vSAN Operations Guide Managing Fault Domains

vSAN Operations Guide: Managing Fault Domains

If your vSAN cluster includes several racks or blade server enclosures, fault domains let you safeguard against rack or enclosure failure. Fault domains can be formed, and each fault domain can have one or more hosts.

 

One or more virtual SAN https://Gkc-Online.com/blog/index.php?entryid=3432 nodes are classified into the fault domain according to where they are physically located in the data center. When properly set up, fault domains allow VSANs to endure both host, capacity device, network connection, and network switch failures as well as the failure of whole physical racks.

The number of failures that the VM permits determine the primary degree of permissible policy failures for a cluster. If the basic fault tolerance level is set to 1 (PFTT=1) while configuring the VM, vSAN will let a single failure of any kind affect any component inside the fault domain, along with the failure of the entire rack.

Replicas and witnesses are deployed in various fault domains when you set the rack fault domains and assign a new virtual machine. For instance, vSAN needs at least 2*n+1 fault domains in the cluster if the primary fault tolerance level is set to N (PFTT=n) in the VM storage policy. This strategy places copies of the corresponding virtual machine objects in different racks when virtual machines are deployed in a cluster with failure domains.

To support PFTT=1, at least 3 fault domains are needed. Configure the cluster with four fault domains or laatwaaipapagaai.org more for the best results. Similar restrictions apply to a cluster with 3 fault domains as they do to a cluster with three nodes, such as the inability to fully utilize data migration mode or to re-protect data after a failure.

Imagine that you have a vSAN cluster with 16 hosts. There are four hosts per rack, therefore the hosts are divided over the four racks. Make a failure domain for each rack so that it is possible for the entire unit to fail. A cluster with this capacity may be configured by assigning the “Basic Level of Acceptable Failures” option to 1. Set up five failure domains in the cluster if you need the “Basic Level of Acceptable Failures” option to be set to 2.

All assets, namely CPU and rack memory, are inaccessible to the cluster when a rack fails. Configure more compact fault domains to lessen the effect of a probable rack failure. The total quantity of resources available in the cluster following a rack failure rises as the number of fault domains grows.

Follow these principles while working with fault domains:

  • Set up a minimum of three fault domains for the vSAN cluster. Configure 4 or more fault domains for the best results.
  • A node that is not a part of any fault domain is thought to be in a fault domain all on its own.
  • Each vSAN host does not need to be assigned to a failure domain. Consider making fault domains that are the same size if you employ fault domains to defend the vSAN environment.
  • vSAN nodes save their failure domain designations when switching to another cluster.
  • Set the same number of devices within every fault domain when constructing one.
  • The failure domain can contain any number of hosts. At a minimum, one host must be present in every failure domain.

Create a New Fault Domain in a vSAN Cluster

You can arrange hosts in various fault domains to make sure that virtual machine objects keep functioning normally even if a rack fails.

vSAN distributes protection elements, such as witnesses and clones of the virtual machine objects, across various fault domains when you deploy a VM on the cluster with fault domains. As a result, in addition to supporting a single host, hard disk, or network failure, the vSAN system can now tolerate complete rack failures.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains
  4. Click the plus icon. The Create Fault Domain Wizard opens
  5. Enter the name of the fault domain
  6. Select one or more hosts to add to the fault domain
  7. Click Create

 

The fault domain contains the chosen hosts. Information about the capacity that is consumed and reserved is displayed for https://km.dwf.go.th each failure domain. You may see the capacity distribution in the fault domain by doing this.

Move host to selected fault domain

You can move a host to a chosen fault domain in a vSAN cluster.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains
  4. Click and drag the host you want to add to an existing fault domain

The selected host will appear in the fault domain

Move hosts out of the fault domain

You can relocate hosts away from a fault domain based on your needs.

But first, make sure the host is online because you cannot move offline or inaccessible hosts from the fault domain.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains

The fault domain no longer includes the chosen host. Any host that isn’t included in a fault domain is said to be in a single-host fault domain.

Hosts can then be added to fault domains.

Fault domain rename

You can change the name of an existing fault domain in a vSAN cluster.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains
  4. Click “Apply” or “OK”

The new name will appear in the list of fault domains.

Remove selected fault domains

When you no longer need a fault domain, soulntech.Com you can remove it from the vSAN cluster.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains

All hosts in the fault domain are removed, and the selected fault domain is removed from the vSAN cluster. Each host not in a fault domain is believed to be in its own single-host fault domain.

vSAN Operations Guide Managing Fault Domains

vSAN Operations Guide: Managing Fault Domains

If your vSAN cluster includes several racks or blade server enclosures, fault domains let you safeguard against rack or enclosure failure. Fault domains can be formed, and each fault domain can have one or more hosts.

 

One or more virtual SAN https://lms-Ext.umb.sk/blog/index.php?entryid=217043 nodes are classified into the fault domain according to where they are physically located in the data center. When properly set up, fault domains allow VSANs to endure both host, capacity device, network connection, and network switch failures as well as the failure of whole physical racks.

The number of failures that the VM permits determine the primary degree of permissible policy failures for a cluster. If the basic fault tolerance level is set to 1 (PFTT=1) while configuring the VM, vSAN will let a single failure of any kind affect any component inside the fault domain, along with the failure of the entire rack.

Replicas and witnesses are deployed in various fault domains when you set the rack fault domains and https://miriam.net.pl/community/profile/christineradcli assign a new virtual machine. For instance, vSAN needs at least 2*n+1 fault domains in the cluster if the primary fault tolerance level is set to N (PFTT=n) in the VM storage policy. This strategy places copies of the corresponding virtual machine objects in different racks when virtual machines are deployed in a cluster with failure domains.

To support PFTT=1, at least 3 fault domains are needed. Configure the cluster with four fault domains or more for the best results. Similar restrictions apply to a cluster with 3 fault domains as they do to a cluster with three nodes, such as the inability to fully utilize data migration mode or to re-protect data after a failure.

Imagine that you have a vSAN cluster with 16 hosts. There are four hosts per rack, therefore the hosts are divided over the four racks. Make a failure domain for each rack so that it is possible for the entire unit to fail. A cluster with this capacity may be configured by assigning the “Basic Level of Acceptable Failures” option to 1. Set up five failure domains in the cluster if you need the “Basic Level of Acceptable Failures” option to be set to 2.

All assets, namely CPU and rack memory, are inaccessible to the cluster when a rack fails. Configure more compact fault domains to lessen the effect of a probable rack failure. The total quantity of resources available in the cluster following a rack failure rises as the number of fault domains grows.

Follow these principles while working with fault domains:

  • Set up a minimum of three fault domains for the vSAN cluster. Configure 4 or more fault domains for the best results.
  • A node that is not a part of any fault domain is thought to be in a fault domain all on its own.
  • Each vSAN host does not need to be assigned to a failure domain. Consider making fault domains that are the same size if you employ fault domains to defend the vSAN environment.
  • vSAN nodes save their failure domain designations when switching to another cluster.
  • Set the same number of devices within every fault domain when constructing one.
  • The failure domain can contain any number of hosts. At a minimum, one host must be present in every failure domain.

Create a New Fault Domain in a vSAN Cluster

You can arrange hosts in various fault domains to make sure that virtual machine objects keep functioning normally even if a rack fails.

vSAN distributes protection elements, such as witnesses and clones of the virtual machine objects, across various fault domains when you deploy a VM on the cluster with fault domains. As a result, in addition to supporting a single host, hard disk, http://musecollectors.org/ or network failure, the vSAN system can now tolerate complete rack failures.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains
  4. Click the plus icon. The Create Fault Domain Wizard opens
  5. Enter the name of the fault domain
  6. Select one or more hosts to add to the fault domain
  7. Click Create

 

The fault domain contains the chosen hosts. Information about the capacity that is consumed and reserved is displayed for each failure domain. You may see the capacity distribution in the fault domain by doing this.

Move host to selected fault domain

You can move a host to a chosen fault domain in a vSAN cluster.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains
  4. Click and drag the host you want to add to an existing fault domain

The selected host will appear in the fault domain

Move hosts out of the fault domain

You can relocate hosts away from a fault domain based on your needs.

But first, make sure the host is online because you cannot move offline or inaccessible hosts from the fault domain.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains

The fault domain no longer includes the chosen host. Any host that isn’t included in a fault domain is said to be in a single-host fault domain.

Hosts can then be added to fault domains.

Fault domain rename

You can change the name of an existing fault domain in a vSAN cluster.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains
  4. Click “Apply” or “OK”

The new name will appear in the list of fault domains.

Remove selected fault domains

When you no longer need a fault domain, you can remove it from the vSAN cluster.

  1. Navigate to the vSAN Cluster
  2. Click the Settings tab
  3. Under vSAN, click Fault Domains

All hosts in the fault domain are removed, and the selected fault domain is removed from the vSAN cluster. Each host not in a fault domain is believed to be in its own single-host fault domain.

What Is A Popup Tool And How Does It Work

What Is A Popup Tool And How Does It Work?

A Pop-up is a window that pops up when viewing a page in order to interest the user or notify them about changes/promotions /offers on the site. The main weapon of the pop-up is its surprising nature. A properly configured and designed pop-up doesn’t irritate the site user. On the contrary, it interests the user without diluting the main content with unnecessary information.

So do you need pop-ups for your site? Is it worth making pop-ups https://setiadigital.com/forum/profile/sabrinaoneill08/ and Https://Gunner411.Com/Community/Profile/Jarredhertz287/ setting them up? There is an opinion that pop-up is an outdated technique that doesn’t bring results. Well, decide for yourself – with pop-ups, you can increase sales by up to 30%.

That is why it is necessary to introduce pop-ups even in 2022. How to do it? With the help of the popup tool.

What is a pop-up tool? 

A pop-up tool or pop-up builder is an easy-to-use solution for creating such popups and extending website functionality. Such applications allow you to quickly create advertising and informational pop-ups to increase conversion rates and sales.

As a rule, such a tool is intuitive, user-friendly, and doesn’t require special programming or coding skills. Moreover, popup builder lets you create custom pop-ups with almost all fully customizable elements, from backgrounds to text, colors, borders, overlays, kidlink.net and more.

An effective pop-up builder fully integrates with most third-party plugins and services. Integration with third-party plugins increases the potential and possibilities of pop-ups.

How does the tool work?

In an effective pop-up builder, there is an editor in which you can freely create your own customized solution for your site.

Also, good developers provide templates in which you can add a call to action, edit the colors, and arrange the arrangement of elements in accordance with the design of your site.

Also, the pop-up builder includes several pop-up display settings that will allow you to make it as effective as possible and increase the conversion on the site. That is, you can set specific pages, triggers by time or by action, select the frequency of display and decide on which devices the popup will be displayed.

In any case, it is not difficult to understand them. Any pop-up builder developer makes the navigation and use of their services as clear as possible.

The most popular pop-up tools

There are a lot of tools and services for creating pop-up windows. But only a few of the best and www.basementandrainagesolutions.co.uk most convenient. Let’s talk about them. 

  • Mailmunch

You must provide a lot of information when signing up for an account with Mailmunch, including not just the URL of your website but also a phone number, physical location, and connections to your Instagram and Facebook sites. You have more options than just making pop-ups with the lead generation and marketing platform. A landing page, form, and email builder may all be found in the Mailmunch toolbox.

  • Getsitecontrol

Getsitecontrol is one of the most well-known platforms for developing pop-ups, widgets, subscription forms, and social media buttons. Getsitecontol appeals to most people with its straightforward UI and affordable price. The service gives you access to everything you need to easily build pop-ups and enables you to manage all of your widgets from a single web panel. You may run surveys using Getsitecontol and expand your subscription base.

  • Poptin

The Poptin service’s whole feature set is geared at increasing pop-up effectiveness. Having access to real-time technical help is one of Poptin’s benefits. Advanced users who have used other services to create pop-ups and wish to explore new possibilities should utilize Poptin.

  • Hello Bar

A user-friendly solution with many integrations is Hello Bar. It promises to convert 83% of the people who visit your website into leads, subscribers, and customers. One of the best features of this software is that you can automatically determine the design of the pop-up according to the design of your site and match fonts and colors.

  • Claspo

Nobody wants to bother with complicated tools that have an excessive amount of functionality. With the help of this popup builder, you can make useful components rapidly and with good outcomes. Furthermore, using it doesn’t require any coding knowledge.

Its first benefit is that it provides website owners with a vast selection of various themes that can be modified and altered. You may make a beautiful popup for your blog or online business in a few easy steps. Create subscription forms, information notifications, and age verification forms with this free tool.

Final thoughts 

Remember that pop-ups are a great tool to increase conversions and sales. But only if you set it up correctly. Pay special attention to the design of the window, its meaning, and the wording of the offer. 

A few years ago, setting up pop-ups was not so easy, as it required special technical knowledge, https://dice.teddy-van-jerry.org as well as a rather big investment. Fortunately, with pop-up apps, this can be done not only without much effort and extra knowledge, and also without additional payments!

What is a popup builder, and what are the different types of popups

What is a popup builder, and what are the different types of popups?

Popup is a popup tool https://freefirsttest.com/home/community/profile/eobdiana2418932/ that appears on the site in order to attract the user’s attention and push him to the target action (purchase, subscription, call, etc.). Popup is used to increase the conversion of the site, but if configured incorrectly, the result can be the opposite: the bounce rate will increase. 

 

What are popups

  • Hello-board – the popup limits some of the functionality of the page, but you can still work with it. For example, in the LPGenerator blog, the window with the newsletter subscription form works like this – you can continue to scroll the article without closing the window.
  • Page-stop – the window blocks the work of the entire page until the user clicks on the action button or closes it. The SendPulse blog subscription form leaves two paths: subscribe or close.

8 tasks that popups solve

  • Subscribe to newsletter/notifications,
  • Subscribe to social media
  • As a disclaimer
  • Tell the news (tomorrow we do not work; prices have risen, etc.),
  • Advertising (typically for https://health-innovation.ru/community/profile/doriefosdick15/ the media),
  • Help to understand the interface (popup hints),
  • Contact the sales department right now (via chat or callback),
  • Fill out an application.

Three things are responsible for the conversion of such windows: display settings, the offer itself, and the action to be performed. That is, it is not design that is important here, but relevance, timeliness and understandability.

The best services for creating popups

Each service for creating popup tools differs not only in price, but also in the set of functions. Some services provide analytics and targeting, while others do not. When choosing a service, the emphasis should be on the possibility of targeting and split testing. With the help of these functions, it is possible to customize the popup tool in more detail and check the effectiveness of its use.

Several rules must be followed:

  • Meet the requirements of the Coalition for Better Ads. In widgets, it is not desirable to use videos with automatic launch, a countdown before the ability to close ads and use a window that occupies more than 30% of the screen.
  • Do not try to bypass ad blockers and meiro.company ask the user to disable AdBlock. No need to be pushy, respect the choice of the client.
  • Concisely embed information in widgets, do not overload with offers. Use as short wording as possible.
  • Use as few popups as possible. In the case when the site is full of sudden widgets, the display of widgets will be blocked by algorithms. In addition, the impression of the client about the site deteriorates.
  • There is no need to “hide” the popup close button or mask it under other elements. It is easier for the user to leave the site than it is to find a way to close the widget. 

If the rules are followed, popups will not scare customers away from the site and will bring a significant increase in the conversion rate.

Popup builder services:

Hello bar

Service for creating popups with advanced settings, statistics and variable design. Many different window formats, visual designer, impression targeting settings.

The downside is it’s expensive. A monthly subscription will cost $29. But there is a free tariff with a traffic limit. About 1000 window views. Suitable for small sites.

Get Site Control

Get Site Control is a service with a clear constructor and widget adaptation for mobile devices. There are no free split tests in the service and it is impossible to remove the logo. Through Get Site Control it is possible to create a popup in the form of an advertisement or a mailing list subscription window. The price of full access will cost $9 per month, it is possible to use a trial period for two weeks.

Mailmunch

Through this service, it is possible to edit one site for free with flexible targeting and integration with mail services. It is possible to conduct analytics. You will have to pay extra for removing the logo and split testing. The service has a poor selection of popup types, so it is used to create popups with the function of collecting emails. A subscription to full access with advanced functionality and an unlimited number of sites will cost $12.

Sumo

A service with a set of all important functions: targeting, https://www.everycarehants.co.uk analytics, integration and split testing. However, there are no advanced targeting options in Sumo, it is impossible to remove the logo on the created window. One popup template available. Used to create popup tolls in the form of a lightbox. A free plan is available, and full access costs $49 per month.

Add This

The advantage of this service is that it is free to use – there is no paid subscription. Detailed analytics and split testing are carried out. It is possible to remove the logo from the popup tool. The functionality of AddThis is enough to create a popup tool in the form of a lightbox or a back form.

On the above platforms, it is possible to use the so-called popup builders, i.e., templates with prepared popups, which will only adjust to your site. 

What are popup builders made of?

  • Template for informing about marketing activities
  • Template for collecting email addresses
  • Template for collecting phone numbers
  • Template for ordering in 1 click
  • Form Builder

What is a popup builder, and what are the different types of popups

What is a popup builder, and what are the different types of popups?

Popup is a popup tool https://printforum.com.au/community/profile/kathitrost5935/ that appears on the site in order to attract the user’s attention and push him to the target action (purchase, subscription, call, etc.). Popup is used to increase the conversion of the site, but if configured incorrectly, the result can be the opposite: the bounce rate will increase. 

 

What are popups

  • Hello-board – the popup limits some of the functionality of the page, but you can still work with it. For example, in the LPGenerator blog, the window with the newsletter subscription form works like this – you can continue to scroll the article without closing the window.
  • Page-stop – the window blocks the work of the entire page until the user clicks on the action button or closes it. The SendPulse blog subscription form leaves two paths: subscribe or close.

8 tasks that popups solve

  • Subscribe to newsletter/notifications,
  • Subscribe to social media
  • As a disclaimer
  • Tell the news (tomorrow we do not work; prices have risen, etc.),
  • Advertising (typically for the media),
  • Help to understand the interface (popup hints),
  • Contact the sales department right now (via chat or callback),
  • Fill out an application.

Three things are responsible for the conversion of such windows: http://web-eidon.ru/ display settings, the offer itself, and the action to be performed. That is, it is not design that is important here, but relevance, timeliness and understandability.

The best services for creating popups

Each service for creating popup tools differs not only in price, but also in the set of functions. Some services provide analytics and targeting, while others do not. When choosing a service, the emphasis should be on the possibility of targeting and split testing. With the help of these functions, www.tsgfoundation.org it is possible to customize the popup tool in more detail and check the effectiveness of its use.

Several rules must be followed:

  • Meet the requirements of the Coalition for Better Ads. In widgets, it is not desirable to use videos with automatic launch, a countdown before the ability to close ads and use a window that occupies more than 30% of the screen.
  • Do not try to bypass ad blockers and ask the user to disable AdBlock. No need to be pushy, respect the choice of the client.
  • Concisely embed information in widgets, do not overload with offers. Use as short wording as possible.
  • Use as few popups as possible. In the case when the site is full of sudden widgets, the display of widgets will be blocked by algorithms. In addition, the impression of the client about the site deteriorates.
  • There is no need to “hide” the popup close button or mask it under other elements. It is easier for the user to leave the site than it is to find a way to close the widget. 

If the rules are followed, popups will not scare customers away from the site and testing.stuccoitaliano.com will bring a significant increase in the conversion rate.

Popup builder services:

Hello bar

Service for creating popups with advanced settings, statistics and variable design. Many different window formats, visual designer, impression targeting settings.

The downside is it’s expensive. A monthly subscription will cost $29. But there is a free tariff with a traffic limit. About 1000 window views. Suitable for small sites.

Get Site Control

Get Site Control is a service with a clear constructor and widget adaptation for mobile devices. There are no free split tests in the service and it is impossible to remove the logo. Through Get Site Control it is possible to create a popup in the form of an advertisement or a mailing list subscription window. The price of full access will cost $9 per month, it is possible to use a trial period for two weeks.

Mailmunch

Through this service, it is possible to edit one site for free with flexible targeting and integration with mail services. It is possible to conduct analytics. You will have to pay extra for removing the logo and split testing. The service has a poor selection of popup types, so it is used to create popups with the function of collecting emails. A subscription to full access with advanced functionality and an unlimited number of sites will cost $12.

Sumo

A service with a set of all important functions: targeting, analytics, integration and split testing. However, there are no advanced targeting options in Sumo, it is impossible to remove the logo on the created window. One popup template available. Used to create popup tolls in the form of a lightbox. A free plan is available, and full access costs $49 per month.

Add This

The advantage of this service is that it is free to use – there is no paid subscription. Detailed analytics and split testing are carried out. It is possible to remove the logo from the popup tool. The functionality of AddThis is enough to create a popup tool in the form of a lightbox or a back form.

On the above platforms, it is possible to use the so-called popup builders, i.e., templates with prepared popups, which will only adjust to your site. 

What are popup builders made of?

  • Template for informing about marketing activities
  • Template for collecting email addresses
  • Template for collecting phone numbers
  • Template for ordering in 1 click
  • Form Builder

Popup Tools are Good for Conversions

Popup Tools are Good for Conversions

Popups are considered to be among the most popular elements of websites. Why? The reason is that they can easily persuade the visitor of your web resource to take the action that you need. They are an excellent working tool in capable hands. Statistics say that out of 100% of visitors to your resource, 96% will never return there. And these statistics don’t say that your site is bad. After closing the page, a person can simply forget about its existence.

But the popups can improve the situation. Using a reliable popup tool, you can create special forms that will attract a person’s attention. For example, if such a form offers a person to subscribe to a useful newsletter or order a product with a good discount, then he will do it.

 

 

 

Why do website designers all over the world try to add popups https://freefirsttest.com/home/community/profile/eobdiana2418932/ to their projects? Because with the help of these forms they can achieve the following goals:

  • subscription to the company’s newsletter;
  • downloading helpful content (in this case, the user must also leave his email address or phone number);
  • website registration for discount coupons.

All these actions are good for conversions. popups don’t have to be intrusive. When applied effectively, these forms could persuade a website visitor to perform the desired action. To make this happen you just need to choose the kind of popup windows and the material you’ll use for them.

Here are the best 5 types of popup for boosting conversions:

  • welcome;
  • window while scrolling the page;
  • a form that is displayed at a specified time;
  • a window with a question;
  • exit-intent window.

Welcome popup

The name speaks for itself: a welcome popup occurs immediately after a user enters your landing page. In order not to annoy a person, it should consist of important and relevant information, and also cause a feeling that the process is very urgent and cannot be postponed.

Windows that appear as you scroll through the pages of a website

This type of popup window is characterized by the appearance at a certain point in time: as soon as the user reaches the middle or end of the page.

Popups that appear at a given time

Such windows are characterized by their unpredictability: they may not appear for a long time, and tinkeredug.com then, when the user has relaxed and does not expect a catch, they will appear in all their glory. Correctly programming the time of the appearance of the window is a whole science. Marketers are still doing a lot of research, calculating the best time for such a popup.

Popup with a “sly” question

Windows of this type are quite common on sites, especially when the user has spent some time there. While using such kinds of forms make sure that the target action is written in large print and highlighted, and the quit icon is almost invisible. In addition, you should not use incorrect phrases to close the window that may confuse or humiliate your target audience.

Exit-intent popups

The last attempt to attract the attention of the user on the site and keep him until he took a fatal step back is the exit-intent popup. There is a rumor that this technique allows you to increase the conversion of the site up to 500%. However, it is not surprising: each of us will turn his attention to what tried to stop us.

By scale, popups are divided into the following categories:

  • Hello-board. They cover only a small part of the display and have almost no effect on the operation of the website. Due to their size (designers usually make them quite small), such windows practically do not interfere with users and do not irritate them, but they do not bring many benefits either.
  • Page-stop. They capture the entire screen and http://saturdaysstyle.com/?p=10260 prevent you from using the site. To get rid of them, you will have to work hard and find the “cross” icon, which, by the way, does not always appear so quickly. The probability of a response in the case of this category is higher, but user dissatisfaction is also high.

On almost any site today you can find not one, but several popups. Using two, three, or four popups may seem like overkill and redundant, but with the right composition and definition of “X-hour”, it will help to reach the desirable results. 

 

So if you wish to create popups that boost conversions, you should use these tips:

  1. Clearly and understandably formulate your call to action. The user who finds himself on your site must clearly understand what you want from him and what he will receive in return.
  2. Use bright colors. The popup needs to stand out, so use contrasting colors. Combinations of yellow + black, and pink + white, for example, attract attention very well.
  3. Experiment. Viewers will only give you negative comments if they see the identical banner on every page of a website or after a particular amount of scrolls. Use a variety of popups, but not all of them simultaneously.
  4. Your offer should be pertinent. Promo codes, discounts, and the word “free” always work. People like to get some presents and benefits, so you can make them happy.
  5. Crowd effect. If you’re asking a user to sign up for a newsletter or download your book, indicate how many people have already taken the action, as it builds credibility.
  6. Test. Make sure to preview a popup before including it in your project. Popups should not be disruptive or usedmercedesspares.co.za negative, but they should be evident.
  7. Avoid pressing. Always keep in mind that the visitors to your website are individuals who have genuine beliefs and real self-worth. Be careful not to impose or force them into doing the desired action. Provide useful info and appealing benefits, but do not be too diligent with the number of popup impressions.

What is a popup builder, and what are the different types of popups

What is a popup builder, and what are the different types of popups?

Popup is a popup tool https://www.childshillallotments.org.uk/community/profile/bernadinenorieg/ that appears on the site in order to attract the user’s attention and push him to the target action (purchase, subscription, call, etc.). Popup is used to increase the conversion of the site, but if configured incorrectly, the result can be the opposite: the bounce rate will increase. 

 

What are popups

  • Hello-board – the popup limits some of the functionality of the page, but you can still work with it. For example, in the LPGenerator blog, the window with the newsletter subscription form works like this – you can continue to scroll the article without closing the window.
  • Page-stop – the window blocks the work of the entire page until the user clicks on the action button or closes it. The SendPulse blog subscription form leaves two paths: subscribe or close.

8 tasks that popups solve

  • Subscribe to newsletter/notifications,
  • Subscribe to social media
  • As a disclaimer
  • Tell the news (tomorrow we do not work; prices have risen, etc.),
  • Advertising (typically for the media),
  • Help to understand the interface (popup hints),
  • Contact the sales department right now (via chat or callback),
  • Fill out an application.

Three things are responsible for the conversion of such windows: display settings, Https://Amyyuan.Ca/Community/Profile/Ywgclay96820536/ the offer itself, and the action to be performed. That is, it is not design that is important here, but relevance, timeliness and understandability.

The best services for creating popups

Each service for creating popup tools differs not only in price, but also in the set of functions. Some services provide analytics and targeting, while others do not. When choosing a service, the emphasis should be on the possibility of targeting and split testing. With the help of these functions, it is possible to customize the popup tool in more detail and check the effectiveness of its use.

Several rules must be followed:

  • Meet the requirements of the Coalition for Better Ads. In widgets, tragerpacifica.Com it is not desirable to use videos with automatic launch, a countdown before the ability to close ads and use a window that occupies more than 30% of the screen.
  • Do not try to bypass ad blockers and ask the user to disable AdBlock. No need to be pushy, respect the choice of the client.
  • Concisely embed information in widgets, do not overload with offers. Use as short wording as possible.
  • Use as few popups as possible. In the case when the site is full of sudden widgets, the display of widgets will be blocked by algorithms. In addition, the impression of the client about the site deteriorates.
  • There is no need to “hide” the popup close button or mask it under other elements. It is easier for the user to leave the site than it is to find a way to close the widget. 

If the rules are followed, popups will not scare customers away from the site and will bring a significant increase in the conversion rate.

Popup builder services:

Hello bar

Service for creating popups with advanced settings, statistics and variable design. Many different window formats, visual designer, impression targeting settings.

The downside is it’s expensive. A monthly subscription will cost $29. But there is a free tariff with a traffic limit. About 1000 window views. Suitable for small sites.

Get Site Control

Get Site Control is a service with a clear constructor and widget adaptation for mobile devices. There are no free split tests in the service and it is impossible to remove the logo. Through Get Site Control it is possible to create a popup in the form of an advertisement or a mailing list subscription window. The price of full access will cost $9 per month, it is possible to use a trial period for two weeks.

Mailmunch

Through this service, it is possible to edit one site for free with flexible targeting and integration with mail services. It is possible to conduct analytics. You will have to pay extra for removing the logo and split testing. The service has a poor selection of popup types, so it is used to create popups with the function of collecting emails. A subscription to full access with advanced functionality and https://www.itsemurhamies.fi an unlimited number of sites will cost $12.

Sumo

A service with a set of all important functions: targeting, analytics, integration and split testing. However, there are no advanced targeting options in Sumo, it is impossible to remove the logo on the created window. One popup template available. Used to create popup tolls in the form of a lightbox. A free plan is available, and full access costs $49 per month.

Add This

The advantage of this service is that it is free to use – there is no paid subscription. Detailed analytics and split testing are carried out. It is possible to remove the logo from the popup tool. The functionality of AddThis is enough to create a popup tool in the form of a lightbox or a back form.

On the above platforms, it is possible to use the so-called popup builders, i.e., templates with prepared popups, which will only adjust to your site. 

What are popup builders made of?

Claspo Review Create Personalized Pop-ups to Captivate Your Site’s Visitors

Claspo Review: Create Personalized Pop-ups to Captivate Your Site’s Visitors

It’s no secret that pop-ups have been a game-changer for online businesses. Whether you want to generate leads, get more email subscribers, or seek consent from site visitors to collect their information, pop-ups have got you covered.

 But pop-ups can be invasive and annoying for your audience if they’re not personalized. Thankfully, solutions like Claspo exist to help you design user-friendly popups that turn your website visitors into customers.

Claspo is a powerful popup builder https://ontheraider.com/community/profile/wilhemina766195 that makes it easy to create customized notifications and forms with no coding required. It offers several creative widgets and triggers to help you stimulate engagement and sales. Users also get access to a number of modern and fully adaptive templates, which they can easily customize to reflect their own branding.

In this hands-on review, we’ll take a closer look at Claspo, explore its features, and give our final verdict on it.

Before jumping into the detailed review, here’s a quick overview of Claspo’s main features.

Claspo Key Features

Compared to other website popup builders, Claspo is incredibly feature-rich, with everything you could possibly need to capture your visitors’ attention and drive conversions.

Here are some of Claspo’s notable features:

Designed Layout

  • Lightbox Popup
  • Slide-in Scroll Box Forms
  • Sidebar Forms
  • Floating Bar
  • Inline Forms
  • Informer Popup
  • Content Locking Forms
  • Launchers

Purpose

  • Subscription form
  • Information alerts
  • Age verification

Display Settings

  • Scroll Trigger
  • Exit-Intent Trigger
  • UTM Parametrs
  • Timed Delay
  • Click Trigger
  • JavaScript Trigger
  • Frequency
  • Newsletter Subscriber
  • Page-Level Targeting
  • HTML Elements
  • Flexible setting of display conditions (and/or)
  • Device Types
  • Multi-languages

Claspo Pricing

Another thing we really love about Claspo is its free pricing plan.

Yep, Claspo is completely free to use for websites that receive up to 30,000 page views per month. The plan lets you set up three active widgets, https://joinilluminatiworldwide.com/community/profile/ashlee63a499819 which can be any pop-ups from the ones available. The best part is there are no time limits to using this plan.

If you expect to get more than 30,000 pageviews or want to use more than three widgets, you can check out Claspo’s other plans that’ll soon be accessible to general users. The pop-up solution provider will offer a 20% discount to those who pay annually. 

 

 

Hands-on with Claspo

Before you can build a popup with Claspo, create an account on its website. Once done, you’ll be redirected to the Claspo dashboard where you’ll be able to create widgets and forms.

Hands-on with Claspo

Creating a Widget in Claspo

Claspo makes it super easy to build a widget; head over to your dashboard and click the New widget button to start creating. Enter a name for your widget, then choose from one of the following goals:

  • Collect user data – gather information such as names and email addresses of your audience.
  • Inform users – let your visitors know about existing discounts or upcoming products.
  • Launch another widget – use the widget to direct users to another popup on your site.
  • Verify user age – ensure visitors clicking your content and CTAs are 18 or above.

Next, you get four layout types to choose from:

  • Inline – embed the widget into any element of the webpage.
  • Floating box – place the widget on top of other elements in the corner of the webpage.
  • Floating bar – display the widget as a full-width bar without disrupting the visitors’ reading experience.
  • Popup – Choose from different popup types, including lightbox, slide-in scroll, and informer popups.

Additionally, Claspo lets you pick the color of the main button, title, and background, https://www.coolcasegallery.Com/community/Profile/celiamchale6943/ so you can build a widget based on your brand image.

Claspo Appearance

Plus, you can choose whether you want the style to be minimalistic, artistic, classic, smooth, or modern.

Note: The workflow of creating a Claspo popup differs depending on the goal you choose. If your aim is to collect user data, you’ll get different options for building out your widget.

Claspo’s Templates

In the next step, you’ll be able to choose from ready-made templates you can edit as needed. The current range isn’t vast, but Claspo will soon update its Templates Library with new designs for its popups.

Claspo’s Templates

Using Claspo’s Drop and Drop Editor

For design and personalization, Claspo offers an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. You can use it to:

  • Duplicate elements – save time by duplicating objects like text, images, or input fields in one click.
  • Build call-to-actions – put together a captivating invitation no one can decline.
  • Adjust size & layout – modify the images’ dimensions and integrate them within the popup. You can use them as the background or turn them into a centerpiece.
  • Boost CTAs – use components like dynamic inputs and buttons to draw visitors’ attention after a period of inactivity.
  • Create an email input field – gather visitors’ names, emails, phone numbers, and feed them to CRM so your team can offer prospects a personalized, improved service.

Create an email input field

  • Place a consent checkbox – users only need to check the box and click the button to opt-in or decline Privacy & Cookie Policies.
  • Show a custom success message – craft a success message that coincides with your brand voice.
  • Display a countdown timer – let your visitors know good offers don’t last.
  • Access external libraries of stock elements – choose from a vast library of royalty-free icons and https://forum.discover-country.com pictures to add to your popups.

Besides these functions, Claspo will provide its users with the following options soon:

  • Integrate video content – make users feel like they want to wear or use your product by tapping into the power of visual content.
  • Set the theme – harmonize messages with your site’s design by building a theme that unites all the popup widgets with your unique appearance.
  • Edit images while creating – use Claspo’s built-in image editor to change the image size and add text and elements in real-time.

Setting Triggers in Claspo

Triggers are the rules you set for when your popup should appear based on the specific action of your visitors. Claspo offers various different triggers to help you generate engagement. Some options include:

 

 

 

  • Scroll trigger – display a popup when a visitor scrolls to a certain % of your page.
  • Exit-intent trigger – present visitors with a personalized message when they exhibit signs of abandonment.
  • Click trigger – add a click trigger using element attributes such as ID, class, and link.
  • Javascript trigger – with JavaScript coding, you’re only limited by your imagination when it comes to popup triggers.
  • Timed delay – set time limits to ensure visitors have ample opportunity to look around.
  • Page-level targeting – display your popups on pages where visitors are likely to engage with them, and exclude them from areas where they do not belong.

Claspo's Page-level targeting

  • UTM parameters – create a personalized message based on UTM parameters like content, medium, campaign, and source.
  • HTML elements – embed the relevant HTML elements from your webpage to create customized triggers.
  • Frequency – convert your popups into friendly, less-irritating reminders by adjusting their display and repetition counts.
  • Flexible setting of display conditions (and/or) – use Claspo Advanced Rule Engine to design a set of and/or rules for popups with two triggers.

Adding Claspo’s Script to Your Website

You can instantly display Claspo’s popup widgets on your site by installing its script on WordPress or adding it through Google Tag Manager (GTM).

Use the Insert Headers and Footers plugin to add the code on every page of your site, or manually add it to our WordPress files and integrate it in specific areas such as the header, footer, specific page, or specific post.

If you prefer using Google Tag Manager, follow this guide to install Claspo’s script. Note that you’ll need to create a trigger for your script in GTM for it to work properly.

Claspo also has a Chrome extension you can use to test widgets on any website without having the script installed. 

To display your widget:

  1. Copy the script code and paste it into the plugin.
  2. Open your dashboard, create a widget, choose Published as its status and click Save.
  3. Reload the website, and you should see the widget there, live.

Viewing Analytics & Insights

I especially love this aspect of Claspo. In analytics, https://socaflow.com you get a bird’s eye view of your popup performance. Claspo lets you track metrics like:

  • Impression and views
  • Target actions
  • Conversion rate
  • Desktop/mobile statistic

You can also use the joined features of Claspo and Google Analytics to upgrade the goals’ assessment or events tracking processes. Plus, you can view KPIs for specific periods such as today, last seven days, previous month, and all time.

Claspo Integrations

Claspo supports a variety of integrations that help you view your popup data in other business systems. For example, you can transfer widget actions as custom events to Google Analytics. Claspo also supports integration with Mailchimp, SendGrid, Klaviyo, MailerLite, Pipedrive, Zapier via webhooks, and more.

Verdict

Claspo comes with a suite of tools that makes popup customization a lot easier than the manual route. You don’t need to touch any code to tweak different aspects of your popup. Plus, you can use pre-built templates and elements like time delay triggers to make your pop-ups as effective as possible.

And as a cherry on top, Claspo integrates with a variety of email service providers and CRM. These integrations open up some really powerful functionality and let you access your popup data from one place.

 

Article Continues Below

 

If you want to give Claspo a try, you can sign up for the free plan and experience the tool for yourself.

Claspo Review PROS & CONS (2022) – What Separates It From Other Popup Builders

Claspo Review PROS & CONS (2022) – What Separates It From Other Popup Builders?

Forms and banners aren’t the only strategies to get new customers and keep them around. With Claspo’s drag-and-and-drop interface, companies can easily build completely customizable popups.

Anyone can benefit from Claspo’s services, regardless of their website’s size or niche. By using its user-friendly tools, you can increase engagement and the amount of time visitors spend on your site.

Using the widgets provided, Claspo can help you maximize the site’s potential and increase traffic. Many functions are packed into these widgets while still making them simple to use.

You can use them to advertise certain areas or features of your site, convert site visitors into customers, create polls and surveys, and increase the number of people who sign up for your newsletter.

In this Claspo review, you will find out more about the tool’s features and how you can utilize them.

 

 

Claspo Review

The Claspo is a one-stop platform that anyone can use. Even beginners can easily create stunning popups.

Setting up trigger actions, website pages or sections, and other factors is up to the user. Use a Claspo widget to display popups, collect data, and track the results of your marketing activities.

 

Claspo drag and drop editor.

 

You can use available ready-made templates to create popups. Then you just change things like background, font size, color, padding, and other design aspects. You can add various elements such as forms, gamification, call-to-action buttons, animated buttons, etc.

 

Why Claspo?

Claspo offers many options and features. Some of them include:

  • Optimize your popup to make it fit the screen of any device.
  • Various widget styles.
  • Easy to use editor.
  • The ability to control when and how visitors view popups.
  • Customizable elements.
  • Display campaigns at designated time intervals.
  • Exit-intent popups or welcome popups.
  • Widgets can be triggered based on how far down the page the user has scrolled.
  • Analytical tools allow you to keep track of conversions for widgets.
  • A username, email address, and password are all you’ll need to open a Claspo account. Additionally, you can sign up with Twitter, Google, or Facebook.
  • Integrating with CRM, CDP, or other available tools allows you to personalize popups and boost their effectiveness.

 

Connecting Claspo Widgets To Your Site

Popup widgets from Claspo can be instantly added to the site using one of the following methods:

  • Google Tag Manager (GTM)
  • WordPress

 

Claspo install script.

 

Adding Widgets Using GTM

When you use Claspo to design a popup widget tailored to your activities and objectives, you are provided with a script. You must include that script into your website using the tag management system known as Google Tag Manager.

 

Adding Widgets In WordPress

There are several ways to integrate the script into your WordPress site:

  • Use Insert Headers and Footers plugin to add the script to the entire WordPress site. Every page of your website will now have the new code automatically loaded.
  • Manually add the script to your WordPress files and insert it in locations such as header, footer, specific page, or post.
  • Use a Code Embed plugin to select the location in the content where to embed the script.

 

Layout Types

Currently, there are three layout types available:

  • Inline –  The widget is incorporated into any element of the webpage.
  • Floating box – The widget will stick to the top or bottom of the page without blocking content.
  • Popup –  There are several popup types. Lightbox popup (a huge message on top of the website with a darker background), Informer popup (attention-grabbing popup banner to inform visitors or notify), Slide-in Scroll Box (a small slide-in message), Inline popup (message built into the page), Popup launcher (mini version of popup).

 

Claspo layout types.

 

There are also placement options for inline.

 

Claspo placement options.

Claspo placement options.

 

Coming soon layouts:

  • Sidebar forms –  Contact form on the side of the page.
  • Full screen – Popup that covers the entire screen.
  • Content locking forms –  Hide content behind content lock, and users will need to perform a certain action to unlock.
  • Multi-step forms – Divide forms into multiple pages.
  • Gamification –  Invite visitors to spin the wheel for a certain reward.

 

Display/Trigger Settings

There are available various trigger options (when will popup appear):

  • Scroll Trigger –  Display popup when the user reaches a particular % of the page.
  • Exit-Intent Trigger –  Use a popup message to make an attractive customized offer to clients who show indicators of leaving your site.
  • UTM Parameters –  Your visitors’ UTM parameters can be used to create a personalized message for them.
  • Timed Delay – To ensure that visitors have enough opportunity to look around, https://joinilluminatiworldwide.com set time constraints.
  • Click Trigger – Use the elements’ characteristics (class, ID, link) to trigger popups.
  • JavaScript Trigger – You’re only limited by your creativity when it comes to JavaScript customization.
  • Frequency – Adjust the number of times a popup message appears and the number of times it repeats.
  • Newsletter Subscriber –  Show newsletter to those who haven’t yet subscribed and not those who have already done so.
  • New Visitor –  Show a nice popup message with a personalized offer (coming soon).
  • Page-Level Targeting –  Display popups only on selected parts of the site.
  • HTML Elements – Embed the required HTML elements from the page to customize the triggers.
  • Flexible Setting of Display Conditions (and/or) –  Claspo Advanced Rule Engine can be used to help you develop a set of rules for popups that have two triggers.
  • Campaign-Scheduled – Using a campaign-scheduled popup is a great way to promote a new product or service on a certain day or time (coming soon).

 

Claspo trigger options.

Some of the available trigger options.

 

Integrations

Claspo can be integrated with third-party tools.

 

Claspo third-party integration tools.

 

Currently supports integration with Zapier using hooks, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, Mailchimp, MailerLite and SendGrid.

 

Analytics & Insights

Under the analytics tab, you will find valuable statistics about popup performance, such as:

  • Impressions and views
  • Subscription conversions
  • Conversion rate
  • Google Analytics (Events)
  • Desktop/Mobile statistic

 

Claspo analytics features.

 

The features that are yet not available but will be soon:

  • Top Converting Widgets
  • Control – See how various messages perform compared to the popup-free website version.
  • Lift test – Do you require evidence that your popups influence buyers’ behavior? Do a test to investigate the shift in conversion rate.
  • Goal Tracking – Set up statistical goals that help you get insights into customers’ behavior and track them.
  • A/B Testing – Perform A/B tests to see how each popup performs.

 

How To Create Widget Using Claspo?

When creating widget, you need to add name, select goal and layout type.

 

How to create widget with Claspo?

 

In the next section, you will select style options that suit you best.

 

Claspo widget style options.

 

Then you can choose to from available ready-made templates. Currently, the choice is in not big.

 

Claspo widget templates.

 

In the last step, https://www.basementandrainagesolutions.co.uk you can customize popup further using editor.

 

Claspo editor customization options.

 

Drag and drop editors allow you to personalize a chosen template to your heart’s content. Options for personalization include:

  • Undo/Redo –  Mistakes are bound to occur. Callaspo’s ability to undo or redo activities will be helpful to everyone while customizing popups.
  • Duplicate elements – Duplicate the objects like input fields, images, or text in one click.
  • Mobile view editing –  Use mobile-friendly forms like compact popups, sliders, or sticky bars.
  • Adjustable size & layout –  Place the photographs in the popup and adjust their dimensions. There are various ways to include them into your design, whether to make them bigger or smaller, turn them into a centerpiece, or foundationweb.org put them into the background.
  • Custom success message – Customize your success message.
  • CTA boosted –  Use CTA-boosted components like dynamic buttons and inputs.
  • Templates library –  Claspo comes with ready-made templates. Currently, only 4 templates are available. More coming soon.
  • Built-in image editor – Change the size, add elements and text in the builder to allow you to render the images while creating your popup (coming soon).
  • Countdown timer –  The fear of missing out is a strong motivator. Place a countdown timer in your popup to show visitors that the offer will expire soon. Fear of missing out is a great tactic (coming soon).
  • Video content –  Video materials assist buyers in connecting with the core concept of your marketing campaign. They can feel like they’re using or wearing your product, which is an important part of a successful marketing strategy (coming soon).
  • Setting the theme –  Create the same theme for all popup forms to harmonize with your store’s design and color palette (coming soon).
  • Personal library of custom modules & components –  Create a customized library of unique modules and components to quickly and easily create popups of your own design (coming soon).
  • Customizable input fields – Customizable input fields allow you to receive only the information relevant to the intended use of a particular popup like email, gender, and age (coming soon).
  • External libraries of icons and stock images – Using Claspo’s built-in external libraries, you’ll have access to a large library of royalty-free pictures and icons for your popups.

 

Pricing Plans

Claspo currently only offers a free plan. The tool has recently launched, and many features are yet to come. Because of that, only a free plan is available.

There are no time limits to using a free subscription plan. The only difference between plans are limits such as page views, active widgets, sites on which you can use, users, and branded/white label.

When a page is loaded or the URL path, the Claspo tracking module counts a pageview. A second pageview is recorded if a user navigates to a different page and returns to the original page. If a user clicks reload after reaching the page, this is counted as an additional pageview. A pageview is not counted when the query component of a page URL changes.

 

Claspo Review Verdict

The attention spans of website visitors are quite short. After fewer than seven seconds, they’ve already moved on to the next item on their list. It’s not always easy to turn visitors into long-term customers. People aren’t simply going to sign up for your newsletter. A variety of methods must be used to keep your audience engaged for a longer amount of time.

Popups are not a great experience for users. However, they are beneficial for generating leads, increasing conversion rates, and letting site visitors know about any specific deals or important information. Popups aren’t supposed to be bothersome, but instead, they’re supposed to aid in the growth of your revenue. Popups can only be effective if they are built using the proper tools.

Fortunately, there are plenty of resources for creating popups. Claspo is one such product. It’s a unique set of widgets packaged as an online toolkit, allowing you to create unique popups running on any platform for any site.

Unfortunately, in this state, Claspo lacks many features that other popup tools have. Most of the features in Claspo are yet to be added. This is because it is a newer product and I think it was launched too soon as much work and features are needed. Also, https://www.bellespatisserie.co.Za/2022/12/04/what-Is-a-popup-tool-and-how-does-it-work/ I don’t see anything in upcoming features that would distinguish it from many other established popup builders https://www.freearticlesplanet.com/popup-tools-are-good-for-conversions/.

Claspo has potential, but until they release all features, there are better options available such as MailOptin, OptinMonster, Sumo, Thrive Leads, Convert Pro,  Brave, Getsitecontrol, and other popular popup builders that have been around for a while now.

Claspo

Claspo discount coupon.

7.1

EASY TO USE

9.0/10

FEATURES

5.0/10

PRICE

8.5/10

OVERALL QUALITY

6.0/10

PROS

  • Free plan available
  • Easy to use editor
  • Various trigger options
  • Analytics and insights feature
  • Optimize popup for mobile devices
  • Various widget styles

CONS

  • Lack of documentation
  • Only several available templates
  • No option to create popup from scratch (blank) instead of selecting template
  • Many features are yet not available and will be coming soon (it feels like tool was launched too soon)
  • You need to manually add script to site or use third-party plugins (Claspo doesn't have its own WordPress plugin which would make things easier)
  • Not many layout types

Software-Defined Storage Buying Guide

Software-Defined Storage Buying Guide

Earlier articles in this series have focused on the definition of Software-Defined Storage (SDS) as well as tips on how to implement it. Now we review some of the vendors involved, beginning with what the leading storage vendors are up to in this space. We’re also covering some of the challengers and startups who aim to shake things up in SDS.

Dell

Through acquisition and internal development, Dell has assembled an impressive array of storage technology over the past decade. Its SDS strategy hews closely to its core hardware competency. As such, it is partnering with SDS specialists and putting the emphasis on the delivery of a strong hardware platform that integrates well with the overlying SDS virtualization layer.

Dell’s focus is on validating and hardening multiple SDS stacks on Dell hardware as the company has found that most new hardware doesn’t work automatically with SDS software. Problems can range from the software not recognizing the new hardware to intermittent disk failures. It can also lead to poor visibility into hardware issues.

“We have been working closely with our SDS partners to harden the software stack to run on Dell servers,” said Chandra Mukhyala, SDS Solutions Manager, Dell Storage. “In the process, we came up with Hardware Compatibility Lists (HCLs) and optimized reference architectures for various workloads.”

Dell’s Blue Thunder initiative involves partnerships with other vendors to bring together a software-defined storage portfolio. This includes integrating its hardware with open source software as well as hypervisor and SDS vendors. This includes cooperation with VMware, Microsoft, Nutanix, Nexenta and Red Hat. The Dell XC Series appliances, for example, are based on Dell PowerEdge servers combined with Nutanix software and Dell global services and support.

“The XC series offers customers a hyper-converged solution that integrates storage, hypervisor and compute into a single platform and, as a result, increases overall savings and decrease time-to-value,” said Mukhyala. “After announcing our OEM agreement with Nutanix last year and delivering our first appliances in November, we already began shipping the Dell XC Series Version 2.0 appliances this February with additional models and form factors.”

HP

HP Storage views software-defined storage as a hardware- and hypervisor-agnostic abstraction that provides both orchestration and data services. HP OneView provides a common orchestration layer between underlying storage and VMware, Microsoft, and Openstack environments. HP StoreVirtual VSA and HP StoreOnce VSA provide data services for primary storage and data protection.

As HP provides technology that embraces storage, networking and compute, it advocates hyper-convergence of all these elements. So it is looking well beyond SDS towards software-defined everything.

“Our customer base is rapidly embracing hyper-convergence with the HP ConvergedSystem 200-HC StoreVirtual as a simple building block for virtualized environments,” said Dale Degen, HP Worldwide Software-Defined Storage Category Manager.

IBM

IBM is another company that is making a big SDS play. But unlike Dell, it has internally created a plethora of SDS and software virtualization components that it has pieced together to provide a unified software-defined front.

IBM focuses on the management of storage hardware and encompasses virtual, physical or in the cloud, https://www.kidlink.net/ said David Hill, an analyst at Mesabi Group. Its Spectrum Storage Family includes too many elements to lay out fully. Underlying much of it is IBM Virtual Storage Center (VSC), and there are various Spectrum products dealing with storage management, data protection (based on Tivoli Storage Manager), archiving (LTFS tape), SAN virtualization https://Cedinitiative.org/community/profile/deloraselkins14/ (SAN Volume Controller), SDS (XIV software), and high performance NAS and object storage (GPFS file system). It’s a little complex but an impressive line-up of well-established components lies behind it. The goal is agility, control and efficiency.

“What IBM wants to convey is that a spectrum of complementary yet still separate products is needed in this increasingly diverse storage world,” said Hill. “An overlying theme that IBM weaves throughout the Spectrum Storage is the need for transformation of data economics including provisioning, utilization and management.”

EMC

EMC provides SDS solutions for scale-out SAN (ScaleIO), hyper-scale object, Hadoop HDFS analytics (Elastic Cloud Storage – ECS) and software defined management and automation solutions (ViPR SRM, ViPR Controller). These tools can manage a multi-vendor storage environment from one screen and provide an open API cloud orchestration layer for virtualized data centers, including a conduit to private and hybrid clouds. The individual components can be deployed independently, while ViPR delivers storage automation and an API for cloud integration.

ScaleIO is a software-defined, server-based storage area network (SAN) that converges storage and compute resources, and it can grow from a few to thousands of servers. ECS is a software-defined cloud storage platform that combines commodity infrastructure with traditional arrays. ViPR SRM is software-defined management software that enables IT to visualize storage relationships, analyze configurations and capacity growth, and optimize resources. ViPR Controller is automation software that centralizes multivendor storage.

“SDS is about addressing needs around performance, data management, and the end user experience and aligning the right data to these needs for the right cost,” said Suresh Sathyamurthy, Senior Director of Product Marketing, Emerging Technology Division, EMC. “In the end, it’s about greater flexibility, agility and vendor choice.”

NetApp

NetApp has invested heavily in its DataOnTap storage operating system so it makes sense that it would build its SDS approach on this solid foundation. For example, forum.myumunna.com it released NetApp StorageGrid Webscale for object storage and Https://Sprinttest.Net/Blog/Index.Php?Entryid=11768 integration of cloud applications with Amazon S3. It is said to be able to store up to 100 billion objects in one container that can be distributed in data centers spread around the planet.

“Leveraging 10 years of enterprise object-storage experience, StorageGRID Webscale provides a foundation for software-defined, globally distributed object stores with policies that enable IT to govern data placement and protection worldwide,” said Dan Neault, senior vice president, Data Center Solutions Group, NetApp.

DataCore

DataCore has probably been doing SDS longer than anyone. And it is reaping the benefits of increased awareness of the value of SDS. George Teixeira, the company’s CEO and President, said the result of this raised awareness was the fact that his company has now shipped over 25,000 copies of its software. DataCore has been playing the software-based tune for quite some time, and now it appears that it has struck gold.

DataCore promotes its long experience with storage virtualization and features such as automation that supports auto-discovery, load balancing, auto-tiering and self-healing. Its software-defined platform comprises two products; one for managing SAN/NAS and cloud storage (SANsymphony-V) and the other for hyper-converged storage (Virtual SAN). Since they are built on the same platform, they are integrated such that capacity can be shared across them.

“The platform has been developed to provide the highest levels of storage availability, performance and efficiency from a utilization and a management perspective,” said Teixeira.

In addition, DataCore is working with Huawei on a line of jointly certified hyper-converged solutions. The first result of the partnership between the two companies combines Huawei’s FusionServer series with SANsymphony. You can also add Huawei’s Oceanstor SSD storage and existing storage systems via iSCSI or Fibre Channel connectivity.

Nexenta

NexentaConnect is a suite that combines SDS with cloud and desktop features to provide features such as performance acceleration, automation and analytics. NexantaStor is the storage component and it delivers unified file and block storage services that run on commodity hardware. It is said to simplify storage management and to scale from tens of TBs to PBs.

Michael Letschin, Director of Product Management Solutions, Nexenta, also talked about added elements of the suite. NexentaEdge (beta), he said, is object, file and block storage for OpenStack and big data applications. It delivers Cinder Block and Swift/S3 object storage services, and it integrates through a Horizon management plug-in to streamline storage management and capacity planning. This element will add storage defined networking capabilities to the SDS side. Finally, NexentaFusion (beta) adds more analytics as well as orchestration software.

“This automates arrangement, coordination and management of complex compute systems, data stores and services without the need for administrators to pre-define the nature and placement of data,” said Letschin.

Scality

Scality’s RING product is said to be designed for petabyte-scale storage environments at enterprises, governments and service providers. Leo Leung, vice president of corporate marketing at Scality, reported that the company is seeing serious adoption from the media and entertainment industry as they look to tackle the massive on-demand wave for their customers.

The RING addresses the limits of scaling traditional storage systems to petabytes of capacity. Traditional storage falls down at that scale, said Leung, exposing performance bottlenecks and inefficiencies in data protection, becoming increasingly unreliable as the system grows.

“Scality RING scales to hundreds of petabytes and billions of files, while improving performance linearly and maintaining 100% uptime and data durability with an average of only 50% overhead,” he said. “For the first time, storage and data center customers have complete choice of hardware, today and tomorrow, with no penalties for mixing and matching hardware generations, form factors, and densities.”

Tintri

Tintri touts its application-aware storage as providing VM-level visibility, control, insight and agility. The company is all about storage virtualization technology that is said to learn and adapt to existing environments by seeing how applications behave at the virtualization layer.

This is built on its FlashFirst architecture that understands and integrates with VMs and virtual disks. Tintri VMstore then uses flash along with deduplication, compression and data placement automation.

Most recently, it released Tintri OS 3.2 to enable administrators to allocate exact maximum and minimum IOPS to individual VMs. VM-level QoS is paired with visualization of resource contention to view the immediate impact of throttle changes on VM-level latency. In addition, Tintri SyncVM allows users to move between snapshots of a VM without losing other snapshots or performance history. Finally, Tintri Global Center 2.0 makes it possible to manage 100,000 VMs from one interface.

Microsoft

A little known company from Redmond, WA, is also making a push for market share in SDS. Microsoft’s Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) is a clustering initiative that makes file shares continuously available for server application storage. It makes it possible to share the same folder from multiple nodes of one cluster and is built around the Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor.

Starwind

Starwind is another startup with a hypervisor-centric approach to SDS. The Starwind Virtual SAN provides a fault-tolerant storage pool that is said to be built for virtualization workloads from scratch. It mirrors inexpensive internal storage between hosts and eliminates any need for physical shared storage.

OpenStack

OpenStack certainly embraces SDS, but it goes beyond it into what it terms a cloud operating system that controls large pools of compute, storage and networking resources throughout a data center. Everything is managed through a dashboard that allows users to provision storage through a web interface.

Actifio

Actifio characterizes itself as the copy data virtualization company, but it very much operates in the SDS space. Actifio One is a cloud-based service built on its data virtualization technology to make applications easily available. It can run on various physical servers, as well as VMware, Windows, Hyper-v, Linux, https://gkc-online.com/blog/index.php?entryid=3432 Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server.

There are more companies, of course, operating in this space. But those covered in this series provide a good place to start for anyone investigating software-defined storage.