Category Archives: IBM Storage

IBM Scripting Tools for SVC and Storwize has been updated

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

The Rebalance script for IBM SVC has been updated.  This is the first update I have seen since 2010.     This release of the SVCTools package will now work on the Storwize family of products without modification and it can … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, IBM Storage, SAN, Storwize V3700, Storwize V7000, SVC | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

Enhancement requests for IBM SVC and Storwize V7000

Posted on April 10, 2013 by

If you have ever wanted to suggest ways to enhance IBM products you should check out the IBM RFE Page here:     http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/rfe/ I was blissful unaware of this page so found it rather fascinating to check out some of the … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, IBM Storage, Storwize V3700, Storwize V7000, SVC | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Storwize V3700 – First impressions

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

The IBM Storwize V7000 has a new stable mate:  IBM’s hot new seller, the Storwize V3700.   I recently got a chance to try one out and I liked what I saw.  I have always tried to share useful information on … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, IBM Storage, Storwize V3700, Storwize V7000, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

IBM Storage WWPN Determination Guide v6.6

Posted on January 31, 2013 by

For those who used my IBM Storage WWPN Determination Guide, there is finally an updated version (v6.6).    You can find it right here: IBM Storage Systems WWPN Determination Version 6.6 New additions are the Storwize V3700 and the DS8870.

Posted in DS8800, IBM, IBM Storage, Storwize V7000 | 1 Comment

VMware VAAI corruption issue with DS3500

Posted on December 3, 2012 by

IBM recently released a flash for DS3500 and DCS3700 entitled: RETAIN tip H206954: Data corruption issue using XCOPY in VAAI   The contents of the flash are shown at the bottom of this post, so if you are a DS3500 user, … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM Storage, vmware | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why does my enterprise storage need batteries?

Posted on October 2, 2012 by

There are two fundamental characteristics that every user expects from their Enterprise Storage: It should be highly available. It should never lose your data. Neither of these things have anything to do with performance, or with snapshot features, or with … Continue reading →

Posted in Actifio, DS8800, IBM Storage, IBM XIV, Storwize V7000, SVC | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Hard drive retention

Posted on July 30, 2012 by

It’s a story that has been repeated many times:   You buy a shiny new storage system….. and it is beautiful. Then…  a disk fails, which takes just the tiniest bit of shine off. No problem you declare!  You place … Continue reading →

Posted in advice, IBM, IBM Storage, SAN | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A dual vendor SAN policy?

Posted on July 2, 2012 by

A couple of years ago I went to a Juniper marketing event in Sydney.   It was a very well run event with lots of good sessions.  They talked about JUNOS, virtual chassis, East-West versus North-South network traffic, their ASICs… … Continue reading →

Posted in Brocade, Cisco, IBM Storage, SAN | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Storwize V7000 and SVC Performance Monitoring

Posted on June 22, 2012 by

I have previously blogged about the Performance monitoring panel that IBM added to the  Storwize V7000 and SVC GUI.   You can find that post with links to some YouTube videos here.   IBM introduced this panel in version V6.2 of … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, IBM Storage, Storwize V7000, SVC | Tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Issues at 2am? It could be the DS Storage Manager Profile Collector

Posted on June 18, 2012 by

I occasionally get called by clients reporting performance issues with their DS3000, DS4000 or DS5000s at 2am in the morning (always at roughly the same time).   It’s a curious (and annoying) time to have issues but it usually has … Continue reading →

Posted in IBM, IBM Storage, SAN | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments