Chapter 6. Making Storage Platforms Smarter

In the previous chapter, we examined the recent division of data storage technology into block- and file-optimized platforms. We determined that, if such a division ever had any real value beyond that of "product differentiation" for vendor marketeers, it was quickly disappearing ” especially in the face of ongoing developments in operating systems and in NAS/SAN hybrid platform architectures.

Ultimately, it is the storage planner's job to select the best storage platform to meet application storage requirements within the constraints of budget and other factors. No Systema Naturae articulated by any analyst house provides an adequate substitute for careful evaluation of the many available alternatives. Nor can marketecture ever substitute for the close scrutiny of the storage- related determinants of application performance.

In the final analysis, the design of a storage infrastructure has less to do with the platform components themselves than it does with their capability of the overall platform to deliver to applications a level of service required for peak performance. The components you select must work together to create an interoperable, manageable, resilient, secure, and accessible infrastructure that provides a strategic business value to your organization.

That some technologies are occasionally elevated to the status of "strategic" by vendors , analysts, or the trade press is strictly a function of marketecture. There is nothing intrinsically advantageous about a SAN or a NAS appliance or any other storage device. Being the first person to own a SAN doesn't impart special status to a storage manager. Like all technology, networked storage is a tool that can be used to help businesses achieve business objectives. The best technology is the one that delivers the most business value for the least money.

While this observation may seem rather obvious, you might be surprised how many storage managers still think of FC SANs as the pinnacle of storage technology. Successful industry marketing has positioned the FC SAN as a kind of status symbol, a goal toward which all storage professionals must aspire.

The simple fact is that what passes for a SAN today can be likened to a "boutique resort" in Southern California. The resort may be noteworthy for the celebrities who have visited but also notorious for being only half-completed, short on services, and overpriced in the extreme. Bottom line: Most current-generation SANs are a place to send your data on vacation, assuming you have the money and lack the wits to spend it wisely.

On the other hand, contemporary SANs might provide a certain fit in certain applications. For example, attaching servers and storage devices in an FC fabric in order to share the data protection afforded by a tape library may have a certain risk reduction value, but only if it can be demonstrated that there are also cost-savings and business enablement values to be achieved in doing so and that these values cannot be realized by any other means. (By the way, vendor claims about the inherent value of FC fabrics for tape backup are increasingly questionable given the mounting evidence that Ethernet, with its Jumbo Frames, actually provides a more efficient transport for tape backup streams.)

Creating a FC fabric may also provide business value by enabling the consolidation of server software licenses or the nondisruptive scaling of storage capacity behind a storage-hungry database. However, many other storage topologies may offer the same value at a lower total cost of ownership and must be explored carefully .

The point is that no storage topology is inherently superior or inferior to any other. Sometimes not selecting a FC SAN is the smartest approach. Storage architecture isn't about selecting the trendiest technology but selecting the technology offering the best return on investment and the lowest total cost of ownership. Whatever infrastructure you design, whether or not it includes a SAN, will accord you kudos or disparagements based on the business value it delivers.