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7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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Managing the information that drives the enterprise
STORAGE
MAY 2013
VOL. 12 | NO. 3
ALL-IN-ONE
APPLIANCES FORINSTANT BACKUP
STORAGEMANAGERS SEETHEIR 2013 BUDGETSGROWING (A LITTLE)
CASTAGNA:BYE-BYE BACKUP?
TOIGO:STORAGE HOLYGRAIL: REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
McCLURE:THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
MATCHETT:
THE STATE OF SOLID-STATE AFTER FLASH
SNAPSHOT:WIDE USE OF SOLID-STATESTORAGE IN SMALL DOSES
.10WAYSTO SPEED UP
VIRTUAL SERVERSTORAGEStorage systems can buckleunder the load of multiplevirtual servers. These experttips will help break bottle-necks and up IOPS. PAGE 11
7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FROM OUR SPONSORS
7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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3 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
That makes backup a pretty lucrative endeavor for ven-
dors and offers little motivation to disrupt the status quo
by doing anything that might simplify or streamline the
process.
We can blame ourselves, too. After so many years,
were set in our ways and just accept that we need spe-
cial people with special skills to ensure all that backup
hardware and software runs right. Theres denitely abecause thats the way we do it mindset when some-
one asks why so many copies are made or so much data is
backed up. And theres no denying that changing backup
procedures and apps is no small matter, especially if you
have a lot of old backup data stashed on tape.
Theres some blame that can be shared among ven-
dors and users alike. With the inexorable growth of le
data about to put a stranglehold on storage operations in
Backup? Fuggedaboutit!A lot of storage shops are fighting a losing battle when it comes to data protection,with too much data and not enough time. Maybe its time to rethink the process.
EDI T ORI A L | RI CH CA S T A GNA
ITS 2013 ANDwere still doing backup. I know things
tend to toddle along kind of slowly in IT, but the way
we protect our datahas barely changed at all in my
lifetime, and Im hardly a kid. Backup keeps getting
better, of course, with techs like data deduplication
and bigger, faster storage targets to send all that backup
data to. But todays data storage and backup process re-
quires essentially the same oversight and administrationit did 10, 20 or 30 years ago.
Few things stagnate like that in the tech universe
without a reason, and there are plenty of reasons why
backup has been lingering in a time warp for so long.
Along with everything else in this world, if you follow
the money things start to fall into place and a lot of the
mystery disappears. Backup is a complex process involv-
ing software, hardware, manpower and special expertise.
http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Five-data-protection-guidelines-for-business-continuityhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Five-data-protection-guidelines-for-business-continuityhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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4 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
important stuffis slipping through the cracks. A few
companies have even stopped trying to back up every-thing; they just spin off copies of the critical things and
keep their ngers crossed about the rest of the data.
It has to be a lot easier than that. Lets just get rid of
backup. The tools and technologies are here, they just
need to be better integrated. By now, one would havethought that continuous data protection (CDP) would be
an integral part of everybodys data protection plan, but
adoption has been slow. On our most recent Purchasing
Intentions survey, only 18% of respondents said theyre
using some form of CDP and 13% said they plan to add it
to their backup repertoires this year.
The combination of CDP plus snapshots plus rep-
lication could be the wonder drug that cures backups
EDI T ORI A L | RI CH CA S T A GNA
many companies, there are probably a lot of storage pros
who realize that keeping everything is impractical butstill dont know what data can be ditched. That usually
means shops are backing up data that should have been
discarded and making multiple copies of useless stuff.
Six or seven years ago, a few startup vendors helped de-
ne a new storage product category with data classica-
tion products that could help cull the goodies from the
garbage. But they were largely ignored and the concept of
data classication has mostly gone away, leaving a bunch
of backup admins trying to gure out what to keep andwhat to toss.
Since the great recession put the brakes on a lot of
planned storage purchases, data storage managers have
learned to use their installed storage as efciently as pos-
sible. Some of that efciency also shows up in backup op-
erations, but not enough to stem the tide of spiraling data
stores.
So maybe its time to rethink data storage and backup.
Just as RAID and erasure coding are built into systemsand run virtually unattended after some setup and with
a little oversight, backup ought to be far more inte-
grated with storage systems and processes. As an exter-
nal process, backup isnt cutting it; many companies are
struggling to complete backup jobs before the morn-
ing shift arrives or trying to cope with voluminous, mul-
tiple backup sets. And with so much pressure and so
little time, its inevitable that some datamaybe some
A few startup vendors helped definea new storage product category withdata classification products that
could help cull the goodies fromthe garbage. But they were largelyignored and the concept of dataclassification has mostly gone away.
http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/resources/Data-storage-backup-toolshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/continuous-data-protectionhttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/photostory/2240179075/Spending-plan-trends-for-enterprise-data-protection/1/Spending-plans-for-advanced-data-protectionhttp://searchsmbstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Using-snapshots-CDP-and-data-deduplication-as-part-of-your-data-backup-strategyhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Records-retention-management-Arm-yourself-against-regulatory-scrutinyhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tutorial/Data-classification-fueled-by-e-discovery-storage-tieringhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tutorial/Data-classification-fueled-by-e-discovery-storage-tieringhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/storagehttp://searchcio.techtarget.com/tip/Making-a-business-case-for-data-storage-and-backuphttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Erasure-codes-The-foundation-of-RAID-6-arrayshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Erasure-codes-The-foundation-of-RAID-6-arrayshttp://searchcio.techtarget.com/tip/Making-a-business-case-for-data-storage-and-backuphttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/storagehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tutorial/Data-classification-fueled-by-e-discovery-storage-tieringhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tutorial/Data-classification-fueled-by-e-discovery-storage-tieringhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Records-retention-management-Arm-yourself-against-regulatory-scrutinyhttp://searchsmbstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Using-snapshots-CDP-and-data-deduplication-as-part-of-your-data-backup-strategyhttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/photostory/2240179075/Spending-plan-trends-for-enterprise-data-protection/1/Spending-plans-for-advanced-data-protectionhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/continuous-data-protectionhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/resources/Data-storage-backup-tools7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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5 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
EDI T ORI A L | RI CH CA S T A GNA
appropriately for mission-critical data down to user les.
There are many more details that youd need to workout, but if a decent data protection management app was
tossed into the mix, you could keep tabs on the process
and be warned if something jumps the tracks at any point.
Backup is tough, but its tougher than it should be
when it operates in isolation from the rest of a storage
systems processes. A number of startupsas well as es-
tablished playersare beginning to address the issue, but
the required degree of integration is not yet in sight. But
as data continues to growand storage managers get moredesperate for a data protection scheme that works, per-
haps storage vendors will pay attention. And maybe then
youll be able to forget about backup. n
RICH CASTAGNAis editorial director of TechTargets Storage MediaGroup.
ills. Rev up CDP, and without doing anything else,
your companys data gets backed up not in big un-wieldy batches every night, but in little drips and drabs
throughout the day. Now what if CDP was built into the
storage systems operating system just like other ser-
vices? You might have to turn a few dials to set how fre-
quently the new or modied data should be scooped up
and where it should be sent, but the process would be
nearly invisible and cause far less disruption than tradi-
tional backup operations.
Of course, even if backup was tightly integrated andlargely unseen, youd still need to monitor it to make sure
its doing what you expect it to do. You need to know, for
example, that database tables have been copied in a con-
sistent manner using Microsoft VSS or a similar tech-
nology. Youll also want to control what gets copied and
when, so youll need to be able to throttle CDP services
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Enforce-data-management-techniques-to-keep-up-with-data-growthmailto:rcastagna%40storagemagazine.com?subject=mailto:rcastagna%40storagemagazine.com?subject=http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Enforce-data-management-techniques-to-keep-up-with-data-growth7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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12x compression on Oracle database with Hybrid Columnar Compression.Copyright 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.
oracle.com/goto/compression
Only OracleCompressesYour Data 12x
More Data. Less Storage.
Less Energy. Run Faster.
ZFS Storage Appliance, Pillar Axiom Storage
http://www.oracle.com/goto/compressionhttp://www.oracle.com/goto/compression7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
7/39
7 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
S T ORA GE REV OLUT I ON | JON T OI GO
The storage Holy Grail:Ending bifurcated managementStorage virtualization and other storage uber-controllers are astep toward better management, but its still not an integrated process.
IN AN EARLIER column, I talked about the evolution of
storage infrastructure management and the various
ways storage services were being aggregated to sim-
plify their selective application to specic data as-
sets and workloads.
The mainstream approach to managing storage infra-
structure has been far from elegant or economical. First,
vendors have been evolving their arrays controller boardsinto full-edged general-purpose servers, often running
a recognizable OS as well as storage-specic applications
ranging from proprietary le systems and RAID software
to more exotic thin-provisioning or deduplication algo-
rithms. The result is a storage-as-appliance model that
has the advantage of creating sleek, self-contained islands
of storage, each managed individually using its own ele-
ment management software, but with the downside of
making storage more difcult to manage as it scales.
From the perspective of workload and data, appliance
storage was designed more for direct attachment to cer-
tain data than for sharing across multiple workloads. An
Oracle database needed its own dedicated storage rig, as
did Microsoft Exchange and so on. This one-application-
one-appliance model worked well until data outgrew rig
capacity. Fielding another rig required hiring another ad-ministrator to congure, optimize, manage and trouble-
shoot the new island.
Under those circumstances, data storage infrastruc-
ture managementmanaging a fabric of such storage ap-
plianceswas (and is) difcult to automate; hence, its
labor-intensive and costly from both a Capex (cost of
specialized gear) and Opex (labor cost) perspective.
An alternative was to virtualize the hardware layer,
http://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-Managing-data-storage-infrastructure-can-maximize-resourceshttp://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-Managing-data-storage-infrastructure-can-maximize-resourceshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240158528/Storage-infrastructure-management-doesnt-have-to-be-an-infrastrugglehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240158528/Storage-infrastructure-management-doesnt-have-to-be-an-infrastrugglehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240158528/Storage-infrastructure-management-doesnt-have-to-be-an-infrastrugglehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240158528/Storage-infrastructure-management-doesnt-have-to-be-an-infrastrugglehttp://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-Managing-data-storage-infrastructure-can-maximize-resourceshttp://searchdisasterrecovery.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-Managing-data-storage-infrastructure-can-maximize-resources7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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8 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
S T ORA GE REV OLUT I ON | JON T OI GO
abstract value-add functionality away from hardware,
thereby reducing both the cost of the hardware and thelock-in to a particular vendors rig. Moreover they enable
the macro-level management of storage as a service, de-
livering the means to manage capacity, performance and
data protection holistically. Marketecture like private
storage clouds or software-dened storage are veiled
references to these management architectures.
While this new application-facing, service-oriented
management approach has been a long time in com-
ing, its not all thats needed. Below the layer of ser-
vices, capacity and performance is the hardware layer
where cabling gets fouled, HBAs die, disk drives fail and
solid-state drives burn out. Some folks who have aggre-
gated storage rigs with storage hypervisors or other uber-
controllers also believe that RAID needs to be done on
hardware, so RAID conguration and management at
turning off all the on-box software and placing those ser-
vices on a software or hardware uber-controller that op-erated across all spindles in the infrastructure. I noted
last time that several software-based uber-controllers are
available in the form of storage virtualization software
packages or storage hypervisors to use the more re-
cently coined term. I also highlighted an uber-controller
appliance from Tributary Systems called (appropriately
enough) the Tributary Storage Director.
Between them, software-based storage hypervisors
and hardware-based storage service management appli-ances usurp the on-board value-add software of the stor-
age array and surface the functions as services that can
be mapped to policies and applied selectively to data. The
storage virtualization software approach delivers a cen-
tralized way to do this, becoming a service-enhanced
volume delivery engine or maybe a storage router in
terms of its function to place data onto spindles where
desired services can be most efciently applied.
The Tributary Systems approach is more federated.
While the companys Storage Director can be clustered
(to provide more ports for attaching more client systems
and storage arrays), you can set up multiple Storage Di-
rectors around your infrastructure as required by storage
I/O trafc to facilitate policy-based assignment of storage
services to selected data. Managing storage in this cong-
uration requires polling each Storage Director.
The good thing about the uber-controllers is that they
The good thing about the uber-controllers is that they abstractvalue-add functionality away from
hardware, thereby reducing both thecost of the hardware and the lock-into a particular vendors rig.
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-A-brief-history-of-storage-management-systemshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-A-brief-history-of-storage-management-systemshttp://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/service-oriented-managementhttp://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/service-oriented-managementhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/feature/A-guide-to-storage-virtualizationhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/feature/A-guide-to-storage-virtualizationhttp://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/service-oriented-managementhttp://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/service-oriented-managementhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-A-brief-history-of-storage-management-systemshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Toigo-A-brief-history-of-storage-management-systems7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
9/39
9 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
S T ORA GE REV OLUT I ON | JON T OI GO
what they have done with the protocol thus far. EMC,
Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and all the knee-nippers andankle-biters of the storage world also rolled out roadmaps
emphasizing REST, but only a few (notably X-IO) have
delivered. X-IO shows how SRM and storage service man-
agement can be combined using the World Wide Web
Consortium standard protocol.
The bottom line is that without an open-standards-
based approach to unifying service and plumbing man-
agement, it will be signicantly more difcult and costly
to manage burgeoning storage infrastructures. Cloudstorage and software-dened storage marketecture are
distractions, and unied storage management (across
all vendors gear) is far more important than unied
storage. n
JON WILLIAM TOIGO is a 30-year IT veteran, CEO and managingprincipal of Toigo Partners International, and chairman of the DataManagement Institute.
the box or drive-tray level is not covered by service-level
management.That leaves us with abifurcated management chal-
lenge in storage: aggregated services need to be managed
and provisioned at the uber-controller, but someone also
needs to use conventional storage resource management
(SRM) software toolsleveraging connections to discrete
devices via proprietary APIs, SNMP MIBs and SMI-S pro-
vidersin a desperate effort to see what is happening to
I/O in real-time and to oversee the condition of the infra-
structure plumbing. If youre keeping count, thats twomanagement targets with no unied mechanism for col-
lecting and presenting information so that management
can advance toward greater automation.
It would be nice if every vendor would do something
to implement open REST protocols for management of
their arrays, which they sounded enthusiastic about do-
ing a few years ago. In 2009, IBM announced it was em-
bracing REST with its Project Zero which is exactly
http://cortexdeveloper.com/http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Unified-storage-plays-important-role-in-data-storage-environmentsmailto:jtoigo%40toigopartners.com?subject=http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Data-storage-challenges-outpace-decision-making-strategieshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Data-storage-challenges-outpace-decision-making-strategieshttp://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/RESThttp://searchsoa.techtarget.com/definition/RESThttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Data-storage-challenges-outpace-decision-making-strategieshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/video/Data-storage-challenges-outpace-decision-making-strategiesmailto:jtoigo%40toigopartners.com?subject=http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/Unified-storage-plays-important-role-in-data-storage-environmentshttp://cortexdeveloper.com/7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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http://www.storagedecisions.com/7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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11 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
COV ER S T ORY | S T ORA GE F OR V Ms
By David Davis
10 WAYSTO IMPROVESTORAGEPERFORMANCE
FOR VIRTUALSERVERSVirtual servers can have a profoundeffect on storage I/O. Here are 10ways to help ensurethat your storageis performing atits best.
ENTERPRISE VIRTUAL INFRASTRUCTURE will always use shared
storage. Its a fact of lifeif you want to use the advanced
features of VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V, all
your hosts will need access to the les that make up your
virtual machines (VMs). While the latest editions of VM-ware VMotion and Microsoft Live Migration dont re-
quire shared storage, most features like VMware vSphere
High Availability and Microsoft Failover Clustering still
do (and likely always will).
For the virtual infrastructure (and your critical ap-
plications) to perform well, they must be fed the virtual
CPU,virtual memoryandvirtual disk I/O they hunger
for. The monitoring of virtual CPU and memory has got-
ten easier as hypervisors have made more statistics avail-
able and monitoring tools have gotten smarter. However,
performance monitoring forvirtual infrastructure stor-
age is still, in many cases, more of an art than a science.
Certainly there are scientic statistics that are analyzed in
http://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-machinehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-memoryhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/definition/I-O-virtualization-IOVhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/magazineContent/Managing-storage-for-virtual-servershttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/magazineContent/Managing-storage-for-virtual-servershttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/magazineContent/Managing-storage-for-virtual-servershttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/magazineContent/Managing-storage-for-virtual-servershttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/definition/I-O-virtualization-IOVhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-memoryhttp://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-machine7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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12 STORAGE n MAY 2013
HOME
BYE-BYE BACKUP?
STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
COV ER S T ORY | S T ORA GE F OR V Ms
Those tools could be the included VMware esxtop CLI
tool, performance graphs inside vCenter (where IOPSare represented as disk.numberRead.summation and
disk.numberWrite.summation counters) or commercial
tools from third parties. Because vCenter stats must be
divided by the sample time to produce IOPS, it can be
more work to calculate. Third-party tools (or even VM-
ware vCenter Operations Manager) are more costly but
are much easier to use and much more intelligent.
Note that, among other things listed below, LUN con-
gurations and RAID selection can also have a massiveimpact on I/O performance.
KNOW YOUR APPLICATIONSWhile storage and virtualization admins
have many tools to help churn out more I/O,
theyre usually limited in the ways they can
reduce the I/O demand. Also, too many IT pros are more
than happy to get knee deep in the weeds of data center
infrastructure while totally ignoring the applications run-
ning inside.
Its tough to be successful at truly understanding stor-
age performance if you dont know what your most I/O-
intensive applications are, what VMs they run inside,
what server clusters they run on and what storage they
use. Are the applications read- or write-intensive? Know-
ing the answers to these questions will guide you in your
2
storage performance, but the difference is that the storage
is external to the hypervisor and physical server and, thus,the hypervisor (and your virtualization performance mon-
itoring tools) doesnt typically have as much insight into
whats happening with storage (but thats changing fast).
Nonetheless, there are a number of steps you can take
to improve the performance of your virtual server storage.
Here are 10 tips that can help you improve your storage
systems performance for your VMs.
KNOW YOUR IOPSThe science oftuning virtual server storage
is, in its simplest form, IOPS in versus IOPS
out. The drives in a LUN can provide a cer-
tain number of I/Os per second, the path in between the
server and storage has a specic throughput, and the ap-
plications demand so much. While the simplest ques-
tion is Do you have enough or do you need more?, the
answer isnt always easy. Many of the tools, technologies
and solutions described in the following tips can help you
gain more I/O capacityor nd ways to reduce the I/O de-
mand (usually by knowing the apps and working with app
owners or developers).
In a virtual infrastructure, the best way to understand
the typical I/O for VMs and datastores is to use virtual-
ization-specic performance analysis tools. Almost ev-
ery one of these tools will help you to know your IOPS.
1
http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/Monitoring-vSphere-performance-with-command-line-toolshttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/Monitoring-vSphere-performance-with-command-line-toolshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-plan-for-I-O-intensive-environmentshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-plan-for-I-O-intensive-environmentshttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/news/1349785/Storage-best-practices-for-virtual-server-environmentshttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/feature/The-storage-for-VDI-equation-Capacity-IOPS-TCO-ROI-and-persistencyhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/feature/The-storage-for-VDI-equation-Capacity-IOPS-TCO-ROI-and-persistencyhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/news/1349785/Storage-best-practices-for-virtual-server-environmentshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-plan-for-I-O-intensive-environmentshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-plan-for-I-O-intensive-environmentshttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/Monitoring-vSphere-performance-with-command-line-toolshttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/feature/Monitoring-vSphere-performance-with-command-line-tools7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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13 STORAGE n MAY 2013
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different LUNs or changing the RAID type for a LUN, you
may improve performance for the virtual infrastructureas well as physical servers. In many cases, admins tend to
look to new bells and whistles to improve performance
when the source of virtual infrastructure storage perfor-
mance issues are the same things that typically affect tra-
ditional physical servers.
VAAI OR ODX
VMwares vStorage APIs for Array Integra-tion (VAAI) allows the vSphere hypervisor to
ofoad some storage-related tasks to the stor-
age. For example, instead of cloning a VM through the
hypervisor, that can just be done in the storage. VAAI also
signicantly reduces the time the disk is locked by using
hardware-accelerated locking. Make sure your storage is
VAAI-capable to ensure that your virtual infrastructure
benets from storage ofoad.
In the Microsoft Hyper-V world, Ofoaded Data
Transfer (ODX) is comparable to VAAI. If youre using
Hyper-V, you want your storage to be ODX-capable.
To nd out if your storage offers VMware VAAI,
look up your SAN or NAS in the VMware Compatibility
Guide. To nd out if your storage is ODX compatible, ask
the vendor if their product is Microsoft ODX certied.
Over time, more and more vendors will add VAAI and
ODX compatibility to their enterprise storage arrays.
4
storage tuning efforts. By understanding the applications,
and working with app owners and app developers, youmay even be able to reduce the I/O workload and save the
company a small fortune by not having to buy a new stor-
age array or add high-performance drives.
If the application is already virtualized, you can use
the tools mentioned above to get to know the typical I/O
load over time and whether its read- or write-intensive.
If the app isnt virtualized, you may want to create a proof
of concept for virtualizing the app, test the virtualized
app with a realistic load and then model the productionworkload based on those tests. Alternatively, if the pro-
duction app already uses a SAN, then you could use your
SAN vendors performance tool to measure I/O workload
for the physical server before virtualizing.
MAXIMIZE THE STORAGE YOU HAVEOne way to improve storage performance is to
ensure that youre making the most of the stor-
age you already have. You may have features
that arent even turned on, or perhaps you have features
that could be enabled for a minimal cost. You could even
consider reconguring your storage LUNs or RAID groups
to gain better performance for the virtual infrastructure.
I/O workloads change over time and perhaps the LUN lay-
out and RAID groups that were laid out a couple of years
ago no longer apply. By rebalancing the workload across
3
http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/tip/VMwares-vStorage-APIs-for-Array-Integration-VAAI-How-they-work-and-which-arrays-support-themhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/answer/Offloaded-Data-Transfer-speeds-up-reads-and-writes-in-Hyper-Vhttp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.phphttp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.phphttp://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/tip/LUN-configuration-best-practices-to-boost-virtual-machine-performancehttp://searchservervirtualization.techtarget.com/tip/LUN-configuration-best-practices-to-boost-virtual-machine-performancehttp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.phphttp://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.phphttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/answer/Offloaded-Data-Transfer-speeds-up-reads-and-writes-in-Hyper-Vhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/tip/VMwares-vStorage-APIs-for-Array-Integration-VAAI-How-they-work-and-which-arrays-support-them7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
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WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
COV ER S T ORY | S T ORA GE F OR V Ms
want to use thick provisioning (lazyzerothick, to be spe-
cic) for VM disks and then use thin provisioning in yourstorage array.
VIRTUALIZATION-AWARE STORAGESome new storage arrays are billed as vir-
tualization-aware. That means the storage
talks to VMware vCenter, and so the storage
knows what VMs are running and the path to their virtual
machine disk les (VMDKs) on the SAN/NAS. Both thevirtualization admin and the storage admin benet signif-
icantly from this communication. For example, you could
nd out what VMs are creating the most IOPS or which
VMs are experiencing the most storage latency. Somevir-
tualization-aware storage systems can even provide per-
VM snapshots and clones. You dont necessarily have to
replace your storage array with one thats virtualization-
aware, but its something to consider for future projects
and something to ask your current storage vendor about
to see what similar features theyre planning for future
release.
PARTITION ALIGNMENTWhen older operating systems (OSes) are run
in VMs without taking partition alignment
into account, you can cause performance
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8
LIMIT SNAPSHOTS
One of the most useful features of virtualiza-tion is the ability to snapshot a virtual ma-
chine. That point-in-time picture of the VMs
memory and virtual disk are useful should an application
or OS upgrade go wrong or you need to test congura-
tion changes. The snapshot is also used by virtualization
backup and replication applications to capture virtual
disk changes without causing downtime. However, too
many times snapshots are overused, not only taking up
disk space but causing poor performance for backup ap-plications, VMotion and other storage-related functions.
Snapshots should only be used temporarily and then
deleted.
THICK PROVISIONINGVERSUS THIN PROVISIONINGThe ability to create VMs with thin provi-
sioned virtual disks is very useful. I use thin
provisioning all the time in my lab environment. How-
ever, thin provisioning in the virtualization layer and
physical storage array must be carefully planned and
managed. Most of the problems with thin provisioning
relate to simply running out of storage. However, if you
dont have VAAI-enabled arrays, there can be some per-
formance degradation when the thinly provisioned virtual
disk needs to be increased in size. In that case, you may
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http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/answer/Process-to-convert-thick-to-thin-provisioned-VMDKshttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/podcast/VM-aware-storage-provides-better-migration-performance-and-morehttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/podcast/VM-aware-storage-provides-better-migration-performance-and-morehttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/Aligning-disk-partitions-to-boost-virtual-machine-performancehttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/How-VMware-snapshots-workhttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/How-VMware-snapshots-workhttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/Thin-provisioning-myth-busters-The-benefits-of-thin-virtual-diskshttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/Thin-provisioning-myth-busters-The-benefits-of-thin-virtual-diskshttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/Thin-provisioning-myth-busters-The-benefits-of-thin-virtual-diskshttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/Thin-provisioning-myth-busters-The-benefits-of-thin-virtual-diskshttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/How-VMware-snapshots-workhttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/How-VMware-snapshots-workhttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/tip/Aligning-disk-partitions-to-boost-virtual-machine-performancehttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/podcast/VM-aware-storage-provides-better-migration-performance-and-morehttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/podcast/VM-aware-storage-provides-better-migration-performance-and-morehttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/answer/Process-to-convert-thick-to-thin-provisioned-VMDKs7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
COV ER S T ORY | S T ORA GE F OR V Ms
downtime) from one datastore to another (or even from
one array to another) should that datastore be experienc-ing high latency or high disk space utilization. Make sure
your storage can speak to vCenter using the VMware
vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) so vCenter
can identify the capabilities of the storage for SDRS to be
as successful as possible in preventing storage hiccups.
AND IF ALL ELSE FAILS ...
While budgets are tight for everyone, you may need tospend some money and purchase a new storage system
to get higher performance for the virtual infrastructure.
The virtual infrastructures I/O workload of 50-plus VMs
all hammering on disk LUNs will be very different from
the previous 1:1 mapping for a server and a disk LUN. In
addition to the better performance your new storage will
provide, you may gain additional features such as virtu-
alization-aware storage, hybrid storage, VAAI, VASA and
more.
Virtualization is a new mindset in the data center;
when VMs are consolidated, storage must be rethought
and re-equipped.n
DAVID DAVIS is the author of the VMware vSphere and MicrosoftHyper-V video training library from www.TrainSignal.com. He haswritten extensively, is a vExpert, VCP, VCAP-DCA and CCIE #9369with more than 18 years of enterprise IT experience.
issues. However, with Windows Vista, Windows 7 and
Windows 2008 (or later, such as Windows 8 and Win-dows 2012), this is no longer an issue. Some virtualiza-
tion-aware storage can automatically align VMDKs, no
matter the OS. But if your company is using older OSes,
you should verify that your VMDKs are aligned with your
virtual machine le system (VMFS) and SAN LUN.
There are a number of tools available to help you ver-
ify partition alignment of pre-Windows Vista and pre-
Windows 2008 OSes, including the free UberAlign or the
commercialvOptimizer Pro.
STORAGE I/O CONTROLWith multiple virtualization hosts sharing
the same storage, something needs to ensure
the storage isnt monopolized by an I/O-
hungry application or that more critical applications
arent starved for I/O. VMwares vSphere Storage I/O
Control does this and is enabled with a single checkbox
on a VMFS datastore.
STORAGE DISTRIBUTEDRESOURCE SCHEDULER (SDRS)What VMwares Distributed Resource Sched-
uler does for CPU and RAM, SDRS does for
storage. SDRS will move virtual machine disks (with no
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http://www.vmwarevideos.com/http://www.trainsignal.com/http://nickapedia.com/2011/11/03/straighten-up-with-a-new-uber-tool-presenting-uberalign/http://www.quest.com/voptimizer-pro/http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/tip/vSphere-Storage-I-O-Control-What-it-does-and-how-to-configure-ithttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/tip/vSphere-Storage-I-O-Control-What-it-does-and-how-to-configure-ithttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/definition/VMware-DRShttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/definition/VMware-DRShttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/definition/Storage-Distributed-Resource-Scheduler-DRShttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/definition/Storage-Distributed-Resource-Scheduler-DRShttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/definition/VMware-DRShttp://searchvmware.techtarget.com/definition/VMware-DRShttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/tip/vSphere-Storage-I-O-Control-What-it-does-and-how-to-configure-ithttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/tip/vSphere-Storage-I-O-Control-What-it-does-and-how-to-configure-ithttp://www.quest.com/voptimizer-pro/http://nickapedia.com/2011/11/03/straighten-up-with-a-new-uber-tool-presenting-uberalign/http://www.trainsignal.com/http://www.vmwarevideos.com/7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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Memorizing RAID level defnitionsand knowing which level does what can be:
Conusing
Hard to Remember
Useul
All o the above
So how much do you think you know about RAID?
Find Out For Yourself and Test Your Knowledge with Our
Exclusive RAID Quiz! And dont forget to bookmark this page
for future RAID-level reference.
Test your knowledge at
SearchSMBStorage.com/RAID_Quiz
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ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
B A CKUP
BACKUP APPLIANCES WERE originally designed for small
companies or departmental backup environments. They
provided an all-in-one backup solution that was easy to
install and run, but they didnt offer the features, func-
tionality or scalability required for midsize or larger en-vironments. But with improvements to both hardware
and software, data backup appliances have become viable
solutions for companies of almost any size, even some in
the enterprise space.
DATA BACKUP APPLIANCE DEFINEDFor our discussion, well dene a data backup appliance
as a complete backup system that includes hardware to
store backed up data and software that controls the pro-
cess of copying data from client servers and computers to
the storage system. Many of these products can write data
to direct-attached storage (DAS) or networked storage
By Eric Slack
BACKUPIN A BOXBackup appliances combinesoftware and hardware ina single box, configured andready to go. Once consideredjust an SMB option, theseproducts are now ready forthe enterprise.
http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Backup-appliance-Backup-software-and-hardware-in-one-boxhttp://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Backup-appliance-Backup-software-and-hardware-in-one-box7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
B A CKUP
scalability, both in capacity and performance, and they of-
ten lacked the more sophisticated features that traditionalbackup applications include.
More recently, with improvements in storage and
processing technologies (and the continuing decline in
storage costs), data backup appliances have evolved into
devices capable of replacing backup software and hard-
ware in some very large environments. Technologies such
as data deduplication, thin provisioning and compression
have increased the effective capacity of disk arrays, fur-
ther enhancing the appeal of these turnkey systems. Andbecause processing power and network connectivity is
so affordable these days, its possible to implement these
features without signicantly impacting the ingest and
throughput speed of the appliance.
These developments have made backup appliances a
better t for IT departments in larger organizations, but
theres another factor to consider. The simplicity that
makes appliances attractive to smaller companies is also
appealing to larger IT organizations. After all, time saved
on more basic tasks like backup administration can be re-
directed to other, more complex projects.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGESOF BACKUP APPLIANCESGenerally, an appliance is easier to implement than an
independent software application because the appliance
(NAS or SAN), but we wont consider that a requirement.
That denition is in contrast to another familiar term,purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA), which has been
used to describe dedicated backup storage systems that
are typically used as targets for backup software but dont
always include that software. Virtual backup appliances
backup applications that run in a virtual machinealso
arent included in our denition, although many of the
data backup appliance vendors offer that option as well.
Backup appliances were used as alternatives to tradi-
tional backup infrastructures, which typically included a
separate software app and storage devices, originally tape
drives but more recently disk arrays. Backup appliances
were primarily intended for smaller rms that didnt have
the IT resources to design, implement and operate tradi-
tional backup systems, which could get rather complex.
Early backup appliances were better suited for small
to midsize companies due to their somewhat limited
With improvements in storageand processing technologies, databackup appliances have evolvedinto devices capable of replacingbackup software and hardwarein some very large environments.
http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/feature/Data-deduplication-technology-today-and-tomorrowhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/thin-provisioninghttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Design-critical-in-data-compression-backupshttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/1322981/The-true-role-of-a-backup-administratorhttp://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23703212http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Vendors-line-up-to-deliver-backup-applianceshttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Vendors-line-up-to-deliver-backup-applianceshttp://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23703212http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/1322981/The-true-role-of-a-backup-administratorhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Design-critical-in-data-compression-backupshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/thin-provisioninghttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/feature/Data-deduplication-technology-today-and-tomorrow7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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HOME
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STORAGE HOLY GRAIL:REAL CENTRALMANAGEMENT
10 WAYS TOSPEED UP VIRTUALSERVER STORAGE
ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
B A CKUP
problems when data sets grow; limited software features
can mean a lack of platform or application support. Also,buying the entire system from a single vendor may mean
youll have to pay more for capacity upgrades since youre
locked in to that supplier. When the appliance has nally
reached full capacity, youll have to deal with a forklift
upgrade to a larger unit or with managing two separate
backup appliances.
REPLACE RATHER THAN REUSEAs turnkey solutions, most data backup appliances dontallow you to incorporate existing assets, although some
do support an existing backup software implementation.
This could mean you end up buying hardware and soft-
ware to replace similar assets you already have that may
not be fully depreciated. So implementing a backup appli-
ance may be a better solution if youre looking to replace
something thats totally outgrown or you need to move up
from a departmental or small business system.
APPLIANCE SAMPLERAll the backup appliances described here include dedupe,
so its not singled out as a feature for any of the products,
although some very real differences do exist between the
ways these products handle data reduction. Cloud con-
nectivity and cloud backup features are not specically
comes with the backup software installed and cong-
ured on the server hardwarethe right server hardware.There are no platform compatibility issues and the con-
gurations available are optimized for the software. As
turnkey solutions, appliances include at least the initial
storage hardware required to get up and running. Many
allow users to add more disk capacity and tape, eliminat-
ing another potential variable in the process. In addition
to implementation benets, appliances can save on acqui-
sition costs compared to buying separate hardware and
software components, and provide operational savings by
consolidating hardware and software support.
The characteristics that make appliances easy to im-
plement can also make them somewhat inexible and
less scalable. The manufacturer can only provide a nite
number of hardware choices, compared with the range of
server and storage hardware that backup software alone
can support. Although scalability of these appliances has
improved, limitations remain that may result in capacity
When the appliance has finallyreached full capacity, youll haveto deal with a forklift upgrade
to a larger unit or with managingtwo separate backup appliances.
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
20 STORAGE n MAY 2013
B A CKUP
the existing data set. In business for more than a dozen
years, the companys backup appliances scale to hun-dreds of terabytes of disk capacity, with solid-state stor-
age and tape options. Client support includes most Unix
and Linux variants, as well as Windows and Mac OS.
STORServers application and database support are com-
prehensive and VMware integration is very thorough.
Symantec Corp. Symantec has been one of the primary
backup software vendors for many years, going back to
the days of Veritas and before that, OpenVision. The rmhas now added appliances for its Backup Exec and Net-
Backup products by installing its software on industry-
standard server hardware, creating a standalone backup
solution that can be integrated into an existing Symantec
environment as a media server. The NetBackup appliance
provides up to 72 TB of capacity and the Backup Exec ap-
pliance provides up to 5.5 TB of usable capacity. As estab-
lished backup software products, both support all major
operating systems and applications, and offer a compre-
hensive list of advanced features.
Unitrends. Unitrends originally designed its backup ap-
pliances for small to midmarket companies with the in-
tent of making backup simple and easyin their words, a
toaster mentality. The rms line of appliances tops out
at nearly 100 TB of usable capacity and its backup/recov-
ery software (developed in-house) has a complete list of
addressed for the same reason. Those two aspects of a
data backup appliance are discussed in the Data backupappliance selection criteria section of this article.
EVault Inc. Before being acquired by Seagate Technol-
ogy LLC in 2006, EVault started as a cloud backup ser-
vice that provided consumer and small business backup
services. A few years later, the rm added a local stor-
age appliance to its offering, making them more than
just astorage-as-a-service backup offering. Its current
lineup provides usable capacity of up to 24 TB per appli-ance with support for all major platforms and many apps.
EVault appliance features include bare-metal restore to
dissimilar hardware, replication with bandwidth throt-
tling, and concurrent backup and restore/replication.
STORServer Inc. STORServer took what might be called a
hybrid approach to its product development, marrying an
existing backup application, IBMs Tivoli Storage Man-
ager (TSM), with purpose-built hardware. While TSM is
typically considered an enterprise backup application,
STORServer has made its data backup appliances easy for
even small companies to use.
TSMs architecture uses a relational database that ab-
stracts the logical data from the physical storage, allowing
STORServer to scale much larger than other architec-
tures. This also gives them the exibility to evolve the
hardware and software independently, without disrupting
http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240149778/Symantec-extends-integrated-backup-appliance-strategyhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240149778/Symantec-extends-integrated-backup-appliance-strategyhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/Storage-as-a-Service-SaaShttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/bare-metal-restorehttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240164015/STORServer-announces-updates-to-backup-appliance-lineuphttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240164015/STORServer-announces-updates-to-backup-appliance-lineuphttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/bare-metal-restorehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/definition/Storage-as-a-Service-SaaShttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240149778/Symantec-extends-integrated-backup-appliance-strategyhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240149778/Symantec-extends-integrated-backup-appliance-strategy7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
B A CKUP
Data reduction technologies can play a big part in the
calculation of how much effective capacity a systemhas, so the data types most likely to populate the backup
appliance should be known. You can then compare them
with the compression, deduplication and thin provision-
ing technologies employed (see the section on data dedu-
plication below).
n Cloud plus backup appliance. Most backup appliances
provide some form of cloud integration, whether its the
ability to send backups to the vendors cloud for DR pur-poses or to a public cloud provider such as Amazon or
Rackspace. Since backups (and restores) involve so much
data, care must be taken to understand how much data
the backup appliance will actually send over the wire
and how well it optimizes WAN bandwidth to the cloud.
Efciently handling specic data objects created by soft-
ware applications, also called application intelligence,
can greatly impact the cloud backup experience, so these
details should be understood.
n Data deduplication. Deduplication has evolved from an
obscure technology that helped launch the disk backup
product category, to an almost checkbox feature included
in most backup hardware and software. However, there
are many variations of the technology that operate very
differently and produce a wide range of data reduction
ratios, but all are called deduplication.
features, including advanced functionality such as (near)
continuous data protection, VMware vStorage APIs forData Protection vCenter integration, and support for
disk-to-disk-to-any archiving for disaster recovery (DR)
options and long-term retention.
Being in business for more than 20 years has enabled
Unitrends to compile an extensive support matrix that in-
cludes 100-plus different versions of more than 40 oper-
ating systems in cloud, physical and virtual backup. This
gives users a very comprehensive backup solution and al-
lows them to migrate backup from old platforms easily.
DATA BACKUP APPLIANCESELECTION CRITERIAWhen evaluating a data backup appliance, or just decid-
ing whether to replace a traditional backup infrastructure
with one of these offerings, there are several things to
think about. Aside from price and feature set, the follow-
ing characteristics should also be considered.
n Capacity and scalability. Whether its scale-up, scale-out
or a combination, some appliances expand better than
others. Obviously, projected growth and long-term stor-
age requirements should be contemplated.
In some cases, tape support may be appropriate be-
cause it provides the most capacity in the smallest foot-
print and the lowest cost for long-term storage.
http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Continuous-data-protection-Near-vs-real-CDPhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Continuous-data-protection-Near-vs-real-CDPhttp://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Backup-appliance-product-survey-Which-one-is-right-for-your-businesshttp://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Backup-appliance-product-survey-Which-one-is-right-for-your-businesshttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Continuous-data-protection-Near-vs-real-CDPhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Continuous-data-protection-Near-vs-real-CDP7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
B A CKUP
new infrastructure and often reduces operational ex-
pense. For many applications the cloud has offered aneven simpler usage model and has replaced the use of
hardware appliances.
However, backup touches most of the data in the en-
vironment on a regular basis, and can send terabytes of
data to the backup storage device every day. This makes
on-site infrastructure practically the only way to maintain
reasonable performance, both for backups and restores,
and to keep bandwidth costs under control.
Backup appliances can now provide most of the func-tionality that even larger companies need from their data
protection systems. And, until companies have all their
data running on applications in the cloud, a local data
backup appliance will still be an attractive alternative. n
ERIC SLACK is a senior analyst at Storage Switzerland.
The specic methods used for deduplication vary
widely, such as:
P The length of data segments being compared
PWhere in the ingest process comparisons take place
PHow the hash value for each segment is calculated
PWhere that hash table is stored
This makes it incumbent upon users evaluating a
backup appliance to understand how its dedupe works, as
well as how much data reduction it can produce on theirspecic data types in their specic backup environments.
THE BOTTOM LINEThe appliance format has become very popular for IT or-
ganizations because it simplies the implementation of
7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
By Rich Castagna
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
2013 SHAPINGUP TO BE ADECENT YEARFOR STORAGE
SPENDINGManaging storage is alwaysa struggle, but this yearstorage managers shouldhave a little more money tospend on key technologiesthat can help ease the crunchof growing capacity andperformance demands.
THERES A LOTgoing on with IT data storage these days.
Theres the usual stuff thatll keep a storage manager from
a good nights sleep, like nding a place to put more and
more terabytes of data, providing snappy access to it and
then making sure its protected. And against a rising tideof storage capacity woes, come new demands on perfor-
mance as near-instant analytics take center stage.
And it really is a rising tide, as any data storage shop
will attest. But the good news is that vendors are provid-
ing new tools and improving older ones for storage man-
agers who need to build out their IT data storage toolkits.
Each year we survey hundreds of storage pros who
come up for air just long enough to tell us what technolo-
gies theyre currently using or planning to add to their
arsenals in 2013. On average, our respondents report that
their companies oversee 1.5 petabytes of data on all forms
of media, stored in-house and externally. Thats a lot of
data to keep track ofheres how theyre doing it.
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Hot-data-storage-technologies-for-2013http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Hot-data-storage-technologies-for-20137/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
KEY STAT
$2.4The average storage
budget, in millions,
reported on our
survey.
DEEPER DIVE
Thirty-eight percent o
companies report their
storage budgets will
rise in 2013.
Budgets at larger
companiesthose
with more than $1billion in revenue
will grow by 3.4%.
Big companies also
have a lot more to
spend on storage:
$7.4 million.
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
Storage budgets increase modestlyOne of our most closely watched indicators of the health of storage shops, and the data
storage market in general, is how storage budgets fare when compared to the previous
year. Back in the good old pre-recession days, it was common to see budgets rise by 3%,
4% or more, but more modest increases are appreciated as much these days.
Our respondents tell us their storage budgets will rise 1.5% over last years levels, the same
increase we saw last fall. Not a huge increasemaybe just barely keeping pace with infla-
tionbut an increase nonetheless. Coupled with declining prices, that modest increase will
allow storage managers to toss a few more items into their shopping carts.
While the budget number itself might change, the way its likely to be spent wont vary
much from previous years. Storage hardware will take the biggest bite (36%), with mainte-
nance (13%) and software (12%) also snapping up substantial shares.
YEAR-OVER-YEAR STORAGE BUDGET CHANGES HOLDING STEADY AFTER RECESSIONARY DIP
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
-1
-2
-3
Spring2007
Fall2007
Spring2008
Fall2008
Spring2009
Fall2009
Spring2010
Fall2010
Spring2011
Fall2011
Spring2012
Fall2012
Spring2013
3.7%
3.9%
2.9%
3.2%
-1.9%
0.4%
0%
0.6%1.8
%
1.9%
.8%
1.5% 1.5%
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Storage-budget-picture-brightenshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Storage-budget-picture-brightens7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
KEY STAT
63%Respondent rms that
currently have NAS
systems installed.
DEEPER DIVE
Five years ago, 27% o
the rms surveyed
were using iSCSI
storage; today 48% do.
Plain old le servers
still top le storage
purchase plans (26%);
21% plan to buy NAS.
Twenty-our percent
(an all-time high) say
price is the most
important buying
criteria or storage
systems.
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
Capacity growth requires new efficiency measuresOur respondents are engaged in an all-out battle with storage capacity. In addition to pet-
abyte-scale numbers for total data stores, they maintain increasing amounts of live stor-
age that may be needed at any time. The average installed disk capacity is 306 TB, and this
year respondents say they expect to add approximately 43 TB of new disk storage, about
the same amount that has been added each year for the four post-2009 years.
Of the companies shopping for storage systems, 47% will opt for midrange arrays; high-end
gear is more of a niche purchase with only 13% planning purchases. About a third (32%) have
their eyes on low-end storage systems that have steadily acquired higher end features.
A trend we first identified nearly six years ago appears to be continuing in 2013: more storage
systems purchases will be for new drives (36%) to fill out existing systems than for new iSCSI
SANs (14%), network-attached storage (NAS) systems (14%) or Fibre Channel (FC) SANs (13%).
To make better use of new and old capacity, storage shops will use a variety of efficiency
technologies, including thin provisioning (41%), tiering (32%), primary storage dedupe (29%)
and data compression (21%). Nearly as many companies are evaluating these technologies.
TOTAL DISK STORAGE CAPACITY (TB) CURRENTLY INSTALLED
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0FALL2009
SPRING2010
FALL2010
SPRING2011
FALL2011
SPRING2012
FALL2012
SPRING2013
247 250 240 263 269 247
312 306
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/New-storage-capacity-management-tools-can-make-efficiency-a-realityhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/magazineContent/IBM-emerges-at-top-of-strong-midrange-array-fieldhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Data-storage-best-practices-Jon-Toigos-top-5-storage-efficiency-tipshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Data-storage-best-practices-Jon-Toigos-top-5-storage-efficiency-tipshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Data-storage-best-practices-Jon-Toigos-top-5-storage-efficiency-tipshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/Data-storage-best-practices-Jon-Toigos-top-5-storage-efficiency-tipshttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/magazineContent/IBM-emerges-at-top-of-strong-midrange-array-fieldhttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/feature/New-storage-capacity-management-tools-can-make-efficiency-a-reality7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
KEY STAT
9.1Terabytes o solid-
state storage currently
installed on average.
DEEPER DIVE
Companies planning
to add solid-state
storage will purchase
an average o 6.2 TB
in 2013.
Thirty-ve percent o
companies have more
than 10 TB o solid-state currently
installed.
Six percent o
respondents will add
more than 20 TB o
solid-state storage
this year.
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
Solid-state shaping up as storage game changer
When we first asked about solid-state storage approximately three-and-a-half years ago,only 8% of those surveyed said their companies were using it. Today, 34% of companies have
solid-state storage installed somewhere in their environments, with another 8% planning to
add it this year and 31% evaluating.
Most of the deployments (69%) are solid-state mixed with hard disk drives in a hybrid ar-
ray arrangement, but 45% have installed it directly into their servers (PCI Express or SAS/
SATA form factors) and 21% use caching appliances built around solid-state. Forty percent
of companies have treated some end users by installing the high-performance stuff in their
desktops or laptops.
At the other end of the scale, in 2009 54% of companies said flat-out they didnt have anyplans for adding solid-state. In our latest poll, that number has been cut in half (27%). But
the reasons for not taking the solid-state plunge havent changed much over the years:
non-users cite the cost of solid-state storage (66%) and satisfaction with the performance
of their hard disk systems (47%) as the main reasons for eschewing solid-state at this
timeabout the same numbers we saw three years ago.
MORE COMPANIES DEPLOYING SOLID-STATE STORAGE
328p34%
Using SSD now8%ImplementingSSD this year
27%No SSD plans
31%Evaluating SSD
http://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/tip/Solid-state-storage-technology-definedhttp://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/news/2240164170/Hybrid-and-all-SSD-arrays-can-save-money-when-used-in-the-right-spotshttp://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/news/2240164170/Hybrid-and-all-SSD-arrays-can-save-money-when-used-in-the-right-spotshttp://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/news/2240164170/Hybrid-and-all-SSD-arrays-can-save-money-when-used-in-the-right-spotshttp://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/news/2240164170/Hybrid-and-all-SSD-arrays-can-save-money-when-used-in-the-right-spotshttp://searchsolidstatestorage.techtarget.com/tip/Solid-state-storage-technology-defined7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
KEY STAT
17 TBAverage amount
o data users have
stored in cloud
storage services.
DEEPER DIVE
Thirty percent o
current users have
more than 20 TB o
data in the cloud.
Fiteen percent o
respondents say their
companies use lesync-and-share
services; 6% use
public services, and
9% have implemented
in-house sync and
share.
Private storage
clouds have been
implemented by 18%
o respondents.
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
Cloud storage offers a new tierAlthough still cautious, storage shops are increasingly looking to cloud storage services as
an alternative or augmentation to in-house storage systems. While the number of users has
dipped a bit over the last year, adoption of cloud storage is still moving forward: in 2010, only
14% of those surveyed were using some form of cloud storage; today, 22% are cloud users.
While backup is by far the most mature of the cloud storage services, our respondents are
using the cloud for other types of storage as well, with disaster recovery (DR) leading the
way. DR in the cloud could end up the killer app for cloud storage (along with traditional
backup, of course). When combined with the ability to spin up virtual servers using a cloud
computing service, cloud DR can offer extremely inexpensive, almost immediate recovery
from crippling circumstances.
Current cloud storage users appear to be pretty satisfied with their experiences so far: 94%
plan to expand their use of cloud storage services. Non-users are also getting on the band-
wagon, with only 40% ruling out adding cloud storage to their environments this year.
HOW CLOUD STORAGE IS USED TODAY
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0
Remoteoffice online
data
Archiving Data centernear-line
data
Data centerprimary
data
Disasterrecovery
3.3% 3.6%
8% 8.3%
11.6%
http://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/opinion/Its-time-for-a-real-accreditation-process-for-cloud-storage-serviceshttp://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/2240166112/Survey-shows-sharp-uptick-in-appetite-for-cloud-disaster-recoveryhttp://searchcio.techtarget.com/news/2240166112/Survey-shows-sharp-uptick-in-appetite-for-cloud-disaster-recoveryhttp://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/opinion/Its-time-for-a-real-accreditation-process-for-cloud-storage-services7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
KEY STAT
13%Respondents that say
theyll increase the
role o tape in their
backup systemsthe
all-time lowest
number weve
recorded.
DEEPER DIVE
Tape libraries are
shrinking; the average
library will have an
average o 84 slots
versus 130 slots sixyears ago.
Fity-eight percent o
those surveyed will
spin of some or all o
their backup data to
tape (versus 79% three
years ago).
Backing up to a NAS
target is the most
popular disk-to-disk
method (44%).
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
Backup evolving, but still a tough jobFor most companies, changing their backup operations is no easy feat, which is why so
many firms will wait patiently for their incumbent backup vendors to come up with new
technologies to avoid forklift upgrades.
Although using disk systems for backup has been in vogue for long enough that it might
even seem pass (especially considering cloud options), companies are still investing in
their disk backup infrastructures. With 38% planning to increase spending and another 38%
likely to spend as much as last year, there should be plenty of activity in the backup market.
Data deduplication for backup is still a hot technology even though it seems to have been
around for ages. More than a third of companies plan to up their dedupe spending, which
should add to the installed base of around 40% of all companies. And other mature tech-
nologies, like continuous data protection (CDP), are still under consideration by many com-
panies. With its potential to bring radical change to traditional backup operations, CDP is
starting to get some serious attention: 22% cite plans to increase CDP spending in 2013.
No discussion of backup would be complete without mentioning tape. Sadly, tapes role
continues to dwindle, with 40% saying theyll reduce the role tape plays in backup
operationsthe highest number weve ever seen.
SPENDING PLANS FOR DISK-BASED BACKUP
0 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
General disk backup
Data deduplication
Continuous data protection
38%
34%
22%
38%
33%
29%
6%
5%
6%
18%
28%
43%
n INCREASE n STAY THE SAME n DECREASE n NO PLANS
http://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tutorial/Disk-backup-systems-continue-to-evolve-to-meet-growing-challengeshttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Continuous-data-protection-Near-vs-real-CDPhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Continuous-data-protection-Near-vs-real-CDPhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tutorial/Disk-backup-systems-continue-to-evolve-to-meet-growing-challenges7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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ALL-IN-ONE APPLIANCES
FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
KEY STAT
8 TBAverage amount o
backup data users
have stored in the
cloud.
DEEPER DIVE
Thirty-eight percent o
cloud backup users
have more than 10 TB
o data in the cloud.
Non-cloud backup
users will get onboard
in 2013, with 9%signing up or email
backup.
Among those not yet
using cloud backup,
22% say theyre
evaluating the
services.
New data protection concerns: cloud and mobileBring your own device (BYOD) may morph into bring your own disaster if storage man-
agers dont take mobile device data protection more seriously. Sure, its a relatively new
problem and retooling backup takes time, but according to our survey the vast majority of
mobile devices are roaming the data wilderness unprotected.
The best-protected end-user computing devices are desktop PCs, and the term best is
relative: 59% of respondents said desktop backup either isnt done at all or is left up to the
user. And it gets a lot worse63% of laptops are similarly at risk. For smartphones and
tablets, the new darlings of the mobile set, theres scant protection: 14% of tablets and 11%
of smartphones are protected using traditional backup apps, specialty apps or the cloud.
The cloud has become a convenient target for backups as most apps and some hardwaredevices can ship backup data straight to a cloud service. Twenty-eight percent of re-
spondents are using the cloud for some or all of their backups, somewhat lower than the
30%-plus marks we saw last year. Email is still the most popular app for cloud backup, no
surprise considering how easily email services can be outsourced. Cloud backup is poised
for growth: 39% will increase spending in 2013 while 57% will continue to spend at 2012 levels.
HOW DO YOU PROTECT THE DATA ON THESE ENDPOINT DEVICES?
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0
Desktop PCs Laptop PCs Tablets Smartphones
14% 16%
17% 20%
45% 47%
69% 69%
n NO BACKUP FOR
THESE DEVICESn LEAVE IT
TO END USERS
n CLOUD BACKUP
n SPECIALBACKUP APP
n MAINBACKUP APP
http://searchconsumerization.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-make-a-BYOD-program-workhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240178774/Cloud-backup-BYOD-challenges-can-threaten-IT-control-over-datahttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/news/2240178774/Cloud-backup-BYOD-challenges-can-threaten-IT-control-over-datahttp://searchconsumerization.techtarget.com/tip/How-to-make-a-BYOD-program-work7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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FOR INSTANT BACKUP
STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
KEY STAT
41%Respondents who
replied no problem
when it comes to
backing up virtual
servers.
DEEPER DIVE
Management app
shopping: 43% say
theyll look or tools
to better manage
storage or VMs.
Solid-state to therescue: 35% are using
solid-state storage to
pump up their virtual
desktop installations.
The biggest problem
with backing up VMs
is backing up too
much data (13%).
Users and their storage adjusting to virtual serversVirtual server environments have created problems for storage shops from Day 1, ranging
from performance bottlenecks to backup woes. Things have settled down significantly in
the last few years with both hypervisors and storage systems getting some adjustments.
The most widely used storage for virtual servers is still Fibre Channel SAN, but its once im-
posing lead has dwindled to a mere 2 points over iSCSI block storage. Cheaper and easier to
implement in virtual environments, iSCSI offers an alternative that at least seems simpler
than the more sophisticated Fibre Channel systems. A couple of years ago, a third of re-
spondents said virtual servers made storage management more difficult; now, only 24% feel
that pain, although 65% still say server virtualization consumes more storage.
Backup for virtual machines (VMs) is also a lot easier now. Three or four years ago, nearly
a quarter of respondents were still using the fairly awkward VMware Consolidated Backup
(VCB) to back up VMs. VCB has been surpassed by specialty backup apps designed specifi-
cally for VMs: 16% say theyre using those apps compared to only 6% three years ago.
MAIN TYPE OF STORAGE USED FOR VIRTUAL SERVERS
40%
30%
20%
10%
0
FibreChannel SAN
iSCSISAN
NAS Direct-attachedstorage
Haventvirtualizedour servers
32%30%
14%12% 12%
http://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240148541/Virtual-server-storage-Choosing-between-Fibre-Channel-iSCSI-and-NAShttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/podcast/iSCSI-performance-An-expert-discussion-with-Dennis-Martinhttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Backing-up-VMs-Traditional-apps-vs-virtual-machine-backup-softwarehttp://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/tip/Backing-up-VMs-Traditional-apps-vs-virtual-machine-backup-softwarehttp://searchstorage.techtarget.com/podcast/iSCSI-performance-An-expert-discussion-with-Dennis-Martinhttp://searchvirtualstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240148541/Virtual-server-storage-Choosing-between-Fibre-Channel-iSCSI-and-NAS7/29/2019 StoragemagOnlineMay2013_finalv3
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STORAGE MANAGERS SEEBUDGETS RISE
THE OBJECT IS STORAGE
THE STATE OFSOLID-STATEAFTER FLASH
WIDE USE OFSOLID-STATE STORAGE
IN SMALL DOSES
ABOUT THE SURVEY:
This is the eleventh year
weve fielded the Storage
magazine/SearchStorage.
com Purchasing Intentions
survey. Storagemagazine
subscribers and Search-
Storage.com members
are invited to participate
in the survey, which gathers
information related to
storage managers purchas-
ing plans for a variety of
storage product categories.
This edition had 710 qualified
respondents across a broad
spectrum of industries, withthe average company size
measured as having
revenue of $1.2 billion.
S T ORA GE P URCHA S I NG I NT ENT I ONS
Hot techs on storage managers radarFor the last five years, no single technology has been able to hold the top spot in our survey
as storage shops test and implement a range of storage technologies. This year data dedu-
plication came out on top followed by 10 Gbps Ethernet, which had high marks for actual/
planned implementations. Solid-state storage is also near the top, its ranking boosted by
the amount of evaluation activity. The most puzzling entry may be encryption; it always
finishes near the top while nearly 50% of companies have yet to seriously implement it. n
TOP-OF-MIND TECHS FOR ST ORAGE SHOPS
0 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Data deduplication for backup
10 Gbps Ethernet products
Solid-state storage
Data encryption
Primary storage data reduction
Remote replication
DR monitoring/testing apps
Continuous data protection
Multiprotocol storage arrays
Change management software 28%
31%
23%
24%
30%
30%
31%
31%
44%
37%
23%
20%
30%
30%
26%
31%
30%
33%
22%
30%
n ALREADY I