|
Storage Consolidation
File sharing, database, and messaging applications are critical
to successful enterprise operations. System downtime, unavailable
data, or hindered processes affect a company's success. To support
increasingly complex and distributed environments, many organizations
are challenged with managing a growing proliferation of servers
and dispersed data storage. Primalcom's storage consolidation
solutions simplify management, increase availability, heighten
productivity, and reduce costs in collaborative environments.
- Types of Storage Consolidation
- Value of Storage Consolidation
- Storage Consolidation Solution Offerings
Types of Storage Consolidation
There are three types of storage consolidation:
1. Physical (Platform) Consolidation: Direct attachment of multiple
heterogeneous servers to a single powerful device. This approach,
made possible by heterogeneous, data-center-class storage systems,
dramatically reduces storage costs by creating a single source
of high-performance storage for multiple types of servers, eliminating
the need to purchase separate storage devices for each server
type. It also simplifies administration and conserves valuable
data center floor space.
2. Infrastructure Consolidation (Centralization): Pooling storage
resources- including switches, arrays, tape libraries, and other
storage assets -on a storage area network (SAN) to be shared
among heterogeneous hosts and managed centrally. This model
improves efficiency and reduces management complexity while
also improving scalability, availability, and data accessibility.
3. Data Management Consolidation (Integration) is the moving
of decentralized data located on distributed file systems into
a common file system for efficient sharing and ease of management.
Value of Storage Consolidation
Storage consolidation is not simply transferring disks from
a large number of small to a small number of large boxes, and
its benefits can extend far beyond the obvious savings. To fully
appreciate the benefits of storage consolidation, it is helpful
understand the trends that are fueling the rapid growth in consolidation
projects.
Does your organization need a Storage Consolidation? Many of
the benefits of storage consolidation are intuitively obvious.
Determining whether storage consolidation makes sense for your
particular situation may not be so clear-cut. This section helps
you consider the symptoms of complexity and identify opportunities
for storage consolidation without your data center.
Symptoms of Complexity
If any of the following conditions exist within your data center,
it is likely that there are opportunities for reducing complexity
and increasing efficiency through storage consolidation.
- Difficulty deploying, tracking, and managing resources
- Difficulty managing events
- Inability to scale current system administrator ratios
- Inability to deliver predictable, end-to-end service
levels efficiently
- Over-provisioning has led to inefficient utilization
of compute resources
Storage Consolidation Solution Offerings
Primalcom Storage Consolidation Solution and service initiatives
provide comprehensive product support that helps you optimize
your storage consolidation solution to meet your requirements
and implement it quickly and correctly. Our service offerings
include:
- Consulting Services: Primalcom consultants provide expert
assistance in consolidation assessment, architecture, implementation,
and management, as well as data migration. Whether your
needs involve a small or large scale SAN, our consultants
offer the expertise and experience to devise a solution
tailored to the requirements of your business, and work
with leading third-party specialists and solution providers
to develop an end-to-end solution. Specific offerings include:
- TCO Review Services: Help you assess and reduce the
TCO of your consolidated storage assets. Three levels
are available: Storage TCO Review, a free-of-charge
consultation; Storage TCO Discovery, a more detailed
and thorough assessment conducted through in-depth interviews;
and Storage TCO Full Study offerings, a comprehensive
TCO evaluation using real data and the Gartner master
tool.
- SAN Assessment, Architecture, and Implementation:
Primalcom consultants provide customized assistance
with any facet of assessing, planning, architecting,
and implementing a SAN that meets your business requirements.
- Hardware and Software Installation/Implementation Services:
Utilizing field-proven best practices, Primalcom consultants
help ensure proper systems configuration and timely completion
of your storage consolidation solution installation and
integration.
- Storage Migration Services: Helps you manage the risk
and resources required to accomplish complex data migration
activities.
- Education and Training Services: Primalcom professionals
offer a full storage curriculum to build your staff's confidence
in working with HP storage systems and software products,
helping to minimize system downtime and maximize the operational
value of your storage products. Specific offerings include:
- Storage Management Learning Path: Provides training
for effectively administering and managing storage,
as well as administering a highly available computing
environment.
- Server Administration Learning Path: Provides in-depth
training for administering and managing enterprise servers
and can help administrators gain the skills necessary
to administer Primalcom servers to maximize uptime.
|
|
