Creating a Writable VSS Snapshot

By default a Volume Shadow Copy snapshot is Read-Only. So when you create a new volume (purevol copy) you cannot modify the volume. Below are the steps to make the VSS snapshot writable. The steps show end-to-end how to: Connect to the FlashArray,Locate a VSS snapshotCreate a new volumeConnect new volume to hostThen clear read-only [...]

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Simplify Design of 100% Flash Storage for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 with Flashstack

  06/22/2015
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I’m back from my blogging hiatus after wrapping up the new FlashStack Converged Infrastructure Design Guide for SQL 2014. This was a fun and challenging project building out [...]

Using FlashRecover Snapshots to Quickly Scale Creating Databases

  06/19/2015
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I recently helped with a simple proof of concept to enable the ability to create a number of SQL Server databases without the need to have the MDF and LDF created from scratch [...]

Looking for the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit?

  06/6/2015
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The PowerShell Toolkit has been moved to a new GitHub repository. With the soon to be released PowerShell SDK coming which provides full support through our Pure Storage [...]

Sneak Peek: Managing a FlashArray//m with the new Pure Storage PowerShell SDK 1.0

  06/1/2015
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There are a lot of exciting things happening at Pure Storage today. Announcing the new FlashArray//m, our new cloud-based management and support with Pure1 and last but not [...]

Developing the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit vNext

  05/11/2015
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The history of the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit started with some simple work in Windows PowerShell ISE with 5 basic cmdlets (Get-PfaApiToken, Connect-PfaController, [...]

FlashStack Converged Infrastructure for Microsoft SQL Server

  05/4/2015
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Uninterrupted database performance with AlwaysOn Availability Groups and native FlashArray-based replication Microsoft SQL Server is an increasingly vital database workload [...]

#IgniteItOrange @ Microsoft Ignite!

  05/2/2015
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Be sure to stop by booth #108 next week to talk with the Pure Storage Solution Architects, Argenis Fernandez (@DBArgenis) and me, along with our “Alliance Guy”, “Cool [...]

Get the Latest Version of the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit

  05/1/2015
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Version 2.8.0.403 was released yesterday with a new SUPER helpful parameter, HttpTimeOut, on for Connect-PfaController cmdlet. I mistakenly introducing a very minor but [...]

Using the PSCredential Object with the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit

  04/28/2015
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A great question came in yesterday about how to use the new –Credential parameter that was implemented in v2.5 Toolkit. Question: What if someone wants to use the script [...]

Try the REST API using a REST client

  04/21/2015
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Ever wanted to work with our REST API without the need to install the PowerShell or Python toolkits? Take the REST API for a test drive using a REST client. There are several [...]

Compare Windows 2008 R2 to Windows 2012 Storage Cmdlets

  04/15/2015
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Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 introduced a new set of storage cmdlets that provided  specific support for disk management, multipath I/O configuration, MSDSM settings and [...]

Save Get-Help PureStoragePowerShell to PDF

  04/5/2015
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I met with a customer this past week and they asked if we had a copy of all of our PowerShell help in Portable Document Format (PDF). Unfortunately at that moment we did not [...]

Toolkit Update to 2.6.0.401

  04/1/2015
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I have fixed a minor issue with the toolkit when it comes to figuring out the latest version of the REST API when connecting to a FlashArray. When we introduced the REST API [...]

Windows Server Failover Clusters, Disk Signatures & Snapshots

  03/24/2015
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Leveraging snapshots to create new volumes that can be used on the same host or other hosts is an important feature as it allows for business and deployment agility when [...]

Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit 2.5.0.324

  03/24/2015
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For those users of the PowerShell Toolkit this release has two significant changes: Support for PSCredential FlashArray parameter is now Optional These two updates [...]

3rd Party ISV Integration

  03/23/2015
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As Pure Storage continues to innovate and extend our core platform it provides many opportunities to integrate or automate functional areas. Two publicly available examples of [...]

Hack: Windows Live Writer 2012

  03/22/2015
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I use Windows Live Writer as my blog editor. I self host WordPress.org on Windows Azure and appreciate the editing features and easy integration. Although I like Windows Live [...]

Quick Start Guide for the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit

  03/16/2015
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The interest in the PowerShell Toolkit has grown over the last several months and I wanted to take a moment to provide some guidance on how to get started whether you are [...]

Using Pure Storage PowerShell with Windows Server 2008 R2

  03/13/2015
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I have received a few questions about using the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit with Windows Server 2008 R2 since by default it only comes with Windows PowerShell 2.0. The [...]

New SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Group Reference Architecture

  03/12/2015
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This document provides a reference architecture for deploying Microsoft SQL Server 2014 AlwaysOn Availability Groups on a Pure Storage FlashArray. This document includes [...]

Quick Toolkit Update

  03/12/2015
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I just fixed an issue with the Restore-PfaProtectionGroupVolumeSnapshots cmdlet or alias restorepgsnap. This cmdlet supports restoring volume snapshots from source and target [...]

PowerCLI Actions

  03/6/2015
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I dusted off some of the initial work that we (@CodyHosterman) did with the PowerCLI Actions Fling and initially we had some challenges with our 1.0 toolkit but with the [...]

Toolkit Minor Update

  03/6/2015
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I just uploaded new packages to v2.8.0.430 GitHub (v2.4.0.305). I had some recent exchange with a user of the toolkit and updated a few cmdlets to adhere to the standard [...]

Update-Help Implemented in Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit

  03/5/2015
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Documentation and examples are what I consider to be the most important element to any PowerShell library. Although I implemented a comprehensive Get-Help support in the [...]

Setting up SAN boot for an 8-Node Windows Server Cluster

  02/23/2015
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Worked in the lab this past weekend setting up a new Windows Server 2012 R2 failover cluster (WSFC) using 8 diskless servers. SAN booting provides the ultimate in flexibility [...]

Setup Replication Connections using PowerShell

  02/4/2015
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Now that the new toolkit has been released its time to start with an example of using some of the new cmdlets. The focus of this post is setting up replication between a [...]

Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit v2.0 Released!

  02/2/2015
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The long awaited update for the PowerShell Toolkit is now available. I track issues and/or suggestions via GitHub. I have implemented about 95%+ of the current REST APIs [...]

How is the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit being used?

  12/15/2014
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[Updated: 5/16/2017] I created the Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit with two major goals; (1) as a way to automate the various operational tasks to manage our FlashArray. [...]

Retrieving LUN Serial Numbers with Windows PowerShell

  12/13/2014
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Updated -- June 20/17 I have been asked this question more than I have fingers and toes so I figured I would do a quick post providing the Windows PowerShell that will [...]

SQL Server 2014 Prod/Dev Refresh with VMware PowerCLI and Pure Storage PowerShell Toolkit

  08/28/2014
  3 Comments
One of the demonstrations that I created for VMworld 2014 was to create a simple orchestration for refreshing a SQL Server 2014 database volume and re-connecting  to a VMware [...]

Pure Storge PowerShell Toolkit Enhancements

  08/28/2014
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@8arkz - September 11/17 -- The "Original" version of the PowerShell Toolkit v2.8.0.430 has been deprecated in favor of the PowerShell SDK. Read all about it [...]

New Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Reference Architecture Released

  08/8/2014
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New Microsoft Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Reference Architecture for Pure Storage FlashArray’s is available. This document provides a reference architecture for deploying [...]

Application Consistency with Pure Storage VSS Provider

  07/21/2014
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With the release of the Purity Operating Environment 4.0 comes the new Pure Storage Volume Shadow Copy Service Provider (Pure VSS Provider). The Pure VSS Provider is a new [...]

Pure Storage REST API + Windows PowerShell (Part 2)

  07/17/2014
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In my Part 1 post I discussed the basics of how to use the REST API with the Post method to authenticate and establish a session then using the Get method retrieve volume [...]

Pure Storage REST API + Windows PowerShell (Part 1)

  06/27/2014
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After a brief hiatus I’m back and to start things off I wanted to share an example of how to use the new REST API we have created as part of our Purity Operating [...]

Set Remote Desktop, IEESec, Windows Firewall and MPIO using PowerShell

  02/24/2014
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As I add more virtual machines and physical servers to my Microsoft environment there are a few Windows features/settings I tend to always tweak for my own needs: Remote [...]

Get Quick Fix Engineering (QFE) or HotFix Information

  02/20/2014
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@8arkz -- June 20/17 -- Added new Get-HotFix cmdlet details and example output from both methods. Recently I have been tracking down all the updates that I have applied to [...]

Attach/Detach SQL Server Databases with PowerShell

  01/27/2014
  8 Comments
@8arkz -- June 20/17 -- I need to re-write this to use the new PowerShell SDK. --- While working on the early testing for the SQL Server 2012 Reference Architecture I [...]

Simple Snapshot & Retention Management with PowerShell

  01/21/2014
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@8arkz -- June 20/17 -- This was the start of all things Windows PowerShell at Pure Storage. Pretty cool to look back at some posts and see how it all got [...]

Windows PowerShell + Purity CLI = Invoke-PureVolSnap

  01/8/2014
  4 Comments
Pure Storage PowerShell History PowerShell Toolkit 0.1 implementing FlashRecover Snapshots for SQL Server. I’ve been focusing on some automation scripts over the last [...]

Building the 1st Gen PureTEC and Solutions Engineering Lab

  12/27/2013
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I had the best Christmas at home and at Pure. The week before Christmas I spent time racking the gear and getting everything squared away so I could start building out the [...]

Getting SQL Server 2012 BPA working on Windows Server 2012 R2

  12/10/2013
  14 Comments
I’ve been building out some new servers with Windows Server 2012 R2 to start working on a new Microsoft SQL Server Reference Architecture on Pure Storage and after [...]

Find HBA details with Get-WmiObject

  11/27/2013
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When setting up connectivity between SANs and hosts knowing the HBA information is important. With Pure Storage the WWNs are automatically discovered if zoned properly to the [...]
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