Blog

Underlying C
A few months ago a friend directed me to an academic project, one that aimed to update C for the modern programmer. It’s not the...→

Re-Evolution, not Revolution
Most Coraid customers are happy using our storage appliances without digging into the technology or the design philosophy that lies...→

Ode to the Humble Ethernet Frame
The humble Ethernet frame is an impressive thing. Its five simple parts have an amazing history and an equally amazing career. Ethernet...→

G. R. Moves to Georgia
When I arrived at the Murray Hill facility for my first day as an employee of Bell Labs, my ID badge wasn’t ready. When Dennis Ritchie realized this, he...→

Small Teams are Beautiful
Ever since I founded Coraid in 2000, customers have asked, “How large is your company?” “Why do you want to know?” I reply. Without hesitation they explain...→

Step in the Box
In the days of the mainframe, systems programmers kept odd hours. I guess we still do. People are apt to get emails from me at all hours. Today is a lot easier...→

Storage is Address Translation
One of the things I’m known for is NAT, or Network Address Translation. This leads many to ask, “What are you doing in the storage...→

Software Tools and Punchcards
Building slick IT products out of Bell Labs technology is one of the many things I owe Bob. When I was the new kid at the University of...→

The Importance of Syslog Servers
As the old adage goes, it’s not if a drive fails, but when. A modern 3.5” drive rotates from 7200 – 10,000 RPM. If you do the math, that’s...→

What Makes A Good Protocol Design?
Not all protocols are equal. I've worked with good ones and bad ones. One of the worst was a protocol accidently defined to control parameters on a...→

What Makes a Protocol Great?
The last of the five qualities I look for in a good protocol design is generality. To refresh your memory, the first four qualities are: focus, unity... →

Protocols: Seeing Clearly
In '' The Elements of Style'', Strunk and White didn't mince their words. They called the lack of clarity in writing as ''a destroyer of life, of hope.''... →

Protocol Memories
Picture this: I arrive at Georgia Tech to borrow some computer time, a phrase that dates me, on their IBM RS6000. The administrator... →

No Single Point of Failure + Golden Images
Over the past handful of weeks, I've written about the VSX and how it's able to work its magic. Today I want to talk about two other tricks... →

Is Software an Art?
My favorite compliment is when people comment on how simple my work is. I hear it occasionally about SRX, and back in the day people noticed the simplicity and unity... →

Snapshots and Shadows with the VSX
In a few recent posts, I've been talking about all the nifty things the Coraid VSX does. Today I want to talk about... →

C vs Memory
There is a false belief among young programmers that C is a bad language. I’m writing today to dispel one aspect of that notion: the misbelief that managing... →

The Flexibility of Imaginary Disks
The VSX is all about creating imaginary disks. This ability is one of the neat things about using the ATA-over-Ethernet protocol. If it’s talking to the protoco...→

Debugging the Kernel
Today I’m chasing down a bug in the kernel. Although you don’t need to worry about kernel debugging, it’s always wise to understand the history...→

Logical Volumes and the VSX
Logical volumes are simple to create and manage using the Coraid EtherDrive VSX. For the uninitiated, logical volumes allow→

Do We Need Another Storage Protocol?
Those were the words spoken by the CTO of a large storage firm to a prospective Coraid customer. The CTO had taken the prospect out to dinner to convince him not...→

Salvation from Intel:Risc
One good thing to come out of the disaster that is Intel's security vulnerability Spectre and Meltdown is the renewed interest in more modern RISC processors...→

The Diskless Storage Appliance
It was only natural, since I invented Network Address Translation (NAT), that I somehow find a way to use it in network storage...→

A Good Time With Schweitzer
It's not often that I do a guest shot on a podcast, but when Scott Schweitzer asked, I had to say yes...→

What Would 10PB Look Like?
Sometimes I stop and think about what Coraid storage can really do for folks. Over the years we have sold between 10,000 and 15,000 systems...→

New Coraid's Fifth Year
The new year always brings reflection. As Coraid enters its fifth year...→

Intel Flubs Again
Intel is telling motherboard vendors not to install its latest fixes to mitigate the Spectre and Meltdown exploits... →

Never Obsolete Storage without the Green
In the latest article by Storage Switzerland, George Crump examines how storage...→

True to Our Ideas
I’ve noticed that there are two types of tech companies: some are customer focused and...→

Simplicity is Not Optional
Simplicity is necessary for long term success. This is true in all areas of business, especially...→

Dangers of Large RAIDs
Choosing the best size for a RAID depends on what you’re going to do with the LUN. If it’s for a VM, smaller is better...→

New Coraid Resurrects Network Storage Virtualizer VSX
In early 2013, senior management at now-defunct Coraid, Inc. canceled...→

New Coraid h-Series SRX Hardware
Two years after Coraid, Inc.’s demise, new hardware is once...→

Coraid Clarifies History
The Coraid™ brand of storage arrays is still alive and well...→

AoE Returns to Storage Market with New Coraid™-Branded Software Release
For the first time in over 2 years, a new software release of...→

Now Coraid is Really Back—Hardware and All
Two years, four months, and four days after the old Coraid Inc. finally closed its doors...→

New Coraid EtherDrive HBA driver released for VMware ESX 6.0
SouthSuite, Inc. releases the EtherDrive HBA 7.0.4...→

SouthSuite Acquires Coraid IP
Founder returns Coraid appliances to the storage market...→