SteveJ-restore-test

I won't be buying shares in any Fibre Channel-based tech stocks as I think the technology will be dead within 5 years for two reasons: Enterprise Storage Arrays will stop being used for high-intensity random I/O, instead being used for "seek and stream", and PCI Flash or SCM Storage will become the low-latency "Tier 0" Storage of choice because of speed (latency), cost and simplicity. Update 1-Feb-2012: Another article by Fusion-io, Getting the most out of flash storage   provides extra links: Flash storage moves closer to CPUs : STEC is moving into PCI Flash cards. EMC: Flash could spell doom for Fibre Channel but don't talk about PCI Flash challenges. Flash storage in post-PC devices advances , general background on Flash memory. Elsewhere I've written Jim Gray's observation, "Disk is the new Tape" should be "Disk is the new CD". That is, Enterprise Storage is best suited for "Seek and Stream", not random I/O. Enterp...

Is Fusion-io's demonstration of "1 Billion IO operations per second" the same sort of game-changer that the 1987/8 RAID paper by Patterson, Katz and Gibson was? Within 5 years all "Single Large Expensive Disks" (SLED's) were out of production, will we see Flash disks in Storage Arrays and low-latency SAN's out-of-production by 2017? A more interesting "real world" demo by Fusion-io in early 2012 was loading MS-SQL in 16 virtual machines running Windows 2008 under VMware . They achieved a 2.8-fold improvement in throughput with a possible (unstated) 5-10 fold access-time improvement. Updated 16:00, 31-Jan-2012 . A little more interpretation of the demo descriptions and detailed PCI bus analysis. Fusion used a total of 64 cards in 8 servers running against a "custom load generator", or 16 million IO/sec per card. There are two immediate problems: How did they get the IO results off the servers? Presumably ethernet and TCP IP. [ No, in...

Summary : For the delivery of general purpose and wide-scale Compute/Internet Services there now seems to be a definitive hardware organisation for servers, typified by the E-bay "pod" contract . For decades there have been well documented "Design Rules" for producing Silicon devices using specific technologies/fabrication techniques. This is an attempt to capture some rules for current server farms. [ Update 06-Nov-11 : "Design Rules" are important: Patterson in a Sept. 1995 Scientific American article notes that the adoption of a quantitative design approach in the 1980's led to an improvement in microprocessor speedup from 35%pa to 55%pa. After a decade, processors were 3 times faster than forecast.] Commodity Servers have exactly three possible CPU configurations, based on "scale-up" factors: single CPU, with no coupling/coherency between App instances. e.g. pure static web-server. dual CPU, with moderate coupling/coherency. e.g. web-s...

The other night I was talking to my non-Geek friend about computers and he formulated what I thought was A Good Question : When will they stop changing?? This was in reaction to me talking about my experience in suggesting a Network Appliance, a high-end Enterprise Storage device, as shared storage for a website used by a small research group. It comes with a 5 year warranty, which leads to the obvious question: will it be useful, relevant or 'what we usually do' in 5 years? I think most of the elements in current systems are here to stay, at least for the evolution of Silicon/Magnetic recording. We are staring at 'the final countdown', i.e. hitting physical limits of these technologies, not necessarily their design limits. Engineers can be very clever. The server market has already fractioned into "budget", "value" and "premium" species. The desktop/laptop market continues to redefine itself - and more 'other' devices arise. The 10...

My friend Mark expanded on my idea of "HD DV being irrelevant" - like phone SIM's, video stores can sell/rent videos on flash cards (like SD) sealed in a credit-card carrier. The issues are more commercial than technical. 8Gb USB flash memory might hit the A$50 price point this year - and A$30 next year. There is a 'base price' for flash memory - around $10-$15. This inverts the current cost structure of expensive reader/writer and cheap media. Which is perfect for rental/leasing of media - a refundable 'media deposit' works. An added bonus for content owners is a significant "price barrier" for consumers wanting to make a copy. If a 'stack' of 100 SD cards costs $1500 (vs $100 for DVDs), very few people will throw these around 'like candy'. Mark's comments: Y'know, the more I think of it, the more the SD-embedded-in-a-credit-card has a lot of appeal when the availability and price point for 8Gb SDs is right. It makes...

Talking to a friend at lunch today, the topic of "Blu-Ray" vs "HD DV" formats came up... I think "Blu-Ray" may take the market, but it won't be much of a market. There are just too many competitors for moving around video files: DVD format disks - still good for 8Gb (dual layer). Drives & media are cheap. flash memory - 2008 sees A$50 for 8Gb on USB (less on SD card) A$300 for 750-,1000Gb USB hard-drives. Under $1/DVD. Internet download. With ADSL 2+ giving 5-10Mbps for many. My thesis to my friend was "Video stores may well go for SD cards". Pay a refundable deposit for the flash card, and a fee (rental or ownership) for the content. Video stores can pre-burn large numbers of movies - and if you want a 'special' - they can make one for you in 20 minutes. His response: "they could package them like SIMs - in a snap-off credit card-sized holder". Which is better than any idea I've had on packaging. And it fulfills th...