TIERED STORAGE

Introduction

Tiered storage is the assignment of different categories of data to different types of storage media in order to reduce total storage cost. Categories may be based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, and other considerations. Since assigning data to particular media may be an ongoing and complex activity, some vendors provide software for automatically managing the process based on a company-defined policy.

The diagram below shows a conceptual overview of how tiered storage can be used within the context of a multi-site corporation with both high-performance storage requirements as well as long term information retention capabilities.

An Example

As an example of tiered storage, tier 1 data (such as mission-critical, recently accessed, or top secret files) might be stored on expensive and high-quality media such as double-parity RAIDs (redundant arrays of independent disks). Tier 2 data (such as financial, seldom-used, or classified files) might be stored on less expensive media in conventional storage area networks (SANs). As the tier number increased, cheaper media could be used. Thus, tier 3 in a 3-tier system might contain event-driven, rarely used, or unclassified files on recordable compact discs (CD-Rs) or tapes.

TIERED STORAGE 2

Introduction

Tiered storage is the assignment of different categories of data to different types of storage media in order to reduce total storage cost. Categories may be based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, and other considerations. Since assigning data to particular media may be an ongoing and complex activity, some vendors provide software for automatically managing the process based on a company-defined policy.

The diagram below shows a conceptual overview of how tiered storage can be used within the context of a multi-site corporation with both high-performance storage requirements as well as long term information retention capabilities.

An Example

As an example of tiered storage, tier 1 data (such as mission-critical, recently accessed, or top secret files) might be stored on expensive and high-quality media such as double-parity RAIDs (redundant arrays of independent disks). Tier 2 data (such as financial, seldom-used, or classified files) might be stored on less expensive media in conventional storage area networks (SANs). As the tier number increased, cheaper media could be used. Thus, tier 3 in a 3-tier system might contain event-driven, rarely used, or unclassified files on recordable compact discs (CD-Rs) or tapes.

TIERED STORAGE 3

Introduction

Tiered storage is the assignment of different categories of data to different types of storage media in order to reduce total storage cost. Categories may be based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, and other considerations. Since assigning data to particular media may be an ongoing and complex activity, some vendors provide software for automatically managing the process based on a company-defined policy.

The diagram below shows a conceptual overview of how tiered storage can be used within the context of a multi-site corporation with both high-performance storage requirements as well as long term information retention capabilities.

An Example

As an example of tiered storage, tier 1 data (such as mission-critical, recently accessed, or top secret files) might be stored on expensive and high-quality media such as double-parity RAIDs (redundant arrays of independent disks). Tier 2 data (such as financial, seldom-used, or classified files) might be stored on less expensive media in conventional storage area networks (SANs). As the tier number increased, cheaper media could be used. Thus, tier 3 in a 3-tier system might contain event-driven, rarely used, or unclassified files on recordable compact discs (CD-Rs) or tapes.

TIERED STORAGE 4

Introduction

Tiered storage is the assignment of different categories of data to different types of storage media in order to reduce total storage cost. Categories may be based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, and other considerations. Since assigning data to particular media may be an ongoing and complex activity, some vendors provide software for automatically managing the process based on a company-defined policy.

The diagram below shows a conceptual overview of how tiered storage can be used within the context of a multi-site corporation with both high-performance storage requirements as well as long term information retention capabilities.

An Example

As an example of tiered storage, tier 1 data (such as mission-critical, recently accessed, or top secret files) might be stored on expensive and high-quality media such as double-parity RAIDs (redundant arrays of independent disks). Tier 2 data (such as financial, seldom-used, or classified files) might be stored on less expensive media in conventional storage area networks (SANs). As the tier number increased, cheaper media could be used. Thus, tier 3 in a 3-tier system might contain event-driven, rarely used, or unclassified files on recordable compact discs (CD-Rs) or tapes.

TIERED STORAGE 5

Introduction

Tiered storage is the assignment of different categories of data to different types of storage media in order to reduce total storage cost. Categories may be based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, and other considerations. Since assigning data to particular media may be an ongoing and complex activity, some vendors provide software for automatically managing the process based on a company-defined policy.

The diagram below shows a conceptual overview of how tiered storage can be used within the context of a multi-site corporation with both high-performance storage requirements as well as long term information retention capabilities.

An Example

As an example of tiered storage, tier 1 data (such as mission-critical, recently accessed, or top secret files) might be stored on expensive and high-quality media such as double-parity RAIDs (redundant arrays of independent disks). Tier 2 data (such as financial, seldom-used, or classified files) might be stored on less expensive media in conventional storage area networks (SANs). As the tier number increased, cheaper media could be used. Thus, tier 3 in a 3-tier system might contain event-driven, rarely used, or unclassified files on recordable compact discs (CD-Rs) or tapes.

The StorHouse Difference

StorHouse provides the capability to implement tiered-storage in a manner that supports ongoing storage evolutionary and which is largely invisible to users of the information. 

• Ongoing storage evolution refers to the ability for storage system administrators to add, migrate and remove both content types and capacity to the system without the need to re-stage content or perform a large backup and restore operation. 
• Because they are dealing with the tiered storage environment through the FileTek storage virtualization layer, users and applications simply request the information they need from StorHouse and it is instantly made available regardless if its storage location or the media type on which it is being stored.