I started the IT series with the blog Back to Physical, this one really should be called Back to the Future, as it is all about hardware. I originally put this together a couple of years ago and it’s all still valid, just with some minor tweaks.
Category: Home Lab
Storage by Software
The most expensive part of Enterprise Storage Arrays, which should not be confused with a SAN, is the software. The majority of parts in most of the major vendors platforms are now made in the same factory, utilise drives from Seagate and Western Digital, and Intel chipsets where possible. The reason behind this is quite simple, economies of scale. the vendors can buy products at a lower price point, and use their Intellectual Property to create the fastest performing box of disk possible.
Software defined storage has a lot of buzz around it, and for good reason. The promise of policy driven storage, controlled through software and not hardware is almost irresistible, like a good ice-cream on a hot day. SNIA has a fantastic definition for SDS (https://www.snia.org/sds) and there are lots of articles on the pitfalls and tribulation of SDS, along with the amazing outcomes that it has given. As with most things your mileage may vary. Continue reading “Storage by Software”
Pure Storage Plug-in for Veeam
Veeam announced today that the storage plug-in for Pure Storage arrays has been made Generally Available (GA). I’ve been waiting for this for a while and am absolutely delighted that it has gone GA, and that it is the second of the storage plug-ins to make it to market. I decided that similar to the Infinidat article that I published a few weeks ago, it would be worth showing how to deploy this plug-in.
Step One is to download the software. In my case I’ve decided to go through https://my.veeam.com in order to accomplish this. Continue reading “Pure Storage Plug-in for Veeam”
Veeam Enterprise Manager – Part 1
As part of a discussion with a potential client I went through some of the benefits of using Veeam Enterprise Manager across their environment. After that discussion I thought it would be interesting to get some background on where EM can be used and why, and then go through the initial installation process. For Part 2 I’ll run through the configuration and administration sections.
The clients environment consists of a couple of main sites running corporate applications, and 30+ remote sites running some SCADA systems, and each site needs to be run independently from all of the others, but with a central point of management. How can this be achieved? Enter Veeam Enterprise Manager. Continue reading “Veeam Enterprise Manager – Part 1”
Deduplication Appliances and Veeam
During meetings with partners, clients, and potential customers I’ve had lot’s of discussions on the pro’s and con’s of long term storage of backups, and on the device and media that these have been stored on. Deduplication Appliances and Tape are at the top of the list.
A quick snapshot would be “Can you tell me why Vendor X is better than Vendor Y with Veeam”, and “Why should I go for tape over purpose built deduplication appliances”. Continue reading “Deduplication Appliances and Veeam”