Storage management in the year 2010

Computer Technology Review, Sept, 2004 by John Lallier

Today we have shrinking backup windows; however, when dealing with petabytes of storage coupled with an always-on data center, we can expect that there will be no backup window. Even if we assume that tape drive technology will keep pace with disk technology, the current backup model (transfer everything from disk to tape) cannot be maintained. By 2010, all backups will be disk-based, and most will rely on near-line storage to maintain multiple versions for instant access if an older version is ever required. Tape backup will still need to be done, but as the second stage, and for longer-term storage. Not all backups need to be preserved on tape: Why save the Wednesday night incremental backup that's simply going to be replaced by the Friday night full backup?

This new backup model also allows for off-load backup, thus freeing the application servers from major involvement with the backup process. By 2010, all major operating systems and mission-critical applications will use one or another of the standardized models to tie the operating system, applications, the backup process and storage systems together. In an ideal world, there would only be one standard, but that's probably too much to ask.

It's Not Storage, It's Data

Today, there remains a distinction between storage systems and the application servers they serve. No company buys a storage system to own terabytes of storage; a company buys a storage system to retain its terabyte-sized database. By 2010, storage management systems will be designed so users will not need to understand the difference between terabytes and petabytes, or which RAID level provides the greatest protection and the best performance, or the correct way to interconnect the various storage components, or even--what is the best backup method? Storage management systems will use the policies described in this article to automate the process. The user will be able to describe his or her needs in terms they fully understand: the number of databases and size of individual records, the number of mailboxes and how many messages each mailbox will need to accommodate, and so on. The storage system of the future will automatically adjust all available resources to meet these requirements.

The New Rules

Businesses have long known the value of these vast amounts of data and the need to maintain it. Beyond the financial aspect, there are now regulatory aspects associated with data and data retention. Most companies face one or more sets of requirements for maintaining and protecting data over a specified period of time. Current solutions on the market are add-ons to the storage management system and, in some cases, require special-purpose appliances. By 2010, this functionality will be built into the storage management systems. As with other policies, users will add retention and regulatory policies to the data sets, and the storage system will handle all the details of preserving versions of data, tracking access and ensuring that the business complies with the various requirements.