HPE Primera
Last week, Hewlett Packard Enterprise introduced their new product- Primera. It’s a high-end storage platform which helps to redefine what is possible in mission-critical storage. The product combines the intelligence technology from the Nimble family of arrays with the reliability of the 3PAR array family.
Primera is ideal for mission-critical applications and large-scale consolidation for enterprises. Whereas, HPE Nimble Storage is suited more for business critical applications for small and medium enterprises.
3PAR customers will find that Primera does not support some of their favorite capabilities. Primera will not include the Adaptive Optimization Technology that 3PAR uses to tier data between hard disks. Some of the configurability of 3PAR is not available as well. Beta testers have found that it is taking an adjustment to get used to Primera doing the work for them vs having to do ongoing adjustments.
In today’s world, IT professionals are looking for something that eliminates the time needed to manage infrastructure. Primera helps consolidate and simplify. The main concerns for most organizations are availability and safety of one’s data.
Three Unique Experiences
HPE explained that Primera was built to deliver three unique experiences.
- On-demand experience that ensures infrastructure and data are instantly available.
- Application-aware resiliency: See beyond the storage layer combined with analytics to prevent issues from occurring.
- Predictive acceleration: Combining massively parallel architecture with embedded real-time analytics to ensure that applications and business processes are fast all of the time.
Intelligent Data
Like HPE’s other storage options, Primera will use InfoSight predictive analytics for optimizing performance and reliability. Significant breakthroughs include 93% less time spent on managing storage, the ability to predict and prevent issues, and accelerate application performance.
InfoSight looks at millions of sensors and gathers information to help predict and prevent several issues. An intelligent storage platform will allow for organizations to have agility and performance without hampering IT’s ability to keep up with new demands.
Key Features:
- “All-active” multi-node parallel architecture for resilience and scaling with instant failover capability. Allows for 122% faster Oracle performance.
- Data Services have been decoupled so they can be deployed and restarted independently of each other
- User-upgradable without reboots
- No Tuning Required – every resource is always balanced
- Timeless storage: Data-in place upgrades, free controller refresh, all-inclusive software.
- As-a-Service Experience: customers can pay for only what they use.
Keep It Simple
Simple is key in today’s fast paced IT world. As companies venture into more hybrid environments, it is more important for data to be managed appropriately.
Primera delivers a simple, user experience. It can be self-installed in less than 20 minutes. Storage can be provisioned in seconds. Software can be upgraded by customers in 5 minutes without disruption.
100% Availability
HPE offers a standard of 100 percent availability with this new unit. They promise to credit customers with “up to” 20 percent of the value of their Primera assets in the event of an outage. It comes standard with HPE Proactive Care. There is no requirement of any special contracts or onerous terms.
The product will be available in three array models: HPE Primera 630, HPE Primera 650 and HPE Primera 670. It comes in a 4U chassis with space for up to 24 SSDs, with 16 SAS-based slots and eight NVMe-based slots. The NVMe slots can also be used for storage-class memory such as Intel Optane.
Inside the Primera system are four nodes, each with two Intel Xeon processors. Each node has its own power supply with its own backup battery. The maximum memory that can be initially purchased is 2 terabytes.
HPE plans to sell all-flash and all-HDD models of Primera but customers will not be able to tier data between them. The expectation is that customers will buy the all-HDD models for special use cases such as video surveillance, medical imaging and online archives.
It will be available for order in August 2019. Shipments should be made soon after that. Contact a Zunesis account manager if you would like more information on this storage platform or any other storage solutions for your organization.
What is Linux?
Strictly speaking, Linux is the kernel, or core of Linux distributions. I like to think of the Linux kernel like the base plate for Legos. It’s where all other pieces attach to.
A distribution, or “distro” for short, is a complete operating system including a kernel, packages, package managers, and everything else needed. In other words, distros are pre-assembled building block sets depending on user preference and needs. Red Hat, SUSE, and Ubuntu are examples of some of the more popular distros. There are too many others to list here, but here are some resources to give you an idea.
Linux Use Cases
As a long time Linux user, I can understand why it didn’t take off as a general purpose operating system like MS Windows. There are just too many choices, differences between those choices, and perceived lack of standardization. There’s also the reputation of being difficult to use. Why then would anyone want to use Linux, instead of Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X for example? Like the number of distros, the number of Linux use cases is also very extensive, so I’ll cover just a few popular ones.
IoT
Open source software is typically free, though some commercially backed distros such as RHEL do charge subscription fees. Linux runs on many different types of hardware such as IoT devices, personal computers, networking equipment, load balancers, supercomputers, and just about anything it seems. It can run on very low end or less common hardware. This makes it perfect for IoT devices, where processing power may be limited, and cost needs to be kept down.
“The Cloud”
It also powers very high end hardware, including much of what powers “the cloud.” Servers powering the internet need a reliable operating system that can run continuously without downtime, while maintaining a high level of security. There are far fewer circumstances in which Linux based OSes require a reboot.
Though I wouldn’t recommend it for most use cases, it is certainly possible for Linux devices to run continuously for YEARS without a reboot. It is also much easier to avoid viruses and malware. This is great for web servers, databases, load balancers, routers, switches, firewalls, storage servers, virtual machine hypervisors, and many other pieces of critical IT infrastructure.
Containers
The trend to “containerize” everything has taken the world by storm. Though MS Windows containers are now an option, until recently Linux was your only option. It is a much more mature platform for containers. There is much better documentation and support for containers on Linux. It is much lighter weight which allows for much denser deployments, as well as portability.
One example of a popular container OS is Alpine Linux . ” It is built around musl libc and busybox. This makes it smaller and more resource efficient than traditional GNU/Linux distributions. A container requires no more than 8 MB and a minimal installation to disk requires around 130 MB of storage. Not only do you get a fully-fledged Linux environment but a large selection of packages from the repository.”
AI
AI, machine learning, and deep learning are also getting a lot of attention these days. Linux offers a number of advantages in this space, including better integration with containers. There are many examples and lots of documentation to help someone building an AI project on Ubuntu for example.
Want to train your model in the cloud, but deploy at the edge to a low powered IoT device and/or container? You will likely have a much easier time, along with better and more predictable results on Linux.
If you are considering an IoT or AI project, and/or the infrastructure required to support it, Zunesis has the expertise. Schedule an assessment today, we’d love to help!
In today’s fast- paced environment, it is easy to forget about your hardware support and renewals. With a maintenance and support agreement in place, your organization can avoid costly outages and loss of productivity and time. This enables you to focus on more strategic business objectives.
When You Renew
Remember, when you renew, you can:
- Download the latest software version and major releases for your product
- Secure your system with bug fixes and patches
- Manage your account and service requests
- Get expert technical support — online, by phone, email and chat
- Manage your licensing and assets as well as request license key assistance
HPE Renewal Cycles
Stay on top of your HPE renewal cycles and engage early with Zunesis to discuss your HPE support needs before you need them. I can assist you with the following:
- Extend expiring HPE Support Solutions with Post Warranty Support Services or convert to contract. Check your warranty status here.
- Renew HPE Contractual Services
- Consider co-termination to consolidate expiring stand-alone support services onto an existing contract renewal for reduced admin work and continuity of support.
- Upgrading or downgrading your maintenance when support needs change
Common Questions Regarding Renewals
- Why is it important to renew before my maintenance expires?
A renewal prior to expiration ensures continuous maintenance services and avoids additional fees when lapsed on support.
- What happens if I don’t want to renew my maintenance?
If your maintenance lapses, you will not have access to technical support or the use of upgrades, patches and a self-service knowledge base of HPE products. The downloads are inclusive of past, current and future versions of the product as well as bug fixes/patches.
- Why do I have to pay back maintenance fees if I lapse on support?
During any period of maintenance lapse, HPE continues to invest in product R&D to provide upgrades/newer versions. When you reinstate your maintenance, you receive the benefit of the developments that took place during the lapsed period.
- What is the return to service fee?
This is a late fee for contracts that were not renewed prior to their expiration date.
- Why is it important to stay current on support? Can’t I just pay as needed for technical support?
You can never predict when you will need support. A current maintenance contract ensures that support services are available if and when you do actually need them. Remember that a current support contract not only provides you with technical support, but you also continue to receive all the patches/fixes, updates and new versions of your software product.
- Can I renew just the maintenance and not support?
Your maintenance and support are combined under your contract.
- Can I do a partial maintenance renewal for my licensed product?
You must purchase maintenance for all copies of each licensed product or none at all for that product. You may not cancel maintenance on a subset of licenses to reduce maintenance fees.
As the dedicated Support Specialist for Zunesis, I’d be happy to work with you to review your existing environment, and to develop a plan to ensure that you have the confidence your equipment has the protection necessary to survive in today’s demanding IT world.
In today’s fast- paced environment, it is easy to forget about your hardware support and renewals. With a maintenance and support agreement in place, your organization can avoid costly outages and loss of productivity and time. This enables you to focus on more strategic business objectives.
When You Renew
Remember, when you renew, you can:
- Download the latest software version and major releases for your product
- Secure your system with bug fixes and patches
- Manage your account and service requests
- Get expert technical support — online, by phone, email and chat
- Manage your licensing and assets as well as request license key assistance
HPE Renewal Cycles
Stay on top of your HPE renewal cycles and engage early with Zunesis to discuss your HPE support needs before you need them. I can assist you with the following:
- Extend expiring HPE Support Solutions with Post Warranty Support Services or convert to contract. Check your warranty status here.
- Renew HPE Contractual Services
- Consider co-termination to consolidate expiring stand-alone support services onto an existing contract renewal for reduced admin work and continuity of support.
- Upgrading or downgrading your maintenance when support needs change
Common Questions Regarding Renewals
- Why is it important to renew before my maintenance expires?
A renewal prior to expiration ensures continuous maintenance services and avoids additional fees when lapsed on support.
- What happens if I don’t want to renew my maintenance?
If your maintenance lapses, you will not have access to technical support or the use of upgrades, patches and a self-service knowledge base of HPE products. The downloads are inclusive of past, current and future versions of the product as well as bug fixes/patches.
- Why do I have to pay back maintenance fees if I lapse on support?
During any period of maintenance lapse, HPE continues to invest in product R&D to provide upgrades/newer versions. When you reinstate your maintenance, you receive the benefit of the developments that took place during the lapsed period.
- What is the return to service fee?
This is a late fee for contracts that were not renewed prior to their expiration date.
- Why is it important to stay current on support? Can’t I just pay as needed for technical support?
You can never predict when you will need support. A current maintenance contract ensures that support services are available if and when you do actually need them. Remember that a current support contract not only provides you with technical support, but you also continue to receive all the patches/fixes, updates and new versions of your software product.
- Can I renew just the maintenance and not support?
Your maintenance and support are combined under your contract.
- Can I do a partial maintenance renewal for my licensed product?
You must purchase maintenance for all copies of each licensed product or none at all for that product. You may not cancel maintenance on a subset of licenses to reduce maintenance fees.
As the dedicated Support Specialist for Zunesis, I’d be happy to work with you to review your existing environment, and to develop a plan to ensure that you have the confidence your equipment has the protection necessary to survive in today’s demanding IT world.
Zunesis Recognized on CRN’s 2019 Solution Provider 500 List
DENVER, CO, June 3rd, 2019
Zunesis, announced today that CRN®, a brand of The Channel Company, has named Zunesis to its 2019 Solution Provider 500 list. This annual list ranks the largest North American IT channel partner organizations by revenue. The Solution Provider 500 is the industry standard for recognizing the highest performing technology integrators, strategic service providers and IT consultants. It is the industry’s predominant channel partner list, serving as a valuable resource for technology vendors looking to partner with top solution providers.
Zunesis was founded in 2004 and for more than 14 years now we have been focused on design, implementation, support and protection of our client’s IT Environments. Our team of IT Professionals average over 23 years of experience across all facets of the IT Infrastructure, including Compute, Storage, Backup/Recovery, Networking, Hyper-Visors, and Microsoft Server and Desktop.
“We are proud of the impact that Zunesis has had in the Rocky Mountain region with servicing our clients’ needs. ” commented Zunesis CEO, Steve Shaffer. ” “Since the beginning, we have believed that the client’s needs trump everything else and that making the lives of our clients better is a high and worthy calling.”
“The companies on this year’s list represent an incredible combined revenue of $320 billion, a sum that attests to their success in staying ahead of rapidly changing market demands,” said Bob Skelley, CEO of The Channel Company. “Congratulations to the solution provider organizations leading the way in digital transformation and the latest technology services.”
The complete 2019 Solution Provider 500 list is available online at www.CRN.com/SP500 and a sample from the list will be featured in the June issue of CRN Magazine.
About Zunesis
Zunesis, headquartered in Englewood, Colorado has been an HPE Platinum Partner for 14+ years. Zunesis has expert engineers in HPE server, storage and networking technologies along with common software applications like VMware and Microsoft. Zunesis serves clients large and small but our sweet spot is the mid-market organization – the heartbeat of the US economy. Our mission is to make the lives of our clients and community better. www.zunesis.com
Follow Zunesis: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
Zunesis Company Contact:
Rachael Stiedemann
Zunesis
rachael.stiedemann@zunesis.com
About The Channel Company
The Channel Company enables breakthrough IT channel performance with our dominant media, engaging events, expert consulting and education and innovative marketing services and platforms. As the channel catalyst, we connect and empower technology suppliers, solution providers and end users. Backed by more than 30 years of unequalled channel experience, we draw from our deep knowledge to envision innovative new solutions for ever-evolving challenges in the technology marketplace. www.thechannelcompany.com
Follow The Channel Company: Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook
Copyright ©2019. CRN is a registered trademark of The Channel Company, LLC. All rights reserved.
The Channel Company Contact:
Jennifer Hogan
The Channel Company
