Hardware

Database administrators want just one kind of storage: fast. Companies want just one kind of storage: cheap. Since fast storage isn’t cheap, and we can’t put everything on slow storage either, we end up buying different tiers of storage. Let’s start by pretending that we’re buying a new HP DL370 G6 to act as a…

I wanted to love this monster from the moment I read the spec sheets: Iomega StorCenter PX4-300d NAS Network attached storage device with 4 or 6 hot-swappable drive bays Available empty (so you can bring your own drives, including SSDs) iSCSI server with 2 network ports, jumbo frame support, VLANs Official VMware ESX/ESXi, Hyper-V, Windows…

Solid state drives (SSDs) have gotten a lot of press because they can be dramatically faster than magnetic hard drives.  They use flash memory instead of spinning magnetic platters.  Since any bit of memory can be accessed at any time without moving a hard drive’s head around, SSD random access is insanely fast. Fusion-IO ioDrive…

In the final part of my SQL University serries, I talk about the nightmares of storage: why things change when we're not looking and why virtualization makes it harder to keep an eye on things.

In part 2 of this series, I cover magnetic hard drives, solid state drives, and RAID arrays. I explain the pros and cons of each, and I discuss their relative speeds.

In part 1 of a multi-part series, I talk about what SQL Server stores, why your data and transaction files are usually best kept on separate drive arrays, and why cache doesn't always help.

Fastest Storage in the World? I don’t talk about hardware much here, but an SSD review hit Engadget this morning and made me take notice.  Fusion-io gave their new 80gb ioDrive to TweakTown for a review, and – Wait, hang on.  Don’t close the browser yet.  I know, everything about this post reeks of some…

IBM just unveiled a smaller-scale edition of their storage virtualization solution called IBM System Storage SVC Entry Edition.  From the interwebs comes a press release which includes this juicy quote: “The idea is to make it more affordable for smaller companies – the entry edition is priced per disk drive with a starting configuration costing…

If you’re thinking about buying your first storage area network, do yourself a favor and go to the Aston Martin dealership first.  Smell the leather – that is, if they’ll let you sit in one – and play with the switchgear to feel how nice and solid it feels.  Pretty nice, huh? Or maybe that’s…

Vendor hype aside, storage virtualization is really expensive technology that few shops really use.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the technology, but seriously, it’s expensive.  And that’s just the hardware/software – try hiring somebody with storage virtualization experience – hoo, boy.  But something is coming that’s changing the game, redefining what storage virtualization means.…

Storage virtualization is a really slick SAN technology that does for SANs what VMware did for servers: it abstracts away the underlying hardware to make management easier.  Multiple SANs can be swapped around back and forth behind the scenes without affecting any servers that store data on those SANs. It’s nowhere near common yet –…