STORAGE
Unit Learning Outcome
Explain types of primary and secondary storage
Explain the characteristics of the local and network storage
Understand the concepts of the Directly Attached Storage and Network Attached
Storage
Understand the architecture of Storage Area Network, SAN communication and Zoning
Explain types of clouds storage, cloud services, and cloud characteristics
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Data storage
Data storage is the collective methods and
technologies that capture and retain digital
information on electromagnetic, optical or silicon-
based storage media , which is an important part of
the system that to provide the function of retaining
information for future usage
It also often called as storage or memory, as a
technology consisting of computer components and
recording media used to retain digital data.
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Primary storage vs. secondary storage
Primary Storage (Memory) Secondary Storage
It holds the data and applications Secondary storage retains data
temporarily or for a shorter period of until you overwrite or delete it
time while the computer is running
It can be volatile or non-volatile.
Example: hard drives, optical
media, magnetic tape
Volatile memory loses data as
soon as the device loses power
(RAM)
Non-volatile is not losing data even
after power turned off (ROM, cache
memory, flash memory in SSD, etc)
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Local Storage vs. Network Storage
Local storage
Magnetic storage
Optical storage
Semiconductor storage
Network storage
Private cloud
Public cloud, etc
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A. Magnetic Storage
Magnetic storage is a form of non-volatile storage which is including
magnetic tape, floppy disks and hard disk drives
Advantages:
Good option for local backups of large amounts of data.
The cheapest storage option in terms of dollars per GB
Disadvantages:
Can be very delicate, could be damaged if dropped or through
electrical surge
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Hard Disk
• Hard drives are composed of
individual disks or platters
• The platters are made up of aluminum
and coated with a magnetic medium
• Two tiny read/write heads service
each platter
• Platters spin between 3500 and
10,000 revolutions per minute (RPM)
• Hard drives store data in tiny
magnetic fields called fluxes 7
Hard Disk Interfaces - ATA
AT Attachment: ATA (also known as IDE) is
a disk drive implementation that integrates
the controller on the disk drive itself.
ATA is used to connect hard disk drives,
CD-ROM drives and similar peripherals
It uses 40 Pin connector with the minimum
speed of 3.3 Mbps and maximum speed of
Introduced in 1986
300 Mbps.
Maximum cable length is 18 inches
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Hard Disk Interfaces - SATA
Serial ATA (SATA) creates a point-to-
point connection between the device
and the controller
Hot-swappable
Can have as many as eight SATA
devices
Thinner cables resulting in better airflow
and cable control in the PC
Maximum cable length of
39.4 inches compared to
18 inches for PATA cables
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B. Optical Storage
Optical storage device is written and read with a laser, which is including
CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays
Advantage:
Low cost per disk
Disadvantages:
Relatively shorter life span than other storage options
Not as reliable as other storage options like external hard disk and
SSD
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C. Semiconductor storage
Solid State Drive (SSD): rely solely on semiconductors and electronics
for data storage making it a more reliable and robust than traditional
magnetic
Advantages :
Faster read and write performance
More robust and reliable than traditional magnetic hard drives
Highly portable, can be easily taken offsite
Disadvantages :
Still relatively expensive when compared to traditional hard drives
Storage space is typically less than that of traditional magnetic
hard drives.
USB Thumb Drive Or Flash Drive
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Hard disk v.s SSD
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Direct Attached Storage (DAS)
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
Storage Area Network (SAN)
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A. Direct Attached Storage (DAS)
DAS is referring to a computer storage that is connected to one computer
and not accessible to other computers (e.g. server, hard drive, SSD which
are directly attached through SCSI, SATA, SAS, FC or iSCSI)
A DAS device is not networked, which it has no connection through
Ethernet or switches that connect network-attached storage (NAS) devices
and storage area networks (SANs)
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Advantages:
It provide users with better performance than networked storage
because the server does not have to traverse a network to read and
write data
Less expensive than SAN or NAS
Easier to deploy when directly plugged into a server (choice for
many small and medium-sized businesses)
Disadvantages:
It is dedicated to a single server where the connectivity and
expandability are both constrained by the number of expansion slots
in the server
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B. Network Attached Storage (NAS)
NAS is a dedicated file storage that enables multiple users and
heterogeneous client devices to retrieve data from centralized disk
capacity via Ethernet connection
It is refers to a storage device, typically in an IP network
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Advantages :
As several hard drives can be plugged in which allowing it to hold
large amounts of data
Can be setup with Redundancy (RAID) increasing the reliability and/
or read and write performance.
Disadvantages :
More expensive than using single external Hard Drives
Difficult to bring offsite
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C. Storage Area Network (SAN)
SAN is an actual network, a high-speed network of storage devices
that also connects those storage devices with servers
It provides block-level storage that can be accessed by the
applications running on any networked servers
In a block-level storage, the raw volumes of storage are created
and each block can be controlled as an individual hard drive; which
are controlled by server based operating systems and each block
can be individually formatted with the required file system
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SAN storage devices can include tape libraries and disk-based devices,
like RAID hardware
The main functions of a storage area network (SAN) includes the
following:
A high-speed network of storage devices
Connects the storage devices with servers
Can be accessed by applications on networked servers
Particularly helpful in backup and disaster recovery
Uses networking protocols to span longer distances geographically
SAN can also simplify some management tasks
Offers flexibility, availability and performance
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Advantages:
It has simplify backup and disaster recovery settings (data can be
transferred from one storage device to another without interacting
with a server)
It has simplify some management tasks, potentially allowing
organizations to hire fewer IT workers or to free up some IT workers
for other tasks.
It's also possible to boot servers from a SAN, which can reduce the
time and hassles involved in replacing a server
Disadvantages
Costly
complicated
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Storage Area Network (SAN)
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Zoning
Zoning is the allocation of resources for the devices load balancing and
for allowing access to data only for certain users, to minimize the risk of
data corruption and minimizing the spread of virus and Trojans
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Hard Zoning (Port Zoning)
Hard zoning is zoning which is implemented in hardware, which
physically blocks access to a zone from any device outside of the zone
Usually hard zoning is used when using VLANs with associate a port
into a zone
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Example of Hard Zoning
• Server A is zoned and restricted to see
only storage devices that are zoned to
port 1, ports 4 and 5.
• Server B is zoned and can see only
from port 2 to port 6.
• Server C is zoned and can see port 3, 6
and 7, even though port 6 is also a
member of another zone.
• A single port can also belong to
multiple zones.
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Soft Zoning (WWN Zoning)
Soft zoning is zoning which is implemented in software
Soft zoning uses filtering implemented in fibre channel switches to
identify a storage device connected to a network (World Wide Names
(WWN))
WWN is assigned to each manufacturer of network storage devices and
fiber channels by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
(IEEE)
WWN is similar to MAC Addresses (hardware address) but not the
same:
WWN: 15:00:00:f0:8c:08:95:de
MAC address: 00:0a:95:9d:68:16
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Example of Hard, Soft and Mixed zone
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Cloud storage
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Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is storage space on commercial data center accessible
from any computer with Internet access, which usually provided by a
service provider (e.g. Amazon S3, Google Drive, Sky Drive etc)
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Why Cloud Storage?
Easy implementation: allows business to retain the same applications
and business processes without having to deal with the backend
technicalities
Accessibility: access your data anywhere, anytime
No hardware required: since everything will be hosted in the cloud, a
physical storage center is no longer needed
However, a backup could be worth looking into in the event of a
disaster that could leave your company's productivity stagnant
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Cost per head: overhead technology costs are kept at a minimum with
cloud hosting services, enabling businesses to use the extra time and
resources for improving the company infrastructure
Flexibility for growth: scalable where the companies can add or subtract
resources based on their needs
Efficient recovery: less downtime
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Types of Cloud Computing
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Types of Cloud Services
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Characteristics of Cloud Computing
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On-demand self-service: A consumer can unilaterally provision
computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as
needed automatically without requiring human interaction with each
service provider.
Broad network access: Capabilities are available over the network
and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by
heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms
Rapid elasticity: Capabilities can be elastically provisioned and
released, in some cases automatically, to scale rapidly outward and
inward commensurate with demand.
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Resource pooling: The provider’s computing resources are pooled to
serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different
physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned
according to consumer demand.
Measured service: Cloud systems automatically control and optimize
resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of
abstraction appropriate to the type of service.
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