Understanding Network Storage Options

Computer technology today changes so fast it can prove difficult to stay up to date. New trends in storage makes it easier than ever for companies to expand their data capacity; however, scaling up data storage requires that you also think in terms of performance, reliability, security, and usability. While the basic concept of storage management hasn’t changed much, new products and technologies have made it easier to address these peripheral issues, thereby making extreme scalability in data storage much more feasible.

A perfect example is deciding on the type of network storage option makes the most sense when designing or upgrading a company’s data center. The decisions and assumptions made at the beginning of a data center design will dictate the path of the entire project. There are a variety of different network storage options today – NAS (network attached storage), SAN (storage area network), and DAS (direct attached storage), to name a few. Each network storage solution offers positives and negatives and the right decision is rarely a straightforward decision.

A NAS is a popular network solution, uses standard file-based protocols, such as NFS (network file system), and provides file-level storage as a complete network end-users will access for files and data. A NAS system often contains multiple hard drives set up in a RAID. This type of system is considered pretty easy for IT administrators to set up and manage as it is built exclusively for the purpose of end-user file storage from the start. Generally speaking, NAS units are not considered a “full featured” server; meaning it is usually managed over the network. One great feature of a NAS system is that they can support up to 200 TB. If you need storage quickly, a NAS is the perfect solution. This is why many web servicing companies go with a NAS system.

A SAN on the other hand may not be as straightforward to configure or manage, but it provides plenty of scalability as well as a higher level of performance over a NAS. This is a block-level data storage solution usually utilizes fibre channel topology, which provides faster access and high-level protocols. Generally speaking, a SAN is a good solution if a company needs to regularly access large databases.

As important as this type of information is for the IT structure of a company, it is often far too granular for a business owner to comprehend – or even want to comprehend. While continued changes in IT and sever management makes network updates and scalability changes easier, it requires much more attention and planning. This is why more and more businesses are partnering with companies like Coraid that focus on networking storage planning and scalability and understand the intricacies of data center development. They will understand the subtle differences between NAS and SAN and determine what solution makes the most sense and will work with an internal IT department for an effective knowledge transfer during a data center build to ensure reliable server uptime and management.

IT staff can stay up to date on all the latest data center best practices and network storage trends by attending industry events such as VMworld. These are great opportunities to meet IT peers and hear about their network management challenges and solutions. More often than not, if one IT team is experiencing a management challenge, another IT team has experienced that same challenge and can, more importantly, share their solutions with the industry at large at these events. Attending industry events in general is rarely a waste of time.

Ultimately, by conducting proper due diligence and examining how different network storage technologies will interact with the needs of a company, there is a greater chance of success for any data center scale-out project.