Take control of your storage and backup in the virtual environment

Get the Essential Steps for Optimizing Storage for Virtual Servers and Workstations

It’s no secret that virtualizing servers and virtualizing desktops can help reduce costs in the data center. However, virtualization presents some unique challenges to storage system management. The increased I/O density and increased randomness of reads and writes taxes storage systems and makes most traditional IT optimizations less effective than before. And with a host of new networking issues as well as the additional load that a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) places upon storage, managing storage for virtualized systems can become a whole new ball game.

Virtual servers place an increased load on storage systems, so the tried-and-true optimization methods may not be as effective as optimization methods aimed at storage for virtualized environments. Because most organizations have limited funds to spend on optimizations, it can be a challenge to determine how to balance the competing needs of optimizing storage system performance – while also maintaining cost.

In this half-day seminar, independent expert Howard Marks will present various approaches for making the most of storage systems in virtualized environments without breaking the bank. Attendees will walk away armed with the knowledge needed to make informed decisions on where to prioritize spending as well as choosing the method that’s best for their organization.

Session Descriptions

Session 1: The Virtual System Storage Syndrome
In the first session, Howard Marks will discuss how virtual systems demand creative solutions from storage systems. He’ll speak about complexities such as how standard applications and operating systems can run just fine on server-attached storage, but many hypervisor and virtual system management features require shared storage. 

Howard will also explain how VMs place different stresses on storage systems than physical servers do, and explore several options for connecting host servers to storage. He’ll then move on to things IT pros can do to optimize VM performance using the tools they already have by correcting virtual system block alignment and the like. Part one will conclude with a look at how virtual systems affect backup architecture. Topics covered will include:

• Virtual systems use storage differently – Shared storage is a must – The I/O blender creates random I/O
• Storage networking options – Fibre Channel, iSCSI, NAS (NFS/SMB 2.2), SAS
• VM storage patterns
• Optimizing performance with the tools you have
• How virtualization changes the backup landscape

Session 2: Storage Options for Virtual Systems
Since server virtualization and VDI have gone mainstream, both hypervisor and storage vendors have been on a mission to improve the relationship between the hypervisor and the storage system. In this session, Howard will examine the tools these vendors have developed to increase both the performance and manageability of storage in the hypervisor environment.

Howard will first walk through storage and hypervisor integration through management plug-ins and extended APIs that give the VM administrator visibility into and some control over the storage system.  Then, he’ll discuss what IT pros can add to their VM environments to improve the storage-VM connection, such as SSDs to speed performance. Howard will also provide coverage on some of the products vendors claim are the “perfect” storage solution for VMware or Hyper-V. Topics covered will include:

• Managing your storage from the hypervisor console
• Storage system features and hypervisor integration (VAAI, VASA, etc.)
• Using Flash to accelerate system I/O
• How deduplication fits in
• Virtual storage appliances
• Virtualization optimized storage systems

Attendance for this seminar is FREE for qualified IT professionals

But seating is limited to just 60 attendees in each city. To claim your complimentary seat today, apply by completing our quick online application or by calling Seminar Manager Mike Parisi at (617) 431-9718.

Dates and Locations

US Agenda

Dinner Series Agenda

Bio

Howard Marks
Founder and Chief Scientist
DeepStorage.net

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