Primary Storage
Disk based storage is the main means to hold all current data. Concepts on how to address this disk storage have changed over the years, from a centralised mainframe to Direct Attached Storage (DAS) silos for each application server, to a separate Storage Area Network (SAN) and now virtualized storage pools. As technology has evolved and advanced we have seen changes in how data is managed, however what has not changed is the demand to have instant access to business critical data whilst ensuring 24/7 availability.
What is Primary Storage
Primary storage is where all online data resides, this will be data that needs rapid access and sits in a 24/7 environment. Today, the Primary storage is either connected to a Storage Area Network (SAN) usually on Fibre Channel (FC), or as a virtualized pool of storage using a mixture of software and hardware to provide performance and data protection, ensuring data can be accessed quickly and frequently in a 24/7 environment.
Why deploy Primary Storage
All data that is required to be online resides on Primary storage. The aim is to serve data as fast as possible to all users without any downtime or data loss. Lost time and productivity to a business is lost revenue.
Advantages of Primary Storage
Compared to distributed and individual storage arrangements for each server application, centralising Primary storage via a SAN or virtual pools allows for better management of resource, applications and delivers a lower total cost of ownership. Added to this, the development of technologies such as iSCSI and FCoE, have further enabled performance when coupled with high I/O SAS disk arrays.
Another advantage of Primary storage solutions is the ability to virtualise the data in to pools of storage that can be allocated to users based on capacity and usage requirements. This is known as thin provisioning which allows for users to be allocated capacity without physical hardware in place. By using thin provisioning the total cost of hardware can be reduced and initial spend controlled, as capacity is added only when required. Additional features that can be added in via software, are snapshot and replication capabilities that add a high level of data protection, disaster recovery and high availability to the business.
Summary
Highly redundant and geared towards speed and availability, Primary storage is providing the level of service needed to address the needs of today’s enterprise departments. Every department has a share of the centralised storage and can rely on its 24/7 availability whilst enjoying an increased level of performance and data protection.
