Storage Software

Dell = 27.7%     Netapp = 20.5%        EMC = 15%

Everybody else = less than 4.7 % each

As more people become familiar with the amazing value proposition of Dell EqualLogic storage arrays, this number is going to increase rapidly

 VM Squad posted today about a problem he perceives exists with Dell EqualLogic arrays. Its not a problem, but that's what one of competitors is telling people.  The issue is the time it takes to upgrade firmware in our systems, which is 15 seconds in the systems we are selling today. 

What's interesting is that Derek Schwab posted about the exact same thing yesterday and how it worked so well. 

So what's up with that?  

Systems and storage solve intermittent communication problems through SCSI time outs. If the host system can't communicate, it keeps trying patiently for a long time before giving up. This is a lot longer than 15 seconds.  The amount of time depends on the host system implementation, but it is usually more than a minute and can take five or more minutes (or so I'm told). FWIW, this is the same mechanism that is used for multi-pathing.  After a SCSI timeout, the system tries to re-connect using an alternative path.   

So a 15 second delay (not an outage) a few times a year is not a very big deal. If you have to, you can schedule it for non-peak hours. Everything will work, applications will stay up and end users will see a short temporary hang - if they see anything at all. 

Driving with a camera attached to your steering wheel is not exactly a driving best practice.  Not testing your DR plan, as Jon Toigo points, out is not an IT best practice.Failing to make suggestions for improving the situation is not a journalistic best practice.

The future of DR preparation is going to be tightly coupled with virtual systems and storage.  It is possible to create simulations of many different recovery scenarios in virtual environments. This link takes you to a PDF presentation from the Belgium VMware Users Group that gives a tip of the iceberg view of the value of testing DR with VMware's new SRM product. 

In time, I expect simulations of disasters will be part of Jon's and other consultants service offerings.   These types of tests will combine reduced exposure with increased learning and skills. That's a win-win, whereas testing DR the old fashioned way is a no-win deal for many IT professionals - who face unrealistic expectations form corporate management.

PCL Construction in Edmonton is one of the largest construction companies in North America - and they are employee owned, which means employees there are always looking for ways to be more efficient. They became EqualLogic customers 3 years ago after having been a Fibre Channel shop prior to that. They can run everything they need to on Dell EqualLogic storage and like the ease of use and flexibility that our advanced virtualization architecture gives them. This previous video  has Derek Knox from PCL talking about doing live data migrations between storage systems during the middle of production operations.

In this video, Derek and David Howse talk about the simplicity of using Dell EqualLogic storage and SRM. Derek talks about how they get performance equal to that of their Fibre Channel SANs. Some of that comes from having a smart SAN infrastructure, but a lot comes from the design of EqualLogic arrays. FWIW, most of the new systems they are buying today have SAS drives, to give them even more overhead for their high performance applications.

The Lowe Down blog has good information for Exchange administrators.  They also say some nice things about Dell EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage and have included a couple nice screenshots too.

They also write about our breakthrough business model of integrating all - and all future storage applications - with the cost of the hardware:

"I’ve been using Equallogic Peer Storage Arrays for four years already, but they keep adding useful functionality — and at no additional charge!"