'Scale out' storage options for your company


Read my article on techtarget

http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.in/tip/0,289483,sid202_gci1517110,00.html

Xen memory overcommitment is it possible??

Click the below link to read more

http://blog.coparsystems.com/?p=36&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

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Google Chrome - The new browser from the pillar of the internet

This blog mostly has stuff on SAN, Storage and Unix. For a change I thought of writing about the latest browser from Google. Titled "Chrome".

You can read about the features and download the browser here

http://www.google.com/chrome

I read that it was made with code from open source projects like Apple's Webkit and Mozilla's firefox.

whats different??

1. If you open task manager then you would see atleast 1 process for each TAB you open. This seems to protect from crashes in a TAB. Normally firefox would crash if you open a rouge site in a tab, the whole browser app would crash. With chrome its just the TAB that would crash.

2. Incognito window for browsing site which you do not want appear in the histroy. This is a good feature for cyber cafe's. Users can use this feature to avoid browsing history to be safe from other users.

3.  You can enable google gears, this will help you with enhanced browsing experience for sites which use this feature. Gears helps the coder to interact with apps installed on your desktop. I found the sites using gear to be very user friendly but still wonder how gears helps them. Check this website to plan tasks.

https://www.rememberthemilk.com/signup/

Presumably this uses gears.

If you are worried about google intruding privacy then click on settings and turn of the feedback option.

Brocade LSAN - Concepts

LSAN is the sharing of resources across fabrics. You need a MPR or a FR4-18i blade in the 48K to be able to connect the 2 fabrics - yet keep them unmerged. Just to make it more clear, the other option to scale out, is to connect the 2 switches in either fabrics. If you do this, you are actually merging the 2 fabrics. MPR's restrict the type of RSCN's propgated, with the help of special port EX. You have to designate a port on the MPR as EX, and once u do this, although data frames can pass via the MPR, the RSCN's responsible for fabric merge are suppressed.

To share a target (ex: tape drive) in Fabric 1 in DC1 to a server (initiator) in Fabric 2 in DC2, you need to create a LSAN in both fabrics. Remember

1. LSAN's ideally should be named the same (not compulsary). Naming convention shd follow LSAN_FabricName_InitiatorName_FabricName_TargetName

In my case I will name it as
LSAN_DC1F1_STK3DRV4_DC2F2_host01

2. An LSAN should have atleast one initiator and one target. Ideally have only one initiator and one target and not more, but there is no restriction.

3. And LSAN should have the same members. If u have a 3 DC solution like I have, you will have to create seperate LSAN's to share the same resource to 2 fabrics. For ex if u want to share the tape drive to hosts in DC2-F2 and DC3-F1

LSAN_DC1F1_STK3DRV4_DC2F2_host01

LSAN_DC1F1_STK3DRV4_DC3F1_host80

I will continue with a post on howto create LSAN's and also how to troubleshoot issues in a routed fabric. If you have queries please post in the comments section. Queries on comparison with CISCO VSAN are also welcome.

Upgrading Brocade firmware on switches (not directors)

A post after a long gap, why??? Coz for a short while I worked as a consultant, and this meant I work on economics rather than technical stuff. Now that I'm back with some real technical workm you should be able to see more good stuff.

My posts on NetApps, Symantec/Veritas products and SAN troubleshooting have got good response. Thanks to readers.

So back to topic... Upgrading Brocade firmware on switches..!

I was surprised that there was'nt a simple howto on this. So here we go.

Note : My approach is to download the firmware and use it before I commit. This allows me to revert back to my old firmware if need be.

View FOS guide pg 165 for understanding the preparation for this acitivity. Steps like saving configuration, downloading new firmware, configuring FTP server etc. has been described here.

The internal process will be as follows
1. firmware -s download command is entered, and you respond to prompts.
2. Firmware is downloaded to Secondary Partition
3. Primary and Secondary boot pointers are swapped
4. CP boots from firmware in new Primary partition.

After a few days of cool operation, run the firmwareCommit command and then the new firmware is copied to the seconday partition as well.

Thats it we'll see a snapshot.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
switch:admin> firmwareDownload -s
Type of Firmware (FOS, SAS, or any application) [FOS]:
Server Name or IP Address: 192.168.32.10
Network Protocol (1-auto-select, 2-FTP, 3-SCP) [1]:
User Name: userfooFile Name: /home/userfoo/v5.3.0
Password:
*Do Auto-Commit after Reboot [Y]: n
*Reboot system after download [N]: y
Firmware is being downloaded to the switch. This step may take up to 30minutes.
Checking system settings for firmwaredownload...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Recommended steps. Say no to autocommit and yes to reboot after download.

Incase things dont turn out to be nice, and you get some nasty emails complaining loss of path, new storage not visible etc. Then its time to roll back.

To restore from the secondary partition, if you have not run the firmwarecommit command, this is what you run

firmwareRestore

Simple, aint it...! Atleast I would say so..! The pain is co-ordination with system admins and busniess owners, we dont have commands for these operations :)

EMC ILM Products

ILM - Information Lifecycle Management, very few companies have managed to go beyond learning the meaning of the 3 letters. The very fact that ILM seems to sound like a management function keeps techies out of this interesting subject.

ILM can be categorised into the following activities

• Tiering of storage.
• File and asset discovery.
• Record Management.
• Email Management.

This article focusses on some of EMC's ILM products that help you acheive this

Tiering of storage.

EMC's flagship storage resource management (SRM) product ECC combined with StoragScope helps acheive this objective. Each company can define its own tiers. The tiers could be within the same storage or spread across mid tier, NAS solutions and tape.

File and asset discovery.

ECC + StorageScope + File Level Reporting (license) = File level discovery.

Know which type of files are occupying more space OR if there are duplicates e.t.c. with options of pre defined or custom reports.

Record Management.

DiskXtender helps define rules for automatic policy based movement of files to

NAS

FixedContentStorage (CAS)

Or Tape

You can therefore use DiskXtender to move files never used for more than a month to a lower cost storage and thus save upgrades on your primary storage.

Email Management.

EmailXtender helps realtime record of to and fro email traffic across all your email servers. EmailXtender components - EmailXtract - EmailXaminer e.t.c. help you archive old mails in PST and also do automated tagging of objectionable content.

EmailXtender combined with DiskXtender can help in reducing primary storage requirements for Messaging solutions.

India moves ahead with National Skills Registry - NASSCOM

Attention all IT employees, its now mandatory for everyone to register with the NSR - NASSCOM for creating a one stop identification for all companies. Here's a brief nowto with the steps

First Step

• Access http://www.nationalskillsregistry.com/
  

• Register following details (PLEASE ENTER CORRECT INFORMATION
• ONLY AS IT CAN BE REFERRED FOR VERIFICATION):

• • Name, Date of Birth, Addresses (Present, previous and
• Permanent, these could be common also) , PAN , Passport
• details
  

• • Your preferred User ID and Password for access to NSR

• • Details of Academic, professional and technical qualifications

• • Details of present and previous employments (joining / relieving
• 
  dates, designations and addresses)

Second Step

• _ Visit Point of Service (POS) locations at one of the locations given in
• the annexure
• _ Submit Finger-prints, photograph, signature and registration fees (250
• plus service tax) and first year usage fees (Rs. 50 plus service tax) total
• 337 to the Point of Service (POS).
• _ Please carry one of the following documents for identification :
• Employment Identity Car, Voter's ID Card, Passport, Driving
• License, Bank Pass book (if photo attached), College ID card (not more
• than 1 year old) , PAN card
• Use NSR
• On the next day, NSR will inform you about your successful registration and
• your unique ITPIN (IT Professional Identification Number).

Now you can access NSR based on your ITPIN – User ID and Password and

A View & keep your details updated.

• A Get your details verified by empanelled background checkers. This is very important as your details are confirmed by a background checker and are relied upon by companies for employing you.
  

• A Permit companies to view your profile.
• A In case a company views your profile (as per your permission); you
• Will be able to know that such a company has viewed your profile.

Even the support and admin staff working for IT companies like peons, travel assistants e.t.c. will be covered by the program.

The companies which have been authorized as registrars are yet to get professional. Today I called up 2 authorized registrars for NSR, and both did not have their systems ready for registration. One in town had his finger print scanner not functioning and another had his computers not functioning. So advise all to call up your nearest registrar and then travel.

All this said and done, I do not understand why employees should pay NASSCOM for this, its not to protect us but to protect companies. I was cheated by Satyam last year and all that Kiran Karnik (NASSCOM) did was to tell me to approach the court. Just keep in mind that you need not create this card unless the companies force you to do so.

**** LIST OF POS ****

Ahmedabad
Alankit Assignments LimitedGanesh Plaza, 1/3-, 1st FloorOpp. Navrangpur Bus Stand,Ahmedabad - 380009Ph No: - 079-40048980Contact Person: Manish JangidEmail :alankitahd@alankit.com
Bangalore
Alankit Assignments LimitedNo 42, 2nd & 4th Floor,46E , Lalbagh Main Road(Urvasi Theatre Road),Land Mark : Next to Khivraj Bajaj Showroom, Bangalore - 560027Tel no :91-80-40195733Contact person : Kalyan Basak Email :kalyan.basak@alankitonline.com
Integrated Enterprises (India) Limited 12 Ramanuja Plaza - II Floor5th Cross, MalleswaramBangalore - 560003.Tel no: 09902025630Contact Person: MR. SIVAKUMAREmail: siva@iepindia.com
Chennai
Alankit Assignments Limited109 & 110, 2nd Floor Charmiers Road, Teynampet Chennai - 600018.Tel no: 044 -43947000/9962012104/9962012102Contact Person: J C Mittal/J KannanEmail: jcmittal@alankitonline.com/kannan@alankitonline.com
Integrated Enterprises ( INDIA ) Ltd,16 Vijayaraghava road T Nagar Chennai - 600017.Tel no: 044-28150891 / 28150893 / 09444210962 Fax: 044 - 28150894Contact Person: Manikandan Email: mapin@iepindia.com / selvakumar@iepindia.com
Chandigarh
Alankit Assignment LimitedSCO 16 -17, Ground FloorSector 34AChandigarh - 160035.Tel no: 0172 - 4611833 / 09872747862Contact Person: Alok ShuklaEmail :alankitchg@alankit.com
Gurgaon
Alankit Assignments LimitedSCO-17, Ground FloorSaraswati Vihar Shopping ComplexHousing Board, ChakerpurGurgaon - 122001.Tel no: 0124 - 4039140 / 44/09910893089Contact Person: Naveen Kumar Sharma/Nipun SharmaEmail :alankitgurgaon@alankit.com
Hyderabad
Integrated Enterprises (India) LimitedNo-5-10-197 / A, G4-I FLOORReliance Krishna ApartmentsNavad Pahad, Hill Fort rdHyderabad - 500004.Tel no: 09849912523Contact Person: VijayEmail:venkateswarlu@iepindia.com/hydbasheer@iepindia.com
Indore
Alankit Assignments Limited401, Navneet Plaza4th Floor, 5 / 2 Old PlasiaGreater Kailash Nursing Home RoadIndore - 452001.Tel no: 0731 - 4202337 / 2566176 / 09827500170Contact Person: Mahesh Khandelwal / Manish JagetiyaEmail :dmm01021@rediffmail.com
Jaipur
Alankit Assignments Limited101-104, Luhadia TowerAshok Marg, 'C' SchemeJaipur - 302001.Tel no: 0141 - 2374531 - 34 / 9314509386Contact Person: Sumit AgarwalEmail :alankitjpr@alankit.comsumit@alankit.com
Kochi
Alankit Assignments LimitedXL 531, Presidency Business Centre,Above Katson Traders, High Court Jn,Banerji Road, Kochi-682031.Ph No: 0484-2398398, 4038398Mob No: 09249528400, 09249572272Contact Person: George VargheseEmail : 1271@kvco.in
Kolkata
Alankit Assignments LimitedNo. 19, R N Mukherjee RoadMain Building, Second FloorKolkata - 700001.Tel no: 033-44014100/4200/4115Contact Person: Shyama Kejriwal / Sheo Kumar GuptaEmail :skejriwal@alankitonline.comskgupta@alankitonline.com
Mumbai
Alankit Assignments LimitedR. R. House / BabulinIdeal Industrial EstateOpp. New Empire MillsSenapati Bapat MargLower ParelMumbai - 400013.Tel no: 022 - 24821234/24985512/24821281Contact Person: Pawan Goel/ Harish LikamEmail: pawangoel@alankitonline.com/harish@alankitonline.com
Integrated Enterprises ( India ) LimitedNO.217 - Shilpin Centre - II floorNr. Shriram Industrial Estatekartak Road, 40 G D Ambedkar RoadWadala, Mumbai - 400031.Tel no: 022 - 40335800 / 40335804 / 9322935321 / 9833196676 Fax: 022 - 40335807Contact Person: Suryakant Kamble/Rahul/D KrishnamurthyEmail: anand@iepindia.com / Seshadriswami@yahoo.com Krishnamurthydee@gmail.com
Kotak Securities Limited
Industry Manor Building
First Floor
Above J K Banquet Hall
Near Century Bazaar and New Passport Office
Appasaheb Marathe Marg, Prabhadevi
Mumbai - 400030
Contact Person: Sanjay H. Singh / Mr. Narendra
Tel No:022 - 66216666 / 6100 / 6401 / 9224350613
Email:sanjay.singh@kotak.com -->
New Delhi
Alankit Assignments LimitedAlankit House2E / 21, JHANDEWALAN EXTENSIONNew Delhi - 110055.Tel no: 011 - 42541246 / 42541740 / 42541988Contact Person: Rajeev Berk / Mr. Gaurav MalhotraEmail:rajeevb@alankit.com /gauravm@alankitonline.com
Noida
Alankit Assignments limited101-103, Upper Ist floorJOP Plaza, P-2, Sector 18Noida - 201301.Tel no: 0120 - 2516151 - 52Contact Person: Satendra KumarEmail: alankitnoida@alankit.com
Pune
Alankit Assignments Limited6, Kailas park, Airport RoadNr Gunjan CinemaOpp Neeta Park, above Gokul ElectronicsYerwada, Pune - 411006. Tel no: 020 - 26697080 / 26693132 / 09823090239 / 09890393144 Contact Person: Prakash Babanrao / Vijay Kumar DhandeEmail: dhananjaypune@yahoo.co.in
ICICI Web Trade Ltd
Mantri house, Grd floor
Nr. Dnyneshwar Paduka Chowk
Pune - 411004.
Tel no: 9822868512
Contact Person: Reshma-->
Secundrabad
Alankit Assignment Limited1-8-54 / 1 / 1, 1st FloorPender Ghast RoadSecundrabad - 500003.Tel no: 040-66178222-230 /66178270Contact Person: Ashil Singhal / M V Jeevan PrasadEmail: ashil@alankitonline.com/nsrhyd@alankitonline.com