Storage and Storage Management

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The Abstracts

Introduction to Storage Management
Russell Warren
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This session will discuss managing the storage infrastructure. It will describe the basic of storage management, describe how SMI-S helps with managing diverse storage networks, and provides approaches that can be undertaken to get answers to many storage questions.   This presentation will explain ways to get started, where you can get some help, and outlines goals and objectives that can assist you in obtaining sponsorship from your storage management project.

Learning Objectives:

Help!  My User Base Eats Storage for Lunch
Wendy Betts
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In today’s data center storage is the fastest growing component, this as storage managers are faced with the daunting task of reducing cost while keeping up with service levels.  The DBA’s insist their applications need to have the high end storage devices because their application is the most important to the success of the business.  While the accountant down the hall has saved no less than 10 copies of last month’s ledgers because she wants to make sure they don’t lose it.  How does a storage manager manage his user base?  By making the financial costs of storage transparent to the user population.

This presentation is designed to help you get started on creating TCO for your storage systems as well as tips on how to communicate the storage costs to your user base.

Server and Storage Consolidation with iSCSI Arrays
David Dale and Suzanne Morgan
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This presentation, a major update to a popular SNIA Tutorial, outlines the benefits of networked storage, contrasting the different options.  It then goes into detail on iSCSI-based SAN configurations, capabilities and options.    It goes on to examines how the technology is deployed as a consolidation solution alone, and in conjunction with server consolidation and virtual server environments - examining typical configurations and best practices. It then illustrates via customer case studies how these capabilities deliver benefits to IT organizations.

Learning Objectives:

Consumer & SOHO Storage: Small Boxes in a Massive Market
Rick Bauer
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The trends for networked storage in consumer/SOHO environments continue to indicate that more and more data is finding its way into the home. While most home/consumer storage implementations were stand-alone/direct-attached, the next few years will see an explosion of networked storage. What are the implications as consumers want more "networking" in their home storage? What will be the keys for companies wishing to effectively penetrate this burgeoning market?

Learning Objectives:

Ideal Applications for IP SANs
Jason Blosil and Gary Gumanow
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IP SANs with iSCSI offer a number of advantages to organizations including flexibility, lower cost, and simplified management.  Many applications are ideally suited for iSCSI SANs including server virtualization, infrastructure applications, storage consolidation, and business applications.

Learning Objectives:

Exchange Performance 101
Raymond Lucchesi
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Exchange storage performance is constantly evolving.  Tuning storage to support Exchange services for the best performance is a complex and never ending task.  As new storage becomes available tuning for email services also becomes more complex.       We will discuss some techniques to tune storage for email services.  Also, we will look at some storage product’s exchange performance to reveal what was done to support the service levels reported.

Learning Objectives:

SRM: Can You Get What You Want?
John Webster
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Storage resource management tools are now maturing and becoming more of a “must have” capability. However, a broad range of products, each with many different options now confront the potential buyer. Therefore, using the Request for Information (RFI) and Request for Proposal (RFP) processes to differentiate the vendors and their offerings is highly recommended. This tutorial starts with some RFP basics, then moves to a discussion of the important things to look for in storage management applications. It will also include an elucidation of the various standards at play including SMI-S.

Learning Objectives:

• Introduction to Storage Management
• Help! My User Base Eats Storage for Lunch
• Server and Storage Consolidation With iSCSI Arrays
• Consumer & SOHO Storage: Small Boxes in a Massive Market
• Ideal Application for IP SANs
• Exchange Performance 101
• SRM: Can You Get What You Want?
  • Review basics of managing a storage environment and how SMI-S fits with providing better management
  • Describe approaches that can be taken and define the goals and objectives that will help you achieve improved management of your storage infrastructure
  • Tie storage management to enterprise management, including automation, service management and links to your enterprise management solutions
  • An update on the latest options, features and benefits of iSCSI SAN storage solutions
  • Configurations and best practices for iSCSI-based storage consolidation solution, both alone and in conjunction with server consolidation and virtual server environments
  • Review of real-world case studies, focusing on the IT value delivered by the technology
  • To survey the growing market for home/consumer storage, and understand the drivers for continue growth in this market
  • To understand what technologies are being implemented in this area, and look at future developments and technologies will exist in the "HAN" (Home Area Network), including commerce, e-government, entertainment, security, and energy management
  • To expand the perception that SNIA is only a "big iron" trade association, and to stimulate the entrance of consumer storage companies into the SNIA and SNW
  • Why iSCSI - What is iSCSI and why it the fastest growing network storage protocol on the market?
  • Which applications are well suited for IP SANs and why
  • What are the key features and value proposition of iSCSI
  • We may review some of the draw backs and relative position to the emerging FCoE
  • Understand Exchange storage performance and how to tune storage to maximize Exchange user and data center experience
  • Examine reported Exchange storage performance reports and explain how storage was configured to support that level of performance
  • We will at least examine three ESRP reports for unnamed vendors to do this
  • Learn what SRM software now offers
  • Learn who to write an RFP that is responsive  to your SRM requirements
  • Learn the standards relevant to SRM, primarily SMIS