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A Better Outlook for Information Management (Continued)
Choose Your Storage Solution
Not all organizations are ready to move to centralized storage. Many believe that using distributed data deposits through direct attached storage (storage that is directly located within a server) is still the way to go. The problem with this approach is that when you run out of space, you need to add drive units within each server box or else add a new server. This does not help reduce your management overhead, but it can be a good approach, given that centralized storage devices can be expensive to integrate.
For organizations wanting to continue with this approach, 1Vision Software offers a powerful utility, called vSERV or vSERV/LX, that automatically collates all free space on any number of distributed servers and makes it appear as a single volume of space. The LX version will work with a maximum of 280 gigabytes (GB) while the full version has no limits. So if you're not ready to move to centralized storage, you can still profit from the aggregation of all your storage resources.
For organizations that want to move to more centralized storage without breaking the bank, network-attached storage (NAS) devices are now available for as low as $2,000. NAS devices that run familiar software such as the new Windows Storage Server 2003 (see Resources) are easy to set up and can be configured in minutes. These devices are ideal for file storage because they support multiple protocols. Windows Storage Server 2003 supports the common Internet file system (CIFS), the network file system (NFS), AppleTalk, and NetWare protocols. These NAS devices can easily support multiple terabytes (TB) of file storage.
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Introduction
