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August 2000
Storing for the Enterprise
By Lowell Rapaport
Storage demands are growing at a breakneck pace as organizations are keeping more information in electronic form than ever before.
"Raw storage demands will grow 80 percent per year for most companies," predicts Gary Brach, president of storage software vendor Smart Storage, Andover, MA. "Internet companies will require even faster storage growth, doubling every nine months."
Greater dependency on electronic information makes storage management critical to maintain a smooth business operation. Rapid growth usually makes it difficult to anticipate and structure storage management approaches in a scalable way. Companies frequently start out with a small storage infrastructure - say a single RAID system, tape backup, and if archival document storage is involved, a small magneto optical jukebox. As needs grow, additional RAID systems, larger jukeboxes and tape libraries are put in place.
Keeping track of and controlling storage across an enterprise is an expensive proposition. But the problem has to be addressed to ensure reliable access to information, to keep costs down and to relieve administrative burdens.
The following seven elements must be in place for complete enterprise storage management, especially for large enterprises with a centralized storage strategy. Businesses with simpler storage needs may not need all these functions.
Virtual File System. These are shared file systems that can be addressed by any application server, including backup servers, database servers, Web servers and the like. A virtual file system is important for the long-term scalability of a storage infrastructure. It also ensures ready access to storage for all users and applications. Virtual file systems are found in storage area network operating systems and network operating system software from vendors such as Tivoli and LSC.
Third-Party Copy. Also known as serverless backup, third-party copy functionality permits files to be moved from one storage device to another on the orders of a third computer not directly involved in the file transfer. This is an essential function for file management. It allows files to be migrated from one type of storage to another according to level of demand. Third-party copy functionality is often found in serverless backup software such as from Veritas.
Global Storage Management. To monitor and control all the storage in an enterprise, you need software that can access and map out all the storage you have online. The software should also allow you to control storage from the volume and user level all the way down to the hardware. Software for monitoring storage is available from a number of developers. However, software that lets you manage storage from a single console is harder to come by. Vendors such as OTG and Smart Storage are working to broaden their device-oriented storage management to an enterprisewide level.
Storage Resource Management. Where virtual file systems let you collect and partition storage into virtual volumes, storage resource management does the same at the physical level. Found in jukebox and tape library management software and storage area network managing software, this function lets you create magnetic disk caches for tape and optical libraries, and it lets you combine and partition storage devices into physical volumes. Some hardware vendors incorporate storage resource management into their SAN products.
Open File Format Support. As an enterprise grows its needs change, and the storage management software must be able to change with it. As long as the file formats used in the storage architecture are open (universal disk format, for example), you can add hardware or software as needed. Making sure that the software supports open standards ensures that you will never be locked into a single technology and that modern and legacy equipment will be able to work side by side. Recognized standard disk and file formats include NTFS (NT file system), UDF (universal disk format), and UFS (Unix file system). Support for standard file systems is especially important for removable media such as tape and magneto-optical disc.
Archiving. This is the function that actually moves files back and forth between users and storage, between high-speed and low-speed storage, and between online and near-line storage. Archiving is arguably the point of most storage management and is the functionality that most technology managers look for first. But if you look at archiving software alone and ignore the other categories, you run the risk of building a storage infrastructure that cannot scale up or adapt to changing needs.
Since archiving is what most people zero in on, most storage management systems support some sort of rules-based file migration. Hierarchical storage management (HSM) software, for example, provides simple file migration based on age. Many archiving systems support more subtle migration schemes based on frequency of use.
Backup and Restore. Enterprises large and small need a backup solution. While archiving software manages files that are kept online and near-line, backup software keeps track of files kept offline. The software is also used to maintain mirrors of offsite storage in case of disaster. Vendors that specialize in backup include Veritas and LiveVault. Jukebox management software companies such as KOM also offer their own backup utilities in the form of disc volume copy.
Putting it all Together
Some storage management software vendors are addressing these diverse requirements by acquiring companies that provide solutions to each of the elements and then assembling the pieces into a modular whole. Bakbone Software of SanDiego, CA, is taking such a path. The company has already acquired Netvault, the Canadian-based maker of enterprisewide backup and restore software, and as of this writing was in the process of acquiring Tracer Technologies, the Gathersburg, MD, maker of jukebox management software.
Bakbone plans to buy additional software developers and products to fill out its line and "scale upward or downward with the customer's needs," according to Larry Fox, the company's product manager.
To ensure compatibility among the products it plans to integrate, Bakbone is seeking out developers and solutions that support open standards. Fox says it's also important for the software it acquires to be customizable.
"We're making a software development kit available with our products so integrators and corporate developers can co-develop applications with our storage management system," Fox says.
Software development kits also figure prominently in Jukeman, one of a suite of jukebox management systems offered by Smart Storage. Over the past 18 months, Smart Storage enriched its product line by acquiring Jukeman from Ixos Software, San Mateo, CA, and Ascent Storage management software from Kofax, Irvine, CA.
Smart Storage plans to separate low-level device management from high-level functions such as file archiving. Among storage management functions already in place within Smart Storage's software suite are archiving and storage resource management. Over the next year, the company plans to add global storage management with a single console interface for all storage devices on local and storage area networks. The company will also broaden the types of devices that can be managed to include RAID and magnetic storage as well as the optical and tape libraries their software already manages.
Like Smart Storage, OTG, Bethesda, MD, plans to move beyond the functionality of its DiskXtender software, which is a jukebox-oriented archive system. Taking a somewhat different tack, OTG is creating a new product, SANXtender, which will provide and improve upon third-party copy services for storage area networks. SANXtender will communicate with network devices, such as routers and switches on a storage area network (SAN), that will then initiate third-party copying.
To further its SAN strategy, OTG is beginning to form alliances with fibre channel hardware vendors such as Gadzoox Networks, the San Jose, CA, maker of hubs and switches. The advantage of OTG's SAN architecture strategy is that standard storage devices can be used (without thin servers); all the intelligence lies in the network hardware, and a single device like a router or a switch can reach out all over the network.
The company is taking steps to improve its interoperability with other storage management products. In particular this means supporting specialized fibre channel commands, developing partnerships with fibre channel equipment makers and incorporating proprietary commands into SANXtender. This will let SANXtender control the devices on a SAN by addressing the storage network routers and switches.
While SANXtender will operate exclusively on SAN architectures, DiskXtender remains OTG's management tool for storage kept on the LAN. Expect a new version, DiskXtender2000, to debut later this year. New features include compatibility with network attached storage and with legacy jukebox management systems.
The need for a wider variety of larger and more complex storage devices is driving jukebox management software vendors to develop broader enterprise storage management solutions. Victor Winney, marketing vice president for KOM, Kanata, Ontario, says his company is responding to a number of customer demands: "Storage systems need to grow on the fly on both fibre channel SANs and LAN-based systems such as network attached storage and server attached jukeboxes. Security needs to be strong enough to cope with greater exposure to the Internet. Systems need more redundancy not only to protect against hardware failures but also against security violations. There will be interoperability issues as new equipment is added to legacy equipment already in place. And systems administrators will want a single point of access for managing all storage."
Storage vendor ADIC, Remond, WA, is moving from being a jukebox management company to a broader enterprise storage management vendor. The company's software division acquired AMASS jukebox management software approximately two years ago, and it has since purchased the Centravision virtual file system. The company is also reselling backup software from LiveVault, Marlborough, MA.
Unlike OTG, Smart Storage and KOM, ADIC doesn't foresee integrating all the pieces of the storage management puzzle. Rather, AMASS, Centravision and LiveVault will continue to be offered separately. These products can work together and in combination with enterprise storage management software from the likes of Veritas, Tivoli and others.
KOM, OTG, Smart Storage and ADIC have long provided advanced storage management features for jukeboxes and tape libraries. As they move toward enterprise storage management, they will have to deal with RAID systems and remote links to mirrored sites. These systems have tended to treat magnetic storage as cache for slower optical systems. Their challenge will be to move from library-centric storage to environments where RAID is the primary storage and optical and tape archives are secondary systems.
Enterprise Software Vendors Add New Features
Many backup- and clustering-oriented vendors approach storage with more of an enterprise perspective. A leading example is Veritas, Mountain View, CA, which offers a range of storage software. Its products are built around Veritas Volume Manager, a storage resource manager, and Veritas File System, a virtual file system.
Veritas offers Storage Migrator for storage management at the file level. Storage Migrator retains only frequently used information online; infrequently accessed files are migrated to lower-cost secondary storage such as optical disk or tape. The key advantage of Storage Migrator is that RAID is treated as the primary storage and the optical system is supplementary. RAID systems are set up according to users' needs. For example, a department that works with large files can be given a RAID 3 system while a department that conducts a large number of small transactions can be given a high performance RAID 0 array. This allows expensive disk storage to be used at maximum efficiency. Files are migrated to secondary optical or tape storage when they are no longer used.
Veritas' reputation is built on backup software, and sometimes the company's efforts in other areas of storage management get less attention than they should.
Another storage management software vendor that is focused on enterprise-level archiving is LSC, Eden Prairie, MN. Its primary product is SAM-FS, a storage and archive manager that is Unix-based and migrates files between RAID and lower-cost storage. LSC also offers QFS (quick file system), a virtual file system.
Hardware technology trends such as network attached storage and storage area networks are making unified enterprise storage management strategies crucial to all organizations that depend on electronic storage of documents and content.
None of the traditional sources of storage management sftware, such as jukebox management software companies or backup software vendors, have all the pieces of the puzzle in place. The ones that do often offer it for only a small universe of storage options like removable media libraries.
This leaves it to individual companies to put together solutions on their own or with the help of their system integrators. In the meantime, storage management software vendors will head in this direction through technology acquisitions, software development and business partnerships.
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