Managing IT workloads can hog resources because of rising server management tasks, call center support requirements, and maintenance costs. Workload flexibility products from Double-Take Software can help drastically reduce the time and expense of desktop and server provisioning and management, while helping increase the level of control over current infrastructures. This discussion provides an opportunity to look into the benefits of managing IT workloads that are run from an Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage area network (SAN) array using Double-Take® Flex software:

• Ethernet NICs on blades can perform diskless boots from iSCSI.
• A five-click setup can make any Microsoft® Windows® server into an iSCSI SAN and provide shared modes for the iSCSI storage that allow access to shared volumes for multiple servers or workstations.
• One unique boot volume per machine or one boot volume that can be shared among multiple machines can be created for bulletproofing desktops.
• Volumes can be quickly duplicated using snapshot or cloning features specific to an iSCSI storage vendor for efficient deployment.
  
• Centralized management provides shared access to network storage to help reduce the cost of managing workloads and restore failed drives to their original states.

Technical Community - Background Reading

• Managed Blade Servers with Double-Take Flex
• Learn how to enable existing Ethernet connections on blades to perform diskless boots from iSCSI.
• Double-Take Flex Data Sheet
• Create shared boot volumes that can be provisioned once and assigned to many machines to boot from iSCSI SAN.
• Double-Take Flex Product Page
• Reduce the time and expense of desktop and server provisioning and management.

Chat Transcript

RogerFaucher	What's up with the Nehalem presentation?
erson	What presentation?
wb-wpb	Today was supposed to be the iSCSI Flex product...don't know what happened
erson	Double-Take Flex is today’s topic. It starts in ~45 minutes
wb-wpb	Pesky Central time conversion...
RogerFaucher	Thanks. Scott Hanson told me there would be a Nehalem performance chat at 1 PM CDT. I just realized I'm a little early for that. I thought Double-Take was tomorrow?
erson	Rogerfaucher, the Nehalem chat was last Tuesday at 1 PM CDT. Transcript and other information is available here: www.delltechcenter.com/page/03-31-09+intel+next-generation+microarchitecture
RogerFaucher	Aha! Thank you! Make a great day
erson	It was a good chat. Next week it's Dell PowerEdge 11th-generation hardware overview, so it's a good time to talk about Nehalem as well. Rogerfaucher, anything in particular that you wanted to ask about Nehalem?
DELL-ScottH	Look at all you early birds...what's been going on around here?
erson	Rogerfaucher thought it was a Nehalem chat
DELL-ScottH	Erson, thanks for directing Roger to last week’s chat page
DELL-ScottH	Just saw that, thanks
erson	And wb-wpb had some time-zone conversion problems (been there, done that)
DELL-ScottH	@roger, the Intel guys that were on last week hang out here: http://communities.intel.com/openport/community/server. So if you have questions directly to them you can ping them on that site. Or you can start a thread on the Nehalem transcript page here, and they should see it too
DELL-ScottH	We need one time zone to rule them all!
erson	I vote for UTC
DELL-ScottH	I vote for IST...I love being off my half-hour :-)
DELL-ScottH	s/my/by
RogerFaucher	Thanks guys. I'll check out the chat transcript and use Scott's link if I need more info. Gracias!
DELL-ScottH	De nada
erson	Can we expect some guests from Double-Take today?
DELL-ScottH	Yes, Brace Rennels, @brennels on Twitter, and another technical person from Double-Take will be leading the chat today. I haven't installed their solution in the lab yet, so I'm interested in this chat to learn more myself
erson	Yes, that new Star Trek movie looks great
wantmoore	The new Terminator flick looks sweet too
erson	/me reads up on the Twitter-thingy...
erson	Wantmoore, sure do, Bale doesn't seem to have made a bad movie in a very long time
DELL-ScottH	Hey wantmoore, yeah did you guys see that in Austin they actually showed the whole movie to an audience that thought they were getting a 10 minute trailer?
wantmoore	No way, that’s awesome
DELL-ScottH	http://tinyurl.com/dg9ncx. Leonard Nimoy was here! I'm sooo mad
erson	Best Star Trek movie of all time is of course Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
wantmoore	That’s hilarious
DELL-ScottH	No way. Star Trek: Wrath of Kahn! :-)
wantmoore	Maybe we should just debate iSCSI versus FC. Probably have a similar outcome
DELL-ScottH	Oh yeah
erson	FC is dead
DELL-ScottH	That would be more along the lines of a Star Trek versus Star Wars discussion :-)
erson	The FC crowd seems to get behind FCoE
wantmoore	Yeah, they think that’s their saving grace
erson	Think I read some strong opinions about that on Dell community. More exactly here: http://en.community.dell.com/blogs/insideit/default.aspx
erson	Hmmm, that's not pretty exact :)
erson	Hi Dt_toronto
DT_Toronto	Hello
DELL-ScottH	Hello DT
DELL-ScottH	Or does that stand for the whole Double-Take (DT) Toronto team? :-)
DT_Toronto	That is correct—Toronto team—engineering group behind Flex
DELL-ScottH	Cool, nice to know...Brace should be here in a second
DELL-ScottH	Hello all. The chat starts in about 8 minutes. Couple of things to note: if you click links you might get exited from the chat; if you right-click them you can avoid this
DELL-ScottH	Hello brace
DELL-ScottH	The Toronto engineering team (dt_toronto) is on too
brennels	Hi Scott
ESPettit	Hi guys...don't know if I can stay long, but will try. Thanks
DELL-ScottH	Hello justpaul
justpaul	Hey, Scotth
DELL-ScottH	Espettit, stay as long as you like; you can read the transcript tomorrow on the same link that got you here, and you can ask any follow-up questions on that page. We will officially kick off in a few minutes
ESPettit	Cool, good to know
DELL-ScottH	Idle chit chat till then
DELL-ScottH	FYI, don't worry about writing any URLs down that are mentioned today; you can click them in the transcript tomorrow
justpaul	Re Star Wars versus Star Trek, should we wait for the JJ Abrams re-imagining before making a final determination? :)
DELL-ScottH	Yes, but some Austin folks got to see the whole movie last night! http://tinyurl.com/dg9ncx
brennels	Hi Scott, how do you attach URLs to the chat?
DELL-ScottH	Just copy and paste
brennels	Not working for some reason—let me try again
DELL-ScottH	Use Shift-Ins for the paste
justpaul	Img, I live in Dallas... I could have made it
brennels	If anyone Twitters, you can use the hashtag #dell-dtflex for this session
DELL-ScottH	Just tweeted the start; usually this is when people start to come in
DELL-ScottH	Welcome Cristian
erson	Phew, it premieres early here in Sweden as well
Cristian_Lamson	Hello Scott
DELL-ScottH	Welcome everyone! Let's kick it off and late comers can catch up
brennels	There are a few documents posted on the chat session page for preview, including a Double-take Flex data sheet
DELL-ScottH	Thanks to everyone for joining the chat session today. Couple of quick housekeeping things. Very informal, ask questions anytime, and don't worry about interrupting. We can sort it all out in real time :-)
DELL-ScottH	The chat is recorded, so you can view the transcript tomorrow on this same link that got you here. So don't worry about writing down URLs Also, right-click URLs or you might exit from the chat. If you do get exited, just click Action, Recent Room History and it will show you what you missed
DELL-ScottH	I'd like to welcome Brace Rennels (brennels) from Double-Take Software and the Toronto engineering team from Double-Take (dt_toronto) to today's session to take us through the new Double-Take Flex solution. Brace, all yours!
brennels	Thanks Scott, so to get everyone up to speed we can start with what Double-Take Flex is. I am having some problems attaching URLs right now, but all the briefs and data sheets can be found at www.doubletake.com
DELL-ScottH	I'll get the links
erson	Product Overview: www.doubletake.com/documents/flex/flex_datasheet.pdf
brennels	Double-Take Flex allows you to provision workstations and servers from iSCSI storage quickly
DELL-ScottH	Here’s the data sheet: www.doubletake.com/documents/flex/flex_datasheet.pdf
DELL-ScottH	Dang erson, you're too fast :-)
brennels	Thanks, erson
DELL-ScottH	Here's the main product page: www.doubletake.com/english/products/double-take-flex/pages/default.aspx
wantmoore	Scott, hanging out in IRC chats gives you mad typing skills
DELL-ScottH	So Brace, what's the 10,000 foot description of Flex?
brennels	You can also turn any direct attached storage on a Windows server into iSCSI storage if you don't already have a fly EqualLogic
DELL-ScottH	"Fly," is that a technical term? :-)
erson	Pretty fly for a white guy?
DELL-ScottH	So that's bundled as part of the Flex solution. iSCSI...sounds neat, you have paper on that?
wantmoore	Oh cool. Kinda like SANmelody
brennels	DT, Flex allows you to create shared access to your network storage for rapidly provisioning either workstations or servers
DELL-ScottH	So I could take a PowerEdge 1950 with PowerVault MD1000 and turn into a poor man's PowerVault MD3000i?
brennels	Yes, and then you can share a boot image on that iSCSI storage to boot multiple machines simultaneously
DELL-ScottH	Hello Miked. Use Action, Recent Room History to catch up
erson	When using Double-Take Flex to make a Windows server an iSCSI target, does it support "persistent reservations" in "SCSI Primary Commands-3"?
DELL-ScottH	And Miked gets respect :-)
erson	So that Hyper-V failover clustering will work?
DT_Toronto	Yes, iSCSI-3 persistent reservations are supported
MikeD_DT	Well, I do from brennels, anyway =)
brennels	It also enables using existing Ethernet NICs on blades to perform a diskless boot from iSCSI
justpaul	Shared images are only available using sanFly (as opposed to my NetApp filer) correct?
DT_Toronto	Shared images are supported using local RAM or local HD storage as well
DELL-ScottH	And I meant the PowerEdge R610 in the example...have to slap myself to start using the new Dell 11th-generation server names :-)
DT_Toronto	In other words, you can use NetApp or EqualLogic or MD, etc. for shared images
DELL-ScottH	So with Flex I can point my chassis, or rack of blades, to this iSCSI software target and have one image that boots them all?
DELL-ScottH	Like, one "ring" to rule them all?
DT_Toronto	Yes
DELL-ScottH	Where do the unique attributes get stored for the individual blades? In some config file? How large is that?
erson	I assume that could be used in a read-only fashion as well so that reboots always give you a server/workstation in pristine condition?
DT_Toronto	Individual data is stored in a file
brennels	Yep, and you can also have multiple disk images with different operating systems and can share those images to have a single/multiple server(s) boot multiple operating systems, if needed
DELL-ScottH	I'm starting to get it. So if I wanted to change what a server/blade was doing, all I have to do is remap what iSCSI boot target it points at, correct? So it could be a Windows box one minute and a Linux box the next?
DT_Toronto	If Flex Storage Server, that individual data can be stored on the same location as the .vhd file (target) or located elsewhere
DELL-ScottH	Hello Rob_d. Use Action, Recent Room History to catch up
DT_Toronto	Scott, can present multiple operating systems (targets) as a menu item if desired. A reboot is all that is needed to reselect an OS/different target
DELL-ScottH	Really? You have a screen shot of that? Sort of like the old "menu" option in the autoexec.bat with DOS. That is cool
justpaul	^screenshot
DELL-ScottH	No, I actually wanted to shoot my screen :-)
DT_Toronto	Screen shot is available; looks a lot like a DOS bat file
DELL-ScottH	Very neat; I've got to get this up and running in my lab
brennels	I do have a few screen shots of Flex and can post on the usergroup.doubletake.com for viewing
DELL-ScottH	Is there any automation to it?
DT_Toronto	Menu list can be set as failover, in case target #1 is not reachable, target#2 is tried, etc.
DELL-ScottH	Those would be great to see. Can you post the links back on the main chat page when you do that?
justpaul	Anyone going to talk about persistence and shared images?
DT_Toronto	All items in both consoles (storage and Flex management) are WMI scriptable
DELL-ScottH	Yes, interested in that too
DT_Toronto	Justpaul, what would you like to know about persistence/shared images?
justpaul	How are users’ data separated from the image?
DT_Toronto	We use a write filter to separate those out. In other words, the target master image is read-only; any and all writes are put elsewhere
justpaul	So changes are stored in delta files?
erson	And that was stored in a .vhd file?
DELL-ScottH	So can I specify that I want a non-persistent session, so it goes back when the machine reboots?
DT_Toronto	The deltas, or caches, as we call them, can be committed back to the master image
DELL-ScottH	Oh, "can" be
DT_Toronto	Master image is a .vhd file when using Flex Storage
erson	Okay
justpaul	Okay, here's a scenario: a user has booted master image A, made changes (stored in delta). Now, I have a new image with the latest version of Microsoft Office that I would like to deploy. Would the deltas be destroyed when assigning the new image to the user's computer?
DT_Toronto	Can I specify that I want a non-persistent session, so it goes back when the machine reboots. Yes
DT_Toronto	Yes, true today. Deltas would be gone upon committal of master image
justpaul	NDA?
DT_Toronto	We are working on a solution to this
erson	So no persistent sessions then without committing the cache back to the master image?
DT_Toronto	Not true; persistent sessions stay on. Does not require a commit
erson	Okay, great
brennels	Good information
DT_Toronto	NDA = ?
justpaul	Non-disclosure agreement regarding future plans
DT_Toronto	Nothing here so far is NDA
DELL-ScottH	And please no NDA stuff on the chat, as it’s recorded and public :-)
DELL-ScottH	Hey, did you guys know you can right-click on a person and send them a private message in the chat? ;-)
erson	Very timely information there :)
brennels	I think something else that is neat is that workstations can use local CPU for process-intensive applications, so the loads don't saturate the SAN
erson	Is there any advantage to using Double-Take Flex to provide my NICs with the possibility to boot from iSCSI even though my NICs already have that capability?
DT_Toronto	Absolutely. Centralized management of that ability
justpaul	Graphics and video responsiveness is a boon as well
DT_Toronto	Also, we support full ISOE [Internet SCSI (iSCSI) Offload Engine] and TOE [TCP Offload Engine] capabilities of Broadcom NICs on Dell (and other) platforms under iSCSI boot
DELL-ScottH	So I don't have to touch the BIOS of each machine to change the iSCSI boot target. Can do that in the Double-Take Flex console, right?
DT_Toronto	Yes, all done from one console. Much easier
justpaul	ISOE and TOE = very cool!
DELL-ScottH	Do you guys have a demo recorded where I could see it in action?
erson	Feels like Flex would be a great addition to most VDI setups
DT_Toronto	What in particular would you like to see?
DT_Toronto	We complement VDI
justpaul	Speaking of plans, is there a plan for Flex to find its way into the road warrior environment?
brennels	Working on a video and should have a camtasia demo coming soon
DELL-ScottH	Just an overview...console, boot menu, booting the servers/workstations
DT_Toronto	Operating systems can be streamed into Virtual Machine Streaming; OS into VMs can improve VDI server utilization by 15 percent*
DELL-ScottH	@brennels, cool, let me know when you have it
DT_Toronto	Road warrior: nothing public
brennels	@dell-scotth, I thought we had Flex in the Dell test lab a few weeks ago or has that been removed by now?
DELL-ScottH	That was a different lab—not mine
DT_Toronto	Was in two Dell labs
DELL-ScottH	I have to carve off some time to play with it...or finish my time machine
brennels	@dt_tornto, can't you use snapshot and clone functions of iSCSI as well?
DT_Toronto	Yes, in terms of (if not using Flex), that would be the way to quickly deploy new desktops or server boot images that are clones of another: sysprep, seal, copy/clone/snap, assign in Flex console, rinse, and repeat—if not using Flex Storage server, I mean
justpaul	Flex Storage server = sanFly?
DT_Toronto	Yes
erson	What do I need in terms of hardware for the management console?
DT_Toronto	Nothing exciting; runs on a basic XP machine. Does not consume lots of memory, I/O, resources
erson	Web-based interface?
DT_Toronto	No
brennels	I smell new on a new Dell :)
DT_Toronto	MMC 3.0
justpaul	Erson wants to run it on his iPhone
brennels	How does booting from a SAN improve security for workstations?
erson	The iPhone is that new phone that all the geeks have, right? ;)
DELL-ScottH	Yeah, and we all tweet from it :-)
DT_Toronto	Data taken of a local HD and put in backroom storage
brennels	So when the workstation boots up the next day it has access to the same data
brennels	Can you replicate the boot images offsite for DR?
DT_Toronto	Sure, actually a cool feature when used with the migration capability. A downed IBM server booting from a SAN can take a Dell server, point it to the same IBM image, run our migration tool, and then reboot that Dell server to use that image the IBM was using
DELL-ScottH	Hello uoeap, use Action, Recent Room History to catch up
brennels	Would that be in combination with Double-Take Move?
justpaul	Is it possible to cache the image to the local HD? (For extra credit, use Double-Take’s replication technology for ensuring updates)
brennels	@justpaul, Nice :)
DT_Toronto	That native migration function, called Winmigr8, is native to Flex. It offers basic P2V2P migration capabilities. We have a utility (systemcopy) that can be used in reverse to bring the SAN boot image back down to the local HD and is then bootable
justpaul	That's more like disconnecting the master image instead of caching it, right?
DT_Toronto	Well, yes, in the case where you would want to move back to local HD booting...copy is VSS enabled; although, there are lots of advantages to booting from the SAN (another conversation)
justpaul	Scenario: we have three sites. Using one SAN storage, I would like the remote sites to download a copy to minimize WAN traffic. As a new image is created, I would like to replicate (or push) it down to the remote PCs. Once fully sent, offer that image as the primary boot image on reboot.
justpaul	Okay, "download a copy to minimize WAN traffic" didn't sound right at all. Maybe download during off-peak hours or stream...yeah, stream while caching the contents to the hard drive
DT_Toronto	Can work with that. FTP one image, say a single .vhd boot image (if using Flex Storage) or using native EqualLogic mirror capabilities or the like, and then get into the console and assign it out to remote PCs...this could work
DELL-ScottH	We are getting close to the end of the hour...please feel free to stay on as long as you like. I just wanted to make sure to thank the Double-Take team for joining us today, and let everyone know about the Double-Take user community: http://usergroup.doubletake.com/
brennels	Thanks Scott, and thanks for everyone who joined
justpaul	Thanks to the Double-Take and Dell teams
DELL-ScottH	And remind everyone that the transcript will be posted tomorrow. If there are further questions, you can ask them directly on the page. I appreciate everyone coming out today!
brennels	Don't forget to check out the briefs attached to the session for a little more information. Take care
justpaul	Okay, so throwing an idea out there: boot from the SAN with local caching capabilities. That way, with a shared, static image, each machine would theoretically only download a block of data once (until the image is changed/updated.) Also, theoretically, the cache could eventually become the full image, but the user would have to request every block before that happened
erson	Nice chat everyone. Thanks to the Double-Take team! Getting late here in Sweden, so I better log off. See you next chat
DELL-ScottH	Thanks erson!
brennels	Thanks erson, have a good night
DELL-ScottH	Yes thanks very much to the Toronto team
DT_Toronto	We can do that, using local caches, commit that delta back to a master to the SAN
brennels	A special thanks to the Toronto team
erson	And yes, now that I'm on Twitter I will actually try to post something also. :)
justpaul	@dt_toronto, Cool, I have the trial and will try to set something like that up. Thanks!
erson	Hoping for some PowerEdge R710/EqualLogic PS6000/PowerConnect 6248 action soon-ish, so that might be twitter-worthy
wantmoore	I'm still waiting on Scott to send me my demo PowerEdge R710s
erson	/me gets to bed but keeps session open to not miss any further talk that doesn't make it to Scotth’s transcript
DELL-ScottH	@wantmoore, oh, I'm supposed to put them on the truck?
wantmoore	*Shakes head*
erson	Scotth, at least show us some pictures from the lab
DELL-ScottH	@erson, lol, yeah lots of stuff doesn't make it
DELL-ScottH	Pic…
wantmoore	If you'd send me some servers, you could fit that Xsigo in the rack
DELL-ScottH	Link in a sec…
wantmoore	I’m just trying to help
DELL-ScottH	www.delltechcenter.com/album/19628/techcenter+lab+r805s+arrive
DT_Toronto	No more questions? Then heading out. Can e-mail me at smarfisi@doubletake.com if any technical questions, scenarios, etc.
DELL-ScottH	Thanks again!
DT_Toronto	You are quite welcome...bye!