As the demand to store consumer data for long periods of time increased, so did the need for adequate storage. However, to meet such high storage requirements, most companies struggle to navigate through storage options and find the right one. If you are a business struggling to find a suitable data storage solution, you have come to the right place. Here, we've outlined the best ways to choose the right SAN storage solution for business data, explaining different types of storage, hardware requirements and more to help you in your search.
Variants of data storage for companies
There are three main types of storage solutions:
Direct Attached Storage (DAS):
It is on-site digital storage that can be directly connected to servers, computers and other devices via USB to form a storage network. THIS can be anything from a hard drive to a NAS.
Storage Area Network (SAN):
It is also on-premise storage, but it is centralized. It pools a lot of server resources and offers sufficient and expandable storage space.
Cloud storage:
Cloud storage involves hosting a server or group of servers in a remote data center. Depending on their needs, users can expand their cloud storage without incurring additional hardware costs.
Directly attached storage:
DAS storage is a file storage system that allows multiple users on the network to share files without impacting network performance. DAS storage is ideal for small businesses. These storages require the installation of NAS devices on the LAN. To know if DAS is right for your company, here are some criteria:
Your business data storage requirements are not high, and you do not need to store critical data.
You want the storage to be robust in terms of hardware, but not require physical production from environmental damage or intrusion.
Your needs are small and you want a simple storage solution like NAS or an external hard drive that you can plug in and transfer the files.
NAS (Network Attached Storage):
This form of storage stores files over Ethernet as a single storage device. These are inexpensive and easy to install and are perfect for small businesses. It also offers users better control and security in different locations. NAS offers data security through RAID.
SAN (Storage Area Network):
These storages consist of multiple storage devices managed by IT teams. SAN storage appears as a local drive on your system and consists of servers and storage. SAN uses a fiber optic connection between the user and the device. This enables them to provide the fastest connection.
If you have many users who use intensive applications such as Photoshop or video rendering, SAN is the perfect solution.
Check out these pointers to see if SAN is the right choice for your business.
Your business needs are complex and constantly evolving.
They are willing to make large upfront hardware payments instead of monthly fees.
They have staff on site to maintain and monitor the storage.
Your workplace is protected from environmental and physical hazards and has a backup power supply.
Cloud storage/remote storage:
Cloud SAN storage is the easiest of all. This storage provides as much storage as SAN, but automates the work required. This saves you a lot of administrative effort while you focus on core competencies to grow your business.
Additionally, cloud storage gives you greater control over your storage, backup and restore processes with just a few clicks. Additionally, cloud storage offers timely and quick deployment within a few hours.
If you want to know if cloud storage is right for your business, here are a few things to consider.
● You want a storage solution that can keep up with your growing business without costing you a lot of hardware.
● You want to store critical business data and protect it from physical access and other environmental damage.
● You want to reduce the additional staff needed for data support and server management and instead want a dedicated team that can create your cloud storage.
However, for high storage requirements, you need hard disk drives (HDD). These rack server drives aren't as fast as SSD storage, but they offer massive storage capacity at a reasonable price. Additionally, the hard drive allows you to store data for a long period of time without deteriorating over time due to rewriting.
RAID or redundant array of independent hard drives:
It is a technology that creates redundancy by copying and distributing data across multiple hard drives. This improves read and write performance and ensures that your data in the RAID array is safe even if a drive fails. For the enterprise level, RAID-10 with battery backup is the perfect choice.
Processor and memory:
Even though the processor is not a critical component in business-level storage solutions, you should still aim to purchase the latest generation Intel Core processor to ensure optimal performance. The same applies to memory. The storage drives are not memory intensive. But for operating systems and other application usage, you need to support your server with at least 16GB - 32GB RAM.
Conclusion:
When you're a business looking for data SAN storage options, it's crucial to find the right solution that meets your business needs. You should review all available storage options, weigh their pros and cons, and choose the one that actually meets your needs. That's all you have to do.