In computing, there is one thing you shouldn’t compromise on…and that thing is storage. This carries over to Lab or NestedESXi environments as poor lab performance can be just as frustrating as production performance issues. I’ve used a number of nested storage platform’s for my lab environments and I’m always on the lookout for alternative solutions.

When Neil Anderson asked my to write a short introductory post on his new how-to guide Build Your Own NetApp ONTAP 9 Lab I decided to flick through the guide to check it out and see if it could add any value to my future plans for a homelab. The e-book is professionally laid out and has excellent diagrams, notes and step by step…it’s extremely comprehensive.

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http://www.flackbox.com/netapp-simulator/

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While I’ve never been a NetApp guy there does seem to be a level of complexity in the NetApp VSA setup, but with the step by step in the e-book any ambiguity is removed. If you are looking for lab storage this is a great end to end example of how to install and configure one based on ONTOP 9 NetApp Simulator.

Give it a look over here.