Storage
Storage Systems
Storage for keeping your data safe and managing exponential data growth
Data is growing at a great pace, and it has to be maintained and protected for some years if not decades. Retention of data depends on the regulatory compliance your industry has to follow. It varies from 6 months (eg CCTV footage) to 9-25 years ( Banking and Insurance)
There are special Storage susbsystems for different needs. A Network Attached Storage is used either for file sharing or as a backup target appliance. It stores your backup sets. NAS boxes are also used for storing CCTV footage.
NAS (Network Attached Storage)
A NAS appliance is a type of commodity hardware that includes its own dedicated storage disks and RAID that can easily scale as more capacity is needed. NAS appliances help businesses protect corporate data, enable file-sharing among employees and remote connectivity. They are connected on the Local Area Nework can can be accessed by users for file sharing.
A NAS (network-attached storage) appliance typically uses protocols such as the one associated with the Network File System NFS or SMB to operate as a file server, releasing other servers from that responsibility. Other NAS appliance benefits include faster data access, easier administration and simplified configuration. Each appliance has its own dedicated storage disks and RAID.
SAN ( Storage Area Network)
A SAN is a dedicated high-speed network that interconnects and presents shared pools of storage to servers. A SAN is an independent storage network that enables high performance and access to storage similar to how DAS works. There are three components to a SAN: cabling, host bus adapters (HBAs) and switches.
HBAs used for storage are typically protocols such as Fibre Channel (FC) or Serial-Attached SCSI. Ethernet-based iSCSI is another protocol option that small and midsize organizations more commonly use.
In a SAN, the switch connects servers and shared pools of storage. An FC switch is most often used in a SAN, because it is compatible with the FC protocol and is designed for high performance and low latency. Ethernet switches are also common. SANs can be managed centrally and send out block storage-based data access requests for a storage device
Unified Storage :
Sometimes called network unified storage or multiprotocol storage -- is a storage system that makes it possible to run and manage files and applications from a single device. A unified storage system simultaneously enables storage of file data and handles the block-based input/output (I/O) of enterprise applications. To this end, a multiprotocol storage system consolidates file- and block-based access in a single storage platform compared to traditional arrays that contain either one or the other.
A unified storage architecture uses file protocols such as Server Message Block (SMB) and Network File System (NFS), and block-based protocols such as Fibre Channel (FC) and Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) so users can access consolidated applications and storage.
Object Storage:
Capacity storage for Unstructured data and backup targets
Object storage keeps the blocks of data that make up a file together and adds all of its associated metadata to that file. But object storage also adds extended metadata to the file and eliminates the hierarchical structure used in file storage, placing everything into a flat address space, called a storage pool. The storage system software uses a unique identifier assigned to the object to find any particular object, like a video or a photo.
This metadata is key to the value of object storage versus other methods of storing data. Because metadata can be defined by a user, it allows for all manner of analytics on the use and function of data within the storage pool.