Storage specialist?

Alexsmith

I've been doing some research about storage related jobs and wanted to know what are some skills I should acquire if I wanted to specialize in; data storage? Where would I go to touch more storage technology such as emc or netapp?

TomkoTech

Best Storage Certifications for 2015 - Top-Rated Certs - Tom's IT Pro

joelsfood

You can get the Netapp Data Ontap simulator here:
Data ONTAP Simulator Introduction and Download Inf... - NetApp Community

Don't forget adjunct type certifications, Brocade and Cisco MDS

tkerber

I just started working for a large storage vendor and storage seems like it's hard to break into because no one lets people just 'learn' on their enterprise SAN and storage isn't really taught all that much. I'm actually still in training but one cert that everyone here seems really big on at least reading through is Storage+. I watched the Trainsignal training (Now Pluralsight) and I highly recommend it. It gives you a great foundation level understanding of storage concepts and how the SAN came about. Also SNIA (Storage Network Industry Association) has different levels of certifications to look into as well. I know some people have negative feelings about CompTIA but the training I wen't through was more organized and thorough than any other CompTIA course I've ever taken (IMHO).

blargoe

Get the EMC ISM book. This will provide a good overview (obviously with an EMC slant) or storage fundamentals. It is also the basis of the EMCISA certification, from what I have read here.

widget101

As blargoe mentioned, the EMC ISMv2 book will provide a good overview for the EMCISA certification. You can take a practice test at EMC's website to get an idea of what to expect. There's also the Data Storage Networking book by Nigel Poulton which came out pretty recently, which seems (from the title, at least) to be aimed at the Storage+ certification.

Also, to add on what joelsfood said, Brocade has some free training materials for their "Accredited" line of credentials--Brocade Accredited Ethernet Fabric Specialist, Accredited FCOE Specialist, etc. You might check those out. I can't speak to the bias present in their training materials, although it wouldn't be surprising if they were centered around Brocade products.

iBrokeIT

I rate the EMC ISA book very close behind the Mastering VMware vSphere 5.x books by Scott Lowe. Definitely a must read for any aspiring Systems professional.

joelsfood

Don't forget the IBM Redbook:

IBM Redbooks | Introduction to Storage Area Networks and System Networking

pinkydapimp

TomkoTech wrote: »

Best Storage Certifications for 2015 - Top-Rated Certs - Tom's IT Pro

I hadnt heard of the BROCADE cert before. But allowing CCNAs to take the course for $100 and get a free exam voucher this seems like a no brainer!

UnixGuy

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Storage is one of those fields where certifications don't matter that much, it's all about experience. I found that the easy way to get into Storage is to work with servers (as a sysadmin for example) and do few storage related tasks. Then maybe if you're lucky get a vendor training or something.

pinkydapimp

UnixGuy wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Storage is one of those fields where certifications don't matter that much, it's all about experience. I found that the easy way to get into Storage is to work with servers (as a sysadmin for example) and do few storage related tasks. Then maybe if you're lucky get a vendor training or something.

i did a quick search and saw a few jobs asking for them. and well paying jobs at that. for the small investment seems worthwhile to set yourself apart. TBH certs really only matter if recruiters are asking for them.

UnixGuy

@Pinkydapimp: which certs though? EMC certs? can you take those without vendor training?

pinkydapimp

UnixGuy wrote: »

@Pinkydapimp: which certs though? EMC certs? can you take those without vendor training?

I was referring to the brocade cert. But i have seen requests for EMC certs. I think they will become more frequent in the coming years as storage becomes a HUGE investment for organizations.

UnixGuy

@Pinkydapimp: see I'm not too sure about that because I think Storage (and backup) has always been a huge investment for organisations, it's not new, and certs weren't really required. They're always nice to have though.

TomkoTech

Certs were never required because it fell onto the sys. admins. At the stage we are at now with huge data centers, cloud storage, and VMs taking off it's becoming it's own monster. Are certs required? Absolutely not. If you can prove you have the experience no certs really matter. But like a cert in anything else they can help you get your foot in the door.

joelsfood

There are definitely recruiters on linkedin, etc, that are looking for ncsa/ncdas for Netapp jobs. So even if the cert isn't required, it's definitely useful as a keyword to get your resume noticed

UnixGuy

Good points guys, looks like those certs are more valued these days!

no!all!

Don't know a whole lot about storage certs but our NetApp guy here makes a very decent paycheck. He doesn't have certs either, just the experience.

pinkydapimp

no!all! wrote: »

Don't know a whole lot about storage certs but our NetApp guy here makes a very decent paycheck. He doesn't have certs either, just the experience.

yea i dont think there are a ton of people with storage certs yet. But if your like me, i like to be ahead of the curve and have a skillset that most people dont have.

Alexsmith

Thanks for the information, which technology do you think I should focus on? Brocade, NetAPP or EMC?

joelsfood

It's more a question of Netapp or EMC (brocade/Cisco MDS are the fiber channel for either one, and FC is compatible between vendors, mostly), and it's probably six of one, half dozen of the other. I use both, and I think Unisphere is probably a bit easier to learn than Netapp, particularly if you use the CLI like me.

That being said, Netapp has the emulator, so you don't need hardware. I don't think that's an option for EMC

pinkydapimp

joelsfood wrote: »

It's more a question of Netapp or EMC (brocade/Cisco MDS are the fiber channel for either one, and FC is compatible between vendors, mostly), and it's probably six of one, half dozen of the other. I use both, and I think Unisphere is probably a bit easier to learn than Netapp, particularly if you use the CLI like me.

That being said, Netapp has the emulator, so you don't need hardware. I don't think that's an option for EMC

There is an sim for Celerrra, vnx and Isilon.

joelsfood

Thanks Pinky. Just started downloading it and sent link to the rest of my team.

Alexsmith

I have an interview this week for an opportunity for two positions within the same datacenter, a jr Windows system administrator and a jr Storage specialist. The datacenter mostly uses EMC products such as Avamar and Sourceone for storage related issues according to the job description.

I want to eventually move towards virtualization later in my career and was wondering whether if I were to pass this interview and land the jr storage position would I be able transition into virtualization easier as a storage admin or windows systems admin?

Also any advise for what I should know or prep for a Jr level storage interview?

joelsfood

RAID levels, block vs file level storage, FC vs iscsi, CIFS vs NFS use applications

As to which would transition easier, it depends on the company. As has been mentioned in another thread though, virtualization tends to be in the server team's wheelhouse, so thats where you probably want to end up. knowing storage is great for a virtualization admin though