday's and my new job. one of the things on my mind are along the following lines.

Tools, tools and tools. What does one need for VMware Monitoring tools? What tools are needed to cover all aspects of your virtual environment from Test / Dev Lab to View and even to your Main cluster / Clusters. Then assuming you figure how the tools you need, how do you convince and or show management that you or the company needs these tools?




Roger L.