Articles like this make me furious; they appear to simply ignore the core desire of most storage users and could only be written by either
1) a vendor
2) a consultant selling a SRM audit
3) a storage administrator trying to keep themselves employed
Dimitris talks about simplifying things but it still relies on too much thought and impacts business agility and how quickly I can do things.
As a large storage user, let me spell it out to you…
I don't care about tiers, I don't want to care about putting my data in the right place, I just want to store my data.
However, I also want it
1) To be available to my business when I need it
2) To perform according to my demands
3) To be as cost-effective as possible
4) Be completely transparent to whatever application I put on it and not need special 'integration' points.
I do not want to
1) Employ hundreds of people to do this
2) Need a degree in advanced quantum mechanics to manage it
3) To melt the polar ice-caps to cool it, power it etc
4) Cover the whole of known world in data centres to house it
However I do not care if
1) You fill it full of little gnomes who move the data around
2) You give your staff back-rubs and make them feel fulfilled in their daily lives
3) You love your mums
It be extremely cool if you did do all that but it'll probably not sway my decision either way! (Okay, little gnomes moving the data around, that'd be too cool and yes, I'd buy it just for that).
So that is my ultimate desire for storage; it should be just be there and works, completely transparently to the user.
And yes, this is really, really hard to do! The work that will need doing behind the scenes is incredibly complex but ultimately data-storage needs to become like oxygen!
p.s You didn't really make me furious Dimitris…but hey, we all need some hyperbole in our blogs!
I’ve got good news Bod: our next version is gnome-based!
As long as it’s not Leprechaun-based…we don’t want an array filled with loads of mini-Zillas!! (apologies for the stereotype Mark…)
Good post
To the extent that we can all encourage each other on outcomes and use cases, and stop obsessing about the nuts and bolts, we’d all be better off.
The exception — at least for me — is when the two are related. If a given implementation of a concept seriously restricts or impacts outcomes and use cases, well — that deserves discussion in my book.
I’m waiting for the next rant to be EMC-focused 🙂
— Chuck
Good deal, create tension (“furious”) then ease it (“not furious”).
I agree with chuck – if the nuts and bolts are germane to the outcome and not little invisible gnomes doing magic, then maybe there needs to be discussion.
Ultimately, my post wasn’t about the gnomes, but about what field sales is making them look like.
More back here… http://bit.ly/bcWJci
D
Storagebod appears to dislike the vendor bashing more than he dislikes vendor cheerleading. I think that puts you in his plus column, Chuck. Unfortunately, The Storage Anarchist might need to seek absolution.
http://bit.ly/d3r4Ui
Actually, if the products did what they said on the can; the nuts and bolts might not be especially important.
In the UK, we have the ‘Plain English Campaign’; they hand out various awards; some noble, some ignoble. I think in the storage industry, we certainly have some potential winners of ‘Golden Bull’ awards.
And yes Marc, I’m happy for someone to be passionate about their own products….I’m less happy when that passion is demonstrated by bad-mouthing other people’s products. But what is really interesting is that I sometimes get requests or at least tacit encouragement to rip into a vendor’s own product.
So if you have a product that you sell which you want to trash but can’t for political expediency; send me an email and I’ll do it for you. Obviously I can’t charge or I’d have to disclose it…