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4 Posts authored by: Jake Smith

In last week's post, we looked at a few of the key architectural requirements for a scale-out storage infrastructure, including a unified 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) network that supports diverse protocols. Today, we’ll look at some of the business benefits of scale-out storage.

 

Lower capital cost—Scale-out storage arrays typically cost less than enterprise-class storage. On a price/terabyte basis, some scale-out arrays sell for half the price of conventional enterprise storage systems. When you’re adding storage often to keep pace with data growth, these upfront savings become more important.

 

Lower operational costs—Scale-out storage architectures can deliver operational savings via management simplicity. With a unified 10GbE network, you have fewer protocols to manage and fewer management tools to buy, use, and maintain. And the tools you use tend to be lower-cost, thanks to open standards.

 

High availability backup and recovery—Scale-out storage can provide continuous high-availability backup and recovery, as you would get with more expensive storage. You’re just getting the benefits at a better price. Scale-out storage allows you to keep your backup data more accessible than it would be with conventional tape-based backup and an offsite data infrastructure. With near-real-time data, you’re poised to quickly bounce back from a failure or a disaster. Think hours instead of days.

 

Cloud benefits—Scale-out storage allows you to deploy a private cloud that delivers the cost benefits that Tier 1 public cloud providers realize. And when you have your storage in a cloud environment, you are better positioned to eventually move non-critical content to a public cloud. All that video you’re storing? How about moving it to a public cloud?

 

Examine scale out storage solutions from EMC, NetApp, Compellent and others. You may find some surprising results. … and if you don’t, let us know why not?

Skyrocketing data growth shows no signs of letting up. An IDC study published in May predicted the amount of digital information created annually will grow by a factor of 44 through 2020.[1] The study also found that the number of files, images, records and other digital information containers will grow by a factor of 67, while the number of IT professionals will grow by just a factor of 1.4. Can you do more with less (for the fifth straight year)?

 

These and similar findings underscore the need for storage architectures that can scale out quickly, easily, and affordably to absorb ever-larger amounts of data. This is particularly true if you’re operating a cloud computing environment that can grow in unpredictable ways.

 

So let’s look at a few design guidelines for your scale-out storage architecture.

 

Storage interfaces—Given the nature of scale-out storage and the explosion of storage requirements, it’s imperative to have interfaces that connect easily and seamlessly to your network. These interfaces should allow you to scale out with network-attached storage (NAS), direct-attached storage (DAS), iSCSI and network file storage (NFS)—whatever is best for the application. However, make sure you provide enough flexibility and interoperability to move to the “next” innovation.

 

Unified networking—A converged network based on 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) has become the de facto standard for scale-out storage infrastructure. 10GbE allows you to leverage multiple storage interfaces and protocols, including Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) for connectivity to existing storage area networks (SANs), as well as NAS, DAS, NFS and iSCSI. 10GbE also provides interfaces to Microsoft, Oracle, VMware and other application environments.

 

Storage-object flexibility—Your network must have the flexibility to move diverse storage objects freely throughout your environment. This includes a range of new object types, such as video and tagged pictures. You also need to be able to work with tools from Microsoft, Cisco, EMC, Google and a host of open-source providers.

 

Storage architectures have not changed fundamentally in well over a decade but there are changes coming. These changes will maximize system administrator flexibility, tools and scale. I have always found that “understanding the future before it becomes today” provides you with the strongest set of tools to deliver for your customers (internal and external) and stakeholders.

 

Remember the adage, “There is no such thing as a free lunch”? In storage architectures that has never been more true than today. Capacity, flexibility and scale have a cost. Reduce your capital cost as much as possible today and invest in standards, people and process for tomorrow.

 

These architectural guidelines help ensure that your storage architecture won’t become a hindrance to the scaling and performance of your data center infrastructure—even when data growth is skyrocketing.

 

Are you ready? Let us know your thoughts….

 


[1] Source: “The Digital Universe Decade – Are You Ready?” IDC study by John Gantz and David Reinsel. May 2010.

It’s time to start writing the obit for Fibre Channel networking. The pace of innovation in FC is slowing, while other technologies are rushing forward. And it no longer makes sense to use a dedicated technology for storage networking. Instead, data centers need to move the future: unified networking based on 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) networks.

 

Let’s consider the issues and costs with Fibre Channel. When Fibre Channel hit the scene in a big way in the 1990s, it had great promise. But it also came with a lot of baggage. To name a few issues: It was costly to buy and difficult to implement, and it required organizations to hire or cultivate experts in the technology. These obstacles led to a lower rate of investment in Fibre Channel.

 

Today, with the rise of unified networking, vendor investments are shifting away from Fibre Channel and toward protocols that run on 10GbE networks. We have now reached the point where the level of investment in Ethernet dwarfs that of Fibre Channel.

 

So all of this begs a question: Why would you deploy, or continue to invest in, a technology with a declining level of investment and a declining ecosystem to drive it forward? You might do better to take your money to Vegas, lay it on the table, and hope for the best.

 

It’s clear that the future lies in unified networking based on 10GbE. So let’s get on with it and pay our last respects to Fibre Channel, say a few nice words about how it served us well in its time, and then send it on to the other side.

In today’s data centers, unified networking based on 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) is the right thing to do for many reasons. But let’s simplify things and focus on five bulletproof arguments for converging the networking in your data center. Most of these arguments revolve around flexibility and choice.

 

 

Allocate network bandwidth in a flexible manner.  A unified network based on 10GbE gives you the ability to use traffic shaping technologies, such as Citrix NetScaler and F5 solutions. These technologies allow you allocate network bandwidth in a flexible manner to improve application performance and availability.

 

 

Use the best storage for the workload. Your networking choices shouldn’t dictate your storage choices. With 10GbE, you can choose the best storage for the workload. You might choose direct-attached storage (DAS) for database-driven workloads that require the fastest response times and dedicated storage resources while using network-attached storage (NAS) for file-level data sharing. The key: a 10GbE network gives you the flexibility to match storage price and performance with workload requirements.

 

 

Simplify I/O virtualization. Most I/O virtualization is taking place today on unified networks. Many vendors are developing I/O virtualization technologies based on 10 GbE. The message is clear: If you want to virtualize I/O—from physical ports to the PCIe bus within servers—begin by unifying your network.

 

 

Expand your choice of protocols. A unified network makes it easier to deploy and use cost-effective solutions based on NFS, iSCSI, and Fibre Channel over

 

Ethernet (FCoE) protocols. These protocols are becoming de facto standards for network stacks—and the most cost-effective solutions always come from standards. Better still, when you adopt FCoE, you gain the benefits of 10GbE while protecting your existing FC investments.

 

 

Simplify staff training and network operations. With a unified network, you don’t have to have separate operators and management tools for different sides of your network. Everyone can become well versed in 10GbE and the protocols that run on it. Everyone can use the same set of tools. And everyone can spend more time on optimizing resources to make your network operate more efficiently.

 

Questions? Comments? Let me know.

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