Cost-effective tiering for virtualized iSCSI SANs
Date
:
10/1/2010
Rampant data growth and stringent data retention policies are placing huge demands on enterprise storage resources. Several factors have contributed to this explosion of data, including increasing application diversity and specialization, the proliferation of automated data collection tools for advanced decision support and other processes, and regulatory standards for data retention.
To manage this increase in demand, many organizations have consolidated data on storage area networks (SANs) to help dramatically simplify storage management and increase utilization. When using SANs as part of a virtualization strategy to consolidate resources, balancing performance and cost-efficiency can be challenging because simple SAN consolidations limit the flexibility to optimize storage for multiple applications. IT organizations can manage these challenges by classifying data based on specific criteria and then assigning it to an appropriate storage tier, helping increase resource utilization, enhance service levels, and reduce costs.
Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) SAN arrays can help organizations take advantage of the performance and cost-efficiency benefits of tiering, incorporating a rich set of tools to tier data based on multiple criteria. EqualLogic arrays offer three different techniques for storage tiering: automatic performance load balancing within an EqualLogic storage pool, RAID preference configuration tiering within an EqualLogic storage pool, and pool-based tiering using multiple storage pools within an EqualLogic group. EqualLogic PS6000XVS and EqualLogic PS6010XVS arrays can extend the value of tiering by enabling tiers within each volume. By enabling organizations to cost-effectively tier storage based on specific requirements, with both administrator-defined and automatic storage tiering, EqualLogic SANs help enhance both efficiency and service levels.
To manage this increase in demand, many organizations have consolidated data on storage area networks (SANs) to help dramatically simplify storage management and increase utilization. When using SANs as part of a virtualization strategy to consolidate resources, balancing performance and cost-efficiency can be challenging because simple SAN consolidations limit the flexibility to optimize storage for multiple applications. IT organizations can manage these challenges by classifying data based on specific criteria and then assigning it to an appropriate storage tier, helping increase resource utilization, enhance service levels, and reduce costs.
Dell™ EqualLogic™ PS Series Internet SCSI (iSCSI) SAN arrays can help organizations take advantage of the performance and cost-efficiency benefits of tiering, incorporating a rich set of tools to tier data based on multiple criteria. EqualLogic arrays offer three different techniques for storage tiering: automatic performance load balancing within an EqualLogic storage pool, RAID preference configuration tiering within an EqualLogic storage pool, and pool-based tiering using multiple storage pools within an EqualLogic group. EqualLogic PS6000XVS and EqualLogic PS6010XVS arrays can extend the value of tiering by enabling tiers within each volume. By enabling organizations to cost-effectively tier storage based on specific requirements, with both administrator-defined and automatic storage tiering, EqualLogic SANs help enhance both efficiency and service levels.