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02 Sep 2009 01:58 PM EDT

Essentials for HyperV - StorageLink Step by Step Part 6

[ Tags: essentials , hyperv , microsoft , storagelink , scvmm , storage , essentials-hyper-v , virtualization ]

posted by Barry Flanagan

Between speaking at Microsoft Tech Ready, a much needed vacation and travel for some meetings, I have not had the opportunity to close out this series of posts. Here is the next one.

In this section of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve takes you through how to add storage to existing Hyper-V virtual machines using StorageLink.

In Part 1, Steve Umbehocker reviewed the installation of the StorageLink component of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V. In Part 2, Steve reviewed the initial configuration of StorageLink after it has been installed. In Part 3 of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve covers connecting to Storage Systems via the StorageLink Manager console. In Part 4, he covers how to create storage repositories (SRs) with the StorageLink console. Next, on Part 5 Steve takes you through how to create Hyper-V virtual machines from storage templates.

Express Edition Download
http://www.citrix.com/ehvexpress

StorageLink Deep Dive Webinar - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/04/13/StorageLink+-+Essentials+for+Hyper-V+Deep+Dive+Webinar

StorageLink Demo Videos
http://www.citrix.com/ehv

StorageLink Overview - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/02/23/StorageLink+in+Essentials+for+Hyper-V

Provisoning Services Overview - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/03/20/Provisioning+for+Hyper-V+with+Citrix+Essentials

Lab Manager Overview - http://community.citrix.com/blogs/citrite/barryf/2009/03/19/Essentials+for+Hyper-V+with+Lab+Management

StorageLink Install Install Guide - http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120789
StorageLink User Guide - http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX120791

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24 Jul 2009 03:09 PM EDT

Essentials for HyperV - StorageLink Step by Step Part 5

[ Tags: essentials , hyperv , microsoft , scvmm , system center , storagelink , storage , virtualization , cdn , xenapp , xendesktop , xenserver , provisioning-server , workflow-studio , nonspecific ]

posted by Barry Flanagan

In this section of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve takes you through how to create Hyper-V virtual machines from storage templates.

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23 Jul 2009 04:29 PM EDT

Essentials for HyperV - StorageLink Step by Step Part 4

posted by Barry Flanagan

In this installment of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve Umbehocker covers how to create storage repositories (SRs) with the StorageLink console.

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22 Jul 2009 10:50 PM EDT

Storage Best Practices for High Def VDI

[ Tags: vdi , desktop virtualization , virtual desktop , xendesktop , hdx , storage , xendesktop ]

posted by desktop2020 blog

We recently had a very successful VDI Expert Series Webinar on July 16 with both analyst firm EMA and storage provider Netapp titled "Storage Best Practices for High Def VDI." Not only did the live event draw close to 400 attendees, over 3/4 of you stayed on through the end of the webinar. For those of you who might have missed the webinar, do not despair.   You can watch the archived webinar On Demand Here.  As promised, we have listed the FAQs as well as the unanswered questions from the webinar below:

FAQ: We are interested in implementing VDI but are concerned about the upfront Capital Expenditure. How can I roll this out cost effectively, given a limited budget?
Answer: While a complete cutover from distributed desktops to hosted VDI entails significant capital expenditure, it is possible to implement VDI using a phased approach. You can use your older legacy (> 3 years old) desktops with hosted virtual desktops, thereby extending your desktop refresh cycle. For desktops which are already up for refresh, consider using your desktop refresh budget to replace your desktops and laptops with thin clients in a complete hosted VDI approach. Then when your older legacy desktops must be replaced, you can subsequently replace them with thin clients and/or laptops.

FAQ: Is there any kind of guideline (CPU, memory, etc.) for deciding between productivity, knowledge, and power worker/user? Miscategorizing someone could be a painful mistake.
Answer: This is certainly a "your mileage may vary" area, but we have published some discussions about designing desktops for a variety of use cases in a design paper on our website. Typically pilots start with similar allocations of CPU and RAM as the physical device they are currently using. The nice thing is that in a VM you certainly have the ability to adjust the virtual resources without a screwdriver

FAQ:   What differentiates the Citrix + Netapp VDI solution from the one from VMware?
Answer: As outlined in the detailed competitive comparison on our website, the Citrix + Netapp VDI solution differs from the one from VMware in four key areas:
1.       User Experience: Citrix's HDX Technologies optimizes the user experience by leveraging integrated client/endpoint-, server-, or network side technologies to allow users an optimal high definition user experience to a broad range of applications - streaming media, Flash, audio, 3D graphics, etc - over both the Local Area Network and the Wide Area Network. This is in stark contrast to VMware View, which will work for LAN use cases, but not for the WAN.
2.       Application Management: The Citrix + Netapp VDI solution includes integrated XenApp, Citrix's proven application virtualization solution, which works with 1000's of Windows applications, in either a Hosted or Streamed mode. VMware View integrates with VMware's ThinApp application virtualization technology. However, the VMware View solution requires bundling all delivered applications into the VM, which makes application delivery much more cumbersome and difficult to manage.
3.       Flexibility: The Citrix + Netapp VDI solution offers IT organizations the flexibility to use a variety of VM Infrastructure - Microsoft's Hyper-V, Citrix XenServer, or VMware ESX. By contrast, VMware View ties an IT organization to only VMware ESX. This gives the customers the flexibility to choose the most powerful cost-effective best-of-breed VDI solution.
4.       Policy-based access control: The Citrix + Netapp VDI solution leverages a familiar Microsoft and/or Citrix management user interface for managing granular - by user groups or individuals - access to data and applications.

Question: When backing up and restoring a user's virtual desktop, is it possible to only backup/restore a user's MyDocuments or data folders?
Answer: Yes, it is possible to use Netapp technology to back up entire VM's or just specific sets of user data.

Question: Today we obtain OEM licenses for Windows OS via the HW vendor. If we use VDI - do we have to buy expensive Microsoft OS licenses? Doesn't that increase our costs?
Answer: While VDI requires purchasing Microsoft Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop OS licenses, the net costs can be approximately equivalent to what one pays today for local desktop OS licenses. You need one Microsoft Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktop (VECD) license per device, which allows the licensed device to access up to four virtual desktops concurrently. More desktop instances could be centrally stored, but not accessed at the same time by the same device, without purchasing an additional VECD license.

Question: What kind of servers (RAM, CPU) would i need to host let's say about 200 PC's, for basic Microsoft Word, Outlook and printing?
Answer: You may find this Citrix VDI design paper useful, because it provides technical guidelines for many different scenarios.

Question: What about support for USB devices? Special keyboard (like Bloomberg), video cameras, multi-button mice, etc...
Answer: Citrix XenDesktop supports many USB devices via its HDX Technologies. Many USB devices such as SmartPhones, mice, keyboard, scanners, printers, smart cards, graphics tablets work right out of the gate. There are a couple keys on the Bloomberg keyboard that require some more devleopment work to claim complete support. Support for isochronous devices - like webcams - is under development and planned for an upcoming release. Please see the following support article for details.

Question: Is there a subscription model of VDI services that a SMB market segment can subscribe to?
Answer: The SMB market segment may possibly leverage a subscription or hosted model of VDI. Citrix partners are working on making this available. Please visit http://www.citrix.com/xendesktop for updates.

Question: What is the best way to handle Outlook OST files inside a Thin Provisioned virtual machine? We have a client that must have cached mode on in Outlook, and using Standard Image Mode, we would have to flex that giant file with the user's profile.
Answer: Yes, a best practice for handling Outlook OST files is to store the OST files on a network-shared and accessible drive so the user Outlook data follows the users, wherever he or she may be. It is therefore necessary to store the user OST files with the user's profile accordingly.

For more detailed storage and image management best practices, please take a look at the Optimizing Storage and Image Management blog posts part 1 and part 2. For more detailed information about Citrix XenDesktop, please visit the XenDesktop product page.

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22 Jul 2009 12:09 PM EDT

Essentials for HyperV - StorageLink Step by Step Part 3

posted by Barry Flanagan

In this installment of the StorageLink Step by Step Series, Steve Umbehocker covers connecting to Storage Systems via the StorageLink Manager console.

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21 Jul 2009 07:57 AM EDT

Essentials for HyperV - StorageLink Step by Step Part 2

[ Tags: cdn , xenapp , xendesktop , xenserver , provisioning-server , citrix essentials , hyperv , microsoft , storagelink , storage , video , nonspecific ]

posted by Barry Flanagan

In Part 1, Steve Umbehocker reviewed the installation of the StorageLink component of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V. In this next installment, Steve reviews the initial configuration of StorageLink after it has been installed.

The Enterprise Edition includes the full version of StorageLink, Dynamic Provisioning Services for Server Operating Systems, and complete WorkFlow Orchestration.

The Platinum Edition of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V adds in Lab Manager to provide a complete cost effective virtual lab solution, and Stage Manager to automate the process of migrating newly tested and verified configurations from the virtual lab directly into production. You can download a evaluation copy of the Platinum Edition of Citrix Essentials for Hyper-V at http://www.citrix.com/ehv.

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11 May 2009 10:17 PM EDT

StorageLink and VMware RDM

[ Tags: xenserver , storage , storagelink , hyperv ]

posted by Parthasarathy Ramachandran

I've been getting a number of questions from the field on whether StorageLink provides the capabilities of VMware RDM for XenServer and Hyper-V. A little detail is warranted, mainly because the answer is a bit different for XenServer and Hyper-V.

XenServer: The LUN per virtual disk model in effect provides the capabilities of raw device mapping. Prior to XenServer 5.5, customers got their LUN per virtual disk via the custom storage adapters for Netapp and Equallogic. XenServer 5.5 expands this to a larger set of storage arrays, and thats where the latest evolution of StorageLink comes in. StorageLink allows a user to assign/map a set of LUNs, and expose them as raw devices to your VM, in effect, the capability that RDM provides. This applies to existing and formatted LUNs too.

(The caveat here is that the same LUN cannot be attached to two VMs at the same time. This means that this virtual disk cannot be used as a quorum disk in an MSCS cluster of Windows VMs. But then again, Windows 2008 Failover Clustering has Node Majority, and a quorum device is no longer needed)

Hyper-V: StorageLink allows you to assign/map a set of LUNs (existing or new) and expose them as pass-through devices to Hyper-V. No caveats. These LUNs can be shared between VMs. Same as RDM.

One point worth mentioning is that StorageLink does not come in the data path. Once storage volumes are set up and mapped to virtual machines, IO is done using the existing hypervisor mechanism.

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12 Mar 2009 05:28 AM EDT

Installing XenServer on an USB Drive

[ Tags: xenserver , storage , citrix , virtualization , xenserver storage ]

posted by Danny Wannagat

Installing XenServer on a USB Drive.

I wanted to be able to use my Lenovo T61 to run XenServer but I did not want to give up on my Vista OS since XenServer won't allow you to partition your hard drive.
So I figured I could use my USB drive to boot from, and then have XenServer installed on it. The good news is that it works, but there are some caveats.
If you want to run XenServer from a laptop while preserving your original O.S., this is what you need to do:
1) Find out if your Laptop (or PC) supports Booting from a USB device. Change the order to have your ATAPI CD first, your USB HDD second and your ATA/SATA HDD third
2) Find out if your Laptop (or PC) supports Virtualization Technology (e.g.: on T61 press F1 for BIOS utility, Config, CPU, and hit Enter under Virtualization Technology to enable it.
3) Because USB support is not preloaded by the mkinitrd image, some steps are required prior to installing XenServer. To get XenServer to boot from a USB drive, follow the steps described on this article written by Chris Wolf, Virtualization Review magazine's "Virtual Advisor". I disabled my Internal hard drive prior to doing these steps to ensure that I did not accidentally wiped off its contents

Installing and Running XenServer 4.1 on an External USB Drive
May 9, 2008 - by Chris Wolf
Source: http://virtualizationreview.com/columns/article.aspx?editorialsid=2618

"I often get asked about running hypervisors from portable storage devices and in this column, I'd like to talk about a method for installing and running XenServer 4.1 from a portable USB hard drive. This is useful if you are testing multiple hypervisor solutions and do not want to multi-boot the hypervisors on local server storage. Since XenServer Express Edition is free, you can evaluate the product for as long as you like and eventually upgrade the license if you want to unlock the product's enterprise-class features.
Of course, the physical host server is going to need to meet XenServer 4.1's system requirements. Servers with support for hardware-assisted virtualization (one of XenServer's hardware requirements) should also support USB device boot. Many USB flash drives offer enough storage space for a XenServer installation (16GB is required per the official requirements). Note that the actual software installation will only consume about 2GB. However, keep in mind that USB flash drives perform considerably slower than traditional hard disks. So if performance is a consideration, I highly recommend using a 2.5" external USB drive. In preparation for this article, I used a Seagate external USB 2.0 40 GB hard disk.
While not required, I disabled all internal hard disks in the test server's BIOS so that the XenServer installation would only see the external USB drive. This prevents accidentally installing XenServer on an internal server hard disk.
At this point, you should be ready to install XenServer 4.1. You can do so by following the installations steps documented in the XenServer 4.1 Installation Guide. Note that you will only be prompted to select the installation drive if the system can see multiple attached drives. If you take the cautionary step to disable all locally attached physical drives, you will not see this option. If multiple drives are present, you will also be prompted to select the drive for virtual storage, which again should be the external USB drive.
Once the XenServer installation completes, you will be prompted to hit Enter to reboot the server. This is where the trouble will begin. USB support is not preloaded by the mkinitrd image, by default, which will eventually cause a kernel panic and automatic reboot when XenServer starts. Note that if you are not seeing XenServer boot, that's probably because the USB drive was listed farther down in the boot order than another system drive. You can select to boot from the USB drive by clicking the hotkey to access the boot options menu and selecting to boot from the USB drive at that point. For example, the boot options menu on many Dell servers is accessed by hitting the F11 key when the server boots.
To get XenServer to successfully boot on an external USB drive, follow these steps:
1. When the server boots, hit the hotkey for the boot options menu.
2. Ensure that the XenServer installation CD is in the CD-ROM drive.
3. In the boot options menu, select the option to boot from the CD-ROM.
4. As soon as the Welcome to XenServer setup screen loads, immediately press the F2 key to view the advanced setup options.
5. Now type shell and hit Enter.
6. When the system finishes booting, run the following command to create a temporary folder where you will mount the external USB drive:

mkdir /tmp/sda
7. You will now mount the USB drive to the temporary location. Note that I'm assuming the USB drive is the only drive attached to the system and therefore is mounted as /dev/sda. To mount the first partition of sda to the /tmp/sda folder, run this command:

mount -t ext3 /dev/sda1 /tmp/sda
8. You will now need to copy the sys/block drivers from the setup environment to the USB drive. However, you will first need to change the driver file permissions prior to the copy. To do this, run this command:

chmod -R 664 /sys/block
9. You can now copy the contents of /sys/block to the USB drive. To do this, run this command:

cp -R /sys/block/ /tmp/sda/sys/block/

Note: Disregard the resultant "Input/Output error" message. The file copy will complete successfully.
10. Next you need to change the root location to /tmp/sda. You can do this by running the command:

chroot /tmp/sda
11. Now let's change to the /boot folder on the USB drive. To do this, run the command:

cd /boot
12. Now we will rename the original primary initrd image file because the new image file will have the same name as the original file for ease of configuration. To rename the primary initrd image file, run this command:

mv initrd-2.6.18-53.1.13.el5.xs4.1.0.254.273xen.img initrd-2.6.18-53.1.13.el5.xs4.1.0.254.273xen.img.old
13. Next, we'll create a new initrd image that includes the USB driver. To do this, run this command:

mkinitrd --with-usb initrd-2.6.18-53.1.13.el5.xs4.1.0.254.273xen.img 2.6.18-53.1.13.el5.xs4.1.0.254.273xen
14. At this point, you will now be able to successfully boot XenServer from an external USB drive. To reboot, the server, type exit and hit Enter and then type reboot and press Enter. Remember to select the external USB drive from the boot options menu when the server boots.
When the XenServer system successfully boots, you should see that the post installation script that XenServer attempts to run will fail. The post install script will try and configure the third partition created during the XenServer installation as a data store for VM files, but will fail in the process. Since the script fails to add a local data store, you'll just need to do this manually. Note that this assumes that you have enough additional storage on the external USB drive for VM storage.
If you plan to use local storage for VMs, follow these steps:
1. Login to the XenServer console using the root account and the root account password you specified when you installed XenServer.
2. Run fdisk -l to view the available partitions on the attached USB drive. The command execution and output is shown below:
[root@xensrv1 ~]# fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 40.0 GB, 40007761920 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 38154 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 = 1048576 bytes

   Device Boot Start   End   Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1    *      1 3907 4000752 83 Linux
/dev/sda2        3908 7814 4000768 83 Linux
/dev/sda3        7815 38154 31068160 83 Linux
3. As you can see, most of the drive's storage blocks are allocated to /dev/sda3. This is the partition you will configure as a local data store for VM files. Next, you need to query the host universal unique identifier (UUID) which is generated when XenServer is installed. To do this, run this command:

cat /etc/xensource-inventory

The command execution and its output is shown here:

[root@xensrv1 /]# cat /etc/xensource-inventory
PRODUCT_BRAND='XenServer'
PRODUCT_NAME='xenenterprise'
PRODUCT_VERSION='4.1.0'
BUILD_NUMBER='7843p'
KERNEL_VERSION='2.6.18-53.1.13.el5.xs4.1.0.254.273xen'
XEN_VERSION='3.1.0'
INSTALLATION_DATE='2008-05-05 17:44:15.745293'
PRIMARY_DISK='/dev/sda'
BACKUP_PARTITION='/dev/sda2'
INSTALLATION_UUID='d3e7e1e6-80f3-4241-a6cf-3bf83971c0e6'
CONTROL_DOMAIN_UUID='3e5b935a-c14e-4059-aae5-45bb87b8b864'
DEFAULT_SR_PHYSDEVS='/dev/sda3'
DOM0_MEM='752'
MANAGEMENT_INTERFACE='xenbr0'
4. Note the INSTALLATION_UUID value listed in the cat command's output. You will need it to create the new local storage repository. You can now add the local storage repository by using the xe sr-create command with the following syntax:

xe sr-create content-type="localSR" host-uuid=<INSTALLATION_UUID> type=ext device-config-device=<disk partition> shared=false name-label "<friendly label>"
On my test system, the following values were used:
INSTALLATION_UUID: d3e7e1e6-80f3-4241-a6cf-3bf83971c0e6
Disk partition: /dev/sda3
Friendly label: "Local USB Storage"
The full command used to configure the local storage repository in my test environment is shown below:
[root@xensrv1 /]# xe sr-create content-type="localSR" host-uuid=d3e7e1e6-80f3-4241-a6cf-3bf83971c0e6 type=ext device-config-device=/dev/sda3 shared=false name-label "Local USB Storage"
The remaining configuration can be performed with the XenCenter management server, which can be installed on any Windows system in your environment. XenCenter is the GUI-based central administration tool for XenServer environments. You can get more information on XenCenter on the Citrix XenServer page.
You should now be able to login to XenCenter and manage the new XenServer with its available local USB storage. At this point, you are ready to install a VM on the local storage. Of course, if you do not have additional room on the local disk, you can configure network storage (i.e. NFS, iSCSI, Fibre Channel) and store VM files on the network storage array.
Now you can create a new VM by clicking the "New VM" object in the XenCenter toolbar and entering the required information in the New VM wizard.
When you're done testing, just shut down any running VMs and shut down the XenServer. If you disabled any local hard disks in the system BIOS, just re-enable them and your test server is returned to its original configuration. "
May 9, 2008 - by Chris Wolf
Source: http://virtualizationreview.com/columns/article.aspx?editorialsid=2618

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26 Jan 2009 11:33 PM EST

How to configure an NFS based ISO SR using local storage on a XenServer5 Host

[ Tags: nfs , storage , iso , sr , xenserver ]

posted by Michael O'Neill

Summary

This article describes how to create a local NFS-based ISO Library on a XenServer host. This procedure will destroy the Local Storage Repository and replace it with an NFS share.

**DISCLAIMER**

CHANGES TO THE DOMAIN 0 VM ON A XENSERVER HOST MAY RENDER THE HOST UNSUPPORTED. This procedure describes several changes to the XenServer host's configuration that may cause it to become unsupported.

Better Option

A better option to obtain this same functionality would be to build a hosted NFS server VM and connect the shared ISO Library to the hosted VM.

References:

- How To Change the Default Storage Repository to File-based VHD-on-EXT3 http://support.citrix.com/article/ctx116324

- Allow NFS through iptables on a RedHat system http://pario.no/2008/01/15/allow-nfs-through-iptables-on-a-redhat-system/

Procedure:

Step 1.

First, install XenServer Enterprise on the system with the default Logical Volume Manager (LVM)-backed storage repository (SR).

Step 2.

Next, we need to remove the LVM-backed Local Storage repository.

*NOTE* If you have virtual machines (VMs) on your existing local LVM-backed SR please backup (export) and afterwards delete them before continuing.

a. Find the default SR device ID, universal unique identifier (UUID), and remove the default SR.
i. Log on to the XenServer server console.
ii. Type the following command to display information about your default SR.

# xe sr-list type=lvm

Make a note of the default UUID.

In this case, the SR UUID = 63276e9a-4d15-dd2e-f437-599d6c01e4b4

iii. Determine the UUID for your default SR's physical block device (PBD) using the following command:

# xe pbd-list sr-uuid=your SR UUID

Make a note of the PBD UUID.

In this case, the PBD UUID = 28f63f05-a5b4-96df-072a-f7232acefb24

iv. Disconnect the Local Storage SR using the following command:

# xe pbd-unplug uuid=your PBD UUID

At this point, the Local Storage SR should show as disconnected in the XenCenter console denoted with a red exclamation point.

v. Now remove the Local Storage SR using the following command:

# xe sr-destroy uuid=your SR UUID

At this point, the Local Storage SR should show as removed in the XenCenter console.

Now if we issue the #xe sr-list type-lvm command, we can see that the Local Storage SR no longer exists...

...but if we issue the # fdisk --l command, we can see that we have a nice empty partition on which to build our NFS share.

b. The next step is to ready this partition for an NFS share by installing a file system on it.

i. Install file system on /dev/sda3

# mkfs -t ext3 /dev/sda3
Step 3.

Now let's make sure the NFS service is started and set to export our share. NFS exports from a server are controlled by the file /etc/exports. Each line begins with the path of a directory to be exported, followed by a space-separated list of allowed clients.

a. First create a mount point and mount the new disk.

# mkdir /mnt/nfs

# mount --t ext3 /dev/sda3 /mnt/nfs

b. Confirm that it is mounted with the mount command.
c. Edit the /etc/exports file and add something like the following:

This will allow all clients on the subnet to attach to the share.

d. Next start the NFS service.

Step 4.

Now we can work on opening up the firewall. XenServer ships with a firewall enabled and running. There are a couple of ways to 'open' the firewall.

a. The Lazy Man's way is to turn off the firewall altogether. (THIS IS NOT RECOMMENDED)

i. Simply stop the iptables service
b. The better way is to open the ports on the firewall.

This command will show the ports that are actively being used by services that NFS will need.
c. We can now make entries to the /etc/sysconfig/iptables to open those ports to allow communication. (In my case I only needed to open ports 111 and 2049 - portmapper and nfs)

Step 5.

We can now attach our NFS share to the XenServer pool as a NFS based ISO SR.
...and there she be!
Copy some files up to the share and you're ready to go.

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25 Nov 2008 01:28 PM EST

Behind XenServer Storage

[ Tags: xenserver , storage , lvm , linux , nfs , vhd , snapshot , xenserver , logical volume manager ]

posted by Olivier Withoff

In my previous post on the subject of storage (Is SAN really NAS spelt backwards), I introduced a fundamentals whitepaper. Behind XenServer Storage, builds on this and shows how XenServer leverages the different kinds of storage. Feedback welcome!

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29 Aug 2008 04:57 PM EDT

Is SAN really NAS spelt backwards?

[ Tags: xenserver , storage , san , nas , iscsi , fcp , gbic , raid , xenserver , xenapp , xendesktop , data storage , disk storage , fibre channel ]

posted by Olivier Withoff

Google 'storage' and, apart from the odd link to IKEA, data storage is starting to become more prominent. That Ultra-640 SCSI, 15,000 RPM 30GB drive you proudly have in your best server is taking center stage in Storage Area Networks (SANs). As the options for building a SAN are becoming numerous, and the prices are starting to look attractive, maybe you need to get to grips with the fundamental technologies, and terminology. Have I got a whitepaper for you! Introduction to Storage Technologies.