Storage @ Work

Two guys, Eric Waters and Ron Whitling running the data center operations for E-Chx, an Internet payroll processing service provider, talking about how EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage solved their performance problems on SQL Server and the overall ease of use and operations that you get with an EqualLogic SAN.

This is my first YouTube video and therefore also the first time linking a video directly into my blog. It didn't exactly work perfectly and there are several rough edges that I expect to make better in the future. The video ends at the 6 minute mark, but extends into blackness for over an additional minute. I'm not sure why that happened..... Don't be surprised if I re-post this one with a better quality video later this week.

You might need to click twice to make it play.

I was in Los Angeles today talking to customers here, asking them about their storage applications. One of the themes that came up repeatedly was the use of Microsoft Windows Server 2003 for file services connected to EqualLogic Storage Systems.

Our customers tend to appreciate administrative efficiency and low cost of ownership. Not surprisingly, they also know they can wring a huge amount of functionality out of plain, vanilla Windows file servers. Similar to the way iSCSI helps them leverage their organization's networking skills, Windows file servers help them leverage their entire organization's Windows admin skills, including system and network management, not to mention the licensing agreements they have with Microsoft. For most of them, setting up a Windows file server is a snap and takes almost no time whatsoever. Microsoft has made the iSCSI SAN components very easy to deal with and setup with an EqualLogic storage system is amazingly simple as most of our customers will testify. In most cases, setting up a Windows File server with EqualLogic storage takes less time and effort than installing an industry leading NAS system.

Some in the industry are trying to make a big deal out of the concept of unified storage. The idea of unified storage is that specialized multi-protocol, multi-network NAS/SAN systems will connect to virtually any type of client system using virtually any network or protocol they might want to use. The extension is that if you have a single technology to work with, it is more efficient own. Hmmm. Sounds a bit like a vendor trap to me.

Even if you don't believe that unified storage is another in a long line of storage vendor traps, the weakness with any one-size-fits-all product is the impossibility of fitting all the requirements equally well. Some functions tend to work well, while others tend to be stuck in perpetual mediocrity.

We have customers that believe unified storage is an unnecessary luxury and waste of their resources. Instead, they have made the shrewd observation that all the standards they need already exist and that their best practices begin by enforcing conformity with those standards. For many, Ethernet, TCP/IP and Windows servers are their core infrastructure standards. They have also come to the realization that EqualLogic iSCSI SANs are an extremely good fit for these standards.

I talk to a fair number of customers and have difficulties sometimes remembering who's who. It tends to make every day an adventure. Anyway, I checked out the latest case study to appear on our corporate site and sure enough, it was Chris Formes - a customer I've communicated with via email and the telephone a few times. I knew we were going to publish this case study with Brookfield Homes, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together and think - Hey That's Going to be Chris!

The other thing that gave me a small surprise was that Chris was also using Mimosa's Nearpoint product for Microsoft Exchange archiving. Its great to see the Mimosa part of the story too. Years before joining EqualLogic, I set up meetings between EqualLogic and Mimosa to initiate a solution-relationship because there is a terrific synergy there. I'm always happy to hear when a customer is using both of our products.

Chris is doing a number of smart things to get the most out of Brookfield's storage budget. First, he's using Mimosa's software to reduce the amount of Exchange data on his iSCSI SAN. Second, he's using thin provisioning on our systems so he can pay as he grows and not over commit on storage resources that he doesn't need yet. Smart. We probably didn't sell Chris as much storage capacity as we would have a year ago, but its smarter storage than it was a year ago and that makes us all smile.

Our channel partner working with us at Brookfield is VL Systems in Irvine, CA. I'm looking forward to meeting Lee Green from VL Systems in the next couple weeks so I can get a complete picture of how the solution came together. Thanks Lee for your help in making all this come together!

In this interview, Mark Solyst, Network Administrator at Bozeman Deaconess Hospital and avid snowmobiler in the high country of Montana talks about the applications they are using with their EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage systems: Our PS series arrays are storing data for their:

File servers
SQL servers
Exchange servers
Backup
Snapshot
Remote replication

They have two EqualLogic systems on their campus and are replicating data between the two for disaster protection.

Another key DR product that Mark mentions is the Veritas Continuous Protection Service. Its worth noting that because there are lots of ways our products work alongside other products that people use for data protection.

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Bryan Johnson is a customer of ours in Dallas. He spoke to me after a recent user group meeting there. They are using their EqualLogic iSCSI SAN to storage data for their Microsoft shop - Exchange. SQL Server and remote replication.

Our customers tell our story better than we can

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After attending several User Group meetings in the last few weeks it has become obvious to me that we haven't done a very good job telling our customers about our AutoSnapshot Manager for SQL Server software.

One problem is our no-charge software model. Once you own an EqualLogic product you get all software updates through free downloads, even if the software updates are something people are used to spending lots of money for. There are no beat-the-drum new product announcements, no new SKUs, no new licenses to figure out and no big marketing splash to draw interest to it and sell it. There is no revenue coming to us and so there is no big push attempting to increase sales. Analysts and the trade press tend to ignore it because its not a new product, just an upgrade. It's weird; we come out with something valuable at the best deal possible (free) that a lot of people are interested in, and we have a hard time telling people about it.

Another problem appears to be how we make information like this available on our web site. In writing this blog post, I went to find a link on our site for our SQL AutoSnapshot Manager and couldn't really find one. There were a couple links that I needed to register for and I didn't want to use one of those for the blog. I don't want you to have to register to get information linked to from the blog. It shouldn't be like this.

Our Host Integration Toolkit includes VSS-based SQL Server snapshots. It significantly improves data protection for SQL Server. SQL Server backups go faster and restores are much simpler. If you are interested in finding out more send me an email or comment here.

We have a webinar coming up on Friday, December 14th at 1:00 Eastern time with Darren Miller, our SQL Server Technical Marketing Specialist. If you want to know more about this important data protection tool you should attend. Here is a link to the page where you can register.

Also, here is a link to the technical report Darren Wrote on our SQL Server AutoSnapshot Manager. If you look at it, you'll see that Darren has a lot of in-depth knowledge of this stuff and knows what he is talking about. If you are using EqualLogic iSCSI SAN storage arrays and are also running SQL Server, you really ought to check out both the webinar and Darren's white paper.

Jerome Wendt posted an interview with Randy DeMeno, chief evangelist at Commvault about their relationship with Microsoft.

I'll never forget a meeting I had with Bob Hammer, Commvault CEO at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose in the same time frame. I questioned him on his sanity for going to Commvault - a 2nd or 3rd tier company in the backup industry at that time when there were big gorillas wandering the forest (Veritas, Legato, CA and Seagate Software). He explained that he thought there was an opening for his company to work very closely with Microsoft and to grow their business along with Microsoft's business. I asked how this decision went over at a company that had been mostly a Unix shop and he replied that there was simply no looking back. People that weren't with the program weren't with the company. He flatly stated that good business decisions needed to be backed up with unanimous conviction. It's interesting to read about how DeMeno and his team engaged Microsoft with the kind of single purpose conviction at a time when many other storage software companies viewed Microsoft as a potential threat - just as some might view VMware today with Storage Vmotion

Anyway, Commvault was on its way to being a very successful turnaround when Don Bulens asked me for help landing the job as CEO at EqualLogic. Some of the board at EqualLogic thought that they needed a storage industry insider and Don definitely wasn't one. I told him he needed to lean very heavily on the example of Hammer at Commvault, another "outsider" who knew how to make good business decisions and left the technology work to people like DeMeno. What Don and I didn't know was how good Paula Long was at the technology end of things. In retrospect, it should have been clear to the board - Paula was brilliant and she just needed somebody who was her equal working on the business end. But its not clear to me that the board would have hired Don had Bob Hammer not been such an obvious standout as a non-storage person running a successful storage company.

Chris, the blogger at FreeGarble has written a few good posts about his experience working with EqualLoggic iSCSI SANs. This one has a list of things to think about before installing your first SAN.

His experience with our product has not been entirely sweetness and light, but it's been pretty good, as his other post on a SQL Server migration attests. Our support team has smart, hard working people. He twice mentions the importance of asking questions and I'd like to add that our customers should always feel free to call our support team any time to ask questions. We like helping our customers plan their moves.

The conversation below recently was posted to an older post in this blog. I thought it was a good one, so I copied it below. Stan is the external commenter and Darren Miller is an excellent product guy and SME who responded to Stan's questions.

FWIW, Darren has a couple upcoming online Demos that I recommend, including today 4/17 at 3:00PM Eastern
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In the past I was advised that Equallogic SAN replication was not "crash consistent", that is since many server apps hold data in RAM buffers/cache , the data on the SAN is not complete, thus replication to other SAN's sends incomplete data. To workaround this problem the SAN needs software running in conjunction with the server to sync the data in the buffers/cache to storage.

Does Equallogic do this now? How does it and where could I read the details of this? I'm interested in how crash consistent Exchange, SQL, windows AD and assorted VMware vm's with custom apps are.

Thanks.

Stan,

To address your questions and concerns, Auto-Snapshot Manager (ASM), is included in the Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools Kit. ASM integrates with Microsoft VSS and the EqualLogic VSS provider service to create application consistent copies (Smart Copies) of data on Win server 2003 systems.

The way it works is you would install the Host Integration Tools kit (downloadable at www.equallogic.com) on your server making sure you select Auto-Snapshot Manager as part of the install package. Once installed you authenticate the host to the PS Series SAN through CHAP authentication. Once all configured, ASM will be able to protect data on the host.

ASM facilitates the volume protection capabilities of the PS Series SAN like snapshots, clones, and replicas but integrates directly with the application through VSS to ensure data consistency. You as the user determines what type of Smart Copy to create beit snapshot, clone or replica.

For more information on how you would use ASM with SQL Server databases there is a detailed technical report describing this functionality on equallogic.com.

In terms of VMware protection, there is a lot of information out on the site with different examples of how to protect your VMware environment on a PS Series SAN.

The newest rev of (FREE) Dell EqualLogic software is coming out and it includes application-aware snapshots for Microsoft Exchange (we already had application aware snaps for SQL Server).

This is an amazing value for our iSCSI SAN customers, many of whom are already storing their Exchange data on Dell EqualLogic PS Series storage arrays.

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. I have a video on my InsideIT blog where Derek Knox from PCL speaks at the VMware forum in San Jose about doing live data migrations while upgrading his systems.

In video below, 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.