Educational Episodes: Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI)

Dive into the world of seamless user profile management with FSLogix in VMware Horizon! Learn how to provide a persistent area for machines like Instant Clones while managing user profiles efficiently.

Thick and Thin VM disks have been around for ages, yet there’s always been some controversy regarding which method is better and whether there’s any performance difference. Discover the key differences and features of Thick and Thin disks, and choose the most optimal space allocation method for your environment.

  Some time ago, I wrote an article about backup storage media. Today, I’d like to talk about secondary storage. Before I move on, I want to clarify what I mean by “secondary storage” here, just to make sure that we are on the same page. Secondary storage is the storage where the actively used data resides. It can be both some local storage like SAN or NAS, or some public cloud hot tier. Well, it’s absolutely true that you can use disk arrays too, but let’s think of them today just as NAS-like servers packed with many disks, ok? That’s entirely up to you “which side you are on”, and there’s no “one-size-fits-all” solution. NAS, SAN, and public cloud storage… Whatever secondary storage you choose, it has own pros and cons. I discuss them in this article.

Windows Admin Center (WAC) simplifies Windows server management with user-friendly web tools and seamless Azure integration.

As time goes on, fewer and fewer people tend to rely on cumbersome SANs. It doesn’t mean that they have become obsolete; it’s just that many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) simply don’t require all the broad specter of services and resources that a storage area network system can offer. That makes perfect sense: if you can farewell with a less complicated and resource-hungry configuration – why pay more? Virtual SANs have become the newfound Holy Grail of small infrastructures. And why not? They offer software-defined storage solutions that support HCI systems and leave external shared storage out of the picture. An introduction of virtual SAN solutions to the market has changed a lot, opening the way for simple storage configurations that can provide maximum possible performance with minimum possible resources required, respectively. Since the market has emerged, it didn’t take long to recognize the leaders, which are StarWind Virtual SAN (VSAN) and VMware virtual SAN (vSAN). All else being equal, neither is considered better or worse. However, each IT environment is, in a way, unique. I don’t need to tell you about the multitude of configurations out there. So, with the diversity of HCI systems and hardware requirements in mind, this begets a question: are these solutions really giving away an equal performance, all things considered?

Curious about the next frontier in data storage? Discover the key aspects of NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF), its benefits, and practical applications.

With the surge in remote work, securing access to corporate resources is crucial. Explore the enhanced compatibility, new features, and security measures that make VMware Unified Access Gateway (UAG) a top choice for remote access management.

Step-by-step instructions on replacing a failed drive in S2D without breaking your cluster or data integrity.

  Before starting to talk about new features and improvements, I suggest we take a little trip down memory lane.