When you deploy a new enterprise storage system, you must decide whether to design and build your own storage system or to utilize a cloud-based storage service.
When you deploy a new enterprise storage system, you must decide whether to design and build your own storage system, utilize a cloud-based storage service or combine both solutions.
On-Premises Enterprise Storage
On-premises storage networks involve setting up the physical hardware and cables, migrating data, configuring the devices and testing the system. Compared to cloud storage on-premises offers more choice but you’ll have to make some additional decisions . For example, you’ll need to select which storage media to use: Tape, hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid state drives (SSDs). You’ll also need to decide on your storage architecture: direct-attached storage (DAS), storage area networks (SANs) or network-attached storage (NAS) devices. Finally, you’ll need to choose a network protocol. Options include the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP), Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) and Internet SCSI (iSCSI) protocol.
Learn more: Three Steps to Deploy On-Premisesin Webopedia’s enterprise storage definition.
Enterprise Storage Cloud Implementation
Deployment steps for cloud storage is fairly straightforward. Select a cloud service that meets your needs, sign up for the service and configure it to work with your existing applications and networks. Your most important task will be researching the services to make sure that you get one that can meet your needs and work with your current infrastructure. The downside to choosing a cloud-based enterprise storage is less choice about the hardware and network architecture because the cloud vendor will handle those for you.
Find a vendor: Webopedia’s enterprise storage vendor list.
The Hybrid Cloud Storage (HCS) Option
For any organizations, storing data in the cloud is a problem because of the vast amount of data that resides on-premises. According to Enterprise Storage Forum, running applications on premise and using the cloud to store active files is not realistic due to latency and bandwidth issues. Hybrid cloud storage (HCS) solves many of these challenges by turning the cloud into a functioning storage tier for an on-premises storage system. The idea of HCS is to integrate on-premise storage systems with online cloud storage tiers to extend the infrastructure across on-premises and cloud domains.
Learn more about The hybrid cloud storage (HCS) model on Enterprise Storage Forum.
This article was originally published on January 24, 2014
