Data storage management tutorial

>>Small companies adopt NAS
>>SMB storage packages
>>Improving storage energy efficiency
>>Tiered storage for SMBs
>>Optical storage evolves
>>SMB capacity planning
>>Storage security for SMBs
>>Five steps to calculate data storage capacity requirements

Data storage management encompasses tiered storage initiatives, compliance, archiving, remote storage virtualization and having the right data management tools in place. Optimizing these processes can be beneficial for small-midsized businesses (SMBs). Check out the following articles for news and how-to information about data storage management. Learn more about the benefits of tiered storage, capacity planning and increasing storage energy efficiency.

Small businesses move to NAS and attract attention

Until recently, businesses at the small end of the SMB spectrum have been slow to adopt NAS solutions because "network-based storage products have traditionally been complicated and difficult to set up," says Marc Tanguay, worldwide product manager of network solutions for EMC Corp.'s Iomega small business and consumer division. "The user had to have some knowledge and expertise about networks to make it work."

Business owners don't want to become IT administrators. They want network-based products with TB capacity that they can plug in, configure, and leave alone. Merle Sandler, IDC's research manager for SMB and home office markets, says small businesses want solutions that are "easy and straightforward."

Read more about small business NAS.

HP boxes up storage, servers to help SMBs manage storage

In September, Hewlett-Packard Co. repackaged some of its server and storage offerings into bundles for SMBs. HP says these new bundles don't require any "IT specialists," such as storage administrators, to set up and manage them.

Joe Leung, worldwide program manager for HP's ProLiant Business Advantage, said the goal of the bundling plan is to move HP customers off older servers and storage systems. "We look across verticals and realize there's a lowest common denominator of services that everybody needs," he said.

Read more about HP's SMB storage bundles.

Improve your storage energy efficiency

SMBs are encountering or will be facing energy challenges in the not so distant future. With IT budgets being stretched thin, implementing energy efficient products and best practices can maximize budgets, help the environment and qualify for energy incentive rebates.

According to Greg Schulz of StorageIO, it is important to look at multiple metrics and measurements including IOPS or bandwidth per watt of energy, along with how much capacity in a given footprint and total power consumption. Some benchmark comparisons with full disclosures include SPC, TPC, SPEC and Microsoft ESRP for Exchange; but keep in mind that these are just relative comparisons, the best benchmark is your own applications.

Read more about storage energy efficiency.

Tiered storage for SMBs

If an SMB hasn't already deployed networked storage, they're probably about to. However, while money is being saved by consolidating storage, that savings could be increased by implementing tiers of storage rather than throwing everything on the same types of disk. As long as there is a safe, supported method of reallocating information, the advantages of tiered storage are compelling.

Read more about implementing tiered storage.

Optical storage still evolving

Technology giant Pioneer announced in July that it had succeeded in developing a 16-layer read-only optical disc with a vast storage capacity of some 400 GB -- or 25 GB per layer. In the past, multilayer optical discs have not always been able to deliver clear signals from each recording layer due to crosstalk from adjacent layers as well as transmission loss. Using the optical disc production technology that it has developed in the DVD field, Pioneer solved these problems by, among other things, using a disc structure that can reduce crosstalk from adjacent layers.

Still, analysts say that it may not be time to contemplate a switch to optical storage. "Pioneer definitely has lived up to its name 'pioneer' with this announcement. Packing 16 discs together is an impressive feat," notes David G. Hill, analyst at the Mesabi Group. That said, though, Hill argues the technology may not be a good fit for the data center but, instead, may be more suitable for storing video and for archiving at the consumer level.

Read more about 16-layer read-only optical disc.

SMB capacity planning: Focusing on energy conservation

To avoid IT service delivery disruptions due to lack of resources, capacity, performance or availability, SMBs can put a capacity planning and management program into place. Specifically, a storage capacity plan enables proactive steps to be taken to forecast what storage performance, availability, capacity and energy requirements will be needed in the future.

A storage capacity plan can be very simple, or extremely complex and detailed using models or sophisticated projections. However, in both cases, the fundamental essence of a capacity plan is to align storage resource needs with growth and business plans.

Data storage security issues for SMBs

Government regulations affect businesses of all sizes. Compliance standards such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), HIPAA, Graham-Leach-Bliley Act and The Patriot Act all have one major aspect in common for SMBs: the requirement to secure customer, employee and vendor information and data. Federal compliance is as complex for the SMB as it is for the large enterprise. However, if smaller businesses focus on implementing a secure storage environment, they will be well on their way to meeting the required standards.

Read more about storage security issues for SMBs.

Five steps to calculate data storage capacity requirements

Digital information is empowering businesses at an increasing rate. The information stored is now of critical value to both large and small companies. As a result, storage costs are quickly outpacing other areas of IT spending. The key to controlling the costs is good storage capacity planning.

According to independent IT analyst Brian Peterson, getting started with capacity planning is like saving for retirement, you can't start too early.

Read more about capacity planning.

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