Virtualization takes hold: enterprise data centers embrace new/old technology to better utilize resources, but security, compliance and mobility issues must be addressed

Communications News, May, 2007 by Jeff Jilg

There are some cases where virtualization is not the best choice. Some end-users require high availability, such as stock traders, where any application latency is not tolerable. Additionally, software application developers can often utilize all the computing resources on a typical PC.

Measuring the needs of your end-users should be relatively easy. Performance evaluations over time can be accomplished to characterize the average load that is being applied to existing desktop computers. These performance evaluations are easier to perform on existing PC blade installations because of their centralized location.

ON COMNEWS.COM

* 10 common mistakes when consolidating servers

* Virtually insecure

* Virtualization drives need for IT service assurance

* Virtualized versus traditional blade platforms

Jeff Jilg is the director of technology services at ClearCube Technology, Austin, Texas.

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THE NAMESPACE OPTION

by Panos Tsirigotis

Namespace technology provides administrators with a virtual layer in the storage infrastructure between client systems and the storage device, decoupling the relationship between directory structures and the directory's physical location. As a result, end-users and business applications can access files in the directories or folders where they have always been, regardless of the file's physical location in the network.

There are two namespace technologies that most companies currently use: distributed file system (DFS) and Automounter. DFS is Windows-based and supports the CIFS protocol while Automounter is UNIX-based and supports the namespace file system (NFS) protocol. Both provide a virtual view of data on the network, but require constant configuration and monitoring, leading to management overhead.

DFS provides the network mapping between the client and file server, ensuring clients are pointed to the server hosting the file the user is trying to access. Every time the target of a DFS link is moved or deleted, how ever, an administrator needs to update the Active Directory with the new location of the file; otherwise, the namespace solution will fail, affecting availability and business continuity.

Automounter sits on the client, creating a virtual namespace defined by maps residing on a network server. Similar to DFS, Automounter is transparent to the end-user, but requires constant management attention to update the maps and ensure file accessibility.

Management and scalability issues with Automounter can cause data to be unavailable. Anytime an administrator migrates data or takes a network server offline, all the client systems that access data on the affected servers should have the revised map to ensure they redirect file access commands to the appropriate file server. Furthermore, for the Automounter on the client system to apply the map changes, all applications on that system accessing data on the affected servers must be stopped.

In today's business environment, file and data management should be simple, easy to manage and seamless, while providing high data availability. The solution should be scalable, integrate with existing data-protection technology, support Windows, UNIX and mixed environments, provide multiple virtual views of the network, and sit within the network. The namespace also should provide links between folders on disparate file servers and unify these folders, giving end-users a single, simplified view of files on the network. Network file management (NFM) does all of the above.