The rise of software-defined storage and hyperconvergence technologies makes virtual data storage an attractive option for businesses looking to cut costs in IT. In actual fact, since these solutions don’t require redundant hardware that is typically required in traditional storage architectures for disaster recovery, they can cut down on upfront costs as well as operating expenses over time by significantly.
Virtual data storage enables IT departments to pool physical storage devices, like SANs that appear to be an individual device or storage array. There are several methods to implement this technology using network-based storage (which brings together all of the storage devices of an FC or iSCSI storage area into a single pool that is managed via a central management console) and host-based virtualization. Host-based virtualization is most commonly found in HCI systems as well as cloud storage.
To function virtual storage, it must be compatible with underlying hardware infrastructure such as networking components and servers, as well as with standard management tools and hypervisors. It must also enable data encryption as well as granular authentication, access controls and robust backup and disaster recover capabilities.
Virtual storage must also be able to address issues with latency and performance. This includes ensuring that critical applications are able to run without compromising performance or adding latency to data retrieval. This means evaluating storage controller capabilities, network bandwidth, and disk I/O capacity as well as deploying caching mechanisms. It also involves the implementation of advanced storage functions, such as tiering or replication at the virtualization level.
