Storage Management
The term storage management encompasses the technologies and processes organizations use to maximize or improve the performance of their data storage resources. It is a broad category that includes virtualization, replication, mirroring, security, compression, traffic analysis, process automation, storage provisioning and related techniques.
By some estimates, the amount of digital information stored in the world's computer systems is doubling every year. As a result, or...
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Storage
Virtual SAN Definition
Virtual SAN Definition
Virtual SAN Definition: Virtual SAN is a software-defined storage offering from VMware that enables enterprises to pool their storage capabilities and to instantly and automatically provision virtual machine storage via simple policies that are driven by the virtual machine.
VMware's virtual storage area networking (SAN) solution also provides the ability to dynamically scale storage capacity and performance as needed, and exposes the underlying physical storage to...
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virtual storage area network (VSAN)
A virtual storage area network (VSAN) is a logical partition in a storage area network (SAN). VSANs allow traffic to be isolated within specific portions of a storage area network.
The use of multiple VSANs can make a system easier to configure and scale out. Subscribers can be added or relocated without the need for changing the physical layout. If a problem occurs in one VSAN, that problem can be handled with a minimum of disruption to the rest of the network. Because the independence of VS...
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Storage Area Network (SAN)
Storage Area Network (SAN)
A storage-area network (SAN) is a dedicated high-speed network (or subnetwork) that interconnects and presents shared pools of storage devices to multiple servers.
A SAN moves storage resources off the common user network and reorganizes them into an independent, high-performance network. This allows each server to access shared storage as if it were a drive directly attached to the server. When a host wants to access a storage device on the SAN, it sends out a...
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Automated Storage Tiering (AST)
Automated Storage Tiering (AST)
Automated storage tiering (AST) is a storage software management feature that dynamically moves information between different disk types and RAID levels to meet space, performance and cost requirements.
Automated storage tiering features use policies that are set up by storage administrators. For example, a data storage administrator can assign infrequently used data to slower, less-expensive SATA storage but allow it to be automatically moved to h...
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Automated Tiered Storage Definition
Automated Tiered Storage Definition
Automated tiered storage (also automated storage tiering) is the automated progression or demotion of data across different tiers (types) of storage devices and media. The movement of data takes place in an automated way with the help of a software or embedded firmware and is assigned to the related media according to performance and capacity requirements. More advanced implementations include the ability to define rules and policies that dictate if and w...
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Logical Unit Number (LUN)
Logical Unit Number (LUN)
A logical unit number (LUN) is a unique identifier for designating an individual or collection of physical or virtual storage devices that execute input/output (I/O) commands with a host computer, as defined by the Small System Computer Interface (SCSI) standard.
SCSI is a widely implemented I/O interconnect that commonly facilitates data exchange between servers and storage devices through transport protocols such as Internet SCSI (iSCSI) and Fibre Channel (FC)...
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Thin Provisioning
Thin Provisioning
Thin provisioning (TP) is a method of optimizing the efficiency with which the available space is utilized in storage area networks (SAN). TP operates by allocating disk storage space in a flexible manner among multiple users, based on the minimum space required by each user at any given time.
In the conventional storage provisioning model, also known as fat provisioning (FP), storage space is allocated beyond current needs, in anticipation of growing need and increased...
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iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface)
iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface)
iSCSI is a transport layer protocol that describes how Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) packets should be transported over a TCP/IP network.
DEFINITION
iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System
iSCSI is a transport layerprotocol that describes how Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) packets should be transported over a TCP/IP network.
iSCSI, which stands for Internet Small Computer System Interface, works on top of the Transp...
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Object Storage
Object Storage
Object storage, also called object-based storage, is a generic term that describes an approach to addressing and manipulating discrete units of storage called objects.
Like files, objects contain data -- but unlike files, objects are not organized in a hierarchy. Every object exists at the same level in a flat address space called a storage pool and one object cannot be placed inside another object.
Both files and objects have metadata associated with the data they contai...
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