Why should I adopt software-defined storage? The amount of data produced and stored in companies is increasing. Growth is exponential; in this scenario, the traditional storage model — SANs and NAS —can face many problems, ranging from high cost, storage downtime, latency issues, and data migration complexity, among others.
Our goal in adopting SDS is to eliminate these problems and gain advantages, such as those shown below. Follow!
Reduce Costs
One of the great advantages of SDS is the economy. Because they use standard x86 hardware, usage costs are more affordable. Another factor contributing to cost savings is automation capabilities, as system administrators spend little time on operational activities. In addition, optimization features save disk space, which also helps to lower costs.
Simplify Storage Management
With exponential data growth, simplifying the administration of storage resources is a huge benefit. That’s because the SDS offers a practical, simple, and automatic form of management.
Get Access To Different Types Of Storage
The flexibility of the software allows you to create various types of storage. This customization is strategic in many cases, as there are three relevant factors for choosing the best storage solution: performance, data volume, and cost. Given these factors, the most common types of storage are:
- Performance (all-flash);
- Standard;
- Enterprise;
- Capacity;
- Backup.
Gain Power Of Choice
You can choose the hardware that will run your storage services with SDS. You won’t be tied to the company that sold the hardware, as the SDS doesn’t need to be the same brand.
Use any x86 base or server to build an SDS-based infrastructure. What does that mean? That you can increase the hardware capacity according to your storage demand.
Adopt Multiple Data Sources
Another advantage of adopting software-defined storage is that the user can use external disk systems, flash or HD resources, virtual servers, cloud, and networked object platforms to create an integrated storage volume.
Adapts To Your Demand
As it does not depend on hardware with SDS, the automation process can use any storage volume to which it is connected. This way, the storage system can adjust to performance and data demand without administrator intervention, new connections, or new hardware.
Have A Scalable Solution
The SDS architecture, by default, is more scalable than other storage models. For companies diving into digital transformation, software-defined storage delivers a range of capabilities that streamline processes:
- flexible IT agility;
- ease and simplicity of administration due to the characteristics of autonomous storage management;
Cost Reduction
As these requirements become indispensable on companies’ acquisition criteria lists, fluidly, this storage revenue tends to migrate to SDS.
Check Out The Main Myths Related To SDS
Although it is a rapidly growing technology, software-defined storage still needs some clarification and myths. To help you unravel them, we highlight the two main ones.
It’s Not About Storage Virtualization
Despite the confusion between the two concepts, they are not the same — both involve abstracting some hardware component from storage. It turns out that when there is storage virtualization, several storage devices are grouped as if they had everything in a single device. SDS promotes the abstraction of storage services or software, separating them from the device itself.
SDS Is Not A Cloud
Another recurring confusion is thinking that SDS is a cloud, which is also not true. The cloud is formed by bringing together virtual resources, accessible on demand through a provider — this access is facilitated when the company uses management and automation software.
The SDS is a layer that helps feed data into a cloud, acting in this cloud environment with a focus on unified storage. This means that SDS uses cloud storage resources, such as the network and management and storage systems — which guarantee scalability and the delivery of tailored services. This relationship between SDS and cloud confuses people who believe they are the same concept.
Understand The Types Of SDS
When choosing the SDS, it is necessary to choose the best way to do this. Companies with a wide variety of connected hardware may integrate it into an SDS solution and use the software only. As for companies that also need storage, a joint hardware and software solution is needed.
There is also the option of using SDS in hyper-converged infrastructure, which is an option to manage the processing, storage, and networks in a single system. Finally, one should opt for the licensing model, as there are paid or open-source software on the market.
The Future Of Software-Defined Storage
With the evolution of technologies such as the internet of things, mobile devices, social media, and the entry of companies into digital transformation, the trend is to increase the demand for scalable storage — it is unfeasible to rely on fixed storage.
This growth creates a challenge for them. After all, this increase in capacity will require greater support and team capacity. In this scenario, for productivity to grow without major courses, the company will have to invest more and more in automation solutions, increasingly reducing manual management.
The SDS came to facilitate this management, as the manager will be able to integrate the storage volumes without worrying about integrating them with other systems.
Major Challenges Regarding Corporate Data Storage
With the unstoppable growth in the production of corporate data, companies are looking for solutions that streamline processes without high costs. The main challenges faced by companies regarding storage are:
- high hardware and software costs;
- latency issues;
- periods of storage inactivity;
- the complexity of migrations;
- consolidation of environments;
- management of data silos;
- the production of increasingly large and voluminous data.
As a modern solution, SDS is prepared to address all the critical points your company may face regarding storage. No matter what hardware your company works on, the software will be responsible for controlling and determining the functions, services, features, and benefits your company can offer to end users, applications, and environments.
Also Read: ERP Software: How The Start-Up Vly Keeps Track Of All Processes
