Contour Data Solutions Blog » Misc.

IDC Reports Mixed Messages from Storage Software Market – Data Storage from eWeek

roccog — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:55:15 +0000

IDC Reports Mixed Messages from Storage Software Market – Data Storage from eWeek.

HP Beats Dell on 3Par Deal

dougc — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:57:10 +0000

So the two largest brand name technology companies out there today go head to head for 3Par, ok why? The largest and most known names you see on their customer list are companies that do social engineering, which are usually under fire for losing people’s personal information and such. So if you are the storage provider of these cloud services why would anyone want to jump right in? That question by the way is open for conversation because I don’t know. In the end HP beat Dell by $1 a share and took the company; I guess HP won’t be a Alliance Partner anymore but I wonder if Dell still will be? Longer, more detailed article linked below.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6wPsjjs0oYAoJQ9hSH7t8e5smDgD9I026IG2

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/09/03/hp-vs-dell-bidding-war-ended-spectacle/

Contour Data Solutions, LLC Ranks No. 1135 on the 2010 Inc. 5000

jessicas — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 15:32:49 +0000

Trevose, PA, August 30, 2010–Contour Data Solutions, the leading provider of Data Management Solutions in Delaware Valley area, announced that the company was named to the Inc. 5000 list after only 2 years in business.

Rocco Guerriero, CEO and Founder of Contour Data Solutions, commented on the award: "There is obvious risk when starting any entrepreneurial venture but especially when one starts a business that they will rely upon to support their family. Many of the operating participants involved with the companies on this list know this feeling quite well. So, as you can imagine, it is both an honor and a relief to see our organization on this list because we have more than doubled in the past year. Further, that we achieved this growth while maintaining profitability."

This year Contour Data Solutions placed in the top 1200 at #1135 with a growth rate of 264%. As Rocco explains, "We have made Cloud Computing and Data Management our core competency because our customers think this is of critical importance."

Dan Catinella, Vice President and Director of IT of Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, comments: "The team at Contour Data Solutions assisted us in crafting our data management and disaster recovery plans and then took a lead role in implementing the strategy with market leading technology and skilled experts from their consulting team. We consider them an extension of our team."

When asked the key to the success of the company the founder simply states: "We have chosen a dynamic and growing market, hired the best of class team, and last but certainly not least, we have customers that know we will not let them down. They feel that we are committed to them in a personal way. And you know what, we are."

About Contour Data Solutions, LLC
Contour Data Solutions is the premier provider for Strategic IT Solutions and Data Management. We specialize in implementing and supporting virtualized IT environments, building virtual desktop infrastructures, private and public cloud platforms, Disaster Recovery Solutions, Backup and Recovery Solutions and Data Management Solutions. Contour is comprised of senior technology experts. We maintain a small sales group and an even smaller management team. The core focus of Contour’s business strategy is the customer. Contour takes the time to know your team, know your technology, and know your business.

Contour helps you bridge the gap between the business and technology to avoid costly delays in projects and misaligned expectations. We will work with your team to identify the business goals, the budget constraints, and the technology integration issues. Contour will take your defined strategy and work with their extensive partnership network to get you the right deals on the products and technology you need to fulfill that strategy. In the end Contour will make sure that your solution is the right solution today and for the long term.

Contour’s goal is to work with clients to optimize IT environments for their systems and applications, whether built at the client's location or managed by Contour’s private cloud services and solutions team at our secure data center.

About Inc. Magazine

Founded in 1979 and acquired in 2005 by Mansueto Ventures LLC, Inc. (www.inc.com) is the only major business magazine dedicated exclusively to owners and managers of growing private companies that delivers real solutions for today’s innovative company builders. With a total paid circulation of 712,647, Inc. provides hands-on tools and market-tested strategies for managing people, finances, sales, marketing, and technology. Visit us online at www.inc.com.

Using WMI with Windows 7

mikeg — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:21:41 +0000

By default the Windows 7 firewall prevents WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation) connections from remote machines. The following command will open up all the ports neccessary for remote machines to access WMI on Windows 7.

In a command window (cmd.exe) running as “administrator”, type:

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”windows management instrumentation (WMI)” new enable=Yes

you should see a response like this:

C:\Windows\system32>netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”windows management instrumentation (WMI)” new enable=Yes

Updated 8 rule(s).
Ok.

Job Opening for Systems Administrator (Desktop and Windows Server)

roccog — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 16:41:01 +0000

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

Need a Strong Senior Systems Engineer

roccog — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 23:05:00 +0000

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 Celerra NS Series Vs. Netapp

roccog — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:15:00 +0000

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

Rapid recovery from Snapshots

SnapRestore

SnapSure

Flexible Volumes

FlexVol

Celerra AVM[3]

Integrated Cloning

FlexClone

Workload Prioritization

FlexShare

Virtualized Partitions

MultiStore

Virtual Data Movers

Mirroring

SnapMirror

Celerra Replicator / MirrorView[4]

RecoverPoint*

Max. systems in a cluster

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

VMware View Compared to Citrix Overview

roccog — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:02:00 +0000

Comparison of EMC AX4 and Netapp FAS2020

roccog — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:42:00 +0000

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

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.

Cash For Clunkers

roccog — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 13:28:00 +0000

A week go or so Pillar announced a “Cash For Storage Clunkers” program. I haven’t seen any news since. I am curious to see if anyone has an opinion on this. I cut and paste the article from the CEO blog so that you can read it.

Thoughts?

Cash For Clunkers

A week or so ago we announced a “Cash For Storage Clunkers” program. The response to our announcement has been very positive… and frankly, a bit surprising. We’ve had lots of inquiries, requests for quotes, and media coverage. Heck, today we even had a company ask if their V-Max qualified as a clunker. What a hoot!

And we’re not alone. In the last month, other tech and storage companies have launched their own versions of Cash for Clunkers programs. Good. I think customers who have old technology and storage arrays might just want to trade in for newer, better technology. That’s the idea.

In the blogosphere some people have suggested we were flattering another storage vendor, say “Company X”, by stealing the idea from them. We didn’t, we stole it from the US Government. Apparently we just didn’t steal it first. Time will tell if the government’s plan to stimulate the economy through this contrivance will work, but I have to say it was cute; great name, good story. It got a lot of press and everyone has heard about it.

In the end these are trade-in programs (well, not Uncle Sam’s, but that is a different story). There is no miracle here – if you want new stuff we offer to give you money for the old stuff. Unfortunately, the old stuff might not be worth much in the IT business, but we’re willing to have a look and make an offer. Some poor guy offered us some CX700’s and we couldn’t get more than $500 for them, we were embarrassed to even tell him what we could get for them. I suppose getting 50% what they were worth when you bought them 4 years ago isn’t that bad though (relax, I am just kidding).

We announced our program to coincide with the ending of the government’s program. That’s why we said it “Extends the Cash For Clunkers Program.” That headline was supposed to be funny. Our Marketing dude, Bob Maness said, “Pillar is taking over where the government left off.” Get it? Maybe to some it isn’t so funny. To us it’s a riot – as if some small company like Pillar could pick up where Uncle Sam left off.

I initially hatched the idea for our program while visiting customers in Canada and some great folks at Toronto Hydro. I am sure people will say some guy on a grassy knoll signaled to me in Morse code while peeking through the windows at XHQ (and you thought that flashing light was lightning). The gang down at XHQ better start closing their shades before we flatter them further. We might just rip the cache right out of our product.

As to who was first to lift Uncle Sam’s program… who cares? We have a great program to buy back old assets with a great financial partner. And, of course, we have the most efficient storage system available with the best performance and scalability to trade up for – but that could be another blog entry…. “