Virtualization is a hot topic in today's storage industry, size of the customer how to use the virtual storage solutions and storage software and storage hardware through its own internal partitions to maximize their storage infrastructure using it?
At the same time, customers were still asking what is a virtual store it? How to implement these technologies? Company's own infrastructure if it is suitable to achieve storage virtualization?
Here are ten questions raised by customers, answers to these questions can help customers further understand storage virtualization.
1) storage virtualization can do for business? Storage virtualization is a run through the entire IT environment, may have been used to simplify the relatively complex underlying infrastructure technology. Thinking of storage virtualization is the logical mapping of resources and the separation of physical storage, thus providing a simplified systems and administrators, seamless virtual view of resources.
2) what areas should be stored in the virtual? Achieve storage virtualization software can run on multiple devices. In general, the three most common device is a server, storage device or storage network. Most concerned about storage networks, as storage network has to connect to the network can support any server platform or the capacity of any storage device.
3) should choose a solution or a band-band solution? Some suppliers of the technology hope to achieve the virtual path to reach a large transaction. But the important question is, as a customer, get what they want through a virtual improvement? Answer to this question will determine how the virtual. Today, only in-band solutions offer the full value of virtualization. Smart is the first clear result of our customers want, and then solutions that meet customer objectives of the degree of the solution after the assessment.
4) How to avoid vendor "lock-in"? Avoid vendor "lock-in" the best way to achieve the complete virtual disk. If a supplier to persuade companies to integrate their disaster recovery process to the supplier's proprietary copy services, or to convince businesses of all servers in the existing installation of the vendor's proprietary multi-path device driver, or to persuade customers All of the administrator interface, the vendor's proprietary management training, the supplier actually know the customer switching costs would be high, which allows customers to easily be "stuck." However, if you select a virtual disk on the whole, we get to choose all the flexibility of the underlying disk hardware, but this flexibility can often reduce the total cost.
5) What are the costs should be considered? When evaluating a virtualization solution, it is important to consider virtualization can bring in the indirect cost savings, we must also consider the solution of the direct costs. For example, most disk vendors for its proprietary multi-path device driver, copy services and management interfaces for additional fees. If done correctly, can eliminate the virtual enterprise to buy all of the necessary proprietary software.
6) To achieve a virtual, enterprise IT environment for its own needs what type of change? Storage virtualization is valuable, but if you need to achieve storage virtualization and infrastructure of their own major changes, return on investment would be lost . A good solution that does not require a virtual disk or storage network infrastructure for any changes. Therefore, the needs and discuss your suppliers to determine what changes to be able to test and run their virtual solutions. But be cautious about is some solutions require the enterprises to purchase next-generation SAN switches or a new generation of storage controllers, the purpose of doing so simply to achieve storage virtualization.
7) How long the virtual market has been up? Customers wise to consider not only provider of virtual solutions to its introduction, but also consider how the product maturity and the number of upgrades have been carried out. Some suppliers just now hit the market with new products. In the world of software, version 1 of the functionality and reliability rarely match the version 6. Therefore need to select a reliable supplier of sophisticated products.
8) Virtual functions can improve management and reduce the burden on IT staff? Storage virtualization, the guiding principle is to improve infrastructure efficiency, storage management easier and improve the cost-effective. If done correctly, can reduce the number of virtual storage devices, storage vendors, device drivers, copy services and management interfaces lead to the complexity and provide administrators with a single virtual resource of public view. In addition, the use of transparent data between storage devices, mobile capabilities, many storage administrators need to work at 2 am to 2 pm can be transferred to carry out. Not only avoid application outages, but also improve work-life balance.
9) In the performance, availability, capacity and scalability of virtual What are the requirements? Virtualization solutions in the assessment process, clients not only look smart suppliers of information, but also the external benchmark test results. Some suppliers choose control all the virtual path to ensure reliability and performance. Other suppliers of a more joint approach - will be a supplier of hardware components and other suppliers of software components together. No matter what kind of assessment methods, need to look at the external content supplier claims verification, such as the Storage Performance Council organizations such as the external benchmark.
10) the impact of virtual storage will not like is the impact of Linux on the server? In Linux, applications and system administrators were tied in an operating system, this means that the operating system and hardware supported bundled together, if done right, storage virtualization can no longer be tied to the enterprise storage hardware.
With the virtual storage above questions and answers, enterprises can confidently respond to the challenge of assessing storage virtualization. They will find that storage virtualization through wise decision-making, can help enterprises save time, money and reduce argument.