We have started looking at Netapp’s offerings this week, and I saw these links to blog posts at http://blog.scottlowe.org
Thanks to them.
Below are the links.
Using NetApp Deduplication with Block Storage
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Building on my earlier article on setting up NetApp deduplication, I wanted to follow up with some information on using NetApp deduplication with block storage (LUNs presented via Fibre Channel or iSCSI).
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Quick Guide to Setting up NetApp Deduplication
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I’m relatively new to NetApp deduplication (formerly A-SIS), so this article won’t be an advanced treatise on NetApp deduplication or its deep inner workings. Instead, this is intended to be a quick guide to setting up NetApp deduplication for others, like myself, who may be familiar with Data ONTAP but not necessarily deduplication.
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Managing LUN Space Requirements with NetApp Storage
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f you’ve worked with Network Appliance storage before, you’re probably already familiar with the idea of snap reserve (storage space set aside to accommodate for Snapshots) and fractional reserve (used with LUNs). I’m going to hold the in-depth discussion of why you need snap reserve and fractional reserve for a different day, but I did want to pass on these commands that were shared with me by a colleague of mine. These Data ONTAP commands, available with Data ONTAP 7.2 or later (some commands are available in Data ONTAP 7.1), will help you manage the space requirements for LUNs on a NetApp storage area network (SAN).
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How to Provision VMs Using NetApp FlexClones
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When properly implemented and configured, VMware Virtual Infrastructure can make provisioning new servers a task that takes only minutes. In fact, in my own lab (running equipment that is, admittedly, several years old and woefully underpowered), I can provision new servers running Windows Server 2003 R2 in less than 10 minutes. That’s pretty impressive.
As impressive as those numbers may be (and I’m sure there are readers out there with even more impressive numbers), if we leverage some vendor-specific storage functionality we can achieve some really impressive times. For example, leveraging NetApp FlexClones could allow us to provision new VMs in seconds. Let’s take a quick look at how that’s done.
In this article, I’m going to discuss how to use FlexClones for provisioning new VMs in a VMware VI3 environment. This is not an exhaustive treatise on the subject, but rather an introduction to the process and some of the configuration that needs to take place in your environment. (Disclaimer: Use this stuff at your own risk.)
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NetApp FlexClones with VMware, Part 1
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The ability to quickly and easily create new virtual servers in VMware VirtualCenter (using templates and cloning) is a key feature that benefits a lot of VMware customers. A new server running Windows Server 2003 R2 in less than 10 minutes? Who wouldn’t like that functionality? (Some other day, perhaps we’ll discuss that very question.)
VMware’s cloning functionality is great in that it is completely storage-agnostic; it works the same on an HP EVA, a NetApp storage system, an EMC Clariion, or a homebrew iSCSI target. At the same time, VMware’s cloning functionality is not so great in that it is completely storage-agnostic. It doesn’t take advantage of any of the hardware-specific functionality. In this article, I’d like for us to look at one particular vendor Network Appliance and how using some vendor- and hardware-specific functionality (namely FlexClones) can provide some benefits.
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NetApp FlexClones with VMware, Part 2
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Part 1 in our series on NetApp FlexClones and VMware discussed in greater detail some of the advantages of using FlexClones for VM provisioning. In that article, we saw that using FlexClones can greatly reduce both the storage required for new VMs as well as the time required to provision new VMs, especially when the storage needed by the VMs is large. Both of these advantages can be very compelling.
However, in order to make an informed decision about whether we should use FlexClones we must also look at the disadvantages of this approach. In this part of the series, we’ll take a look at some of those disadvantages.
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My recent article on how to provision VMs using FlexClones prompted a reader to ask the question, “What about using LUN clones?â€� That’s an excellent question, and one that I myself asked when I first started using some of the advanced functionality of Network Appliance storage systems. I had expected that this question would come up, and so I’d already begun preparing an article discussing LUN clones vs. FlexClones. My thanks go to Aaron for prompting the discussion!
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FlexClones Versus Deduplication with VMware Infrastructure
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A number of times over the last few months, I’ve run into situations where NetApp’s FlexClone technology was being heavily pitched to customers interested in deploying, or expanding their deployment of, VMware Infrastructure.
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Wow, what a great bunch of Information! Thanks Scott Lowe
As we look at Netapp more, I will post findings, and resources.
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