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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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In: NetApp, Veeam, VMware
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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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In: AllianceScience, Cisco, Veeam
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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 →

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In true personal fashion I am always posting these prediction posts about 2-3 months into the new year. We are well under way for the 2016 year and already kicked off some milestones that I had in my initial plan. The reason for this post really is to put across what I already have planned and have done from a work perspective as well as some tech industry predictions that I believe will continue to grow, fall or begin this year. Veeam V9 January 12th 2016 saw the release of the long awaited Veeam Backup & Replication version 9, along with its monitoring and reportingRead More →

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2015 – A Year in Review My first post of 2016 is going to have a quick look back over 2015, from my own career perspective and also the industry as a whole. Starting with Veeam At the end of March 2015 I joined the Veeam team and I have not looked back, just short of a year now and I have to say I love it. Vendor land, Pre Sales and systems engineering a year ago was a little unknown to me, having worked in a predominantly post sales capacity it was a big step into the unknown but I knew I wanted toRead More →