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The Benefits of Storage Virtualization
In the first issue of Groupware CommunITy, I looked at how virtualization is changing the technology-business landscape and delivering innovative efficiency. In that issue, I focused on server virtualization. Now, I'd like to discuss storage virtualization.
Storage Virtualization—commonly used in a storage area network (SAN)—pools physical storage from multiple network devices into what appears to be a single device managed from a central console. Because managing storage devices can be extremely time-consuming, storage virtualization helps administrators backup, archive, and recover data more easily and in less time by disguising the true complexity of the SAN. This technology delivers some significant benefits.
First, it improves capacity utilization and dramatically increases the surprisingly poor 40% to 50% rates of most IT infrastructures. It also, as I said earlier, improves disaster recovery and provides faster backup. IT administrators can use virtualization snapshots to get online data copies that can roll back before corruption or file loss. In addition, instead of testing an application against actual production data, virtualization can create replicated data to test the application safely against. And by separating storage from the application, virtualization insulates the application from server failure. Finally, storage virtualization enables gradual data migration between heterogeneous platforms and ensures servers running different operating systems coexist safely on the same SAN.
Currently, there are three ways to integrate storage virtualization into an IT infrastructure—through software applications, with hybrid hardware and software appliance solutions, or at the SAN switch. For the first, companies like VMWare have made huge strides in delivering storage virtualization at the software application level. The second option, hybrid hardware-software appliance solutions from vendors such as StorAGE, aligns to the needs of medium and large companies with larger storage requirements and higher manufacturer diversity in their networks. For the third, Cisco and QLogic have been providing strong solutions for some time at the SAN Switch.
As always, the right option depends on your needs. True virtualization is both customizable and open. And the impact of storage virtualization is only realized if it enables a dynamic IT growth plan. But too many purchase decisions are based more on a brand name than effectively meeting the company's needs. Your storage virtualization strategy should be based solely on meeting the requirements of your unique applications. EMC, Sun, Hitachi, and NetApp have flexible solutions that let companies manage their storage needs based on their applications. And because flexibility is critical, the option I believe with the most long-term potential is the third, at the SAN switch.
Nearly every large storage system vendor now has a storage-virtualization product. And because their customers are getting significant benefits with equally significant savings, it's a hot IT segment. And, as I noted in the first issue, I believe in virtualization because Groupware runs on a virtualized environment and I see its benefits daily. I encourage you to investigate this new storage technology that's becoming increasingly important in the datacenter.
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