Access "SAS challenges Fibre Channel drives"
This article is part of the Vol. 8 Num. 9 January 2010 issue of How vSphere is easing storage burdens of server virtualization
In their 3 Gbps incarnation, SAS drives have proved popular in low-end and nearline data storage systems, but at 6 Gbps, SAS-2 poses a serious threat to Fibre Channel interface drives. Since its introduction in 2004, serial-attached SCSI (SAS) has become the prevailing data storage interface in servers and is on a trajectory to become the same for external storage systems. Those systems are still dominated by Fibre Channel (FC) and serial ATA (SATA) disk drives, but next-generation SAS-2 components, available since early 2009, are hastening this transition. With 6 Gbps transfer rates and enhancements that neutralize some of the shortcomings of SAS 1.1, SAS-2 has overtaken FC as the most advanced and fastest disk interface. Because FC drives with their 4 Gbps transfer rate and 3.5-inch form factor have reached the end of the road, it's only a question of time as to when SAS will emerge as the drive interface of choice for high-end storage systems and servers. Thanks to its prevalence in servers today, SAS -- mostly 3 Gbps SAS -- already owns approximately 40%... Access >>>
Access TechTarget
Premium Content for Free.
What's Inside
Features
-
-
Everything you need to know about vSphere and data storage
With vSphere, VMware addresses many of the past storage-related shortcomings that created headaches for storage pros.
-
Ford's storage ledger balances capacity decisions
Storage shops often struggle with anticipating new capacity requirements and ensuring that business needs can be met. After virtualizing its storage, Ford Motor Co. took a unique approach to allocation issues and made capacity planning as simple as balancing a checkbook.
-
Quality Awards IV: HP and IBM unseat NetApp
NetApp, winner of all three previous Quality Awards for midrange NAS systems and one for enterprise NAS products, gets nudged aside as Hewlett-Packard and IBM prevail in our latest survey.
-
Everything you need to know about vSphere and data storage
-
-
SAS challenges Fibre Channel drives
In their 3 Gbps incarnation, SAS drives have proved popular in low-end and nearline data storage systems, but at 6 Gbps, SAS-2 poses a serious threat to Fibre Channel interface drives and could change the landscape of high-end storage arrays.
-
Remote-office backup not getting much easier
Our monthly survey shows that backing up remote and branch offices is still a tough nut to crack for some companies. But newer tools -- like data dedupe -- are helping to ensure that remote data is protected.
-
SAS challenges Fibre Channel drives
-
Columns
-
Cloud storage: Just another storage tier?
by Terri McClure
Storage vendors have become so enamored of the term "cloud storage" that it's hard to tell what it means anymore. But if you can get past the marketing hype, you'll find cloud storage has been adopted in some sectors as a data archive tier, and has been delivering cost-saving benefits for quite some time.
-
Storage should get more interesting in 2010
Despite the buzz about solid state and storage for VMware environments, 2009 wasn't a particularly banner year for standout storage technologies. Here's hoping the real storage innovations will come in 2010.
-
Cloud storage: Just another storage tier?
by Terri McClure
More Premium Content Accessible For Free
Improve data storage efficiency with archiving technology
E-Zine
Data archiving technology moves inactive data from primary storage to more suitable media. It may be used for compliance, governance or storage ...
How to improve your virtual server storage setups
E-Zine
One of the biggest challenges of building a virtual server infrastructure is fine-tuning the storage that supports the virtual machines. Having ...
Rethinking the way storage architectures are packaged and presented
E-Zine
Cloud storage, virtualization and the growth of unstructured data have contributed to the way storage architectures are built and used. Virtual ...