Month: February 2019

Week 6 – Fiber Channel Storage Area Networks

nbw5067 on

Week 6 in IST 423 had a very broad range of topics from an intro to drivers for IP SAN and began learning Fiber Channel Storage Area Networks and related concepts of this module like block-level storage virtualization and EMC Connectrix. We Then went over topics such as iSCSI and gateways. At an internship of mine two summers ago I helped some of the IT officers with data duplication and a modern data infrastructure so this lecture was one that really clicked for me.

Some additional reading I did on Fiber Channel SAN –

https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/The-anatomy-of-a-SAN-Fibre-Channel-SAN-explained

While doing my reading and skimming I also found this recent article –

https://www.networkcomputing.com/data-centers/sinking-fibre-channel-san

 

WEEK 5 – RAID and Storage Systems

nbw5067 on

During our fifth week of class we continued to talk about RAID as well as started delving into intelligent storage systems. The four parts of an intelligent system as we learned, are: the front end components, cache, back end components, and physical disks. In addition to learning about the Intelligent storage systems, we learned Logical unit number (LUN). We have now added a LUN into our system which has made it even more complex. We also reviewed the answers to mini case 1 and thanks to this review I feel that I now have a pretty good understanding of RAID.

This article cleared up a couple of the questions I had on LUN and why it exists.-

https://www.computerweekly.com/answer/What-is-a-LUN-and-why-do-we-need-storage-LUNs

 

Week 4 – LAMP and Virtualization

nbw5067 on

Even though this week was brief, it was plentiful in objectives to accomplish. In class we started learning about data centers work and how virtualization plays a key role in them. At the end of the week we added to our LAMP stack, we started an instance and continued following each step. Additionally, we discussed RAID and its use cases in the industry that RAID would be used for. Before I came to the lecture, I thought of RAID as just arrays of supersized external hard drives, I know now they are a tool that protects data. Below I included a short Youtube video that simplifies the concept into the essentials.

Week 3 – The Data Environment

nbw5067 on

This week in class we talked about the data environment. The topics we talked about led me to an understanding of the core elements of a data center, as well as built on my understanding of virtualization, and allowed me to  formulate a comprehension on the different types of data storage and how they work.I still think its crazy that in most instances the work many people do on their computers uses all web services which utilize virtualization. Web services and virtualization allow for software and applications to be virtual so that CPU and RAM are mostly not used on a PC. I found our talk about how logical volume works to be particularly interesting and how server virtualization is the future.

Here is a good read from RedHat on virtualization that I learned a lot from.

https://www.redhat.com/en/topics/virtualization

 

Week 2- Chapter 1, Introduction to Info-Storage

nbw5067 on

In our second week of IST 423, we learned about virtualisation and information storage being immensely complicated. Virtualising a database will allow an organisation to make use of the Database as a service without having to get another third-party vendor. By doing this it will give you an advantage of adopting a model that will reduce redundancy, increase efficiency, and also maintain coverage. I found some interesting case studies at the link below that talk more about the real life circumstances this information is used and is a critical factor in major corporations computing solutions.

https://www.infobeans.com/verticals/storage-virtualization

 

Week 1- Reviewing The OSI Model

nbw5067 on

In our first week of class in IST 423, we got an introduction to our professor, Professor Fusco. Professor Fusco then gave us a very high level overview of what we can expect to learn in this class and what the course will be like throughout the semester. After our introduction, we began with class materials by having a quick, in class review of the OSI model. We reviewed this model because the materials for the rest of the class will be based on the OSI model’s concepts, the professor mentioned that if we do not remember anything about this model from IST 210 or 220, that we should do our best to review it. I think taking this class will provide a more technical insight into the concepts that I have learned in other IST classes, which is something I am excited about. Cannot wait to see what else this class has in store!

Below is a website I used to help my review of the OSI model-

https://codeburst.io/learning-the-osi-model-32b48cc55bdd