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by editor's response

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Tell us what storage topics you'd like to learn more about. Your feedback will help determine the subject of future Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletters.

If you haven't subscribed to our free Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter, be sure to doso today!

https://www.techrepublic.com/techmails.jhtml?repID=r001

32 replies

by been there

I have seen in the past that some of the big storage manufactures have diagnostics for free use on their web sights. If you have a favorite one post it here for others to try. Then we can get opinions. Kind of like a consumers report group. If you know of a better piece of storage hardware or software, please post it here. Let?s try a rating system of 1,2,3 or 4.
1= wow beats all competition
2= you wont be sorry on this one
3= ho hum it works ok
4= avoid it like the plague

by timeacct

Reply - Storage Solutions and Tips...

There are various software packages that help manage storage hardware and configuration. What about helping you manage the content of that storage?

This is the objective of a tool called Disk Triage from TimeAcct Information Systems. (http:www.timeacct.com/disktriage)

Disk Triage is a Windows Client based utility that helps you size, analyze and report on the content of your disk space. It is an enterprise capable utility used by various Fortune 500 companies.

As I am the author of the utility - I won't provide any more comments as to the program or it capabilities. I look forward to hearing feedback from the readers of this thread.

G. Bradley MacDonald

by editor's response

Instead of creating a new discussion forum each week, we've decided maintain this dedicated place for you to post your storage questions, enter comments about the Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter, and offer suggestions for future columns.

Does your organization still rely on tape, even though simpler, less expensive alternatives exist? If so, tell us why. What barriers do you see for new technologies trying to take over as the leader in off-site storage?

Let us know what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning the death of tape, as featured in the March 26 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. What storage topic would you like to see him talk about next?

If you haven't subscribed to our free Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter, be sure to do so today!

https://www.techrepublic.com/techmails.jhtml?repID=r001

by dvanbeve

Having a bunch of DVD-writers to do backups at home is OK but it's really not an Enterprise Solution. The $50 to $.50 comparism is apples and oranges. Current tape drives are writing at 25+mb/sec and hold 150+gb of data. Biggiest issue I see when installing backup systems is a small backup window, so slowing the process down for cheaper media isn't the answer.

by hal 9000

Because while there are better solutions available like DVD as yet there is no standard produced so we can only be sure that any DVD's that we create will be readable onthe unit on which they where created so until a standard is introduced that all manafactures follow we will continue to use Tape as it works without any problems. But when there is a standard for DVD introduced and applied things might then start to change but until then we will just make do with what we have got as we know it works.

by hal 9000

I'd personally be unlikely to change until there is a way of performing fast backups as well as a system of auto loading and unloading the media like we presently use. It's fast realitevly cheep {in comparision to down time} and works unattended. Atpresent I can't see any system coming out to replace it as the tapes can be over writen without problems with high data transfer rates at present the current crop of DVD or whatever comes next doesn't have the capacity or speed necessary for most business needs. There may well be a replacment avable some day but from my presective its a long way off. The best developmant so far has been the use of cassets to replace the open reel tape drives that we used to use. they are realitevly small can carry many autoload tapes and don't require any attention other than the ocasional look see thats everything working OK. I cant see anything replacing them in the short term at least.

by gull

Optical Disks are coming along nicely, but are NO where near ready to replace tape.

Disk replication (off-site) is NOT cheap for an enterprise company. How big of a dedicated pipe does one need in order to replicate GBs of data? How much does it cost to keep a live copy of your data off-site? Tape storage is pretty cheap in comparison, I'd imagine.

What if the data isn't completely centralized?? We have servers with 100 GB of data (probably 5-10 GB incremental changes each day) at 8 different sites around the country. Our main office has 2 TB of data (100+ GB of incremental changes per day)

We do have a EMC SAN at the main site, with two mirrored copies, one of which we can take off-line and backup to tape. It's fast and easy andwe can do it during normal business hours... It's still a daily backup instead of a real-time vaulting solution... And we still use tape for long-term storage...

Tape holds a LOT... Tape can be taken off-site and stored for a fairly minimal cost.

DVDs hold what? 4.7 GB?? compared to 220 GB or more for SDLT tapes? Think I want to deal with 44 DVDs instead of one tape?

Blue-laser DVDs should hold about 27 GB, right?? Do these Blue-laser DVDs even really exist yet? That's still 10 DVDs for each tape. And somehow I doubt they cost only 0.50 each...

Who writes these articles?? Someone who actually works in the real world???

Gull

by dr. al olaimi

I would agree with Gull's argument re the sub-topic.

However, storage needs assessment (SNA) is not something easy to be overlooked or even left over sighted.

Accuracy and precision in SNA is an integral part of Business and IT strategies alignment. Alas, within IT function, storage capacity, disaster recovery, disaster prevention, and storage physical security are all mandating real planning in advance just to prevent any stalling for ?any? business operations were it might present a real business threat!

Be it DVD or V-10 tape, even any other form of storage in between, cumulative size of data as well as the projected ones would be the real assurance of business continuity.

Al Olaimi
Olaimi@infonobation.com

by dr. al olaimi

At this time of age, I would say that storage has reached a parallel importance to the internet, although its lower in profile, Yet I am still convinced that outsourcing storage or even securing information is more important than acquisition the hardware that would increase the capacity of in-house storage.

I was wondering how we would be able establish a cost effective model for ease to calculate TCO for such concept.

Looking at the new business offers like
- remote backup (or vaulting)
- Storage over IP
- Connected machines for virtual mass storage
- etc.

I find it very appealing to investigate.

Looking for those companies (i.e. S1, Iron mountain, @backup, connected, etc.) whom are into such business it makes senseto "at least" attempt to develop such framework/model.

Although it has been a hype for a while, I am very interested for feedback or even some resources :)

Olaimi@infonovation.com

by editor's response

Tell us what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning Sony's upcoming SAIT-1 drives and media, as featured in the April 9 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. Does your organization plan to integrate SAIT-1 into its existing automation solutions? Let us know if this information is useful to you.

by editor's response

Tell us what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning the lack of iSCSI coverage by EMC, as featured in the April 23 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. Do you think this new technology will be the downfall of EMC? What can EMC do to get a piece of the pie? Let us know your thoughts.

by prattfall

Just got back from Novell's Brainshare. The next version of NetWare will both be a iSCSI host and client. This will allow a generic server to be loaded up with lots of disk space and in essence replace expensive SAN and FC hardware with an inexpensive piece of hardware and software. The solution supports any RFC complient iSCSI client (MS or Linux). P.S. They have also built snapshot technology into the OS as well.

by editor's response

Here's an e-mail that we received from a reader:

The column by Dave Mays was excellent, especially regarding the various vendors' apparent strategy. Two additional items may have helped to clarify things. First, iSCSI is only one of serveral methods of "virtualizing" storage - others include SANip and Fibre Channel (yes, SAN). Second, a brief Pro and Con of iSCSI (TCP/IP) versus "virtualized" storage over Fibre Channel.

I mention this because my company, Dot Hill, carries a product (Axis Storage Manager) that supports iSCSI, SANip as well as "virtualized" storage over Fibre Channel.

Thank you, and Dave Mays, for the execellent article.

by mrb12321

Hmmm... Since when is Storage Virtualization now a benefit of iSCSI? I went to the SNIA site and reviewed their iSCSI docs and saw no mention of it. Sounds like you have some kind of beef with EMC. I doubt that EMC will forego iSCSI support should it become mainstream.

by morro

Curious, Why does it matter what transport mechanism the volume is presented over to the Application server from the storage san. Irrespective of transport (FC, IP) , If a second server has (FC or IP) connectivity to the same volume in the storage san, It can't use the free part of that volume unless the some reconfiguration happens with that volume on the storage side . What am I missing ?

by editor's response

Tell us what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning Veritas' NetBackup 4.5 Feature Pack, as featured in the May 7 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. If you've already purchased the Feature Pack, is it worth the cost? Perhaps you're using an alternative that you think will benefit your IT peers. Let us know your thoughts.

by dugadugdug

Feature Packs are available to people with maintenance contracts and you can get them mailed to you if you drop a note to:
swupdate@veritas.com or to your reseller. They will need the company name, phone number, address,
contact info, etc to verify maintenance contract status.

I disagree with the part that mentions Legato. Their Tech support is pitiful, to put it mildly. They could not resolve a client problem whereby the only known workaround is to reboot the Servers eachnight. During their so called troubleshooting they would ask us to install a patch yet would not disclose what the patch would do (kind of like a doctor who prescribes you medicine but won't say what it is for or what side affects may occur). To compare, NetBackup support has been quick and top notch. No complaints.

Needless to say, I do not recommend Legato be considered for your backup solution.

by pushawlake

Was this article written by Legato tech support?

Feature Pack 3 (FP3) is a no-charge optional maintenance path for Version 4.5 customers with a maintenance contract.

Did it occur to the author that FP3 is simply a mechanism to get new functionin the hands of customers that need it, well before a version boundary? It allows Veritas to include new function, some of which is already available in competing products such as ITSM.

Good grief.

by ronmm

Will Veritas NTB read BE tapes? It NEEDS to:
The IT industry overloads the term archive. We use archival tapes in at least 3 ways:
1. rebuild a server (Disaster Recovery, intelligent or otherwise) 2. Short term data recovery (user in current environment wants a prior version of file(s)). 3. Long term achive (15 years for many states - or even longer with new HIPAA requirements).
The last one is what is broken for all tape backup technology I know of. As there are no tape media standards from one company to another, and the media/drives themselves are mostly incompatible (Super DLT & swapping heads - spare me), there is no long term ability to read the tapes, EVEN IF you have religiously retensioned them to avoid turning media into solid blocks of mylar) - unless you have maintained a WORKING computer server museum.
The only archival medium that has anything approaching a standard is ISO 9660 CDs. That's what you use, isn't it? Are CDs large enough for you to convert to?

Anyway - will Veritas NTB read BE tapes?

by dugadugdug

Yes.
NetBackup 4.5 will read Backup Exec (BE) Media version 7.0 or greater using the BE Tape Reader Option on NetBackup 4.5

by gerard

in my opinion is Bakbone's Netvault.Having approx. 3 years of experience with Netbackup and testing NV7 I must say Netvault 7.0 is a bag full for a very good price.

Happy computing!

Kind Regards,

Gerard.

by gary

According to the Veritas release notes for Feature Pack 3, it will not read BE 9.0 tapes. Only prior versions.

by editor's response

Tell us what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning IDE alternatives for HSM, as featured in the May 21 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. Is this a viable storage option for your organization? Why or why not?

by damitchell

What you are discussing, I have been implementing for quite some time now. I have two boxes that I like to call my SAN-boxes that run four drives in each via the IDE. This provides me with the option to review the data that was stored up on my SCSI at the same time freeing my SCSI from loads of rarely used data.

Some people thought that it was not a good idea; but, for me and my organization. It saved tons of money and works fine to this day.

Thanks,

damitchell
Systems Analyst-Engineer/DBA

by editor's response

Tell us what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning Commvault Systems' Galaxy backup and recovery solution, as featured in the June 4 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. Have you seen the Galaxy product demonstration? If so, let us know if Galaxy is right choice for your organization.

by dvanbeve

You didn't believe that BS about multiplexing being a bad thing? Unless the client and the media server are both running gigabit nics, you'll never keep a modern tape drive busy. Tape drives hate starting and stopping. Multiplexing is a means to make up for slow nics on the client side assuming adequate bandwidth on the media server. As long as multiplexing is set to a reasonable value, 3-4, delays at restore time will be minimal.

by debate

Tell us what you think about Dave Mays' column concerning Novell iFolder, as discussed in the July 2 Enterprise Storage Space e-newsletter. Does this sound like a viable data management solution? How does your organization approach data management?

by ksmith

I work for as a tech for a school system and we use ifolder alot. We keep alot of the information that we need at individual schools on a "support" ifolder, and the whole tech crew uses it. Our principals love it because they do so much work at home, and then it's "magically" there at school the next morning. No more dragging floppies to and from home. We just love it!

by efarmer

If you utilize the encryption feature on the server, and a user deletes the files on the local systems, then the administrators have no way to recover the data. It is encrypted and only the user with knowledge of the secret passphrase can get to it.

I-folder is still a good product, but it won't generally solve the problem in the beginning of the article.

by riverfreight

See, I hit the wrong button and lost the darnned thingee I wus righting!
This time I won't tell you 'bout the things iwus telling you 'bout I'll tell you 'bout sumting I wus saving for a particular day.
See I can do tings wit a 'puter and I put one in storage and then couldn't use it excet when I backed up and got it from storage. now the new one from the grocery store don't work so well and I might as well store it wit dem behind the barn and not this one in the hayloft,tried the mow and the rain and the critters got it. Problem is the harddrives on the ones down at the grocery only hold frog shaped stuff and you have to use gigs to get the stuff out onct it gets in there; thats what the kids said and showwed me, cost me fourteen of the frog ones and two of the big fish ones fer them injuns down the way but now I know and I'm shifting thru the lofts to make sure I don't have only one in storage.
RIVER FREIGHT

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