EMC RecoverPoint : Automated Protection Window Summary

One thing that is often overlooked after a RecoverPoint solution is implemented is the ongoing Protection Window value for your Consistency Groups.  During the design phase, the Journal sizes are (hopefully) diligently and accurately calculated according to your RPO. But as time goes by, how many people actually check that Continue Reading

EMC – Self Help Pt2 : SolVe Desktop

** Updated August 2016** Some good news received today from Kirsty Allen from the SolVe desktop team @ EMC. SolVe Desktop has now been updated to include some new products; RecoverPoint VNX (1 & 2) VxRail Unity VMAX All Flash To get them included in your own catalog should just require Continue Reading

EMC VNX – Self Help using “MyDocs”

I’m a big believer in “helping yourself”. By researching and actually doing things, we learn, grow and become more self-sufficient. I’ve blogged before about what I sometimes refer to as hidden gems, in particular MiTrend. There are other tools from EMC that are very useful. The first is My Documents Continue Reading

EMC-VNX 1/2 and ESXi: Potential Data Unavailability

Another ETA hit my inbox over the weekend, this time relating to VNX/VNX2 and ESXi where a condition that could result in data being unavailable exists. If you are running a VNX and have a code base  of 05.32.000.5.219 or earlier or a VNX2 with codebase lower than 05.33.006.5.102 and earlier Continue Reading

EMC XtremIO V4.x – Add a Cluster to an existing XMS

The release of XtremIO V4 earlier this year delivered a lot of improvements to an already powerful package. One of the improvements I have been keen to explore was the ability to manage multiple clusters from a single XMS console. The benefits I see are obvious… A single management point for Continue Reading

Heads Up ! – EMC VNX1 – Potential Data Unavailability during NDU

First time in a little while, but another EMC TA bulletin arrived in my inbox last week. The inclusion of “potential data unavailability” in the subject got my attention. Full release here This particular bulletin affects only VNX Series 1 Arrays (5300, 5500, 5700 and 7500) that are upgrading to Continue Reading

EMC VPLEX Metro: Cluster Witness Server Maintenance

Although it’s not mandatory, the Cluster Witness Server (CWS) in a  VPLEX Metro Cluster serves a very important purpose as the arbitrator between inter-cluster network partition failures and actual cluster/site failures. It’s a lightweight (<3GB) VMware vm deployed from an OVA that establishes itself in a 3 way VPN between Continue Reading

EMC VPLEX – Quick tip: Recover lost admin password

We all have too many passwords to manage and despite our best intentions and practices, sometimes they get lost. This happened to me recently. When verifying some access before a code upgrade, I found the admin password I expected to work for VPLEX ( cli or Unisphere) did. not. work. Continue Reading

EMC RecoverPoint- Standalone VM Recovery

RecoverPoint is one of my favourite products. It’s unique, reliable and has helped me out of trouble on more than one occasion. Whilst most VM admins associate it with SRM and thus Site/LUN/Datastore recovery, it can also fill in an often overlooked gap in data protection. Pre and Post backup Continue Reading