Month: February 2012

The Future of Flash & SSDs Is Not-So-Bleak

Team_SSSI

You have have seen articles about the study by a UCSD researcher that says future of Flash (and NAND Flash-based SSDs)  is bleak: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/021612-ssds-have-a-bleak-future-256255.html?source=NWWNLE_nlt_daily_am_2012-02-20

Well, SSSI member Allyn Malventano of PC Perspectives begs to differ: http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Editorial/NAND-Flash-Memory-Future-Not-So-Bleak-After-All

 

SNIA ESF Sponsored Webinar on Advances in NFSv4

Jason Blosil

Good news.

The SNIA Ethernet Storage Forum (ESF) will be presenting a live webinar on the topic of NFS version 4, including version 4.1 (RFC 5661) as well as a glimpse of what is being considered for version 4.2. The expert on the topic will be Alex McDonald, SNIA NFS SIG co-chair. Gary Gumanow, ESF Board Member will moderate the webinar.

The webinar will begin at 8am PT / 11am ET. You can register for this BrightTalk hosted event here http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/663/41389.

The webinar will be interactive, so feel free to ask questions of the guest speaker. Questions will be addressed live during the webinar. Answers to questions not addressed during the webinar will be included with answers from the webinar on a blog post after the event on the SNIA ESF blog.

So, get registered. We’ll see you on the 29th.

Recommended Reading List on SSDs and Performance

Team_SSSI

SSSI has developed an extensive library of educational materials about SSD performance and how to use the SSS Performance Test Specifications to measure it.  If you’re new to SSDs or simply want to become more knowledgeable on the subject, we can help.

Below is a list of white papers, presentations, webcasts, and even a video that discuss SSDs, SSD performance and how it should be measured.  The list is in the recommended order of reading / viewing, and ranges from basic overviews to technical details.  Hope you find this useful.

  1. What more logical place to start than Solid State Storage 101?  This white paper talks about SSDs, how they work and how they fit into system architectures.
  2. Another white paper, NAND Flash Solid State Storage for the Enterprise, looks at Flash memory in more detail and how SSD controllers work.
  3. Facing an SSS Decision? Here is How SNIA is Helping Users Evaluate SSS Performance is a presentation that starts to delve into SSD performance and the basic principles of the SSS Performance Test Specification.
  4. The presentation Validating SSS Performance also introduces the SSS PTS, but in additional detail.
  5. The Solid State Storage Performance Test Specification (SSS PTS) White Paper provides an easily understandable introduction to the SSS PTS.
  6. Here’s a video of our own Eden Kim Describing the SSS PTS at Storage Visions 2012.
  7. SNIA Solid State Storage Test Specification is a more technical description of the contents of the SSS PTS.
  8. Now that you’ve read all about them, the actual SSS PTS documents can be downloaded here.
  9. And finally, SSSI has put together a webpage on Understanding SSD Performance, which explains the test results generated from the SSS PTS and what they mean to users.

You can find a lot of other informative material related to SSDs on the SSSI Education page.

If you have any questions, comments or requests, please comment on this post or send a message to asksssi@snia.org.