Storage virtualisation
Virtualisation is a way of connecting physical storage from multiple network storage devices to what appears to be a single storage device managed from a central console.
Storage virtualisation solutions are available for both Storage Area Networks (SANs) and Network Attached Storage (NAS). The management of storage devices can be tedious and time-consuming. Storage virtualisation helps the storage administrator perform the tasks of backup/recovery and archiving more easily, and in less time, by disguising the actual complexity of the SAN.
Why use storage virtualisation?
The main technical purpose of storage virtualisation is to hide the complexity of the underlying storage elements such as disk drives, RAID and caches from the upper layers such as servers.
The purpose of storage virtualisation is to achieve business-related objectives such as:
- internal and external SLAs (data in the right place at the right price)
- implementing a storage infrastructure according to business-related objectives
- implementing disaster recovery and business continuity plans
Technical objectives for storage virtualisation may include:
- vendor independence from the storage solution
- better support for migration between storage techniques
By implementing this abstraction layer and maintaining overall control of all physical storage resources, you have the option of adding new basic functions such as snapshots, cloning and remote mirroring (copy services) in addition to more sophisticated functions such as thin provisioning and migration. Business-related objectives can be attained by using virtualisation techniques in the right places.
Tape virtualisation is used frequently in mainframes, but there is no reason why it could not be used in open systems as well. Many vendors provide Virtual Tape Libraries (VTL). This is a backup to disk implementation, based on pure disk storage and a front-facing appliance emulating a tape library. VTLs are used mainly for backup and recovery. Since it looks like a tape library, it is easy to implement and in no way disrupts to the backup environment. This technique is much more stable than traditional tape backup and provides stability and better backup and restore performance compared to native disk and tape.
Proact represents the leading technologies in the storage industry and offers many years of experience and outstanding expertise thanks to the fact that we have supplied many solutions based on different storage virtualisation techniques.