Blade server local storage debate (SSD or SAS)

I found myself pulled into a design debate at the office this afternoon.

It centered on whether or not we should be using SSD’s as the boot drives for new blade installations.

SSD’s seem like a good idea at first glance;

Fewer moving parts = increased reliability
Greener solution – requires less power
Generates less heat
Quieter

But when you see what Dell is charging for SSD’s for the m710 blade you’ll likely have second thoughts.

Considering these prices, I’d be better off going with a hardware initiator and booting directly from the SAN.

Looks like we’re staying with a RAID1 SAS configuration for now.

Exchange 2007 SP2 to include VSS backup plug-in

One missing features in the native Windows 2008 Server Backup utility is the ability to backup Exchange 2007.  This more or less forces you into a third-party backup solution or DPM.

Not every Exchange implementation requires mailbox level restore capabilities.  In those situations it was nice to be able to utilize the native backup, assuming you were running Exchange 2007 on  Server 2003.

And what about those times when Backup-Exec suddenly decides (for no apparent reason) it no longer wants to back up the information store and purge the logs?  It was comforting knowing in Server 2003 that you could fire off a native backup and purge the logs.  Not so in Server 2008.  You’re stuck surfing the Backup-Exec knowledgebase for the fix while keeping a nervous eye on your Exchange volume’s available disk space.

The folks over at the Exchange Team Blog have announced that exchange aware backup capability will be included with Exchange Server 2007 SP2.

This is good news, and something that never should have been excluded from Server 2008 or Exchange 2007 in the first place.

Exchange 2007 SP2 is slated for release sometime in Q3 of 2009.

Symantec SKU Lookup Tool

I stumbled across this SKU lookup tool on Symantec’s web site.

http://www.knowledgedirectweb.com/symantec/symantec2.html

If you’re a reseller and have tried to navigate the hundreds of different product and support options Symantec offers, you’ll appreciate its usefulness.

The tool provides part number lookup for products such as Altiris, Backup Exec, Endpoint Protection, and Ghost.

Good job Symantec!!