Marc's thoughts on Dell Storage Solutions

Dell Acquires AppAssure (Backup, Replication and More)

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Marc Malotke

AppAssure, the #1 backup for VM, physical and cloud environments, is a global leader in complete server, application and data protection. The company provides a unified and integrated backup and replication software that is engineered on innovative and groundbreaking technologies which offer near-zero recovery time, 100% recoverability assurance, and cross-platform virtual and physical server recovery (P2V, V2V, V2P or P2P). Building on a history of innovation and multiple industry firsts, AppAssure continues to set the standard in virtual and physical server data protection.

http://www.appassure.com/

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Dell EqualLogic: The Key to maximizing Microsoft Exchange 2010

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Marc Malotke

Choosing the right storage for an Exchange 2010 implementation can have a dramatic effect on performance, administration, reliability – and the bottom line. This tech brief discusses the two major architectural choices for Exchange storage, DAS and SAN. The topics explored include: scalability, administration, integration with Windows and Exchange, and data protection. It highlights how a Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI SAN provides benefits to increase operational efficiency, improve reliability and reduce capital and operational expenses.

https://www.dellstorage.com/goto/equallogic-maximizing-exchange/

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Compellent and XenServer 6.x Best Practices

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Marc Malotke

This document will provide configuration examples, tips, recommended settings, and other storage guidelines a user can follow while integrating Citrix XenServer with the Dell Compellent Storage Center. This document has been written to answer many frequently asked questions with regard to how XenServer interacts with the Dell Compellent Storage Center’s various features such as Dynamic Capacity, Data Progression, Replays, and Remote Instant Replay.

http://www.dellstorage.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2555

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NEW: Introducing the Dell DR4000 with De-Dupe, Compression and Replication

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Marc Malotke

Streamline backup and recovery operations.

Optimize your data management while reducing reliance on tape backups with the Dell™ DR4000 disk-based data protection and recovery solution.

- Protect your investment — all inclusive licensing model with no hidden costs.
- Enhance workflow performance with target-based deduplication, helping reduce bandwidth requirements for data transfer by up to 15 times.
- Simplify your IT operations by making data preservation and recovery significantly easier.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/dell-dr4000/pd

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NEW: EqualLogic MEModule vSphere V1.1.0

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Marc Malotke

The EqualLogic Multipathing Extension Module (EqualLogic MEM) now provides support for VMware ESXi 5.0 including the following enhancements for those ESXi 5.0 environments:
- Automatic connection management
- Automatic load balancing across multiple active paths
- Increased bandwidth
- Reduced network latency

https://support.equallogic.com/support/download.aspx?id=6442454132

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Dell TechCenter: EqualLogic as the storage platform for Citrix XenDesktop

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Marc Malotke

Desktop virtualization is a rapidly growing segment of the IT industry. According to a November 2011 report, IDC expects the spending growth of virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) will exceed the growth of the overall IT market over the next five years.

We find evidence of this growing VDI adoption among Dell EqualLogic customers. In our 2011 survey, 25% of our customers reported that they already have VDI deployed in the enterprise or in PoC; additional 13% intended to deploy VDI by 2013.

Citrix XenDesktop is one of the leading VDI solutions in the market. We recently conducted a series of VDI tests to develop best practices and sizing guidelines for a Citrix XenDesktop based VDI solution deployed on Dell EqualLogic storage. The primary objectives of our testing were….

More here:
http://goo.gl/5DBr4

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: TechCenter, vdi, citrix | Leave a Comment »

NEW: Tech Report EqualLogic ASM/ME 4.0 with Server 2008 R2 Hyper V

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Marc Malotke

Dell EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (HIT/Microsoft) includes Dell EqualLogic Auto-Snapshot Manager Microsoft Edition (ASM/ME) and provides you with protection of Microsoft® Hyper-V™ virtual machines – as well as Microsoft® Exchange mailboxes and recovery groups, Microsoft® SQL Server databases, and NTFS volumes.

The information in this Technical Report is intended for Information Technology Professionals using Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series storage with Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 Hyper-V™.

http://www.equallogic.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=10840

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NEW: EqualLogic Firmware 5.2.0 EPA

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Marc Malotke

Early Production Access for V5.2 firmware is fully supported by Dell Technical Support. It may be used in production or by customers who want to begin preparing for and assessing deployment of this new firmware in their EqualLogic environments. Please read the documentation and release notes prior to updating your firmware.

The feature set of version 5.2 is equivalent to version 5.1 but version 5.2 contains additional fixes.

Version 5.1 includes the following new features:

Enhancements to Automatic Performance Load Balancing
Support for LDAP and Active Directory
Support for VMware Thin Provision Stun
Data Center Bridging with PS6010 and PS6510 arrays
Auditing of Administrator Actions
Scalability and performance improvements

Please read the PS Series Release Notes V5.2.0 for information about updating firmware, including update paths and which firmware versions can co-exist in a group. Be sure to follow the best practice of backing up data before performing system maintenance.

https://support.equallogic.com/support/download.aspx?id=6442454068

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