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Tiered Storage
Storage has come a long way since the days when a gigabyte of DAS cost $1000. But even as the price of SAN 'spinning disk' continues to drop, JJWild's hardware manufacturer partners forge ahead to develop more and more cost-effective storage media.
It is the leveraging of multiple storage media types across an enterprise that constitutes "tiered storage" and that comprises the 'hardware component' of an intelligent Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategy.
Generally speaking, storage comes in five types:
- Primary Online - for most active data requiring minimal latency, and instant or near instant access capabilities (Ex: fibre channel (FC) disk)
- Secondary Online - for less frequently accessed data with medium latency tolerance and fast access capabilities (Ex: SATA or FATA drives)
- Active Archive - for latency-tolerant reference information stored in online medium with index and search capabilities (Ex: EMC Centera or drive-based libraries)
- Nearline Archive - data requiring file recovery and off-site recovery capabilities (Ex: tape)
- Offline Archive - data requiring offsite storage and disaster recovery capabilities (Ex: vaulted tape)
Not surprisingly, there is a significant cost differential between primary online and offline archive storage--in some cases, that differential can be as great as 50:1. Therefore, it is well worth the effort to implement a tiered storage strategy for all of your enterprise applications and systems. Simply put, you can place data that is rarely accessed on a lower-end storage device than information that is accessed constantly and is critical to the daily workings of your business. This latter type of information is better suited to a more high-powered storage device.
Implementing a tiered storage solution leads to the immediate realization of improved total cost of ownership in several ways. The most obvious way is mentioned above. Consider too that, since the more expensive disk space is freed up as the less critical data is removed from the application environment, you need fewer servers and less storage to run your applications. Additionally, with less data for the application to manage, the availability of the application improves.
There is no question that employing a tiered storage approach is a wise business decision. But, not surprisingly, it is a process that takes careful consideration. The first step is to define the data management policies that will reliably dictate when data truly can be moved between tiers. (See our webpage on Data Management and Policy Development for further discussion.) Whether you are just beginning and need assistance or are ready to move forward in investigating or purchasing and implementing your chosen solutions, JJWild is available to help.
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