Oracle RAC on VMFS – SnapVX restore for testing

I've had some questions from customers running Oracle RAC on VMFS who would like to use TimeFinder/SnapVX to test, rather than Oracle tools like RMAN. This is a sensible course given that for large databases RMAN takes a long time to restore, and SnapVX is basically instantaneous. But why use either solution when I can...

SRDF SRA TechBook 9.1

I published the latest SRDF SRA TechBook version 9.1 today. You can get it here. A reminder that this TechBook only covers SRA 9.x. Prior SRA versions are in the original TB which is located in the documentation library. Besides the changes for 9.1, I added some sections which I have covered in this blog...

SRDF/Metro and vMSC BPs WP

I finally managed to cobble together enough time to complete a whitepaper on best practices when running Dell EMC SRDF/Metro with VMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC) that has been on my list for some time. I have an older paper on this topic but its focus was more on the application side - in...

TechBook update for PowerMax

Well PowerMax has been out for a few months now but I only just finished my VMAX/PowerMax/VMware TechBook update here. It's always a bear to be perfectly honest since it encompasses all best practices but the blog can only buy me so much time before we need it in official form. I've managed to get...

VMAX/VMware TechBook, VAAI WP

The after-EMC World documentation updates continue with the publishing of the VMAX VMware TechBook (Using EMC VMAX Storage in VMware vSphere Environments): Click to enlarge – use browser back button to return to post and the VAAI whitepaper (Using VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration with EMC Symmetrix): Click to enlarge – use browser...

TB Update: Using EMC VMAX Storage in VMware vSphere Environments

The title of the blog may be familiar to those who have ever used the TechBook (TB) on VMAX storage and VMware.  Today we published the latest update to the TechBook: Click to enlarge in new window The title of the TechBook has actually changed slightly - instead of "Symmetrix Storage" it is now "VMAX...

APD/PDL in vSphere 6 with VMAX and VPLEX

Recently I have seen a number of internal emails here at EMC asking about our recommendations around All Paths Dead (APD) and Permanent Device Loss (PDL) in vSphere 6 on our storage arrays - mostly VPLEX to be specific.  There have been significant changes in APD/PDL in vSphere 6 which is why the questions are...