We have looked at a simple iSCSI network solution in iSCSI Network Designs Part 1. We have kept the storage traffic separated from our data for operational reasons. But we are limited to 1GB/s and the port density of the switch.
iSCSI Network Designs: Part 1 – Introduction and Basics
29 April 2008 By 5 Comments
I am working on a Data Centre that has more than 500 servers and we are considering what our storage strategy should be. This is why I have been looking at FCoE and iSCSI and establishing the benefits (or not). My next few posts will be a “stream of consciousness” on possible designs for an [...]
Rant: How to Fudge Your Statistics ( or Why Ping Is Not a Good Measure)
29 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
Statistics on how leaving Media Temple has improved website performance.
Rant: Problems With Media Temple Hosting
26 April 2008 By 1 Comment
Network Dictionary – Admintastic
24 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
Lessons in IT Security From the Credit Crunch
24 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
Catalyst 6500 Serial Number – Where Is It ?
23 April 2008 By 2 Comments
Blue Coat to Acquire Packeteer-Excellent-Outcome
21 April 2008 By 4 Comments
Fantastic news! As a long time user of Blue Coat and Packeteer, I am pretty excited about this. The Packeteer traffic management technologies is a long way ahead of the Cisco queueing strategy, and the Blue Coat product set has plenty of features that hold Cisco at bay in the WAN Acceleration (previously known as [...]
Network Dictionary – Wi-Fi
21 April 2008 By 2 Comments
wi-fi 1. Marketing abbreviation for ‘wireless fidelity’. Intended to convey a message of performance, quality and excellence by extrapolating concepts from “high fidelity”. Of course, wi-fi is nothing of the sort. Using IEEE802.11b, there is not enough bandwidth to do much, and the radio spectrum is so hopelessly compromised and overloaded its surprising anything works. [...]
Wanted: Virtualization Engineer, Referee Exp. Pref. – GigaOM
18 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
A post from GigaOM on the divide between Network and Server Engineers and the use of mobility in Virtualized Servers. You know, I was just writing an article on this problem. When you can migrate a server from one side of the data centre to another with the click of button, your network capacity must [...]
More People Against FCoE – Part 2
18 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
Not Anti FCoE, More Like Anti Fibrechannel – A Response
17 April 2008 By 4 Comments
I got linked from Dante Malagrino at the Cisco Data Center blog yesterday. He writes a good post on why FCoE might be a good idea. Let me just say I am not only anti-FCoE, I am anti-Fibrechannel.
My rebuttal after the jump…
People Against FCoE, Its Loud and Proud – Part 1
16 April 2008 By 5 Comments
For those of you who are thinking of rushing into FCoE and the Cisco Nexus switches you might want to think again. There are a few people coming out against FCoE and asking why is anyone bothering ? Should I be putting it in my design portfolio ? Is FCoE a done deal just because [...]
Ip Tcp Timestamp
14 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
Serial Console on OSX
13 April 2008 By 12 Comments
Network Dictionary – Webinar
11 April 2008 By Leave a Comment
1. web driver workshop that imparts product information and technology training. 2. overblown method of delivering product information that you can get by reading the brochure. 3. Marketing that makes sense to marketing people. Largely consumed by people who don’t know enough to read the manual, and should be on a training course. There are [...]
Review of ActivIdentity ActivID 4Tress AAA and 2 Factor Tokens
9 April 2008 By 3 Comments
In a recent project I was required to use ActivIdentity ActivID for two factor authentication. This post is about my overall experience with the product and its poor approach to HA. While ActivID does work fine, and its tokens look nice and it works OK, this is not a product for any small or medium [...]
American Technology Companies Have Poor Support Outside the US – Why ?
7 April 2008 By 1 Comment
I use a lot of technology that is developed in the US, and, consistently, when they ship that technology to ‘rest of the world’ they pass their support responsibilities so a distributor. While this looks like a good idea, the service the distributor delivers is usually poor. Why is this acceptable, and as a customer, [...]
