EMC Announces AppSync 1.5

Posted on 4 September 2013 by GeekFluent

Today EMC announced version 1.5 of their AppSync data protection software for the VNX storage platform. The software provides application-consistent data protection for applications running on VNX, regardless of whether they’re running on physical or virtual servers. AppSync provides an application-centric point of view and uses the native APIs of both VNX and RecoverPoint to deliver user-definable levels of protection to the applications.

How It’s Deployed

The AppSync server runs a centralized Unisphere-like interface. From this interface, admins can push AppSync agents out to application servers. Continue reading →

Posted in VNX | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

EMC Announces XtremSW Cache 2.0

Posted on 4 September 2013 by GeekFluent

EMC XtremSW Cache logoToday EMC announced the availability of version 2.0 of their XtremSW Cache product.

XtremSW Cache is EMC’s intelligent caching software. It allows storage admins to extend EMC’s FAST (Fully-Automated Storage Tiering) capabilities to server Flash. Doing so improves application performance by providing accelerated reads. Today, XtremSW Cache provides write-through caching (write-back caching is on the roadmap, but won’t be available in 2013).

Version 2.0 adds several integration and interoperability features, detailed below. Continue reading →

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EMC Announces Next-Generation VNX – Takes It Full Multicore

Posted on 4 September 2013 by GeekFluent

Today EMC announced the availability of the next generation of their VNX unified storage platform, previously codenamed “Rockies”. The new platform — actually available for purchase for the past month or so — which some are calling “VNX2”, offers a significant performance increase over the previous generation. Rather than VNX2, EMC refers to this generation as “MCx”, which stands for “Multi-Core Optimized”.

Virtualization as a Storage Driver

EMC has seen the greatest growth in the VNX line in its use as an engine for server virtualization. With the hyper-consolidation that server virtualization technology like VMware vSphere allows for, storage arrays become aggregators for tens, hundreds, and even thousands of virtual machines.

Designing storage for virtual environments isn’t always easy.
Continue reading →

Posted in VNX | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

The Great Community Experiment, While Successful, Draws to a Close

Posted on 2 August 2013 by GeekFluent

If you follow me on Twitter, or have received email from my personal account, you’ve seen my tagline: “Social Media Mad Scientist”. I do think of myself that way. I really enjoy experimenting with it, trying new things to find out what works.

Now, social media is new enough that — technically — we’re all really experimenting just by participating in it, but I like to play with the edges of things, figure out the controls, find the minimum amount of force one can use to make things fall over, etc. My usual answer to the question “What would happen if…?” is “Let’s try it and see!”

So I’m always open to opportunities to be involved in new programs, to be the first to get my hands on something, or just generally see what trouble can be stirred up. Sometimes it’s ended up in helping found new communities, sometimes it’s ended with TBaaS…

That said, for the past 16 months I’ve been fortunate to have been involved in another experiment of sorts, one that’s now drawn to a close. Continue reading →

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DIM Project: JAMBOX Dashboard Mount Made of Sugru

Posted on 17 July 2013 by GeekFluent

In May, I went to EMC World, had fun, learned a lot, made some great connections, and returned with a bit of conference swag.  Probably my favorite take-home from EMC World is the Jawbone JAMBOX that I won in one of the giveaways.

The JAMBOX is a Bluetooth-enabled portable speaker (Gear Review scheduled).  It lets you stream audio in great-sounding stereo, and even has a built-in mic, so it can turn your phone into a high-quality speakerphone.

After syncing it to my phone and testing the sound quality (amazing), my first thought was how great it would be to use in my car.  I could stream music to it from the cloud through my phone, or have a great hands-free way to take calls when I’m driving.

The problem was there was no good place to put it in my car. Continue reading →

Posted in DIM | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

EMC Announces Updates to BRS Line (Data Domain, Avamar, NetWorker), Part Two

Posted on 10 July 2013 by GeekFluent

Today, EMC announced updates across their entire BRS (Backup and Recovery Solutions) line of products, adding new data protection features. Due to size, I’ve split my analysis of this announcement into two parts, as follows:

Part Two:  What It Means

[DISCLAIMER: My breakdown of the EMC announcement in Part One is based upon information from EMC, given to me under embargo until today. You can consider it information directly from EMC, seen from my point of view, and, as such, can count on high accuracy. Everything in Part Two, however, is all me. What follows here is pure speculation and thought exercises of my own. To judge the accuracy of Part Two, revisit it a year or two from now…]

Continue reading →

Posted in Avamar, Data Domain | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

EMC Announces Updates to BRS Line (Data Domain, Avamar, NetWorker), Part One

Posted on 10 July 2013 by GeekFluent

Today, EMC announced updates across their entire BRS (Backup and Recovery Solutions) line of products, adding new data protection features. Due to size, I’ve split my analysis of this announcement into two parts, as follows:

Part One: What Was Announced

EMC announced the following:

  • New mid-range Data Domain models to replace the current DD640, DD670, DD860, and DD890 models
  • Avamar version 7
  • NetWorker 8.1
  • Enhanced Mozy capabilities

I’ll go into more detail here:

Continue reading →

Posted in Avamar, Data Domain | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

2013 VMware vExperts Announced

Posted on 29 May 2013 by GeekFluent

VMware vExpert 2013Yesterday, VMware announced the vExpert 2013 awardees.  The vExpert program is one that recognizes those members of the VMware community who “have demonstrated significant contributions to the community and a willingness to share their expertise with others.”  One of the things I like about this program is that the designation is good only for a year, and inclusion on the list in one year is no guarantee of inclusion the next year.

I am simultaneously proud and humbled to have been included in this year’s list.

You can find the full list of 2013 vExpert awardees here.  I’m sure you’ll see many familiar names — all folks whose future contributions I look forward to seeing.  Congratulations to all the 2013 awardees!

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EMC Announces Upcoming Updates to Isilon OneFS

Posted on 7 May 2013 by GeekFluent

Today EMC announced upcoming updates to OneFS, the operating system for the Isilon scale-out storage platform.  The new version of the software will offer new capabilities including:

  • Support for Hadoop’s HDFS 2.0
  • Object Storage
  • Extended RESTful APIs with support for EMC Atmos, Amazon S3, and OpenStack’s Swift
  • Support for EMC’s newly-announced software-defined storage platform, ViPR
  • Online Block-Level Data Deduplication
  • New Audit Security features

I’ll break down each of the new features below. Continue reading →

Posted in Isilon | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

My Schedule for EMC World 2013

Posted on 3 May 2013 by GeekFluent

EMC World is almost here, and I’ve been spending a bit of effort figuring out how my time there would be best spent, and think I’ve got my schedule more or less worked out (there are only a couple double-bookings (and one triple-booking) remaining).

Working out my schedule details was originally an exercise purely intended for my own benefit.  Having everything in my calendar app will keep me on track once I’m embroiled in the full-on organized chaos that tech conferences tend to be.  However, a conversation with Matt Brender (@mjbrender) convinced me that others might be interested as well (and that I might want people to be able to find me), so following his example, I’ve decided to share mine here. Continue reading →

Posted in EMC | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment