Bigger network pipes needed for storage arrays
Bandwidth upgrades are needed in SANs to support more advanced storage technology.
By Donna DonnowitzOctober 6, 2011
Device manufacturers have advanced the capabilities of storage arrays to such an extent that the technology is far beyond where it was just a year or two ago. However, the networking systems that often support storage arrays lack the bandwidth necessary to transmit the amounts of data at the speeds that storage equipment can handle, according to a recent Register report.
In many ways, a storage array is like a plumbing setup where the sinks are the interconnected hard disks or solid state drives, and the pipes between them are the network. Essentially, the sinks have been getting progressively larger, able to hold more water, and the faucets are able to bring that water in at a faster rate. The drainage system is also better, making the sink far superior to its predecessors. However, the pipes feeding water to and away from the sink are just as thin and limited as ever, making it difficult for end users to benefit from the enhanced sink. In the same way, storage arrays need to be supported by more bandwidth, essentially, wider pipes, to improve storage performance in the data center, the report said.
According to the news source, storage arrays are not the only things getting larger, as hard disks are gaining capacity as well. This is creating an environment where the network connections within storage arrays need to handle more bandwidth or risk creating major inefficiencies. This can be helped by deduplication systems.
The report explained deduplication will go through data blocks sent through the array and make sure no data is being duplicated while being stored. This is a key need, especially when dealing with backup functions, as it is not uncommon for files to share data and end up overwhelming networks with content that does not need to be stored again.
However, making software-based upgrades to the array is not always going to be a complete solution, and many businesses will need to make changes to infrastructure to handle more robust storage arrays.
For some data center operators, converging input/output can help businesses deal with storage-related networking issues. According to a recent Network World report, data center managers can converge I/O between the LAN and SAN, making storage and other forms of data travel on the same network pipe. While this can create some challenges, it could also reduce spending while giving the storage network access to more bandwidth.
In many ways, a storage array is like a plumbing setup where the sinks are the interconnected hard disks or solid state drives, and the pipes between them are the network. Essentially, the sinks have been getting progressively larger, able to hold more water, and the faucets are able to bring that water in at a faster rate. The drainage system is also better, making the sink far superior to its predecessors. However, the pipes feeding water to and away from the sink are just as thin and limited as ever, making it difficult for end users to benefit from the enhanced sink. In the same way, storage arrays need to be supported by more bandwidth, essentially, wider pipes, to improve storage performance in the data center, the report said.
According to the news source, storage arrays are not the only things getting larger, as hard disks are gaining capacity as well. This is creating an environment where the network connections within storage arrays need to handle more bandwidth or risk creating major inefficiencies. This can be helped by deduplication systems.
The report explained deduplication will go through data blocks sent through the array and make sure no data is being duplicated while being stored. This is a key need, especially when dealing with backup functions, as it is not uncommon for files to share data and end up overwhelming networks with content that does not need to be stored again.
However, making software-based upgrades to the array is not always going to be a complete solution, and many businesses will need to make changes to infrastructure to handle more robust storage arrays.
For some data center operators, converging input/output can help businesses deal with storage-related networking issues. According to a recent Network World report, data center managers can converge I/O between the LAN and SAN, making storage and other forms of data travel on the same network pipe. While this can create some challenges, it could also reduce spending while giving the storage network access to more bandwidth.
