Preface; The Team Who Wrote This Book - IBM N Series Hardware Manual

Preface

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides a detailed look at the features, benefits, and
capabilities of the IBM System Storage® N series hardware offerings.
The IBM System Storage N series systems can help you tackle the challenge of effective data
management by using virtualization technology and a unified storage architecture. The
N series delivers low- to high-end enterprise storage and data management capabilities with
midrange affordability. Built-in serviceability and manageability features help support your
efforts to increase reliability; simplify and unify storage infrastructure and maintenance; and
deliver exceptional economy.
The IBM System Storage N series systems provide a range of reliable, scalable storage
solutions to meet various storage requirements. These capabilities are achieved by using
network access protocols such as Network File System (NFS), Common Internet File System
(CIFS), HTTP, and iSCSI, and storage area network technologies such as Fibre Channel.
Using built-in Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) technologies, all data is
protected with options to enhance protection through mirroring, replication, Snapshots, and
backup. These storage systems also have simple management interfaces that make
installation, administration, and troubleshooting straightforward.
In addition, this book also addresses high-availability solutions including clustering and
MetroCluster supporting highest business continuity requirements. MetroCluster is a unique
solution that combines array-based clustering with synchronous mirroring to deliver
continuous availability.
This is a companion book to IBM System Storage N series Software Guide, SG24-7129. This
book can be found at:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247129.html?Open

The team who wrote this book

This book was produced by a team of specialists from around the world working at the
International Technical Support Organization, San Jose Center.
Roland Tretau is an Information Systems professional with over 15 years of experience in the
IT industry. He holds Engineering and Business Masters degrees, and is the author of many
storage-related IBM Redbooks publications. Roland has a solid background in project
management, consulting, operating systems, storage solutions, enterprise search
technologies, and data management.
Jeff Lin is a Client Technical Specialist for the IBM Sales & Distribution Group in San Jose,
California, USA. He holds degrees in engineering and biochemistry, and has six years of
experience in IT consulting and administration. Jeff is an expert in storage solution design,
implementation, and virtualization. He has a wide range of practical experience, including
Solaris on SPARC, IBM AIX®, IBM System x®, and VMWare ESX.
Dirk Peitzmann is a Leading Technical Sales Professional with IBM Systems Sales in
Munich, Germany. Dirk is an experienced professional providing technical pre-sales and
post-sales solutions for IBM server and storage systems. His areas of expertise include
designing virtualization infrastructures and disk solutions as well as carrying out performance
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2012. All rights reserved.
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