How does a storage architecture enterprise implement a hybrid cloud deployment?

With the wide application of server virtualization, cloud computing technology has become the next direction of utility computing, in the era of cloud computing, we can consume computing resources like power resources and pay on demand. Cloud storage applications are derived from Amazon's S3 services (simple Storage service) and are quickly emulated by other service operators. However, poor performance and security concerns have always overshadowed cloud storage, eclipsed its many advantages and hindered the technology's entry into the mainstream enterprise-level market. Cloud storage The first batch of users are mainly entrepreneurial companies, development teams and consumer users. However, cloud storage itself is evolving and is expected to be an effective complement to data center applications.

The inherently conservative enterprise IT managers consider the risk of using public cloud storage too high. However, this traditional understanding is changing quietly, not because people have changed their view of the security of public cloud storage, but because of the emergence of internal private cloud storage. Private Cloud provides solutions that securely extend enterprise-critical data applications to external public cloud storage services. With the advent of cloud computing and related technologies, the increasing attention of customers, the emergence of various analysis forecasts and news reports have all shown that the cloud computing market has entered an important turning point, and soon we will see that corporate customers are taking cloud storage more quickly.

The definition of cloud storage

For manufacturers, tying their technology to popular cloud computing applications and raising their focus is no doubt a huge temptation. and the original product simply renamed "Cloud XX" is a common means. Typically, however, we cannot simply think of traditional SAN and NAS devices as cloud storage because they provide shared-mode storage resources. "Sans actually don't have the characteristics of cloud storage-dynamic, resilient, and flexible." Cloud storage can be accessed on demand anytime, anywhere, while San systems use the WWN (World wide names) address via the zoning partition. Essentially, the application of the SAN is static. "said Terri McClure, a senior ESG analyst. This is especially true for SAN and NAS products, which are traditional vertical expansion modes. and some block protocol storage devices, such as 3PAR Company's Inserv Storage Server, which adopt scale-out scale-out architecture, can achieve automatic optimization and load balancing, and load dynamic distribution at the San level. The Scale-out NAS products are similar. However, SAN and NAS are not suitable for large-scale public cloud storage applications, even if they can be scaled horizontally.

True cloud storage products should have the following characteristics:

-Network access

-Shareable

-Sold in the form of services and paid on demand

-With very large elasticity, capacity can be dynamically reduced or increased on demand

-System size can be scaled or scaled on demand

Currently, cloud storage is primarily used to save unstructured data. Unstructured data is the fastest-growing and most difficult data type to manage. Cloud storage technology is not suitable for structured data applications, such as databases. Therefore, the main platform of structured data application is traditional enterprise storage device.

The benefits of cloud storage

For unstructured data applications, the benefits of using cloud storage are obvious-the overall cost of storage is lower. Cloud storage is a service that does not require the purchase, management, and maintenance of storage hardware devices. Depending on the type of service, cloud storage can significantly reduce the cost of the data center and the burden on the storage administrator, even if it does not completely eliminate costs. Using cloud storage services also avoids costly technology upgrades, which are typically done in 3-5 years, either to get the latest technology or to buy expensive maintenance services for old storage devices.

In order to meet the expected growth of data and the requirements of processing peak application, traditional storage systems often need to reserve a large amount of space resources. Cloud storage applications can usually reach nearly 100% of storage resource utilization by reducing this portion of unused space resources. In addition to reducing the total cost of storage, the scalability of cloud storage, as well as the linear processing capabilities from basic applications to peak loads, are notable features.

Public cloud storage

Currently, the number of public cloud storage service providers is growing rapidly, including at&t, Amazon, Iron kings, Microsoft, Nirvanix, Rackspace hosting and many other companies. The storage architecture they use typically consists of a low-cost storage node with a direct-attached, consumer-level hard disk that distributes data content across nodes through object-based storage stack management. Data access to cloud storage typically uses Internet protocol, a common protocol is rest (representational state transmits) and, in rare cases, soap (simple Object Access Kyoto). On cloud storage, each data object is saved at least two nodes at the same time to achieve optimal recoverability and redundancy. The basic charging model for cloud storage services is generally calculated in terms of "x-dollar GB months", with a slight difference in the fee patterns of service providers, which may include additional costs, including billing by data transmission and network access costs.

The vast number of multi-tenant security applications is the foundation of public cloud storage design. In a cloud storage platform, each customer's data and access are isolated from each other. Public cloud storage can be stored on a wide range of data types, from static Non-core application data, archived data that needs to be saved online, to backup data and disaster-tolerant data, and so on. Cloud storage is not appropriate for activity data that can change at any time. The main concerns of enterprise users about cloud storage applications are security issues, followed by performance issues.

Private cloud storage

Private cloud storage systems typically run on dedicated hardware facilities within the Enterprise data center, not only with the same benefits as public cloud storage, but also to address the two most critical issues of security and performance. Private cloud storage users (tenants) usually have only one, even large enterprises, and only the use of the characteristics of multiple tenants, the different departments or branch offices to isolate access. Private cloud storage systems require less scalability than public cloud storage, so the backend connections of private cloud storage engines are likely to be traditional storage hardware devices. There is a case in point where HP's Cloudstart platform is made up of HP BladeSystem Matrix blade servers, HP StorageWorks EVA series disk arrays, and cloud Service Don (CSA) A proprietary cloud storage architecture that is integrated into software. HP's Cloudstart itself is not a private cloud store because it lacks a critical element, namely "service based", but HP itself or its partners can use this infrastructure, and these companies can even treat Cloudstart as a perfect management function, Available to customers with Pay-as-you-go cloud storage offerings.

Another example of private cloud storage is the HDS cloud service for private file tiering (cloud services for the private files layer), a private cloud storage system originating from the HCP (Hitachi content Platform) product. HDS's private cloud storage facility is in the customer's data center, but it is owned by Hitachi and is managed by Hitachi. In addition to initial installation costs, users only need to pay for the space they use. Similar products include the Nirvanix company's Hnode, which also provides private cloud services in the Enterprise data center. Hnode can also provide a sound management function and adopt a Pay-as-you-go sales model. Nirvanix's technical architecture is called SDN (Storage IBuySpy Receptacle), similar to HDS's.