Data Virtualization and Strategy

Do you have a storage strategy? Are you getting the most of all your storage platforms? Are you underspending with substandard results or are you over spending with AOK results?

There are multiple forces driving you to a choice and to help you narrow down to the basic aspects here is a picture.   In the center we have our users. Our users want it all, Reliability, Performance and Low Cost.  Well, low cost, highly available and high performance storage doesn’t exist! You will have to choose a compromise between these key aspects.  In a nutshell you have to choose how much of each aspect you get and there is no way to get all for low cost.

In this triangle we show 3 layers of technologies, Media, Access Type and Features on storage. In the media type as we change media we lower costs. In the Access layer we show some basic types you will recognize as NFS, SMB or CIFS, WebDav, S3, Block storage over FC or over iSCSI. Yes, there are many more as block over InfiniBand and more protocols as FTP, SFTP. In the storage feature layer we start to see levels of data protection and higher availability as local or remote snapshots, replication, offsite backups and storage clustering there are RAID levels and # of controllers that increase availability as well.

To dig deeper into the media type, lest look at the technologies invloved. For the highest performance we have Flash, SSD, then we lower performance with SAS, SATA and finally the lowest performance in Object storage. As we lower performance we also lower costs. These are just general examples, we all know that there are other type of media as Tape with LTFS that could lower costs further. You as a storage administrator would have to choose what to give your user given that you actually have it.

So, if you provide storage as a service then you most likely already have a compromise between all aspects, what you might call the sweet spot.  However, as this is a sweet spot of all key aspects it is not responding the wide spectrum of needs. Some workloads require super high availability, replication, clustering 100% uptime while others require low cost via Object Storage and then there is the LOCAL Flash cards for high performance needs. After all most high performance and requirements of IO come from local workloads like TMP, SCRATH and SWAP (after all, this data does not require high durability as it is recreated on the fly as the OS and applications run)

What we need is a solution that does not force you into a compromise. Much easier said than done. Example below. 

As you can gather from the graphic, via a single point of access you receive a slice across 3 aspects, Reliability, Performance and Cost.  If you provide storage solutions you know this is very expensive and complex because you have to acquire, configure, manage all the technologies previously covered and you must then choose a level of performance with data protection and reliability and finally the cost is associated to each platform and configuration.

So, what is out in the world to help you with this? Well, take INFINIDAT, a centralized storage platform with higher levels of redundancy and good performance.  Look at PureStorage an all SSD solution running in deduplicated mode with good density and TCO across a longer than usual period of time, you should also look at SolidFire as they can assign # of IOPs to the storage you provide helping you align performance to workload, then look at ExtremeIO from EMC great performance, Netapp for an all-inclusive feature and function of data storage and data protection by far the most mature in the market for combining storage and protection. Look at new players as Actifio, Rubrik for copy data management and the previous block storage virtualization engines as IBMs SVC or the Virtualization engine from HDS also OEM by HPE.  There are many more technologies that I am leaving out.  The list is HUGE! And your time could be consumed just in learning from each one of these.

Here at KIO Networks we do this for you! This helps us offer higher value and the service that is just right for you. We have expertise in a wide spectrum of technologies across key practices.

So, next time you look for storage on demand look at KIO Networks. In the spirit of help you learn something new I like to introduce a new subject that promises to help businesses align the right storage to the application at the right price.  

There is storage player out in the market promising to address this complex challenge. Its called Primary_Data

What will data virtualization do for you?

Simplest term, allow you to move data heterogeneously across multiple platforms.

Hope you enjoy the set of videos I know I did.

The Launch of Primary_Data

Introduction to Primary_Data

What is data virtualization: I think the video is over complicated but good video.

Use cases for Data Virtualization

Primary_Data User Experience demo

Vsphere Demo

Hope you enjoyed the videos, as with all cool technology, the devil in the details. From my side I will make sure to take a deep dive of the technology and report back to you guys.

Have a great week!

Julio Calderon  Twitter: @JulioCUS  Skype: Storagepro email: [email protected]