New Storage Systems

New storage systems are designed to handle large volumes of data. These new storage systems provide reliable, scalable, and cost-effective storage solutions.

In this article, we will discuss three of the most significant recent developments in storage systems

Storage Area Networks

Storage Area Network (SAN) is a high-speed network of online storage peripherals. These are configured as nodes to allow for flexible attachment and detachment from servers. SANs have become essential for organizations with high storage demands and are preferred over RAID systems as they offer many-to-many connectivity and better isolation capabilities.

SAN providers supply their own proprietary topologies. It has point-to-point connections, fiber channel switches, and fiber channel hubs and switches. These move from simpler to more complex topologies. Use of Fiber Channel networks encapsulating legacy SCSI protocol. It allows SAN-attached devices to appear as SCSI devices.

Advantages of Storage Area Networks (SANs)

• Flexible many-to-many connectivity among servers and storage devices

• Up to 10 km separation between a server and a storage system

• Better isolation capabilities allowing nondisruptive addition of new peripherals and servers

• Existing storage management applications can be ported into SAN configurations

• SAN-attached devices appear as SCSI devices

Disadvantages of Storage Area Networks (SANs)

• Combining storage options from multiple vendors can be a challenge

• Dealing with evolving standards of storage management software and hardware can be difficult

• Procurement cost of storage is only a small fraction of the overall cost of storage management

• SANs are faced with interoperability issues with other networking technologies.

Network-Attached Storage

Network-Attached Storage (NAS) devices are servers that provide storage for file sharing. These devices can have large amount of hard-disk storage space to be added to a network. These devices are available to multiple servers without shutting them down for maintenance and upgrades.

NAS devices require no monitor, keyboard, or mouse, and one or more disk. Tape drives can be attached to many NAS systems to increase total capacity. NAS devices are offered with a high degree of scalability, reliability, flexibility, and performance. They typically support RAID levels 0, 1, and 5.

Traditional Storage Area Networks (SANs) differ from NAS in several ways. NAS systems has greater operating system independence of clients compared to Windows, UNIX, and NetWare file servers. Each demand specific protocol support on the client side.

Advantages of Network-Attached Storage (NAS)

• Large amounts of hard-disk storage space to a network for file sharing.

• Makes storage space available to multiple servers without shutting them down for maintenance and upgrades.

• Can reside anywhere on a local area network (LAN) and may be combined in different configurations.

• NAS devices require no monitor, keyboard, or mouse.

• Clients connect to the NAS head rather than to the individual storage devices.

• Can store any data that appears in the form of files, such as e-mail boxes, Web content, remote system backups, etc.

• Offered with a high degree of scalability, reliability, flexibility, and performance.

• Support RAID levels 0, 1, and 5.

Disadvantages of Network-Attached Storage (NAS)

• Traditional storage area networks (SANs) differ from NAS in several ways. SANs often utilize Fiber Channel rather than Ethernet.

• SAN often incorporates multiple network devices or endpoints on a self-contained or private LAN, whereas NAS relies on individual devices connected directly to the existing public LAN.

iSCSI Storage Systems

iSCSI protocol enables clients to send SCSI commands to remote SCSI storage devices over IP networks using existing network infrastructure. When a DBMS needs to access data, the operating system generates the appropriate SCSI commands and data request.

iSCSI transfers data over intranets and manages storage over long distances, and can run over LANs, WANs, or the Internet. iSCSI devices do not require knowledge of Fiber Channel technology. iSCSI is bidirectional. iSCSI is one of two main approaches to storage data transmission over IP networks, while the other method, FCIP. FCIP can only be used in conjunction with Fiber Channel technology.

Advantages of iSCSI

• It does not require the special cabling needed by Fiber Channel.

• iSCSI can run over longer distances using existing network infrastructure.

• iSCSI is bidirectional.

• iSCSI storage is cost-effective, simple, and functional for small and medium-sized businesses.

• iSCSI devices allow businesses to benefit from their familiarity with the IP protocol and Ethernet hardware.

Disadvantages of iSCSI:

• iSCSI may not be suitable for very high-performance environments.

• iSCSI is susceptible to network latency and bandwidth limitations.

• Security is a concern since iSCSI operates over IP networks.

• The lack of standardization among iSCSI devices can make interoperability a challenge.