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Access "Storage tiering gets more sophisticated and automated"

Rich Castagna, Editorial Director Published: 18 Oct 2012
Status report: Solid-state storage

This article is part of the Vol. 10 Num. 8 October 2011 issue of Status report: Solid-state storage

The number of organizations doing storage tiering today is approximately the same as three years ago, but tiering practices are becoming more sophisticated. Common wisdom says solid-state storage -- because it’s such a hot performer but costs a pretty penny -- has pushed IT shops to tier their storage resources. Yes and no. The number of firms tiering storage today is about the same as three years ago (55% vs. 51%), but tiering practices are getting more sophisticated with the addition of solid-state. In 2008, 16% said they used solid-state storage for tier 0; today, 42% have replaced spinning disks at the max tier. Still, most firms top out at tier 1 using Fibre Channel (FC) arrays with 37% using 4 Gbps FC and 26% tiering on 8 Gbps FC. Regardless of what makes up your tiers, the sheer number of tiers can be a critical management factor. Users have learned to keep it simple: three years ago 24% reported four or more tiers, but now only 14% own up to so many. That’s good, because 31% still use manual methods to move data among tiers, 26% have automated and ... Access >>>

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Features
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