Blue Ridge Beads Blog

What Methods of Storage Virtualisation are Available?

 There are several methods available for storage and IT infrastructure virtualisation, one method could be implementing a software layer within the application servers that actually handle the virtualisation, this means a curtain amount of disruption to each of the servers and each of the applications involved in a clients data centre architecture, the second method is to introduce a storage array that manages the virtualisation layer itself this means that any subsequent storage you introduce within you storage area network needs to be attached to that first storage array so this can mean that in future you have to have a large disruption to your environment to be able to remove that device when it becomes of a certain age, a third method is to be able to implement storage virtualisation within sans switch itself again, this can tie into storage virtualisation solution to the actual switch vendor, so again it introduces a certain amount of flexibility to the architecture within the data centre, the fourth method (which is the method IBM have gone down) is to introduce a storage appliance into the clients architecture so this is a completely independent device that handles all the storage virtualisation so it’s independent of the server, independent of the sans switch and independent of the storage you’re actually virtualising.