Cloud computing drives the rapid development of storage virtualization

About three years ago, the configuration of managed http://www.aliyun.com/zixun/aggregation/15552.html "> Service provider Host.net decided to fully embrace cloud computing, providing customers with a new cloud services offerings. When migrating to a new service, the company wants to use its original hardware infrastructure (primarily Dell and EMC storage servers) to upgrade by purchasing new hardware. But they do not want to be tied to any one vendor in case of application requirements or market changes.

Host.net executives want to manage these storage components in a unified control Panel, so that in the future they can flexibly add additional hardware to their needs, and the answer to their requirements is storage virtualization.

In the cloud world, where data storage is the cornerstone, Host.net chief technology officer Jeffrey Slapp said: "If the data storage is not available or flexible enough, everything else can be problematic and the storage must be able to ensure that other work goes smoothly." ”

Host.net is using storage management programs to support its cloud products purchased from DataCore Company, one of the few companies in the storage virtual marketplace. On July 28, Host.net wanted to celebrate the 1000 days of uninterrupted uptime for its cloud storage products, Slapp said, thanks to high availability storage virtualization.

The concept of storage virtualization is to allow central management of different underlying storage hardware components. David Hill, a storage analyst at Mesabi Group, said the technology was not new, but that the products were becoming more sophisticated and needed them more and more as users turned to cloud computing. Storage management programs need to be able to manage both horizontal and vertical storage hardware, he said. Horizontal storage hardware means controlling different types of storage components, such as solid-state drives, external drives, memory, and server storage. Vertical management means managing heterogeneous arrays, from data management to virtual machine snapshots and replication, based on cloud and enterprise storage technologies and all related functionality. True storage management programs can operate across multiple storage vendors.

There are a variety of storage management program products, including products from DataCore, and products from other vendors (such as IBM, HP, and Dell, which are building their own infrastructure). SolarWinds and Falcon Stor also have their own storage-management program products, as well as Hitachi Data Bae and Netapp.hill that he refines DataCore's products with a wide range of features, "they became famous almost overnight." ”

This week DataCore released an updated version of its San Symphony9.0 product, which includes a product specifically for the cloud service provider (which can be purchased per user). The Software's enterprise license is based on the managed storage size, priced at less than 10,000 dollars, "This software can virtualize your disk," DataCore chief executive George Teixeira said, "We run on a standard server or virtual machine, Leverage any available storage and deliver the storage to the application server. ”

Teixeira says storage management programs can create a more efficient storage management platform without having to replace existing storage infrastructures. DataCore creates tiered storage, such as automatic allocation of storage resources based on application requirements. By leveraging High-performance storage, such as SSD, you can use storage resources more efficiently and improve performance. Backup of all redundant copies of stored information creates high availability.

Hill says these features help cloud service providers and businesses trying to control different storage components centrally in a single plane, creating a highly available system.

(Responsible editor: Liu Fen)