Get answers to your most important small- fo midsized businesses (SMB) FAQs on topics such as storage area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS), thin provisioning, direct-attached storage (DAS), email archiving, content-addressed storage (CAS), and more. SMBs often have less staff and resources than larger enterprises, but their storage needs are just as important. We're constantly updating this page with interviews and podcasts with enterprise data storage experts to get the answers to your SMB data storage management important questions. Whether you are interested in buying your first SAN, are considering outsourcing your data backup and recovery operations to the cloud or want to know about iSCSI vs. Fibre Channel SANs, we have your answers here.
Electronic discovery best practices for SMBs
Electronic discovery (e-discovery) can be a challenge for organizations of all sizes. Brian Hill, senior analyst with Forrester Research, discusses the specific e-discovery challenges that SMBs face today and outlines e-discovery best practices in this Q&A. Learn about what the No. 1 challenge SMBs encounter when getting started with e-discovery is, and what affordable products are available for SMBs.
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Backup as a service FAQ
Trying to decide if online data backup, or backup as a service, will be beneficial to your SMB? John Merryman, services director for recovery services at GlassHouse Technologies Inc., discusses the benefits and drawbacks of online backup today. Learn about what online data backup services are best for SMBs and what you need to look for in an online backup provider in this FAQ guide.
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Content addressable storage FAQ
Depending on what industry you work in, compliance can be a major issue and content-adressable storage (CAS) has emerged as an option for archiving data on disk. CAS is a way of storing information that can be retrieved based on its content, instead of its storage location. It's typically used for long-term storage and retrieval of fixed content, like documents stored with compliance for government regulations, or medical records like x-rays and MRIs. Terri McClure, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, discusses the pros and cons of CAS, the CAS market and whether CAS is really a good fit for SMBs.
Data storage capacity planning for SMBs
Assessing storage needs over time can be a daunting task, particularly for growing SMBs. In this FAQ, SMB storage consultant, Tory Skyers, discusses capacity planning management best practices for SMBs. Learn about the biggest capacity management issues facing SMBs today and how to ensure the success of a data storage capacity managment plan.
Direct attached storage FAQ
There are different shades, flavors and facets of direct-attached storage (DAS). There is an individual disk drive in a server, there is in an individual disk drive in a computer and there is a group of drives that can be internal to a server. There can also be a group of drives that are external to a server, but are directly attached; most commonly via parallel SCSI, Serial ATA (SATA), ATA, IDE in the past and on a go-forward basis with serial-attached SCSI (SAS).Greg Schulz, founder and senior analyst with StorageI/O, answers frequently asked questions about direct attached storage (DAS).
Disk based backup and recovery for SMBs
Disk is increasingly being used as a backup storage target in SMBs. In this FAQ, W. Curtis Preston, the leading independent expert on the topic of backup and recovery technology, discusses the role of disk-based backup in the SMB space.
Email archiving FAQ
Stephen Foskett, director of data practice with Contoural, discusses the email archiving market today, the pros and cons of email archiving services, common email archiving mistakes and more.
File virtualization FAQ
Jeff Boles, senior analyst with the Taneja Group, discusses the benefits and drawbacks of file virtualization in the SMB space.
ISCSI SAN FAQ
ISCSI storage area networks (SANs) are frequently touted as a solution for SMBs moving to networked storage. But, why not just use Fibre Channel? Terri McClure, analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group, discusses the pros and cons of iSCSI SANs, the iSCSI SAN market and whether iSCSI SANs are really a good fit for SMBs.
Network attached storage FAQ
Though network-attached storage (NAS) offers a number of benefits, it also presents some challenges. Ashish Nadkarni, Principal Consultant with GlassHouse Technologies Inc., discusses the pros and cons of using NAS in an SMB environment and offers some best practices.
Thin provisioning FAQ
Ashish Nadkarni, principal consultant with Glasshouse Technologies answers frequently asked questions about thin provisioning in the SMB space.
Using clustered network-attached storage (NAS) to manage unstructured data
Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting, discusses the pros and cons of clustered NAS and the various clustered NAS vendors. His answers are also available as an MP3.
Using network-attached storage as a target for disk-based data backup and recovery
For many businesses, using network-attached storage (NAS) as a target for disk-based backup and recovery is an attractive proposition. But, how do you decide if it's right for your organization? Curtis Breville, independent storage expert and webmaster of askmrstorage.com, discusses the pros and cons of using NAS as a backup target and what you need to consider before deploying NAS for data backup.
