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What is FastSCP ? FastSCP is the simplest and fastest way to deliver ISO files to ESX Servers or copy VMs and templates between ESX Servers. FastSCP ensures security by using a one-time password feature and works more than six times faster than SCP. What is Microsoft Azure ? Microsoft Azure (formerly Windows Azure before 25 March 2014) is a cloud computing platform and infrastructure, created by Microsoft, for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed datacenters. The Problem There are many problems or issues currently associated with how we can bring back data from the public cloud andRead More →

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I have been asked by a number of people since joining Veeam about the NetApp Storage Snapshot Support in version 8 of the software. This is the reason for this post to try and outline the Why and the How use cases for the Veeam & NetApp Storage integration. Firstly I want to go over the process of Veeam and any non storage snapshot enabled array (not supported with Veeam today) Veeam uses the VMware snapshot technology, when taking a backup we need to ensure that everything is consistent this is either done by using Veeam Application Aware Image Processing which will talk to theRead More →

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First of all I want to explain about an tool that has been out for some time. MAT4Shift. MAT4Shift is a script framework/tool for automating migrations from VMware ESXi to Microsoft Hyper-V. It is powered by Project Shift which was created by NetApp and requires a NetApp FAS Storage System. Project Shift powered by NetApp was a collaboration of many different divisions within NetApp to be able to shift a workload from one hypervisor to another, MAT4Shift provided he ability to go from a VMware ESXi environment to a Microsoft Hyper-V environment leveraging NetApp FlexClone Technologies and Data ONTAP. This now brings me onto OnCommandRead More →

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This post takes a high-level look at the FlexPod solutions NetApp offers today and provides the basic fundamentals:  what comprises a FlexPod, the unique benefits FlexPod delivers, how to identify a FlexPod opportunity, standard configurations, etc. If you’re new to FlexPod, this should get you off to a great start. FlexPod Architecture What is FlexPod? Shared infrastructure for a wide range of environments and applications. •       Validated, standardised, shared infrastructure •       Flexibility and scalability within a single rack •       Centralised management of pooled resources •       Deployment guides with step-by-step instructions •       Solution guides pre-define multiple workloads •       Multiple sizing tools Minimum requirements for a “FlexPod”Read More →

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    Given the recent news regarding NetApp purchasing SolidFire, it was a storage company I had heard of but had not had the chance to explore in depth what they were all about, I had heard things around Service Providers etc. but nothing in more detail, I wanted to get to grips with what it was all about and how this can be leveraged into NetApp’s product portfolio alongside the FAS range running Clustered ONTAP and the E-Series platform. I am sure there are many NetApp Admins, Consultants and Pre Sales Engineers out there that do not have the knowledge of what SolidFire isRead More →

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Hello All, I have been blogging now since April 2013. I knew this was something that was going to help me and hopefully others, in the beginning I wasn’t sure how creative I could be, but over time I found my subjects and idea became a lot easier to discuss over a post. It is with that I have found myself in the Top vBlog 2016, it’s a great honour to be mentioned in this list amongst a lot of the veteran bloggers that I once read as part of my SysAdmin role picking up neat little short cut’s that they had found and sharedRead More →

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This post will provide a high level overview of the capabilities that Veeam can offer with the NetApp portfolio, providing Availability for the Always-On Enterprise, from utilising storage snapshots to create application consistent backups to fast SAN/NAS based repositories. Orchestration Veeam’s Integration allows Veeam Backup & Replication to sit on top of the FAS storage systems and control application consistent Snapshots for local fast Recovery Point Objectives. Veeam also enables the ability to orchestrate and schedule those application aware snapshots to be sent to a secondary NetApp FAS array. Veeam Explorer for Storage Snapshots This feature allows Veeam the ability to see within existing historicalRead More →

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There have been some recent posts and articles around Veeam and the Cisco UCS 3160 being a great fit together, with the availability features offered within Veeam’s Availability Suite and with the Cisco UCS 3160 high density storage and compute capabilities. When I say great fit the UCS 3160 offers compute function where Windows 2012R2 can be installed and can be used as a Veeam Backup & Replication server as well as a proxy, along with the high capacity direct attached storage it offers for a potential large backup repository. Whether the end user is looking to integrate into their existing Cisco UCS environment orRead More →

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The unveiling of Cisco HyperFlex Systems On the 1st March 2016 Cisco will announce a new HyperConverged solution based on their existing UCS C & B Class compute, existing UCS Fabric Interconnects and a new Software Defined Storage approach that allows Cisco to offer that “Complete Solution” inclusive of Compute, Storage and networking where as other HyperConverged are missing that element that Cisco do really well, Networking! “True Hyper-convergence” Before I dive into the deep information regarding this new range from Cisco I want to touch on the current state of Hyper-convergence, a caveat from myself here is that I for one do not doRead More →

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I wanted to put together a post outlining What OpenStack is…. from my point of view I have not seen any deployments of OpenStack but I have heard so much about it within the industry, so much so I felt that I needed to take a look and deep dive a little more into what OpenStack is…. Introduction & History Mission Statement : To produce the ubiquitous Open Source Cloud Computing platform that will meet the needs of public and private clouds regardless of size, by being simple to implement and massively scalable. ·         Founded in 2010 o    Nebula platform (NASA) o   Cloud Files PlatformRead More →