EMC CLARiiON AX4 Allows SMBs to Build Custom Architectures Affordably

"Lowe’s experience with deploying the EMC CLARiiON AX4 in a custom-designed, high-availability architecture highlights what sets the system apart when pitted against other SMB storage solutions in its class. Unlike most other products, the AX4 is not merely a rigid set of hardware crammed into a controller box. Instead, it is a full-fledged SAN with features and capabilities you’d expect from a similar enterprise-level solution, albeit in a much-scaled-down version. Unlike preassembled storage hardware, the highly customizable EMC AX series SANs allow storage architects to design and build systems of varying size, complexity, and priority. For the IT departments of SMBs, this means being able to provide a storage solution uniquely suited to the specific needs of their parent organizations while staying within the company’s prescribed IT budget."
http://www.tabdatasystems.com/emc-clariion-ax4-allows-smbs-to-build-custom-architectures-affordably/

What Type of EMC Storage Hardware is Right for Your Organization?

"Unified Storage Unified storage combines block-level storage and file-level storage into one platform. A popular example is the EMC VNX unified storage line, which can use both mechanical and solid-state EMC hard drives, available from storage providers, like Tab Data Systems. Storage managers are given free rein over what portions of the storage unit are used as either block-level or file-level storage. Good for: Organizations that see heavy use of both block-level and file-level storage. Reducing processing overhead and improving storage performance by replacing volumes on block-level storage designed strictly for file-level storage use. Reducing the amount of physical space needed to house an organization’s entire storage infrastructure when the organization uses both block-level and file-level storage devices."
http://www.tabdatasystems.com/what-type-of-emc-storage-hardware-is-right-for-your-organization/

Implications of Google Study on Used EMC CLARiiON Hard Drive Industry

"The study was also able to find meaningful correlation between four SMART signals—all of which were indicative of bad sectors—and increased chance of failure over the study period. In used drives, it is a given that some of the drives vendors obtain for resale will have raised one of these four SMART signals. To account for this, great care is taken to test and classify drives before they are released back on the market. Typically, drives are given a grade; for example A, B and C. When a drive is found to have raised any of the four SMART signals Google researchers identified, they are given a grade of B or C, and priced accordingly. B drives may have some “soft” errors or specific types of re-allocation errors that allow for limited use in non-critical situations. C grade drives are often sold as parts or properly recycled. It is useful to note that only 56 percent of failed drives in the Google study raised such errors. Additionally, of the set that did raise those four signals,
http://www.tabdatasystems.com/implications-of-google-study-on-used-emc-clariion-hard-drive-industry/

Google Study Reinforces the Reliability of Used EMC Storage Hardware

"The study produced some very interesting, if not disappointing, results. First, it was unable to find a useful correlation between the age of a drive and its annualized failure rate (AFR) beyond the two year point. Like us, drives have a finite life and age does become a predictor years down the road. Yet observed rates in the study period were more strongly influenced by particular drive models than by the actual overall vintage. In fact, when looking at specific drive models, many had a decrease in failure rates after a spike in year 3. This went against conventional wisdom that hard disk drive failure scaled proportionally with age. Instead, data gathered showed that the AFR of hard disk drives was noticeably influenced by the infant mortality phenomenon during their first year of life, highest to the 3 month data point and receding thereafter to a low of less than 2% at the one year point. After a seemingly strange model driven jump in the period beginning the third year, the A
http://www.tabdatasystems.com/google-study-reinforces-the-reliability-of-used-emc-storage-hardware/

EMC CLARiiON AX4 Ideal Midmarket SAN Storage for VMWare Deployments

Designed by the same company that publishes VMWare, the SMB-targeted member of the EMC CLARiiON line of SANs allows smaller companies to make full use of VMWare’s enterprise-level features. This gives IT departments the freedom to design their infrastructures to improve hardware utilization, increase redundancy and availability, and ease maintenance.

Using Distributed Resource Scheduler, accurate control of available physical resources allows organizations to optimize their energy efficiency and reduce cooling costs. The High Availability utility automatically detects server failures and reroutes traffic to other (working) channels. Finally, Storage vMotion can be used to migrate running virtual machines to other systems when taking a SAN down for maintenance to avoid productivity-reducing downtimes.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/emc-clariion-ax4-ideal-midmarket-san-storage-for-vmware-deployments/

EMC Storage Hardware Protect Stored Company Data at an Affordable Cost

As a notable example, used or refurbished EMC storage hardware, which have a reputation in the industry for durability and reliability, can be deployed for SAN installations at a greatly reduced cost. Since SANs can be deployed without being exposed to the Internet—as a shared disk file system, for example—they can be used to store even the most important and sensitive company data without constant fear of external infiltration.

Such reasons define why businesses continue to field legacy EMC hard drives, controllers, and systems, and why companies like Tab Data Systems thrive to this day. While cloud computing services have revolutionized the industry of enterprise storage in many ways, its inability to provide the security and protection on-premises systems afford means that it will, until its security issues can be forever put to rest, remain just one tool in the enterprise storage architect’s toolbox.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/emc-storage-hardware-protect-stored-company-data-at-an-affordable-cost/

Legacy EMC CLARiiON CX4: Ideal Low-cost, High-Performance SAN Solution

In January 2011, EMC ultimately sealed the fate of the CX4 with the launch of the VNX line of unified storage devices. This new line combined the capabilities of the CLARiiON SAN line and Celerra NAS line, making both lines redundant. By the first quarter of 2012, both of these lines were discontinued, taking all EMC CX series devices along with them.

As the precursor to the now-current VNX line, the EMC CLARiiON CX4 taught EMC and Dell many valuable lessons that would help form the basis for the full-featured unified storage systems both companies produce today. However, more importantly, the venerable storage array system taught many of its users what they should look for in a SAN.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/legacy-emc-clariion-cx4-ideal-low-cost-high-performance-san-solution/