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NTP Software News & Events |
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We have established an NTP Software Channel on YouTube. The first video we have placed there is on File Blocking. This video discusses handling unwanted content in your storage environment.
Click here to view the video.
We will be placing more videos there in the coming weeks. So please visit and subscribe to our NTP Software Channel on YouTube via
this link. |
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Industry News |
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There has been a significant amount of activity in the Storage industry over the past 6 months. Oracle bought Sun, EMC and NetApp are bidding for DataDomain, the list goes on.
Some analysts believe it is related to the interest in virtualization and the "cloud".
Click here for the article. |
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Tech Tidbits |
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French physicists claim they have found a way to increase disk I/O by 100,000 times. They say they are using a new laser technology called "spintronics".
Click here to view the article
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Patrick Hynds
Sr. Storage Architect, NTP Software |
All organizations I consult with realize there is a dire need for storage policies. Having no controls over storage use ultimately leads to unmanageable situations. As part of implementing these controls, many organizations are looking for ways to phase in enforcing storage policies in a manner that is smooth, yet moves the organization in the direction needed.
There are often situations where users in the past have had no restrictions on their own home directories, nor on business shares. Organizations want to address this lack of control and at the same time acclimate users to automated policies in a manner that is smooth and helpful. NTP Software QFS® was designed to accomplish this, and one way is to start with the use of “soft policies”.
Soft policies do not stop users from storing data when going over threshold limits, but can be used to size storage and send notifications. I have walked many clients through this process by first showing them how QFS® can be used to see exactly how much storage is being used by each user in their home directories and business shares. This is done by creating a soft policy without notifications configured so that the administrators can view how much storage is being used compared to expectations.
For instance if you think that 500 MB is a reasonable limit for your users you can validate how that measures up against your reality by setting a star (*) policy on the directory that holds all the home shares. So, if your home shares are hosted under a directory named “Users”, the star policy would end in Users*. Once QFS has finished sizing you can see exactly who is above that level and how reasonable your assumptions measure up when compared to actual usage.
This is all about figuring out where you should apply your first policies that send out user notifications. Using this approach, clients have noted clear abuses, with some users taking up many times what administrators considered reasonable. In one particular instance the revelation was that Citrix profiles in some cases were many times greater than the acceptable size, which not only wasted space, it also caused performance problems.
With this new knowledge in hand and after some internal conversations, organizations typically move to policies that notify the user (and often helpdesk) when they go over a reasonable level of usage or upload a file that does not belong on network storage (or maybe just not on that share). These are considered “soft policies” since they still allow the user to do what they are attempting, but warn them that this is not desirable and will soon be prevented. This lays the foundation for the final phase of hard storage limits (quotas) and file blocking policies.
Most organizations move to this final phase, as they want the control that hard policies affords them. Many organizations start right out of the gate with hard policies because they want immediate control. QFS provides for hard and soft policies, allowing companies to tailor their approach to what best meets their organizations’ needs.
To learn more
click here.
Suggest a topic for future editions of this newsletter. Email us at newsletter@ntpsoftware.com and let us know. |
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