Comments for Claus Mikkelsen's Blog http://blogs.hds.com/claus Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:07:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 Comment on I’M BAAACK, and I’m Rested by Barry Whyte http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2007/08/im_baaack_and_im_rested.html#comment-9651 Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:45:41 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2007/08/im_baaack_and_im_rested.html#comment-9651 Claus, Thanks for the response. I can see the advantage of having a lot of archive type storage attached behind the USP/V controllers, especially with the 'MAID' style function. I think the IBM model and HDS model of virtualization is probably closer than flow-through designs which are limited in the services they can provide, and the idea of a virtualizing controller has its merits. As far as the 3.5 million IOPs, I know this is a 'super read cache hit' number - do you have details of the actual number that USP-V can achieve when reading from actual physical cache and not just the front end FC hardware? IBM choses not to publish its 'read cache hit' 512 byte numbers as they are unrepresentative of any known customer workload and so would lead us open to similar comments like "where's the other 3.3 million IOPS gone" when we submitted our SPC benchmarks. But I can tell you that our true read cache hit (actually from cache) is not that far behind your 3.5 million. Not bad for a commodity hardware with a non-disruptive hardware upgrade strategy :) Claus,

Thanks for the response. I can see the advantage of having a lot of archive type storage attached behind the USP/V controllers, especially with the ‘MAID’ style function. I think the IBM model and HDS model of virtualization is probably closer than flow-through designs which are limited in the services they can provide, and the idea of a virtualizing controller has its merits.

As far as the 3.5 million IOPs, I know this is a ’super read cache hit’ number - do you have details of the actual number that USP-V can achieve when reading from actual physical cache and not just the front end FC hardware?

IBM choses not to publish its ‘read cache hit’ 512 byte numbers as they are unrepresentative of any known customer workload and so would lead us open to similar comments like “where’s the other 3.3 million IOPS gone” when we submitted our SPC benchmarks. But I can tell you that our true read cache hit (actually from cache) is not that far behind your 3.5 million. Not bad for a commodity hardware with a non-disruptive hardware upgrade strategy :)

]]> Comment on I’M BAAACK, and I’m Rested by claus http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2007/08/im_baaack_and_im_rested.html#comment-9290 Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:12:58 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2007/08/im_baaack_and_im_rested.html#comment-9290 Firstly, the number is (only!) 247PB of addressing capacity in external storage, not 296PB. That said, we already have customers with many PB's of external storage and one approaching 10PB and growing and I think that's pretty impressive. Will anyone ever reach 247PB? Perhaps. With our recently announced "power down" feature of our midrange AMS line, this becomes an archivers dream. That is, growing to PB of external storage is a capacity play, not just an IOPS play. So your IOPS math, although interesting, is based on assumptions that all external storage is "active". Having all your storage (SAN, NAS, Archiving, VTL, mainframe, open systems, etc.)in a pool of storage managed from a single interface, is quite compelling. As far as the 3 million IOPS (actually, it's 3.5 million), you guys should be so lucky! Firstly, the number is (only!) 247PB of addressing capacity in external storage, not 296PB. That said, we already have customers with many PB’s of external storage and one approaching 10PB and growing and I think that’s pretty impressive. Will anyone ever reach 247PB? Perhaps. With our recently announced “power down” feature of our midrange AMS line, this becomes an archivers dream. That is, growing to PB of external storage is a capacity play, not just an IOPS play. So your IOPS math, although interesting, is based on assumptions that all external storage is “active”. Having all your storage (SAN, NAS, Archiving, VTL, mainframe, open systems, etc.)in a pool of storage managed from a single interface, is quite compelling.

As far as the 3 million IOPS (actually, it’s 3.5 million), you guys should be so lucky!

]]> Comment on I’M BAAACK, and I’m Rested by Barry Whyte http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2007/08/im_baaack_and_im_rested.html#comment-8522 Thu, 23 Aug 2007 21:22:09 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2007/08/im_baaack_and_im_rested.html#comment-8522 WB Claus, So I've quizzed Hu about the marketing figure of 296PB of external attach. He's neglected to post my comments, hopefully you will. So lets assume all of that 296PB is 750GB SATA drives that can handle about 80 IOPS each. Scaling that up, thats over 31 MILLION IOPs... even if they are only 25% busy thats almost 8 MILLION IOPs. Now just how can you claim this level of support with a system that istelf can only do 3 MILLION read cache hits - especially when the cache isn't supported on the external attach.... ? Is this marketing figure really something thats worth mentioning in practice ??? Further I understand there is a limit of about 12K IOPS per port, so that would need 660 ports to attach and make use of the 25%... or 2640 ports for 100% use... What would you say is a REALISTIC external attach capacity? WB Claus,

So I’ve quizzed Hu about the marketing figure of 296PB of external attach. He’s neglected to post my comments, hopefully you will.

So lets assume all of that 296PB is 750GB SATA drives that can handle about 80 IOPS each. Scaling that up, thats over 31 MILLION IOPs… even if they are only 25% busy thats almost 8 MILLION IOPs. Now just how can you claim this level of support with a system that istelf can only do 3 MILLION read cache hits - especially when the cache isn’t supported on the external attach…. ? Is this marketing figure really something thats worth mentioning in practice ???

Further I understand there is a limit of about 12K IOPS per port, so that would need 660 ports to attach and make use of the 25%… or 2640 ports for 100% use…

What would you say is a REALISTIC external attach capacity?

]]> Comment on Two Anniversaries and an Inventor by john http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/09/two_anniversari.html#comment-486 Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:08:18 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/09/two_anniversari.html#comment-486 Sir, I searched your company's website and couldnot find where and how to download the new microcode to my NSC55 THanks Sir,

I searched your company’s website and couldnot find where and how to download the new microcode to my NSC55
THanks

]]> Comment on An Acquisition Strategy? by Josh Maher http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/08/an_acquisition_.html#comment-6 Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:54:31 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/08/an_acquisition_.html#comment-6 Claus, I am glad that you are willing to wait and see what EMC does. That surely is a sign that HDS may be maturing in their blogging strategy. As for the acquisitions, well it is a strategy that a lot of analysts are comparing to other folks like Symantec. It could be one where semi-related technologies can cross-pollinate and benefit from and each other. That is certainly the hope that many of the EMC employees have as well. Of course you are right, the message to the customer base has not been clear and the integration has not happened as smoothly as it could have been. But being number one takes a lot of work (sorry had to throw in the dig). I too am excited to see what EMC comes up with after their rash of acquisitions, like HDS, EMC has a lot of smart people to leverage these technologies…. What could you do with your storage if you just purchased the most used security algorithms in the industry? It will take time, thankfully the integration of legato and some of the earlier acquisitions is finally happening and I’m sure all storage customers (including HDS’s) will eventually benefit from the advancements made. Claus, I am glad that you are willing to wait and see what EMC does. That surely is a sign that HDS may be maturing in their blogging strategy.

As for the acquisitions, well it is a strategy that a lot of analysts are comparing to other folks like Symantec. It could be one where semi-related technologies can cross-pollinate and benefit from and each other. That is certainly the hope that many of the EMC employees have as well.

Of course you are right, the message to the customer base has not been clear and the integration has not happened as smoothly as it could have been. But being number one takes a lot of work (sorry had to throw in the dig). I too am excited to see what EMC comes up with after their rash of acquisitions, like HDS, EMC has a lot of smart people to leverage these technologies…. What could you do with your storage if you just purchased the most used security algorithms in the industry? It will take time, thankfully the integration of legato and some of the earlier acquisitions is finally happening and I’m sure all storage customers (including HDS’s) will eventually benefit from the advancements made.

]]> Comment on Eyes Wide Open by Adam http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/03/eyes_wide_open.html#comment-5 Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:05:12 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/03/eyes_wide_open.html#comment-5 Good luck on your trip. We frequently visit Huatulco, Mexico and are actually looking into purchasing property there. Good luck on your trip. We frequently visit Huatulco, Mexico and are actually looking into purchasing property there.

]]> Comment on Outsourcing Disasters by richard http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/02/outsourcing_dis.html#comment-4 Sat, 22 Jul 2006 04:53:19 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/02/outsourcing_dis.html#comment-4 When it comes to implementing highly specialized procedures, such as disaster recovery, you may firstly require outside assistance. When it comes to implementing highly specialized procedures, such as disaster recovery, you may firstly require outside assistance.

]]> Comment on Hypnosis and the Art of Selling Storage by John Lundholm http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2005/11/hypnosis_and_th.html#comment-2 Thu, 02 Feb 2006 23:11:20 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2005/11/hypnosis_and_th.html#comment-2 Thanks for the link to the NY Times Article. I don't know storage, but I do know hypnosis and persuasion. The example you gave in your blog reminds me of a tactic of psyhics. Keep making prediction, and by the sheer volume of predictions you're sure to get some right. Thanks for the link to the NY Times Article. I don’t know storage, but I do know hypnosis and persuasion. The example you gave in your blog reminds me of a tactic of psyhics. Keep making prediction, and by the sheer volume of predictions you’re sure to get some right.

]]> Comment on DMX-3 Re-Announce - Where’s The Beef? by Jeremiah Owyang http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/01/dmx-3_re-announ.html#comment-3 Wed, 01 Feb 2006 18:33:00 +0000 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/2006/01/dmx-3_re-announ.html#comment-3 It appears that Duncan from HP has commented on the EMC announcement He says "...and I've got to tell you that I was not impressed." <a href="http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/campbell/archive/2006/02/01/728.html" rel="nofollow">http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/campbell/archive/2006/02/01/728.html</a> It appears that Duncan from HP has commented on the EMC announcement

He says “…and I’ve got to tell you that I was not impressed.”

http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/campbell/archive/2006/02/01/728.html

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