Storage Management Strategies for the CIO
Access "Snapshot: Do you charge back for storage?"
This article is part of the Vol. 5 No. 5 July 2006 issue of Lessons learned from creating and managing a scalable SAN
DESPITE VENDOR CLAIMS to the contrary, 31% of Storage readers engage in some sort of chargeback for storage--a significant number. And of the 69% who don't currently do chargeback, 32% are looking into it. Capacity usage is by far the most important metric readers use to bill for storage, with 91% citing its use. Forty-eight percent use "tier of storage," making it a distant second. Service-level agreements and backup schedules are used more sporadically, by 38% and 30% of respondents, respectively. Overall, chargeback has a positive or neutral effect on storage consumption. Fifty-six percent of respondents report no change in consumption, and 35% say that chargeback encourages users to consume less. However, 9% report that their internal users actually consume more storage under their chargeback policies. Long-time chargeback practitioners sing its praises. According to one respondent who's been charging for shared storage for six years, chargeback "helps drive the proper use and consumption of the storage, encourages sharing of the storage infrastructure ... Access >>>
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What's Inside
Features
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- The pitfalls of data deletion
- VTL vendors target SMBs
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Cut data down to size
by Arun Taneja
With today's extreme data growth rates, adding disk-based protection is no longer an option but a requisite. Data reduction can help ease growth pains by paring down the data that goes to disk. There are many products with data-reduction capabilities available, but the technologies they use vary widely.
- Flash storage settles in high-performance niche
- Microsoft paves the way for 10 gig storage apps
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The best way to expand a SAN
Building a new SAN or extending an existing SAN requires careful planning to strike the right balance between performance, cost, scalability, high availability and ease of management. Read how to determine what architecture is best for your company's storage access needs.
- Snapshot: Do you charge back for storage?
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Real disaster recovery testing
You have a disaster recovery plan in place, but how often does it get tested? We describe what parts of a plan should be tested, suggest a few wrinkles that can make your tests more effective and point out some DR-related activities that are often overlooked.
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Backup apps: More choices beyond the big three
With numerous applications and a variety of hardware and software platforms, a single enterprise backup software product may not suffice for many companies. A bevy of backup applications that aren't as well-known as "the big three" may be better architected to handle new requirements.
- Survey Says: Users make wish list of VTL features
- Storage apps start down 64-bit path
- Talk is cheap
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What's holding up ILM?
While vendors work to fill in the gaps in the information lifecycle management stack and connect the pieces, IT and business units must hammer out a manageable set of policies to drive the ILM process in their organizations.
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Real disaster recovery testing
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Columns
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Looking for disk in all the wrong places
by James Damoulakis
If your shop is inundated by a steady stream of requests for more storage, you need to get control of your company's storage consumption. To understand the problem, you have to examine the overall request and provisioning process and recognize the roles that data management and protection policies play.
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What is Information lifecycle security management?
by Jon Oltsik
Information lifecycle security (ILS) is a new approach to securing data based on the value of the content. ILS defenses change over time as information ages and its value decreases.
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The storage show season is gearing up with lots of interesting vendor news
Storage Bin: The storage show season is gearing up. With lots of interesting vendor news, legions of users attending and a juicy rumor or two, these storage soirees aren't just informative--they're fun, too.
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The big switch
The big switch
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Looking for disk in all the wrong places
by James Damoulakis
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