Hardware enables next-gen storage: next generation storage software will require specialized hardware

Computer Technology Review, Sept, 2004 by Benjamin F. Kuo

A great deal of interest exists in next generation storage services--applications such as virtualization, virtual tape, continuous backup, asynchronous replication, policy-based storage management and Information Lifecycle Management. These next-generation storage services are pushing multiple fronts in the quest to improve data protection capability, reduce the management headache for storage solutions, and bring data storage to the next level. The key to these advances is not only new software, but also the underlying hardware where these applications will perform critical functions. This article will cover some of the key hardware building blocks and capabilities that are empowering OEMs to deliver a new generation of storage software, and attempt to characterize the key needs of OEMs as they tackle adding next-generation storage services to their solutions.

OEMs: Planning for Next-Gen Storage Advances

The next-generation storage services attracting the most immediate interest by OEMs are automated storage provisioning, disk-based backup, virtual tape, continuous backup, asynchronous replication and policy-based management. These solutions all aim at making life for storage administrators easier by increasing a company's disaster recovery and data protection coverage, and helping control the rising appetite for storage. In a recent study published by research firm TheInfoPro, the firm's Technology Heat Index showed that disk-to-disk backup, replication management, and policy-based management all ranked in the company's top 10 "hottest" technologies. Clearly, end-user demand is growing for these solutions and some of the key technologies that are emerging to meet this demand are:

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Continuous Backup: This involves capturing a highly granular log of all changes to a storage system. Continuous backup enables the capturing of minute changes to critical data-bases and offers the potential of drastically reducing the exposure of data to corruption and errors. The ability to recover data at any point in time is key to reducing the window of vulnerability to data integrity.

Virtual Tape: This technology increases backup throughput and eliminates the latencies associated with both backup and recovery by inserting a disk between the actual data and tape, all without affecting existing backup software and backup methodologies.

Asynchronous Replication: Asynchronous replication solutions are bringing scalable and cost-effective enterprise-level backup capability into the midrange market, helping enterprises to drastically reduce exposure to disasters and other data protection problems.

Information Lifecycle Management: ILM is a combination of technology and polices, where data is moved between different classes of storage to where it best belongs, using advanced policies and software to determine how to classify and handle data based on usage and value.

While point solutions for these services exist today from independent software vendors (ISVs), OEMs intend to provide solutions that span across the needs of their enterprise customers. These solutions need to be fully integrated with an OEM's existing product line and management software. OEMs are searching for ways to make all of these distinct next-generation storage services complementary to an OEM's overall solution portfolio. The challenge OEMs face is that, while it may be easiest to deliver point solutions targeted to select markets, most customers prefer solutions that offer commonality in both the infrastructure and management umbrella. Providing a comprehensive offer that spans across these next generation storage solutions becomes very difficult without a common delivery approach. This is where specialized application hosting hardware comes into play.

The Hardware Component

Purpose-built hardware is already playing an increasingly important role in enabling a variety of next-generation storage services, by accelerating software operations and enabling greater software functionality. There are a number of companies (big and small) marketing hardware products that enable wire-speed data movement, a key component of services such as virtualization, replication, SAN routing, and other data protection technologies. In addition, a hardware platform can act as the common layer where all of these next generation services can co-exist and interoperate.

This trend is a natural evolution--one that was followed in the Ethernet networking world, as software functionality moved from hosted services into specialized devices such as routers and firewalls. Current products allow for low-level data movement and manipulation at the wire level (typically Fibre Channel or iSCSI) usually at wire speeds and with a minimum of software intervention. The great advantage of this approach is that functions previously bound by CPU performance or the inability to keep up with the rapidly increasing speed of communications protocols can now be accomplished without impacting the network. Application hosting hardware makes it possible for software providers to concentrate on the true value add of their software (policy-based management and advanced functionality) by relieving much of the performance pressures and complexity of data movement operations.