Jeremy Wallis, systems engineering director, NetApp looks at the data centre storage evolution The past year has seen a number of changes and innovations in data storage – not least the continued rise of cloud and virtualisation technologies.

Data storage efficiency is constantly evolving to the point where minimal physical space is needed for more capacity. A common question is what part tape now plays in modern storage. Previously the tried and testing formula for backing up data, tape is now being challenged by technology, such as disk, as the industry moves towards solid state drives (SSDs).

It’s all part of an evolution towards what we call the dynamic data centre, which will be capable of storing vast amounts of data in very little physical space. That data will be accessible from any location, access will be quicker than ever and security and system reliability will be at an all-time high. In short, the data centre of the future will be one that is modelled around the exact needs to the customer. The key now is to continue the process of implementing new technologies and working to ensure data centre infrastructures are flexible, dynamic and efficient enough to make the shift.

Tape is a thing of the past
Choosing the right back-up technology can seem daunting, but there are a few simple guidelines that will help guide you to the right solution. At the highest level, it’s probably easiest to consider choices in terms of your target environment - data centre or remote office.

Data centres typically have a dedicated IT team with good knowledge of back-up and recovery. Some level of tape has undoubtedly been in use, and administrators have designed best practices around its usage.
However, you may want to evaluate traditional disk solutions, depending on the value-added services they provide. Solutions such as deduplication and backup-application-specific data reduction can be extremely compelling for cost-sensitive environments, but be sure to understand their performance capabilities. If the VTL tuning and interface are not as important, this may be the appropriate path. But again, be sure to understand all the performance, cost, and scaling capabilities of any solution.

At the remote office, the situation is slightly different. There is often limited or no staffing for data protection, and the key goal is to eliminate as much complexity as possible so that backups simply happen. First and foremost, this means removing or significantly limiting tape to reduce configuration and management overhead, as well as the complexity and cost of man-power to physically insert, remove and store the tapes. You should look at disk solutions not only for simplicity but also for cost-saving features such as deduplication.

Another benefit of disk technology is that, when using tape, you will only discover that tape has been corrupted when you try to read it. Disks on the other hand will detect any corruption and correct themselves, which saves a significant amount of time when IT resources are scarce. There’s also the environmental impact, as high density storage devices such as disk require less power and cooling than tape libraries, so can save the business not only on its energy costs but also on the physical space needed to house the library.

For businesses looking to virtualise their data centre, disk is ideal. For virtual environments, tape is a sunset technology that cannot adequately support a virtualised storage infrastructure. This is because the backup window in a virtualised environment is much smaller, so a faster solution than tape is needed to ensure a full back-up is completed within that window. Tape is fine for archiving, but in a virtualised environment where the central processor is working much harder, disk is essential to ensure no data is lost.

Disk on the whole should not make a storage infrastructure more complicated, but if done right, should make back-up faster, more efficient, and reduce the amount of man-power needed to manage it. Many companies have been backing up to tape for decades, so they know the process inside out and are comfortable with it. Backing up to disk isn’t more complicated, it’s just less known. Those companies that have switched to disk have seen the benefits and are beginning to look at further innovations that will put them another step closer to the ‘dynamic data centre’.  

Evolution to solid state
Another technology set to play a major role in modern storage is solid state drives. These SSDs store data on solid state flash memory. SSDs aren’t hard drives in the traditional sense, as there are no moving parts involved. Instead, an SSD has an array of semiconductor memory organised as a disk drive. The technology offers plenty of benefits, for example faster start-up and lower power consumption. It also enables organisations to store more information while using less physical data centre space. This saves vast amounts of money, cuts power consumption and potentially opens up a valuable revenue stream for businesses willing to rent-out unused space.

Solid state is undoubtedly more reliable than traditional hard drives and it is cheaper to fix if there is ever a problem. However, the downside is that the technology is still very expensive. In the current climate, very few businesses can justify investing in expensive new technologies – no matter what the eventual benefits will be. Add to this the fact that the actual number of applications where solid state is the best option is limited and it’s clear why the technology is currently more of a pipe-dream than a reality for most businesses.

However, once solid state becomes more affordable, the benefits will far outweigh the cost implications. There will eventually be a transition – although exactly when this will fully take hold is difficult to predict.

The data centre of the future
What this highlights is that the storage industry is currently in transition. We’re moving from traditional technology like tape over to innovative solutions that will eventually ensure every business is storing data in an efficient, and ultimately cost-effective manner.

Disk drives and solid state are just two examples of technologies to aid cost effectiveness. Virtualisation is also key and, as many businesses are already working in a virtualised environment, it’s this technology that is currently having the most effect. Once everything in a data centre is virtualised the whole system becomes more agile, more customised and more efficient.

The data centre of the future is a dynamic data centre which uses a utility computing model, centralised resource management, and fast, flexible resource allocation to support a wide range of data centre applications. This includes the ability to rapidly commission and decommission applications, provision (and reprovision) required resources, and migrate applications and data between resources without disruption to the customer. It also includes the ability to seamlessly expand the underlying infrastructure and/or retire older components while maintaining continuous application operations through nondisruptive migration.

The storage of the future will be much denser with far bigger capacity. The data stored will also be more mobile, able to be safely migrated across the globe to meet the business’ needs. The goal of any technology is to make doing business easier – storage is no different. What is different is that, unlike many industries, storage already has the technology available to drive the market forward. Eventually, all industries will be able to take advantage of the cost and space saving technologies. The next step is for the industry to expand its solid state offering so we start to see more competitively priced solutions emerge. We will then start to see the technology become more widely used and data centres will be running at maximum efficiency at minimum cost.