Customer Reviews

Information Storage and Management: Storing, Managing, and Protecting Digital Information

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Over the past decade the world has witnessed an exponential growth of information and the rapid development of the storage technology industry. While both are certainly two sides of the same coin, it is debatable whether the former inspired the latter, or vice versa. Either way, storage technology has become a field of knowledge and information, in itself, and as such necessitates a didactic approach. The non-profit trade association - SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) - aims to lead the storage industry in developing and promoting educational services, and has accordingly developed a vendor-neutral certification program and courses. SNIA did not however publish any definitive textbook that would lay the foundation for an accessible storage networking's body of knowledge. This gap has been filled in the past years by several authors and vendors. EMC's "Information Storage and Management" (ISM) is the latest textbook of this kind.

Starting with the bottom line, I would say that ISM is a well-written and coherent book. It succeeds in introducing the main theoretical issues of storage networking without ever losing its audience. As with all storage networking books ISM is also divided into several main sections - storage system, storage networking technologies and virtualization, business continuity, storage security and management. However, the book's new approach here is that each chapter ends with helpful real-life examples from the vast variety of EMC's product line. Considering this, the theoretical part of the book is short. This is, in my opinion, the main virtue of the book - being succinct and deep at the same time, the editors - G Somasundaram and Alok Shrivastava, have skillfully conveyed their massage. Novice readers, as well as experienced IT and storage practitioners, will benefit from reading the book.

Nonetheless, the book suffers from a few flows, mainly in neglecting to get into details regarding some emerging technologies and concepts like green storage, cloud storage, de-duplication SSD and FCoE. I believe that adding these issues would not have compromised the book's coherency and brevity.

Another aspect of ISM is that one can use it as study guide for EMC's E20-001 exam, leading to EMC Proven Professional Associate certification. Plainly, EMC has intended the book not only to promote the theoretical knowledge of storage networking in the IT and academic communities, but also to initiate them into "the EMC path". This dual goal (as seen also in the usage of EMC products as examples in each theoretical chapter) is unavoidable and in my opinion should not be frowned upon. On the contrary, following "Information Storage and Management" I believe that EMC education services should publish additional books that will further enhance general knowledge of storage networking. Two likely candidates that will most certainly benefit both the general public and EMC are "Storage Networking Design and Management" and "Information Availability Design and Management".

I have been working with storage and related technologies for over 10 years now.
This book fills a void in the Storage/SAN world. There arent too many good texts available for a beginner who wants to learn about storage technologies. Even the few texts that are available are from the vendors and yes, I realize that this one is from a vendor as well, but this text tries to be very neutral, and is written from a user/learner point of view.
It is organized well, starting with explaining the various terms, and then moving on to description of RAID and then describing specific storage technologies. An experienced professional might not be too impressed at the depth of coverage of advanced SAN techonologies. However, the book isnt aimed at that class of readers.

In summary, this book is great if you are a beginner or if you are a faculty teaching basics of SAN and storage, and it is a good handy reference guide for experienced professionals.

I find this to be an excellent storage primer and it doubles as study material for EMC's basic storage Exam. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants a basic understanding of the nuts and bolts of storage and the management of the data on it.

In an industry drowning in marketing jargon and lofty adjectives, where vendors make promises to be everything to everyone, it can be difficult locating factual information on products and technology.

EMC has taken it upon themselves to author a data storage textbook - a factual representation of how technology works. Despite being written by a vendor, the book was surprisingly neutral and objective. It's certainly technical in nature and covers the spectrum of data storage - through SANs, NAS, CAS, virtualization, security - and begins at square one with chapters dedicated to "How is a HDD built?"

This book has been invaluable to me in learning about storage technology and will be a key resource in my library for years to come. Bravo, EMC.

This is a great book on ISM management and architectural strategy. It's written very vendor neutral. It's EMC's class for 60 bucks. Can't beat it.

I purchased this publication based on the manufacturer's recommendation and I was not disappointed in the results. It gives the reader a better understanding on archival storage and management of your digital information. I highly recommend this book.

This book is a must have for anyone in IT. It is very well written. It is not overly technical and boring but does not treat the subject or the reader like a kindergarten student.

It is covering enterprise storage Fiber, SAN, NAS, etc.

it is shopping immediately and in good shape

It is a good reference book to keep for a storage admin. But the writing style is boring.

Best kbow and with pratical questions about every chapter best to read best to work.