Click here to receive your FREE subscription to Campus Technology
News
U Wisconsin Research Center Migrates to iSCSI SAN
5/13/2008
The University of Wisconsin Center for Health Systems Research & Analysis has chosen the StorMagic SM Series, an iSCSI-based Storage Area Network (SAN) hardware and software solution to replace a legacy storage system.The Madison-based center works frequently with large existing data sets containing Medicare, Medicaid and, occasionally, private insurance company claims information to study quality of care in Wisconsin. In his role as director of information systems, Richard Ross has done extensive research into data storage options for the center's applications and databases.
"We had been using a storage area network with about 3 TB of usable space," said Ross. "We installed that system in 2001 with 3 TB, but it eventually became very undependable. The vendor offered to let us exchange it for an [enterprise SAN] at an affordable price. The SAN worked well, and we never had a problem with it, but it had far more features than we needed, and once the initial service contract expired, it would have been extremely expensive to renew. Also, since the sale price didn't cover expansion, any growth in the system would have been prohibitively expensive as well."
For that reason, the system has remained at its original 3 TB installed size. Now that is five years old and no longer under warranty, Ross has transitioned it to what he calls "secondary storage." This includes development applications, and archived file and print operations. "Unfortunately, the system has become too costly to maintain, so we are phasing it out," he said. In preparation for that transition, the center has installed the newer iSCSI-based system from StorMagic.
Sikich, an IT infrastructure services firm in Aurora, IL, coordinated the acquisition process and provided the on-site support during the installation. "We installed the StorMagic system and found that we could achieve read/write speeds equivalent to those of the EMC SAN," said Ross. "We are planning to use the system's ability to automate migration. We also like the capability of automatically expanding [logical unit numbers] when a user-set threshold is passed. It reduces the need to manage on a day-to-day basis. We will just set the thresholds and let the system grow automatically."
The StorMagic SM Series SAN has a Windows-based interface for storage management, which allows the administrator to share storage between servers without disruption to users and without adding additional hardware.
Ross said he's happy with his choice. "If things continue to go well, we will phase out the [legacy] SAN system before summer and run everything on StorMagic, which will simplify our operations."
Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business. Send your higher education technology news to her at dian@dischaffhauser.com.
Cite this Site
copy text (above) for proper citation
Recommended Reading
- IBM Unveils New Software Designed To Streamline eDiscovery
IBM has announced the release of new Enterprise Content Management (ECM) software specifically designed to meet the needs of clients dealing with complex legal discovery requirements. The eDiscovery solutions expand on IBM's ECM platform and are intended to give organizations greater control of digitally stored documents in an effort to reduce costs and streamline the discovery process involved in litigation.
- Microsoft Releases SQL Server 2008 to Manufacturing
Microsoft has released SQL Server 2008 to manufacturing (RTM) and, as an evaluation edition, to subscribers of its Microsoft Development Network and TechNet services, the company announced Wednesday.
- Security Woes Up, as PHP and OSS Make the List
Software vulnerabilities are up this year, especially Web browser-based ones, according to a new report from IBM Internet Security Systems. The X-Force 2008 Mid-Year Trend Statistics Report, released in late July, defined the problem broadly. A vulnerability is anything that results "in a weakening or breakdown of the confidentiality, integrity, or accessibility of the computing system."
- Textbook Publishing in a Flat World
According to the National Association of College Stores in a 2007 survey, the average cost of a new college textbook was $53. The founders of Flat World Knowledge, which launches with its first run of college textbooks this fall, consider that too high--so high, in fact, that they'll be offering textbooks for free, at least in versions that can be read online.
- CourseCast 2.0 Adds Podcasting, Streaming Media Features to Free Lecture Capture System
Panopto has released CourseCast 2.0, an update to the company's classroom capture system that's available free to academic users. CourseCast 2.0 had previously been available as part of Panopto's beta program for educators since June.
- It IS about Technology: Integrating Higher Ed into Knowledge Culture
For more than twenty years, we educational technologists have talked about "integrating information technology into higher education." The implication was that education would stay the same and information technology would benignly slip in and cause no ruckus at all. This rhetoric no longer applies, if it ever did, and does a disservice to us as we work through the intricacies of this age.
