Introduction to OnDemand Sandbox from Storage Snapshots This new feature from Veeam was released in version 9 on January 12th 2016, probably my favourite feature that came in the new release, simply because it takes a great technology that is rarely used because of the manual steps required and allows for these steps to be automated. Meaning you get this great technology in an automated fashion allowing to perform lots of test and development on production storage and no extra storage cost. Basically with OnDemand Sandbox from Storage Snapshots we are able to take existing storage snapshots, create a segregated, full performance copy of productionRead More →

The reason for this post is to tie in with the last post but give you a step by step guide on how to create the “FlexClone On Steroids” Create backup / Snapshot only job The following steps are required for that scheduled snapshot job that can be ran during business hours this is not a requirement for this however I have found it quite useful in having a scheduled point in time snapshot to then go and create a FlexClone from. Create Application Group The creation of the Application Group only has to be done once and this is really there to determine theRead More →

Introduction A few weeks back I put a post together around the Cisco UCS C class high density storage and server and how it really works as an ideal Veeam appliance in some scenarios, as part of this series I wanted to choose a SAN based appliance as well as next touching on a Cloud Integrated solution which will be coming up shortly. You can find the post regarding the Cisco UCS C Class Appliance here – http://bit.ly/1jrb6fD Firstly, I chose for the SAN appliance post to talk about the NetApp E-Series range, the E-Series offers a high performance backup repository for us as VeeamRead More →

Introduction About a month ago I started a series of posts around Veeam Appliances, the first post alluded to the Cisco C Class 240/3160 & 3260 and this being used as a Direct Attached Storage model for Backup, combined with the compute power this made for a very good scalable solution for what and where to take your backups – you can find that post here. Next up I hit on the NetApp E-Series a SAN array and how this could benefit customers if used in conjunction with Veeam as a backup repository, leveraging an investment in a SAN fabric or network and making fullRead More →

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 →

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 →

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 →

    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 →

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 →

NetApp Insight 2015 – EMEA – Berlin Introduction In just 4 days the NetApp EMEA contingent of both Technical Insiders, Partners and Customers will descend on Berlin, Germany for the second year running. 4 days of intense long hours but very informative days. I am very lucky I have stated in previous posts that I get to attend both the US and EMEA event, I have attended the EMEA event for the past 3 years and last 2 years in the US. This year will be a little different for me though as I will be representing Veeam on the Sapphire stand we have there.Read More →