Storage virtualization is the migration of data storage from a physical server or disk to a logically virtualized representation. The solution provides many opportunities and benefits for enterprises and data holders. This guide explores the basics of how storage virtualization works and why it is better than using a physical server or disk. We will examine the benefits of storage virtualization as they relate to cost, service, capacity, performance, resilience, and data ownership.
About Storage Virtualization
Storage virtualization requires the creation of a logical data store to hold information rather than moving data to physical servers, which have limited capacity. The storage virtualization process converts the physical storage on a server into a data store. Such a data management solution can provide multiple benefits by increasing the scalability of the storage, sharing that storage among multiple servers, providing storage disaster recovery, and improving system istration, management, and service.
How Storage Virtualization Works
As data storage requirements increase and data is moved to the cloud, storage on physical servers or disks becomes more cumbersome. Storage virtualization with StarWind vSAN moves data out of the physical world into a “logical data store”. Thus, storage virtualization allows organizations to use the data they need when they need it and use storage at its full capacity and performance.
With physical storage on a server, a company would likely not be able to grow its data because storage on a server gets quickly used up, while the server’s compute power stays the same. As a result, a company would have to purchase a second server with another physical disk and convert that disk to a pool of disks. But when the company grows and requires 2TB of data, it will have to purchase a second server and reconfigure the existing one to convert it to a pool of disks.
The next step, growing capacity from 2TB to 5TB, would require a third server and two more pooling disks. This process would continue until a company grew its data storage to the point where it was beyond its capabilities. This is what makes data storage on a serverless more efficient than storing data in a data store that is much more scalable. Using virtual storage pools and technology, a company can continue to grow its data and add capacity without becoming limited by the server’s physical storage capacity.
All in all, storage virtualization allows organizations to take a server and “turn it off” as much as possible with a physical server. In this case, storage virtualization would be the path for a company to keep growing its data without purchasing another physical server.
Benefits of Storage Virtualization
The storage virtualization market will keep growing in 2022. Storage virtualization offers several benefits, and there are a lot of scenarios of how a company would benefit from using a storage virtualization solution.
Cost
By moving data from physical servers to a virtual storage pool, organizations can reduce the need to purchase new servers when they grow. Because organizations no longer need to purchase a new server, they can avoid capital expenditures and, as a result, save on the cost of new servers.
There are other benefits to a storage virtualization solution, including cost savings when purchasing new storage technologies. When the cost of data storage decreases, there is less pressure for companies to change their purchasing strategies to purchase technologies that the growth of data and data storage. As a result, organizations may benefit from lower-cost storage.
Capacity
Organizations cannot create unlimited data storage pools because they are limited by the physical capacity of the storage on the servers. With a virtual storage pool, organizations can increase data storage capacity as needed with the capacity of the server or storage being converted to the virtual data store. With this type of virtualization, enterprises do not need to purchase storage when they grow.
Performance
The speed of data storage is increased when data is stored in a logical storage pool because data access must be handled by a centralized system that can process and store data rather than the local systems where data is stored. The speed of accessing data is a critical component of performance, and with storage virtualization, this benefit increases. With a virtual storage pool, data can move to the fastest storage on the network and be accessed more quickly.
Resilience
As data storage changes from physical to logical storage, data storage management is key to an organization’s resilience. With a physical storage system, there is an increase in storage management complexity. Each physical server or disk is managed independently, with the data being organized based on the needs of the physical server or disk.
Thanks to storage virtualization, data is moved to the logical storage pool, which is shared among multiple servers. When a server fails, the storage is still managed by the storage pool, and data not associated with that server is still available, regardless of which server failed. This type of redundancy improves resilience.
Service
The key benefit of storage virtualization is that the data storage is no longer limited to a specific server. With the use of storage virtualization, organizations can take any of the servers in their organization and convert the data storage to a virtual data store that is accessible by all of the servers. By moving the data to a virtual data store, companies are not limited to a specific server that has the capacity to store the data and, as a result, can use any server. Companies can take advantage of expanding infrastructure while increasing the capacity of their storage.