Storage Provisioning and Networking - Deploying and Managing a Cloud Infrastructure - page 246

Storage provisioning is the process of optimizing the perfor-
mance of a distributed data store, such as a data center, stor-
age area network (SAN), or network-attached storage (NAS).
The main idea is to assign and manage storage in terms of server disk space. Networking is
critical because it forms the communication backbone of such a distributed data store.
Storage provisioning is an important task and requires steps that should be taken to
ensure a well-configured network of storage drives. Storage provisioning is required to
make certain that the data storage and recovery routes are made available when needed. As
a contingency plan, alternate routes should be in place that can keep the data store func-
tional in the event of partial failure. A good architecture would inherently include future
expansion prospects. Like any other piece of equipment, the entire data store must be tested
against data extraction and storage tests before it is put under production load.
Recently, the industry has seen a rapid shift from on-premises storage facilities to viable
cloud-based alternatives. Enterprises are adopting the cloud for services, solutions, and
transformation of those services. The shift is displacing existing technologies and bringing
new technologies to the business environment.
In this chapter we will cover topics related to cloud storage, storage provisioning, and
networking. We begin by describing cloud storage concepts that are essential for developing
an understanding of the various cloud technologies described in this chapter. We then com-
pare SANs with virtualized cloud storage. You shall see what is meant by cloud provision-
ing, and we'll explain a number of cloud storage technologies, including Amazon's cloud
storage products. The chapter also focuses on the role and importance of a cloud storage
gateway and its applicability to cloud-oriented enterprise IT environments. We'll also
briefly cover important security and privacy issues associated with the cloud.
Cloud Storage Concepts
Before we dig a bit deeper into storage provisioning and popular cloud storage technologies,
let us take a look at few important concepts. These concepts are essential in understanding
how technologies work and the advantages and limitation of each technology.
Object Storage
Object-based storage devices (OSDs) manage data and its corresponding metadata by
changing it to flexible-sized data containers called objects (Figure 9.1). Each object