Measuring the Performance of Your Storage System

IOPS vs Throughput vs Latency

There are 3 metrics that play into the performance of your storage system: IOPS (input output per second) Throughput, and latency. How these 3 factors work together synergistically will determine how well your system performs. In this post, we will define all 3 individually, and then look and look at how they work together to create performance or non-performance.

What are IOPS?

IOPS is the standard unit of measurement for the maximum number of reads and writes a ...

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12
OCT

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DellEMC Service Tag Lookup

Locating Warranty & Configuration

Every server and storage product sold by Dell has 2 unique identifiers: a serial number and a service tag number.

In most cases, the service tag is located on the front of the server or storage system. It is a small tag that tucks cleanly into the face of the system, and needs to be pulled out to display the service tag, the express service code, the date of manufacture, and a QR code (on more recent models) ...

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21
SEP

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Dell, EMC, How-To Guides, Server Maintenance

EMC Isilon 410 Series END of SERVICE LIFE

DellEMC: End of Service life for the Isilon 410 Series on February 28, 2024.

After this date, DellEMC will no longer render maintenance or service on Isilon 410 models.

It is recommended to check your EMC support portal for any outstanding firmware upgrades as soon as possible!

Products affected:

Isilon X410
Isilon X210
Isilon NL410
Isilon S210

What is the difference between end of service, and end of life?

End of life is only a withdrawal from sales and marketing. Isilon X410, NL410, and S210 have been withdrawn from ...

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SEP

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Building a Small Business Server: How to Configure

Configuring a Small Business Server

So you’ve decided that you need a server for your small business. Now you need to figure out how to configure the server. There are many important factors to consider when building your server, as there is not a 1 size fits all solution. When our customers ask us what server configuration they need, our response is usually mixture of the questions below. IT distributors aren’t familiar with your environment, and it is difficult to recommend ...

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SEP

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Dell, How-To Guides, HP

PURE STORAGE: Common Commands

Pure Storage systems can be a burden to administrate at times. If you don’t have the commands in a spot where you can easily access them, well, good luck. It can take a while to look up these up.

To help our wonderful PURE support clients, we have compiled a short list of commonly used show commands for PURE Storage systems, which will mostly display detailed information about your system and its status. If there are any we ...

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2
AUG

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Storage Maintenance

DELL EMC Announces VNX Storage End of Service

EMC VNX GEN 2 END-OF-SERVICE-LIFE

EMC has announced they will no longer be servicing the VNX Gen 2 storage systems after January 30th 2023. After this date, EMC will no longer provide parts or service for the VNX models listed below.

VNX 1st Gen systems (3150, 5100, 5300, 5700, 7500) were announced end-of-service-life in 2019.

EMC VNX Model	EOSL Date
VNXe1600	1/30/2023
VNX23200	1/30/2023
VNX5200	1/30/2023
VNX5400	1/30/2023
VNX5600	1/30/2023
VNX5800	1/30/2023
VNX7600	1/30/2023

Can you still use your VNX 5000 series storage even though it is End of Service? Absolutely!

It’s a common but ...

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18
JUL

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5 Things to Consider: Hitachi Vantara Maintenance

Hitachi Vantara (recently rebranded from Hitachi Data Storage) is an industry leader in data storage solutions. When the factory warranty expires, you are left with 2 options:

Pay Hitachi Vantara’s lofty price tag
Obtain 3rd party support

Many maintenance organizations will write SLAs on storage systems they know absolutely nothing about. They are gambling that they will be able to find the ...

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18
JUL

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Dell PowerEdge Servers EOSL (End of Service) 2022 Update

DELLEMC Poweredge End of Service Life

After EOSL date, DellEMC will no longer service the corresponding server.

This list will be updated as more models are announced end-of-service.

SPECTRA offers flexible end-of-service support solutions for your Dell Server that fits all budgets!

MFR	Family	Model	EOSL DATE
Dell	PowerEdge	R940	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R840	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R740	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R640	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R540	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R440	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R340	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R240	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R930	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R830	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R730	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R630	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R530	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R430	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R330	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R230	TBD
Dell	PowerEdge	R920	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R820	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R720	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R620	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R520	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R910	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R810	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R710	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R610	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R510	May 2019
Dell	PowerEdge	R410	May 2019

Get Maintenance

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7
JUL

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Easy maintenance tasks for your DellEMC Isilon Nodes

Good maintenance practices are a must if you want maximize your DELLEMC Isilon’s uptime. There are other benefits to routine maintenance besides the obvious benefit of uptime: it can offer performance advantages.

In this post, we are giving you some simple steps to help maintain the integrity and speed of your EMC Isilon clusters.

4 Basic Maintenance Procedures:

Inspect the physical environment. Monitor temperature, humidity, and power distribution unit (PDU) statistics in the area where your Isilons are ...

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14
JUN

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Dell, EMC, How-To Guides, Storage Maintenance, Uncategorized

White label vs Back Line Support: What is the Difference?

In this post we will talk about the differences between backline and white label support as it pertains to enterprise-level IT equipment like servers, storage and networking equipment. The two terms are very similar and often used interchangeably, but have some key differences to note as well.

White label support

Selling third party maintenance is an easy and profitable way to provide value to the your customers. When you sell used hardware, it will typically come with 30 or 90 days warranty, ...

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13
JUN

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