Storage Virtualization
As we know that, there has been a strong link between the physical host and
the locally installed storage devices. However, that paradigm has been
changing drastically, almost local storage is no longer needed. As the
technology progressing, more advanced storage devices are coming to the
market that provide more functionality, and obsolete the local storage.
Storage virtualization is a major component for storage servers, in the form
of functional RAID levels and controllers. Operating systems and applications
with device can access the disks directly by themselves for writing. The
controllers configure the local storage in RAID groups and present the
storage to the operating system depending upon the configuration. However,
the storage is abstracted and the controller is determining how to write the
data or retrieve the requested data for the operating system.
Storage virtualization is becoming more and more important in various other
forms:
File servers: The operating system writes the data to a remote location with
no need to understand how to write to the physical media.
WAN Accelerators: Instead of sending multiple copies of the same data
over the WAN environment, WAN accelerators will cache the data locally and
present the re-requested blocks at LAN speed, while not impacting the WAN
performance.
SAN and NAS: Storage is presented over the Ethernet network of the
operating system. NAS presents the storage as file operations (like NFS). SAN
technologies present the storage as block level storage (like Fibre Channel).
SAN technologies receive the operating instructions only when if the storage
was a locally attached device.
Storage Tiering: Utilizing the storage pool concept as a stepping stone,
storage tiering analyze the most commonly used data and places it on the
highest performing storage pool. The lowest one used data is placed on the
weakest performing storage pool.
This operation is done automatically without any interruption of service to the
data consumer.
Advantages of Storage Virtualization
1. Data is stored in the more convenient locations away from the specific host. In
the case of a host failure, the data is not compromised necessarily.
2. The storage devices can perform advanced functions like replication,
reduplication, and disaster recovery functionality.
3. By doing abstraction of the storage level, IT operations become more flexible
in how storage is provided, partitioned, and protected.
DATA STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION
What is Data Virtualization in Cloud Computing?
Data virtualization is gathering data from multiple sources of information to create a
single, logical, and virtual view of information that can be accessed by front-end
solutions such as portals, applications, and dashboards without knowing the exact
storage location of the data.
In other words, we can say that, In this virtualization, data is collected from multiple
sources and managed in a single location without knowing more about the technical
information, such as how data is collected, stored, formatted, and then arranged
logically so that its virtual view can be accessed remotely by its interested people,
stakeholders, and users via the various cloud services. Many large corporations,
including IBM, At scale, Oracle, Cdata, and others, offer their services.
Work of Virtualization in Cloud Computing
Virtualization in cloud computing involves abstracting physical hardware resources
and creating virtual instances of servers, storage, networks, and other infrastructure
components. This enables multiple virtual machines (VMs) or containers to run on a
single physical machine, maximizing resource utilization and flexibility. Virtualization
allows cloud providers to offer scalable, on-demand resources to users, facilitating
efficient resource management and workload deployment.
Benefits of Virtualization
1. Resource Utilization: Virtualization allows for better utilization of physical
hardware resources by running multiple virtual instances on a single physical
server.
2. Isolation: Virtualization provides isolation between virtual instances, ensuring
that failures or security breaches in one instance do not affect others.
3. Flexibility and Scalability: Virtualization enables rapid provisioning and scaling
of resources, allowing organizations to adapt to changing workloads and
demands.
4. Cost Savings: By consolidating multiple virtual instances onto fewer physical
servers, organizations can reduce hardware and operational costs.
5. Disaster Recovery: Virtualization facilitates easy backup, migration, and
recovery of virtual instances, improving disaster recovery capabilities.
Drawbacks of Virtualization
1. Overhead: Virtualization introduces overhead in terms of performance, as
resources must be allocated for managing and running virtual instances.
2. Complexity: Managing virtualized environments can be complex, requiring
specialized knowledge and tools for provisioning, monitoring, and
troubleshooting.
3. Vendor Lock-In: Organizations may become dependent on specific
virtualization technologies or providers, limiting flexibility and portability.
4. Security Concerns: Virtualized environments may introduce new security risks,
such as vulnerabilities in hypervisors or misconfigurations in virtual networks.
5. Licensing Issues: Virtualization may pose challenges related to software
licensing, as licensing models may not always align with virtualized
environments.
Characteristics of Virtualization
1. Abstraction: Virtualization abstracts physical hardware resources, presenting
them as virtual entities to users or applications.
2. Isolation: Virtualization provides isolation between virtual instances, ensuring
that each instance operates independently of others.
3. Encapsulation: Virtualization encapsulates entire environments, including
operating systems, applications, and data, into self-contained units.
4. Flexibility: Virtualization enables dynamic provisioning, scaling, and migration
of virtual instances, allowing for agile and responsive IT environments.
5. Efficiency: Virtualization improves resource utilization and efficiency by
allowing multiple virtual instances to share physical hardware resources.
IMPROVING AVAILABILITY using VIRTUALIZATION
IMPROVING CAPACITY USING VIRTUALIZATIO
