What’s new indeed

 

So, there have been a number of changes around here.

  • I’ve switched from default numeric posting names to ‘named and dated’ events. 
  • I’ve attempted to start using LiveWriter again, which can be a challenge when you find a complicated manual process of editing files directly to be so much more appealing!
  • I’ve added some additional blogs, with some more to come.
    • Primarily filling out my fellow Microsoft folksies, special respect to Dan Rey, Ariel, and the new Microsoft Beta Blog (Thanks Trika!)
    • I’ll be adding a number of NetApp blogs for some good close friends and folks who have a lot of indepth knowledge to share, and read respectively!
  • I’ve taken some additional betas and will be providing further obscure "non-violating NDA" details of the exams in depth
  • I have a number of broken things, which I haven’t been bothered to fix such as ATOM RSS feeders, carriage returns for that "ShareThis" app – and who knows what other SEO violations I may be under!

I think that is a fair coverage of some changes that have occurred – As for things to come:

  • Indepth posting of Exams, Certifications, Betas – Who takes them, who should, how you can be that person, and being a master on a novices diet.
  • Performance assaults, differences, metrics and other insanity
  • Super cool NetAppy stuff, the likes of which will shock and amaze you
    • (Yet, you’ll eventually be of the understanding as I am – of accepting that as how things OUGHT to be ;))
  • More CWUG Updates! Yea you heard me!
  • More Beta exams and Post-Mortems, and perhaps a review of tests of the past.
  • And perhaps insight into the mind of a Pekingese!

See you soon!

NetApp releases Data ONTAP 7.3 GA!!!

Yep, that’s right, you heard it!
7.3 is finally released! no more release candidate, etc!

What does this mean, in the grand scheme of things?
NFSv4 support which will rock the house in a number of fashions.
SNMPv3 support for my more “secure” zones, to be managed by Operations Manager 3.7
Faster, more efficient operation for a number of things in the system!
It’ll run faster, hooray!

I know there a boatload of changes, too many to even cover – so for reference I’ll link myself back to the release notes!

Data ONTAP 7.3 Release Notes

This is definitely good times, I’ll be upgrading my home filer (FAS940), and my lab early tomorrow morning!

New NetApp beta exam! (NS1-050) Installation Accredited Professional

As you can tell from past postings – I keep an eye out for Certification exams.
I usually check specifically for Microsoft ones, and I also keep my eyes out for NetApp exams.

So, with that – NS1-050 is available in Beta until August 15th

It clocks in as a 3:15 minute exam, so normal par for the course of a NetApp Beta Exam
These type of exams are simply $0.00 cost, no associated Promotion code nor Voucher needed.

I imagine we’re looking at a fairly straight forward “What is involved in Installation

Where the exam will play out in the big picture – hard to tell, I cannot find any details on this!

But nonetheless – you Storage guys out there, interested in taking it, knock it out!
If I find any details posted about this, I’ll be sure to let you know!

NetApp supports Server 2008 and Hyper-V instances!

 

So, as seen here NetApp Expands Storage and Data Management Solutions Supporting Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Physical and Virtual Environments this can mean a lot for environments which want high resiliency, modern systems (Server 2008, Hyper-V) and helping to further consolidate Server sprawl as well as Storage sprawl.

But what does this mean for you or I?

Oh, this is where the fun gets started!

It’s one thing to have supported SnapManager products on the latest Apps:

  • Windows Server 2008
  • SQL Server 2008
  • Exchange Server 2007

But to also be able to support them instanced within Hyper-V, I have to add ‘coolerific’ to the equation.    What this means is that even I in my lab/sandbox/testbed/Laptop ;) will be able to actually simulate any of these environments as well!

My testbed happens to be a Lenovo T61P, 4gb of ram, running Server 2008 (Enterprise), Hyper-V enabled, Also running the NetApp Data ONTAP Simulator for local-side simulated (yet real) storage!

I’ll be able to run rig with all scenarios of apps, dependencies and then replicated it back to my actual real filers, along with the older apps (while not mentioned, but not less important) such as MOSS, Exchange 2003, SQL 2005, and beyond!

Yea, I think it’s pretty damn cool that the support is there, and gives me something even *I* can take advantage of, let alone large scale enterprises!