It storage (data storage system, storage system)
This is an umbrella term that describes the entire ecosystem of storage technologies in the IT infrastructure. It refers to the principles, methodologies, and architectural approaches to organizing information storage, including data lifecycle management strategies, backup policies, and tiered storage models (hot/cold data). IT Storage covers both physical media (from individual HDD/SSDs to tape libraries) and logical structures (virtual volumes, cloud buckets), as well as related administration and optimization processes.
The main components of a storage system (SSD) are:
- A storage array (HDD or SSD) is a group of physical hard disk drives or solid state disks that directly store data. HDDs are typically used for long-term storage, SSDs for fast access and high performance.
- Cache memory - High-speed memory for temporarily storing frequently used data, which speeds up read and write operations.
- Storage Controller - A central management module that is responsible for query processing, disk arraying, access control, and other data management functions.
- Backplane - The hardware interface and board that connects drives to controllers and transfers data between them.
- External enclosure - a physical shell that houses all storage components, providing protection and organization of the system.
- Power supply units - provide stable power supply to all components, often with redundancy to improve reliability.
- Network adapters - provide connection of the storage system to the server infrastructure and users via data transmission networks (e.g., Ethernet, Fibre Channel).
Together, these components form a complete system that provides reliable, scalable and high-performance data storage and management in the IT infrastructure.
Characteristics of storage systems by connection type:
- DAS - local storage directly connected to a single server, provides high speed and simplicity, but is limited in sharing and scalability.
- NAS - networked file storage accessible to multiple users over a network, convenient for file sharing and backup, but has performance limitations due to network protocols.
- SAN - a specialized storage network that provides block access to multiple servers, is high performance and scalable.
Thus, the choice between DAS, NAS and SAN depends on business needs: DAS is suitable for local fast access of a single server, NAS - for shared file access over the network, SAN - for scalable, high-performance enterprise systems.
The main functions of storage in IT infrastructure:
- Centralized data storage - consolidating disparate data into a single managed space, which simplifies access and management.
- Ensuring high availability and fault tolerance - duplication of data and system components to protect against information loss and failures.
- Performance Management - Ensure high-speed data access, optimize frequently accessed information, and manage quality of service (QoS).
- Data protection - access control, user rights differentiation, data backup, archiving and recovery.
- Scalability - Increase capacity and performance without interrupting system operation.
- Optimization of resource utilization - intelligent data distribution over different types of drives (HDD, SSD), load balancing between components.
- Monitoring and management - remote control of system status, diagnostics and elimination of errors, automation of management processes.
- Shared access - support simultaneous work of several users and applications with the same data.
- Storage virtualization - representation of physical resources in the form of logical volumes for ease of management and flexibility of use.
Thus, the storage system not only stores information, but also actively manages it, ensuring reliability, security, availability and efficiency of data handling in the corporate IT infrastructure
