Who am I?
My name is Harry. I work on computer systems for a company in the entertainment industry. I have worked with a lot of technology in my time there. I have managed and participated in many projects. Some of the highlights of my career are a virtualization/storage project, an XP migration, several MS Office migrations, a datacenter move, and a company-wide IM/Collaboration project. Some of the most exciting projects that I am currently working on are VDI/Client Consolidation, a new SAN/VMware installation, and a refresh of IT operations.
What am I doing here?
I am a technology enthusiast, aka a geek. I have been using computers regularly since my parents bought a Packard-Bell around 1989. In those days I used the computer to type in “dir” commands because I knew I would get a response other than “Syntax Error.” My interest and skills have grown since then. I now work for a well known company in NYC. My goal is to play a leadership role in the tech industry. I don’t know if that will happen as a player in a tech company, leading a tech community project, working for a non-tech company, and/or blogging; but I believe that I have something to contribute to this industry.
Why did I start this blog?
I started this blog as a place to share my knowledge and ideas, as well as a place to learn from my peers. I have so much information bouncing around in my head that I feel is unique or difficult to find. I have already noticed that my posts have helped and informed people. There is nothing that I value more on this blog than my beloved reader. I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate the time you spend here. So if you see anything incorrect or have any ideas to make this place better, let me know.
OK geekboy, what else should I know?
I have one brother and one sister. I am married and have a baby girl. My wife is not an IT gal. She tolerates my geekdom except for when I wear too many IT t-shirts. I have a coworker who calls me an “it guy.” She laughed pretty hard when I told her that I had a blog by the name of HarryITguy.
Some of my interests other than technology are music, travel, sports (playing and watching), food, video games, politics, and living life.
Welcome! Enjoy your stay!
Techno babble from an IT guy named Harry 
Harry, your site looks interesting and I enjoyed reading about you. I like your sense of humor.
We just got an EMC system with a blade. The best I can figure by looking at it is that the NICs in my two servers are supposed to connect to an Ethernet switch, which will connect to the blade, which will connect by Fibre Channel (optical) to the Storage Processor A and B. Is it possible I am correct? I don’t want something missing when the factory guy gets here.
Thanks.
Hi Dr.,
Thanks for checking it out. I am assuming that you mean that your servers and blade will both connect to the network through a switch. The Blade will likely include some sort of (internal) switch as well. Then you will connect the blade to the storage switch using at least two connections. The two SP’s will connect to the storage switch as well twice each. That means that you will have 4 connections from the SAN to the storage switch and at least two connections from the Blade and/or servers to the SAN. This means that you will have 4 paths to the SAN.
Of course, all of this depends on your config and requirements. It’s hard for me to determine if anything is missing with so little information, but I can give you advice for what to look for.
You need networking to:
Your servers
Both SP’s
Both SAN switches
You need approprate length Fiber cables.
You need enough power to dual plug each SP and battery cache, switches (network and storage), servers, and blades.
You need to set asside IP addresses for each SP, each switch, and probably for blade management.
There’s probably more, but these are some obvious ones. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!
Hey, you’re fast!
My concern was that I was in fact going to need connections from my two servers to two switches, and from there to the SPs. That’s what the documentation show, but the problem is that we have two PCI-slot dual NICs in the servers and the two targets on the SPs are Fibre Channel.
It seems I will need switches that accept Ethernet cabling (RJ45) from the servers and fiber optics from the SPs. The connections from the blade to the SPs are fiber optic, and Fibre Channel (copper) from the SPs to the Control Center, where you connect to the LAN with the management port.
I’m new to this, and I don’t even know if there is such an animal as a switch that acts as a gateway between Fibre Channel (optical) and Ethernet (RJ45).
BTW, maybe EMC paid attention to your call. The CX3-10C Storage-System does support RAID 6 now.
Hi Dr.
Are you saying that you need to install two HBA’s and additional NIC’s? There is one potential solution. Qlogic (who I recommend for all HBA’s) makes a dual homed FC HBA. http://www.qlogic.com/Products/SAN_products_fibreHBA.aspx
That should allow you to dual connect your server and install another NIC board. I have used the Intel MT-1000 NIC’s and they work well for me. I’m not sure how it’s going to work in your particular machine, so you have to check compatibility.
You can probably find a way to convert FC to Ethernet. iSCSI used to be rigged this way. I would stay away from this. Also, some new EMC SAN’s have iSCSI built in. I like QLogic FC switches for small environments. They work great and are relatively inexpensive.
I’m not sure what you are referring to with the Control Center. Also, make sure you buy 4GB switches and HBA’s if you bought 4GB throughput on your SAN. The new EMC can connect up to 4GB if you purchased the DAE’s and drives at 4GB.
I noticed that RAID 6 has been added to the 3-XX series. I need to update that post. Thanks!
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Hi Harry,
Just found your blog thru the link on problogger and though I’m the total opposite of you when it comes to computers ( I’m a TI guy -Totally Ignorant) I can relate to you on the level of “starting a blog” Obviously my attempts at researching the matter is how I got here.
I don’t want to hop more space here, but would love it if you can send me an email when you get a minute
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Hey Harry, just wanted to give a thank you from Fixyourberry.com for our mention in your blog. Love the site.
Hi Harry,
I would like to know what are good free antivirus/spyware/malware scanners you would recommend?