Ask the Experts

Ask the Experts

• Star schema vs snowflake schema: Which is better?

  Yahoo’s data and business intelligence architect, Rohit Chatter, answers the latest debate, Star versus Snowflake schema, by breaking down the differences, one aspect at a time  Continue Reading

• Securing big data: Architecture tips for building security in

  Expert Matt Pascucci advises a reader on securing big data with tips for building security into enterprise big data architectures.  Continue Reading

• Techniques for preventing a brute force login attack

  A brute force login attack can enable an attacker to log in to an application and steal data. Rob Shapland explains how to prevent brute force attacks.  Continue Reading

• File upload security best practices: Block a malicious file upload

  Do your Web app users upload files to your servers? Find out the dangers of malicious file uploads and learn six steps to stop file-upload attacks.  Continue Reading

• Session fixation protection: How to stop session fixation attacks

  Session fixation attacks rely on poorly managed Web application cookies. Rob Shapland answers a reader’s question on session fixation protection.  Continue Reading

• The reasons for missing hard drive space on storage arrays

  If you installed disk and didn’t get the capacity you expected, the missing hard drive space can be a result of operating system calculations, formatting, RAID and use of hot spares.  Continue Reading

• Adding an old hard drive to RAID sets on servers

  When adding an old hard drive to RAID sets on servers, it’s important to account for factors such as the number of drive bays in the host. See how to configure the drives to the appropriate RAID format for the workload.  Continue Reading

• test CW eoc answer

  summary text for test CW eoc answer.  Continue Reading

• Fibre Channel over IP: What it is and what it’s used for

  Fibre Channel over IP bundles Fibre Channel frames into IP packets and can be a cost-sensitive solution to link remote fabrics where no dark fibre exists between sites.  Continue Reading

• Key steps for a successful SAN migration

  For a successful SAN migration, it’s key to understand your current environment and the future state of the SAN, as well as to carry out a testing phase against each platform and migration strategy.  Continue Reading

• Choosing a RAID level depends on capacity needs and data criticality

  In this Ask the Expert, Steve Pinder talks about which RAID level to choose, depending on the criticality of your data or the capacity required.  Continue Reading

• Planning a NAS migration project

  NAS migration requires careful planning around the needs of your organization. In this Ask the Expert, find out which approach to use for an effective migration.  Continue Reading

• RAID 5 explained: Sharing a 10 MB file among 5 drives

  Find out how RAID 5 handles sharing data shares data in a 10 MB file among five drives, including how striping and parity data figure into the equation.  Continue Reading

• Synchronous vs asynchronous replication: Order of events during data writes

  Learn about the order of events during data writes in synchronous vs asynchronous replication.  Continue Reading

• How to set up a Dell EqualLogic configuration in a VMware environment

  Find out what the key steps are for setting up a Dell EqualLogic configuration for an iSCSI SAN in a VMware virtual server environment.  Continue Reading

• SAN troubleshooting: What are the key steps and best practices when troubleshooting a SAN?

  Learn which tools you need to perform SAN troubleshooting, which metrics point to a sign of trouble, and why granular and regular data collection is important.  Continue Reading

• How does the RAID 5 calculation work?

  Learn how to determine how much capacity you'll have in a RAID 5 drive configuration.  Continue Reading

• What does the parity bit do in RAID?

  Find out how the use of a parity bit protects RAID groups and how it's used as a method for error detection.  Continue Reading

• Dynamic code analysis vs. static analysis source code testing

  Managing vulnerabilities involves a wide array of security testing, including both dynamic and static source code analysis. Learn how the two differ, as well as how they are performed in this expert response.  Continue Reading

• RAID 5 recovery: What is the maximum number of physical drives in a RAID 5 configuration?

  Adding drives to a RAID 5 set increases your ROI and the likelihood of simultaneous drive failures, and lengthens RAID rebuild times. So what should be your physical drive limit?  Continue Reading

• Do all drives in a RAID 10 array need to be the same specification?

  We tell you the one requirement when matching drive specs in a RAID 10 array. But will mixing drives of various performance levels compromise your RAID level?  Continue Reading

• RAID 10 vs RAID 50: What is the best way to configure a storage array with 16 1 TB drives?

  Learn the characteristics of RAID 10 and RAID 50, as well as which RAID level is appropriate for your applications. I/O and protection needs contribute to your RAID choice.  Continue Reading

• Fibre Channel SAN zoning: Pros and cons of WWN zoning and port zoning

  Learn the difference between World Wide Name zoning (WWN zoning) and port zoning, as well as the pros and cons of each on a Fibre Channel storage-area network (Fibre Channel SAN).  Continue Reading

• RAID 10 vs. RAID 1: Mirrored drives matter

  While RAID 10 and RAID 1 are both mirroring technologies that utilise half the available drives for data, a crucial difference is the number of drives they can use in a RAID group.  Continue Reading

• RAID 10: How many disk drives should you use?

  The minimum number of drives required for RAID 10 is four. RAID 10 should not be confused with RAID 0+1, which involves creating two RAID 0 stripe sets and then mirroring them.  Continue Reading

• What is a LUN and why do we need storage LUNs?

   Continue Reading

• RAID 5 configuration: How to calculate disk space for data storage and parity storage

  Find out how to calculate the disk space available for data storage and how much disk space is utilised for parity storage in a RAID 5 configuration.  Continue Reading

• NAS Backup: What are my options?

   Continue Reading

• What are the dangers of using Facebook, other social networking sites?

  Ken Munro discusses the dangers associated with allowing employees to access social networking sites such as Facebook, and explains how corporations can avoid these risks by monitoring the information placed in employee profiles and using email ...  Continue Reading

• Disk-based backup vs. tape

  Get advice on choosing disk versus tape for small businesses.  Continue Reading