Vaughn Stewart

It’s Vaughn, just checking in. Sorry for ignoring the blog over the past several weeks. My absence hasn’t been due to a lack of topics to share. Actually during my absence NetApp has been rather busy. We recently released Data OnTap 8.1, accompanied by TR-4068 for those who are eager to deploy vSphere in the new Data OnTap scale-out ‘Cluster-Mode’. We also released version 4.0 of the Virtual Storage Console plug-in for vSphere and the beta for version 1.0 of the VSC for XenServer.

I suspect some may be thinking, “Wait a minute! What’s this Data OnTap Cluster-Mode you just referred to and why aren’t we talking about that?”

Fair enough! Cluster-Mode is the premier new capability shipping with Data OnTap 8.1. It introduces a net-new paradigm in storage scaling and data access that allows an array cluster to support up to 24 FAS controllers and access via virtualized storage profiles known as vServers. Honestly I have to stop or I won’t finish this post. OnTap 8.1 includes so many remarkable feature enhancements and net-new capabilities that I fear tearing off on a post where after several hours and a few thousands word I realize I’ve only begun to express my excitement for benefits we are delivering to our customers. So, dor those interested in learning more about Data OnTap 8.1 I’d suggest the following post from Nick Howell as a great place to start.

Back to the online absence…

I’ve been heads down deep in the weeds with the NetApp technical leadership and partner engineering teams. While I can’t share what we’re cooking, trust me here; you are going to impressed with Data OnTap 8.1.1 and a number of solutions that should be released throughout the remainder of the year.

Outside of NetApp I’ve been working on two books, both storage related and support vSphere and cloud architectures. The first is from Mostafa Khalil who is working towards the completion of his book, “Storage Implementation in vSphere 5.0.” I’m one of the technical editors support Mostafa’s efforts. In sharing his intimate knowledge of the ESXi storage components and subsystem, Mostafa has produced a truly remarkable technical reference guide that should be the on the bookshelf of every storage administrator.

Note the book is currently available from VMware Press in a ‘rough-cut’ or early access edition

The second book is “Virtualization Changes Everything: Storage Strategies for VMware vSphere and Cloud Architectures”, that I am co-writing with the brilliant Mike Slisinger. The book is targeted at cloud architects who seek to deploy a storage architecture designed specifically to support the goals and capabilities with cloud computing. The book presents a number of common cloud-based infrastructure goals with their associated challenges, which we attempt to address with a wide range of storage technologies currently available. Our goal is to inform and provide storage architecture design recommendations. Even if you view yourself as a storage expert, I’m rather confident that we will tackle more than a few technologies combinations that produce surprising results. 

This has truly been a labor of love and we look forward to sharing with you when it’s available.

Wrapping Up This Post

Outside of the increased engineering focus and books, I’ve snuck out and supported a number of global events from our technology partners and joined Mike Laverick for a number of discussions during the “VendorWag in the Valley” series. I’ll try to post links to this content soon.

In closing, please accept my apologies for the absence. My schedule hasn’t been kind however; I see light at the end of the tunnel and hope to return to a regular cadence soon. For those who inquired as to my disappearance, I’d like to say thank you. Your interest and general concerns were moving.