Archive for the ‘EMC’ Category

EMC, Uncategorized | 1 Comment | January 31st, 2010

Nominal capacity, also know as the "advertised" capacity, is based on the standard base 10 numbers instead of the base 2 mathematics that disk drives use.  In bae 10 one Megabyte equals one million bytes while one Gigabyte equals one billion bytes. This isn't too much of a problem with small numbers such as a Kilobyte, but each level of increase in the prefix also increased the total discrepancy of the actual capacity compared to the nominal capacity.

Check out the table below which has some rough estimates of the formatted capacity of standard disk drives. 

Nominal Capacity Formatted Capacity
(520 bytes/sector, 1MB=1,048,576bytes)
Rotational Speed Interface
73 GB 4 Gb/s  72.67 GB N/A—Solid State FibreChannel
400 GB 4 Gb/s 372.5 GB N/A—Solid State FibreChannel
146 GB 4 Gb/s 135 GB 15,000 rpm FibreChannel
200 GB 4 Gb/s 186.31GB N/A—Solid State FibreChannel
300 GB 4 Gb/s 272 GB 15,000 rpm FibreChannel
450 GB 4 Gb/s 408 GB 10,000 rpm FibreChannel
450 GB 4G FC 409 GB 15,000 rpm FibreChannel
600 GB 4 Gb/s 545 GB 10,000 rpm FibreChannel
600 GB 4G FC 545 GB 15,000 rpm FibreChannel
1 TB 4 Gb/s 932 GB 7,200rpm SATA
1 TB 4 Gb/s
Low Power
932 GB 5,400 rpm SATA
2 TB 4 Gb/s
Low Power
1,852 GB 5,400 rpm SATA 

EMC | 1 Comment | November 24th, 2009

Here are the commands to rename a Celerra CIFS server:
 
Be sure putty session has a lot of lines of scroll back set so you can scroll up to see previous commands/results
 

Login to console as “nasadmin”.

 
testserv - Original server name
testservnew – new server name
 
get existing CIFS server data:
> server_cifs server_2
> server_cifs server_3
 
 
1. Unjoin the original compname from the domain, type:
server_cifs server_2 -Unjoin compname=testserv,domain=contourds.local,admin=adadmin
 
2. Delete the compname from the CIFS configuration of the Data Mover, type:  
server_cifs server_2 -delete compname=testserv
 
3. Add the compname back to the CIFS configuration of the Data Mover as a NetBIOS name, type:
server_cifs server_2 -add netbios=testserv,domain=contourds.local,interface=192_168_191_65
 
4. Rename the NetBIOS server to the new name, type:
server_cifs server_2 -rename -netbios testserv testservnew
 
5. Delete the renamed NetBIOS name from step 4. from the CIFS configuration of the Data Mover, type:
server_cifs server_2 -delete netbios=testservnew
 
6. Add the new compname to the CIFS configuration and active directory (AD) domain, type:
server_cifs server_2 -add compname=testservnew,domain=contourds.local,interface=192_168_191_65
 
7. Join the new compname to the CIFS configuration and active directory (AD) domain, type:
server_cifs server_2 -Join compname=testservnew,domain=contourds.local,admin=adadmin
 
That's it!

EMC, HP | 1 Comment | November 9th, 2009

HARDWARE

COMPARISON

EMC

HP

CLARiiON AX4

MSA1500

MSA1510i

Connectivity

Fibre Channel or iSCSI

Fibre Channel

iSCSI

Host ports

2 x 4 Gb Fibre Channel or 2 x 1 Gb IP
per SP

2 x 2 Gb Fibre Channel per controller

2 x 1 Gb IP per controller

Maximum hosts
(high availability)

64

20

Controllers

1 or 2 SPs

1 or 2

Drive options

146, 300* GB 15k SAS
400 GB 10k SAS
750 GB 1TB* SATA

36, 72, 146, 300 GB 15k SAS
73, 146, 300 GB 10k SAS
160, 250, 500, 750 GB SATA

Drives

4 to 60

Up to 96

Raw capacity

584 GB to 60 TB

Up to 64 TB

Cache

1 GB per SP

256 or 512MB
per controller

Operating system support

Windows 2000
Windows Server 2003
Linux
HP-UX
AIX
Solaris
Netware
VMware

Windows 2000

Windows Server 2003

Linux

HP-UX

Netware

SCO

Open VMS

Tru64

VMware

Windows 2000

Windows Server 2003

VMware

 

ARRAY BASED SOFTTWARE

EMC CLARiiON AX4

HP

Snaps

SnapView

Host-based only

Clones

SnapView

None

Management

Navisphere

Separate software

Snaps/clones per array

256 / 128

Snaps/clones per LUN

8

Snaps/clone of same LUN

Yes

Snaps from clones

Yes

Local copy from remote replica

Yes, clone

Dedicated snap area

Yes

Access to source LUN during copy

Yes

Consistent splits

Yes

Protected Restore

Yes

Snap rollback

Yes

 

 

ARRAY BASED REPLCATION

EMC CLARiiON AX4

HP

Products

MirrorView

None

Cross-generational platform support

Yes

Yes

Management

Navisphere

Command View

Synchronous mode

Yes

No

Asynchronous mode

Yes

Yes

Replication over IP

Only via bridges

only via bridges

Extended distance with Asynchronous mode

Yes

No

Bidirectional replication

Yes

Yes

Copies per array

100

256

LUN fan-out

1 or 2

Array fan-out

1:4

1:2

Array fan-in

4:1

2:1

Consistency technology

Yes

Yes

 

 

Job Title:                    Systems Administrator (Desktop and Windows Server)

 

Department:               Technology Operations

 

Reports To: VP of Technology

 

The following document outlines the job description and duties for the position above.

The Systems Administrator will primarily be responsible for the day to day operation and maintenance of the our Clients Desktop support and open systems.  The position will report into the VP of Technology.  The goal of the position is to maintain a high level of availability and end-user satisfaction that meets or exceeds the performance requirements.  Much of this work is currently spread across external vendors and internal staff.  This position also needs to be focused on making the most efficient use of time and the environment.  This should include all of the day to day hands on activities for desktop support, basic server administration and management and escalation of issues with vendors involved in the managed services.  As a part of the managed services offering Penn Treaty will leverage the call desk services provided by Contour.  Those services will augment and provide ready access and tracking for support issues.  This includes extended coverage and backfill for the onsite resource when that resource is not available due to illness or other absence.  This position will also function as an escalation tier for network operations issues.  This will help network operations fulfill their responsibilities in addition to the dedicated desktop support.

He/She will be responsible for the following on a day-to-day basis:

Manage current desktop environment

o   Resolve any hardware related issues

o   Alert and resolve any performance issues and notify end-users

o   Function as an escalation point and remote hands for the call center

o   Manage issues with the vendors

o   Work with the IT staff to respond to and resolve alerts related to systems and/or  integration with the managed services offering.

o   Monitor current environment usage, performance, and availability  

o   Install, configure, test, and implement software and components as necessary on a day to day basis.  Larger projects such as organization wide upgrades amy be identified as out of scope and defined as a separate project.

o   Applicable patch releases and maintenance are included in the day to day responsibilities of the resource.

o   Responsible for planning and coordination of any new systems installation as it relates to the overall offering from Contour

o   Perform any host-level tasks needed to access the systems

 

Application support

o   Work with application developers and Contour to assist in troubleshooting infrastructure related issues

 

Backup

o   Maintain proper backup schedule

o   Restore and recover data as requested including the management of snaps and replication

o   Coordinate with off-site storage as necessary

 

Strategic Planning

o   Capacity planning and forecast growth

o   Identify processes and policies that will improve the overall performance of the project.   Work with management to implement these initiatives

o   Work with IT staff to identify upcoming needs and report back to management

o   Review tools regularly to identify abnormal growth

o   Provide input on vendor proposals

  

Network Operations

o   Escalation point for server and system related issues.

o   Second Tier advisory role to desktop support call center

o   Validation of tasks completed by the administrators as needed

o   Lead and/or participate in the creation and maintenance of system related policies

  

Qualified Candidates must have

 

o    At least 5 years experience in Windows desktop support and customer service

o    At least 1-2 years experience with basic Mac desktop functionality

o    At least 3 years windows server administration

o   Familiarity with basic concepts around Back-up maintenance and Disaster Recovery Procedures.

o   Experience with Help Desk software and ticket management procedures

o   Experience with Trouble ticket escalation and vendor management

o   Excellent interpersonal and communication skills

o   The ability to work independently and provide documentation in compliance with Contour and Customer needs.

 

Interested Candidates should provide their resume and cover letter to:

Att: Recruiting

640 Freedom Drive

King of Prussia, PA 19406

 

Or email to:           careers@contourds.com

Backup Technologies, EMC, VMware | No Comments | September 29th, 2009

Company Overview:
EMC’s $165m purchase of Avamar Technologies in 2006 provided the company with valuable de‐duplication technologies that were proven in the remote office/branch  office (ROBO) data protection space. EMC then repackaged the technology into an easy‐to‐deploy hardware appliance (Avamar Data Store) that can back up data at remote offices and funnel it into centralized repositories at the data center.

• Launched Avamar 4.1 in December 2008
• Launched Avamar Data Store Gen 2 in May 2008

 

Key Products/ Services:
Software: Avamar 4.1

In late 2008, EMC introduced Avamar 4.1. This software‐only product deduplicates data globally and at the source for fast, secure backup and recovery across your enterprise—including VMware environments, remote offices, and data center LANs.

Software: Avamar Virtual Edition for VMware This product is an Avamar server deployed as a virtual
appliance—the industry’s first fully virtualized de‐duplication backup and recovery solution.
Hardware/Software: Avamar Data Store Avamar Data Store Gen 2 is a complete backup and recovery package — including de‐duplication software agents, backup software, (EMC‐certified) physical servers and disk storage, and high availability.

Avamar backup and recovery solutions utilize patented global data deduplication technology to identify redundant data at the source, minimizing backup data before it is sent over the LAN/WAN. With Avamar, you can achieve new levels of data reduction and enable fast, secure backup for your VMware environments, remote offices, and data center LANs. In the process, you’ll reduce backup time, growth of secondary storage, and network utilization.

Supported Platforms:

Client Operating Systems
Supported Application Modules
1) Windows Server 2003: Standard and Enterprise Microsoft Exchange 2000, 2003, 2007 Windows 2000 Server and Advanced Server
2) Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, 2000, 2005 Windows XP, XP Professional, Vista

3) Oracle 9i, 10g, 10gR2
4) Red Hat Linux 9.0
5) IBM DB2 8.2.x, 9.5
6) Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 3.0, 4.0, 5.0
7) NDMP (EMC Celerra) DART 5.5, 5.6 NDMP

8)  (NetApp) Data ONTAP 6.5, 7.0.4, 7.0.5, 7.0.6, 7.1x. 7.2

9)Solaris 8, 9, 10
10) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8.2, 9, 10

11) VMware Infrastructure  VMware ESX Server versions 3.0.x, 3.5, 3i

12) IBM 5.2, 5.3, 6.1
13) HP‐UX 11.0, 11iV1, 11iV2, 11iV3
14) Mac OS X 10.4x, 10.5x
15) NetWare 6.5
16) Free BSD 6.2
17) Novell Storage Services (NSS) OES 2

Strengths

  • Global deduplication at the source and the target minimizes storage footprint
  • Granular — Small, variable‐length sub‐file segments guarantee effective de‐duplication
  • Broad platform and application support
  • High availability and reliability – Fault tolerance across nodes with RAIN architecture improves reliability
  • Centralized management allowing users to control multisite backups from a single location and automate policy based management Weaknesses
  • Avamar software agents can negatively impact application and server performance (Up to 15%)

Weaknesses

  • Must use Avamar branded or EMC‐certified hardware
  • The technology was not designed to meet the high performance requirements of enterprises
  • Difficult to restore an entire RAIN architecture after a disaster. (lots of deduplicated data scattered)
  • Dependent of the node: before backing up / restoring a check is made to verify the deduplicated blocks available.  This can lengthen the time for backup and restores
  • Permanent activity on Nodes: Data is permanently moved from node to other

Need help.. I am looking to hire an Sr Systems Engineer that knows the following technologies inside and out:

1) EMC – Clariion, Celerra, Avamar, and ideally knows SYM

2) VMware – ESX, View and SRM

If you know of anyone that has at least 5 years of experience and willing to join a growing company please have them send a cover letter and resume to careers@contourds.com

Thanks

Rocco

EMC, Misc., NetApp, VMware | 1 Comment | September 17th, 2009

Spec Comparison

Specifications

NetApp FAS/V-Series

EMC Celerra NS Series

Operating System

Data ONTAP

DART

(Data Access in Real Time)

File System

WAFL

UxFS

Simple Management & Installation

Yes

(NO) Celerra Startup Assistant Provisioning Wizard[1]

High Performance RAID 6

Yes

No[2]

Snapshots in base system

Yes

Yes

Rapid recovery from Snapshots

SnapRestore

SnapSure

Flexible Volumes

FlexVol

Celerra AVM[3]

Integrated Cloning

FlexClone

No

Workload Prioritization

FlexShare

No

Virtualized Partitions

MultiStore

Virtual Data Movers

Mirroring

SnapMirror

Celerra Replicator / MirrorView[4]

RecoverPoint*

Max. systems in a cluster

2

2-8[5]

 

Competitive Alignment

 

NetApp

EMC

 

FAS2050

NS-120

FAS3140

FAS3160

NS-480

FAS3170

FAS60×0

NS-960

 




[1] Installation from one GUI, Management from different GUI’s

[2] EMC delivers RAID 6 but with performance penalties

[3] Without the ability to shrink volumes

[4] Celerra Replicator for NAS/iSCSI, MirrorView for FC, Recoverpoint scheduled for release Q4

[5] NS-120 w/ 2 Data Mover, NS-480 up to 4, NS-960 up to 8. One Data Mover is passive for failover

 

EMC Competitive Analysis

Overview

·         Recognized brand, large installed base

·         >50% of sales are through channel and OEMs

·         50% revenue increase YoY

·         Strong Customer Base

Strengths

·         N+1 clustering for high availability

·         Integrates into existing EMC storage installations

·          “All-in-one” NAS, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel connectivity – Separate OS*

·         File-level deduplication – Gen 1 Released in 09

·         File-level retention, similar to SnapLock Compliance

·         Thin Provisioning with Automated Volume Manager

·         Async replication process for iSCSI and NAS with non-transparent failover

Weaknesses

·         At least two operating systems to manage

  • DART on Celerra
  • FLARE on CLARiiON
  • RedHat Linux on Celerra Control Station

·         Multiple management software products

  • Celerra Manager for NAS/iSCSI
  • Navisphere Manager on CLARiiON

·         No true Unified Storage

·         Deduplication not supported on iSCSI and with VMware

·         CLARiiON virtually provisioned LUNs are not supported and cannot be provisioned to Celerra

·         Celerra Raid andDrive configurations are based on templates and are limited


 

Netapp Competitive Analysis

Overview

·         Up and coming

·         YOY market share increasing

·         Strong customer base

Strengths

·         Easy Implementation and Management

·         N+1 clustering for high availability

·         True “All-in-one” NAS, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel connectivity – Single OS*

·         Block-level deduplication

·         File-level retention

·         True Thin Provisioning – Virtual Provisioning for dynamic increase and decrease of Volume sizes

·         True NAS File Management

Weaknesses

·         Storage Utilization  based in Raid DP

·         Time based Snaps do work with VMware Managed Storage

  • Need RDM to do Snaps
  • LIMITATIONS ARE AROUND SRM

·         Still Growing into large enterprise solution

 

 

EMC, Misc., NetApp | 1 Comment | September 12th, 2009

Comparison

Technology Highlights

NetApp FAS2020

EMC CLARiiON AX4-5

SAN Protocol Support

Integrated dual function FCP and iSCSI

Separate FCP model (AX4-5)
or iSCSI model(AX4-5I)

Network Protocol Support

NFS V2/V3/V4 over UDP or TCP, Microsoft® CIFS

None; SAN block only

Max. Raw Capacity

65TB

60TB

Dual Parity RAID

Yes; RAID-DP

No, RAID 0/1, 3 and 5 only

Max. Number of Total Disk Drives

68

60

Drive Types Supported

SAS: 144GB, 300GB
FC: 144GB, 300GB
SATA: 250GB, 500GB, 750GB, 1TB

SAS: 144GB, 300GB
SATA: 400GB, 750GB, 1TB

LUNs

Up to 1,024

Up to 512

Snapshot Copies

Up to 256 per LUN, and up to 51,000 per controller

Only 1 per LUN and 16 per array

EMC CLARiiON AX4-5 Competitive Analysis

Strengths

  •  Strong FC SAN vendor partnerships
  • Resells through Dell as a channel (30% of revenues)
  • Virtual LUN capability; ability to non-disruptively migrate LUNs internally (Virtual LUN) and externally (SANcopy)
  • Cache de-staging
  • Support for consistency groups with remote mirroring function
  • PowerPath host multipath software for path and workload management

Positioning

  • Aimed at small to medium businesses (SMBs)

  • AX4-5 key claims:

  • Performance, scalabilty, ease of use

  • 4Gb/s end-to-end architecture
  • Connectivity with iSCSI or FC

Simplify the IT environment and support VMware infrastructure

  • High Scalability
  • EMC claims high raw capacity utilization
  • I/O optimization via PowerPath MPIO host application
  • Virtual LUN Technology
  • Data movement between FC & SATA
  • Resiliency & Availability
  • fully redundant with cache des-stage to disk
  • Dual controller option to provide HA
  • Snap & Mirror Consistency
  • Supports both sync and async replication, as well as consistency groups

Weaknesses

  • legacy design, requires disruption to scale up (CLARiiON CX range)
  • SAN only; FC (Fiber Channel) or iSCSI, not both
  • Management gaps; limited integration of management software
  • No single operational workflow for managing both the system and its data.
  • Limited product breadth and scalability
  • Double-parity RAID-6 protection not available
  • No multi-protocol support in a single array; NAS support for file data requires expensive, add-on gateway controllers  requiring  other mgmt
  • No thin-provisioning, no data deduplication
  • Snapshots copies – copy-on-write / performance penalties (see SPC-1)
  • No support for SnapView clones
  • Limited number of Snapshots (1 per LUN); limited number of Snap Sessions per LUN (1) and per system (16)
  • No SnapSuite-like benefits; EMC Replication Manager provides an integrated environment for managing point-in-time copies, remote mirroring, and data migration services; but no Operations Manager.
  • No Oracle HARD support (vs. NetApp SnapValidator)
  • No integrated compliance solution (SnapVault, SnapLock, LockVault)
  • Requires 4 pre-allocated drives for OS; using for data impacts performance
  • External battery backup to destage cache is weak link

Why NetApp FAS2020 vs. EMC CLARiiON AX4-5

  • Higher performance under snapshot (SPC-1), capacity utilization (RAID-DP, Thin Provisioning & Deduplication) & data protection (SnapSuite)
  • lower total cost of ownership

  • NetApp easier to install, configure, deploy, and manage

  • Flex and Snap-suite dramatically simplify administration and allocation of storage

  • Staff only needs to be trained in one technology for the complete storage infrastructure, reducing training costs and skill levels required

  • NetApp enables Business Agility with:

  • Greater versatility with multiprotocol support and upgrade paths in a single storage system
  • Cascade original investment into new technologies as released by NetApp; for example, deduplication
  • Common compatible architecture across the entire product range

  • Gaps in functionality require customers to use disparate pieces of non-integrated software to address key areas of management, including…
  • Files, Archives, Disk backup (D2D), Security, SRM
  • Challenges in provisioning and re-provisioning capacity
  • AX offers poor volume mgmt and limited disk pooling
  • MetaLUNs must be configured based on strict guidelines — a labor-intensive and inflexible process.
  • Performance impact can be negative as LUN count increases and existing LUNs are re-provisioned.

Backup Technologies, EMC | No Comments | September 2nd, 2009

 

 

Solution

What Does It Do?

Benefits

Data Deduplication

Automatically filters out duplicate information at the sub-file level, at the data source, or in the target backup location.

Greatly reduces the amount of storage required for backup, at a lower cost than tape-based backup.

Intelligent Active Archiving

Automatically removes inactive and unchanging data from production while maintaining online access to content.

Can reduce backups and primary storage requirements by up to 70 percent.

Data Replication

A continuum of replication options – from continuous data protection (CDP) to remote mirroring, to snapshots – aligns data protection to data criticality.

Enables tiering to provide high protection for critical data, while assigning less-critical data to lower, less-expensive levels of protection.

Policy-Based Management

Single-console platforms that automate and integrate multiple backup processes and technologies across different kinds of servers, operating systems, databases, and applications.

Consolidates backup, aligns processes and policy, reduces costs, complexity, and manual errors.

Monitoring, Analytics, and Reporting

Looks across heterogeneous backup environments to uncover bottlenecks and inconsistencies in established backup processes.

Discover potential gaps in current processes and set policy-based alerts of failed backup jobs.

Energy Efficiency

New larger capacity disks, slower disk rotation speeds, and automated "spin down" of idle disks.

Can reduce the power and cooling required by as much as 47 percent over tape-based backup storage solutions.

EMC, Misc., VMware | No Comments | August 5th, 2009

Yesterday at Lehigh University we hosted a group of 30 IT professionals to learn about some of the latest technologies around green IT and virtualization. Following the presentations we lunched on Italian steak, chicken romano, and cappuccino cake while attendees had the opportunity to network with one another along with representatives from Contour, EMC, VMware, and newly acquired EMC partner Data Domain.

Following the lunch we made our way down into the scorching sun where we watched the special teams practice. The most exciting part of the practice was watching second-year man Desean Jackson returning kicks. You have no idea how fast these guys are until you see them in person. The temperature was 93 degrees and after several hours of direct sunlight most of the guests retired to their cars for the trip back home.

Upcoming on the 20th is the Recoverpoint event at the Camden Rivershark game. I have heard that the Camden ball park is one of the nicest in minor league baseball due to it’s sprawling view of the Philadelphia skyline.