New White Paper detailing how to optimize WAN replication for DR

Here is a post on DABCC website touting the results of our recent WP on combining DataCore and Riverbed Technologies to optimise the WAN replication of VM's for disaster recovery.

Let's jump directly to the summary findings, shall we?

Customer Test Conclusions & ROI

Through the live test analysis, Waterstons revealed that the combined solution can drop the time to remotely replicate three newly created VMs from 42 hours down to 3 hours, and reduce the ongoing replication window to four minutes - substantially improving the customers' achievable Recovery Time Objective.
The salvage company can now recover more than two day's worth of data that may have been lost in their un-optimized configuration.

Furthermore, DataCore's remote replication software allows customers to map snapshots of the remotely replicated volumes to the ESX hosts at the DR site to dramatically simplify and speed up recovery without painful back-ups and
restores.

Equally compelling is the cost savings afforded by these technologies. Compare the alternative average 2Mbps increased bandwidth combined rental and initial configuration of $33,500 - to upgrade the line by a factor of 2x - versus the total cost of the combined and DataCore/Riverbed solution of $25,500 - with an annual cost of $4,250 that improves the performance tenfold (10x).

The white paper itself can be downloaded here.

DataCore inks deal with Tech Data

OK, this disty is not even in ANZ, so what is this post doing on this blog?

I thought that there were a few key pieces of information that ought to be brought out and which we'll also likely see as trends here in this market. First and foremost is the fact that "Storage Virtualization as the next Big Thing" has become a reality. Here is what one of their top execs had to say:

"I clearly think we're starting to see the predictions from this time last year come true, that storage virtualization would be the next great frontier," said Pete Peterson, senior vice president and general manager of Tech Data's Advanced Infrastructure Solutions business unit.

Some other key points made in the article quoted by Peterson:

"Think of the basic concept -- you're optimizing your existing infrastructure. If you have an install base of servers and SANs, adding some software to maximize and optimize those infrastructure investments is a big thing,"

and

"This is an area to show some decent growth over the next 12 to 18 months, when you hear hardware business will be flattish to down. Storage is going to be a growth area for us and certainly virtualization continues to grow too."

And a couple more taken directly from the announcement:

"It has become standard practice for organizations to embrace end-to-end virtualization spanning both servers and storage," said Amy Belcher, Tech Data's director of product marketing, Advanced Infrastructure Solutions. "Virtualization technologies are transforming data centers and by adding DataCore to our virtualization ecosystem we are better able to help VARs provide their customers with industry leading virtualization solutions."

And as our own VP of Sales for EMEA and US put it,

"These VARs already understand the benefits of server virtualization, and that they are only able to realize half of the total sale potential by not providing a cost-effective storage virtualization and fault tolerant SAN solution to meet the needs of their server and desktop virtualization customers"

There you have it - if you are selling server virtualization software, but not storage vistualization software, you've only got 1/2 a solution and are could be missing out on a lot of business.

Thin Provisioning: Great concept, but how can it help me?

There is a new post on the Infoworld Storage Advisor blog which neatly and succinctly summarizes the provisioning challenge which every company faces. The entire article can be found here, and a quick excerpt follows:

To give a practical example, Windows Server is generally installed in a partition of at least 100GB, and often 200GB or more, especially if Exchange Server or SQL Server is installed. However, the initial install may actually consume only 10GB or so. With thin provisioning, the volume can be set to a virtual size of 200GB or more, but it will actually use only 10GB. As the amount of data stored nears a set percentage of full (often 80 percent), the storage system can either notify the admin to expand the volume, or with more sophisticated systems such as 3Par or Compellent, expand the volume automatically. If a volume is increased to 200GB (for that theoretical log file), once the problem is resolved and the log file deleted, the system can automatically shrink the volume again to reclaim the excess space.

If the admin is willing to trust the system, he no longer has to worry about the capacity of specific volumes. He can buy excess capacity for the array as a whole, which can encompass storage for dozens of servers, rather than having to play it safe for each and every server, only to have 50 to 80 percent of the internal or direct-attached storage on each server go unused.

I know what you're thinking. While this is fine for companies that already have a SAN in place, what about smaller companies? Well, there’s an answer there too – storage virtualization software such as DataCore’s SANSymphony can provide similar functionality using existing hardware and with a relatively small overall investment.

Thin Provisioning can be an incredibly powerful tool, but as with most powerful technology, care must be employed to assure best practices. Please contact us to understand what these are (after all, we did invent the concept!).

"Why Partners Build their Practice Around DataCore"

Here is an interesting article stating the DataCore case for partners taken from the VMblog. (www.vmblog.com)

We couldn't agree more!

DataCore Makes High-Availability SANs Practical for a Slew of New Storage Virtualization Customers

and here are a couple of choice quotes if you don't have time to link through right now:

• "With DataCore, the client can pick their favorite hardware vendor and even mix and match them,” Rettig said. “When the requirements encroach on the system’s limits, we can non-disruptively upgrade what they have with faster, newer technology, possibly from a different supplier who offers better price/performance at the time."
• “DataCore enables us to put together solutions for our clients that fit within their budgets,” explained Rettig. “What is more, we feel strongly that our clients are getting robust, enterprise-level SANs at SMB prices.”
• “A real differentiator for DataCore is their elegant approach to dual-node redundancy, coupled with auto-failover and auto-failback, as well as physical separation of disk arrays to eliminate storage-related disruptions,” commented Rettig. He also admits that a big advantage of DataCore is that it is an open platform, which enables his team to tailor the hardware components to each customer’s manufacturer preferences."

DataCore Carry Forward Value Protection Programme

Value Protection for Users
The DataCore Carry Forward Value Protection Programme is a unique value-add offering customers to begin where they need and upgrade accordingly by paying the difference in price between their original purchase and the new upgrade purchase. Simply stated, the price paid for DataCore software is applied towards future purchases giving customers the utmost flexibility and leveraging their investment in DataCore solutions. This programme is a key competitive differentiator and represents the fundamental value of a strategy that is based on intelligent portable software. DataCore is the only storage Virtualisation vendor that can scale from low-cost entry level solutions for SMB customers to high performance, highly available Enterprise class offerings.
Solutions providers - a compelling advantage - For more details please Click for iTX Contact Info or your DataCore representative today!

Webinars: Learn about Storage Virtualisation and High-Availability

DataCore offers regularly scheduled ANZ webinars that are held fortnightly on Thursday mornings at 9:30 AM (GMT+10) The Webinar duration is 30 minutes and includes a Datacore Introductory overview for ANZ, general product overview and Demo. Register today

DataCore: Citrix and VMware Reference Cards

DataCore has just released a Reference Integration card

with VMware and Citrix that outlines value propositions, user needs, frequently asked questions and common scenarios.

DataCore and VMware Solutions Reference Card Download: http://www.datacore.com/downloads/VMware_DataCore_Solutions_Reference_Card_UK.pdf

DataCore and Citrix Solutions Reference Card Download: http://www.datacore.com/downloads/Citrix_DataCore_Solutions_Reference_Card_UK.pdf

Blue Connections and DataCore

Blue Connections Website

Blue Connections has put together a great solution combining VMware and DataCore, running on IBM hardware to provide TRUE Total Enterprise Virtualization. Their success is partially attributed to a strong web presence detailing the product in a prevalent manner, and one of their top engineers (and of course a DataCore Certified Installation Engineer or DCIE), Bernard Tyers, started an ANZ blog detailing real world use of SANmelody!

Check out the SANmelody Tunes Blog http://sanmelody.blogspot.com/

DDI Health and DataCore

“DataCore has removed a great deal of the complexity and management burden from our IT systems staff by automating tedious tasks that were error prone, disruptive and time consuming. Our overall productivity and the high levels of system uptime being achieved are greatly improved since we deployed SANmelody,” said Paul Graham, head of software development, DDI Health

DDI Health of Perth, Australia, produces a range of solutions across the diagnostic health services sector. The company was grappling with wasted disk space, ‘out of disk space' warnings that force systems and applications to be shut down to add more disks and constant disk provisioning issues. Whereas one set of servers would be full, another set would have disk space to spare, thereby making the provisioning of disk space between systems an on-going and fairly labor-intensive undertaking. With SANmelody in place to automatically allocate disk space to physical and virtual servers as well as workstations, the administration team's disk management headache has disappeared.

Press release link: http://www.datacore.com/pressroom/pr_live.asp?date=04/14/2008Case study link: http://www.datacore.com/downloads/CaseStudies_ddiHealth.pdf

TechTarget ANZ: DataCore Software 0.5TB and 1TB HA SAN Starter Bundles

http://searchstorage.techtarget.com.au/news/28264-DataCore-shrinks-iSCSI-SAN-bundles-for-SMBs
...According to DataCore vice president of product and channel marketing James Price, most potential customers looking to support server virtualisation projects last year wanted smaller capacity and price points than the vendor was offering. "We weren't able to get a storage solution in that had the requisite features and didn't break the budget" for shops seeking less than 2 TB capacity, he said.

Enterprise Strategy Group founder and analyst Steve Duplessie says demand has increased over the last year for inexpensive shared storage to support server virtualisation at the low end of the market...

The Glenvill Group and DataCore

"Since we were building a new IT center from the ground up, we really didn't want to worry about storage details or failures. Our focus was on making sure we could manage growth, respond rapidly to new requirements and keep our business critical applications and services up and running," stated Michael Dickson, General Manager, Glenvill Group. "DataCore has done the job for us. The SANmelody solution has been running for almost a year now with 100% uptime, allowing us to concentrate on managing and growing our business, not worrying about our IT storage needs.

"Press release: http://www.datacore.com/pressroom/pr_071018.asp

Chandler Macleod and DataCore

"When we first heard about the solution, we were understandably skeptical - it just sounded too good to be true," said John Walker, IT Programme Manager, Chandler Macleod. "But we did the due diligence and even spoke to some other customers using it, and everything came back positive. The installation went smoothly and we spent a weekend trying to break it, but it stood up to the hype. Our existing SAN had a limitation of 32 LUNs. By introducing SANmelody into our storage infrastructure, we are now able to separate physical storage LUNs and logical LUNs and break that barrier."

"We now have a storage solution that is as robust and flexible as the servers - including the virtual ones - that it serves." said Walker. "We did not have to invest heavily in storage hardware for future growth since we can add what we need, when we need it - despite which vendor we purchase it from. And when it does come time to refresh hardware, our storage practice will remain intact."

Press release link: http://www.datacore.com/pressroom/pr_071129.asp

Sherron Associates does Citrix XenServer and DataCore

“SANmelody made it easy to set up a high-availability SAN to support our move from an aging server farm to new XenServer-based systems. Moreover, we were able to re-purpose existing hardware to run the SAN simply by purchasing some additional hard drives. The DataCore SAN just works and provides peace of mind that my system is secure. It does absolutely everything that it should and makes things far more simple and flexible. I love that I don't have to think about it.”

At the start of 2008, Sherron Associates was at a point where all of its equipment (with the exception of two servers) was well over five years old and was becoming increasingly problematic. According to Gayle Spencer, network administrator, Sherron Associates, “going virtual” with Citrix XenServer and DataCore SANmelody was the most practical thing for the firm to do because it could cost-effectively virtualize and consolidate their storage resources and its entire server farm, consisting of seven servers, onto just two servers – using XenServer and SANmelody – as opposed to purchasing five or six brand new hardware platforms.

Press release: http://www.datacore.com/pressroom/pr_live.asp?date=03/18/2008Case study link: http://www.datacore.com/downloads/CaseStudies_SherronAssociates.pdf

itX - DataCore's Value Add Distributor in Australia

iTX targets DataCore at Citrix & VMware partners

“DataCore Software extends the enduring benefits of going virtual all the way through to storage. By adding the industry's leading, storage and SAN infrastructure management software to our portfolio of virtualization solutions, itX broadens its ability to deliver cost-effective iSCSI or Fibre Channel-based SAN, disaster recovery and high-availability business continuity solutions.”

-Greg Newham, itX General Manager

Click for iTX Contact Info

DataCore and iTX:

Bandwidth Calculator

Ever need to calculate what it will take to meet a customer's RPO/RTO (Recovery Point Objective/Recovery Time Objective) requirements? Begin by considering how long it will take to replicate volumes from one site to another and how big of a pipe your customer will require to handle their Disaster Recovery needs. Here is a publicly available bandwidth calculator which will make this task easier http://www.bandwidth.com/content?page=calculator.
Contact your DataCore trained Technical Consultant for details on how our Synchronous Mirroring and Async IP Mirroring options can help you meet RPO/RTO needs.

All work and no play makes jack a dull boy...

No, it's not The Shining, but it could certainly get that way if we didn't have some fun along the way (I'm just glad we're a software company because getting hit with a CD is a lot less painful than a rack of drives!)

This bit of fun involved our disty itX and their Christmas Cruise - to a 70's theme!

I'll send a free personal UpTempo to the first poster who identifies the DataCore cats in the pics,

ARN - itX Christmas Cruise

Kingston City Council and DataCore

"A core strategy for our IT services was to implement a robust and secure storage environment in our production data centre that we could extend to our DR site for replication. DataCore's SANmelody(TM) provided our business with the technology to build an active cluster in production ensuring we have maximum uptime, almost identical to what we have achieved by implementing VMware ESX for our server infrastructure," stated Kevin Chan, IT infrastructure manager, Kingston City Council. "DR was simplified by using Asynchronous Mirroring and the ability to utilise any underlying storage arrays give us flexibility to utilise lower cost storage to build the DR Storage solution. We worked with our partner Lincom Solutions to design, proof of concept and deployed the solution, which was done seamlessly with minimal downtime to our operation."

Press release link: http://www.datacore.com/pressroom/pr_070919.asp
Case study link: http://www.datacore.com/downloads/CaseStudies_Kingston_Print.pdf
CIO article link: http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;316257298

Woodgrain Millwork, Inc.and DataCore

“We ended up purchasing an EMC array for performance mostly,” said Olsen. “To virtualize the storage, further enhance performance across both arrays and for data replication, we use DataCore SANsymphony. Very importantly, DataCore allowed us to use dissimilar storage arrays and protect our existing investment; it let us do the replication between our old EVA 5000 and new EMC array.” Woodgrain has 14 terabytes (TBs) of data in their EVA array and it was essential for them to be able to use that array and not throw it away. “SANsymphony allows us to use our existing equipment,” said Rem Fox, CIO, Woodgrain Millwork, Inc. “That was one of our key requirements as we embarked on this. We wanted to leverage our investment in the array we had, but still wanted to be able to move forward with the data replication design that we had in mind.”

According to the IT team at Woodgrain, there are not a lot of solutions on the market that would allow them to deliver the required data replication and still keep their existing array. “SANsymphony was one of the only solutions we found that would allow us to meet our needs,” said Olsen. “Plus, it accelerates performance of the underlying storage arrays and has a lot of other features even over and above what we were looking for.” Woodgrain moved SANsymphony into a live production environment at the end of February 2008. The IT team has now moved a number of key systems to run off of the new SAN, including its VM environment and all of their SQL servers. “Overall we have seen some pretty good performance benefits,” commented Olsen. “The SQL servers running through SANsymphony are running very well and are giving us good performance numbers – a lot better than what we were seeing before.”

Press release: http://www.datacore.com/pressroom/pr_live.asp?date=04/30/2008

Meet the DataCore ANZ Management Team!

Peter Thompson joined DataCore over 8 years ago as the first APAC employee, and has been responsible for building the business in the region.

David Bull has been with DataCore for nearly 4 years and spearheaded the current channel development efforts, our relationship with itX to provide value-add distribution to solution providers across the region and provided the direction, marketing and technical focus on positioning our High-Availability SAN and disaster recovery solutions for virtual servers and desktops.

David Childs brings over 20 years experience in solution consulting and business building to the table, and has also been one of DataCore’s top selling partner consultants! He liked the technology so much that he joined the DataCore team in 2008.

“It is exciting to be part of a team that is revolutionizing the way we think and work with storage. DataCore is cost effective software that makes storage better. It complements existing storage solutions and is a tremendous value for end users, solving key storage issues such as perfromance acceleration, fail-safe data protection, disaster recovery, and flexibility. Best of all, DataCore is growing rapidly and is solidly committed to supporting and building its partner and customer base in Australia.”

Together, they and our network of authorized and trained value-added partners are your resource for helping to answer your questions. This team, our partnership with itX [iTX targets DataCore at Citrix & VMware partners] and our network of trained value-add solution providers are in place to provide you with the right storage, virtualization and disaster recovery solutions that fit your needs and budget.

The team can be reached at ANZinfo@DataCore.com

Welcome to the ANZ Storage Virtualization Information Site

Welcome to the new ANZ Storage Virtualization information site, bought to you from DataCore Software, encompassing commentary, latest news and events, videos, customer wins, product info, fun stuff and hopefullly useful information.

By now most of you know that virtualization is the hottest thing going in IT, but did you realize that if you are only using server virtualization you are only getting ½ the benefits of going virtual?

Virtual Servers and Virtual Storage make sense!

DataCore has well over 6000 Customers Worldwide, and we are adding to that number at over 100 New Customers Per Month!
Growth continues at a phenomenal rate, and one of our main focuses in the short term will be to continue building our customer base. Don’t miss the opportunity to become one of them! Please Check out our latest Disaster Recovery and Virtual Storage Solutions.
I trust that you find the content useful. As always, your feedback is welcome.

Kind regards,
Peter ThompsonVP, Asia

DataCore Software

Australia Contacts & Addresses:ANZinfo@datacore.com