Clustering and Efficiency

This talk on clustering will define and describe how NetApp filers (storage appliances) deal with this feature, what are the available cluster modes like single image/partner/standby mode, what is the impact on the multipathing solutions of these options in terms of availability and costs and as well a view of what really happens in clustering at NetApp. A real Active/Active solution will be demonstrated, and a failure demo showing how failover negotiation happens in relation to the failure issue or maintenance window will be part of the talk. The demo will show how the different protocols that serve data will react.

Efficiency: NetApp is well known for its NAS solutions, but SAN solutions are not standing still. We will take the opportunity to speak about the basics of SAN and why backing up is not easy due to its design (taking a snapshot of SAN objects is not cheap). Regarding NetApp efficiency in disk space, there will be a description of the interesting feature of Thin Provisioning or how to optimize the disk space in a "grow as you go" model. A live demo will be presented on Thin Provisioning and Cloning that can permit a deployement of 100 vmware machines in a reduced disk space and less than 15min.