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Sorry - this is not an easy guide which ends in 5 magic-bullet links |
Editor's intro:- in the early
days of the SSD
market knowledge about fundamental issues like:- how to optimally tune
servers (with high HDD
to SSD capacity gearing),
how to optimize the design of
SSD controllers, and
how best to manage flash SSD
endurance -
were regarded as proprietary secrets.
Nowadays users are discovering
that the more they learn about some of these arcane aspects of SSD technology -
the more reasons they have to worry that there may be more they need to learn
to avoid major disasters
with their SSD deployments.
Users don't have the option of sitting
back and waiting another 5 or 6 years for SSD technologies and architectures to
stabilize into a stable set of best practise ideas.
If your competitors
use are using SSDs - to speed up their business processes, or increase the
efficiency of their knowledge workers - then you don't have any choice. You too
have to participate in the
SSD market bubble
- or run the risk of being regarded as irrelevant or uncompetitive to your
potential customers.
StorageSearch.com has been publishing articles
about SSDs since before most people even knew the market existed - and those
articles have helped to increase understanding within the industry and
accelerate the market's progress. But one of the frequent complaints I get from
readers is that they have spent hours reading articles about SSDs and they
still don't understand what to do.
I can tell you now - that any
prescriptive guide which says - this is exactly what you need to do to buy the
best notebook or server or military SSD is doomed to failure at the start -
because users don't know they are asking the wrong questions - or have an
incomplete understanding of the data and value preferences which they have
already unconsciously applied to filtering and asking the wrong questions.
The
only solution to the SSD problem is better education.
But where is
this education going to come from? And who can you trust?
Our news
pages have shown that even experienced CTOs inside storage companies haven't
always understood the subtle problems instrinsic in
selecting SSD
partners. And I have talked to many marketers in SSD companies - who operate
within a narrow range - and would certainly give you the wrong advice if you
asked them a question outside their day to day competency.
At the other
end of the spectrum I have been privileged to share dialog with a handful of
people who really understand the technology inside the chips, who know how it
will interact with computer architecture and who are guiding their companies on
a course which will lead them to the solid state promised land.
SSD
talent is rare. And it's hard to recognize whether the claims that people
make about their SSD understanding - stands up to any scrutiny.
That's
a problems for an editor / analyst like me too.
For example - in the
past several years I've been contacted by a bunch of companies in the
data recovery market
who asked about advertising their services for
SSD data recovery.
But when I probed some of these companies with awkward questions - it was clear
that their knowledge was only superficial - and they didn't have good answers
for the tough questions I asked.
Anyone can create a web page claiming
they can solve your problems - from recovering data from a dead SSD to curing
cancer.
How can online readers judge the reliability of the info they
see?
Thousands of companies will rush into the SSD training market -
but maybe less than 1% of them today - and less than 10% in 2012 - will actually
have worthwhile long term expeience in the subject they're talking about.
No
list of quick links is going to solve this problem.
It's just the start
of another journey.
Read lots of SSD articles - then ask lots of
awkward questions. And good luck. |
| . |
SSD news
SSD videos
SSD Bookmarks
What's an SSD?
the SSD Buyers Guide
SSD Jargon Explained
SSD Reliability Papers
Tuning SANs with SSDs
SSDs - the big
market picture
Overview of the
Notebook SSD Market
Are MLC SSDs Safe
in Enterprise Apps?
the Problem with
Write IOPS - in flash SSDs
SSD Myths and
Legends - "write endurance"
Market Trends in the
Rackmount SSD Market
RAM SSDs versus Flash
SSDs - which is Best?
Flash Memory vs. Hard
Disks - Which Will Win?
How Bad is - Choosing the
Wrong SSD Supplier?
Using SSDs to Boost
Legacy RAID Performance
Why Consumers Can Expect
More Flaky Flash SSDs!
Clarifying SSD Pricing -
where does all the money go?
SSD Market
Adoption - the user value propositions for SSDs | |
| SSD
fundamentals seminar - pre Flash Memory Summit |
Editor:- July 19, 2010 - Chuck
Sobey, on behalf of KnowledgeTek will
present a 4 hour seminar on the fundamentals of
SSDs - in one of the pre
conference sessions of the Flash
Memory Summit August 16.
This tutorial is designed for
engineers, managers, and executives who need to make immediate decisions about
whether to use SSDs in their data center or products.
Flash Memory Basics - for enterprise SSD buyers
Editor:-
February 3, 2010 - a new article -
Flash
Memory Basics - posted today by blogger Brad Diggs looks like it
could be part of an educational series laying the groundwork for for Sun Microsystem's
PCIe SSD product
family.
I noticed it because it cites one of my own favorite articles
- Are MLC SSDs
Ever Safe in Enterprise Apps?.
DDR PHY Cartoon from Denali
Editor:- November 17,
2009 - Denali Software
today published a simple cartoon style guide which introduces the complexities
involved in
designing
DDR PHY.
What's a DDR PHY? - To quote one of the captions - "I
sit between the memory controller and I/O pads and make your SoC shine!"
Even
if you're not a chip level
storage designer - appreciation of these design issues are helpful to an
understanding of product architectures, strengths, weaknesses and adaptibility. |
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| New Book -
Oracle Performance Tuning with SSDs |
Editor:- October 9, 2009 - some
of the technical folks at Texas Memory Systems
have contributed to a new book called -
Oracle
Performance Tuning with SSDs - written by Oracle expert, Mike Ault.
This
is part of an august collection of Oracle tuning books published by
Rampant
Press.
"Solid State Disk storage is changing the game for
Oracle databases, and how we think about performance tuning," said Mike
Ault.
"Whereas in the past a poorly-designed database might take
6 months and $500,000 in consulting costs to repair, simply installing an SSD
can mean the database immediately runs more than 10x faster for a
fraction of the cost of repairing the source code. We wrote the book
specifically for DBAs so that they could easily understand the benefits and
limitations of SSD in their specific circumstances, and have all the tools they
need to benchmark effectively. Any DBA who wants to keep their performance
tuning skills relevant will read this book."
SSD Education - Size of the Problem |
Editor:- July 9, 2009 - One of
the recurring themes in my 1 on 1 dialogs with
SSD vendors and users alike
is the importance of better education about this important subject.
One
of my frustrations has been my own inability to convey the idea of how much
needs to be known - compared to what is.
So I make no apology for
recycling this text below - which I wrote in an email today.
"User
education about SSDs is the most serious problem the industry faces. Users need
to make local decisions about which info to filter in or out for their own
needs and at what level to engage with this technology. It's as if users had to
learn all about the microprocessor from the 4040 and microcontrollers up to
today's dense 64 bit multi-core server chips in 2 years instead of 30 years."
...Later:- If it's any consolation to those of you out there -
struggling to build a solid mental pyramid out of SSD's shifting sands - some
SSD product managers - who have been parachuted into new roles - don't
understand the technology or market they're talking about either. Which just
adds to the total
confusion. |
|
| New Book on
Enterprise Storage |
Editor:- May 7, 2009 - EMC has published a new
book (480 pages $60) -
"Information Storage and
Management".
The book's 40 contributing writers cover the
evolution of storage technology, including traditional deployment, consolidated
storage networking and storage virtualization, while also addressing the most
prevalent storage technologies, including direct attached storage (DAS),
networked attached storage (NAS), storage area networks (SAN), content addressed
storage (CAS), and IP SAN.
Here's a quote from the
intro...
"Not long ago, information storage was seen as only a bunch of disks or
tapes attached to the back of the computer to store data..."
Yes -
I remember those bad
old days
(pre 1998) before people thought of storage as a single market. It sounds like
an interesting book.
You can never learn too much about storage. The 9
year old classic Storage
Architecture Guide is still a popular article today. |
|
| Solid
Data Expands SSD Services |
Editor:-
January 29, 2008) - Solid
Data Systems. today announced the expansion of its professional services
organization.
This group helps users optimize the use of
SSDs in high transaction
rate applications and is aligned by vertical industry expertise. Solid Data's
services program offers free initial phone consultation, on-site architectural
assessment and evaluation, and technical and cost analysis on proposed SSD-based
architectural solutions.
"In the past SSDs were often used as
quick fixes, only replacing key hot files," said Mark Hayashida, CTO of
Solid Data Systems. "The mission of Solid Data Professional Services is to
introduce architectures specifically designed around solid state disk storage.
These architectures bring more than performance to high transaction rate
environments. Once the limitation of mechanical disk drives is removed, the
resulting systems are simpler, use much less power, and reduce the number of
servers required. In addition, peak transaction capacity is dramatically
increased, virtually eliminating server crashes due to overload. In properly
architected systems the savings more than compensate for the additional cost of
the SSD..."
Editor's comments:- this is a welcome move because as new
vendors enter the enterprise SSD market - there will be many examples of the
technology being mis-sold for applications which get no real benefit because the
SSDs have been deployed incorrectly. That's like hitching a
Porsche to plow
your field. It may have the horsepower - but it's not going to go any faster
than the John Deere... There's no
substitute for expertise when deploying this technology. | |
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