iSCSI Network Designs: Part 2 - Simple Scaling

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.
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iSCSI Network Designs: Part 1 - Introduction and Basics

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 iSCSI infrastructure.

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Rant: How to Fudge Your Statistics ( or Why Ping Is Not a Good Measure)

Statistics on how leaving Media Temple has improved website performance.

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Rant: Problems With Media Temple Hosting

I have hosted this blog on Media Temple after a glowing review by some other people. It is now clear that for the last two or more weeks, the web site is often not available as they are having storage problems. It works some of the time and not at others. Some pages are taking minutes to lad.

I will be moving the site as soon as I can to a more reliable provider. I can’t be more negative about Media Temple without using profane language. How can you possibly accept days of intermittent problems!

Network Dictionary - Admintastic

Admintastic

1. Term used to describe a system that was otherwise straightforward and easy to use, after a Security Consultant has ‘reviewed’ it.

2. Describing the ease of use of a Checkpoint firewall cluster, deeply sarcastic and derogatory.

3. Term for Change Management excellence.

Lessons in IT Security From the Credit Crunch

I read an article in the Financial Times Corroded to the core: How a staid Swiss bank let ambitions lead it into folly. It struck me how relevant this is to IT Security.

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Catalyst 6500 Serial Number - Where Is It ?

Simple but sweet, this just shows you how to get the serial number for all the modules in your Catalyst 6500 switch. Read more

Blue Coat to Acquire Packeteer-Excellent-Outcome

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 Traffic Management….sigh…queue the whale song)

Let hope this completes quickly and cleanly.

Blue Coat to Acquire Packeteer to Offer Comprehensive Solution for WAN Optimization | Blue Coat Systems, Inc.: “”

Om Malik has a few comments as well:

(Via http://gigaom.com/2008/04/21/bluecoat-systems-buys-packeteer/.)

Thank goodness Nortel didn’t get an oar in.

http://gigaom.com/2008/04/20/packeteer-bid-bluecoat-nortel/.

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Network Dictionary - Wi-Fi

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.

Naturally, that never stopped us from finding ways to make it work just enough so that we make lots of money from selling it. Governments around the world can’t agree on a replacement spectrum, and the vendors can’t agree on new standards such as 802.11n so it’s going to be busted for years to come. BRILLIANT

Wanted: Virtualization Engineer, Referee Exp. Pref. - GigaOM

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 accommodate not only the migration but also the traffic that the server uses.

Looks like those fancy new Cisco Nexus switches might have a purpose after all……..(just kidding).

Wanted: Virtualization Engineer, Referee Exp. Pref. - GigaOM: “”

More People Against FCoE - Part 2

More posts from people who are opposed to FCoE. More meat for the mill…. Read more

Not Anti FCoE, More Like Anti Fibrechannel - a Response

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…

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People Against FCoE, Its Loud and Proud - Part 1

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 Cisco is throwing it weight around, or does it have merit.

In fact after some research , there are so many negatives I had to put them in multiple parts.

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Ip Tcp Timestamp

ip tcp timestamp

I have seen this command a few times, today I am going to look into it and see what it does. Also, this is probably a classic CCIE lab gotcha.

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Serial Console on OSX

Serial Communication in OSX Terminal

I knew it had to be possible to view serial data in the OSX terminal window, but I’m not enough of a unix geek to figure it out. Finally, a little googling told me what I needed to know. Here’s how to read and send serial data from the terminal in OSX. (just like hyperterminal on windows)

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Network Dictionary - Webinar

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 enough of these people to convince marketing people that it is money well spent.

Review of ActivIdentity ActivID 4Tress AAA and 2 Factor Tokens

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 company, and requires a lot of IT resources to make it work

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American Technology Companies Have Poor Support Outside the US - Why ?

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, why do I have put up with this ? All this “customer focus” and “listening to the customer” that we hear so much about from the Executives, doesn’t translate into customer support ?

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