Getting the most out for a user that is not exactly savvy

My apologies if I have broached this topic somewhat before. I bought my first computer last fall and was not that familiar with Windows based machines at the time. Currently, I just surf the internet and check my email in yahoo. I'd like to get more out of my machine and become more savvy. I own the Leopard missing manual, however its not the most fun book to read cover to cover. I have picked up some information from visiting websites like Macworld. What are the desert island books and the best websites by consensus for learning? As I have a lot of time on my hands, what would be the best way to go about learning? I need help pertaining all aspects of computing. From learning to type to peripherals, software and hardware included. Thanks much!

I'm going to go against the crowd here and say that if you don't find David Pogue's book "The Missing Manual" interesting, then you are not interested in learning about the computer. It's an excellent book, well written and readable and thoroughly informative about how your computer works. BUT It's no big deal if you're not interested: Apple computers are basically made for people who want to use them, as opposed to understanding them or tinkering with them. Figure out what you want to use your computer for, and approach the learning process from that direction.

Similar Messages

Getting the most out of my T400 for light gaming

So I just got a used T400 to play around with while I'm overseas. It is the model with the P9400 and ATI HD3470. It was an old corporate laptop that was refurbished and sold over ebay. So far it has been great. I know not to expect great performance when gaming but I'm wondering if anyone has any tips and tricks to really get the most out of it.
Do you think it would be worth it to open it up and blow it out? Also, the battery is a 9-cell but I'm only getting about 3 hours out of it. I know it is from sitting at a desk for years just plugged in all the time. Is there anything I can do to improve it? Or should I just get a new one?
Thanks so much!

Other than upgrading the hardware (you could also uprade to a larger faster hard drive or even SSD)...
For YouTube (and other web sites that use Flash-based video), install ClickToPlugin Safari extension
http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/
In YouTube, with Safari and ClickToPlugin, HTML5-based version of the video (which is there mostly for mobile devices like iPhone and iPad) often gets played instead of the Flash-based version. HTML5 video is more efficient, especially on PowerPC Macs. On my Power Mac G5, playback is noticeable better with the HTML5 content (compared to Flash). Also, ClickToPlugin prevents Flash-based ads on the same web page from loading, taking more load off the aging G5 processor.
Create a new user account in System Preferences Accounts pane. Log out and log in to the new user account (do not use Fast User Switching). Do the things you normally to on your iMac using the new user account. If things seem to run better in the new account, you should investigate what is happening in your normal user account. You may have background processes (that start up automatically when you log in) which may or may not be necessary. These may come from apps you have installed over time, which you may no longer use regularly.

I'm relatively new to Mac and want to try and get the most out of the new MacBook Air.   My wife and I have been sharing the same Apple ID. We both have iPhones - she has a 5 and I've got a 4S.   We only have one copy of iTunes and we have been sharing t

I'm relatively new to Mac and want to try and get the most out of the new MacBook Air.
My wife and I have been sharing the same Apple ID. We both have iPhones - she has a 5 and I've got a 4S.
We only have one copy of iTunes and we have been sharing the account. (She doesn't really use the computer for anything beyond writing the odd weekend assignment.)
Would I be better off setting her up with her own and making her as a separate user on the computer? Would this require much work?
In recent times with updates, we have a few problems with the duplication of texts and that sort of thing. Both of our texts are stored on the computer and that sort of thing. Also, sometimes texts I send her are sent through to me from her, if that makes any sense.
Anyway, I don't really want to overly complicate matters when it comes to accounts etc, but I wanted to know if a fresh Apple ID would be the best thing or even a new user?
Any tips etc would be greatly appreciated
Thanks in advance
MacBook
I have this question too (0) Reply

Your question is almost too much a personal one, begging the question "do we (husband and wife) feel comfy sharing one account on the Mac"   maybe thats why nobody answered you.
It doesnt complicate anything, but it adds steps for switching accounts on the Mac/ purchases etc. of course
since your question is mostly personal, ..I wont answer THAT part of it, but creating a new account is easy.....messing with switching back and forth is also a personal preference 'issue' as well.   I prefer to keep things simple, but...........you and yours, I dont know.......
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11468

Getting the most out of my 7100i

I really need someone's help. I'm not that Blackberry savvy. I've had my device for about 2 years, and still only use it primarily for the phone and occasional email. I originally got the phone because my company utilized the direct connect and email alot. I no longer work fot that company, but am still locked into my phone contract. So, I want to get the most out of my phone, and I don't know all of it's capabilities. Specifically, I want to know if it has capabilities similar to my Palm z22. I'm tired of carrying 2 devices.
Any input/advice/criticism(preferably constructive) would be most appreciated.
Thanks from a blackberry illiterate.

Other than upgrading the hardware (you could also uprade to a larger faster hard drive or even SSD)...
For YouTube (and other web sites that use Flash-based video), install ClickToPlugin Safari extension
http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/
In YouTube, with Safari and ClickToPlugin, HTML5-based version of the video (which is there mostly for mobile devices like iPhone and iPad) often gets played instead of the Flash-based version. HTML5 video is more efficient, especially on PowerPC Macs. On my Power Mac G5, playback is noticeable better with the HTML5 content (compared to Flash). Also, ClickToPlugin prevents Flash-based ads on the same web page from loading, taking more load off the aging G5 processor.
Create a new user account in System Preferences Accounts pane. Log out and log in to the new user account (do not use Fast User Switching). Do the things you normally to on your iMac using the new user account. If things seem to run better in the new account, you should investigate what is happening in your normal user account. You may have background processes (that start up automatically when you log in) which may or may not be necessary. These may come from apps you have installed over time, which you may no longer use regularly.

Getting the most out of my iMac G5 2.0 GHz

Hi everyone!
I have an iMac G5 (ALS) 2.0GHz, 1GB SDRAM, 160GB Hard drive which is running on OS 10.5.8.
It's fully for my one use, and just as an extra; but I was just wondering if any of you had some advice for getting the most out of my PowerPC Mac. (Appart from increasing my RAM-memory, I know 1GB isn't much.)
Thanks!
Gijs

Other than upgrading the hardware (you could also uprade to a larger faster hard drive or even SSD)...
For YouTube (and other web sites that use Flash-based video), install ClickToPlugin Safari extension
http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/
In YouTube, with Safari and ClickToPlugin, HTML5-based version of the video (which is there mostly for mobile devices like iPhone and iPad) often gets played instead of the Flash-based version. HTML5 video is more efficient, especially on PowerPC Macs. On my Power Mac G5, playback is noticeable better with the HTML5 content (compared to Flash). Also, ClickToPlugin prevents Flash-based ads on the same web page from loading, taking more load off the aging G5 processor.
Create a new user account in System Preferences Accounts pane. Log out and log in to the new user account (do not use Fast User Switching). Do the things you normally to on your iMac using the new user account. If things seem to run better in the new account, you should investigate what is happening in your normal user account. You may have background processes (that start up automatically when you log in) which may or may not be necessary. These may come from apps you have installed over time, which you may no longer use regularly.

Get the most out of a Mega PC

Hi. I'm new :D
I recently bought a Mega 651 to make a bit of a media project
[that I don't really need since my internet PC is already next to the TV and stereo]
and now I am looking at how to get the most out of it.
So I'm interesting in knowing what you've done, or know can be done, with this box. Be it software, hardware or modifications. I know there are alot of threads out there, and I've read alot of them, but I wanted to do a new one which focused a bit on possibilities.
I've fitted mine with a celeron 2.4, 1 gig ram, and a 80 or so GB HDD.
The box is as noisy as a 21" industry rack I have to do something about it.
Some of the blame has to be put on the disk and I'm gonna replace it when I have time for two windows reinstallations
So, here are some conversation starters.
Motherboard
MS-6760. Does it conform to any size/form standard?
Are there other motherboards that can be fitted into this box?
Would the boards of other Mega PCs fit? Are they available for sales?
Power Supply Unit
Something is making noise, even when I remove the hard drive.
The PSU in my box is a FSP250-60MS, max 250 W.
However, on a review I saw it to be fitted with an ENHANCE ENP-2920, 200 W.
I understand the PSU is custom made to give power to the HIFI parts. But are there alternatives that will fit? Are there alternatives if I don't need the radio/CD? Or are the dimentions all wrong anyway... (Measured it to roughly something like 7x14x10 cm)
System fans
The PSU, the CPU and the mainboard have fans. Has anyone had any luck in reducing noise by replacing any of these? What is required (screws, soldering...), are the fan sizes standard? Did you burn down your house?
Remote Control Unit
I believe the key word here is "Girder". I've briefly encountered this program before - a program to read the signal of a remote, and assign actions. If I remember correctly, it is not freeware? Is it so, that the remote can be used with Girder? Will Girder read another remote on the same sensor? Are there alternatives to Girder?
Display
From what I've read, this display is no fun what so ever. Or? Anyone done anything neat with it?
TV/Video
I have a ATI all in wonder lying around somewhere, TV tuner and video out. Are you people all using the default TV software or are there alternatives worth playing with?
Radio Software
Anyone using something other than the default MSI software?
Media Center Software
I've never tried anything like Media Portal and frankly I'm a bit uncertain of what makes it different from a media player. What are you using, and why?
Anything else you'd like to mention?
Please do!
It's okay if you point me to another thread that already describes something like this, as long as you leave a hint at what you're finding interesting in the other thread. And you only have to answer the questions you want to
Let the ideas flow.
.t

here are a few replies to your queries about the Mega 651:
Motherboard:
this is a custom built board designed for the mega 651. you might find that the boards in other megas MIGHT work, but they are not available for sale
in any case, i think the 865 and 180 would be different anyway as they use a different LCD display and i imagine the connector might be slightly different
Power Supply Unit:
again this is a custom design for the Mega series, the only way you might quieten it down is by opening it up and replacing the fan for a quiet type
System fans:
having looked inside my mega 651 a few times, there is only one fan for the CPU, the chipset is passively cooled. the cpu fan noise has never really bothered me as it is temperature controlled - when the cpu is under load it does speed up, when it is not it stops! as far as i can see, the heatsink/fan is also a custom design
Display:
forget about it - msi won't release any SDKs for this and probably never will
TV / Video:
you can use any tv card and its software that you are happy with - there is no specific reason to use an MSI card
media center software:
the intervideo software provided with the mega 180 and 865 also works with the 651 (if you can get hold of it anywhere). however it is a load of rubbish, and if you do need anything like that, then media portal is going to be your best bet
find out more at http://mediaportal.sourceforge.net
the trick with these mega pcs is not to expect too much from them!! they are a nice idea, but i think they were rushed to the market too soon in order to steal a march on their other SFF rivals - the next generation of mega PC will hopefully address all the issues we've experienced and make them proper HTPCs!!
good luck!

Course to take to get the most out of OBI EE

Could you tell me what courses I could take to get the most out of OBI EE? What languages I could use? Java, .Net? database courses?
My background is vb database programmer, a little .Net, a little C++, etc.
Thanks!

Your question is almost too much a personal one, begging the question "do we (husband and wife) feel comfy sharing one account on the Mac" maybe thats why nobody answered you.
It doesnt complicate anything, but it adds steps for switching accounts on the Mac/ purchases etc. of course
since your question is mostly personal, ..I wont answer THAT part of it, but creating a new account is easy.....messing with switching back and forth is also a personal preference 'issue' as well. I prefer to keep things simple, but...........you and yours, I dont know.......
http://support.apple.com/kb/PH11468

Getting the most out of Aperture and FCP

I have been unable to find a thread answering my questions so I thought I'd post my own. I'll start off with a little background info. I do a lot of image processing in Raw with 10MP and 12MP images and would like to run Aperture on my future G5 flawlessly. Also, I will be editing in SD with Final Cut Pro and running Motion in SD. Basically, I would like to purchase a system that will allow me to get the most out of these two programs for what I want to do. I want to make sure I get what I need in all aspects, Ram, GHZ, and graphics card, and bus speed. I have read that some of the older like dual 2.5 GHZ machines are better than some of the dual cores because they have faster bus speeds. Now I am not sure if bus speed is a concern with what I want to do hence my questioning. As you can see I currently have a 1ghz G4 PowerBook and to make things simple it is drowning with the work I am trying to do. Running Aperture and apple Motion is not even possible on my current machine.
Thanks!

First, the current Dualcore 2.3 G5 has a 1.15ghz front side bus speed. However a quick look back to previous models shows dual 2.5 and 2.7ghz machines with like 1.25ghz front side bus. So my first question is like a dual 2.5 or 2.7ghz where I should be looking? I think so... Like personally is the dual 2.7ghz you have all you need or could you see a faster machine being better? When it comes to editing Raw in Aperture I'll come in from a sports event with like 100's of images on my plate and I will first knock out the bad ones and then end up with like 100-200 images to do light adjustments that are good enough for proofs. Basically I am looking for what is the "sweet spot" as you mentioned for a G5. Like I am not sure if a Quad 2.5ghz is necessary and I think for what I'm doing it is overkill. You mentioned 4GB is the sweet spot, thank exactly the kind of information I was looking for. And lastly I want a solid graphics card. If I were to buy a new G5 I would be looking at like the 7800 with 256MB. I'm curious to how this compares to like the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro for example. I would assume that newer the better...
Thanks

Getting the most out my battery

hi all, i am very happy with my MacBookPro, i have said this before but let me tell you all again, I am NEVER EVER going back to Windose.
I would like to get the longest life i can out of my battery, i have had my lap top about 7 weeks and using Coconut i can already see that the battery capacity is getting less slowly, it has been charged up 35 times at least once every two days sometimes once a day. I had someone on here suggest that you should remove it from the mains when it is fully charged and use it on the battery even when at home and only a few feet from the mains.
I have carried out at least two "calibrations", i still dont know how that really helps.
However as the life of the battery is more determined by the number of times it is charged up, than the ammount of time it is used, after it is charged up and still on the mains.
What is best to get the most out of my battery ?.
tim

I had someone on here suggest that you should remove it from the mains when it is fully charged and use it on the battery even when at home and only a few feet from the mains.
This is bad advice. It's unnecessary, unhelpful, and counterproductive, in that a) it will cause your battery to cycle much more often than is necessary and useful, and b) it will typically result in running the battery down to nothing before recharging it, which is very hard on the battery and will shorten its useful lifespan.
As long as you use your computer on battery power for an hour or two every day or two or three to give it the exercise it needs, it's advisable to keep it plugged into AC power as much of the rest of the time as is convenient. There is nothing whatever to gain by unplugging the AC adapter as soon as the battery is fully charged. It can't be overcharged or harmed in any other way by leaving it plugged in 95-98% of the time, as long as it gets a little regular exercise and you calibrate it every two or three months.

How Can I get the MOST out of my Ipod?

greetings yall!!
Sean Price in the house.. this is NOW my third Ipod..its the Product RED Ipod Nano.. mad nice..
but I feel as if I'm missing something.. I mean all I do is put music on there and JUST NOW i have learned to put my music videos on it..
BUT come on.. I have heard YOU can do SO MUCH more then just that..
I mean its like i have these video Ipods and I'm just using them as SHUFFLE ipods, you feel me?
I mean I also have the red shuffle 2nd generation Ipod as well... and for that one yeah it makes sense all I CAN DO is play music on that one..
but please SOMEBODY please give me the FULL breakdown on how to get the MOST out of my Ipods..
PLEASE do advise!!
I want it all, games!!! hacks, other OS's whatever.. just somebody school me!!
THANK YOU!!!

Click here for information.
(30988)

Getting the most out of BB Talk

Hello all,
I've just set up my BB Talk account and trying to work the way to get the most out of it.
First question is that now l have plugged my cordess phone base station into it, with three handsets, why would l ever want to switch back to the landline. Don't l just now continue making VOIP calls or is there a catch?
I've also heard l can be abroad but people can ring me on my BB talk number and l can recieve the call wherever l am. Is this as simple as using the call forwarding option in the BB talk options, or is there something a bit more clever that can be done.
Can l make different handsets ring depending on whether the landline or bbtalk number is called.
Regards, Paris700507

Hi
Welcome to the forum.
There would be no real reason to now use your landline just a few points to remember.
1. The number displayed when you call out will now be your BB talk number and not your landline number, I know this can confuse some people as the called person does not recognise the number or thinks you have changed you number.
2. If people still call you on your landline number and you have 1571 don't forget to dial a 5 on your BB talk number 1st and then dial 1571 (dialling 5 will let you access your landline).
3. If you require any calling features you can add them yourself by logging into your BB Talk account here: https://service.btbroadbandvoice.bt.com/selfcare/consumerYourAccount
4. You can change the ringing options by logging into the home hub, details shown
http://bt.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/7718/c/345,354,380
Hope this helps
(If I have helped you in any way to say "Thank You" please click on the star next to the message. Thank You)
If I have solved your Issue please click the "Mark as accepted solution" button.

Can anyone recommend a good "How To" Book. I have switched to a MacBook pro 15 inch. and I woiuld really like to learn the basics and get the most out of my Mac.

I want to be able to get the most out of my MacBook pro. Any suggestions on a good book to read?

Switching to a Mac For Dummies, 2nd Edition

HT1386 i have an iphone 4s. Im getting the iphone 5s for christmas, but i do not have my phone backed up, and my phone is not working and my screen is covered with blue lines. I need help.

My iphone is not working, i was planning on getting the iphone 5s for christmas, but i do not have my phone backed up on itunes. On my screen are these blue lines across on my screen, and i cant see anthing and i do not know what to do. I want to back up my phone but i cant see my screen to back it up. I need help badly. Thanks apple hope you can help me in this matter.

You wouldn't need to see the screen to backup unless you have a passcode on the device. Is that the case? You should be able to plug the device into the computer with iTunes and just select backup now.

Firefox will not show links to flv files. I get the error message for each flv file: "File not found. Firefox can't find the file at (path) .flv." Any mov and swf files in this same path will show. I can see the videos in Safari so the paths are correct.

Firefox will not show links to flv files. I get the error message for each flv file: "File not found. Firefox can't find the file at http:// (path) .flv." Any mov and swf files in this same path will show. I can see the videos in Safari so the paths are correct.

Is this a webpage that contains a link to a flv file? Please post a link to the page and tell us which link(s) are the problem flv files or else post a link to the .flv file itself.
Alternately, click on one of the sample FLV File links on this page and tell us exactly what happens:
http://www.mediacollege.com/adobe/flash/video/tutorial/example-flv.html
It might also help if you post the exact error message, including the path to the flv file.
'''Note:'''
Depending on how you have Firefox set up, clicking on a FLV File link will either save the FLV file to your computer or Firefox may open it automatically in an external application right after downloading (Firefox may ask you first). Firefox itself can't play FLV files so you need a "helper" application (or a plugin for flv files, if ther is one. You can see if Firefox is already set up to download or open FLV files by going to Firefox Preferences and looking in the Applications list. Find the FLV file type in the list and, if the action is "Open with", it should show the application that can play FLV files (e.g., VLC Media Player or Perian). See [[Managing filetypes]] for more information.

Upgrading a 3-node Hyper-V clusters storage for £10k and getting the most bang for our money.

Hi all, looking for some discussion and advice on a few questions I have regarding storage for our next cluster upgrade cycle.
Our current system for a bit of background:
3x Clustered Hyper-V Servers running Server 2008 R2 (72TB Ram, dual cpu etc...)
1x Dell MD3220i iSCSI with dual 1GB connections to each server (24x 146GB 15k SAS drives in RAID 10) - Tier 1 storage
1x Dell MD1200 Expansion Array with 12x 2TB 7.2K drives in RAID 10 - Tier 2 storage, large vm's, files etc...
~25 VM's running all manner of workloads, SQL, Exchange, WSUS, Linux web servers etc....
1x DPM 2012 SP1 Backup server with its own storage.
Reasons for upgrading:
Storage though put is becoming an issue as we only get around 125MB/s over the dual 1GB iSCSI connections to each physical server. (tried everything under the sun to improve bandwidth but I suspect the MD3220i Raid is the bottleneck here.
Backup times for vm's (once every night) is now in the 5-6 hours range.
Storage performance during backups and large file syncronisations (DPM)
Tier 1 storage is running out of capacity and we would like to build in more IOPS for future expansion.
Tier 2 storage is massively underused (6tb of 12tb Raid 10 space)
Migrating to 10GB server links.
Total budget for the upgrade is in the region of £10k so I have to make sure we get absolutely the most bang for our buck.
Current Plan:
Upgrade the cluster to Server 2012 R2
Install a dual port 10GB NIC team in each server and virtualize cluster, live migration, vm and management traffic (with QoS of course)
Purchase a new JBOD SAS array and leverage the new Storage Spaces and SSD caching/tiering capabilities. Use our existing 2TB drives for capacity and purchase sufficient SSD's to replace the 15k SAS disks.
On to the questions:
Is it supported to use storage spaces directly connected to a Hyper-V cluster? I have seen that for our setup we are on the verge of requiring a separate SOFS for storage but the extra costs and complexity are out of our reach. (RDMA, extra 10GB NIC's
etc...)
When using a storage space in a cluster, I have seen various articles suggesting that each csv will be active/passive within the cluster. Causing redirected IO for all cluster nodes not currently active?
If CSV's are active/passive its suggested that you should have a csv for each node in your cluster? How in production do you balance vm's accross 3 CSV's without manually moving them to keep 1/3 of load on each csv? Ideally I would like just
a single CSV active/active for all vm's to sit on. (ease of management etc...)
If the CSV is active/active am I correct in assuming that DPM will backup vm's without causing any re-directed IO?
Will DPM backups of VM's be incremental in terms of data transferred from the cluster to the backup server?
Thanks in advance for anyone who can be bothered to read through all that and help me out! I'm sure there are more questions I've forgotten but those will certainly get us started.
Also lastly, does anyone else have a better suggestion for how we should proceed?
Thanks

Current Plan:
Upgrade the cluster to Server 2012 R2
Install a dual port 10GB NIC team in each server and virtualize cluster, live migration, vm and management traffic (with QoS of course)
Purchase a new JBOD SAS array and leverage the new Storage Spaces and SSD caching/tiering capabilities. Use our existing 2TB drives for capacity and purchase sufficient SSD's to replace the 15k SAS disks.
On to the questions:
Is it supported to use storage spaces directly connected to a Hyper-V cluster? I have seen that for our setup we are on the verge of requiring a separate SOFS for storage but the extra costs and complexity are out of our reach. (RDMA, extra 10GB NIC's
etc...)
When using a storage space in a cluster, I have seen various articles suggesting that each csv will be active/passive within the cluster. Causing redirected IO for all cluster nodes not currently active?
If CSV's are active/passive its suggested that you should have a csv for each node in your cluster? How in production do you balance vm's accross 3 CSV's without manually moving them to keep 1/3 of load on each csv? Ideally I would like just
a single CSV active/active for all vm's to sit on. (ease of management etc...)
If the CSV is active/active am I correct in assuming that DPM will backup vm's without causing any re-directed IO?
Will DPM backups of VM's be incremental in terms of data transferred from the cluster to the backup server?
Thanks in advance for anyone who can be bothered to read through all that and help me out! I'm sure there are more questions I've forgotten but those will certainly get us started.
Also lastly, does anyone else have a better suggestion for how we should proceed?
Thanks
1) You can use direct connection to SAS with a 3-node cluster of course (4-node, 5-node etc). Sure it would be much faster then running with an additional SoFS layer (with SAS fed directly to your Hyper-V cluster nodes all reads and writes would be local
travelling down the SAS fabric and with SoFS layer added you'll have the same amount of I/Os targeting SAS + Ethernet with its huge compared to SAS latency sitting in between a requestor and your data residing on SAS spindles, I/Os overwrapped into SMB-over-TCP-over-IP-over-Etherent
requests at the hypervisor-SoFS layers). Reason why SoFS is recommended - final SoFS-based solution would be cheaper as SAS-only is a pain to scale beyond basic 2-node configs. Instead of getting SAS switches, adding redundant SAS controllers to every hypervisor
node and / or looking for expensive multi-port SAS JBODs you'll have a pair (at least) of SoFS boxes doing a file level proxy in front of a SAS-controlled back end. So you'll compromise performance in favor of cost. See:
http://davidzi.com/windows-server-2012/hyper-v-and-scale-out-file-cluster-home-lab-design/
Used interconnect diagram within this design would actually scale beyond 2 hosts. But you'll have to get a SAS switch (actually at least two of them for redundancy as you don't want any component to become a single point of failure, don't you?)
2) With 2012 R2 all I/O from a multiple hypervisor nodes is done thru the storage fabric (in your case that's SAS) and only metadata updates would be done thru the coordinator node and using Ethernet connectivity. Redirected I/O would be used in a two cases
only a) no SAS connectivity from the hypervisor node (but Ethernet one is still present) and b) broken-by-implementation backup software would keep access to CSV using snapshot mechanism for too long. In a nutshell: you'll be fine :) See for references:
http://www.petri.co.il/redirected-io-windows-server-2012r2-cluster-shared-volumes.htm
http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=12844
3) These are independent things. CSV is not active/passive (see 2) so basically with an interconnection design you'll be using there's virtually no point to having one-CSV-per-hypervisor. There are cases when you'd still probably do this. For example if
you'd have all-flash and combined spindle/flash LUNs and you know for sure you want some VMs to sit on flash and others (no so I/O hungry) to stay within "spinning rust". One more case is many-node cluster. With it multiple nodes basically fight for a single
LUN and a lot of time is wasted for SCSI reservation conflicts resove (ODX has no reservation offload like VAAI has so even if ODX is present its not going to help). Again it's a place where SoFS "helps" as having intermediate proxy level turns block I/O into
file I/O triggering SCSI reservation conflicts for a two SoFS nodes only instead of an evey node in a hypervisor cluster. One more good example is when you'll have a mix of a local I/O (SAS) and Ethernet with a Virtual SAN products. Virtual SAN runs directly
as part of the hypervisor and emulates high performance SAN using cheap DAS. To increase performance it DOES make sense to create a concept of a "local LUN" (and thus "local CSV") as reads targeting this LUN/CSV would be passed down the local storage
stack instead of hitting the wire (Ethernet) and going to partner hypervisor nodes to fetch the VM data. See:
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-native-san-on-two-physical-servers
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/sw-configuring-ha-shared-storage-on-scale-out-file-servers
(feeding basically DAS to Hyper-V and SoFS to avoid expensive SAS JBOD and SAS spindles). The same thing as VMware is doing with their VSAN on vSphere. But again that's NOT your case so it DOES NOT make sense to keep many CSVs with only 3 nodes present or
SoFS possibly used.
4) DPM is going to put your cluster in redirected mode for a very short period of time. Microsoft says NEVER. See:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh758090.aspx
Direct and Redirect I/O
Each Hyper-V host has a direct path (direct I/O) to the CSV storage Logical Unit Number (LUN). However, in Windows Server 2008 R2 there are a couple of limitations:
For some actions, including DPM backup, the CSV coordinator takes control of the volume and uses redirected instead of direct I/O. With redirection, storage operations are no longer through a host’s direct SAN connection, but are instead routed
through the CSV coordinator. This has a direct impact on performance.
CSV backup is serialized, so that only one virtual machine on a CSV is backed up at a time.
In Windows Server 2012, these limitations were removed:
Redirection is no longer used.
CSV backup is now parallel and not serialized.
5) Yes, VSS and CBT would be used so data would be incremental after first initial "seed" backup. See:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399619.aspx
http://itsalllegit.wordpress.com/2013/08/05/dpm-2012-sp1-manually-copy-large-volume-to-secondary-dpm-server/
I'd look at some other options. There are few good discussion you may want to read. See:
http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1209963
http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/316868-server-2012-2-node-cluster-without-san
Good luck :)
StarWind iSCSI SAN & NAS

Getting the most out for a user that is not exactly savvy

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