Is Storage Virtualization Right for Your Business?
Posted on Tue, Feb 16, 2010 @ 09:38 AM
Practically everyone concerned with keeping a business computer network up and running has heard of server virtualization, but the concept of storage virtualization is not as well known or understood. Ironically, the benefits of storage virtualization can be appreciated whether or not your servers are currently virtualized, though server virtualization can be a catalyst for considering storage virtualization.
In medium to large data center environments, it is inefficient for each server to be configured with independent storage because of the amount of resulting unused, and therefore wasted, hard disk drive space. This is referred to as DAS or Direct Attached Storage. The storage could either be internal to the server, or it could be housed externally and connected directly to the server via SCSI, SAS or FC (FIBRE-Channel).
In comparison, a shared storage environment consists of one of more storage arrays and a dedicated storage area network (SAN). The centralized pool of storage can be shared amongst the servers as determined by the storage administrator, ensuring that unused or wasted space is kept to a minimum.
Basic benefits of a SAN include:
- Improved reliability due to its redundant design with no single points of failure
- Reduced cost of backup because of the centralized design
- Improved scalability and performance because of the dedicated storage network and the shared design
- Simplified storage provisioning because of the centralized approach
- Improved data availability because of the ability to facilitate server clusters and virtual servers, as well as to provide for either storage array-based or host-based data replication
Furthermore, storage can be tiered.
Tier-One storage typically consists of volumes of data that are either frequently accessed or deemed critical to the daily operation of the business. It is therefore housed on the most expensive, most reliable and best performing SAS or FC type hard disk drives. In comparison, Tier-Two storage is data that is not accessed frequently or is of secondary importance, and therefore it can be housed on less expensive SATA disk drives.
Do you remember time sharing?
As many already know, virtualization as a concept is not new. For example, although the names and references in the micro-computer world may differ, virtualization of computing resources has been a feature on IBM Mainframe computers for quite some time - it just used to be called time sharing. Whether we are considering servers, storage devices or the networks that connect everything, virtualization is all about achieving greater levels of efficiency and optimization.
Consider your portable music player when thinking about storage virtualization.
The driver behind this consideration is the continued data growth that we are all experiencing. It is not just companies and organizations, but individuals as well. As a point of reference, consider your portable music player. Do you ever have enough space?
It is not so farfetched to say that people are walking around with mobile phones that typically have more storage capacity than the average server did only ten years ago! Data is growing so rapidly that proactive management has become of paramount interest relative to controlling costs, while continuing to provide practical levels of access to the data. In this regard, storage virtualization as a concept speaks to the notion of operational value. That is to say, proactively managing storage resources keeps costs in check, and a technology that facilitates this is of value from an ongoing operational cost perspective.
Automation is key in proactively managing resources.
Traditional approaches to managing storage are becoming too restrictive and cumbersome because of the dynamic nature of data these days. Storage managers need to be able to pass judgment on data and move it around as needed based upon factors such as file size, type of file, age of file, date of last access and other criteria.
Critical data needs to be analyzed, replicated and archived in a timely manner, and having storage resources virtualized more easily facilitates all of this. How? When we virtualize, we are creating a layer of abstraction between the otherwise strict and hard rules of the storage resources. This layer of abstraction provides us with the flexibility that we need to control the storage resources in a more effective manner.
Has your organization implemented a storage virtualization strategy? What challenges have you encountered in as you worked through the process?
Perry Szarka is the Datacenter Strategic Business Unit leader at MCPc. He works closely with clients to understand their business objectives and discover solutions to help them achieve their goals.