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Complexity in IT isn’t built overnight—and it won’t be unwound that way either. This blog walks through a practical, no-fluff approach to auditing and simplifying your IT environment. From building a...
28 days ago94Views
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One of the most powerful updates in the Pure Storage ecosystem is the ability to federate arrays into a unified fleet with Fusion. Whether you're scaling out infrastructure or simplifying operati...
28 days ago69Views
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We are thrilled to announce that registration is now open for Pure//Accelerate ® 2025!
Register Here ---> https://www.purestorage.com/accelerate.html
Here's what you need to know:
Cust...
3 months ago92Views
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Welcome!
You've taken the first step and created an account here. What to do next you ask? Here's five simple steps to take after registering to ensure you're getting the most out of this community...
3 months ago252Views
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Recent Content
FlashArray File Multi-Server
5 MIN READ File support on FlashArray gets another high demanded feature. With version 6.8.7, purity introduces a concept of Server, which connects exports and directory services and all other necessary objects, which are required for this setup, namely DNS configuration and networking. From this version onwards, all directory exports are associated with exactly one server. To recap, server has (associations) to following objects: DNS Active Directory / Directory Service (LDAP) Directory Export Local Directory Service Local Directory Service is another new entity introduced in version 6.8.7 and it represents a container for Local Users and Groups. Each server has it's own Local Directory Service (LDS) assigned to it and LDS also has a domain name, which means "domain" is no longer hardcoded name of a local domain, but it's user-configurable option. All of these statements do imply lots of changes in user experience. Fortunately, commonly this is about adding a reference or possibility to link a server and our GUI contains newly Server management page, including Server details page, which puts everything together and makes a Server configuration easy to understand, validate and modify. One question which you might be asking right now is - can I use File services without Servers? The answer is - no, not really. But don't be alarmed. Significant effort has been made to keep all commands and flows backwards compatible, so unless some script is parsing exact output and needs to be aligned because there is a new "Server" column added, there should be any need for changing those. How did we managed to do that? Special Server called _array_server has been created and if your configuration has anything file related, it will be migrated during upgrade. Let me also offer a taste of how the configuration could look like once the array is updated to the latest version List of Servers # pureserver list Name Dns Directory Services Local Directory Service Created _array_server management - domain 2025-06-09 01:00:26 MDT prod prod - prod 2025-06-09 01:38:14 MDT staging management stage staging 2025-06-09 01:38:12 MDT testing management testing testing 2025-06-09 01:38:11 MDT List of Active Directory accounts Since we can join multiple AD servers, we now can have multiple AD accounts, up to one per server # puread account list Name Domain Computer Name TLS Source ad-array <redacted>.local ad-array required - prod::ad-prod <redacted>.local ad-prod required - ad-array is a configuration for the _array_server and for backwards compatibility reasons, the prefix of the server name hasn't been added. The prefix is there for account connected to server prod (and to any other server). List of Directory Services (LDAP) Directory services got also slightly reworked, since before 6.8.7 there were only two configurations, management and data. Obviously, that's not enough for more than one server (management is reserved for array management access and can't be used for File services). After 6.8.7 release, it's possible to completely manage Directory Service configurations and linking them to individual servers. # pureserver list Name Dns Directory Services Local Directory Service Created _array_server management - domain 2025-06-09 01:00:26 MDT prod prod - prod 2025-06-09 01:38:14 MDT staging management stage staging 2025-06-09 01:38:12 MDT testing management testing testing 2025-06-09 01:38:11 MDT Please note that these objects are intentionally not enabled / not configured. List of Directory exports # puredir export list Name Export Name Server Directory Path Policy Type Enabled prod::smb::accounting accounting prod prodpod::accounting:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True prod::smb::engineering engineering prod prodpod::engineering:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True prod::smb::sales sales prod prodpod::sales:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True prod::smb::shipping shipping prod prodpod::shipping:root / prodpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::accounting accounting staging stagingpod::accounting:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::engineering engineering staging stagingpod::engineering:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::sales sales staging stagingpod::sales:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True staging::smb::shipping shipping staging stagingpod::shipping:root / stagingpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::accounting accounting testing testpod::accounting:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::engineering engineering testing testpod::engineering:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::sales sales testing testpod::sales:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True testing::smb::shipping shipping testing testpod::shipping:root / testpod::smb-simple smb True The notable change here is that the Export Name and Name has slightly different meaning. Pre-6.8.7 version used the Export Name as a unique identifier, since we had single (implicit, now explicit) server, which naturally created a scope. Now, the Export Name can be the same as long as it's unique in scope of a single server, as seen in this example. The Name is different and provides array-unique export identifier. It is a combination of server name, protocol name and the export name. List of Network file interfaces # purenetwork eth list --service file Name Enabled Type Subnet Address Mask Gateway MTU MAC Speed Services Subinterfaces Servers array False vif - - - - 1500 56:e0:c2:c6:f2:1a 0.00 b/s file - _array_server prod False vif - - - - 1500 de:af:0e:80:bc:76 0.00 b/s file - prod staging False vif - - - - 1500 f2:95:53:3d:0a:0a 0.00 b/s file - staging testing False vif - - - - 1500 7e:c3:89:94:8d:5d 0.00 b/s file - testing As seen above, File network VIFs now are referencing specific server. (this list is particularly artificial, since neither of them is properly configured nor enabled, anyway the main message is that File VIF now "points" to a specific server). Local Directory Services Local Directory Service (LDS) is a newly introduced container for Local Users and Groups. # pureds local ds list Name Domain domain domain testing testing staging staging.mycorp prod prod.mycorp As already mentioned, all local users and groups now has to belong to a LDS, which means management of those also contains that information # pureds local user list Name Local Directory Service Built In Enabled Primary Group Uid Administrator domain True True Administrators 0 Guest domain True False Guests 65534 Administrator prod True True Administrators 0 Guest prod True False Guests 65534 Administrator staging True True Administrators 0 Guest staging True False Guests 65534 Administrator testing True True Administrators 0 Guest testing True False Guests 65534 # pureds local group list Name Local Directory Service Built In Gid Audit Operators domain True 65536 Administrators domain True 0 Guests domain True 65534 Backup Operators domain True 65535 Audit Operators prod True 65536 Administrators prod True 0 Guests prod True 65534 Backup Operators prod True 65535 Audit Operators staging True 65536 Administrators staging True 0 Guests staging True 65534 Backup Operators staging True 65535 Audit Operators testing True 65536 Administrators testing True 0 Guests testing True 65534 Backup Operators testing True 65535 Conclusion I did show how the FA configuration might look like, without providing much details about the actual way how to configure or test these configs, anyway, this article should provide a good overview about what to expect from 6.8.7 version. There is plenty of information about this particular aspect of the release in the updated product documentation. Please let me know if there is any demand to deep-dive into any aspect of this feature.3Views0likes0CommentsDefend Against File Data Migrations
Why Attend? Migrations are complex, costly, and disruptive—but they don’t have to be. Learn how to eliminate file data migration headaches with Pure Storage’s unified architecture, automation, and non-disruptive upgrades. Agenda Highlights: Real-world migration pain points Solutions with Pure Storage FlashBlade & FlashArray Komprise SaaS overview How to defend against migrations with Evergreen architecture Customer case study: zero disruption, major savings BONUS: Self-defense & bleeding control training with The Defense Lab Training LLC Drinks, appetizers, and networking at The Federal Galley Prizes to drive collaboration Space is extremely limited. Reserve your spot today for this informative (and fun!) afternoon. Register Here - https://form.jotform.com/251527339799978 We hope to see you there!18Views1like1CommentAlternative Virtualization Meet-Up at //Accelerate
Our company like many others have parted ways with VMWare. We decided not to renew this last April and are currently running unsupported/perpetual as we look for a replacement hypervisor. Costs on a 7000+ core renewal came in at about 5x what we paid in previous years. Just a little backstory, but this post is not to discuss that. For hardware we currently run Cisco ACI, Cisco UCS and Pure Storage in a converged architecture. What Cisco/Pure call Flashstack. 4 Sites, 200+ blades, Mix of 14 //x and //c Arrays. We are heavy Vvol users today. We have narrowed our search down to Proxmox, XCP-NG, and OpenShift Virtualization. Successes with Proxmox have been great, deployment (iSCSI Boot), automation, migration, etc. Winning so far. XCP-NG, similar to Proxmox. Some issues with Migrations. But overall working. OpenShift, just started vetting. Have a workshop scheduled with RedHat to really test out and see if the product is a good fit. Would require Portworx. Now to what I am wondering, would any of you that will be attending Pure //Accelerate be interested in a meet-up to network and discuss the trials and tribulations with these or other alternative hypervisors on Pure Storage? I am happy to present my decision process, success criteria, testing results and implementation configuration for each. If we get enough people I can ask my AE/SE to see if Pure would allow us use of a breakout meeting room. If interested let me know, I would prefer to keep this vendor neutral other than Pure, as we would not be going to a Pure conference if not interested or already running Pure Storage.109Views4likes5CommentsUsing FlashArray Volume Snapshots with Microsoft SQL Server
FlashArray volume snapshots are an amazing tool for any DBA/DBRE managing SQL Server. You can use them to: Instantly recover from user errors or ransomware attacks Create rapid dev/test copies without full restores Offload CHECKDB to another host to avoid production performance hits Refresh reporting environments on demand Seed Always On availability groups faster, without large full backups Enable point-in-time recovery when paired with SQL log backups And the best part? Snapshots on FlashArray are: Immutable Space-efficient Fast to create and restore Fully automatable through the REST API or SDK tools! I worked very closely with our SQL Server field super stars (Anthony Nocentino, Andrew Pruski and Andrew Yun) on a white paper going VERY deep into the architecture and how to. It includes everything from crash- vs. application-consistent snapshots, to step-by-step restore and cloning procedures, to using SQL Server 2022’s new T-SQL snapshot backup. Did we miss anything ? Let us know!8Views1like0CommentsNew Reference Architecture: SQL Server on Azure VM's with Pure Cloud Block Store
This is a brand new, weeks-old reference architecture — and I’m really excited about this one. During development, one of the most surprising discoveries was just how much Azure VM performance is limited by the IOPS cap tied to managed disks. It caught me off guard how much planning it takes just to size storage and compute together when you go the native route. With CBS, I was able to bypass those constraints. It felt more like working with enterprise storage (which is what its meant to do!) , I could pull from a pool, scale performance independently of VM size, and provision storage volumes in a clean and easy way. This new RA covers: SQL Server architecture on Azure VMs with Pure Cloud Block Store Snapshot-based backup and restore DR patterns using ActiveDR™ and HA using ActiveCluster™ Dev/test database cloning with volume snapshots Performance benchmarking vs. Azure Premium SSD v2 It prooved: ~40% more transactional throughput (TPROC-C) ~93% better analytical query performance (TPROC-H) (using queries per minute normalization) 3–5x data reduction vs. raw data Download the full reference architecture here Would love to hear your thoughts on this architecture and how we could improve the expirience!5Views1like0CommentsNew SQL Server with Pure Storage Reference Architecture!
We have a new SQL Server with Pure Storage Reference Architecture! It’s been out for a few months, but this is a great start to your journey to a simpler, high-performance database environment! This reference architecture shows how to: Consolidate transactional and analytical SQL Server workloads using FlashArray Use FlashBlade for rapid, parallel T-SQL backups to file or object storage Enable zero-downtime operations with ActiveCluster and near-synchronous replication via ActiveDR With this RA you will find detailed technical guidance for storage provisioning for SQL Server databases on Windows or Linux as well as best practice guidence on how to take the best advantage of the primary storage layer. Check out the full reference architecture here: Optimizing SQL Server Operations and Scale with Pure Storage (PDF) Have feedback, use cases to share, or questions about implementation? Please reach out!6Views1like0CommentsMudra Hello!!!
Hello from Ohio!!! Joe Mudra here, Pure Systems Engineer supporting State Local & Education Customers in Ohio & Kentucky. Some many know me from the shoes, the beard, or maybe the Christmas Cards. I've been at Pure Storage for 2 years, prior to that I was at Arctic Wolf Networks for 1.5 years, and Veeam Software for almost 7 years!!! But more importantly, I spent most of my time in IT in YOUR shoes, our Users!!! From my humble beginnings at Ohio University in a small IT shop there while going to school, to Enterprise sized Businesses in the Central Ohio region. I'm super excited for this new Pure Storage Community hub and really hope our customers leverage the wealth of knowledge that exists in our customer base. Look forward to seeing what our community makes of this new space!!!13Views0likes1CommentFrom Data to Insight: Building End-to-end AI Pipelines with Pure Storage
June 5, 2025 | Register Here Scaling AI requires flexibility to get started but also completeness when deploying to production. Learn how to build high-performance AI pipelines with Pure Storage—integrating FlashBlade®, FlashArray™, and Portworx®. Join Field Solutions Architect Emir Biser and Principal Field Solutions Architect Ian Saunders as they share insights to guide your AI success.Together, they’ll cover: Designing and building high-performance, end-to-end AI data pipelines. Best practices for scaling AI workloads from experimentation to production, ensuring both flexibility during development and robustness during deployment. Strategies for helping organizations manage data as AI systems become production-ready, managing exponential growth while maintaining simplicity and efficiency. Register Herelegan5 days agoCommunity Manager25Views1like0CommentsCloud Native Summer Series: Exploring the Landscape
Cincinnati Cloud Native enthusiasts! We will be hosting a series of events this summer to grow the CNCF community locally. In our first event, we will be gathering for a roundtable discussion about the current landscape and what solutions you are building in this ecosystem right now. We will meet at the Callibrity offices in Montgomery at 8280 Montgomery Rd at 3pm. Food and drink will be provided.Ludes5 days agoCommunity Manager31Views0likes1CommentBig changes in the virtualization world. Are you ready?
With VMware’s future in flux—licensing changes, partner cuts, and the deprecation of vVols—many IT leaders are rethinking their virtualization strategy. 💡 Enter OpenStack: the leading open-source alternative that’s mature, flexible, and cost-effective. But migrating from VMware to OpenStack can be… complicated. 👉 Not if you're running VMware on Pure Storage FlashArrays. In my latest blog, I explore how the new OpenStack 2025.1 "Epoxy" release simplifies the migration of VMware VMs using Pure’s native storage structures—no conversions, no downtime, no headaches. 🧠 If you’re navigating Broadcom-era VMware and planning your next move, this is the insight you need. 🔗 http://theansibleguy.com/vmware-to-openstack-the-simple-way/13Views1like0Comments
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The Pure /Code community is where collaboration thrives and everyone, from beginners taking their first steps to experts honing their craft, comes together to learn, share, and grow. In this inclusive space, you'll find support, inspiration, and opportunities to elevate your automation, scripting, and coding skills, no matter your starting point or career position. The goal is to break barriers, solve challenges, and most of all, learn from each other.Cloud Native
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