The Virtual Storage Guy

Announcing FlexPod with Microsoft Private Cloud

Vaughn Stewart — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:05:57 +0000

Today, we are very pleased to announce the latest private cloud offering from NetApp, Cisco and Microsoft: FlexPod with Microsoft Private Cloud. This reference implementation is our second major generation of private cloud solution built on Windows Server 2008 R2. The major update for this version is that we are now fully integrated with System [...]

FlexPod: The Momentum Continues

Vaughn Stewart — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:09:43 +0000

NetApp is a Platinum sponsor for Cisco Live Melbourne, one of the premier annual conferences focused on sharing high-level visionary insights and deep-dive technical education, presented by Cisco executives, subject matter experts, and technology partners. At the end of this week I will begin my travels from the United States to Australia to support the [...]

Business Critical Applications on VMware and NetApp

Vaughn Stewart — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:52:27 +0000

At Partner Exchange 2012 I sat down with Wen Yu, Alliances Engineer at VMware, to discuss the technologies, integrations and joint solutions available from VMware & NetApp for customers looking to virtualizing business critical applications such as Oracle databases, SAP, Java apps, Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange, and SharePoint. For more information on these solutions [...]

Virtualizing Oracle Databases on VMware and NetApp

Vaughn Stewart — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 19:10:00 +0000

At Partner Exchange 2012 I had the opportunity to sit down with Bob Goldsand, Alliances Partner Architect at VMware, to discuss the benefits of virtualizing Oracle databases with VMware and NetApp. Bob was the primary architect supporting Green Mountain Power. Their story of virtualizing Oracle RAC and how the private cloud infrastructure was put to [...]

Predictions for 2012 – Better Late than Never

Vaughn Stewart — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 23:55:50 +0000

Recently Scott Lowe shared that he could identify the level of my workload based on the duration between my blog posts. I found his comment was quite insightful as things have been rather busy of late. Inside of NetApp we’re wrapping up engineering efforts for the release of something truly revolutionary. As you’d expect this [...]

Thoughts on Best Practices with VMware vSphere 5

Vaughn Stewart — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 02:14:07 +0000

This article originally appears in Tech OnTap – If you enjoy it, please consider subscribing to Tech OnTap. NetApp recently published an update to our storage best practices for VMware® that highlights the new capabilities of VMware vSphere® 5 and NetApp® Data ONTAP® 8. This updated technical report (TR) covers a number of new capabilities [...]

The Top VMware & Virtualization Blogs of 2011

Vaughn Stewart — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:52:56 +0000

Eric Siebert at vSphere-Land recently published the results for this year’s survey of the Top VMware & Virtualization Blogs. This year’s poll was expanded to include a number of new blogs & bloggers along with the addition of blog categories. I would like to thank everyone who supported the poll by voting and to [...]

Cloud-Based Desktops as a Service (DaaS)

Vaughn Stewart — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 21:54:45 +0000

There are a number of factors fueling the need for greater adoption of desktop virtualization within every organization. The obvious is the consumerization of mobile devices such as iPads, iPhones, Kindle Fires, Samsung Galaxys, etc. The proliferation of these devices has built a level of demand that requires the enterprise datacenter to enable the end [...]

It’s 2012, Time to Review My Predictions for 2011

Vaughn Stewart — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:33:35 +0000

Last year I made my first attempt at predicting what I thought would transpire with storage technologies and their use, integration, and trends related to server virtualization and cloud computing in 2011. I found sharing my views quiet enjoyable; however half the fun in making a prediction is following up to review them for accuracy. [...]

FlexPod Success Story: The Walz Group

Vaughn Stewart — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:07:14 +0000

Hopefully to some readers the Walz Group may ring a bell. In July of 2011 I attended Cisco Live where I had the privilege to spend time with Bart Falzarano, the Chief Information Security Officer at the Walz Group. Bart allowed me to share his perspective in a blog post where he discussed the requirements of [...]

Vote for the Top VMware & Virtualization blogs

Vaughn Stewart — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:45:29 +0000

Eric Siebert and the team at vSphere-land are seeking your vote in their annual Survey of the Top VMware & Virtualization focused Blogs. If you’re a technically minded individual like me, then I’m sure there are a handful of bloggers and/or blogs that your read regularly for their industry insight, technical knowledge, practical tips, and [...]

NetApp set to rock VMware Partner Exchange 2012 (PEX)

Vaughn Stewart — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:07:31 +0000

In a little over two weeks many will converge on Las Vegas to attend Partner Exchange (or as us geeks prefer to say ‘PEX’), VMware’s annual conference dedicated to educating and enabling the partner community. As you would expect, NetApp is again a platinum sponsor for the event and has a load of fantastic [...]

Virtualize SAP: A Blueprint for Success

Vaughn Stewart — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:04:57 +0000

This post was originally published in Decmeber, 2011 for VMware’s Global Alliances Blog… Since VMworld 2011 there’s been a noticeable increase in customer confidence around the ability to successfully virtualize the most demanding business critical applications. The list of applications commonly being considered often includes business applications powered by database technologies like Oracle RAC and [...]

Share How You Tackle IT Challenges and You May Win a Vespa Scooter!

Vaughn Stewart — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:36:02 +0000

NetApp is seeking IT’s Top Survivor, the geeks’ geek, the architect of the next ‘big thing’ inside of your organization. Does this description sound like you? If so then we’d like to hear from you. By sharing how you have addressed one of your most difficult IT challenges you may win a Vespa Scooter! If [...]