This blog post has been updated. Check the latest version at http://blogs.technet.com/josebda/archive/2008/04/11/snia-tutorials-cover-a-wealth-of-storage-knowledge-snw-spring-2008-update.aspx

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I’m always amazed by the vast amount of knowledge being posted online for free download.
For those in the Storage business, check out the high-quality tutorials offered by the Storage Network Industry Association (SNIA).
These peer-reviewed, vendor-neutral tutorials, offered by the SNIA Education Committee, cover a variety of very current Storage-related topics.
Here’s a snapshot of what they have there currently, organized by track:

• Storage (Brandy Barton, Track Manager)
• Desktop, Nearline and Enterprise Disk Drives - Delta by Design (Willis Whittington)
• 'Green' Storage (SW Worth)
• Storage Performance 101 (Ray Lucchesi)
• Storage Consolidation with IP Storage: Capabilities, Best Practices and Futures (David Dale)
• Storage Protocol Analyzers:  Not Just for R&D Anymore (Brandy Barton)
• NAS and iSCSI Technology Overview (Wolfgang Singer)
• Solid State Storage for the Enterprise (Woody Hutsell)
• Benefits of Hardware Compression in Storage Networks (Gerry Simmons, Tony Summers)
• The Storage Evolution:  From Blocks, Files and Objects to Object Storage Systems (Christian Bandulet) 
• Networking (Howard Goldstein, Track Manager)
• TCP/IP Optimizations for Block Storage (Joseph White)
• Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (John Hufferd)
• Infiniband Technology Overview (Dror Goldenberg)
• PCI Express and Storage (Ron Emerick)
• Fibre Channel Technologies: Current and Future (Mahmoud Jibbe, Steven Wilson, Tom Hammond-Doel)
• IP Storage Protocols - iSCSI (John Hufferd)
• SAS & SATA Combine to Change the Storage Market (Harry Mason, Martin Czekalski)
• Virtualization/Standards (Rob Peglar, Track Manager)
• Storage Networking Standards: Recent Developments (David Black)
• eXtensible Access Method (XAM) Storage Development Kit (SDK) (Mark Carlson)
• Storage Grid:  Relevance and Overview (Abbott Schindler)
• Virtualization I:  What, Why, Where and How (Rob Peglar)
• Storage Virtualization II:  Effective Use of Virtualization (Rob Peglar)
• Leveraging the Power of Compute and Storage Grids (Richard Jooss)
• Multipath Management API: Standards based SCSI Multipathing Administration (Hyon Kim, Giri Basava)
• Data Management (Michael Fishman, Track Manager)
• Solving the Coming Archive Crisis (Michael Peterson)
• Disk and Tape Backup Mechanisms (Michael Fishman)
• Trends in Data Protection and Restoration Technologies (Michael Rowan, Jason Iehl)
• Identifying and Eliminating Backup Bottlenecks: Taking Your Existing Backup System to the Next Level (Jacob Farmer)
• Single Instance Strategies for Storage Using De-Duplication.  Which Method is Best for You? (Michael Fahey)
• Information Classification:  The Cornerstone to Information Management (Sheila Childs)
• Information-centric Policy Management (Edgar St.Pierre)
• Implementation Practices for the Archiving and Compliance Infrastructure (Gary Zasman)
• Storage Considerations and Requirements for Database Archiving (Julie Lockner)
• The Secret Sauce of ILM (Bob Rogers)
• Security (Eric Hibbard, Track Manager)
• Introduction to Storage (Andrew Nielsen)
• Cryptographic Use Cases and the Rationale for End-to-End Security (Larry Hofer)
• A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Storage Forensics (Richard Austin)
• TCG Trusted Storage Specification (Michael Willett)
• ABCs of Encryption (Roger Cummings)
• An Introduction to Key Management for Secure Storage (Walt Hubis)
• Building a Key Management Strategy: Standards and Solutions (Bob Lockhart)
• Storage Management (Marty Foltyn, Track Manager)
• SRM and SAN Management: Reduce Management Costs and Complexity (Andy Namyanik)
• Records Managers and Storage Managers Speak - Get the Real Story Behind ILM (Moderator: John Webster, Panel: Marty LeFebvre, Wendy Betts, Bruce White)
• Part II - ITIL Foundation for SNIA Certification: Service Delivery and Storage Management (Dr. D. Akira Robinson)
• Storage Management from SMI-S to Management Frameworks (Mark Carlson)
• SRM: Can You Get What You Want? (John Webster)
• File Management (Rob Peglar, Track Manager)
• High Availability and Disaster Recovery for NAS Systems (Paul Massiglia)
• Recent Advances in WAN Acceleration Technologies (Joshua Tseng)
• Applications (Rob Peglar, Track Manager)
• Applications Infrastructure for Distributed Storage (Kevin Przybocki)
• Professional Development (David Deming, Track Manager)
• Survivor Guide: Leading in Difficult Times (Harriet Pea)
• Trust Technology - The Key to Productive Teams and Profitable Organizations (David Deming)
• Developing Successful Technical Presentations (Howard Goldstein)
• Working Together:  Expand Your Career by Expanding Your Skills (Stephen Hultquist)

I would encourage all my industry colleagues to check these out!
To view the latest list of topics and access the tutorials in PDF format, visit http://www.snia.org/education/tutorials.
Be sure to check the Legal Notices on the documents about how you can use them.

Nancy Clay, Education Program Manager at SNIA, pointed to me that additional tutorials will be become available online after they are delivered live during the upcoming Storage Networking World event in April.
The SNIA Tutorial Agenda for that upcoming event is posted online at http://www.snwusa.com/agenda.html.

For more information about SNIA, check http://www.snia.org