Sessions in detail
VMWare and Backup -- Enemies or Friends? Presented by W. Curtis Preston, Executive Editor, TechTarget and Independent Backup Expert This session will focus on the challenges of backing up a VMware environment and the various solutions that users are now using to solve those challenges. Topics included will be why backing up VMWare is such a challenge, how most customers are backing it up, and how that’s not working for them. Curtis will then discuss various proposed solutions to the problem, including VMWare consolidated backup (or VCB), vSphere’s replacement to VCB, as well as point solutions for VMWare-centric environments. Data Deduplication -- Different Approaches for Different Environments Presented by W. Curtis Preston, Executive Editor and Independent Backup Expert, TechTarget There are many ways and places to implement data deduplication, including technologies embedded with backup software that have just come on the market this year. W. Curtis Preston brings you up to date on the latest data deduplication methods, how to select the right approach or combination of approaches for your environment, and caveats to consider before buying a data deduplication product. Replication Alternatives for DR Presented by Marc Staimer, CDS, Dragon Slayer Consulting Remote replication has become the method of choice for maintaining up to date, restorable data replicas at remote DR sites. There are a variety ways of implementing replication, each with its own advantages and disadvantages, and within a wide range of costs. This session will focus on replication architectures and administration, including: * Host-based vs. switch or appliance-based vs. array-based replication Stuff Happens -- How to Assess Risks and Set Objectives for Business Continuity Plans Presented by Jon Toigo, CEO and Managing Principal, Toigo Partners International, and Chairman of the Data Management Institute Many disaster recovery planning efforts get bogged down when planners become preoccupied with identifying all of the risk scenarios that might impact company operations. Truth be told, enumerating natural and man-made hazard potentials, then assigning quantitative values to their likelihood of occurrence, is a fool's errand. What is needed is a straightforward assessment of assets -- data and infrastructure -- to determine what needs to be protected, supplemented by an estimation of the cost of an interruption of access to assets (from whatever the cause) for 24, 48 and 72 hours. The sources for collecting this information are business stakeholders: so, yes, you will need to talk to end users (audible groans expected.) In this session, DR planning veteran Jon Toigo will walk you through the process for doing a good job with upfront analysis. Building a Service-oriented Data Protection Strategy Presented by Jon Toigo, CEO and Managing Principal, Toigo Partners International, and Chairman of the Data Management Institute Data protection is not a one-size-fits-all strategy. Different data protection methods, ranging from WAN-based data replication and clustering to tape backup and restore, are available to provide the data recovery capability that a business process or application requires. Matching data protection service levels to business requirements is not only a rational approach, but also a cost effective one. The challenge, however, to service level-based data protection provisioning is the multiplicity of data protection methods that must be monitored and managed. How can we integrate tape backup and disk to disk replication services under a common monitoring umbrella, simplifying the management role? How can we facilitate the on-going testing of recovery scenarios – through a combination of simulated and real time testing – to ensure that service levels can be met even as the volume of data being protected changes? How can we wrangle third party hardware- and software-based data protection schemes into a coherent facility for centralized monitoring and management? Toigo sets out the challenge and examines potential solutions Deep Dive into Solid State Storage -- the Technologies and Architectures Presented by Dennis Martin, Founder and President, Demartek This is an in-depth look at the architectures and technologies of solid state storage devices. The presentation will describe solid state in detail, and compare solid state with traditional magnetic media. In addition, Dennis will include some of the results from his solid state storage performance testing of Microsoft applications in the Demartek lab. Among the topics discussed are: * DRAM vs. NAND Flash The Truth about Virtualizing Storage Presented by Marc Staimer, Founder and CDS, Dragon Slayer Consulting This session is a “roll up your sleeves” look at the technical details of implementing storage virtualization. The practical benefits of storage virtualization will be discussed, including how to assess your environment to determine the cost-effectiveness of virtualization. Topics include: * How to determine where virtualization should occur What You Need to Know about New Storage Technologies: FCoE, 10Gb CEE, 10Gb iSCSI and CNA Presented by Arun Taneja, Founder and Consulting Analyst, Taneja Group Just as FC has become stable, solidly reliable and manageable we now have FCoE on the horizon. In this session we will cover what FCoE is, especially within the context of 10Gb CEE (Converged Enhanced Ethernet), 10Gb iSCSI, CNA (Converged Network Adapter) and other associated technologies that are vying for the next generation data center. We will not only look at these technologies and their roles in tomorrow's data center but we will also look at the timing of these technologies and discuss how and when you should evaluate them and what you should watch out for. Not "Just a Switch" Anymore -- Data Center "Backbone" Architectures Presented by Dennis Martin, Founder and President, Demartek The leading switch vendors have revealed their visions of a unified data center network infrastructure. It sound good, but what are the ramifications for the storage networking infrastructures you have in place. This session will cover: * The technologies that are available now—and what’s still needed Managing the Four Cs – Cost Containment, Compliance, Continuity and Carbon Footprint Nearly every company today has an set of front burner issues that come down to 4 “C’s”: Cost Containment, Compliance, Continuity and Carbon Reduction. At root, every one of these issues requires a strategy for improved data management. In this presentation, Toigo will address the following topics based on his new book, Making IT Matter (currently being developed as a BLOOK by Toigo, and co-author Randy Chalfant, at MakingITMatter.com). This will include:
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Storage Decisions Seminars
Backup School Hits the Road with W. Curtis Preston
Data Deduplication
with W. Curtis Preston
Disaster Recovery Planning with Jon William Toigo
E-Mail and File Archiving with Mark Diamond
Storage Virtualization with Marc Staimer
Vendor Events
Infrastructure Optimization with Greg Schulz; sponsored by CDW
Optimizing Virtualized Environments with Greg Schulz, sponsored by Datalink
DR/Business Continuity
Planning with Bill Peldzus;
sponsored by CDW
