Data Center Storage Options

Thin Provisioning:

Thin-provisioning technology is a significant part of provisioning storage capacity. In the beginning years of SAN, people forecasted that enterprises were using more capacity through over-provisioning when accounting for data growth scaling. Thin-provisioning provided an option for enterprises to provision what only what they currently need, with the ability to add capacity to fit needs, all without carving out logical unit numbers. Now, it is an exceptionally useful storage option used by many enterprises.

Object Oriented Storage and Representational State Transfer:

As enterprises feel more comfortable storing data on public clouds, representational state transfer (also known as REST) have an increasing impact on the way data is stored.  HTTP is used as the method of transport, with REST as the moving machine. REST provides ample meta-data descriptions to augment the data as well. We may see a trend of object oriented storage in data centers in the near future.

WAN Optimization:

WAN Optimization provides efficiency at exceptionally high levels, by decreasing the volume of traffic sent across the WAN. This is accomplished through removing duplicate data and compressing the remaining data, which results in lower latencies, higher speeds, large data storage savings, and decreased expenses in terms of bandwidth. WAN optimization allows users a faster and more optimal way of browsing data, while keeping a tight grasp on the networking and storage expenses.

Tiered Storage:

Tiered storage is a solid option that balances cost and performance. Lesser used data that is not accessed often should not be put on high performance high frequency drives such as solid state drives. Manufacturers have created storage products that use automated data placement using access pattern analytics. Tiered storage provides enterprises that understand data placement and growth with better options for scaling capacity and performance, which is great for those with tight budgets.

Scale-Out NAS:

Traditional scale-up NAS (Network Attached Storage) has seen a decreasing trend of usage in the mid to enterprise range of the NAS market, because it is being crowded out by Scale-Out NAS options. Scale-out NAS allows enterprises to increase capacity and performance in clusters, under the Global Name Space architecture. Storage provisioning is thus simplified and management is significantly easier. Total cost of ownership is also reduced by a large margin. Scale-Out NAS was one of the first incentives in regards to data centers for businesses.

Performance Layer Appliances:

Certain appliances need less NAS based capacity maintenance, with more emphasis on optimizing efficiency in data movement. For example, appliances that both cache data and accelerate wire placement. Performance layer appliances leave room for results that increase performance and cost much less, reducing operating and capital expenditures.

Fiber Channel over Ethernet:

Fiber Channel over Ethernet (also known as FCoE) benefits enterprises by allowing them to extend the reach of the fiber channel across an Ethernet platform. Through cable and power management, companies can save money on infrastructure costs. Although FCoE has been dying down in recent years, it is still a legitimate option for data storage. Having both sufficient block and file traffic is important to some companies, and is provided through FCoE. Even though file based storage is outgrowing block storage, FCoE will still be relevant for a long time.