Idiots guide to storage ?

Zaits

Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a entry level book on storage? I am completely new to the world of storage and would like to understand it more. I guess you could say I have a general understanding of SAN vs NAS but it still gets a big confusing when reading some of your posts. Anyways if anyone has a good book for beginers that would be great.

Thanks!

Zaits

sidsanders

wiki has decent articles on san/nas/das (direct attached storage)/dasd (any mainframe folks?? direct access storage device)

Nas-San Comparison

what is it you want to know about storage though? like anything in tech, there is lots to know and many items you can skip for now. do you want to know iscsi, various raid types/controllers, fc (fibre channel), fcoe (fc over ethernet), etc. not to drown you in buzz words, however, there are so many topics to look into. do you want to know the basic workings of a pc disk drive to start?

Zaits

sidsanders wrote: »

wiki has decent articles on san/nas/das (direct attached storage)/dasd (any mainframe folks?? direct access storage device)

Nas-San Comparison

what is it you want to know about storage though? like anything in tech, there is lots to know and many items you can skip for now. do you want to know iscsi, various raid types/controllers, fc (fibre channel), fcoe (fc over ethernet), etc. not to drown you in buzz words, however, there are so many topics to look into. do you want to know the basic workings of a pc disk drive to start?

I guess thats just it I don't even know enough about storage to really narrow that answer down for you. I guess it will help to tell you my background first..

I have a solid background in networking as well as my CCNA. I am about 65% complete with my MCSE and have about 4-5 years working in the field of IT as a Junior Network Admin. I recently just got a new job as a Systems Administrator where I see a need to learn storage more then I had to in the past. I have a project on my plate to upgrade an existing SAN of 6Tbs to 12Tbs and I just found this out today ( Lucky me !) I will be flying to the location in about 3-4 weeks with another Systems Administrator who has experience working with SANs. I would like to do my homework on this so I don't look like a complete fool just a small one .


P.S great link on NAS-SAN comparison.

dynamik

Vendor-neutral storage certifications here: SNIA - Certification

Maybe start with some materials for the first level...

sidsanders

ok... who is the san hw vendor? most san upgrades/updates i have been through, i wasnt allowed to do the upgrade (emc for example). i racked/stacked the new gear for emc/hds/ibm however initial config/firmware updates the vendor did those to keep things certified. hds is a bit more lenient on updates though. post update, i configured host access, luns (logical units -- disk), snapshots/clones, fc switches, etc. got a bit off topic i guess...

so depending on the san hw vendor, you can get some decent doc on the operation of that device. that seems to be what you want to know some basics of. given device X: how do i create a disk, present a disk to a system, set security for host -- disk access.

Zaits

I think looking at the vendor-neutral storage certification will give me the information I am looking for. I am trying to look at this at a high level and overtime maybe become more vendor specific.

Thanks for the information guys!

Claymoore

For starters I would recommend:
Using SANs and NAS - quick overview, but half the book is dedicated to backups
Storage Networking Fundamentals - I used this as supplemental text for my EMCPA and I really liked it.

For more depth, try vendor-specific training and documentation as well as:
Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals - have it, but haven't read it
iSCSI: The Universal Storage Connection - the best resource for iSCSI I have read. Other books may only dedicate a chapter or maybe only a paragraph to iSCSI.
Storage Networks Explained - the previous edition had some good reviews and I am curious about this new updated edition. Some of the top SAN books out there are very old (for technical books) so they don't have much informaiton about newer storage architectures like iSCSI and FCoE. However, even the Kindle price is expensive.

astorrs

In addition to Marc Farley's book Storage Networking Fundamentals that Claymore mentioned (Marc is a fantastic guy by the way and absolutely hilarious)...

I would have a look at the following book from EMC Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information which is basically the textbook for their ISM course (1st part of the EMCST certification), it's very well broken down and complete - it's also very recent (published in 2009, unlike most of the entry-level books which are 3-5 years old on average) and therefore covers more of the current technologies/trends. It uses EMC's products to go into specifics, but that isn't really an issue since they are either #1 or #2 in just about every area they compete in, so using the market leaders products as an example makes sense (well that and the fact they are the ones producing the material ).

UnixGuy

check this thread out:
http://www.techexams.net/forums/storage-certifications/31880-emc-certification.html

blargoe

astorrs wrote: »

In addition to Marc Farley's book I would have a look at the following book from EMC Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information which is basically the textbook for their ISM course (1st part of the EMCST certification), it's very well broken down and complete - it's also very recent (published in 2009, unlike most of the entry-level books which are 3-5 years old on average) and therefore covers more of the current technologies/trends. It uses EMC's products to go into specifics, but that isn't really an issue since they are either #1 or #2 in just about every area they compete in, so using the market leaders products as an example makes sense (well that and the fact they are the ones producing the material ).

I would recommend this as well, I haven't read the book but I took the class. I forgot this new book was out there... I think I'm actually going to pick up a copy for the guy I'm going to be training as my backup.

Getting a vendor-neutral conceptual "overview" is fine; but for me, having a real life tangible example of said concepts and their application helps me learn better, and the EMC materials give you that, though they are biased toward EMC hardware - obviously.

sidsanders

Zaits -- "I have a project on my plate to upgrade an existing SAN of 6Tbs to 12Tbs and I just found this out today ( Lucky me !) I will be flying to the location in about 3-4 weeks with another Systems Administrator who has experience working with SANs. I would like to do my homework on this so I don't look like a complete fool just a small one ."

for this particular comment, there have been some good links on books you can get. i do think it would be good to pull down some type of doc on the san vendor in this project. having basics will help, however having an idea of that vendors approach shouldnt be lost.

does your company support/desire folks getting storage certs?

Zaits

sidsanders wrote: »

does your company support/desire folks getting storage certs?

My company supports any certification that is related to their job responsibilities. I would love to get some type of storage cert, however I am trying not to lose focus on my MCSE. I know if I start veering off track right to focus on other areas of interest it will take me just that much longer to get my MCSE. So much to learn and not enough time

Thanks everyone for your recommendations on reading material. I will most definetely be taking a look at them.

Thanks!

sidsanders

good luck. keep the focus on your main goals!!!

dynamik, like the snia link.

TechStriker

This is good info thank you guys for the contribution

TechStriker

We should make this section more synergistic, as storage is hot topic these days!! Any contribution from you (storage specialist) will be very helpful.